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[Skill-Eater] Chapter 167: Downtime
🕑 Added 2024-12-13 18:00:07 +0000 UTCThe next day, Trapper waited until everyone finished waking up on their own. Then she had the crew gather around the big table in the common area. She let them know that she was throwing a party that evening, to celebrate Edge joining the team and Riller and Violet binding their cores.
After telling everyone to find something to bring to the festivities, she kicked the hunters out of the lodge while she prepared a surprise for the party. Violet was the only exception, since Trapper needed her to help in the kitchen and keep Blue occupied, so the friendly beast didn’t feel left out.
Edge invited Sasha to the Pioneer to eat breakfast, where he introduced her to Rita and Sam. They had met several times in passing but had never spoken at length. They wound up hitting it off right away, and Sam offered them a meal on the house in exchange for the story of their latest adventure.
Edge let Sasha do most of the telling—enjoying the sight of her and the warmth of good company and a full belly. She wove a compelling narrative, while leaving out the parts that Mel had asked the crew to keep to themselves and anything related to Edge’s secret.
By the end of the story, the bar was packed. Not only was every employee in the building listening with rapt attention, someone had gone outside and told people what was happening—drawing a crowd that was thirsty for news from the world beyond the walls.
Their audience was so big that people were attending from out on the porch and through the side windows. They sat on the edge of their seats while listening to the team’s battle with the blightling swarm. They gasped when the garax appeared to interrupt the crew’s hunt for the padamas, and then burst into applause when the towering beast was lying dead in the dirt.
Sasha blushed a bit from the attention, which Edge enjoyed without trying to show it, then Sam kicked everyone out who wasn’t paying. Sasha and Edge bid each other farewell, then left to find something to bring to the party.
He wasn’t sure what he wanted to buy. He meandering his way through town while seeking inspiration, thrilled to be back home after such a dangerous journey. It wonderful to be behind the walls once more, protected by the town’s turrets and the dome.
Better still, with Warren dead, no one was hunting him as far as he knew. Edge intended to do everything in his power to make sure things stayed that way from now on. Although he could never completely lower his guard, it was far more relaxing here than being out in the field, especially given the changes that were occurring across the plains.
He started looking for something that would be fun to take to the party. Thanks to their successful hunt, the crew was already flush with high-grade meat, since they had kept a portion for their own stores. Edge was certain that Trapper would be bringing out her special reserve, so alcohol was taken care of too.
Which left him with one last idea to pursue—some mana-seed infused food to give the crew’s newly cored members their first taste of paradise. Buying a mana-seed and trying to make something himself would be a tragic waste of resources, given his nonexistent cooking ability. Instead, he decided to try his luck at a restaurant that specialized in mana-food.
Reservations were booked solid for weeks in advance, but there was a small storefront attached to the eatery that sold delicacies to go at exorbitant prices—at least to someone without the ability to generate income on the level of Trapper’s crew.
But tonight was a special occasion and he had a pile of Credits coming, as soon as the beast parts sold, and Trapper collected the reward from Dialla. Besides, Edge didn’t mind splurging to celebrate how far he’d come since waking up on Ord—coreless and stranded in the middle of a hostile wilderness.
Not to mention, he’d finally found somewhere that he belonged. While he would always work solo a fair amount the time, having allies to watch his back and friends to spend some pleasant hours with was an accomplishment that was worth going all out for.
He walked into the shop and said hello to the representative behind the counter. He ran his gaze across rows of magtech coolers with glass doors, which were filled with a variety of mana-seed infused foods and drinks. Some of them were so expensive that his jaw dropped when he saw the price, but a decent selection was in the range he was hoping to spend.
After asking some questions and utterly failing at haggling, Edge eventually decided on two items to take to the party. One was a fruitcake that had been made with four different types of mana-seeds. It was topped with a small piece of a mana-berry that was worth more than the rest of the cake combined. His other acquisition was a bag full of mana-seed flakes that were covered in chocolate. He resisted the urge to try one, opting to share the experience with his friends instead.
He arranged to pick everything up in a few hours, so that he wouldn’t have to carry it around. Then he then decided to get in some exercise on the public green. When Edge was done, he took a shower in the adjoining facility, retrieved his treats from the restaurant, then walked back over to Trapper’s Den.
