Aires stood before the mission board, his eyes lingering on the audacious reward for the Orangefire Phoenix mission. A voice broke his focus. "I know, right? Everyone stares at that one."
He turned to see a young man, slightly taller, with black hair swept to one side and faintly crimson eyes. A bow was slung across his back, and his easy smile carried a hint of mischief.
"I’m Drake, but you can call Eagle," he said, gesturing to his weapon. "And you are?"
"Aires," he replied, omitting his last na this ti.
"You don’t have a nickna?" Drake mused. "Then you must be new."
"Nickna?" Aires asked, puzzled.
"Yeah, we use nicknas here. You see, here, we don’t see ourselves as slaves—we’re more like a rcenary crew." Drake shrugged, his tone light, as if their servitude was a minor inconvenience.
Aires nodded, intrigued by the perspective.
"Alright, since you’re new, let’s take a mission," Drake suggested.
"We can?"
"Of course," Drake nodded, scanning the board. "Though we split the reward, we’ll pick one with a big payout."
Aires waited calmly.
Drake’s finger landed on a notice, and he waved it with a grin. "Perfect. Know the best thing about being a raider?"
"What?"
"You can decide to keep the reward or apply it to your debt." He handed Aires the mission slip.
Aires’ eyes widened as he read:
[Veilroot Wyrm: A serpent that burrows through roots and trees, erging to ambush from underground.
Location: Rildom Forest. Reward: 150 gold]
’Oh!’ Aires’ eyes shone. Even if it was split between two, it wasn’t bad.
Drake leaned in, whispering, "And you should know, Rildom forest is so close to the Phoenix Ruins. What do you think?"
Aires’ pulse quickened. The Phoenix Ruins mission, with its million-gold reward, lood in his mind. This was a chance to scout the area. He nodded eagerly. "Let’s do it."
"Haha, that’s the spirit!" Drake laughed. "Alright, we’ll head out when you’re ready, Aires."
Two days later, they set off.
***
anwhile, on Baines’ orders, Dawnless was undergoing a massive reconstruction.
After seizing Darkan’s vessel, the Underground Alliance had gone quiet, and Dawnless seized the opportunity to fortify their organization. The plan was clear: once reconstruction was complete, a new invasion team, bolstered by newly acquired vessels, would infiltrate the Flaheart Kingdom to continue their search for Ralph’s brother.
Amid the reconstruction, one figure found it as the perfect chance and slipped away unnoticed.
After hours of travel, Ralph arrived at a dimly lit bar, its patrons sparse but familiar.
Since Dawnless’ victory over the Darkan, Underground mbers had grown bolder, frequenting such places openly. Likewise, this bar currently only holds underground mbers.
The figure entered and spotted a hooded figure at the counter, approaching. "Mirta," he called.
The figure turned, revealing a sharp-eyed woman. "Ralph," she greeted, her voice low.
After a simple greeting, they both took a seat and got so drinks and food. They had ’sneaked’ from their respective organizations just to et.
"Alright, why did you want to et?" Ralph asked, cutting to the chase.
"Please don’t dodge this ti," Mirta said.
"What are you talking about?" Ralph asked.
Her eyes narrowed, "Dawnless mbers covered in scales, wielding lightning and fire. They gave off the sa vibe as dragons. I’m not asking about that violet mage or the knights—just the dragon-humans."
"Oh, that," Ralph leaned back, recalling the Mistars’ glimpse of Dawnless’ dragonic-human forms during their escape from Flaheart. "Well, it’s just a little experint," he said with a shrug.
"I don’t know what you did, but you can make humans like dragons, and keep their abilities." Mirta’s gaze sharpened.
Ralph’s eyes narrowed.
"I ca with a proposal," Mirta spoke quickly
Ralph’s eyes widened. "A proposal?"
"We’ll join Dawnless if you can do it for us," she said.
He stared, processing her words. "Tell more." He was suddenly willing to hear her out.
"Truthfully, in the Flaheart kingdom, we found sothing."
"What?"
"A mist dragon."
"..." Ralph went silent, his eyes slightly wide, and his breath caught. Unlike the fire dragon or other dragons of common elents, a dragon of such an elent as mist was rare. Beyond rare. ’They must’ve used a lot of resources to get that information.’
"So, you want the sa experint done with the mist dragon?"
"Yes," Mirta confird. "If you can make it work, we’ll co under Dawnless."
Ralph studied her, his mind racing. "Why?"
Mirta sighed, leaning forward. "As you know, most of us have hit our potential’s ceiling. But Dawnless? The Dawnless I saw that day? You’re collectively stronger than the Underground Alliance." She wasn’t just exaggerating. Wick could take Marron, and the sword unit could match their powerhouses; then there were the mbers.
They all had wider potential; she could feel they hadn’t reached their peak yet. It got her thinking, was it really possible to increase one’s potential? If it was, how was it possible?
She paused, her voice intense.
"I kept asking, who is this leader of Dawnless that can do all these kinds of things. "I traced every step, and guess what I found out." She pointed at Ralph, "Your brother is the Darkan hero, Jin."
Ralph remained calm, his silence deliberate. "What makes you think that?"
’Was I wrong?’ Mirta thought as she spoke, "Dawnless suddenly becoming stronger and richer is very obvious to anyone who can see, then there’s your leader, he fits all the descriptions of the darkan hero. Honestly, I haven’t seen much, but the progress is already far more than what Dawnless has made in the past."
"Hmm," Ralph grunted, noncommittal. "Alright, here’s the deal. Our mbers are under a restriction to keep our secrets." He was referring to the slave chain.
Though Baines didn’t know or care, as the day went by, more mbers didn’t return, and when so investigation was made, they were said to be about to say sothing.
"What kind of restriction?" Mirta asked, her tone wary.
For an organization like that, what sort of restriction did they place on their mbers? She hadn’t tried to kidnap a Dawnless mber for information. Not that they hadn’t thought of it, but a part of them always felt soone was watching them.
Ralph sighed. "I’ll be honest with you. If you join us, you’ll be placed under the slave chain."
Mirta’s reaction was explosive. "? A slave?" She stood, her grandmaster aura flaring, pressing down on Ralph until his bones creaked.
The bar’s patrons turned, eyes wide.
’Fuck, Baines, how am I supposed to handle this?’ Ralph cursed inwardly.
Mirta was a grandmaster, albeit in the early stages. In small kingdoms, 7th Stars commanded royal guards and commanded their forces; in mid-sized organizations, they sat at executive tables; in empires like Solaris, they could found families with the right Sun ranking.
To ask such a person to accept slavery was an insult.
"I know, I know," Ralph said, raising his hands to calm her. "Sit, please." He too didn’t know what to say beyond that.
Seeing his genuine discomfort, Mirta retracted her aura and sat, her expression stormy. "Is it him?" she asked, referring to Baines.
Ralph’s silence spoke volus.
They sat in tense quiet until Mirta broke it. "And how does the slave contract work?" It still sounded strange to her.
Ralph’s eyes widened. "You’re considering it?"
"Just tell ," she said sharply. She only wanted to hear what had to be said and leave to think about it.
"It’s simple," Ralph said. "Anything related to Baines, you don’t speak of it."
"That’s it?" Mirta blinked in surprise, expecting harsher terms like years of mandatory service or sothing like that.
"Yes."
She stared at him, disbelief warring with curiosity. The simplicity was disarming, but one question remained. "But, who is Baines?"
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