Mature Content Warning: Not much to warn about.

Author's Note:

Secondary notes: Freelance Saga Episode 5 is technically finished, but I am waiting on the ebook cover. I have learned that it might not be ready today, and may in fact take as long as until Wednesday. (I highly doubt that it will, but I am giving you a heads up.) If you are not into hot, naughty, monster girl related ero content... skip it. The real adventure stuff won't start in full-force until episode six and seven.

Galataea Crystallim will be updated tomorrow. Blackthorne will receive the rest of chapter three later today. ... and now for the reason most of you actually came here...:)

Chapter 17: Armor of the Dark Mariner.

The meeting place that Sharde had chosen proved to be quite serene. It was a small cabin surrounded by a mountain forest. There was a small pond nearby, and a mountain chain that provided a glorious backdrop.

Scott reached out and rubbed Emma, the mule, behind her ears. The obstinate creature had refused to part with him after they had reached the isolated cabin. Instead, she had opted to lower her body to the ground then placed her head in his lap.

Ero pouted at the overly possessive mule then sighed. Emma looked far too comfortable in that position. The tiny fairy was not happy about the situation at all. Sure, Emma was only a mule, but Ero wanted to be able to put her head in Scott’s lap as well.

Sharde and Rhea were currently sitting next to each other while hashing out a plan of action. Scott, listened attentively, but he focused on several more mundane tasks. One of which had to do with the need to increase Ero’s level a bit. He had enough experience built up that he could raise her level to eleven with no trouble at all.

Until Rhea and Ero caught up to him, he did not plan to increase his personal level. The extra ability points and money would be useful to further his development. Though, a lot his points would go to increase Ero’s abilities for the immediate future.

Thankfully, though her abilities were relatively expensive, she did not currently have many of them. They were all powerful and useful, however.

“Scott, what do you think?” asked Rhea.

He nodded to her. “I think so. It would make sense to send the teams out in three person units. The total cost for the operation is a little steep, but it’s fine. I mean, Crimson Shadow is still checking out Corpse Rat for free as well.”

“Right, so twelve teams of three at forty thousand per ninja...” Sharde calculated the costs rapidly then added in the extraneous amounts and service fees.

“One hundred sixty thousand up front plus an additional fifteen thousand per team, per day, after one week has passed.” said Sharde.

Scott’s sphincter clenched and spasmed, but he forced himself to relax. The teams would be doing more than just absently searching. They would gather vital information about the Shar-Shar, the queen, and possibly the location of the kidnapped mermaids.

“Could we pay you two hundred thousand, for ten days upfront?” asked Scott curiously.

Sharde rubbed her chin. “Two days would be two hundred five thousand Fayth. I suppose we could knock off the last five thousand and start off with a ten day search.”

Scott smiled at Sharde and she blushed a little. They had already gotten the friends and family discount, so that extra reduction had been solely for his benefit. “Thank you, for doing this for us.”

“No problem. I can’t see any way for this mission to be profitable for you, though.” said Sharde.

Scott shrugged. “I don’t care about that. There are a lot of young and overly affectionate mermaids being held captive.”

He continued, “We can make money anywhere, but I can’t make new mermaids, or restore their innocence once it’s lost.”

“So heroic...” said Sharde. Her eyes lit up and she grinned at him in a toothsome manner.

“Down girl.” Rhea poked her sister in the shoulder.

Sharde smiled at Rhea then nodded. “Right, right...”

Just then a knock came at the door. The knock was a strong series of humps and scrapes. It was a sign that Gambol had returned.

“Come in Fred.” said Sharde. She readied her fan just in case.

“You know this is Barney, Wilma.” called out Gambol.

Sharde visibly relaxed after the code words had been said. “Right, my mistake.”

The door opened and Gambol walked in, a smile on his face. He closed the door then walked over to the group and sat down on a pillow. “Alright, as you can see... I have returned.”

Scott smiled at him and Gambol beamed a bright smile at him in return. It was nice to make friends.

“How did they make out?” asked Sharde.

Gambol opened up a transaction window. Scott and Rhea received a notification that they were being contacted for a trade. “The total amount is four hundred ninety-six thousand three hundred Fayth, after the five percent transaction fee was withdrawn.”

“Not bad!” exclaimed Rhea. They had allowed Gambol to negotiate the sale of almost all of their junk items and random other things from their time in the ocean. He had a few trade skills that greatly increased his capacity to earn money through trade, and he handled most of the loot transactions for the guild. Even after he had extracted five percent for his services, the haul had been much higher than they would have gotten if they had sold it all on their own.

Scott and Rhea immediately sent Sharde one hundred thousand Fayth, each. The contract with the Crimson Shadow guild was now official.

The sorcerer turned to the male ninja master and asked, “What about the restocked items?”

“Ah, yes. I got everything and at a good price.” Gambol sent Scott another transaction request, followed by one to Rhea as well.

A massive chunk of the sorcerer’s personal fortune left his hands, nearly all of it in fact, but he was fully stocked on various items now, including numerous health and mana restoring potions.

Gambol then grinned at Scott and opened up one more transaction window. This time the sorcerer’s eyes lit up excitedly.

