Riding along a dirt road, on a quest to help a village recover from a raid.
The black horse I was riding never tired, kept a steady pace and didn't seem to need rest, it was just like me.
I had taken off my molten armor's helmet, while I'd prefer the protection, especially in unexplored territory, the folks back there who gave me the quest said I'd look 'too scary' and could make the villagers lose trust in me.
In addition, they gave me a leather cloak to further hide my armor.
I've traveled for a while now, I'm unsure of how much long it'll take to get to the village, but my map indicates I'm on the last chunk of the way.
And as I looked up from my map, I saw a person in the distance, peeking at me from behind a tree.
As soon as they realized I noticed them, they ran off, following the road of dirt.
I stayed in place, confused.
They must be from the village, and that must mean I'm getting close.
I've been told it is a coast village, and it is getting windier.
I continued my travel, but to my surprise, only a few minutes after encountering that village person, two men with spears and iron helmets appeared, the person from earlier was behind them, looks like he's just a teenager.
They seemed to be guards, although they lacked chainmail that'd I'd expect from one.
"Halt! State your intentions traveler!" One of them said, they pointed their spears towards me.
"I'm an adventurer from the Guild of the Arch Wyvern, I came here to help a village recover from a raid." I said to them.
"Help has arrived?! This early?! By Terra's grace, we are saved!" One of the guards said in glee.
"Don't let your guard down! He could be an impersonator that intercepted the pigeon's message!"
I put my hand inside my cloak, and pulled the guild's insignia from my inventory, I showed it to the guards.
"This is my guild's insignia, this should prove I'm not an impersonator." I said as I handed it to them.
They carefully looked at it, before handing it back to me with faces of relief.
"What a relief then, we're sorry for the trouble, we've all been on edge ever since those pirates raided us, please forgive us." The distrustful knight apologized.
"It's alright."
"Please follow us to our village."
After a short while of travel, I was led to a village beside a beach, it would've looked like it had been abandoned for years if not for all the people in it.
It looks like they were mourning the dead, some probably died trying to fight back, looks like those were mostly guards.
One of the guards announced my presence to the villagers "People! The carrier pigeon managed to get to Tennellopia! An Adventurer has arrived to help us!"
"Oh thank the gods!" "We are saved!" "I told you buying that pigeon was a good idea!" The villagefolk said as they flocked around me.
"Wait, just one?" Said an older man in the back.
"Yeah wait, what?" "Isn't there supposed to be more?" "Where's the rest of them?"
To started answering, I dismounted my horse, and took off its studded saddle, the horse vanished right after.
The villagefolk collectively expressed 'Whoa' in amazement, as if it was a magic trick. Seems like I don't have to answer anything.
"He has magic!" "I never seen this one before." "How did you do that?"
"Wait, I know how he did it! That horse must be a magic mount! Created by the saddle!"
The villagers muttered among themselves in excitement.
I proceeded to put the saddle back into my inventory.
The crowd got more excited.
"What is it do you need me to help you with?" I said as loud yet unalarming as I could.
"Oh, we were hoping you could deal with the pirates." A woman in her thirties said, she seems to have taken the role of leader in this crisis.
"They're still here?" I said as I prepared to draw my sword in alertness.
"No! No, thing is, we can rebuild our village on our own, but these pirates have attacked us many more times before, we've always had no choice but to give up our supplies, this time we hired a few guard knights hoping to fight back, but we came out with more losses than if we'd done nothing at all, could you help deal with problem directly?"
This is a bit more than I thought I would do, but I do suppose it makes sense.
"So you want to kill the pirate crew or destroy their ship?"
"W-Well I mean, I suppose destroying their ship sounds possible, but that could cause a revenge raid if one of them manage to escape."
"I could make them be mad at me specifically, I could also intimidate them into not attacking this village and make them try to attack me instead."
"I suppose..."
Suddenly, someone small started to tug at my cloak, I looked below me to my right and saw a little girl.
"Mister, can you save my bunny plushee from the pirates?" She said in a saddened tone.
"They stole it from you?"
"Yes..." Her mother arrived and lifted her onto her lap "A pirate snatched her plush off of her while she hugged it in fear, they're rotten to the core."
