Keith stared over the side of the boat, his elbows resting on the boat’s railing. The Edward family’s island had been long left behind, and the direction the boat was heading had also been changed in case they were being pursued. No tracking magic had been placed on any of the Dragon Slayers, and Vinia, the woman who had silenced Keith, had purified the boat. If there was tracking magic casted on it, then it was gone now.

“What are you thinking about?” a feminine voice asked, causing Keith to turn his head. Danielle appeared by his side, propping her elbows up on the railing as well. She stared at the sea, but there wasn’t much to see: just waves, waves, and even more waves.

Keith shook his head. “I’m not thinking of much,” he said. “I’m just thinking about how abysmal our future looks. Can we even escape? Surely, a dragon can fly faster than we can sail, no? And even if we do manage to get away, we’ll never be able to return to our families back in Zuer since the dragon we’re escaping from is the king. He can declare us as criminals, and what’ll we do then?” He sighed and stared at the water. “Was escaping the right choice? It wasn’t like the king was going to kill us. If he wanted to, he could’ve gotten rid of us any time last week.”

Danielle shook her head. “You shouldn’t think about negative thoughts,” she said. “You’re Keith, the obnoxious moron who opens his mouth when he shouldn’t. If you’re this pessimistic, how do you think the rest of us will feel?”

Keith stared at Danielle. “Am I not allowed to show negativity? I’m human too!”

“That’s right,” Danielle said. “You’re a horrible fighter, and the only reason we keep you around is because of your positivity. If you can’t be positive, what good are you?”

Keith’s expression darkened, and he spat into the water. Contrary to his expectation, his spit did not land in the water. Instead, it landed on a black and red blur that came out of nowhere. Keith’s brow furrowed, and he tugged on Danielle’s sleeve. “Did you see that?”

“See what?” Danielle asked.

“My spit hit something,” Keith said and leaned over the railing, squinting into the water. However, no matter how hard he looked, the black and red blur had vanished. There were only waves and foam below.

“You’re seeing things,” Danielle said and shook her head. “If not, you probably hit a fish that came out of the water. What a poor fish.”

“Wait! There!” Keith pointed off in the distance. “Do you see it?”

A black and red blur appeared on the horizon, and before the duo could alert anyone, it jumped towards the boat, leaving a long arc in the air that ended behind Keith. The duo turned around to find a woman with red hair glaring at them. Her arms were crossed, and water dripped down from her set of black armor. “Did you spit on my face just now?” the woman asked.

“No, of course not,” Danielle said.

But at the same time, Keith blurted out, “You felt it!? Since you’re moving that fast, doesn’t water splash onto your face? How do you know it was my spit?”

The woman’s expression darkened. So, it wasn’t just her imagination. Someone on the boat had really spat on her. She grabbed the hilt of her sword and narrowed her eyes. However, after thinking about it for a bit, she released her grip and held out her palm instead. “Compensate me.”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “You want me to compensate you? You’re the one running around people’s boats. Do you do this often, hoping you get hit by someone’s vomit when they’re seasick? Do you even know who you’re trying to extort money from right now?”

“Do you know who I am?” the woman in black armor asked. “Would I, Mary Scathir, do something as pointless as that?”

“Mary Scathir?” Keith asked and wrinkled his nose. He snorted. “Never heard of you, but perhaps you’ve heard of my party—the Dragon Slayers?”

Mary shook her head. “Never heard of you,” she said. Her eyes narrowed. “Your party has experience with slaying dragons?”

“Of course,” Keith said and puffed his chest out. He balled his hand up into a fist and pounded his chest, which had a large dragon scale covering it. “Where do you think I got this armor?”

Mary took a step back and scanned Keith and Danielle from head to toe. She raised an eyebrow. “You’re not lying to me?”

Keith snorted. “Why would I lie?”

Mary hummed. Then, her arm flashed. Her fist struck Keith’s nose, causing him to pull his head back and cry out. “Weak,” Mary said and shook her head. “You couldn’t even block my attack; you expect me to believe you killed a dragon?”

“What’s your problem?” Keith asked, his voice nasally because he was holding his nose. He glared at Mary with a layer of tears covering his eyes. “You can hit a man, but you should avoid hitting his face!”

Danielle cleared her throat. “We really did kill dragons, but we did it as a group. Keith’s strength is nothing to write home about, but he’s a brilliant planner.”

“Oh,” Mary said and nodded her head. “Are you strong then?”

“I’m one of the stronger—ow!” Danielle recoiled and clutched her nose.

Mary retracted her fist, staring at Danielle with obvious doubt in her eyes.

“Try that again!” Danielle said, glaring at Mary with reddened eyes. A blur appeared in Danielle’s vision, and—“Ow!”

Mary tilted her head. “Well, whether or not you’re fake or real Dragon Slayers, time will tell.”

“What do you mean by that?” Keith asked and glanced at Danielle with a dazed expression. It was understandable he couldn’t block Mary’s attack, but for Danielle to get toyed around with like this as well? How strong was this Mary Scathir?

“Oh, you’ll see,” Mary said and smiled.