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The next few days passed by in a blur; eventually landing on the boat.

A lot happened. Both good and bad.

On the good side of things, Pol, the purple-haired Elf Mage I met at the auction, delivered on his promise. The day before we left for Claw's Nest, a package was delivered to us while my party was in the middle of eating lunch. A package which we unwrapped together to find an Incubator containing a Core.

The Core of a monster called the [Hou (犼)], a grade-5 monster.

A boss-class Monster that cannot be found in dungeons, it's usually found in fields that are related to necromancy and death. It resembles [Cheonma], the monster that Aurora got her Grade-5 Core from in the fact that it is in the shape of a canine. But that's where the similarities end.

An ultra-aggressive monster whose entire body is covered in decayed fish-like scales, overlapping one another in a grisly visage with fleshly waste being squeezed out from between them. With human hair hanging off of its nape and forming its tail, it's the Boss-form of a monster called the [Kangsi]. A zombie-like monster that can only move by hopping and attacks with its razor-sharp nails.

The funny thing about the [Hou] is that it's not a monster that can create fire. It uses highly reactive ash clouds to generate pillars of flame. Its breath can inflict [Necrosis], but is also very flammable. The Core I got for Skaris had the ability, [Rotting Skin]. At the expense of HP, he could basically cure himself of most physical status ailments.

But its passive, [Decay Essence] was what I wanted for Skaris.

[Decay Essence] adds a chance of [Necrosis] to all your attacks.

Another MSS mechanic at work here.

[Necrosis] + [Burning] = [Necrofire].

A [Burning Status] prevents the inflicted from being healed until the fire is extinguished. And this type of fire couldn't be extinguished by normal means.

Only [Holy]-type spells, meaning a Priest is able to cure this status.

…Or something similar to [Rotting Skin].

With this, 4 Cores.

Aurora, 5.

Stole, 4.

And me, 4.

Close. Very close.

But with this last addition to his growing collection of Cores, by my estimation, Skaris had officially become the highest DPS output in our party. The only caveat was that his moves spread too fast and if we weren't careful, the rest of us could get swept up in it.

Which brought me to the next problem and solution.

To be able to fight next to Skaris, having a Healer-class party member became a must. At the very least, able to create and cast [Holy Water].

And at the end of my ropes…

I went and recruited her.

Which then brought me to the current situation.

Once again, we found ourselves at the docks.

The sharp smell of alcohol and vomit lingered in the air, even as the caws of seagulls echoed in the dark sewer-like alleyways. Too many places had lingering shadows, too many yells that drowned out the silent pleas for help. Beggars lined the dark corners, clutching children to their chests. Either children or blankets stuffed with rocks.

Or something limp with arms dangling. Turning grey. Flies buzzing around the–

I didn't let my thoughts wander too far in that direction.

Whatever the reason, the ocean's salt breeze peppered the Fluporuin's sailors that were hard at work loading the newly found ship. They sweated under the humid heat of the sun beating down on their backs. Still, each of them wore a smile. Happy to be sailing again.

The other parties were returning slowly. Delas' was nowhere to be seen. Arione's party had been the first one to board. Borealis and his pack of Bastards and Scions crowded around the marketplace, spending hard-earned coin on tantalizing smoked meat skewers meant to please the eye and nose, and eventually the tongue.

And off on the side was me and the my party.

Plus our newest member.

When I first returned with her, the reactions were somewhat mixed. They all had a faint taste of disproval to it, but none of them questioned me too far.

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'I trust your decisions, Mr. Lock.'

'...The former War Prince offered her to us?... Mmmm…' Kyrian's silence left a lot of doubts.

'The collar. Sssurely we can take the collar off.' But the moment Skaris got within three paces of her, she hissed like a feral animal and backed up against the wall like a cat.

The only person who was allowed near her at all was Stole. The Beastman girl who was probably the closest in age to the orc priestess. Even Aurora wasn't allowed too near, though her reaction was nowhere as vehement to her as it was to Kyrian and I.

In the end, it came down to Stole's infinite warm heart that made the girl calm down enough to enter a shower. Freshly bathed and dressed in a cloak we purchased in a marketplace, enchanted around the hood to hide most of her face, she looked somewhat normal. Though when she moved, pale-white hands with swirling-purple tattoos did little to hide her identity. We got her leather gloves and knee-high boots, which she tried to eat at first.

But she kind of adopted Stole as someone she deigned to follow around. For now at least.

Wherever the black-haired beastman girl walked, the orc girl followed. One of the things I always wished MSS had was an indication of how fast the aging process worked for each individual race. I wondered whether the orc girl was truly Stole's age or even younger.

Currently, the two were strolling the market place with Skaris following a few dozen paces behind them.

"What're you looking at, Lad?" Doror snuck up on me.

