I waited on the deck, enjoying the sun as I watched him approach.

It turned out Khikall was overly optimistic in his estimation on how long it would take to return. And when he finally did return, I noticed he was returning alone.

Khikall stumbled his way down the rickety pier. The Jerboa was plastered by the looks of him but he still managed to jump from the dock to the deck, although, his landing wasn’t graceful and I saw him choke back some vomit before he stood on unsteady legs.

“Want me to fix that for you?”

He shook his head very slowly, “A cost of doing business,” he said with a burp. “Barcos agreed to join the crew on one condition.”

“Oh, and what’s that?” I asked, curious as to what a man like Barcos would want for his cooperation.

“You need to bring in his replacement.”

“… That’s all? Why can’t he just contact his government and have them send one over?” I asked in confusion.

“He did. But the man refused to come to the island and is hiding out at another, more prosperous port, called Argen.”

“So it’s a damn fetch quest,” I grumbled. “Let me guess, this guy we are looking for isn’t going to want to come willingly?”

“That is unlikely, but Barcos said the man is a coward and we should be able to subdue him with little effort and bring him aboard for the trip back.”

“Uh-huh, I feel like there is something Barcos isn’t telling us, but fine. Why don’t you get some sleep, we can leave after you’ve recovered.”

We left late in the evening after Khikall recovered from his drunken stupor. I was pretty sure the man could have piloted the Retribution in that state without much issue but better safe than sorry.

Our destination was southeast about five days away if the weather held out. Which I doubted it would, going by the already increasing amount of mist gathering under some of the smaller islands. The phenomenon was interesting to watch and in my boredom – while waiting for Khikall – I had built a mana barometer of sorts. The needle on the device had been steadily climbing during the last hour.

While it wasn’t all that useful as you could see the mist getting thicker, it may come in handy to tell when the mists would dissipate. When I showed it to Khikall and explained what it did, he thought it was quite useful. Apparently, there could be nasty mana storms in the mist. According to him, it was the one thing that would force even pirates out into the open.

I was glad I hadn’t randomly stumbled into one of these storms before finding a guide.

***

The trip to the next port city was uneventful. We had only spotted a few ships in the distance as we traveled. They were too far out to identify them, even for Khikall’s sharp eyes. By the time we coasted into the large port, the mist had fully taken over again. The port was easily twice the size of Posa.

Argen was also not an Avuilian Protectorate port, it was run by the Guild. So I would have to step lightly here. It also happened to have a Bazaar. The first I had seen in the Isles.

It took some time to find a berth for Retribution. With the mist fully engulfing the area once more, most ships were docked and waiting for the mist to clear before embarking. Making available docking space hard to come by.

We weren’t able to find an open berth in the main docks, so Khikall steered the ship below the island to a rough set of dug-out caves.

“These used to be smuggler landings, Nobody really uses them anymore since the tunnels into the town are long and winding but it might work in our favor. It’ll be a tight fit though as they weren’t exactly built to handle a ship as large as Retribution. But I think we can back it in enough to keep the ship from sliding out and falling into the ocean below.”

Khikall’s words didn’t exactly engender confidence in this plan.

“Well, how can I say no to that resounding vote of confidence,” I replied flatly, earning a chuff of amusement from the old Jerboa.

He was right though, it was a tight fit, width-wise. The height was more than tall enough, built for a dirigible style ship, I was guessing. There was a grinding noise as the ship knocked loose a protruding stone. Thankfully the compressed and rune-enhanced titanium was far harder than the walls, making the damage to the ship only superficial.

The ship jerked to a stop as it impacted the rear wall. I had expected it but I still winced. But we were inside. About a third of the bow still stuck out of the shallow cave and this had been the deepest of the five caves.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“So…” Khikall said, “how are we going to grab this person?”

I shrugged, “first we have to find them. We can come up with a plan after that. Oh, make sure the flag is still attached to the upper hull, we don’t want to lose that, or we may be mistaken for pirates ourselves.” The flag in question came from Barcos. It marked us as an official envoy of the Avuilian Protectorate, not that it would stop the Guild from shooting us down but at least we wouldn’t be stuck with bounties after kidnapping our target.

Barcos hadn’t given much information on the man we needed to find, other than that he was a degenerate gambler and womanizer. Oh and he also supplied a name, Sha’Stis. Barcos either didn’t know anything else or thought it would be funny to make us work even harder for his help.

Either way was fine with me. I wasn’t planning on being the man's buddy, I just wanted his skills and levels to assist in my plan.

After an hour of walking through winding tunnels, Khikall and I stepped out into the lush jungle on the island. I had no clue how large this island was but Khikall had said it was larger than the one that Pusa was situated on.

