Apparently, the captain and his soldiers had been tasked with protecting Lady Malik as she toured the southern coast of Milindo.

They had stopped their activities to investigate Lone and Sophie’s ship as their duties demanded of them.

With their harmlessness and intent confirmed, however, the captain made it clear to Lone that the tour would resume and they would have to follow the galleon.

Lone honestly wanted to keep fishing so he asked if the captain wouldn’t mind having a soldier or two stay about their ship to man the helm in his stead.

Lone also didn’t want to progress in the Sailing Mastery skill while Sophie acted like the princess she was at her roots.

The captain easily agreed, seemingly happy to help though Lone suspected he simply liked the idea of having control over their ship in case something went awry.

The host has developed the passive skill [Fishing Mastery]. Passive Skill: Fishing Mastery

A must-have skill for anglers of all walks of life.

Makes fish 5% more likely to find your fishing hook more appealing.

Cost: N/A Mastery: Beginner Level 1

‘Hey, that’s a cool skill. Wonder why I didn’t get it with my lightning magic fishing? I guess the rod was needed. This skill even has flavour text. I need to find out why some do and some don’t,’ he thought idly.

Two hours, three small fish, and a few level-ups in his latest skill later, and dusk was upon them.

Congratulations! The host’s passive skill [Fishing Mastery] has levelled up. It is now Beginner Level 2. Congratulations! The host’s passive skill [Fishing Mastery] has levelled up. It is now Beginner Level 3. Congratulations! The host’s passive skill [Fishing Mastery] has levelled up. It is now Beginner Level 4.

Lone packed up his fishing gear since he could see lights on the horizon.

He quickly carted his equipment as well as his bounty below deck. He’d rather store the fish in his Dimensional Storage but when he didn’t know how common such a power was, he chose to leave the fish in a bucket of cold water for now.

Returning topside, Lone squinted to see as much of the distant city as he possibly could.

The largest buildings seemed to be only two stories tall though the place was surprisingly large.

It was about as big as Arlith where he was from, in truth. His home city wasn’t huge by any means, Hell, it only housed 50,000 people.

Still, considering the people here used galleons and wore knights armour… Ros was likely a big place.

It also looked simply gorgeous. It was as if the place had been plucked straight out of an ancient history book with its carriages, crowded port and busting streets despite the night creeping in.

“Real beaut’, ain’t she?” the soldier behind the ship’s wheel said. “Built on the back ah ye demis, it was. Gotta appreciate yas fer 'at, if nuthin’ else.”

‘Well, excuse me. Racist and poorly educated. Fantastic,’ Lone thought as he nodded slowly. “It’s certainly a sight to behold.”

“Ain’t nutin’ compared to the capital but aye, she’s got her charms ol’ Ros does,” the man replied with a smile.

Lone didn’t answer though he bowed his head politely.

The man though didn’t quite seem done with the conversation yet, sadly. "Fer a demi, ya ain't bad at fishin’. Could give me lad a run fer ‘is money. Ya took yer time though."

‘There’s that word again. ‘Demi’. Is that the official word for non-humans, or is it a derogatory term?' Lone smiled proudly despite the inner workings of his mind. "Half of the fun is in the fight, no? It would be awfully boring if I reeled them in as fast as possible. I also must confess that it’s a new talent I’ve picked up specifically for this journey of my master’s."

The armoured man shrugged. "Fair ‘nuff. Must be nice though to ‘ave a bit of fun as a slave. Gotta take ‘em moments 'ere ya can get it, I su’pose."

"Exactly," Lone agreed.

"Anyway, yer luck stat must be fairly decent. Ye'r good te get three and no miscasts, but ye'r still a beginner. Clear as day ‘at is." The man chuckled faintly and then put all of his attention on the wheel.

"Hmm..." Lone thought to himself, 'Luck stat, huh? So the people of this world can see their own statuses too then. It isn’t a thing unique to just Soph, Sophie and me. That’s one mystery solved. Also, he has a very thick accent. Soph and Sophie speak properly so I could never tell but accents can go through whatever force is translating every word? Maybe no accents but local dialects… Interesting.'

“You simply must come and meet me at the Malik estate in Ranton if you and… Sorry, I don’t actually know your title,” Emma apologised to Sophie.

Sophie tugged on Lone’s arm which she was holding for ‘support’.

He smiled and nodded. “Miss Vladimirovich or just Miss Sophie are fine, Lady Malik. As previously stated, formalities are of little use to my master during her trial.”

“Ah, of course. Well, Miss Sophie then. If you find yourself heading towards the holy city, please, do stop by. I’d love to see you two again,” Emma said.

“My master shares your sentiments wholeheartedly,” Lone replied while Sophie nodded.

