Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd In The Apocalypse!

Chapter 1319 Weapon Break - Give it a break, Mayor!

Joe screamed for dear life as he saw a small nick on Tatiana's Principe—but he straight-up lost his shit when he discovered a few micro nicks after leaning at it like it was a piece of jewelry that needed to be examined. While it was true these blades weren't meant to clash against metal but actual flesh and bones, it couldn't be helped if we were to spar with them.

But yeah, seeing nicks from one's brand-new sword would frustrate even me—and I was a little sorry for it—but Tatiana couldn't care less while Joe was this close to taking the Principe back.

Tatiana rolled her eyes, "It's bound to have nicks when used like this. We spar with real swords occasionally, even you sparred with—"

"OCCASIONALLY?!"

I had to calm Joe down, "Easy, now—"

"Why am I the only one losing my shit here?! How about your katana?! That's some expensive shit, right?!"

"Priceless. Not expensive—"

"YOU'RE RUINING YOUR— Huh?"

To Joe's fucking shock, my blade was as pristine as it looked when we fought and he looked like a silly goose trying to eye my blade like it had a secret code to a gift card or something. But yeah, it took him a second to remember that he also used his Sollingen to clash with my katana—and even though it had wear on some parts of it—it seemed like he discovered more from our short exchange.

"What the fuck— What's that thing made out of?!"

"Ten thousand souls of the damned—"

"WHAT?!"

Even Isaac's hearing amplified and barged in our conversation, "Souls— WHAT?!"

I chortled, "Don't ask me that question, seriously. I'd have to kill all of you the moment you know."

"NOW I'M FUCKING CURIOUS! IS IT FROM METEORS OR SOMETHING?!/ BRO! PLEASE! ARGH! DAMMIT! I WANT TO KNOW TOO BUT— ARGHHH!!!"

In any case, Joe and Isaac then bonded from their morbid curiosity about my blade, so Tatiana and I just left them as we walked over to where Kaley and the rest went after everything settled down.

Because as much as I would've loved to go on and on about Old Man Kaiseki's creations, I just wasn't in the mood today and we have to put a bandaid fix on Tatiana's new sword.

"I thought we were fixing this thing?"

"Just gonna grab my emergency whetstone in the Raptor then we'll head to the closest workshop."

"I don't really mind the scratches though—"

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"It's still kinda new, you know?"

"Pfft— Have I told you that I just throw around new phones I bought like I owned them for years already? These nicks are nothing."

"C'mon, I got you a nice gift! It should still be as pristine as my blade!"

"Hah! Then why don't you get me one, huh? I'll easily pawn this beauty if you can get me a katana made by your grandpa!"

"Heh, that IS the plan. Don't worry, I'll try and hook you up the first chance we get!"

"Just like that?"

"Just like that— I mean, you gotta come in with my recommendation first, study under us for a bit—sorry, a while! Then you pass the tests, live, mine the ores ourselves, help Ojii-san with the forging process, get a tattoo, and then we're done! Not a guaranteed katana though but it'd almost always be in that ballpark. And from what I could see in you, it IS around that ballpark."

"But what about you?"

"Stuff that's more important than dinner?! Come on, now! I'll eat without you two! We all know that his katana's magic so putting it through a stress test wouldn't do us any good!"

"Wear eye protection!"

"Nah! I'm not staying— We're not staying long! Get on it, alright?!"

"Fine~ Fine~"

In any case, Tatiana was a little excited when I handed her my blade but the moment she struck down her old sword and tried to snap it in half—which only happened after the second swing, the look on her face as she grimaced was fucking priceless.

I chuckled, "Something wrong?"

"A little hard on the forearms, huh?"

"It stung quite a bit?"

"Yeah— but you made it look easy! I thought I didn't have to apply as much force! It almost hit my head from the first swing when it bounced back!"

"I did tell you to go all the way through! In any case~ First timers doing that take a few swings—even with a hammer, but yeah, mine's pretty tough, huh?"

Then Tatiana remembered to check my blade.

"Fuck. Me. This is fucking magic. Ever run it with the device you have?"

"To check what it's actually made of?"

"Yeah, that thing."

"No."

"Why?"

"It'd lose the magic, no?"

"Pfft! Fine, fine~ Have it your way. Oh! Fine~ Keep your secrets~"

"Heh. Come on, they're all waiting. Let's have dinner—"

All of a sudden, the moment Tatiana gave me my katana back, she moved in for a kiss as she sheathed it in my scabbard herself—and she was just wearing this smile—as she carried the box where her Principe was placed.

"Is that your thank you for the sword?"

"Oh, fuck no. You'll have more than just a kiss later, that was just a taste."

"Hah! I'll look forward to it. Remember to ask Unc to make you a sheath for that thing— He'll probably make it with leather but ask for hardwood instead, alright? Tell him to make it like my scabbard where it'd have this little nub for the oil after we put some on it later."

"Definitely asking for 'hardwood', yeah... will definitely ask for that."

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, yeah~ You're welcome, you're welcome~"

With that said, we all drove to the multipurpose hall and everyone else from our team besides Morales' was present. Still, Morales was still present with a couple of his officers and we all shared a nice meal prepared by Iskoh's cooks.

Everything was going swimmingly well and even if the joint run by the Hounds and the Jackals still left a lot to be desired, both groups were gelling pretty well despite Iskoh's attempts to have the slightly unhealthy competitive spirit going.

And he did so once again right as dinner ended:

"Listen up, pups, time for a scavenger hunt!"