Gregory couldn't believe his eyes.

That strange blue woman sitting next to their target just shrugged off hundreds of enhanced rounds like they were nothing, and was now rampaging through Curtis and the boys like a bull in a china cabinet.

As she whirled around, arms and legs whipping out to send men flying like rag dolls, her cape twirled behind her, allowing the men to sneak peeks at the beautiful, transparently blue body beneath, clad in what looked like an incredibly risque cosplay set, straight out of a pre-magic anime convention.

He watched in utter shock as Lewis was sent flying a good dozen feet into the air while the rest rolled around on the floor in terror, trying to put as much distance as they could between themselves and the madwoman.

“This ain't what the boss promised!”

A quick in and out, take out the boss's rival, maybe handle an inexperienced guard or two, and then skedaddle, that was all they were supposed to do. So where the hell had this monster come from?

Gregory assumed her odd appearance was caused by some kind of magical item. After all, in this strange new world, when something happened that you couldn't explain, it was usually caused by magic. But now he began to ask himself 'Is that thing even human?'

Poor Butch was getting thrown around by his leg like a hyperactive kid with a toy hammer, the strange woman in the cape being the kid, and Butch being the hammer.

'Good lord, if the boss hadn't given us those kinetic dis-whatchamacallits the boys would be paste on the ground right now.'

A loud groan from the wagon distracted Gregory from the horror show in front of him, and he turned to see the large blob that was their target trying to prop himself up in his wagon. Despite the numerous bloody wounds left on him from their opening attack, the fat bastard looked healthy enough to pull through if he was allowed time to recover.

'Looks like I've got to do this myself. Now's my chance! You boys distract that freak a bit longer!' he cheered on his compatriots in his mind, lifting his sword above his shoulder to prepare his attack.

Gregory knew he was a half-baked adventurer, but if there was one thing he was good at, it was cutting down people when they didn't expect it. He was an old hand at ending other's lives to pay his own bills, and while others looked down on him for merging with a goblin core, he didn't care, because it gave him just enough power to make his sneak attacks deadly, even against those who were significantly stronger than him.

His pals noticed Gregory approaching the target to finish their job, despite the beat down they were currently experiencing. They could only pray he would succeed and the creature in front of them would let them flee afterwards.

However, as Gregory began to approach the wagon with the “Magic Merchant” on it, the horrifying woman stopped as though she had eyes in the back of her head, turning and sprinting towards Gregory before he could swing his sword.

Gregory approached Rob with single-minded focus, determined to cut him down and get the hell out of here before his opponents could react. He was blindsided as the woman reached out and gripped his neck, lifting him into the air just a few short feet short of his goal.

The rest of his group didn't lament Gregory's failure for long. Instead, they grabbed their guns and whatever other items had fallen off of them within easy reach while they were being pummeled, and immediately began running as fast as their legs could take them. Several sent prayers to whatever deity they worshiped to thank Gregory for his sacrifice, as they swore they would never forget his selfless actions today.

They also swore to never mess with that crazy freak in the cape again as Curtis, the nominal leader of their little hit squad, tried to figure out how he was going to explain this mess to the boss.

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Clarity admired her own gooey body as she held the fake adventurer in front of her by the neck like a hapless chicken. She hadn't expected the sheer physical strength she was able to bring to bear against these thugs. 'Although they shrugged off those hits quite well. I guess I'm not the only one who got stronger since the world changed, huh?'

Nothing proved her thoughts more true than the sight of Rob picking himself up behind her with numerous bloody bullet holes covering his body.

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“Are you okay back there?” she asked with concern. 'I really don't want to fail on my very first quest! I should have known to avoid escort quests! Always avoid escort quests!'

“I'm fine, I'm fine” Rob replied with extreme exhaustion, before pausing to think further about his own response. “Actually, I'm not fine... I'm terrible. Give me an hour to recover and maybe I'll be a bit better” he added, before half climbing and half falling from the wagon, dropping into a cross-legged sitting posture and closing his eyes.

Seeing Rob abruptly drop into some kind of meditation without giving her a chance to respond, she turned her attention back to man she was holding.

“So, who are you?” she asked conversationally.

The man merely growled at her, clawing at her arm with his hands and kicking at her body ineffectually, while his face began to turn an odd shade of purple.

“Oops, my bad” Clarity dropped him on the ground, where he fell backwards on his ass and began gasping for air.

The first words that came out of his mouth were “Please spare me! It was just business! They made me do it! I have a wife and kids to feed! I didn't mean to! I-”

“Okay, okay” Clarity smiled back “I'm not interested in your obviously made-up excuses, nor am I particularly interested in what happens to you. That will be for Rob to decide! I just want you to explain what happened here to relieve my boredom while Rob recovers.”

“I see...” The man took on a calculating look and then shut his mouth dramatically to signify his intention to remain silent.

