Skill-Eater: Prison World Saga-Chapter 32: Sakura Unmasked I

Edge’s curiosity grew with every step he took as he passed through the hunters’ district, crossed a few side streets, and entered the residential quarter.

It was the side of town where he had spent the least amount of time, since he had slept at the Pioneer before joining Trapper’s crew and at the lodge after. While many of the crafters, merchants, and hunting crews lived where they worked, the residential quarter was home to the lion’s share of the town’s population. The district had a handful of restaurants and shops, but most of the blocks he passed were covered in houses in various shapes and sizes.

Some of the larger buildings were owned by wealthy individuals. But many more featured some manner of shared living space, ranging from multi-room dwellings to apartments and hostels. The settlement’s poorest residents were camping on the public green, but Dialla was in the process of moving some of them into empty dwellings here as she restructured Puppet Town to meet its changing needs.

It came as no surprise that the most extravagant homes belonged to cored individuals, who were able to take on dangerous work for higher pay. But most of them were modest dwellings occupied by the uncored. Uncored individuals were no different from ordinary people living on other planets, other than being able to learn two Basic skills, which were all their puppet bodies could handle without the reactors, reservoirs, and mana pores a person acquired when binding a power core.

The uncored moved to the other side of the street when they saw Edge coming. Some even turned around and left the area in a rush. He didn’t take it personally. The reaction was an ingrained survival instinct when encountering someone who could kill you whenever they wanted.

Other than the disturbance caused by his presence, the district was cheerful and full of life. Even the smallest buildings were brightly painted, and murals, statues, and communal gardens were threaded throughout the blocks—adding elegance and greenery to the rows of houses.

The address Sakura had included with her message was in the poorest part of the quarter, where the dwellings were single rooms with shared bathing facilities on the corner of each block. He walked slowly, taking care not to scare the people who were wondering what business a cored hunter had among the town’s weakest residents, until he arrived at the street in question.

He realized that he was buzzing with anticipation, eager to discover what would be revealed. At last, Edge was going to have a face-to-face meeting with Sakura—the mysterious woman who had shared critical information on several notable occasions.

It was time to learn who she really was, what she wanted, and what kind of relationship they would have going forward. To find out if he would gain another valuable ally or be forced to deal with something much less pleasant.

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Edge hoped that he liked the answers that Sakura had promised to provide. Since she knew the truth about Skill-Eater, even the parts that Trapper’s crew didn’t, if he couldn’t trust the woman, he was going to have to kill her.

As a mark in her favor, she had kept that information to herself until now. Combined with the assistance she had offered over the last few weeks, he was willing to give Sakura the benefit of the doubt. At least to the extent of hearing her out in full before deciding what to do.

He assumed that she knew he would feel this way but had chosen to meet with him anyway. It made this encounter even more enticing for what it could offer, but also significantly more perilous than he had let on.

If Sakura decided that Edge was a threat, this could wind up being an ambush instead of a meeting, which would be doubly dangerous since she understood the full range of his powers. In short, the encounter had a real chance of erupting into violence—a deadly dance that either party might lead if they didn’t like what the other had to say.

Since ignoring her wasn’t an option, and she was certain to bolt if he didn’t show up alone, he didn’t have much choice other than to hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Let’s hope that she’s a friend, or at least someone I can trust. She has access to some incredible information and means of communication, and it would be great to have her in my corner.

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Five minutes later, Edge found himself standing in front of the address she’d given him—a ramshackle cottage near the corner of the block that looked unremarkable in any way. There was an empty lot on both sides of the building, which meant that no one could creep close enough to overhear their conversation.

He was ready to use Harden and Shadow Step at a moment’s notice and was glad to be wearing his new suit of armor. His heart was racing and adrenaline flowed through his veins as he walked up to the front door, raised one hand, and knocked.

For a moment, nothing happened. But then a familiar voice said, “It’s open. Come in.” With nothing better to do now that the decisive moment had arrived, Edge shrugged, opened the door, and stepped inside.

The interior of the cottage was empty, save for a stool in the middle of the floor. On it sat a young woman with flowing raven hair and alert amber eyes. Sakura tossed him an apple after he closed the door behind him and turned to face her.

Edge took a long look at the woman before saying a word. When she noticed that he hadn’t touched his apple, she took a big bite out of the one she was holding, walked over, and then traded it for the one in his hand. Since he had the alchemists’ poison cure pill sitting in his belt pouch and was hoping to make a favorable impression, he went ahead and ate the rest.

The fruit was ripe, delicious, and didn’t seem to be altered in any way. It did, however, serve to remind Edge that Sakura had access to resources that no one else did, which he assumed was the point of the gesture. After he finished the tasty snack, he turned to her and said, “So. Where do we go from here?”

She flashed a smile and shrugged. “This is the part where we decide if we’re willing to trust each other enough to proceed to the heart of our discussion. I figure we start small, revealing lesser secrets about ourselves before we get to the big ones. If we don’t like what the other person has to say, we can either agree to go our separate ways or fight until one of us is dead in the ground.”

Despite her words, Sakura had shown no signs of hostility. She wasn’t visibly armed and hadn’t ignited her core. “I sincerely hope it doesn’t come to that. For the obvious reasons, of course. But mostly because it would mean that we aren’t willing to work together. Which I believe is not only in our mutual interest, but imperative to our survival.

“Given the nature of our interactions thus far, it’s natural for you not to trust me. I’ve helped you out several times. But you don’t know the reason why, or how I know what I’ve revealed. Since there is presently an imbalance in how much we know about each other, why don’t I start by answering some questions? Then we can go with the flow and take things from there.”

Sakura didn’t seem the least bit threatening. But the sparseness of his surroundings didn’t square with the resources the woman had demonstrated. Edge remained on guard, but he decided to take her advice and begin the conversation with lesser matters before touching on their deeper secrets.

“Start small, eh? All right. I’m game. First question, what’s the deal with the apples? How do you have access to Earth imports weeks after the anomaly severed all lines of communication and transportation?”

She tilted her head in approval. “A minor mystery and a fine place to begin. I’m just as cut off from Earth as the rest of the settlement. I have access to an industrial-sized preservation unit and secured a large shipment right before the disaster occurred and the System locked down the Red Shield. The apples were a decent source of income for a while, but since there’s only one barrel left, I just eat one every now and again to remind me of home. Plus, pulling them out makes me seem mysterious, which I find amusing.”

“Fair enough.” Edge nodded along with her explanation. “Next question, why did you tip me off that Warren was coming?”

“Another good choice. A query that brings us one step closer to the heart of the matter.” Sakura smiled before continuing.

“There are two reasons why I chose to follow that course of action. The first is that Warren was a threat to me too. Although he wasn’t aware of my existence, it was only a matter of time. Having you walk away from that encounter helped to secure my own survival. The second reason is that I’ve had my eye on you ever since you arrived in town with that mysterious core bound behind your ribs. I’ve been hoping that our interests align, and I wanted to make sure that you lived long enough to find out if that was the case.”

Her answer was plausible enough, if rather sparse on the details. Anyone who had a bounty would have been threatened by Warren and happy to see him removed from the board. Edge decided to stop beating around the bush and find out what was really going on. “How do you know about Skill-Eater, what do you want from me, and how do I know that I can trust you?”

“It seems that the foreplay is over, Edge Vasher. It’s time to let the masks fall to the floor and see each other as we truly are.” Sakura’s smile vanished and her expression turned deadly serious.

“Before I bare my soul to you, I have a question of my own. Are you aware of your core’s true nature? Have you spoken to the entity known as Skill-Eater, the ravenous lord bound in chains?”