“You keep surprising me, Joseph. I didn’t see that in you.”

Then his expression became calm and collected. The sigh he released betrayed the feelings he tried to conceal, however. Xander sat down on the opposite bed across.

“I have to apologize. I…” He diverted his gaze away.

Joseph raised his hand, trying to stop him, but Xander rejected his gesture.

“No, no need, Joseph… I have to. For myself, if nothing else. I… I am sorry.”

Xander slowly exhaled.

“My treatment of you was unfair. I did deliver you to the ship because you looked completely out of place. Strange clothes, strange… things in your pockets, your displacement in the middle of an empty ship… I didn’t know what to make of it. Then Captain came up, and… no, I think it is better for you to discuss that with him personally… long story short, I didn’t trust you. At all. And that clouded my perception. And for that, I am very sorry.”

He did feel happy, he had to admit. Validation is a drug that is hard to get off from, but Joe felt satisfied not just because of his apology, but because he understood. He understood the part of what makes Xander the man he is right now - he understood his reasons beyond the words he said to him, and behind the actions, he performed until this very moment.

“Forgiven. Would be even more forgiven, if this quartermaster here tells me - what happened to my things?”

The rhevalian coughed.

“See, about that… your thin thing… I broke it. In half. On accident. I still have in the Wardroom, but it is useless now, isn’t it?…”

Joe should’ve seen it coming. He didn’t feel disappointed, exactly, just… now he couldn't check how well a smartphone would work here. Not like he had a charger with him to use it for much longer, anyway.

“I suggest keeping it. Who knows, maybe someone smart enough will figure out how to reverse engineer it.”

“I did show it to our mechanic after. He was very interested in trying.”

“Eh, after we leave this place, just tell me where to find him, maybe we’ll figure something out.”

Xander nodded.

“As much as I want to ask you about all these weird items you were carrying, I’ll wait until you tell me yourself. Your small bag with green papers is in the Wardroom as well. Want to leave your clothes behind? I could keep them there too.”

He liked the man’s honesty. Joseph had no objections.

“Sure, leave them there. They are less suitable for our extreme lifestyle, anyway. I’ll get them when I get them.”

Xander nodded, standing up. Before he stepped out of the room, he looked at Joe one more time, as if he remembered something.

“Your trophy. I have an idea in mind. It’ll suit you. When it’s ready, I’ll tell Ralf and leave it in the Arsenal.”

Joe acknowledged with a small nod in return. His new friend(?)-ly face walked off behind the corner of the door.

He didn’t want to show himself as a paranoiac, but the crew was too damn nice. All of them were too damn nice for a gang of savages. Even if he had a rough start with some of them, they were treating him quite fine. Even Xander did come around - just like Ralf said he would. He was not the one to let their kindness go to waste, but he began to think that something was definitely off on this ship.

Their close friendship. Their attitudes. Their prowess during the boarding action, and ruthlessness, without crossing into savageness.

The ship itself.

The Captain’s slip of a tongue.

He had a theory. A very, very plausible theory, but he decided to sit on it and wait for more signs to come. He didn’t want to ruin his built relations with his invasive questions. If they kept it a secret, then they had a reason. Simple as that.

He had nothing to do… Hold your horses here, Joseph.

He almost forgot about the Captain’s test! And training, too.

The shower took him all of ten minutes. The absence of soap was soul-crushing, but he did come from it cleaned and recharged.

The next point on the list was the Arsenal. His old friend - Improvised Oil Flamer - was lying in the far left corner. Joe didn’t expect him to have neighbours, and especially not these ones.

Three full black-purple armor sets were placed right in front of it.

Three.

Where did they even get the last two?! And when?!

They really did search the island through and through.

Unfortunately, Ralf was gone. Right there, in front of Joe, on the table, a small pot was left behind by his… handler. If was filled to the brim with unfamiliar red-ish charred meat with remains of familiar eldritch spices on it, eggs and weeds, surrounded by pieces of cheese, covered by a freshly cooked bacon. The composition was awe-inspiring.

And right beside his soon-to-be dinner, he noticed two new types of guns he had not seen before in this world, just like Xander has said.

The first one was a long rifle, with a modified spyglass on top, and magnifying glass on the iron sight, with a black point in the middle of a glass surface. The belt was already attached to it, probably thanks to Ralf himself.

The legitimate sniper rifle.

That would be quite a step up from his current weapon. The problem was - Joe had no idea how to calculate the wind speed and the distance between him and a target, two of the main qualities that he knew of, that were required for using such a magnificent specimen of a weapon.