The child looked at me expectantly, and I thought about it for a moment.
"Actually, I think I can."
"What?!" "No way!" "Is he crazy?"
"You'd have to getinsidethe pirate ship in order to get it back! You might as well try to kill them all!" A man argued.
"If I make myself appear unthreatening, they could turn me into a slave and make me do work around the ship, I could then find where they put the supplies and put it into my 'inventory', then I sabotage or sink the ship and escape."
"Wouldn't they simply imprison you?"
"I could still escape from that while they're asleep or something, besides, with the state of justice seekers and law enforcers nowadays, they might have a lack of workers around the ship."
"Do you really think you can do it?"
I thought about it for a moment longer.
"Yes."
"Will you get my bunny too?" The little girl asked me.
"Of course, that should be one of the first things I'll do."
She held her arms up in glee at her mother.
I proceeded to go around the village, asking about the raid and other details.
Eventually I came across one of the fishermen, who said he could lend me a rowboat, I could use it to enact my plan.
I took off my armor, but kept my cloak, I needed to look as small of a threat as I could.
But I couldn't seem completely unthreatening, so I requested a dagger, they gave me a rusty old one, seemed pretty blunt too. They apologized for the lack of quality of it, but I said it was just what I needed.
The village folk who witnessed the pirates leave told me the direction they went, and I got into the rowboat and set a mental map.
They were worried about me leaving without any supplies and insisted on giving me food, but I assured them, I was going to be fine.
I set out to sea afterwards, of course, it started out slow, and continued to be slow, but I kept a steady pace.
Although, even after the village disappeared from sight, the pirate ship was nowhere to be found, that is to be expected whoever.
One of the fishermen who saw the pirate's ship mentioned it was a 'galleon', while I know nothing about ships, he said that it was slower than the 'sloop', the preferred option of the pirates due to it's speed, so theoretically, catching up is more plausible.
I am still in a rowboat however, so I improvised.
Out of my inventory, I grabbed a bottle of superheated blood, I poured it out into the water, and the blood quickly formed itself into a lava shark.
I proceeded to then cut a small rectangular hole in the middle of the rowboat, water started to leak in and the boat started to very slowly sink.
I quickly told the lava shark "Get under the boat and position your dorsal fin into the hole I made, don't let the boat sink."
The shark understood, it got under the rowboat and fit its dorsal fin perfectly into the hole I made, I could now move at much faster speeds without raising too much suspicion, of course I'll have to desummon it once I get close to the ship.
I told the shark to move forward and to turn to my command, it quickly picked up speeds and I started to move much faster than before, the GPS app in my shellphone told me I was moving at around 70 miles per hour, only a little slower than it can normally go.
Just to be safe, I pretended to row forward to lower suspicions if they catch sight of me, though I'll likely need to be lucky and be the one to see them first.
I 'sailed' for some time, I do not know how much, I did not bother with seeing it on my shellphone, I was too focused on finding the pirate ship before they find me, it could have been 30 minutes, it could have been hours.
But eventually, far off in the distance, I saw a ship, I did not know if it was the pirate ship or a normal merchant ship, even if it wasn't, I could get useful info from it.
I told the lava shark to stop and get to the side of the rowboat, which it did and started to look at me, I took its bottle and placed it on its snout, it started to enter the bottle and turn back into superheated blood, any seawater that might've entered the bottle quickly boiled and turned to steam before it could mix in with the blood, if that was possible in the first place.
I then quickly patched up the hole in the rowboat, and took out the water that leaked in.
I looked back to the ship in the distance, and started to row my way towards it.
After a long time, I managed to get around 50 feet close to it.
"Just what do ye reckon ye're doin', landlubber?" A man on the ship holding a spyglass said, he had a rough look to his face, his right eye was white and had a scar going through it, he had a small brown beard, judging from his black hat and comparing him to the rest of the crew that was looking at me, he was the Captain.
And also from the ship itself, the side seemed to have a large canvas camouflaging itself along the ship, if I were to guess, they're hiding their cannons.
Without a doubt, this is a pirate ship, but just to lower any suspicions...
"I am looking for pirates." I said bluntly to the Captain.
