CHAPTER 124(To The Far East)

Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)

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CHAPTER START---

---Two Days After The Casino Heist...

Sitting in the back of a horse-drawn cart, the Trifecta is in casual winter clothes with the exception of Yang, not feeling the cold air at all in his thin T-Shirt and combat pants.

As the sun rises on the horizon they arrive at a dock to the east of Orario, a ship already awaits them, a merchant vessel en route to The Far East.

Both Thalie and Yang cast uneasy glances at Welf, while his dream forge was being constructed he was coming with them to The Far East, completely out of character.

"So what's the plan when we get there?" Welf asks, only inserting himself on this mission hours ago leaving him completely clueless.

Thalie gives him another uneasy look, not sure how much she should say, at least until Yang takes the lead to explain.

"One of Hephaestus's friends is coming to Orario, they've had Falna for years and are stuck, not much challenge out there to make them level two and they can't make enough money there to support the familia...Takemikazuchi, imma just call him Take," Yang says.

"So...escort mission?"

"Not exactly, that part is just the surface... Thalie's got something to get while we're there," Yang says, noticing Welf staring intensely at the floor of the cart at his words.

"So another one of those tasks..." Welf mutters lowly.

Seeing the emotions worn on his sleeve, Thalie joins the conversation, "it's my job, if you aren't with it you can leave before we get to the ship," she says as they now arrive at the dock area.

"I-I just need to get out of Orario for a bit," he hops out of the cart and begins walking toward the ship, disappearing into the crowd of people moving toward the ship.

"Sigh, this might be a problem, I'll talk to him," Yang says softly as he and Thalie follow closely behind Welf.

After showing their papers and boarding the ship, walking onto the deck they immediately saw men in blue uniforms with shortswords and crossbows equipped. The ship had three levels including a cabin level and full armory.

Noticing Yang looking around a bit confused, Thalie decides to fill in the gaps, "lots of ships hire level 1s for security, between pirates and monsters they're enough...mostly," she says.

"Pirates are a thing, so...pirate adventure is a thing then?"

"The dungeon is far more profitable, the monsters are generally small and focus more on fish than anything else at sea," she says.

"Hmm, they got out from that tunnel right? Swam out from floor 27 into Melene?"

"Yeah, before Zeus, Hera, and Poseidon familias used the Leviathan bones to seal it lots of stuff got out, most of Poseidon familia got killed in that fight too."

"Hmm, yeah fighting in water makes most adventurers useless so it makes sense... well let's get to the cabin and check it out."

Taking a look at their shared cabin, first-class accommodations with two twin beds, having Welf with them wasn't planned so they didn't buy any more space.

---Later That Night...

Sitting on the railing at the front of the ship, Yang's feet hang over the edge as he looks out at the ocean, Welf leans on the rail beside him as he bites into a chocolate bar.

"So," Yang breaks the comfortable silence, glancing over at Welf before turning back to the ocean, "your literal dream forge is being built and you ran away?"

"I didn't run away," Welf says softly.

"Hephaestus didn't know you left Orario..."

"Mmm," Welf looks away at the mention of her name, a frown on his face as he glares at the ripples caused by the moving ship, a reaction not missed by Yang.

"So that's what this is about huh."

"No, it's not."

Chuckling lightly Yang turns to his friend, "you know, they were right, you are a bad liar."

"Sigh, it's not...it... it's complicated alright."

"Then explain it to me."

Taking a deep breath Welf turns around and leans back on the rail, his back to the ocean, "how would you feel if the woman you wanted to be with, just... carelessly throws away lives like that, just because she wants something. Those guards didn't do anything to her, they were just doing their jobs... I get why Thalie killed them, her goddess ordered it so she did it, but Hephaestus..." he runs a hand down his face as he thinks about Hephaestus for the first time all day.

"I feel fine with Freya," Yang casually says, causing Welf to look at him, obviously confused.

"What?"

"Oh... you didn't know? Well, I guess most people don't really know stuff like that huh."

"Know what?"

"Hedin and Hogni, the Light Elf and Dark Elf in her familia, her Knights..."

"What about them?" Welf was still clearly confused, not following where Yang was going with this.

"They were kings, two warring kingdoms of elves... Freya brought them both to ruin so Hedin and Hogni could join her familia, two kingdoms of dead elves."

Welf was mortified at the thought, he never would have guessed the woman that was always clinging to Yang and doting on him could be so ruthless.

"I-I never knew that, but...why?"

"Because she's a god," was the only explanation Yang gave, giving Welf a small smirk as he sees the man only get more confused.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, they don't play by the same rules we do, the sooner you get past that the sooner you can actually get to know them properly. You remember I study ecology right, nature essentially."

"Yeah..." Welf wasn't sure where this was going at all.

"Well, Freya wants love because she couldn't get it in heaven. Hephaestus wants to be perfect because being anything less than perfect essentially makes you a freak in a world with only gods, why do you think she's usually locked away in her forge or in the office doing paperwork most days instead of parading herself about like other gods..."

"So what, I'm supposed to just look past it because she's a god? I don't get why that makes this ok."