Of course, he could always ignore the sniper aspect of it, and simply use it like the one before. But that would be a waste of a good rifle.

Joseph accepted the gift. The ammo was slightly different, but the crate full of it was standing right there near the entrance. He would learn how to use the weapon’s full potential over time, he promised to himself and his new partner.

Sorry, my saviour, we had a good time together, even though I’ve used you only once…

He put it back on a shelf near its brothers.

The second gun was a little bit more… out there. For starters, it had a metal wire, spiraling around the barrel. Then, it had two small cylindrical transistor-looking-lamp-things, covered in a somewhat familiar type of material (Joe couldn’t remember the name for the life of him, only knew that it was used for isolation), with fouder crystals inside of it. The lamp things were connected to the wire at the end of the barrel, closer to the main body of the gun. On the bottom of the barrel, an arch of stainless steel was going all the way from cylindrical parts to the muzzle. The gun had a size of a huge revolver, with a drum magazine and a hammer included.

Just what were all these modifications for? Joseph didn’t risk touching the wire, even with rubber tips on his gloves. He reloaded it, and put it into his third holster, tempted to test it right then and there, but resisting a temptation.

That’s my soldier! Firearm safety first!

Wait, what? What was that barely heard, but full of energy voice right now, and that brief message in the lower-left corner just now?!!

He was seeing and hearing things. He was seeing and hearing things. He was seeing and hearing things…

Joe was just standing there for several minutes. Nothing new came up in his mind.

Finally relaxing, he sat down in front of the pot.

Xander didn’t lie one bit. The meat was juicy and very tasty, like beef with chicken combined, but fairly hard to chew and swallow. It took him an hour to finish the entire pot, and forty minutes out of this time he wasted just on Archrhyder’s meat alone.

Now he had the Beast inside of him.

…That sounded much better in his head.

Oh my gosh, he lives with you now! That’s so adorable!

Nope. Nope. No fucking way. No fucking way the System just did that to him. Nope.

“I am out of here.” Off the ship.

Wait, bredda, don’t be so hasty, we are here to help you…

He was well aware. He wanted nothing to do with any of this.

“Can I turn you off?!”

Do you want to turn messages off? Yes/No.

Thank you, System. Keep it on for now.

Messages On.

Well, he had a way to turn them off, at least. He did not hear anything, nor saw anything else. Perhaps, they decided to hide from his wrath for a time being. Joe was absolutely fine with that.

Were they always self-aware, or his sleep shenanigans had something to do with it? He had zero clues. He decided to ignore it for now (self-delusion won't save you for long, Joe), and focus on his tasks ahead.

Once again, he had choices, for he still got a couple of hours left before his meeting with the Captain. Should he pick Medbay to discuss plans with the doctor duo - if they are not too busy? Or read the huge book he just got - maybe?… He was quite intimidated by the size of it when he looked at it. The book was lying on the table of the Arsenal, together with new guns.

He still had the first aid book left, as well as the one about plants and extracts. There was also an option to ask permission from Ralf or Xander to get access to the Wardroom and get something there.

The possibilities were weighing him down once again. But since he got up just an hour ago, maybe some exercise for warm-up would be the best idea. Or even better, train his marksman skills… But he needed some targets for that one.

“Hey, Ailuros, you there?”

“I am everywhere, m-reow. Did you want anything?”

He didn’t even need to turn around. She was standing at the door, one hundred percent.

“I needed some target practice. Can I ask for your help?”

The black cat jumped back, hissing at him.

“I will not be a target! I can’t die, but it hurts, like a pot of liquid fire!”

“I didn’t mean… Look, I just need some things I can use as props, and a quiet place… or a place, where anyone can train their skills. You know one?”

She scratched behind her ear.

“We had some straw targets in the Hold, I think. You could use some empty bottles too - just throw them up, and shoot! The training place… we don’t have a dedicated one. Maybe the Upper Deck, it’s big enough… sometimes these barbarians were swinging their sticks down there in the Hold, it was annoying and load! Argh, and then the mechanics-”

Ailuros loudly sneezed mid-sentence.

“...Oh, sorry for that! What did we…? Right, the suitable place! Rooms at the front of the ship are always suitable. Just don’t touch the wires and pipes!”

“I see, I see. Thank you very much, Ailuros.”

She gracefully nodded and vanished once again. Joe didn’t even bother to act surprised.

She is so-o-o beautiful! And cool!

That she is. Hi there, Empathy.