Chapter 5: Me and the Boys
"Jaune, I have realized a critical error in my shipwrighting."
Its been a month since I had started working and training under the Drifter, Soren Coldforge. For the past week, we had been melting down metals to be molded into hulls for the zeppelin.
"Err, what were we missing?"
"I have zero idea how to build an engine."
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And you just thought of this now?! I thought you know how to do everything! You're so confident about building a flipping zeppelin from scratch so I thought you had everything handled!
"So, what do we do now?" i put down the piece of metal I was cutting. Clearly this project will go nowhere until we find an engineer.
"Yea, let's go talent shopping."
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And that's how we ended up scouring for talents around the slums.
Every months or so, many young folks like me would venture to Lake Lullaby, seeking to become the next famous Hunter.
However, like me, most of them would find that regular villagers coming to the City of Hunters with just some secondhand weapons on their back are not the kind of talent that many Hunter's companies are seeking. Unless you're a real trained warrior back home, you're wasting your time.
Some would have some spare money to go back home..many others however found themselves trapped as they loae all their funds in seeking employment in the city. Some of them may had some luck of taking some low end job as a janitor or waiter.
Most of them ended up in the slums.
The young folks are prime prey to the human trafficking cartels in the slum. Girls would be kidnapped and sold into prostitution while guys will be captured to be sold as slaves, mostly to Nightshade Empire. Its a shitty place that is probably ripe with pungent odour of Grimm to Soren's nose. I saw him barely holding back from committing a full scale massacre ever since we came in here.
He's very twitchy right now and I am scared that the snow will be painted red.
The slum is big, easily thrice the size of Oldtown. Its jampacked with huts and haphazard building made with whatever planks they can get by. Really not winter-proof architecture we have here. Children are starving, people are dying from cold and overall its just miserable all over the place.
At the very least, people don't seem to recognize Soren, considering of how many thugs had try to mugged as we clearly looked better equipped than them. Surprisingly enough, Soren didn't kill any of them. I guess that means their Grimmification is still at a redeemable level, though I think breaking their arms is a death sentence in their own way.
Then, as if he is seeing a beacon in the dark, he jolted and rushed to a crowd.
An amateur boxing match. A Monkey Faunus is boxing against another dude, bloody and bruised. The crowd was cheering as the Monkey ended the match with an uppercut and strike a KO.
"Whose next?!", the match organizer asked rhe crowd.
Wordlessly, Soren came into the ring.
The organizer asked. "Hoho! We have a new competitor today! Pray tell, who are you, newcomer?"
Soren just side glanced him.
"Yea no, I'm not here for a match. I'm just here to ask this guy to join my crew."
"I'm afraid that I own him. Now, if you want to buy him out, I'm listening."
Ah shit, Soren has this twinkle in his eyes that he always has when he decide murder someone in cold blood. Let me check, I think I bring 3 maganizes of bullets for my pistol.
Soren grabbed his throat and rip out his trachea. I am starting to get concerned over my mental health. I am really getting used to Soren murdering people, especially since he had revealed that he kills those who are too far gone into the Grimm. It really, I don't know, assure me somewhat.
"Who's next?", Soren cracked his neck, challeging anyone to defy him.
Three thugs did. They all have their hands broken as a reward.
Hey. At least they didn't get killed.
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"Oh thank you so much for getting me outta there! I'm Sun Wukong, tho you can call me Sun! As in the Sun!"
Seriously what is up with blonde people with chinese names? How much further will this cultural appropriation thing go?
"I'm Jaune Arc. This captain of ours is Soren Coldforge."
"I owe you my life, cap! Just tell me what to do, Firstmate Sun is on the job!", the monkey guy gives Soren a salute.
"Well, you lived here for awhile. You know any guy thats good at zeppelin engines?"
"Oh I know just the guy! Wait here, cap!"
Sun jumped off the roof as he looks for our illusive engineer.
"He's weird.", Soren commented.
"How so?"
"Everyone carry darkness in our heart. It's normal that I meet folks with 30% or so corruption But that Sun dude is so pure. he barely has corruption in his heart. Even while being stuck here, he remains pure. That's why I can spot him like a sore thumb. "
"wow, so he must be a really good guy!"
"Nah. He's a psychopath."
I stumbled to the floor over the revelation.
"P-psychopath?!! Are you sure?!! He looks so cheerful and friendly!"
"Jaune, the Grimm Seed grows by consuming the feeling of immorality in committing sins. In order to feel guilt, you need emotions. Empathy. Grimm Seed cannot grow within psychopaths, because they can't feel guilt and remorse."
My jaw dropped. I did not expect that at all!
"this is the first time I meet one tho. Most so called psychopaths are posers, deluding themselves to think their feel no remorse to avoid dealing with it. So yea, this is a pretty interesting meeting."
"Shouldn't we be concerned that we have a psychopath in our midst?"
"Nah. Psychopath doesn't mean evil, Jaune. They just can't relate to others emotions, thats all. Its a disability. As long as I give Sun Wukong clear parameters of what he can and cannot do around me, he will abide by the rules."
Still, a psychopath?
I didn't see it at all. How can someone so pure and friendly be a psychopath? I didn't get it.
Then again, Soren isn't exactly normal either, isn't he?
"What about you? Do you feel remorse."
"Sure, if I care about one. Most people are stupid, Jaune. Neither good or evil. Just stupid people playing along with society rules to play it safe. Everyone like to say they are good people until they become desperate. And you will always see people choose to be selfish over doing the right thing."
Soren glanced at me.
"No one is good until it is proven. I like good people, Jaune. However, they are not common in this world."
"Do you think I am a good person, Soren?"
"That remains to be seen. As a Drifter, there will come a time where you have to make difficult choices. I'll be clear with you that I am not a good person either, Jaune. Who do you think I will choose to save between Tessa and a 100 innocent people?"
I may not have known Soren for long, but it doesn't take much education to know who Soren will choose.
"Do I have to choose love over justice then?"
He shrugs.
"That's for you to decide. No philosophy is absolute. I simply had picked what philosophy I choose to live by. I believe in honoring my deals and provide good work. I believe in saving people despite I really couldn't give a rat ass about them. However, I will always choose love over justice, even if that would make me selfish and evil."
What will Jaune Arc choose to believe in?
What is the philosophy that Jaune Arc will live by?
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"I am Neptune Vasilias! Thanks for saving me, cap!!"
The blue haired engineer cries tears of joy as we return to Oldtown. Already we are seeing a Drifter crew in the making. Murderhobo, Villager A, Innocent Psychopath and Rizzless Engineer has formed the first iteration of me and the boys. There's still the medic and cook post left, and I have a hunch who Soren has in mind for one of the position.
However, our good vibes turn sour when Velvet Scarlatina, the rabbit nun came toward Soren running with running tears.
"Soren! You have to help us!"
Soren enter his Predator mode, where whatever silly goofy vibr he has fades, leaving behind a cold predator ready to pounce on his prey.
"A vampire! We have a Vampire in Oldtown."
Man, our day could not get anymore dreadful.