"'n what would ye say if I said ye jus' got mighty lucky?" The Captain said, adjusting his hat, revealing a skull and crossbones symbol in it.
"Then I say it's time for you to die." I said as I took out a dagger and pointed it at the Captain.
They laughed.
"Ye're mighty brave but mighty squiffy fer rowin' to a pirate ship with only a dagger! Did ye think this would be like yer usual job o' scuttlin' rabid dogs on the side o' the street? HAR HAR HAR!" The Captain said as he continued to laugh.
I faked embarrassment.
"Men..." He said to his crew as he gave them a signal, they all pointed their guns and cutlasses at me, I raised my hands and dropped the dagger.
"I'll tell ye what, I'mma give ye a deal, we do nah kill ye 'n ye'll do work fer us around the ship, we got a bit tired aft that last raid. Though, if ye try anythin' funny, we'll 'ave Bastian Deadshot give ye a bullet right between yer eyes! Savvy?"
Good, this is just what I was looking for, but I can't seem too hasty, I'll pretend to hesitate.
"I..."
The Captain raised his eyebrow as he smiled.
"...accept."
"That took ye long! Lower him a rope." He commanded to his crew.
They sent down rope at the side of the ship, I rowed a bit closer and grabbed the rope, pulling myself up.
But as I almost reached the top, I saw one of the pirates aim a flintlock at me, nearly touching my forehead.
I was compelled to equip my armor and start retaliating, but I knew I had to be patient.
"Don't worry about 'im, he won't do anythin' t' ya, that be,if ye don't do anythin' yourself."
I slowly nodded, pulling myself to the rest of the way.
Once I reached the top, I looked around the ship, it was very large, and there were already plenty of pirates just at the deck.
"Say, ye seem to 'ave a resolve o' steel, yer face didn' change no matter wha' I said t' ye, ye must be at least a wee tough don'tcha ya reckon?" The Captain said as he chuckled.
Oh, my acting must've been pretty bad.
"Now, yer first job will be to mop the decks! Give 'im a mop!" He said as he walked up to the top deck.
A pirate crew member threw a mop at me, which I managed to grab midair, another slid a bucket full of water near my feet.
I was ready to begin mopping, but I instead flinched as I felt someone climb my back and tie a bandana on my head.
The pirate who climbed my back then jumped to my side and dusted off her hands "Ye're way too tall, ye know that?!" She said as she entered the lower decks.
I guess I should start mopping now.
As I mopped the decks, I looked around and learned what I could about the ship and the crew.
According to the village folk, there must be around 100 pirates here. There are only around 20 here at the top deck, so the rest must be inside.
The ship is pretty big too, could house a lot more than 100, I'll have to be careful.
While I've never been to a ship of any kind, I assume all the supplies they stole are at the bottom deck, I'll have to check to make sure.
I continued to mop for a few dozen minutes, until one of the crew members came over to me.
"Ey, moppin' times over, you'll be sweepin' the lower decks, been gettin' mighty dusty lately." He said as he returned to said lower decks.
As I descended upon the lower decks, I realized where the rest of the crew were, drinking beer around tables and resting in makeshift hammocks, this must be the crew's space.
I looked to my left, there was a broom right beside the entrance, I took it and started to sweep, I looked around for anything that might interest me.
A barrel with the label of 'spare cloth' took my attention, I walked over to it and looked inside, it was only half full, and was full of old rags and towels, but over it all, there was the plush of a white bunny, certainly the one belonging to that little girl.
I reached my hand inside the barrel and grabbed the plush, but before I could pull it out...
"Lookin' to sewing, eh tough guy?" A crew member said to me.
I said nothing, and stealthily put the plush into my inventory instead.
"Hey, ye don't 'ave t' act all tough! We won't kill you for it! But we might laugh! Ar Ar Ar!"
I walked my way to a lower deck, this one should be the gun-deck, there were only two crew members here.
"Alright, seems everything's checked out, we didn't use much gunpowder since we only shot 4 cannonballs to intimidate those village guys." A man with glasses spoke.
"I get yer the designated quartermaster and all, but couldn't you at least use a pirat' accent? It's so boring around here! The accent makes it fun!" A woman with an eyepatch said.
"I at least don't butcher the accent."
"Hey! I'm still learning!"