We hiked out of the dense tropical jungle and onto the road. We could only tell it was a road by the dull glow of magical streetlamps overhead. It was pretty late in the day but there was still traffic along the road as people and carts – pulled by draft animals – made their way down the magically compressed path. I had to give the Guild credit, they built a damn fine road. It was easily as smooth and flat as a pre-System highway, just not as wide. It was also a bit weird as the color of the road matched the surrounding dirt, an almost orange-brown color.

I guess not needing concrete or asphalt made road-building quite easy. Just compress the local soil until you get your desired result, also easy to repair.

“Come on, the town’s this way,” Khikall gestured, as he nearly disappeared into the mist.

If it wasn’t for the lights I would have lost him completely. As it was I was only following his dim silhouette.

I couldn’t imagine having to live in this type of environment my entire life, not being able to see a third of the time would have driven me nuts. Another thing that would have driven me crazy was the eerie animal noises coming from the surrounding forest. Occasionally I would see a spark leap from one of the lamps, followed by an angry screech as whatever was hit by the discharge flew off to find easier prey.

Khikall and the other vague shapes I saw in the mist seemed unconcerned about it so I just kept moving. Eventually, the mist brightened as we neared what I assumed was the port. It was like a lighthouse in the dark and as we passed an invisible line the mist simply vanished. The change was so sudden I almost ran into the back of Khikall.

I turned around to see the wall of mist, curve up and over the city, following an invisible dome of magic.

“Neat,” I said.

“Yes, the Guild towns like to show off with their mist shields. But it’s a waste of mana hearts if you ask me. Come, I know a few of the more reputable gambling dens in the city, we can start our search there.”

“And if we don’t find him in one of those?”

Khikall shrugged, “Then we start looking in the shadier places. I’m sure a few credits will get us his location by that point. Nobody frequents those types of places unless they have no other place to go.”

“Alright, lead on.”

The first location was the gaudiest building I had ever laid eyes on. It must have used every bright color known to man and some that didn’t seem physically possible. It made the ostentatious buildings in Vegas look like a church town in comparison.

Thankfully we didn’t have to spend much time in that place as our search quickly came up empty.

The next place was less garish but more opulent. Obsidian pillars, with veins of gold and ivory, towered overhead and out of sight into a ceiling obscured by an ever-moving starfield illusion. It was quite the sight and even Khikall stopped to admire the enchantment. The rest of the building was made of cream-colored ivory with gold and black accents. It was more imposing than inviting but I felt the urge to stay and spend money. I had to shake my head, realizing there must be some enchantment designed to make me feel this way.

I growled in annoyance and popped my old mind defense ring on. I tapped Khihall on the shoulder and handed him another. He didn’t bother asking what it was before sliding it on his finger. The effect was immediate as his eyes cleared and he chittered quietly in annoyance while looking around.

We were able to clear that place pretty quickly also. There were few people inside and none of them looked like the degenerate gambling type, although we did Identify all of them just in case.

The last place was more… normal is the word I would use to describe the building, but that is only in the context of combination gambling slash brothel establishments. Otherwise, it was pure Vegas class esthetics. It took far longer to go through this building as it was four floors and it wasn’t like we could barge into the private rooms to see who was enjoying a roll.

Thankfully, Khikall found someone he knew.

“So you’re looking for that shit Sha’Stis, eh?”

“Yeah, know where we can find him?” Khikall asked his Jerboa companion.

“Eh, I don’t know, I’m old so my memory is kinda fuzzy.”

I was going to roll my eyes at the blatant act but Khikall beat me to it by chittering in amusement. “If you could find it in you to recall, I imagine we could burden your pockets with some spare cred.”

“Hmm, now that you mention it, I think I saw that sleaze down by Doniger’s place.”

All of the amusement drained from Khikall’s face at that, “you’re sure?”

“Why would I lie about something like that.”

“Thanks for the tip, for your troubles,” Khikall said, handing the other Jerboa a credit voucher. “Thank you, and tell your family I asked about them.”

“But you didn’t,” the other Jerboa said.

“Yeah, but they don’t know that,” Khikall added, tipping his hat before he walked away, leaving the other old Jerboa to grumble under his breath.

“What was that all about?”

“Posturing mostly. If I gave face to the man by asking about his family, I would be admitting he was superior to me, because I have no family for him to ask about in return. This way, he is still inferior to me but can look superior in the eyes of his clan. They would have found out eventually that he spoke to a black ring and that would make him look weak if not for my gesture.”

I just shook my head at the absurdity of it all. “Fine, what about this Doniger?”

“It isn’t a person, that’s the name of the establishment. A whorehouse… filled with only slaves.”

He paused to see my reaction but I just took a deep breath. “I’m not here to save people, I will control myself.”

I could see that he didn’t quite believe me but he nodded and we kept walking.