Next to the sailors, the dwarves of the Stonehammer tribe were working just as hard. This time with a proper ship, they were actually bringing tools. Even in the short time that they were here, the Dwarves were able to turn a hefty profit. Shining brand new hammers, anvils that took four orc-sailors to carry together and small tools for more delicate work packed into boxes were all being taken with the dozen or so dwarven smiths that Doror had selected to accompany us.

"Stole. Skaris. Making sure they're not getting into trouble." That was a lie. I was on the lookout for Delas' party. Because just as my party had spent our time fruitfully, I was sure that he had as well.

But what? How?

To prepare, I needed to know just exactly what they prepared in turn.

Slowly, a small game of chess was forming in my head. Where we each prepared our pieces, hidden behind curtains. Trying to peek at the other, while looking for the right timing.

"Mmm. And who's that in the cloak?"

"...Mercenary." I lied.

Even my party members disapproved of me bringing a slave from Jared.

Just how would Doror react? Would he extend the same trust to me as Skaris did?

Or would it be a flagrant betrayal of everything that he knew me as?

By the gods, even I didn't know how I felt about this.

'Hypocrite.'

I shook my head, trying to will the word away.

I didn't like it. That was for sure. But what choice did I have?

People like to say that there's always a choice. In drastic situations like this, often the choice isn't one where I could just think for a long time and come up with a clever scheme. I tried to leverage everything I had to get my party to this level, to increase our chances of survival. Did I want to throw it all away because I didn't want to make a choice that made me a hypocrite?

I want to argue that I don't own her. Not in the traditional sense. If she'd just let me or someone else close enough, we'd get that collar off of her.

But no matter what we said, she wouldn't respond. Just growls and shrieks, screams and hisses. Like a feral animal.

Gods, what had I done?

No. There was no need to justify it.

Just like how I could never justify the lives I took.

Survival.

To survive together with my party.

That was my goal.

…Maybe that's how Arione started too.

I barked out a laugh, and it came out wrong. Self-depreciating without the words that were needed to put myself down. Doror frowned, worry-lines creasing between his brows. He looked at the orc girl covered in her cloak again. But Stole was doing a good job of getting the girl to stay still.

How many times before these 'allowances' of bending my moral code took me down a different path altogether?

Did it matter?

I never should have gone to Jared.

Did he do this on purpose?

Did he know what this choice would do to me?

Putting me in a situation where saying 'no' would be a fool's choice. Where saying 'yes' was the easy-way out, yet sticking a knife in who Lock Slaveborn was –or at least who everyone believed him to be.

I never should have gone to Jared.

"Lad?"

I grunted in substitute of a reply, turning halfway towards the Master Smith.

"The Holy Knight is calling us. Aye." He pointed towards the bow of the ship, where a Sailor with a voice-amplifying Core yelled out the message.

"Half a bell till final count! Start boarding!"

"Come on then, Lad. Let's go."

I nodded, forcing my feet to move.

And the further I got away from the island where Jared Akka Xalud resided, the more my thoughts were consumed by what his intentions were.

…I didn't even know her name.

***

All the adventurers sat in wooden chairs as the sailors made the final preparations. Checking knots, oiling cannons and other things that only sailors knew to be crucial.

In front of was Zenom with the same map spread out on a board. The exact same map we saw when we first embarked on this voyage.

The air trembled with steely-wired tension. Including me, every single adventurer here was decked out in full gear. New weapons lined people's waists, as well as new cloaks, pieces of armor and no doubt trinkets and accessories in everyone's pockets.

And every single party kept their eyes to themselves.

This was it.

Zenom cleared his throat.

"First of all, thank you all for choosing to continue this voyage." Zenom Saintred said on the deeper side of a tenor, "On behalf of the Church, I thank you. Truly."

No one replied but the tension loosened somewhat.

Taking that moment, I looked around and saw Arrosh. Just like the first day we came onboard together, he didn't acknowledge me. And I didn't acknowledge him.

Delas didn't know about him and me. Not yet.

Zenom pointed to the map, specifically towards the collections of isles that made up the Free Trader's League. "We are currently here. There have been some setbacks, but if we hurry we could make the schedule."

His fingers dragged right, towards the huge area of water that lay between us and Claw's Nest.

"A week. A one week window." He said, drawing a circle. "We won't stop. We won't rest. We will continue forging ahead."

"...That's not a distance that can be traveled in a week." Maria Akka Xalud said, quietly but everyone heard all the same.

"Yes." Zenom answered.

"Shit." Delas cursed. "So it comes down to luck."

Unlike usual, he didn't complain.

Because everyone came back knowing what would happen.

An inevitable confrontation with Imugi.

Grade-2.

I looked past the railings, at the deep ocean blue. Electric chills ran up and down my body.

Gods help me.

Let me protect my people.

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