They quickly left the gun-deck and ascended to the deck above, ignoring my presence.
I sweeped my way to even lower decks, it was completely devoid of people, they might've all left, or maybe its simply lunch time.
I seemed to have arrived at where they stored the supplies, gunpowder was the first resource that was stored and was placed right beside the stairway, makes sense, considering just above here is the gun-deck.
I continued further, near the end of this deck, I found many supplies that fit the description of what the village folk said the pirates stole, I can store all of it away into my inventory, but if I do that I have to rush my way back in to the upper deck and enact the rest of my plan.
Although I could explore around to see just how many more pirates there are here, I think I'll be fine regardless, I can just place my hand in these crates and start-
"H-Hey! *Hic!* 've been *Hic!* looking for ye!" Said a pirate in the stairway, looking at me.
I quickly lowered my hand from the crates.
Said pirate seemed old, lacked a few teeth, had a bottle in his hand and was very, very drunk.
"Say, *Hic!* ye do look quite young! *Hic!* I bet ye want to *Hic!* be treated a wee better around here! *Hic!*"
I raised my eyebrow at him.
"So I'll propose ye this! *Hic!* I'll give ye a few 'special services' *Hic!* If ye give me a nice 'special service' t' me right now! Wha' do ye say? *Hic!*"
I frowned "I'm not interested."
"Ahh, *Hic!* Let me give ye another proposal then, *Hic!*" He hit the bottom of his bottle on a crate, shattering the bottle's lower bottom, he pointed his makeshift weapon at me "If ye don't give me me 'special service' right now I'll gut yer pretty eyes out!"
I scowled at him, my pupils constricted, and my body moved on its own.
In the blink of an eye, I took out my phaseblade, and stabbed him in his throat, I retracted the phaseblade just as quickly.
He could not make any noise despite his struggle, I have hit him right in his vocal cords, but did not touch his spine.
He suffocated to death right there, dropping dead in just a few seconds.
*Sigh* It seems I have no choice, I'll have to speed up my plans, but I cannot leave his body here, luckily, just after this storage area is the 'bathroom', or rather, the 'head'. I can leave his body there and close the doors and there won't be any suspicions for a while.
Good thing I still have the broom, too, I can sweep away the bottle's shards and avoid further suspicion, I'm also lucky that the phaseblade cauterizes wounds, no blood gets spilled anywhere.
After placing his body atop the head's toilet and sweeping the glass shards inside, I was about to leave and grab the crates, but before I could unlock the door...
Someone banged on the door "Hey drunkard! Open up! I need to sh*t too! I know ye're in there! What's up with you anyway? Ye're usually a lot more shameless!"
This is bad, I think I have no other choice.
I quickly open up the door and thrust the phaseblade into his neck, unfortunately, he had a big puffy beard, and I missed the center of his neck by a few inches.
"Wha-" I had to think quickly, I decapitated the pirate as fast as I could, cutting him off from making further noise.
It's a good thing there's two toilets in the head.
After placing him and his head on the toilet, I finally left the 'head', I opened a hole on the door and locked it from the inside, patching up the hole afterwards.
I looked towards the stolen supplies next, and, from top to bottom, put all of it into my inventory, leaving only empty space.
However, only a few moments after, I hear footsteps coming from above, going towards this deck.
I looked towards the stairway, two men were going down the stairs.
"Ey Pete! Ye're missing out on our game! Wait- Where did all the-"
I quickly threw my Ivy whip hook between them, I was sent flying forward, and pulling out my Dark Lance, I stabbed the first pirate right through the head.
Before the other pirate could scream, I quickly turned my spear and stabbed through his head too.
"Hey, did somethin' fall down there?" A pirate in the crew's space called out.
Crap, a lot of blood ended up getting spilled here, and now I have two extra bodies, I'll have to make a plan quick.
I took the two bodies and, going to the back of the empty space where all the stolen supplies were, I made fake wall about 4 feet away from the real wall, and entered the space between, hiding myself along the two bodies.
I climbed up to the ceiling, placing my ear on it, I heard someone walking down to the lower deck.
"T-There's blood here! A-And the supplies we plundered are gone!" The pirate said in shock.
