“Man, they really did a number on the city, huh?”
They were in the center of Front-Edge City the following morning. Despite pulsing with life only the day before, the city had now been reduced to a pitiful state. All over, the city bore scars: whole portions of buildings planed away and stone pavement smashed to pieces. All throughout the city were piles of rubble that couldn’t be cleared away.
With the city like this, even just walking around would be a challenge for a while.
I used to love this place... Watt thought to himself, silently cursing the bandits.
“This is...all my fault.”
Hearing the words that escaped Anna’s lips behind him, Watt turned around, only to see her staring at the ground and clutching the edge of her skirt.
“It’s all because I drew them here!”
“You didn’t do a thing! It’s all their fault for attacking you in the first place!” Watt replied.
“But I...”
Anna was clearly nowhere near convinced. Seeing her like that, Watt couldn’t help but feel exasperated and nostalgic at the same time. Now that he thought about it, her mother, Cullina, had been the same way back then, more than a decade ago. She’d had a tendency to keep what was bothering her to herself, while Watt had always stepped in to make things right. That was probably part of the reason Watt had become so overly attentive to the needs of others.
“And besides,” Watt went on, “just take a look over there.”
He was pointing at a group of residents who’d come together to distribute provisions. There were many restaurants that had been left unable to do business with their buildings destroyed, so rather than see it go to waste, they’d unearthed the foodstuffs that hadn’t been harmed and boiled them all together before passing out servings for free.
“Oh, wow, that’s outta this world! This is even better than what you normally make!” one man remarked.
“I tossed in top-shelf booze for the stock,” the cook answered. “Those damn bandits—I was savin’ that for the right occasion!”
“Well, now!” the man said. “That’s the only thing I’m grateful to those bandits for!”
“Grateful?” the cook huffed back. “You still grateful even though there’s no booze left to drink?”
“Agh, that ain’t good! On second thought, those bandits can go to hell!”
Seated around a dining table, the residents burst into laughter.
There wasn’t so much as a hint of stoic grief in their voices—in fact, they were so lively and rambunctious it was as if they were in the middle of an exuberant celebration.
“It takes a whole lot more than that to get the people in this city down,” Watt explained.
“B-But I...” Anna stammered. “They all stood up for me back there—they were all so kind to me. There’s not a thing I can do in return... I don’t even know what to say to them.”
“‘Thank you’ oughta do the trick,” Watt replied.
“That’d be far too careless of me to say!”
“And what’s careless about it, huh?” Watt replied. “They did what they thought was right and helped you. And when someone helps you out, you thank them, don’t you? Even if it was a mistake, you don’t go tellin’ them sorry.”
“Is that...really enough?” Anna asked.
“’Course it is! And besides, none of ’em’d be happy to see you down an’ out after they went to all the trouble of helping you!”
While Anna still probably had a few reservations, a bit of life had returned to her expression, at the very least.
Good enough for me, Watt thought with a sigh. And besides, this isn’t over. I figured they’d make a move sooner or later, but I didn’t think they’d go in with guns blazing like that. We’ve gotta be prepared.
Watt secretly pulled something out of his inner pocket—a key. The key’s handle boasted a lavish design, carved into the shape of an eagle.
Watt toyed with the key in his hand. “Guess it’s time to dust him off!”
“Maaaster!”
Watt spun around at the familiar voice calling him. There was only one person in the whole city who called him that. Sure enough, standing there before him was none other than Meddié.
“Pops is calling for you! Says he wants you to bring Anna too!”
“Welp,” Watt replied. “Guess we’d better hit the road.”
Bolstering his resolve once more, Watt walked off with Anna at his side.