“I guess we’ll have a few more for the road, Captain,” Hummel said with a grin, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

  “Nothing wrong with that,” Gyll said with a smile, “But let’s get back to the ship before we kill more beasts than we can carry.”

  “That’s right, Captain, we shouldn’t push our luck,” Tevor said with a fearful expression, caressing his bandaged arm gently.

  “I know, I know,” Gyll said, “That’s why we are heading back. I can’t stop beasts from attacking us on the way, can I?”

  Gyll was really questioning bringing Tevor along with him. He wasn’t cut out for this kind of life. But he had warned the boy that this might be a trip they wouldn’t return from, and Tevor had been adamant about going with them.

  Aren’t you a little too cowardly? We’re all fine, aren’t we?

  I guess he at least fights with his all when it comes down to it. I shouldn’t expect everyone to keep morale high. That’s my job.

  “Let’s go as fast as we can,” Tevor said, “I have a bad feeling.”

  Now, that’s something you just never say out loud.

  “Grab all the meat you can carry, boys!” Gyll called out, “The ship is just down this slope, so don’t be afraid to carry heavy.”

  “Aye!” His men yelled out somewhat tiredly.

  Gyll was tired as well. But he didn’t dare show it. This expedition was all his idea, and he couldn’t be seen lacking in energy or optimism even for a second.

  But the truth was, he was quite nervous. Not because he was afraid of the beasts, he was sure he and his team could take on even Gold beasts if they worked together. And running into a Gold beast this close to the coast was unlikely.

  What he was nervous about were the people. His men might not be aware, but he knew the Alago Forest wasn’t just for anyone to hunt in. It was more of a giant private park belonging to the Nobles of the Empire than an actual forest.

  It had been cleared of all Soul beasts long ago, and the strongest remaining beasts were all under supervision. This way, the Empire had a relatively safe place to explore for resources that were hard to replicate outside of the Endless Forest. It also served as excellent training for young mages. All areas with strong beasts were marked on the map, so the young ones could experience what the Endless Forest was like without the fear of stumbling upon a beast far too strong for them.

  This also made it an excellent hunting spot for Gyll and his team. As he, the strongest of them, had only recently reached peak Silver, it was pretty risky to head into the unknown Ishina Forest.

  He had first thought of the Ishina Forest, of course, because he knew he couldn’t escape unharmed if he was caught stealing from the Empire. But when he had arrived at the Ishina Forest about a week ago, his gut practically yelled at him to escape immediately.

  Gyll knew better than to ignore such a feeling, so he gave up on the idea and decided to risk going into the Alago Forest to hunt. He could have stopped by Meron and simply bought a new stock of food, but he was low on money, having spent his entire fortune on the ship he was now using to explore the north.

  “This should last us a few weeks, but we’ll still need to go to shore to hunt eventually. And…well, that didn’t go so well last time.” Garnet, Gyll’s right-hand man, said as he walked up alongside him.

  “I know,” Gyll said, his eyes still on the lookout. Not wanting a momentary lapse in attention to cause the first death among the crew. “But this will keep us fed and clothed until we are far away from that place. I don’t believe the entire eastern coastline is occupied by as strong beasts as that place.”

  Gyll and his crew had already made an effort to sail up the coast. They had decided to explore a mountainous area north of Kerrick Hold, but that exploration ended as Gyll sensed the presence of a Soul beast just a few miles march inland.

  Gyll realized there should be a lot of strong beasts in that particular area, otherwise the Empire would have pushed further North. But he was willing to bet that was a one-off. Soul beasts couldn’t be that common.

  Nonetheless, the crew was pretty spooked, and he realized it would become a problem if they ran out of food while still stuck there. So he decided to head back to the Ishina Forest, then the Alago Forest. Giving the crew some relief and stocking up on food for a longer trip.

  “And if Soul beasts really are sprouting like cabbages along the coast, I guess we’ll just have to fight them,” Gyll said with a grin.

