Book 1: Chapter 37: Establishing Goals and Ros' City Lord

Book 1: Chapter 37: Establishing Goals and Ros' City Lord

Apparently, the captain and his soldiers had been tasked with protecting Lady Malik as she toured the southern coast of Milindo.

They had stopped their activities to investigate Lone and Sophies ship as their duties demanded of them.

With their harmlessness and intent confirmed, however, the captain made it clear to Lone that the tour would resume and they would have to follow the galleon.

Lone honestly wanted to keep fishing so he asked if the captain wouldnt mind having a soldier or two stay about their ship to man the helm in his stead.

Lone also didnt want to progress in the Sailing Mastery skill while Sophie acted like the princess she was at her roots.

The captain easily agreed, seemingly happy to help though Lone suspected he simply liked the idea of having control over their ship in case something went awry.

The host has developed the passive skill [Fishing Mastery].

Passive Skill: Fishing Mastery

A must-have skill for anglers of all walks of life.

Makes fish 5% more likely to find your fishing hook more appealing.

Cost:N/A Mastery:Beginner Level 1

Hey, thats a cool skill. Wonder why I didnt get it with my lightning magic fishing? I guess the rod was needed. This skill even has flavour text. I need to find out why some do and some dont, he thought idly.

Two hours, three small fish, and a few level-ups in his latest skill later, and dusk was upon them.

Congratulations! The hosts passive skill [Fishing Mastery] has levelled up. It is now Beginner Level 2.

Congratulations! The hosts passive skill [Fishing Mastery] has levelled up. It is now Beginner Level 3.

Congratulations! The hosts passive skill [Fishing Mastery] has levelled up. It is now Beginner Level 4.

Lone packed up his fishing gear since he could see lights on the horizon.

He quickly carted his equipment as well as his bounty below deck. Hed rather store the fish in his Dimensional Storage but when he didnt know how common such a power was, he chose to leave the fish in a bucket of cold water for now.

Returning topside, Lone squinted to see as much of the distant city as he possibly could.

The largest buildings seemed to be only two stories tall though the place was surprisingly large.

It was about as big as Arlith where he was from, in truth. His home city wasnt huge by any means, Hell, it only housed 50,000 people.

Still, considering the people here used galleons and wore knights armour Ros was likely a big place.Ñ00v€l--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

It also looked simply gorgeous. It was as if the place had been plucked straight out of an ancient history book with its carriages, crowded port and busting streets despite the night creeping in.

Real beaut, aint she? the soldier behind the ships wheel said. Built on the back ah ye demis, it was. Gotta appreciate yas fer 'at, if nuthin else.

Well, excuse me. Racist and poorly educated. Fantastic, Lone thought as he nodded slowly. Its certainly a sight to behold.

Aint nutin compared to the capital but aye, shes got her charms ol Ros does, the man replied with a smile.

Lone didnt answer though he bowed his head politely.

The man though didnt quite seem done with the conversation yet, sadly. "Fer a demi, ya ain't bad at fishin. Could give me lad a run fer is money. Ya took yer time though."

Theres that word again. Demi. Is that the official word for non-humans, or is it a derogatory term?' Lone smiled proudly despite the inner workings of his mind. "Half of the fun is in the fight, no? It would be awfully boring if I reeled them in as fast as possible. I also must confess that its a new talent Ive picked up specifically for this journey of my masters."

The armoured man shrugged. "Fair nuff. Must be nice though to ave a bit of fun as a slave. Gotta take em moments 'ere ya can get it, I supose."

"Exactly," Lone agreed.

"Anyway, yer luck stat must be fairly decent. Ye'r good te get three and no miscasts, but ye'r still a beginner. Clear as day at is." The man chuckled faintly and then put all of his attention on the wheel.

"Hmm..." Lone thought to himself, 'Luck stat, huh? So the people of this world can see their own statuses too then. It isnt a thing unique to just Soph, Sophie and me. Thats one mystery solved. Also, he has a very thick accent. Soph and Sophie speak properly so I could never tell but accents can go through whatever force is translating every word? Maybe no accents but local dialects Interesting.'

You simply must come and meet me at the Malik estate in Ranton if you and Sorry, I dont actually know your title, Emma apologised to Sophie.

Sophie tugged on Lones arm which she was holding for support.

"So, Lone. What's the plan here? We've reached civilisation like you wanted," Sophie asked. Its hardly perfect though.

Haha, no fuckin shit. Lone ran his fingers through his hair before he answered said, "Well... we cant exactly leave now. What a fuckin cunt. Would have liked a warning for that.

Indeed, though do not worry about the magic ban. Your Dimensional Storage does not create any magical fluctuations and we can simply keep watch for you if you wish to practise your crude spells, Sophie offered.