"What?! Where did Garry and Dirty Beard go?!" I heard from the crew's space.
"They're gone!"
I heard panic among the crew members, I managed to hear one call out to the Captain.
A few moments later I heard said Captain yell.
"QUIET! Explain what happened here!"
"Garry n' Dirty Beard went down to the supply deposit but disappeared! There were only a few blood stains in the stairs! And the supplies from the last raid are gone! A-And also! Roidrum n' Wind-Fullsheet have been gone fer a while too!"
"Blast it! 'n where's that rookie janitor we captured?!"
There was silence for a few moments, until one of them, the quartermaster from earlier, realized something.
"I saw him! Before I went up to the crew space! He must've went down to the supplies!"
This caused the panic from earlier to return.
"QUIIIEEET! I WANTS ONE FIFTH O' YE ALL DOWN THAR SEARCHIN' FER THAT BLASTED ADVENTURER! THE REST FOLLOW ME UP T' THE DECK 'N HELP ME SEARCH FER 'IM AROUND THE WATERS! HE COULD NAH 'AVE GOTTEN FAR IF HE ESCAPED!" The Captain commanded, and I heard a lot of commotion, people going up the upper deck and down to the supply deposit.
I waited for a bit, as soon as it seemed like there was no one in the gun-decks, I used my pick to make a hole in the ceiling to escape.
Unfortunately, upon making the hole, I was met with the eyepatch woman from earlier, who appeared to be frozen in fear.
I quickly leaped up to her and covered her mouth, pulling her back into the hole.
Once there, I took advantage of the little light that emanated from the hole above and gestured her to be quiet.
"P-Please, don't kill me- I don't want to die..." She whispered quietly.
I decided to be merciful, I ripped a part of the shirt of one of the dead pirates, and tied it around her mouth so she couldn't yell, I then took her wrists and tied them up with rope.
After that, I leaped out of the hole and left without sealing it, running up to the upper deck.
And it was full of pirates there, the entire perimeter had no space without a pirate, they were all searching for me on the sea.
"Hey! There he is! In the middle of the deck!" Someone from the top deck said.
All of the pirates turned around, and immediately aimed their flintlocks and pointed their cutlasses at me, they very slowly approached me.
The Captain, however, very casually went up to me.
"Well, blimey! Turns out ye were not as big as a fool as I thought, killed four of our crew, I presume, and managed to pilfer all of the plundered supplies all by yourself! Answer me, what are ye?" He asked as he approached.
I took off my cloak, ripped off the bandana, equipped my molten armor and got into a fighting stance.
"I see, ye're one of those big guild adventurers, alright I'll admit, ye fooled me quite well, however, ye can't fool yer way out of this."
He brandished his cutlass.
"FIRE!"
The flintlock wielders fired at me, I performed a backwards roll with the help of my shield of Cthulhu, I then jumped up to the top deck and took out the Night's Edge.
I swung around at the pirates there, in only a few swings I manage to slay all of the ones in the top deck.
More pirates arose to the deck, and a few more took aim at me, I jumped up towards the middle mast, and with a boost from my yellow horseshoe balloon and my ivy whip I managed to get up to the crow's nest.
There was a pirate there, but he was doing nothing but watching the battle play out, he panicked once I got there, scurrying for his flintlock, but before he could do anything, I grabbed him by his nape and threw him out into the sea.
Now to enact my plan, either sabotage or destroy, destroying the entire ship doesn't sound very possible right now, so I'll try to sabotage them in a major way.
I took note of the ropes around, maybe if cut all of them off they cannot sail anymore.
I lifted the Night's edge up high, and jumped off the crow's nest.
As soon as I felt I was lined up just right, I used a sandstorm boost and tried to cut as many ropes as I could, I shot my Ivy Whip into the mast and swung around, cutting more ropes and avoiding flintlock fire.
But as I swung around and cut off more rope, I saw a pirate cut off one of the ropes himself, using it to try and swing towards me with his cutlass, I simply dodged out of the way with my shield of Cthulhu, but that got me to think.
This rope I'm cutting is probably very temporary damage, they could easily fix it if they just have more rope, which they likely have, I need to look for something more permanent.
So I looked to the sails themselves, if I destroy those, then they can't sail at all.