The captain stepped forward and said, “Right, well, I’ve sent for one of my men to inform the local customs office to help apply for your temporary citizenship during your stay. An officer should be coming to process you both shortly.”

“Ah, sadly, we have a slight issue in that regard,” Lone confessed with a strained look on his face.

The captain scowled. “What issue?”

“Well, it’s a monetary one…” Lone said.

"Hello. Might you be the ones that Sir Riglorn mentioned?" a well-dressed woman with glasses who was holding a clipboard asked Sophie while she ignored Lone completely.

They have just entered the building the knights had escorted them to before immediately hearing this question. Clearly, someone wasn’t best pleased to be working so late into the evening.

'Glasses? Nice. So the level of glass working is quite advanced here. That's good. I guess Sir Riglorn was the ship captain's name?' Lone internally commented before he coughed lightly.

The woman spared him the slightest of glances before saying, “Pets have to stay outside.”

Lone’s eyes opened wide in shock. “… Are you talking about me?”

She rolled her eyes in disgust. “Of course I am. Now vacate my office, slave.”

He had to control himself to not punch the woman in the face. At least the soldiers only gave him dirty looks and were mostly nice to him in conversation.

Lone compartmentalised his rage and smiled. "Forgive my rudeness, but my master is both blind and mute. Did the good captain not explain this to you? If it is okay with you, might it be acceptable for this slave to handle things? I have my master's permission to act and speak on her behalf."

Sophie nodded to add weight to his words.

The woman eyed Lone contemptuously. "This is the issue with foreign nobles. Giving so much trust to beasts that can talk… Fine, so be it.”

She looked down at her clipboard then stated, "The dock tax for a ship of your masters’ size is one silver coin flat rate and then two bronze coins per extra day. The fee for a temporary citizenship permit is 50 copper coins per person. Half for a member of the Merchant's Guild. If your master is a member, have her show me her guild card."

Lone smiled wryly. 'Well, at least she's not spitting in my face or something. Damn, though. Is it that hard to hide your racism?'

He fished about in his pockets for a moment and pulled out three silver coins from his Dimensional Storage, all of which had been gifted to him by Emma.

At least that girl didn’t seem to have a racist bone in her body. ‘Maybe this town is just particularly bad. The capital sounds like a decent place though if everyone’s like Emma.’

He handed the three coins to the woman and smiled as charmingly as his face would allow him to. "My master is very gracious. Please, keep the change for yourself. My master would like for her ship to be handled with care."

The woman shook her head. "Perhaps where your master is from bribes are common, not here.”

Still though, she took all three silvers. “50 coppers for a temporary citizenship permit, a silver for the flat rate docking fee, then one silver and 50 coppers for pre-emptive docking fees. That gives your master 75 days until she’ll have to pay for an extension or undock from the city’s port.”

She looked up as if expecting Sophie to protest but honestly, it sounded like a fine deal though there was one issue.

“Only one temporary citizenship?” Lone asked in confusion.

The woman laughed in his face. “You’re not a person, you’re a slave. You’re her responsibility.”

‘… Just like a pet,’ Lone thought. “Of course, how foolish of me.”

The woman nodded as if his stupidity was simply to be expected. She fished around in a nearby desk before she pulled out a small card.

She then used a skill on it from what Lone could tell before handing it to Sophie. It immediately registered her name and face and had an active countdown on it.

“That expires in exactly six months’ time. If you try to leave Milindo before that date, you’re liable to be arrested unless you have a permit to exit the kingdom,” the clerk claimed.

Lone froze and Sophie, too, seemed perturbed by the idea. ‘The fuck? Did we just enter this world’s version of the CCP or something?’

“Also, we don’t have the tools nor personal to detect for magic, but if either of you happens to be magic users, do not, under any circumstance, use your spells. That’s liable to get you killed. It’s a capital offence to use magic without express permission from the crown itself,” the woman claiming, making the situation oh so much better.

It took some time, but Lone and Sophie eventually found an inn willing to let slaves actually sleep inside, not in a barn or somewhere even less dignified.

The two were now in their rented bedroom. Sophie was lying down on their double bed with her hands under her head while Lone was sitting at the nearby desk.

"So, Lone. What's the plan here? We've reached civilisation like you wanted," Sophie asked. “It’s hardly perfect though.”

“Haha, no fuckin’ shit.” Lone ran his fingers through his hair before he answered said, "Well... we can’t exactly leave now. What a fuckin’ cunt. Would have liked a warning for that.”

“Indeed, though do not worry about the magic ban. Your Dimensional Storage does not create any magical fluctuations and we can simply keep watch for you if you wish to practise your crude spells,” Sophie offered.