Haha, ready to break the law the second we reach a country, huh? Lone asked teasingly.

Sophie shrugged. This place has no respect for you nor for freedom, it seems. Why respect it back?

He found himself agreeing with her, in truth. Well do that then. Still, wed best be careful. Weve also got to find something constructive to do for half a year.

We can figure that out tomorrow but on the grander scale? There are two things in particular that Id like to do," Lone claimed.

Sophie raised an eyebrow but continued to stare at the ceiling from the bed. "Go on."

"First, I want to meet the gods that brought us here and punch them in the face," he said.

"Why? Are you not happy with this new life?" Sophie asked curiously.

Lone laughed. "The end does not justify the means. Those fuckheads ripped us out of our lives without even a single thought towards our feelings. Sure, it's worked out so far, but weve had to see and do some pretty fuckin terrible things. I won't be satisfied until I find out what the hell those gods want from us and most certainly not until I've clocked them once or twice right in the chops."

"Hah. We can agree with that sentiment if nothing else. So, what's the second goal?" Sophie questioned.

A distant look entered Lone's eyes. "I kinda want to visit my family. I want to tell my mum that I don't resent her any more. I want to let my sister know that I love her...

He smiled a wry smile. As for my dad... I want to tell him that I still hate him, but he no longer holds any meaning in my life. Coming here to Altros has shown me how small my life and my issues were back on Earth. Especially when stacked up against yours."

"Wanting to talk to the dead... What a silly thought," Sophie scoffed. "So, in essence, you want to return to Earth?"

Lone nodded. "Not the dead, just his grave. And yeah, someday. I assume it's possible. Since we came here, there's gotta be a way to go back."

"Do you plan to obtain the power of the gods that brought us here? That's a lofty goal," Sophie claimed.

Lone laughed. "I doubt world transferal is limited to gods. But yeah, you know what, why not? Fuck it. If I wanna sock 'em in the face a few times, I should at least be as strong as them, shouldn't I?" he rhetorically asked as he grinned.

"We see. Well, we shall work hard to not fall behind you, though considering the difference in our unique skills, it is probably impossible to stay as your equal in direct strength," Sophie muttered passively.

Lone just laughed a bit awkwardly in response to that statement. He could hardly deny it. His Growth Accelerator was unfair and offered a clear advantage to him which would probably be impossible to match, even with a genius-level of talent.

"What did you say? Repeat yourself," an overweight man with a goatee asked.

He wiped the grease from his fingers onto his lavish clothing carelessly as he stared at the rogue in front of him.

" Yes, my lord." The short woman with a loosely tied blonde ponytail sweated heavily in the city lord's presence. "I saw a Golden Foxkin wandering the streets this evening. He had nine tails, but he hasn't awakened yet. I think, at least. It was hard to tell since it was dark but, so its possible he has awakened to Life though thats unlikely. He seems to be the slave of a young foreign noblewoman. From my investigations, she's both blind and mute, but like the foxkin, she is very pleasing to the eyes."

The city lord stroked his goatee thoughtfully. Reaching into his waistcoat's front-left pocket, he plucked out a single gold coin and tossed it to the woman.

"Good work. Keep an eye on this demi. There's another coin in it for you if you can tell me his location when I need it," he ordered powerfully.

The rogue caught the metal coin and stowed it away in a pouch strapped to her hip. "As you will it, my lord."

Waving his hand dismissively, he said, "You may leave."

The girl did so. Now alone with his servants, the city lord smiled deviously. "A Golden Foxkin? Here? In Milindo? The Primals must be smiling down on me. That makes two this year alone and this one isnt just a likely false rumour. To think that everyone thought they were extinct for the last century..."

His gaze wandered through the room until it landed on one of his many servants. "You. Go file a request at the Adventurer's Guild. Offer a whole white-gold coin. I need a B-ranker or greater. Preferably a gold-plate, but I'll accept as low as a steel-plate. The request is to assess someone's strength."

"Of course, my lord." The servant bowed and rushed out of the room.

"Hmm... I wont ignore such a ripe opportunity. It's such a shame that only B-rankers or above can sense another's internal power, isn't it?" the city lord suddenly asked.

Startled by his abrupt question, several of the servants blanked and fumbled for an answer. Eventually, one muttered, "Y-Yes, my lord."

"It's such a shame, indeed. If only Bastion could rank up, I wouldn't need to hire adventurers for such trivial things... Oh well. Let's hope this demi isn't that powerful or an awakened beastkin. It would be great to give my boy some real field experience for a change," the city lord said more to himself than to anyone present.

The power owning such a rare animal would afford him why, it could change everything.