Akua steered the enchanted boat West in order to avoid meeting any Water Riders.

She knew that the Water Riders would first stop in Solara for their rounds and slowly make their way through the Southern Archipelago going West. They would later split to make the rounds in the Western part, but it would take more than a week for them to visit all the islands. That was because only a very few Water Riders would be assigned to the weak Southern Archipelago.

So, Akua had all the time in the world to plot her next moves.

She had not foreseen that detestable girl figuring out that she had sunk her claws into Lani.

So far, she had used Lani to fetch rare herbs at a risible price, thanks to the fact that she knew about her past criminal exploits. Without Lani, her trades would have been stagnant since she would be easily recognized by the guards in several cities in the South Deep if she ever tried to get her hands on new wares there. Lani had basically been her lifeline – she was what had allowed her to take on a very cushy life while secretly working toward her true purpose.

And now, it was all gone.

Essentially, she had to start from zero.

It would also be much more difficult, considering that she fully expected the hateful girl to spread the news about her far and wide.

At least I’ve got rid of her.

And if I’m lucky, the Boss will have killed them both.

Those gullible villagers might even believe me if the girl was out of the picture.

Right as Akua kept plotting in her head, she heard a wet thud behind her, nearly making her jump out of the boat.

“You’re under arrest,” said a voice out of breath.

Akua turned to stare at the same girl who had thrown a wrench in her plans.

“How—”

Talia raised the glaive and nodded at the wet rope at Akua’s feet.

“Under arrest,” Talia spelled slowly, syllable by syllable.

***

Talia stared at Akua, her heart beating wildly in her chest.

Without her [Missile Swimming] Skill and her newly awakened Star Glaive, she would have never made it here.

After the last conversation with her father, she had woken up Lani and checked out the new weapon in her Akashic Record.

[Name: Star Glaive]

[Class: Soul Weapon]

[Level: 1]

[Rank: Novice]

[Core Skill #1: Reclaim Lv. 1]

[Core Skill #2: Skill Enhance Lv. 1]

The weapon had a whole page dedicated to it in the Akashic Record, akin to her own status. Most importantly, its first skill explained the strange ability Talia had already seen in action.

[Reclaim] allowed her to retrieve the glaive from anywhere in a radius that she felt spanned about 50 feet.

It would have been extremely useful if she could have used it against the very first Abyssal Scuttlers that she had met on the Northern shore.

But the most interesting Skill that Star Glaive possessed so far was [Skill Enhance].

Even though her father had explained to her how rare and powerful a Soul Weapon was, she still didn’t believe her own eyes. But she had had to believe her own eyes once the description of the skill had come pouring into her mind. It was amazing.

[Skill Enhance] allowed her to select a skill once per day and temporarily empower it to five levels higher than its current one.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Talia, who hadn’t forgotten about Akua and had been assured by her father that he had killed all the monsters on the island, had decided to immediately put the glaive to the test and use [Skill Enhance] on the one Skill she hadn’t used yet.

[Missile Swimming Lv. 7 (2)]

Even though her whole body ached by now, the skill she had absorbed from the Abyssal Cuda had shown impressive results.

[Missile Swimming] consumed Mana in exchange for turning Talia into a torpedoing underwater force. It worked similarly to the [Water Board] Skill that the Water Riders learned but underwater. She was essentially wrapped in a thin film of Mana that propelled her forward at incredible speed. In all honesty, and perhaps because of her hubris, she felt confident she could become a real terror to the Abyssal Cudas with [Missile Swimming] at Level 7.

The thing she was most happy about, though, was that she had managed to track down Akua.

Talia had quickly thought about what route the woman might take and had decided to jump in the water as soon as she had made sure that Lani was well.

Takai’s mother had been shaken by the event, but she had quickly sworn not to tell the islanders anything about the mysterious man after Talia had asked her. Talia was quite sure Lani had been completely knocked out during her conversation with him anyway, but it was best for neither of them to mention his appearance. It would have otherwise led to some very difficult questions that Talia had no intention of answering.

“Tie your hands up right now,” Talia ordered the woman.

“Lani killed the Boss?” Akua asked, incredulous.

Talia just smiled in response, tightening her grip on the weapon.

After seeing her reaction, though, Akua regained her composure, and something settled in her eyes.

