Chapter 206: Cursed to Be Cool

Back in the Southern Branch, Moon was seated before Ed, digesting everything he’d said wordlessly.

Ed left him and went somewhere for a moment. When he returned...

Thud~

Something heavy landed on the table next to where Moon was seated, snapping his absent-mindedness apart.

Startled, he looked at what fell, blinking.

"What’s that?" he asked.

"The reward of this round," Ed said flatly.

"Isn’t it supposed to come through the status window?" Moon retorted.

"I forgot to list them." Ed shrugged. "Now check them out," he said.

Moon extended his hand to open the box that landed before his face.

Slap~

Ed slapped his hand without warning. "What was that for?" Moon frowned.

"Go to your room first and bring the armor you got before," Ed instructed, resting his hand on the box.

Moon pursed his lips but didn’t say anything.

He started making his way to Hall 1, where the upper chest armor he won after beating the second round was.

Soon, he returned to Hall 3 with everything he had ready.

Ed took them from him and placed everything on the chair. He first got the chest plate.

He widened his arms. "Arms to the side," he said, signaling for Moon to follow his lead.

Ed strapped the chest plate; he took his time explaining the joint points to him.

He proceeded with the shoulder piece and forearms before finally opening the box.

There, he took out a piece of armor that had the same design but was for the shin and foot only.

Ed squatted and fixed it before adding the last part over his shoes. "I made these to protect the toes," he explained. "I designed it so it would be worn over any kind of footwear," he then added.

The shin part was curved wide at the end to extend over the knee without being a hindrance.

Moon looked down at himself, moving his arms and legs around.

"How does it feel?" Ed asked.

"Too light," Moon exclaimed in surprise.

Ed nodded in agreement.

He extended his hand to the box again. "Now, this is the last and most problematic part of the set," he said.

Moon looked more curious than anything else; at this moment, Ed distracted him from the mess that was ravaging his heart and mind.

Ed took out something round and somewhat ominous to look at. "Here." He handed it to Moon.

Moon took it, his swollen eyes squinting to the point of a frown.

He studied the object: round with a featureless face, angular with nothing but narrow slits for the eyes. "DAMN!" the sight made him exclaim.

He looked at Ed. "Is that a helmet or a mask?" Moon asked, unable to tell exactly what the item was.

It was made of metal, but it was too light without any moving parts, which made it closer to a mask, though it was round and covered the head the way a helmet should.

"Just put it on and check how everything looks," Ed said, not giving him an answer.

Moon rotated the helmet and placed it over his head. He walked to the mirror and checked how he looked. "DASHING AS HELL!" he shouted.

Ed nodded in satisfaction, knowing too well that Moon loved looking cool more than anything else, maybe even more than food.

He watched as Moon rotated in front of the mirror, looking up and down to feel the helmet better. He even jumped and squatted to test mobility.

"You like it?" Ed asked the obvious question.

Moon nodded. "A lot!"

"It has some history, if you want to hear about it," Ed said.

Moon took the helmet off his head and sat down to listen.

"This armor I designed and made myself. We weren’t kids anymore at the time. My smithing skills had matured by then, so I designed this to make it special and comfortable for our styles," Ed started telling the tale slowly.

He opened his hand, and his own helmet in red came out. "This is my helmet," he introduced.

"Samuel had a golden one, and the last was blue." Ed sighed. "It’s notorious in the Tower," he added.

"Notorious?" Moon asked attentively.

Ed nodded. "We became famous and received our titles while wearing these."

He looked at the ceiling. "Over the years we stayed inactive, many tried to make similar armor; the style of light plate armor was my invention, and many tried to replicate it."

Moon frowned, not liking where this was going. "So?" he asked.

"So." Ed looked at him. "The armor is fine; it won’t be very recognizable. As for the helmet, you might attract too much attention with it, so use it carefully."

Moon pursed his lips. "At least I can wear the armor freely, then." He still couldn’t help asking, "Why won’t it be recognized, though?"

"Just remember that we had more enemies than you would expect; not all of them know we’re staying here," Ed started explaining. "Those who are our enemies in the open will go after you with or without armor; as for those who are hidden, they will only recognize you by the helmet."

Moon pressed both hands to his face.

Slap~

He squeezed his face inwardly in frustration. His lips moved. "Why is everyone after me?" he mumbled.

Ed looked troubled by his words, but he didn’t let it linger. "Cool guys are cursed to be chased or desired," he said jokingly instead.

"Why am I cursed to be cool?" Moon lamented in defeat.

"Because you chose to be cool. You can change your mind if you want," Ed teased.

Moon pursed his lips. "I’ll keep being cool as hell then," he said in resignation, without having any choice.

Ed clapped his hands. "Well, this is incomplete, but I needed your opinion on the last part since I don’t have much experience making these."

"What are you talking about?" Moon looked at the armor, which seemed perfectly complete.

"A cool armor must have a cool cape," Ed said.

"Like hell I’m wearing this shit!" Moon jumped to his feet and spat.

Ed frowned, not understanding the reason behind Moon’s strong reaction. "What’s going on? Capes are the best!" he retorted.

"Best death sentence a guy could carry on his back," Moon spat again. "Can you even count how many I killed easily because they had stupid capes?" He waved his arm like a sword.

Ed blinked. For a moment, he looked confused.

"A cape flying with the wind like a flag, the owner will get pulled to the mud like a pole," Moon added. "I will not wear a cape. Kill me first!"

Having experienced the disadvantages of wearing a cape on the first floor, he knew best that wearing rags was by far better than having uselessly fancy clothing.

As for Ed, he also started to realize the difference in their experiences; he was a powerful ascender when he wore a cape, unlike Moon, who crawled through the dry dirt of the first floor.

Still, he had no choice but to agree with Moon’s point of view.

Bringing a cape through war on the second floor meant some useless extension to one’s free movement that could be exploited.

Ed took a moment to think of what to do about this, and before long, he said, "I guess this is fated to fall into your hands then."