The chance encounter with Ivan was like a stone dropped in a lake—the ripples faded quickly as the journey went on.
By dusk, the train finally rolled into the small Coastal City by the Calm Sea.
The moment they stepped off, Gray couldn't help stretching his stiff limbs hard, his neck cracking softly.
He'd been sitting across from Shane all day, nerves taut, hardly daring to move too much.
When he finally shook the stiffness out of his joints, he realized Shane and Erza were already a good ten meters ahead, walking in step like they knew exactly where they were going.
"Hey! Wait for me!" He jogged to catch up, blurting, "So what now? We going straight to Ultear?"
Shane, who'd slept most of the day and recovered a fair bit, replied, "First off… we rent a boat."
"A boat?" Gray blinked—but caught up quickly. "So where Ultear is… we have to cross the sea?"
"Yeah," Shane nodded.
Gray might look like a flake most of the time, but when it came to serious business his brain worked surprisingly well.
The three of them followed the docks until they found a reasonably legitimate-looking rental shop. With at least half a day's travel one-way, and a full day round-trip, a dinky little fishing skiff wasn't going to cut it.
Shane's gaze swept the moored vessels and landed on a mid-sized sailboat with a covered deck. "That one. What's the rate for a day?"
The owner, a dark-skinned middle-aged man, gave them a once-over and named his price. "That'll be 26,000 J."
"Pretty steep," Shane muttered. That was about half a bandit chief's bounty.
And his own savings, after the house purchase, forge materials, meals, and train tickets, were completely gone.
He turned to Erza.
He remembered she'd been doing jobs last month. She should still have some money.
But feeling his gaze, she turned her head away, a bit awkward. "Mine's all gone too—"
The armor had been a gift, but after the twin swords and a few clothes, her savings had also vanished.
Great. Two people with zero financial planning.
Shane wondered if he'd need to start selling his forging work just to stay afloat.
Seeing him slip into silence, Erza thought he didn't believe her—and immediately activated Requip.
A flash of light—and she was suddenly wearing a bizarre mascot outfit with a dolphin on her waist. Another flash—now she was dressed like a tree stump in a brown stage costume.
"Stop, stop, stop!" Shane raised his hand quickly. He could already feel the stares of the other customers drilling into them.
Gray clapped a hand to his forehead. "Erza, don't wear that kind of weird outfit in public. You'll start a riot!"
Before he could finish, the shop owner sidled up to Gray and whispered nervously, "Er, sir… could you please put a shirt on first? The other customers are too scared to come near. It's hurting business…"
Gray looked down and realized he'd somehow ended up shirtless. His face flushed beet red. "When did that happen?!"
Shane quietly took two steps away from him. "Idiot. You were like that when we got off the train."
The owner rubbed his hands and gave them a stiff, businesslike smile as he looked over the three weirdo youths. "So… are you still renting the boat? If not, I'll just—"
"Meeting weird people is rough on you too, huh, Shopkeeper-san," Erza said seriously. "Right, Gray?"
Gray nearly cried. "If Shane says that, fine—but you don't get to talk while dressed like a tree stump!"
In short, Shane and Erza were hopeless on the money front.
So the only option left was obvious.
They both turned and silently focused on the one person who might still have savings.
Stare.
Gray pointed at himself, baffled. "Me?"
Shane's reasoning was airtight. "You're the one who wants to find Ultear. And you still owe me seven days of meals. This little expense shouldn't be a problem."
He clearly remembered Gray had been grinding jobs lately to qualify for the S-Class exam.
Thinking of that, he added, "So you're here now because you didn't get picked? Even after working that hard?"
Gray didn't bother responding to the guy's tactless comment. He swallowed his irritation, trudged over to the counter, and pulled out his wallet.
The boat rental went smoothly. At sunset, the three of them sailed out into the open sea.
It wasn't until the coastal city had shrunk to a blur on the horizon that Gray finally recovered from the financial trauma enough to ask again, "So where exactly are we going?"
"We're going back to where we came from." This time Erza answered. She chose her words carefully, trimming out details as she gave Gray a brief explanation of the Tower of Heaven.
"You two… actually escaped from a place like that?" Gray stared, stunned. If it had been Shane escaping alone, maybe he could have accepted it.
But kids leading other slaves and taking down a black magic cult's tower head-on? That stretched his imagination.
"What you should be worrying about is Ultear in bed with those people," Shane cut in. "Forget about us. Think about how you're going to face her. And don't expect me to hold back just because she's your master's daughter."
As he spoke, he raised his hand and drew it lightly past his eyes. Twin clusters of red flame blazed to life in his pupils; even the air around them seemed to warp.
"These eyes can see every sin and karmic stain. You'd better hope your acquaintance hasn't done anything truly unforgivable."
There was no wiggle room in his warning.
Gray flinched at the sudden glare of the Eyes of Karma, then fell silent. He turned to stare at the deep blue sea beyond the rail, his thoughts a tangled knot.
Night deepened, a black velvet curtain swallowing sea and sky. Without a chart, Shane could only steer by his memory of the route.
Luckily, with his enhanced class-card brain, that memory was crisp as engraving.
Waves tapped the hull in steady rhythm.
They drifted on through the night until the moon stood high.
At the prow, Shane suddenly spoke. "We're here."
Gray and Erza followed his gaze. Ahead, at the edge of the darkness, faint artificial lights pricked through, sketching the outline of an island against the black water.
The boat slid silently into the shallows; Shane was the first to jump off.
He turned back and pressed a finger to his lips.
"Keep it quiet," he whispered. "From here on, don't make a sound if you can help it."
~~~
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