“So, this is what I got for the mithril scale and fish parts and a few hundred thousand Fayth?” The sorcerer practically drooled at the complete armor and weapon set that he was about to receive. He quickly accepted and checked his inventory to make sure that it had arrived properly.

“Yeah, that’s going to be a major upgrade, and it even fits with your fisherman thing.” said Gambol with a smile. The man had to be the world’s happiest ninja master.

Scott quickly equipped his gear, not even caring that he flashed his naked glory to everyone for a brief moment. Only Emma seemed upset by the flash of light, as it disturbed her nap. The mule sat up and blinked at the man reproachfully.

The sorcerer stood up then twirled around to show off his new digs. “You even found the lore ring I was looking for...”

“Yeah, I figured you were right. That’s a good fit for your fighting style if you use a spear.” said Gambol.

“Whoa, looking badass there!” cried Sharde.

Scott grinned at the ninja girl then pumped a fist into the air. He had asked Gambol to try and find an armorer and weapon smith who could use the fangs, scales, and mithril scale to create appropriate armor. The design that he had hoped for had worked perfectly. Scott was now dressed like an ancient warrior who could not decide what country to steal his ideas from.

The under-armor portion of the equipment was designed in such a way that it seemed to mimic a metal mesh wedded to a black wetsuit. A half-cuirass made of solid mithril over black steel protected his chest, ribs, and upper back while allowing for great mobility. He had bracers, mithril reinforced leather gloves, and a set of reinforced claws attached atop them.

His boots were black with the same chain mesh wrapped around them. However, there was a black steel shin guard attached to each. He also wore a studded leather, chain reinforced, battle skirt that would help to protect his groin and thighs and had smooth black shoulder guards.

His jet black aventail helped to protect his neck and shoulders, while his ancient style helmet protects his nose, cheeks, and skill. Where there might have been a horse hair plume atop the mithril helmet, there was instead, empty space. This would normally be a critical weakness to a helmet; however, it was quite beneficial for the sorcerer.

Scott activated his fisherman powers and his body shifted its appearance slightly. Wrist fins shot out sideways through a slit in his bracers, and his head fin rose up through the slot in his helm. Now, he looked like an aquatic myrmidon, or perhaps an upscale hoplite. He equipped his shield and spear. Yes, definitely like a high-end aquatic hoplite.

“Not bad at all, Scott.” said Rhea. She still wore her old armor set, but given its overall construction it was probably close to the capacity to his new equipment. It was made from similar materials to his old armor, but it had been made by a master craftsman

He unequipped his spear and shield then performed an experimental backflip. It was slightly more difficult than before, but not nearly as much as he had feared that it would be. The shield and spear would be useful for close combat; the shield more so after he had mastered the skill ring that would let him learn shield skills. However, he was primarily a sorcerer and agility oriented.

“Well, I like the look. I think. Let’s check the stats though, right?” asked Scott.

“Yeah, I want to know about those!” called out Rhea. She eyed him critically for a moment and then grinned. He definitely looked more human warriorish now that he was not wearing a banana hammock.

Scott checked his status.

<<< Status >>>

Name: Scott Jacobs | Class: Sorcerer | Race: Human

Title: The Unbreakable Burning Terror

Age: 18 | Level: 18

EXP: 155,859

Next Level: 16731

Ability Points: 347

Health: 270[270] | Mana: 214[214]

Attack: 110[642] | Defense: 139[893]

Strength: 113[113] | Agility: 117[78] | Accuracy: 74[74]

Intellect: 122[122] | Luck: 56[56]

>>

He let out a low, slow whistle. “Even with the major drop in agility, my defense is nearly nine hundred now. Is that good for level eighteen?”

Sharde stared at him for a moment then slowly nodded her head. “Yeah, I would say so.”

Rhea muttered something about Scott needing to be nerfed then everyone laughed. The sorcerer knew that they were just being nice. He was pretty sure that if Rhea was on the same level as he was that she would completely overwhelm his stats. He had trained almost exclusively for stat development so he was better than the average sorcerer, but he had fewer tricks and spells to work with as a result.

Scott checked his armor set then grinned. Since it was a set, he had received the agility penalty reduction and an additional ten percent to his armor’s defense.

<<< Item >>>

Badass Armor of the Dark Mariner

A suit of armor designed by a sorcerer of minor renown, this suit of armor allows the wearer to fight as well in the water as they do on land.

Defense: +402

Attack: +80

Agility Penalty: 41

Special:

Mariner’s Glory: The armor is equally usable in the water and on land. However, it does not allow the wearer to breathe water like air.

Bonus:

Due to the fact that the armor is a perfect set defense is increased by 10%.

The agility penalty is reduced by 1 point.

>>

Scott showed the stats to Rhea and her eyebrow rose upward. The elf could not help but ask, “You really named it that?”

“Hell yeah. Doesn’t it look badass?” asked Scott with a grin.

Everyone had a good laugh at that. His new outfit was quite the hit. He was broke once more, but he was fully stocked on items and had drastically increased his equipment. He did not even check the stats on his shield or spear, yet. He was too busy strutting around in the first decent armor that he had ever had, that did not come with a debt.