The travel between the port and our destination wasn't small or eventful.
We four didn't interact with each other too much.
Apolonia spent some time reading books about something that has to do with economics, as she's actually here for that(As far as her father knows)
Aethel was mostly locked in his room. If the loud sounds he made were anything to go by, then he was training. He seemed like someone who wanted to use his time to the fullest.
Atelia and I spent some time talking about our respective fields of expertise.
Like that one moment in the hall.
...
"So what's the deal with your spins?"
I suddenly asked her, while I was walking down the hall.
"What do you mean? It's just some evasive spins"
It most certainly isn't.
"I don't think so, the spins you do are way too weird for just a normal martial art"
"You use yellow lighting to attack and you call me weird?"
"My attacks are weird but your tactics are weirder"
"They're just spins..."
"No, they aren't"
I can't exactly put my finger over it...
Unnatural is the best word to name it, but it is not the most accurate.
"I've just fought against you one time, but I know that they aren't normal"
"What do you mean?"
"Like, as an example..."
I stand up and try to imitate the scene from that day.
"Look, from what you've told me, your spins use the energy from the received attack to counter it"
"Yes...?"
She follows me and gets in position.
I'm at the corner and she's balancing on her right leg, while the other is about to kick me.
"When I tried to stab you in your left, you spun in a manner which shouldn't be possible without being hit first"
The order in which the events should have gone would be something like :
My Stab -> She gets pierced -> She counters
But they went :
My stab -> She counters
The explanation ¨We weren't in the physical plane¨ isn't enough, as you can't just do whatever you want with your intent.
If you can do that with your intent, you need to do that normally, even if poorly done.
So I can't just shoot concentrated hamon beams like a Kamehameha, and she shouldn't be able to spin without caring for the necessary parts of her moveset.
Unless of course, she can just ignore the work needed for that in real life.
"Yeah, I can just do that..."
Hm?
"What do you mean?"
"Like... I think I get your point about me needing leverage of some sort, but my fighting style works just like that"
"..."
I nudge her.
"Alright, alright... look at this"
I move out of the way and behind her.
We're both facing the corner, but she's a meter from there, while I'm three.
She raises her feet, following the same pattern as she did that night.
But suddenly, she puts weight on her other foot and spins.
Doing a horizontal kick with the back of her feet.
"You got it now?" She asks.
"Absolutely fucking not"
"What? Why?"
"What do you mean ¨Why¨?! You didn't say anything relevant, you just showed me what I already knew you did!"
"Dude, it just works, let it rest"
"Arghhhhhhhhh..."
...
It is as she says, it just works.
It shouldn't work though.
Have you ever seen a video about how superpowers shouldn't work in real life?
Something like ¨You can't lift a plane because there's no leverage¨, ¨If you become invisible you can't see since you're reflecting all of the light that goes to your eyes¨, ¨If you transform into an animal then you will be stuck with the brain and intelligence of that animal¨.
Yes, they all make sense and when you think about it, they are right.
Some powers and concepts in anime and fiction just work.
It's the same here.
The fighting style she uses is based on receiving an attack and using force, energy, and that type of thing to control it and send it back.
I'm sure you already know about it, there are a million series where people redirect attacks with the force that the attack had.
Right, well, Atelia said that's the basics of her martial art.
She doesn't know the full ins and outs of her art, because while she was learning it she only focused on the parts that had actual effects.
What did she mean? Well, apparently from where she comes from this art is something sacred and holy and they explain it with some yin and yang stuff.
It's redirecting energy at the end, so she focuses on the practical part.
Good for me, I guess...
Anyways, back to the point.
The basics are that, just redirecting.
But when you get to a proficient level, you can just ignore the use of energy and pull that.
It's complete bullshit.
And I know this doesn't make sense in any shape, way, or form, but it's not my fault. It just doesn't make sense.
To put it in ¨simpler¨ terms. When she attacks, she can interrupt whatever she's doing with a spin and counter.
Let me put it like this...
In a game, when you use a greatsword, or a heavy weapon in general, your attacks are slower, right? And you can't do anything else while you do your attack.
But you can use a move to cancel the attack animation.
That's it. That's what she does.
She's eating? Spin and counter.
She's chatting? Spin and counter.
She's asleep? Spin and counter.
It's not even a ¨normal¨ counter, she doesn't even take damage from it.
In a normal counter, you need to use some strength to, well, counter.
Even if you tie her up, her body, somehow, gathers the energy and strength for her to spin.
It's a given that a person can't go from 0-100 in a moment.
My Hamon still takes some time to set up.
But that doesn't apply to her.
From any shape, way, and form, she goes from 0-100.
She's just built different.
...
..
...
Well, I may have been hyping her up a little.
But man, it's just crazy.
This truly feels like an anime world now.
More like a fictional world in general.
Because attacks that ignore the third law of Newton shouldn't be a thing.
And Newton has been dead for over a century now, so he existed.
