We returned to the ship, no problem. I was expecting a little that the guys we beat up earlier would just pull up in our way. But guess not. Maybe I did some terrible damage to the guy. I mean, it felt like I broke a rib with that kick. So yeah… Well, a little healing magic should fix him right up.

Upon arrival, we realized that the other group had yet to return. I supposed they were enjoying their outing. Well, there was not much fun to do here, anyway. I had Velar and Hartwin place our shopped items into my room. We would need to organize them later and put them on the newly bought bags as well.

There was still a lot more preparation to do. But, again, we’d do that later. For now, there was another thing we had to work on. And it was something we were quite excited for. Can you guess?

That’s right! The brand new weapons we bought! Ones with some badass specs at that, specs you wouldn’t find back home! I too was quite excited to try it out and practice how to implement it into my combat style.

We returned to the deck, and I pulled out a new dagger. Velar and Hartwin also pulled out their weapons. One of the crewmembers that remained on the ship approached us with widened eyes, staring at the weapons.

“New swords?” the crewman asked.

“Yeah,” Hartwin answered with visible excitement. “Pretty cool, huh?” He caressed the blade of his rapier.

“Yeah!”

I watched Velar pour his magic into the sword, and it began to glow.

“I’m going to give it a try.”

We acknowledged what he was thinking of doing and we moved away to give him more space. He faced outward of the ship, to a free space where he’d hit no one. He grasped his greatsword with both hands tightly.

“How does he even lift that with ease? Magic?” one crewman asked.

“Didn’t seem like he used Physical Enhancement,” I said. “It’s just his raw strength.”

“Woah.”

Imagine if he used Physical Enhancement with it, that sword would be way lighter. And quick swings from that big of a sword, whew, that would be painful. I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of that.

Velar did a downward swing, and a small gust of wind erupted beneath his sword. He did a few more swings as he took steps forward. He nodded. But then, I noticed his muscle seemed to stiffen — could it be that he was using Physical Enhancement now?

He did a few swings again as his sword glowed in magic. This time, his swings were faster but still powerful. As I thought, he would be a worrying opponent with that style of fighting. However, if that was his speed, I’d still be faster. I’d still be able to outrun him if needed. Your girl’s pretty fast, you know. Light feet, legs like Hermes… or something.

And then, with more force than before, he swung his sword downward, sending an arc of light shooting into the air. The slash rose upward, and after some distance, it dissipated. Velar stared at his sword.

“This is truly an impressive sword. I never felt so good using a weapon before,” he said with obvious exhilaration.

“It truly is. So magnificent.” Hartwin swung his rapier in the air.

His swings and attacks were swift, from slashing to stabbing. His footing was graceful and body movement performative. His sword glowed, leaving traces of white arcs in the air as it moved. And then, instantly, he stabbed his sword in the air, sending a piercing Armament Magic forward.

I had seen him use such a technique before, and it was quite interesting. Everyone back home used swords and magical slashes. That piercing attack of his was so fast and sharp, too. Dodging it would be difficult. Shielding myself could save me. However, piercing attacks were meant to breach through shields. Surviving it would depend on how hard I make my shields. Fortunately, I had a lot of mana. Still, I would prefer dodging those attacks if I could.

“This is so perfect. I’ll value this until the end of its life!” Hartwin exclaimed.

“You never saw such weapons back on the continent?” I asked.

“No,” Velar said.

“Nope, not even during my travels.” Hartwin shook his head.

“It’s impossible they never tried to trade their weapons,” I said. “Is it perhaps just rare in our lands?”

“Could be. And expensive,” Hartwin answered.

Such rare weapons being imported, it would be exceedingly expensive. I mean, it was already extremely expensive when I bought them.

“Could it be that they also limit their trade to such weapons?” I added. “I remember Taneva mentioning these lands trade in minerals. Basically, they’re gatekeeping their technology, especially on weapons?”

“That could be it.”

That girl sold the weapons to us, must be because we didn’t intend to sell them or didn’t buy them in bulk. Besides, aside from the expensive price, using these on the continent won't be too necessary. Our weapons do just fine out there. And our blacksmiths should have their own techniques. It was just different here.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Plus, the materials they used to enhance the blades, my guess was that they could only be found here. If they were back on the continent, we would have already made something like these weapons. Despite being a dead land, there sure were some valuable raw materials here. It made me wonder how come no one invaded this place yet — oh yeah, this place was fucked up.

Who would be stupid enough to invade a land filled with powerful monsters and powerful warriors?

You’d certainly lose miserably.

As for their raw materials, I wondered which they sell. I doubt they would sell to just anyone, or for cheap, their unique resources. Not only that, there didn’t seem to be a lot of legitimate business going out of their way coming here, except for the illegal ones.

Hm, are they hunting down pirates because they want more business to come here?

Yeah, that could be one of the reasons.

This was a medieval type era, anyway. No such thing as globalization yet. Trading between continents is hard.

Well, whatever it would be, it would require a lot of work. Years of work to change things up here. Not my business.

“Hm.” I stared at my new glittering dagger. “I’m giving it a try.” I poured magic into it, and it was the same sensation I felt last time I tried the weapon of the same kind.

I swung the dagger into the air, sending an arc of light into the air.

“Awesome,” Hartwin remarked.

I wanted to try out some more, but I remembered that someone was watching. I was a bit disappointed, but I didn’t want to show my cards that easily. Thus, I returned my dagger to its sheath.

“That’s it?” Hartwin asked with visible disappointment.

“You’re not going to practice your new weapons?” Velar asked.