“You know,” the merchant said, “I told you that I met your mother.”

“Tie your wrists!”

“What I didn’t tell you,” Akua continued, unfazed, “is that I met her because she’s the one who killed my mother. Right in front of me.”

Talia frowned.

“Was your mother a criminal?”

“And that’s the first question that goes through her daughter's head—not why would someone kill a mother in front of their daughter, right?”

Akua snickered, taking a step forward.

“Stay where you are!”

“I saw your mother impale my own with a weapon very much like this one – maybe it was this one. It was your mother’s, right?”

Akua took another step forward, getting dangerously closer to the blade, and, this time, it was Talia who had to take a step back.

“Your mother never cared that I was right there, that she would be leaving behind a motherless, orphaned little girl. It was commendable how ruthless that woman could be and how little she cared about what others thought of her cruelty.”

“Stop!” Talia shouted when Akua took another step forward.

“I know monsters – people who are shunned by society for what they do. And I also know that a good chunk of them would look pathetic compared to who your mother was and what she did to many of the people I loved.”

“If you get any closer, I will—”

“Kill me?” Akua said, taking another step, having backed Talia against the wooden wall of her ship's cabin. “Where do you think this is going, Talia?”

“What are you—”

Without another word, Akua pushed herself forcefully upon the blade, impaling herself through the abdomen on the terribly sharp weapon, missing the heart by mere inches.

“I’m not letting the Water Riders take me,” Akua said, tears streaming from her eyes. “I know too much.”

“Let go!” Talia shouted, trying to dislodge the weapon so that she could maybe find a way to heal the woman.

But Akua had a death grip on the handle of the glaive.

Somehow, the woman had surprising strength for an Uninitiated person.

“I wanted to bring you to them, initially,” Akua said, with blood now gurgling from her mouth, falling from her lips in two watery threads. “Not to hurt you, but because I thought you had Abyssal Magic in you…”

Akua struggled to keep the glaive in her as her strength started leaving her, while Talia squirmed around, unwittingly creating even more damage to her insides.

“I surprised myself when I found out I was holding no grudge against you. I didn’t want you dead. When I saw that you didn’t have any Abyssal Magic, I even lost interest in bringing you along, even though they asked for you… But they could have met you at the Academy…”

“They? Who are they?! Who are you?!” Talia screamed.

Color was rapidly draining from Akua’s face.

Akua's body sagged against the glaive, her weight pulling her down as her strength ebbed away continuously.

Talia could feel the woman's grip weakening, her fingers trembling as they struggled to maintain their grip.

The sharp metallic scent of blood filled the air, mixing with the salty sea breeze.

Akua's skin, once sun-kissed and vibrant, now took on an ashen pallor.

Her eyes, which had burned with determination moments ago, began to glaze over, the light in them flickering like a candle in the wind.

Her breaths came in ragged gasps, each one a wet, gurgling sound that made Talia's stomach churn.

Blood continued to seep from the wound, staining Akua's clothes a deep crimson.

It spread across the fabric like spilled ink, warm and sticky where it touched Talia's hands.

The coppery taste of fear lingered on Talia's tongue as she watched life slowly drain from the woman before her.

Akua's lips moved, trying to form some last words but only managing to produce a faint whisper that was nearly lost in the gentle lapping of waves against the boat's hull.

Her body shuddered, an involuntary spasm that sent a jolt through the glaive and into Talia's arms.

As she began to hunch over life leaving her body, she left her last words to the world for Talia’s ears only, but without answering the girl’s questions.

“I’m happy… to die… like my Mom.”

Akua’s body fell to the side, the glaive's blade leaving a giant wound that spanned across almost all of her abdomen.

Talia trembled and she dropped the weapon, falling to her knees.

This was the first life she had ever taken.

She had always imagined that one day, she would have to kill someone.

But she had also thought that it would feel right, that she would be grimly doing her duty to the world by ridding it of a criminal.

Instead, it felt…

Wrong.

All kinds of wrong.

Looking down at Akua’s lifeless body, at her glassy eyes, she didn’t feel righteous. She didn’t feel like she had done something necessary.

No.

She only felt like a monster.

Only what came after managed to distract her from these thoughts.

[You have slain Abyssal Cultist Merchant Level 7!]