Whatever, I'm not going to talk about her bullshit powers once more.
Yes, I know that I'm the one who can channel energy from the sun to use bullshit powers.
But I least I channel them! I don't just create power out of nowhere, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Whatever, let's just follow through.
"What are you thinking about so much?"
Apolonia asked at my right.
"Nothing much, it's just that I'm nervous about the people we're about to meet"
"Sure..."
She didn't believe me at all.
"Perhaps we should be, they may be related to our mission here"
Aethel gives his opinion.
Atelia isn't here because she needed to find someplace to stay, and she isn't rich enough for her to follow us where we'll stay.
Hasn't she been traveling for a long time? Didn't she get a reservation somewhere?
Dumb on her part.
"Were they sent by the prince or something?" Apolonia asked, a serious look on her face.
"Maybe a small amount of them, but most of them will have the same objective, whether they are conscious of it or not"
We kept walking through the streets, getting closer to the hotel where we would stay for the month and where we would meet the people of interest.
To be more precise, we had already gone to the hotel before, but the adults told us to explore the city.
That sounded dumb, but we weren't dumb enough to remain in our place after they kicked us out with words.
Neither of us three was too worried about going out alone, as we were protected.
Well, maybe us two, since Apolonia seemed a bit nervous being in a foreign country all alone, but it will pass.
By the way, Aethel was with an old man as his guardian, I suppose he's under the service of the princess since he didn't seem too content with him.
It has already been a while since we came out, and we already saw the nearby locations of interest.
Including the museum and unfortunately, there were no stand arrows there.
Makes sense, since the arrows will be discovered a hundred years from now on.
So it's up to me to make a profit out of this trip while fulfilling the mission accordingly.
The mission...
I don't know how would we be doing this.
It's just... so unspecific.
Inconcrete? General? Common?
Well, the idea is that.
What is the mission? I hear you ask.
That's the thing, I don't even know what is the mission.
More clearly, it's a broad mission.
Aethel told us that the princess demanded ¨Results¨, but those results can be diverse in any way, shape, and form.
I don't believe that's the mission, but good soldiers follow orders and all of that.
So, if we make a good connection to our peers here, then it's a result.
If we get something interesting or important, it's a result.
If the prince wanted something and we got it instead, it's a result.
Anything goes, really.
I'm not too worried about the mission, but I should be a little worried.
Not because we're going to fail, but because if I overlook it thinking about anything else, then it's going to escape from my focus and I won't have anything to show.
Well, at the end of the day, I can just try to convince Atelia to join the princess camp.
That's a result, right? Connections are important if the other person is strong.
Could I convince her? I think so.
I can convince her with the hamon training and stands power, and maybe vampirism or eternal life.
Talking about vampirism, I think I know what to do to help Jack.
Well, it's more of an idea, since there's no way to test it, but-
*thud*
"Oh, my bad"
I stumbled into Aethel's shoulder.
"It's fine"
He didn't care a lot though.
Why did he stop?
Oh, we're here.
"I see you are all here now, why don't you enter and introduce yourselves?" George, who was waiting at the door, greeted us in the most warm manner he could muster.
We did exactly that.
Although we went up the elevator first.
Yes, there are elevators in this era, barely.
And with that, we stepped into the room.
It's a really normal event hall.
I mean, really normal.
There isn't anything special about it.
Matter of fact, when you think of ¨Luxury Hall ¨ you are thinking about this exact place.
White, with some balconies, some tables and chairs, and a stage that is raised above the others, where someone with a suit is going to say important things.
It's really generic.
Which makes it boring.
Not my thing, but I'll still have to do it. I promised(I didn't) George that I would inherit all of the responsibilities that the Joestar name carries.
I would love to inspect the area first, but someone had other plans.
"Ah! Just in time Mr Joestar."
In the direction of the stage, there was a black-haired man in a suit who called my father with a microphone in his hand.
A microphone?
Something that looked like a microphone in his hand.
But it was used to amplify sound, seeing as how everyone heard it in the middle of the chaos.
"Father!"
Apolonia exclaimed.
Both Apolonia and her father got close to each other and hugged.
"Aroa, meet sir Joseph, one of my closest friends"
Huh? Oh, yeah!
"Pleasure to meet you" I said as fast and nonchalantly as I could.
"Same here" He got the hint.
I turned to see why Aethel wasn't greeting him.
And there was no one to my side, neither of them.
This guy just left?
Traitor.
My father and Joseph talked a bit and started discussing secretly things neither Apolonia nor I understood.
Like, something about ¨The times changing¨ and ¨Bad omens¨...
Fishy, but I can't do anything about it.
Now, the important part here is to socialize.
"Apolonia, let's go together"
"I was thinking exactly that"
She's not dumb, she knows that numbers mean victory, so we need to stay together for the moment.
At least until the both of us get to know someone else to connect with.
Alright. Let's do this.