I shook my head. “Not for now.” Maybe in my room later, alone.

“Why? What’s the matter?”

“Nothing… Well, it’s about what I want to talk about later,” I answered Velar.

Some time later, as my two companions practiced their new weapons, the other group had returned. I must say, the way they twiddled around with their new weapons was almost like how boys are when they got a new toy. Adorable.

Taneva was ahead of the group, and he didn’t even look tired at all. Unlike the rest of his group, they were obviously tired, must be from all the walking. And, I imagine, also because of what they had seen. I approached them with a sweet smile.

“So? How was it?”

A few of them looked at each other before giving me a wry smile.

“I-It’s interesting, to say the least,” said one guy.

“But it is a bit scary,” added one woman.

“Honestly, why is everyone here so shady and dangerous looking?” Shayla commented, agitated a little. “People were glaring at us.”

“Y-Yeah, I thought we were gonna get attacked.”

“Well, me being there, you didn’t have to be scared about that,” Taneva casually remarked.

“All in all, it was interesting to see what kind of place this is,” said one guy. “Especially the food they have. So bizarre.”

“We brought some fruit. Try it everyone!”

I looked at the fruit they presented to me. “Ah yes, we tasted that earlier. Quite sour, aren’t they?”

“Yes, they are.”

More of my crew gathered, and they grimaced a little upon seeing the nasty-looking fruit. It took some persuasion, but finally they tried it. And, as expected, their faces contorted as they munched on them.

“We also got some dried meat. Apparently, it was from a big wolf-like monster.”

The crew gasped upon hearing that.

I leaned forward, frowning while looking at the meat they presented. “These? From monsters?”

“Yes! So weird. I never even considered eating monster meat. Didn’t even think they were edible.”

Huh, I guess when you’re in a tough place you have to eat what you can.

“Some monsters are actually edible,” Taneva interjected. “But others, well, the least you’ll get is a stomachache.”

“And the worst?” I asked.

“Slow and painful death,” he chuckled with an amused grin. “But these ones should be fine. The people here eat it. Give it a try.”

I received the dried meat given to me. I couldn’t help but wince, thinking it was from a monster. I mean, monsters weren’t animals, right? Monsters are monsters. And to eat them? Ugh, this reminded me of the worms that my dear brother had me eat. It was somewhat delicious, but worms? Not really appetizing.

Fuck it.

I took a bite of the dried meat. “Uh…” It had flavor, a little bit more flavorful than dried fish. And I suppose it was also like steak, but dry and hard. And some saltiness. In short, it was alright. Not bad, not so good either, enough to eat daily, but not at every moment of the day.

“So what do you think?” a crewman asked me.

“It’s okay. Edible. Should try dipping it in vinegar next time.”

“Oh, I wonder how’d that taste.”

Once I ate all the dried meat in my hands, I turned towards Taneva.

“Did you face any problem?”

“Not at all.”

“I see.” I began contemplating.

“Why? Something up?”

“Let’s talk to my cabin. Velar, Hartwin, with me.”

They followed me into my cabin. With closed doors and windows, I addressed them in a serious expression.

“We have a small problem,” I said to them. “Someone is tailing us.”

Velar and Hartwin both looked surprised. “Are you sure?” the former asked.

“I’ve sensed them since we left the ship and stepped into the city.” I turned to Taneva. “You didn’t notice anyone following you?”

“None at all. If someone did, I would have known.”

“Then this means they’re after me.” Of course they’d observe me, their leader.

“Who would send someone to follow us?” Hartwin warily asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? It’s that garrison commander,” I said with audible annoyance. “They’re cautious of us. They definitely noticed the oddity of our crew.”

Taneva nonchalantly nodded. “Yeah, that commander is indeed sharp. But to think he’d go his way to have you followed. For what purpose, I wonder?”

I let out a sigh. “Likely to learn more about us, and about me. But we’re not hostile, so we shouldn’t have anything to worry about. They’re merely observing, that’s all.”

There was no other reason they would treat us as enemies. We saved their men, and we were not connected to any of their enemies. But they were likely curious about our motives for coming here. The commander seemed to be interested in that.

“So, what should we do about it?” Taneva asked. “Kill the tail?”

I deeply frowned. “Absolutely not. Killing is not an option unless you want to make an enemy out of them.” Intimidating them to stop might be more tolerable, but killing was absolutely a no-no. “For now, let them watch.” And I wasn’t particularly fond of someone following me. “Let them do what they do. Especially you Taneva, aside from me you might be the only one that can catch them.”

“Hehe, you flatter me.”

“Tell the Cursed Children about this, will you? Before they do something unnecessary.”

“Yeah, they might go after the guy if they realize they’re following you.” He turned his head and stared at Velar and Hartwin’s weapons. “By the way, did you buy new gears? Looks nice.”

***

It was nighttime, and I was in my cabin. I was practicing my new daggers, getting used to them. With strings attached, I threw the dagger forward as I sat down on my bed. My daggers burst into small slashes. There was a little difference in feeling and application, but I got the hang of it. The magic was still linked together, despite being automatically distributed. So the magic didn’t get disrupted and broke apart.

I stopped and retracted my dagger. I let out a sigh. There was something on my mind. The bounty. I kept thinking about it. I was so interested in doing it. Honestly, I was starting to understand why.

I want to do it.

I missed it. But that was not the only reason for it…

Should I indulge myself with completing that bounty?

I laid down on the bed, staring at the ceiling as I pondered deeply.

“... Guess I’ll give it a try.”