So I changed plans, I switched from the Night's edge to the Flamarang, and upon hooking myself to the bottom corner of one of the sails, I boosted myself with the sandstorm boost and glid across the sail with the flamarang, cutting it in half and putting it on fire.
I proceeded to do the same with the with the rest of sails, dodging gunfire and tanking the few that manage to hit me.
"Ye craven, festerin' shark! I'll go down t' yer elders house 'n stick thar heads on a wooden lance!" One of the pirates cursed at me.
Hmm, they're still talking about going anywhere? Maybe even the sails aren't as permanent as damage could get as I thought, I have to destroy something really important, like... the masts.
If the all the masts fall, there is no hope for them left, I already cut most of the ropes, there is nothing here to catch them, I just need to go down there,and cut it down.
I landed at the deck, surprising the pirates, and then, taking out my Molten Hamaxe, I swung down at the middle mast, shaking the entire ship.
A pirate with a cutlass tried to attack me from behind, but I switched to the Night's Edge and cut him in half, I used the momentum from the swing to once more hit at the mast, switching to the Hamaxe mid-swing.
I chopped away at the middle mast a few more times while dodging flintlock shots and killing pirates, and then, in one final swing, the mast fell down.
It hit the outer part of top deck, breaking it before falling into the sea. The pirates watched in shock.
But I was quick to continue, I ran to the rear mast, a little thinner compared to the middle one, and started to chop down at it too.
This time the pirates were reluctant in trying to stop me, fearing death, and the flintlock pirates were still reloading.
I chopped down the mast with no major problem, it was over in a few swings, the mast fell down into the sea.
"NOOOOOOOOOO! SOMEBODY STOP HIM!" The Captain yelled.
I jumped out towards the front mast, using both the dash from the shield of Cthulhu and the sandstorm boost jump.
Some pirates tried to jump at me with their cutlasses, some tried to shoot me down, all missed.
I landed next to the last mast, it was thinner than all the others, I swung my Molten Hamaxe at it, once, twice, thrice, and it was over.
The last mast fell down, crashing into the sea.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" The Captain screamed, the last of his crew scurried to his side.
"YOU! YOU SLIMY POXY YELLOW-BELLIED WRETCHED CHUM-EATING FOUL-SMELLIN' IDIOT NATTERING BILGE RAT PEST! I CURSE YE TILL THE END OF TIME!"
"You don't even know my name." I said to him, executing the next step of my plan.
"THEN TELL ME YER NAME YE WRETCHED BEAST!"
I put my hand up to my chest "I am Melwyn, Tamer of the Danger-Lands, Slayer of Cthulhu's Cursed Organs. You will never know peace for the rest of your life, not since you've met me."
The Captain could not get words out of his mouth, he could only grind his teeth and clench his fists.
Now, for one last step.
I looked around and saw two stowed boats aboard, along with the rowboat I used to come here.
I went up to said boats and...
Crushed them with the hammer part of my Hamaxe.
The pirates gasped in dismay "Y-Ye fool! Not even ye can escape now!" The Captain exclaimed.
"I thought you'd assume the opposite with what you already seen of me." I said, jumping off the ship afterwards.
The Captain and his crew ran over to the railings, looking down to where I fell.
Only to find me standing on the water.
"The scallywag has sea faring boots! Shoot him!" The Captain commanded, but I acted faster than his crew members, and dashed out around the ship and away from the bullets.
"Don't let 'im get away!"
Once I was under the front of the Galleon, I took out the Superheated Blood, and poured it out into the water.
It quickly turned into the lava shark once more, and this time I said no words, I simply rode atop its back, and it simply complied.
I glid across the water at speeds no old-school ship could follow, going east until the ship disappeared from view, the last words I heard from the captain being simply screams of hatred.
When the now ruined pirate ship was out of view, I looked at my mental map, once I located the village I turned to its direction and 'sailed' until I could see the coast village.
After a few dozen minutes, the village sprung into view, the sun was just over the horizon, but I managed to return on the same day.
After getting close enough, I returned the lava shark to his bottle, and started to run my way onto the village.
Once I got even closer, the villagers started to see me, they flocked around the shore, cheering at my arrival.