“Haha, ready to break the law the second we reach a country, huh?” Lone asked teasingly.

Sophie shrugged. “This place has no respect for you nor for freedom, it seems. Why respect it back?”

He found himself agreeing with her, in truth. “We’ll do that then. Still, we’d best be careful. We’ve also got to find something constructive to do for half a year.”

“We can figure that out tomorrow but on the grander scale? There are two things in particular that I’d like to do," Lone claimed.

Sophie raised an eyebrow but continued to stare at the ceiling from the bed. "Go on."

"First, I want to meet the gods that brought us here and punch them in the face," he said.

"Why? Are you not happy with this new life?" Sophie asked curiously.

Lone laughed. "The end does not justify the means. Those fuckheads ripped us out of our lives without even a single thought towards our feelings. Sure, it's worked out so far, but we’ve had to see and do some pretty fuckin’ terrible things. I won't be satisfied until I find out what the hell those gods want from us and most certainly not until I've clocked them once or twice right in the chops."

"Hah. We can agree with that sentiment if nothing else. So, what's the second goal?" Sophie questioned.

A distant look entered Lone's eyes. "I kinda want to visit my family. I want to tell my mum that I don't resent her any more. I want to let my sister know that I love her...”

He smiled a wry smile. “As for my dad... I want to tell him that I still hate him, but he no longer holds any meaning in my life. Coming here to Altros has shown me how small my life and my issues were back on Earth. Especially when stacked up against yours."

"Wanting to talk to the dead... What a silly thought," Sophie scoffed. "So, in essence, you want to return to Earth?"

Lone nodded. "Not the dead, just his grave. And yeah, someday. I assume it's possible. Since we came here, there's gotta be a way to go back."

"Do you plan to obtain the power of the gods that brought us here? That's a lofty goal," Sophie claimed.

Lone laughed. "I doubt world transferal is limited to gods. But yeah, you know what, why not? Fuck it. If I wanna sock 'em in the face a few times, I should at least be as strong as them, shouldn't I?" he rhetorically asked as he grinned.

"We see. Well, we shall work hard to not fall behind you, though considering the difference in our unique skills, it is probably impossible to stay as your equal in direct strength," Sophie muttered passively.

Lone just laughed a bit awkwardly in response to that statement. He could hardly deny it. His Growth Accelerator was unfair and offered a clear advantage to him which would probably be impossible to match, even with a genius-level of talent.

"What did you say? Repeat yourself," an overweight man with a goatee asked.

He wiped the grease from his fingers onto his lavish clothing carelessly as he stared at the rogue in front of him.

"… Yes, my lord." The short woman with a loosely tied blonde ponytail sweated heavily in the city lord's presence. "I saw a Golden Foxkin wandering the streets this evening. He had nine tails, but he hasn't awakened yet. I think, at least. It was hard to tell since it was dark but, so it’s possible he has awakened to Life though that’s unlikely. He seems to be the slave of a young foreign noblewoman. From my investigations, she's both blind and mute, but like the foxkin, she is very pleasing to the eyes."

The city lord stroked his goatee thoughtfully. Reaching into his waistcoat's front-left pocket, he plucked out a single gold coin and tossed it to the woman.

"Good work. Keep an eye on this demi. There's another coin in it for you if you can tell me his location when I need it," he ordered powerfully.

The rogue caught the metal coin and stowed it away in a pouch strapped to her hip. "As you will it, my lord."

Waving his hand dismissively, he said, "You may leave."

The girl did so. Now alone with his servants, the city lord smiled deviously. "A Golden Foxkin? Here? In Milindo? The Primals must be smiling down on me. That makes two this year alone and this one isn’t just a likely false rumour. To think that everyone thought they were extinct for the last century..."

His gaze wandered through the room until it landed on one of his many servants. "You. Go file a request at the Adventurer's Guild. Offer a whole white-gold coin. I need a B-ranker or greater. Preferably a gold-plate, but I'll accept as low as a steel-plate. The request is to assess someone's strength."

"Of course, my lord." The servant bowed and rushed out of the room.

"Hmm... I won’t ignore such a ripe opportunity. It's such a shame that only B-rankers or above can sense another's internal power, isn't it?" the city lord suddenly asked.

Startled by his abrupt question, several of the servants blanked and fumbled for an answer. Eventually, one muttered, "Y-Yes, my lord."

"It's such a shame, indeed. If only Bastion could rank up, I wouldn't need to hire adventurers for such trivial things... Oh well. Let's hope this demi isn't that powerful or an awakened beastkin. It would be great to give my boy some real field experience for a change," the city lord said more to himself than to anyone present.

The power owning such a rare animal would afford him… why, it could change everything.