The port district's clamor gradually fell behind them.

Gauss's team, carrying heavy pouches of coin from selling their spoils, checked into an inn in the upper town near the docks.

Captain Fourn escorted them all the way to the inn's entrance before saying goodbye, solemnly thanking them again and even offering, if they ever needed passage out to sea, to contact his ship, the Seagull.

"Ha—"

Aria yawned.

A trace of fatigue showed on her face.

She hadn't rested well during their days on the Seagull and on the island.

After disembarking, they'd run into members of the Great Serpent Adventurer Group, and the subsequent selling of spoils had taken considerable time and effort.

Now that they finally had a chance to rest, the exhaustion swept over her at once.

After all, people aren't machines.

"Get a good night's rest," Gauss suggested as the sky grew pale with morning light.

They could submit the commission tomorrow, and while there, buy a spellbook for Tongue of Languages at the Adventurers Guild's skill shop.

"See you tomorrow."

The next morning.

Gauss opened the window;

the sea breeze blew in.

The port slowly awakened in the dawn.

Golden sunlight scattered across the sea in tiny speckles, lighting up rows of moored ships.

The dock was already bustling with the new day.

Bare-armed dockworkers shouted cadence and hauled bundles from the holds onto gangplanks, stacking them in the assigned yards.

Merchant and fishing vessels preparing to set sail performed last-minute checks on ropes and adjusted sails.

Occasional seagulls skimmed the surface, crying crisply and flinging up fine droplets with each wingbeat.

The vitality of the seaside city lay clear before him.

Gauss stood at the inn window, quietly watching this scene of life surging forth. The weariness from days at sea evaporated—indeed, land brought him a homely sense of peace.

He thought of last night's spell practice.

A small thrill rose in his chest.

Almost every night he had tried to build the spell models for two third-circle spells.

Whether practicing White Falcon sword technique with Adelle a few days ago or during the voyage on the Seagull, he had not stopped.

Finally, last night brought good news.

For the third-circle Fly spell's model, he seemed to have found a few tricks—several previously stuck nodes suddenly cleared, and he made successive breakthroughs in progress.

Traveling for commissions had paid off.

He felt the progress breakthrough was thanks to the change of scenery and mood from going out to sea.

Many things worked like that: a change of environment and mindset sometimes brought unexpected gains.

Third-circle Fly...

His heartbeat quickened at the thought.

Between the two third-circle spells, he was actually more excited about Fly, which lacked obvious offensive power.

Fireball, though famous, was essentially a more powerful attack—a reinforcement and extension of current combat methods.

But Fly's significance was entirely different.

Its function was blunt and simple: grant creatures the ability to fly. For Gauss, it was a qualitative leap.

It wasn't merely a new mode of movement;

on a deeper level, he felt it was an elevation of life form and spirit.

Everyone probably fantasized about soaring into the sky.

Flight is etched into the human soul as the most primal urge to conquer the heavens.

As a child, Gauss often imagined himself flying, but as he grew he learned that human anatomy didn't allow self-powered flight.

In this sword-and-magic world, flight was no longer an unrealistic dream—and now it grew ever closer.

"Stay calm..." Gauss steadied his emotions.

He left the room and woke the teammates one by one.

"Serlandul, up?"

"Captain, I'm up." Serlandul rose early;

at the sound of Gauss assembling everyone, he pushed his door open, fully dressed and ready to depart at a moment's notice.

"Knock knock, where's Shadow?" Shadow was more direct.

The shadow slipped out from under the door.

Aria, however, slept more deeply.

After knocking twice, it was Raven Eck who unlocked her door from the inside.

Aria, in loose sleepwear, still lay on her side hugging the quilt, lips making an almost catlike, barely audible snore.

She seemed to be dreaming;

her eyelashes trembled slightly.

Gauss glanced out the window—sunlight already poured into the room.

"Aria, time to get up."

"Mm..."

The curled-up "dumpling" on the bed shifted and emitted a muffled nasal sound.

"Gauss... where are we?"

She slowly sat up, staring blankly for a good thirty seconds before her brain finally reconnected to reality.

"We're heading out to submit the commission." Gauss wanted to let her sleep longer, but it wasn't that early anymore.

It still took time to get to the Adventurers Guild.

"Ah! Right! The commission!" Aria seemed to be activated by the keyword, jumping out of bed and padding barefoot across the floor. She yawned and squinted, scanning for her robe and boots.

"Wait a sec, I'll be ready in a moment."

"Never mind, take your time. It's not that urgent."

...

Riding their Ostriches through the busy avenues.

The Ostrich and Shadow's horse threaded nimbly through cargo wagons without losing much speed.

"Huh? Why are there so many city guards this morning?" Aria noticed the soldiers' presence.

They moved quickly, like they had a mission—clearly not performing routine patrols.

"We, under the Sena City Public Order Ordinance and based on witness testimony, now arrest you on suspicion of involvement in last month's conch shell shop violent robbery! Surrender!"

The man being restrained was larger than an average adult male;

some facial and bodily features indicated he had seafolk blood.

He struggled fiercely and let out a hoarse growl, "Let me go!"

Passersby and merchants stopped to watch, whispering.

Some showed pity, others expressed clear disgust and fear, stepping back.

Gauss and his group passed by, slowing their mounts to observe.

"So many city guards—so they're arresting people..." Aria realized.

"The mood feels a touch overstrained," Serlandul commented.

Because of his heritage, he seemed more sensitive to such matters.

Gauss scanned everyone, including the stern, efficient-looking soldiers, and noticed they were armed not only with standard swords and shields but also carried special tools on their belts.

Clearly, these city guards were elite in both ability and equipment.

Soon, the detained man lost the strength to struggle and was forced onto a cart under everyone's watchful eyes.