Once I got to the shore, I stopped running, and simply walked my way to the beach.
"He can walk on water!" "Of course he can!" "Our hero!"
"Adventurer!" The leader lady from before exclaimed as she got past the crowd. "Did you do it? Did you defeat the pirates and recover our supplies?"
"Yes, it was a success."
The village folk cheered louder.
"Where's the stuff then?" A man said excitedly in a semi-sarcastically.
To answer that, I walked past them and to the center of the village, where they all followed me.
Then, after extending my arms and hands, I placed all the supplies from my inventory onto the center of the village.
The village folk cheered louder than ever, going around the supply crates and opening them, laughing as they did.
Some even tried to lift me like the MVP of a sports team, but it seems my armor made me too heavy.
"Hey! I think- I think this has more supplies than they stole!" One of the villagers pointed out.
"Yeah! Especially the jewelry! We didn't have this much!" Said another, taking a handful of golden jewelry out of a barrel.
"Oh, they were weren't labelled, I thought they were all from here." I said, scratching my head.
"Ah, come on! You don't have to apologize! If anything comes with a name, we'll try to find the owner, otherwise, its better in our hands than in hands of the pirates!" Said the leader lady to me.
"Yeah, I guess so."
I suddenly felt someone knock at my armor like a door, I felt it on the back of my thigh.
I looked back, it was the little girl, I kneeled down to her level.
She stepped back a bit "Are you the aveen-tooer?"
I realized she probably didn't recognize me with my helmet on, so I took it off.
She gasped "Did you get my plushee?"
I extended my hand out to her, and in my palm, I placed her bunny.
"Floofy!" She said as she snatched the plush off my hand and hugged it.
"Now Tina what do you have to say to the man who got your plush?" Her mother said to her.
"Thank you mister!" She said to me in an excited manner.
A small smile appeared on my face, I got up and faced the leader lady.
"So, do you need any help with anything or do you think you can manage the rest?"
"I think we can manage, we'll restore ourselves in no time!"
"I just have one question." The fisherman who lent me the rowboat said as he approached me "Where did my boat go?"
"Oh, I destroyed it in my fight with the pirates, I should've just put it in my inventory..."
"Oh no, it's alright, you already did a lot of good-"
"I'll just make you another."
"What?"
"Where's the local carpenter?" I asked to the leader lady.
"No! You don't have to..." The fisherman pleaded...
I ended up staying there for a few more hours, I made another rowboat for the fisherman, helped redistribute the supplies, got praise and even gifts from the village folk.
And then it was time I left.
"Are you sure you don't need anything else? No food for the trip?" The leader lady asked as I put the black studded saddle in front of me, summoning my steed once again.
"I'm not sure how surprising this sounds, but I don't have the need to eat at all." I said to her.
"Haha, you're a bit of superhero, huh?" She said to me as I mounted the horse.
"Yeah, I guess I am."
"Hey wait, I never got your name."
"Oh, my name? My name is Melwyn."
"No last name? Do you have something like a title?"
"A title? I suppose I have my role, I'm a warrior, I take blows for my friends when they can't take it."
"Oh, sounds noble. Melwyn the warrior, then?"
"...Yes, I'm Melwyn the warrior."
"Well goodbye then Melwyn the Warrior! Have a nice trip!" The lady bid farewell.
"Goodbye." I bid farewell myself.
Later, at the Guild of the Arch Wyvern in Tennellopia...
"You really did it? All alone?!" My guild leader asked again in surprise.
"Yes, didn't I already show proof?"
"Yes, but, man, I at least expected for you to return here and ask for reinforcements! That quest was meant to be taken bytwo big mid-level parties!And you did all on you own!"
"That's... Impressive?"
"Very! Hahah... I guess it's time for you to reap the benefits!" He grabbed a large sack of coins and placed it atop my hand "65 gold!"
"That's a lot."
"Right?! And for one person? This is usually distributed among the many party members, but since you did it alone, you get to keep it all."
"I see... What does this mean for me?"
"Well, I'm not sure actually, nothing exactly like you has ever appeared before, and if we just give you some high tier quests the high tier regulars will likely get mad, Haha!" He sighed "Whatever it is we'll come up for you, it'll sure be exciting."