"You aren't supposed to look past or forgive anything, but try to understand. They literally live forever and never evolve, they're meant to be perfect, they have no way to really understand life or what it means to live. Gods literally descended to pretend to have a purpose in life because they were so bored, even Hephaestus, as nice as she is can't properly comprehend mortality because she's so far above us."

"So she just what, can't see people as people? What about us?"

"Gods can develop emotions for mortals obviously, but in the big picture, we're all just pieces on the chessboard. The reason I don't really get mad at Freya for the mountain of corpses she made is well...she's a god of war so it comes with the territory, but also...I just don't expect gods to have any respect for life, they literally can't understand the fear of death. No matter how low you set the bar they're gonna limbo right under it..."

"So you just, don't care?"

"No, it's more like I try to understand, if anyone Hephaestus has the best reason, wanting to be perfect so other gods don't think she's a hideous creature every time she takes off the eyepatch, but maybe it's not just for the gods..." he gives Welf a knowing smile, the smith pauses as Yang can almost see the gears in his head turning.

"That..." Welf's face turns from intrigue to realization before a look of disbelief overtakes him, "no... you can't be serious."

Rolling his eyes at his friend Yang drops down from the railing and pats his shoulder, "I swear you two just need to kiss already," he casually says while walking down to the cabin, ready to get some sleep.

---2 Days Later...

Walking up to the main deck of the ship after sleeping in, as he always does. The first thing Yang notices is all the noise on deck, not the usual howling wind at sea but from the other passengers looking over the railing.

"What's going on?" he asks Thalie, seeing her standing not far from the crowd with Welf.

"Shark," was all she said.

"Ooh, never seen one of those before, not up close at least..." Yang says, the inner child in him coming to the surface as he makes his way to the railing.

Pushing through the crowd he easily makes his way to the railing and peers down into the water, seeing the morning sun making the surface just lit enough to see an absolutely terrifying sight, a 30ft(10M) Great White Shark swimming only a few meters below the surface, a quarter as long as the ship they were currently on.

"Jesus Christ!" Yang says, eyes wide at the sight of the shark swimming below the ship, matching the pace.

"Nobody here knows what that means remember," Thalie says as she and Welf make it to the front of the crowd to stand beside him.

"Right, but why is it just swimming with our ship?"

"Some fishing ships give these fish easy food when they pull up nets," Welf explains.

"Do they ever attack ships?"

"Rarely, the Far East is pretty lawless and the ocean around it is the exact same, this one is just waiting for food," Welf says.

"Hmmm," Yang muses, lifting a finger to his chin as his face contorts, debating an idea in his head.

Seeing the look on his face Thalie immediately steps in, "please...don't..." she could almost feel a headache coming.

"What?" Yang asks, giving her a mischievous smile.

"Can't ride a horse but want to do this?" Welf joins in the conversation, choosing to tease Yang.

"That's not the same thing," Yang says while kicking off his shoes and handing them to Welf," sharks are beautiful peaceful creatures, horses are assholes..." he says while standing up on the rail, much to the horror of the surrounding crowd.

Ignoring the panicked shouts of the crowd and the horrified pleas from the people hired to provide security, Yang casually steps off the ship and drops right onto the shark.

"I swear he's supposed to be the leader but I feel like a babysitter," Thalie grumbles as she sees him in the water.

He was controlling the water around him to propel himself without even having to move his limbs, easily keeping up with the ship and the shark as he reaches down and gently touches the animal.

Feeling the sandpaper-like skin of the fish as he gets close enough to truly appreciate how small he was in comparison.

Seeing their friend completely fine as he essentially pesters the normally dangerous animal, Welf turns to the crowd of intrigued people and addresses them, "HE'LL BE FINE, just really likes animals," he sighs before turning back to the railing to watch Yang play with his new friend.

"Huh, and he thinks his girlfriend is the dramatic one..." Thalie rolls her eyes as she leans on the railing to enjoy the show.

---The Following Morning...

At the very front of the ship Yang sits once more on the railing with his feet hanging above the water, Thalie and Welf at his back in light combat clothes much like his, opting not to wear their full armor since nothing in The Far East could really even challenge them.

Seeing the massive island getting closer and closer, spotting the dock in the distance as their ship closes in the adventurers wait patiently to disembark, all of their weapons and items stored safely away in Yang's storage to prevent any unnecessary attention.

"So now you gonna tell us the plan?" Welf asks, noticing Yang too distracted with taking in the scenery of buildings resembling feudal era japan to focus on anything else.

"Get the final item tonight, get back here tomorrow before Takemikazuchi familia arrives at the docks, Hephaestus said we're just here to guarantee the safety of his familia. They're friends so the alibi works out, we'll be back in Orario within a week...assuming the weather stays as clear as it was on the way here," she says.

"And where are we getting this item?" Welf asks hesitantly, not sure if he even wants to know.

"Warlord Maru, controls the trade of weapons, drugs, and other items in part of the island, it's only 30 miles from here so a quick run and we'll be there, then we wait till sundown and make our move."

"Plan?"

"Yeah, Yang and I go in and you act as lookout, I need to see how well miracle boy deals with...intense situations."

Craning his head back to give her a skeptical look, Yang finally joins the conversations, "should I be worried?"

"Nah, it'll be business as usual," she shrugs as their ship begins docking...

END CHAPTER---