With the arrival of the new guard all attention was momentarily drawn towards them.
Standing just past the doorway and following one of the crew members was a large tiger beastwoman.
Once glance was all it took to know that she was strong and spiked chain ball made out of adamantine she had resting on her back stuck an imposing form.
'It really is Treasa. Last I heard from Jarek a couple years ago was that she had made her way to the continent west of here. But I guess she must have come back at some point.' Marcus thought as he looked over his friend he had not seen for many years.
Immediately he could tell that she had gotten quite a bit stronger, but also that she was missing a few things.
On her left hand she was down three fingers. No longer having her pinky, ring, and middle fingers.
Instead, she now had wooden protects that were obviously enchanted as they were able to move with the flow of her mana.
Seeing that she had a crippling injury Marcus nearly forgot himself and went up to offer to heal her.
However, he stopped himself after taking a single step forward.
In his current form he had never had any interaction with Tesia. He had only ever interacted with her while in his guise as Irene and never as Marcus.
'It would be suspicious to just go up and offer free healing to someone you do not know. I will wait and do it later.' Marcus thought as he stepped back.
"Looks like we have another strong one joining us." Zaragar mumbled under his breath.
And Marcus could only concur with his statement. With a quick appraisal he found that Tesia was now level sixty-five.
This was nine levels higher than she had been last Marcus saw her and proved she had been putting in steady effort.
Sure, Marcus was now at a higher level than her and had earned around thirty levels since the last time they had met, but most people were not throwing themselves into the wildly dangerous situations he was often apart of.
For a few moments nobody made a move as the veteran guards aboard the Ascension gauged Treasa, and she did the same.
Naturally her gaze lingered on Marcus and Mrazivý for the longest amount of time and she could tell that they were even stronger than she was.
"You two must be the leaders around here. It is nice to meet you. I am Treasa and will be joining you for a while. I hope we can get along."
She then held her hand out to Zaragar, or not.
In actuality she had pegged Marcus and Mrazivý as the ones in charge since they were obviously the strongest.
"Ah, sorry, we are not guards. We are just guests being showed around." Mrazivý said and then pointed towards Zaragar. "He is actually the leader of the guards here."
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Turning her head, Treasa looked at Zaragar, who was wearing an awkward smile on his face.
For a few moments an uncomfortable tension hung in the air from the multiple misconceptions about Marcus and Mrazivý being guards.
Luckily, Zaragar recovered fairly quickly, and moved over to Treasa and took her still outstretched hand.
"Don't let it get you down, we all just made the same mistake. But who wouldn't think that they were new guards with how strong they are." Zaragar said while chuckling to try and break the rigid atmosphere.
Smiling, Treasa understood what he was trying to do and put on a neutral expression and returned his handshake.
"It is good to meet Zaragar. As I said I am Treasa and I look forward to working with and deferring to your experience."
Hearing this, Zaragar let out a sigh of relief. On assignments like these, the strongest would normally lead, and it was clear that Treasa was stronger than he was.
Still, as this was her first time taking a job aboard the Ascension, she was not going to push her weight around and take charge.
Once she had finished her introduction with Zaragar, she turned towards Marcus and Mrazivý and bowed her head.
"Allow me to apologize for my misunderstand and please do not hold it against the ship."
"It's fine no need to worry yourself about it. Now raise your head. We are adventurers like you, except, instead of working here, we are taking a break." Marcus said in a bit of a fluster, not feeling comfortable having his friend bow and act so polite towards him even if she did not know it was him.
"Oh, is that so. I'll still treat you with respect as guests but I'm glad to know you won't be offended over every little thing." Tesia said, losing the formal attitude she had been adopting.
With everything now cleared up Treasa and Zaragar went on their own way and introducing Treasa to the other adventurers in his party.
"There is no need to apologize. We are adventurers so being treated like one is of no offense." Mrazivý said quickly when it looked like Dustin was about to start apologizing.
"Understood. I need to remember that you are not our usual guests."
After that he brought them over to a locker and opened it up.
Inside were a dozen fishing rods of impeccable quality.
'Wow they even have enchanted adamantine lines and hooks.' Marcus thought as he examined the massive pole that was bigger than he had ever seen before.
Naturally it was incredibly bulky and made out of sturdy material so that it could withstand the beasts and monsters in the ocean.
'Seems to be pretty strong.' Marcus thought as he pulled on the line with all his might to try and rip it.
Yet it held steady, which was quite a feat even if Marcus was not using any skills to enhance his power.
"Yeah, these are really good. When will we be able to try fishing?" Marcus asked Dustin with an excited glint in his eyes.