Chapter 24: Tour
Dutch had no complaints when Kate quickly handed over her responsibilities to him before rushing out of the hanger.
He wholeheartedly understood just how stressful the situation that took place a few moments ago was for her.
After all, she had hardened her resolve and prepared herself to die – while simultaneously berating herself for not being able to save everyone inside the facility.
He couldn't help but let out a sigh as his gaze turned towards the trainees.
His dissatisfaction with them was quite evident from his annoyed expression.
"...Follow me." Dutch ordered curtly as he gestured to them.
Then, he climbed up the stairs and headed out the door leading to the hanger.
The reason for his dissatisfaction was rather obvious.
He didn't believe for a second that the trainees that remained quiet were too scared or uncertain to talk about Arbus's identity.
He had witnessed the scene himself partially when he ran over.
It wasn't hard for him to guess that at least a quarter of the trainees had intended to get rid of Arbus that way.
Despite how he felt about the half-human, that was simply too much.
He also knew Kate wouldn't be able to avoid the consequences of killing a trainee.
Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about that now.
Kate had already accepted their excuse.
Not that she had much of a choice when the Mornan royal Jetarius Solvane – one of the twin children of the ruler of Wales, Alger – was the one arguing against her.
That had surprised him quite a bit, even more than seeing Rin Dune.
It was well known that Mornan royalty weren't allowed to become Renegades for political and safety reasons.
It seemed that rule had changed somewhat.
There were limits to what they as low tier administrative Renegades, could do against a noble trainee – even as their instructor.
Then again, he wasn't completely wrong either.
It was indeed Kate's usual rashness that caused the confusion.
He just hoped she wouldn't be punished for basically forcing a commander to travel to another planet for no reason during such a precarious time like this.
After they exited the hangar, they traveled through a small corridor that led to the main hall of the building.
It was the largest section in the station.
Several non-combatant renegades in charge of handling things around the facility moved about the hall with purpose.
There was a large, indestructible glass dome placed above it instead of a roof like everywhere else. Through it, the raging ice storms of the planet was visible.
A few gasps of amazement came from the crowd of trainees as they all glanced about curiously.
There were several other corridors connected to the room, leading deeper into the facility.
Dutch stopped for several moments, letting them take in the scenery.
"This is the main room of the facility. It's where you'll all be assembling whenever there's an announcement." He said as he gestured to the stage and podium at the side of the room.
Then he randomly picked a corridor and led them to another section of the building.
When they emerged, they were standing in front of multiple doors.
"This is the medical wing of the facility. Only the Medical staff are allowed to frequent this area. That is unless of course you've been badly injured or worse."
A few of the blue Mornans wondered what he meant by that second part.
After that he led them out of the corridor and into another one, showing them areas like the cafeteria and the sleeping quarters for trainees.
Then he finally led them to a corridor that actually piqued their interest.
"This is the combat training area. Here you'll be trained in both close range weapons combat and long range." Dutch said as he gestured to two doors opposite each other.
The melee weapon training room was a large space with walls and floors padded with impact-absorbing material.
It was a precaution created for some of the stronger races of trainees, like mornan elites or Tarokians.
Racks holding various close range weapons were lined against the dark walls.
They ranged from basic swords, maces, staffs, and axes, to aTer crafted weapons created by the Mesh Department.
Arbus's eyes lit up slightly at the sight of the swords. He immediately remembered the gruelling training he'd experienced with his master.
It had been a long while since he'd been able to practice with a sword, since the Renegades usually gave sentries standard equipment, not allowing them to bring their own.
His standard weapon was a gun, which had vexed him to no end.
Despite his many skills, he'd been unable to master that particular one.
Eventually they checked out the shooting range as well.
The brightly lit room was divided by an indestructible glass wall.
Shooting booths were lined up in one corner, while the other was filled with target projectors at the far end, capable of creating both stationary and moving targets.
Currently, they were projecting targets extremely familiar to Arbus.
Images of humans.
'of course.' Arbus grumbled inwardly.
He noticed a few of the trainees glancing his way while snickering.
It seemed they were all now sure about his identity of being a half-human.
Which meant they had nothing to be scared about anymore.
After all, Arbus didn't have a Heart-shard like the sword Saint.
Meaning it wouldn't be hard to take care of him even if he went crazy like him.
Arbus honestly didn't care how they felt anymore, after their earlier actions.
He was someone who understood his circumstances well and never complained despite how hard his life had been – simply because of how he was born.
He had always done his very best to follow his father's advice to not take his anger out on the people of this universe.
They were victims of terrible people that happened to look like them.
Their feelings towards him was simply a coping mechanism to handle their bottomless hatred and anger for Reincarnators.
But even still... It did not mean Arbus was an emotionless machine.
Despite how much he'd tried to understand them, the hateful emotions he had always done his best to keep buried deep down only grew stronger and stronger every time he felt wronged.
'how is any of this my fault!? I'm the one that stopped Ronin from killing even more people, and yet they treat me like I'm just as bad as him!'
'maybe i should have just...'
Arbus brought himself out of his thoughts as he clenched his fists tightly.
'No... I can't think like that.'
'Not after everything.'
He let out a silent sigh as he went along with the group.
He decided to try his best to focus on something else.
Eventually, his mind drifted to someone in particular that he'd been wondering about for awhile now.
The apathetic blue Mornan who arrived with his own custom weapon.
Arbus felt thankful for his help earlier, despite his nonsensical comment about Arbus's strength.
'no, I can't blame him for that. It's not like he's seen me fight or anything' Arbus thought with a nod.
He was also grateful to the white mornan who couldn't stop stealing glances at him.
Unlike the other trainees, however, his gaze felt more analytical than hostile.
His purple Irises reminded Arbus a bit of Bastian.
After a few more moments lost in thought, Arbus decided to just focus on the tour.