  “We’ll die, Captain,” Garnet said, looking at Gyll with a strange expression.

  “Aye, but we’ll go out gloriously. Rather than die fighting fellow humans back home, right?” Gyll asked.

  “That’s certainly true,” Garnet agreed.

  Gyll’s decision to leave his previous safe life sailing up and down the Trident was in part due to a wish for an adventure before he got too old, and in part because he wanted to get away from the civil war. He didn’t even know what they were fighting about. He just knew that if he stayed, he would probably be forced to join the battle eventually, killing a few fellow humans he didn’t know and then dying at the hands of a stranger himself.

  The men with him had similar thoughts. No one cared much for the danger. It was a better alternative than what was waiting for them back home.

  “Captain!” Tevor suddenly called out. “There is another ship there. And I can spot a few people that aren’t with us by the shore.

  Gyll felt a chill run down his back.

  Have we truly been discovered? I thought we’d be able to go in and out quickly without anyone noticing.

  Gyll squinted his eyes to make out the details further down the coast. It was just like Tevor said. There were a lot more people there than he had left behind.

  “What should we do, Gyll?” Garnet asked. He was the only one who knew they were currently stealing from the Empire, rather than freely hunting dangerous beasts.

  “If we're caught, we’re caught. We can’t just stay here, can we? Maybe we can work out a solution,” Gyll said, sounding a lot more confident than he felt inside.

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  If I take the blame, I hope they can leave the others alive.

  Gyll kept his pace steady as he and his men approached the strangers further ahead.

  They shouldn’t object to free slave labor. Mages are too valuable.

  It might not be a good life, but it will be life.

  Gyll felt his steps falter slightly.

  Who am I kidding? Wasn’t it that kind of life we were trying to get away from?

  Should I order them to fight instead?

  But we are probably too weak.

  “Stop right there!” A voice called out.

  Gyll stopped walking, gesturing for the men beside him to do the same.

  He could now make out the people in front of him. He could also feel their strength, as they didn’t hide it. The man who had just called for them to stop was a Diamond mage. And he wasn’t the only one.

  “Who is in charge?” The man called out.

  “That would be me, sir,” Gyll responded, keeping his back straight.

  “Come over. The rest of you stay over there,” The man instructed.

  Gyll nodded to Garnet and gave a reassuring look to his men. Their confusion had started to turn into fear.

  “Who are you? What are you doing here?” The man asked as Gyll stepped up to the group. Gyll noticed that his men, who he had left behind, seemed unharmed, though obviously, they were kept under tight watch and not allowed to leave.

  Besides the man who had spoken, there was a good-looking woman in her forties standing next to him. She was also a Diamond mage. Behind them were about 20 Gold and Silver mages who Gyll didn’t recognize from his own crew, looking around the area for signs of trouble.

  “I go by Captain Gyll. As you can probably tell, me and my men are here to hunt beasts. We had run out of food and decided to venture into this forest here to get it ourselves. By the time we would have gotten to Meron, we would have been half-starved,” Gyll explained.

  The man looked at Gyll doubtfully and asked, “So you were heading east? What for?”

  “To explore north of Kerrick Hold,” Gyll answered, “We are going on an adventure, so to speak.”

  “With your strength?” The man questioned with a suspicious tone.

  “Well, it was either dying to beasts or to our fellow man,” Gyll answered with an awkward smile, “We are from the Delovan Empire.”

  “I see,” The man said, looking a little less hostile.

  A young woman approached the man and whispered something in his ear. Gyll had seen her just come off a rowing boat. She had probably gone to inspect their ship while they were away.

  I don’t have anything that can cause any more trouble there, do I?

  “You know this forest is the property of the Alago Empire, right?” The man asked.

  “I…” Gyll was planning on denying any knowledge of it, but he realized that would be pointless, and it could possibly create more trouble if he was found out. “I know, sir. We were just trying to find some food and rid the world of some beasts. I hope we can pay compensation and forget about this whole affair.”