"Good, round up these savages."

"Lately some of these seafolk have gone berserk. My neighbor got drunk a few nights ago, crashed into one and got punched twice—now his eye is swollen."

"These seafolk are sick—bloodline disease. Some get mad as they age. If you ask me, the town hall should round them up and drive them out."

"Some seafolk are fine people, it's just a few bad ones."

Many onlookers applauded and cheered such sentiments.

Listening to their talk, Gauss didn't know how to respond.

If, as these residents claimed, some people with seafolk blood had unstable mental states and violent tendencies, the city's fear, rejection, and even hatred would be understandable.

"If only everyone could get along," Aria sighed and shook her head.

Gauss exhaled.

He felt all the more sharply that he was just a regular adventurer.

At least for now, he had no power to do anything grand.

He wasn't a savior;

all he could do was take things step by step: finish commissions and try to slay more monsters.

"Let's go."

As Gauss and the others moved on, they encountered several more ongoing arrests.

Without exception, the suspects were the same people the townsfolk labeled "seafolk."

The scenes repeated: fully equipped city guards subdued them and loaded them onto specially made prisoner carts.

Gauss couldn't help asking a kindly old merchant beside the road about the situation.

Only then did he learn the full background.

Over the past few months, many incidents involving people with partial seafolk blood had occurred—sometimes individuals, sometimes groups—attacking people in fits of frenzy.

There had been a big uproar earlier;

a batch had been captured then.

The ones being arrested now were likely some who had slipped through before.

The old merchant sighed.

"At first folks thought they were isolated fights, but the incidents kept increasing. When they go berserk they're nothing like their calm selves;

their strength becomes terrifying and they lose reason. Temple doctors examined them and said it's a hidden flaw in the seafolk bloodline—untreatable."

"So it's only been this bad the last few months?" Gauss asked, noticing a blind spot.

"It happened before, but not so often. Some say it might be a new contagion that spreads among seafolk."

Gauss and his three teammates exchanged looks.

"If it's a bloodline flaw, it's indeed hard to cure," Serlandul sighed.

When they reached the East Branch of the Adventurers Guild, Gauss went inside.

Fewer adventurers were present today than on previous visits.

On the second floor he submitted the commission and bought a first-circle Tongue of Languages spellbook.

He needed to know what the characters on that supposedly genuine treasure map meant—since they were already there, he might as well.

After greeting Aria and the others, he followed staff guidance toward the third floor.

"Adelle Director is here today too."

Before her office cum training room, Gauss knocked on the door.

"Come in!"

To his surprise, the voice that answered wasn't Adelle's but an unfamiliar woman's.

Gauss pushed the door open and saw two figures in training gear leaning against equipment, talking.

"Oh, it's you, Gauss."

"Was the commission fairly smooth?" Adelle looked up at the doorway, saw Gauss, and casually asked.

"There was a bit of an incident, but no real danger." Gauss kept it brief.

His gaze fell on the woman beside Adelle.

She was the most muscular "woman" Gauss had ever seen.

How muscular? Compared to her, Gauss's own pride in his build shriveled into insignificance.

She stood over a head taller than Gauss, broad-shouldered and thick-backed, her muscles flowing like dangerous power stored under the skin.

Her training clothes strained taut over the lines of her frame, outlining a body that radiated force.

Surprisingly, she wasn't unattractive.

If one ignored the muscles and towering build and focused only on her face, she could even be called beautiful and refined.

What a paradoxical person...

"Who is this?" Gauss asked Adelle.

"Let me introduce you—this is Rachel, president of our East Branch Guild." Adelle introduced them quickly.

So that's her?

Gauss knew the name well, but had never met the person in the flesh.

"Rachel, this is Gauss—the prodigy you said you wanted to meet a while ago."

"Hello."

"Hello, President Rachel."

Rachel extended her hand.

Gauss stepped forward and gave a light handshake.

Her hand was large too—almost completely wrapping his palm.

To be honest, standing beside her was psychologically imposing for a man.

What a formidable woman.

Rachel offered a faint smile.

Looking at her delicate, composed face, Gauss briefly felt dazed.

It struck him as uncanny.

He couldn't help but recall a phrase from his past life: Diamond Barbie.

"Your muscle lines are nice, but you're a bit short and skinny," she said.

"You young folks should eat more—you're too thin."

Even with Gauss's muscles hidden under a robe, Rachel seemed to perceive his muscle strength at a glance and still found it lacking.

"Train with me sometime, I'll coach you."

"Ah... okay." Gauss felt embarrassed.

Compared to ordinary people he might already be quite strong, but this was the first time someone told him he ate too little.

He even began to wonder whether he might truly be undernourished.

"Why not now? I can give you some pointers."

When Gauss offered a polite reply, Rachel seemed suddenly enthused.

Her palm came to rest on his shoulder, and she said excitedly—

Gauss felt as if an electric current ran through him and stiffened reflexively.

It was like being seized by a powerful beast;

his body reacted instinctively.

He couldn't gauge her exact strength, but she was... clearly strong.

He glanced at Adelle, who winked and nodded at him.

After a moment's hesitation, he agreed.

The Adventurers Guild in Sena City had one main hall and three branches.

In other words, this woman was roughly top four within Sena City's adventurer system.

Even allowing for possible vice presidents at the main hall, she would probably still be in the top six.

Most likely, she was the strongest professional Gauss had encountered up close so far.

"Relax, I won't eat you."

After Gauss nodded, Rachel led him toward a section of the training ground.

She practically carried him there like a chick, effortlessly bringing him to the spot.

Watching Adelle's amused expression, Gauss wanted to protest—show some respect to a senior!

His only consolation was that Aria and the others hadn't followed. Otherwise his dignified image as captain would be completely ruined.