"Whew," I whistled. "That’s a nice boat. Probably expensive to ride on, huh?"
"It would be, but we could get on it for free."
I paused, taking a moment to figure out what he meant. "You want us to offer them our services as Hunters?" I asked, snapping my fingers.
"‘Course," he said, grinning. "Why shouldn’t we? We’re Hunters. We’d probably have to fight any sea Monsters anyway even if we pay to ride on a boat. Might as well take advantage of our roles and hitch a free ride— or, well, voyage."
"But I’m not wearing my mask," I pointed out, and instinctively pulled my shoulders and arms in as if protecting myself.
Gennady shrugged. "You can just sit back for a bit. I’ll say me and a companion would like to offer our services to them. I’ll ‘introduce ‘Aria’ to them on another day if they say yes."
I slowly relaxed, and agreed to his terms, "Alright, that makes sense I guess."
We reached the ship he had pointed out, and found a group of sailors milling around on its deck. I stayed back, as he approached them.
"Hoy there!" the Dwarf called out, raising a hand. "Is your Captain around?"
The sailors gave him an odd look, and after a moment, one of them shouted back, "Go away, little man. We don’t like your kind here!"
I frowned, hearing the insult; Gennady however, seemed unaffected by it.
"Come now, lads. I’d just like to offer my services to your crew," he said casually.
"Hah," one of the sailors laughed. "As if we’d let a Dwarf tinker with our ship. You wouldn’t even be able to work with its mana crystal! We don’t carve on the crystals unlike you fools!"
"I meant it as a Hunter," Gennady said, his brows suddenly arching darkly over his eyes. I narrowed my eyes at the sudden change in his demeanour, but he was not finished. "But since ye lads dinna wan it, how ‘bout I teach ya a lesson instead?!"
I blinked. The sailors blinked. We did not understand a single word he had just said.
Despite that, one of the sailors still decided to taunt him. "Speak up, little man, we can’t hear you from down there—"
The man was cut off when a hammer came flying through the air and smashed him in the face. Gennady lowered his hand, reaching into his backpack for something else. "Wanna go ya lassies?"
"Hey, Gennady, I think we shouldn’t—" I started, but was immediately cut off.
"He just hurt John!"
"No one hurts John and gets away with it!"
"Get him, boys!"
I cursed as more than half a dozen sailors ran down the gangway and onto the pier, charging at my companion; the Dwarf just smirked, and continued throwing objects at them.
Two sailors fell off the wooden plank and into the sea before the rest reached him. They swarmed him one by one, punching and kicking at him.
Gennady was not an agile individual, and he simply took their hits, instead focusing on taking them out one by one. They struck him on the side, back, front—
But he was not affected by any of it. He shoved a man, and he was thrown back nearly ten feet off the pier, joining his two buddies in the water.
Another man charged, but the Dwarf whirled around and elbowed him in the gut. He collapsed, and puked in an instant.
"That all ya got?" Gennady raised his arms to his sides, seemingly unimpeded in combat by the heavy bag on his back. "Ya fight like a bunch of kids!"
The last two men shouted an insult back, and one of them pulled out a knife. "Die in Hell!" he yelled.
The weaponless man dashed forward at Gennady, going to grapple him and hold him in place. He held on for just a moment, before the Dwarf pried him off and threw him off the pier as well. Gennady turned back just in time to see the other man swing his knife at him—
And I swung my staff at the back of his head, knocking him out.
I stared at the Dwarf, as he looked down at the unconscious man.
"I had that just fine," he said.
"I don’t care," I retorted, and pointed past him. "I care about that."
A bunch of angry sailors from other ships were staring at us with fury in their eyes; I could practically feel their hate burning from all the way where I stood. They were amassing into one big group of 20, and they were still growing.
"Uh oh."
I looked blankly at Gennady as he turned back to me.
"That’s a bit of a problem," he said.
"You think?"
"We should run."
I rolled my eyes, then ran.
I heard shouts and screams coming from the sailors charging after us; they were not happy about how we— two random individuals coming to this harbor for the first time— seemingly picked a fight with a prominent crew.
"Wait…for...me!" Gennady called out from behind me, each of his thudding footsteps creaking the wooden floor below.
I slowed a little, craning my neck slightly to check the distance between us and the angry sailors. They were getting closer!
"Does this usually happen with you?" I asked, trying to keep my voice calm despite the rush of the moment.
"No—" he panted, catching up to me slightly. "Never!"
I narrowed my eyes but did not question him further since we were still running. We finally reached the start of the pier, back