  The man looked at Gyll carefully for a few seconds before asking, “Are you with Heavenly Light?”

  “Heavenly Light?” Gyll asked.

  “Oh, you’ve never heard of it?” The man asked sarcastically, obviously not believing him.

  “I really haven’t heard of it, sir,” Gyll insisted.

  “How long have you been out at sea?” The woman asked, speaking up for the first time.

  “We took off a week or two after the civil war started,” Gyll answered.

  “You haven’t been to shore since?” The woman asked.

  “We have. Once in the mountains north of Kerrick Hold, once in the Ishina Forest, and finally here,” Gyll said.

  “If that’s the case, it’s not so strange that you don’t know,” The woman said. She turned to the man beside her and asked, “What do you think, Magner?”

  “Seems to be telling the truth,” The man, called Magner, said with a reluctant nod.

  Magner looked around for a few seconds, seemingly thinking about something, before turning back to Gyll. “Sorry to bother you. It seems we aren’t enemies, after all.”

  “Er,” Gyll struggled to get out a response, “No problem, sir.”

  “All right. Get back to the ship,” Magner called out to his people, turning around.

  “So we’re not in trouble for hunting beasts?” Gyll asked, surprised.

  Magner continued walking, but the woman answered with a kind smile, “We aren’t with the Empire, so we don’t care about any of that.”

  “Oh. That’s a relief,” Gyll said with a dry laugh.

  The woman nodded and turned to walk away. But she gave Gyll a piece of advice before leaving, “You should probably know that it’s not only war in the Delevan Empire these days. An evil organization called Heavenly Light has come over from Quemer. They have almost taken down the entire Valis Kingdom. You should be careful.”

  What? How could something like that happen in just a few months?

  “Thank you for the warning. I’ll keep it in mind,” Gyll said.

  The woman didn’t answer as she walked away, but she suddenly stopped and turned around to ask something once again. “By the way, you said you had sailed all the way up to Kerrick Hold. Did you see anything suspicious or strange along the way? We are from the Academy, and we are looking for someone important who was taken away by Heavenly Light. If you have useful information, you could be rewarded handsomely.”

  “Academy?” Gyll asked, “As in Cyalis Academy?”

  “That’s right,” The woman nodded with a smile. “I’m professor Claire, that man is professor Magner. So, did you see anything?”

  “Well,” Gyll told the woman, professor Claire, about his short stops at land and what had happened, hoping it might be of some help.

  “Oh, right,” Gyll said as he remembered an incident from a few weeks ago. “While sailing south, by the Saba Desert, we spotted what looked like a small town. I didn’t spot many buildings, but there were large docks and a few ships stationed there. One of my men thought it might be an opportunity to make some money, so we decided to make a quick stop to take a look around. But as we approached, I got a bad feeling about the place, so we decided to continue on our way.”

  “Oh? Could you point it out on a map?” Claire asked, walking up to Gyll once again, pulling out a map from a small bag slung across her shoulder.

  “I suppose,” Gyll said, “But you should know I have these bad feelings quite often, it’s been a common occurrence the last few months. I'm sure it doesn’t mean anything.”

  “You never know,” Claire said with a smile, “We are heading that way anyway, so we might as well check it out.”

  “Alright then,” Gyll said, grabbing the map and marking out the spot.

  Hopefully, I won’t waste their time.

  “I hope you find whoever you are looking for,” Gyll said with a smile as he handed back the map.

  “Thank you,” Claire said, returning the smile, “I hope so too. If you don’t mind, you can help us look.”

  “I’d be happy to help,” Gyll said, feeling strangely happy.

  “This is a portrait of him,” Claire said as she pulled out a poster from her bag and handed it over, “If you find him, bring it to the Academy’s attention, and you could have any reward you can think of.”

  “Then I’ll make sur-” Gyll stopped himself as he took a look at the drawing.

  This boy…Why does he seem a little familiar?