“Well, if you want to remain silent, that's fine too. I can just entertain myself by beating you up like I did your friends” Clarity threatened.

“No, no!” he flipped immediately “I'd be glad to explain! You see...”

Over the next hour, the old man refused to allow a single moment of silence to grace the air, as though afraid that Clarity would make good on her threat if he stopped to take a breath. Clarity learned that the group who attacked them worked for a rival merchant calling himself “Bert the Magic Dealer” and their goal was to knock off their main competition, Rob. Apparently this Bert had a helper from one of the nearby magical worlds who was providing him with magical goods and he wanted to kill Rob's trading business to gain a monopoly in the local area.

She also learned more than she ever wanted to know about Gregory, the man she had captured, and his innumerable conflicts with other people, ranging from fights over food, fights over women, fights over property, and fights over exotic magic-based drugs.

When Rob finally woke up an hour later, metal slugs began popping out of his body as he inhaled, leaving only small marks where he'd been wounded. “Thank goodness my wounds weren't too deep.”

Turning to Clarity, he performed a deep bow and added “And thank you, for protecting me from their underhanded attack! Though, and I don't mean to be ungrateful, I must ask, was it not possible to block more of those bullets?”

“Sure, I suppose I could have...” Clarity said, pushing open her tattered cape to reveal the now rather badly dented metal bikini “If the armor you gave me covered more space, it could have blocked more bullets for you.”

“Hahaha” Rob chuckled abashedly “Well, damn, I guess I deserved that one.”

Pulling himself back together he suddenly shouted “Oh no! Betsy! Is she okay?”

Rob ran over to check on his horse, running his hands through her mane in joy as he confirmed that she was unharmed. Clarity took the chance to give him a heavily abridged version of Gregory's endless blabbering.

“Those bastards!” he cursed, turning to face Clarity and her captive who was now sitting docilely at her feet. “Did you manage to grab any of their guns?”

“No, this one only had a sword and the rest of them fled.”

“Curses!” Rob spat “The city will never believe us without hard proof.”

“Why would we need more proof? Your wagon is covered in holes, isn't that proof enough?” Clarity asked.

“Hmm, you're righ- WAIT, MY WAGON?” Rob exclaimed, rushing over to examine the damage. “MY BEAUTIFUL WAGON!”

With most of the gunfire concentrated on Rob, as well as Clarity who was in front of him, the front portion of the wagon where they were sitting was now riddled in bullet holes. Even the storage area had a few stray shots pierce through the walls, and several magical items now seemed to be leaking mana. 'That can't be good...'

After informing Rob, he made the immediate decision to dispose of them, citing the extreme unpredictability of damaged magical items as the main cause for concern. After confirming that Rob really wanted them gone, and that leaving them lying on the side of the road for somebody else to find and possibly blow themselves up with was not a great idea, Clarity proceeded to absorb three leaking, badly damaged magical items, much to Rob's amazement.

“I swear I'm going to get that gnome bastard responsible for this” Rob muttered darkly as he tabulated his losses.

“Gnomes?” 'Why are we suddenly talking about gnomes?'

“Yeah, short little buggers, real hippy types. They're all about innovation and prosperity. Nobody makes magical enchantments like they do. Computers? Cars? Flying ships? They do it all. We can't even keep our guns working because magic makes them blow up, but that's nothing to a gnome. No, they even consider guns nothing more than primitive weapons for savage, backwards civilizations, sitting up on their high horses with laser grids and gravity drives. They hardly ever share their tech or let outsiders in, because they say we're all violent, thieving brutes. There's nothing they love more than peace and technology.”

“... And you think a bunch of peace loving gnomes sent out a hit squad to kill you?” Clarity failed to hide the skepticism in her tone.

“Ah, right, you wouldn't know. Gnomes are known for this kind of thing. The gnomes that do leave their society are usually the worst of the worst. What do you think happens when a gnome breaks their laws? Some rotten schmuck who is willing to use and abuse their skills without conscience? Jail? Death? No! They exile them, they say 'You aren't welcome here anymore, go bother someone else' and just let them go, leaving the rest of us to deal with their rotten apples! That helper Bert hired? It must be a gnome!”

'Huh, I guess that makes sense. Don't tell me I'm going to have to protect Rob from flying ships with lasers? I knew it, escort quests are always the worst!' Clarity lamented.

“Now let's hurry on to Eden City before they organize another assault. Once we're inside the city we should be safer” Rob began to rush around, throwing a silver rope that shone with magic in Clarity's senses, to her “Tie that bastard up, we'll hand him over to the guards when we get there. Hopefully they'll take our warnings seriously that way.”

“Wait, my cat will starve if I don't make it bac-” Gregory began to sputter, before suddenly locking up entirely as the silver rope began to loop around him. Clarity threw him into the back of the wagon as Rob drove them away, pushing Betsy to more than twice the speed of the first half of their trip.