Chapter 20

"Here. Take this."

I look at a wooden necklace Talgeyl gave to me.

"That is a talisman. A father will give his son that thing when they leave Lordlake to explore the world."

"I'm not your son, you know?"

"But you are the son of Lordlake, and as the temporary leader of this city, I want to give you this talisman that will protect you and give you good luck."

I smile a little and say.

"Then I will make sure to keep this."

Talgeyl smiles and pats my back. When all of my companions are done with their goodbye, we give one last wave and start our journey back to the ship. This is a great endeavor. In a few hours, I will get six points from Gavaya, and in two days, I will get another six points from Goesch.

Twelve points in my pocket.

"Enemy"

I snap from my thoughts when Gavaya stops us as he sniffs the air. That is another thing about Gavaya that I learned in these past two days. He is a bloodhound. He can smell the magic in the air, an enemy, and even a curse.

I guess I now understand why he is a tier-four target. He is strong, can take a lot of damage, and is a bloodhound.

"How many?"

"Four… maybe six. They are walking together."

I nod and take out my sword, ready to fight. This will be the first time monsters in this world.

"Arrow formation. Gavaya, can you take the vanguard?"

"Heh. Leave it to me, boss."

I nod, and we take a formation. Gavaya will be on the front while the rest of us create a V-like formation. He will be taking the enemy's attention while we attack from the flank. This is a high-risk formation, but with a great tank in the front, this can let us defeat the monsters faster.

"Here they come."

I take my fighting stance and prepare for the enemy. I can see six werewolves-like monsters appear from the dead forest. They are running at us at full speed and attack Gavaya, who blocks the first three attacks with his double axes.

When Gavaya blocks the enemy, we start to move from the flank. I jump in front of one of the werewolves and swing my sword. When the monster blocks my sword, I swing my leg and kick the monster upwards.

I land on the ground and dash forward. I jump and thrust my sword at the monster's head. I quickly behead the monster to make sure and help the others. However, to my surprise, they are also done with the fight.

"Huh. You guys are really strong, huh?"

"Hah!"

Gavaya laughs as he takes one of his axes from the corpse and says.

"Strength is something really important in New Armes. We need to be strong to survive because of the many monsters in that place."

"Ernst and I need to be strong because we are exploring the world in search of his cure."

"Heh! I fight for money. Of course, I will be strong."

I nod at their answer and say.

"Fair enough."

I look at the corpse and see it disappear into thin air. I blink for a few seconds in confusion and hear Nikea shout.

"Dammit! We forget to butcher them!"

Norma shakes her head and says.

"Forget it. They are an Ulse. Their meat is tough. The only thing valuable is their skin, which will take a long time to skin. The monster will disappear after two minutes, after all. Unless we have a professional skinner, I don't think we can get something out of it."

Another useful information. They will disappear after two minutes, huh? I guess there is a reason why a high-ranking material from a monster is still expensive. Skinning a dragon in two minutes will not result in much.

Seeing the other is done talking, I say.

"Let's go."

=//=

I can see the boat driver blink for a few seconds and say.

"What happened to you guys? Are you guys fighting monsters or something?"

"Yes."

"Wait. Seriously?"

"Yes. You are lucky there is no monster in this area. We need to fight an army of them."

I don't know how, but when we go to Lordlake, there is not a single monster getting in our way, but when we leave that place, monsters coming from every corner of the land come at us. The two-hour walk turned into a three-hour walk.

"Ah, it is because there is a barrier around the boat. A good boatman needs a barrier around their boat to protect themselves when they are asleep."

"Fair enough. Anyway, we are ready to go."

"Sure. Get inside. We will depart in five minutes."

We get inside the boat and wait as the boatman prepares the boat to depart. After five minutes of waiting, we started to move. After we are moving, I get out of my room and leave the cabin, where I can see the boatman looking at me.

"So, how is it? How is Lordlake?"

"Just as bad as the rumor says."

"Hmmm… So you decide to help them, huh?"

"I beg your pardon?"

He points at the necklace around my neck and says.

"That. The necklace around your neck. That is the same necklace my father gave me."

"You are from Lordlake, huh?"

"Yes, and I know that you are doing something many people are afraid of doing, helping them. For that, I'm thankful. I'm too afraid of the queen's army coming to my family if I help Lordlake. I admit that I'm a coward and too afraid to help my hometown."

"You are not a coward. You are thinking of your family. At least you have a solid reason to do it. I think the others understand your reasoning."

The boatman smiles at me and says.

"Thank you, lad."