Lance Charge on the Arkship, but No Mount

"That's incredible! Mr. Claude, one of your evaluations is actually Outstanding!"

Seeing the Rhodes Island operator so excited that her face had turned red, Claude could not help asking, "Is that rating rare?"

"Of course it is! There are only a few people in all of Rhodes Island with an Outstanding evaluation. Mr. Claude, you're amazing!"

"Is that so?" Claude merely smiled. He did not have any particular feeling about it. Though he could be considered powerful now, he was still far from his peak strength in his previous life.

"All right, the machine has been calibrated. Get back to work. I won't disturb you any longer."

Claude waved to them and bid farewell to the enthusiastic operators.

Meanwhile, in a hidden corner beyond everyone's sight, an eye glowing with an evil red light stared unblinkingly at Claude.

"That man is definitely no ordinary Kuranta. I'll get some of his blood later and have a look."

As she spoke, she wiped away the suspicious liquid at the corner of her mouth before vanishing.

Claude lay on the sofa, using his terminal to reply to messages from his friends. Naturally, he had no way to contact the Reunion Movement on the snowfield. Compared to a modern mobile phone, this terminal had very few functions. It could basically only send messages and make calls, and it only worked within the range of mobile cities. Elsewhere, it had no signal at all.

Yet the terminal's technological level was not low. Claude could not help forming an idea. Perhaps he could develop games that could be played on terminals, much like the mobile games of his previous life. Of course, he did not possess the technical expertise himself, but he could find someone to collaborate with. He would provide the ideas while the other party handled the technology. In this untouched field, it might bring in even more funds.

The more he thought about it, the more feasible the idea seemed. Claude rose to write down the plan, but suddenly sensed an inexplicable presence.

In an instant, he chose to trust his instincts. He drew the longsword at his waist and pointed it at the ventilation opening in the ceiling.

Mercy trembled slightly in his hand, eager to drink blood once more. Just as Claude was about to attack, a flustered female voice came from the vent.

"Don't! Don't attack! Keep that sword away from me too! I'll come out right away."

The vent was quickly and skillfully removed. A pale woman in a black dress appeared before Claude. She held both hands high to show that she meant no harm, but her gaze remained fixed nervously on the sharp sword in his hand.

"Who are you? An intruder? Why are you in the ventilation shaft?" Claude did not lower his sword and continued to point it at her. If anything seemed wrong, he would not hesitate to cut off her head.

"Wait, wait! You've misunderstood! I'm not an intruder. I'm an operator of Rhodes Island! You can tell from my ID badge." Cold sweat ran down the Bloodfiend's pale face.

"Why would a Rhodes Island operator be in the ventilation shaft of my room? You had better tell the truth. My patience is limited."

"Special circumstances, special circumstances! I was inspecting the ventilation system, that's all!!" The young Bloodfiend grew increasingly panicked. She was almost unable to suppress the urge to flee. But her instincts told her that sword was extremely dangerous to her. Even the slightest wound from it would kill her immediately. She did not want to lose her life here over a misunderstanding.

After nearly five minutes of frantic explanation, Claude finally believed that she was not an intruder. Only after he sheathed his sword did she let out a sigh of relief.

"All right, miss. Even if you aren't an intruder, how do you explain being inside the ventilation duct?"

The relieved expression on the young Bloodfiend's face froze.

A New Beginning: Chapter 40, Returning Fully Loaded

Claude watched the stranger before him with deep suspicion. This woman's actions were no different from an assassin's: hiding in the ventilation opening of her target's room, waiting for the target to fall asleep before emerging to deliver a fatal blow. By Claude's former habits, any ill-intentioned stranger hiding in his room would naturally have been killed. But if she truly was a Rhodes Island employee and merely acted strangely, killing her would clearly be inappropriate.

So after thinking briefly, he chose a more proper approach: he sent a message to Dr. Kal'tsit through his terminal. Until then, this suspicious lady could not leave his sight.

Claude blocked the doorway to prevent her escape, both hands resting on the longsword planted against the floor. At this distance, he could react to anything she tried.

Warfarin was regretting this now. Regretting it immensely. In a sudden fit of impulse, she had crawled into the ventilation duct, intending to wait until Claude fell asleep before taking some of his blood. Naturally, if he could not fall asleep for a long time, she could give him a little help, such as sleeping medication.

What she had done was certainly not permitted. But as a Bloodfiend, pursuing blood was her instinct. Compared to the others of her kind, she was already the most restrained one. Though secretly drinking blood samples, kidnapping Rhodes Island operators, and kidnapping guests would all earn her a severe punishment from Kal'tsit, the benefits were simply too great to be worth mentioning. She could endure it.

But who could have imagined that this formidable-looking Kuranta knight carried something so terrifying? The moment she sensed that thing's aura, her entire body stiffened, and she could barely move. Warfarin did not recognize the sword, but the instinct in her bloodline told her it was her natural enemy. She absolutely could not be injured by that blood-glinting blade. Thus, what had been a relaxed and pleasant plan turned into this awkward situation.

Looking at the knight's winged helmet, Warfarin wanted to say something to ease the awkward tension. But just as she opened her mouth, the knight suddenly moved, frightening her into immediately closing it again.

Amid the incomparably tense and stifling atmosphere, there came a sudden knock at the door. Warfarin had never imagined that one day she would hope Kal'tsit would catch her in the middle of committing a crime. When the door opened to reveal Kal'tsit's icy face, Warfarin nearly wanted to rush forward and give her a deep embrace. Never before had Kal'tsit's face seemed so warm and lovable.

Looking at the stupid Bloodfiend whose expression was on the verge of tears, Kal'tsit felt her blood pressure rise again. She should have known long ago that, given this idiot's nature, she would definitely cause trouble. But Kal'tsit had never expected that Mr. Claude would be targeted by her on his very first day here. Since when had her efficiency become this terrifying? Now Kal'tsit had to worry about how to explain the idiotic thing this fool had done.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Kal'tsit suddenly felt close to losing her temper.

"Mr. Claude, please deal with this person as you see fit. Kill her or carve her up, either is fine. She caused this trouble herself, so let her deal with it."

"No, Kal'tsit!! Aren't we friends?! How can you just stand there and watch?!" Tears nearly spilled from Warfarin's eyes as she lunged forward and clung to Kal'tsit's leg.

"It's because you idiot keep doing idiotic things like this every day. How many messes have I cleaned up for you already?"

"Help me, Kal'tsit!! I'll really die this time!! I'm serious, I really will die!"

Watching the two of them tugging at each other, Claude was somewhat surprised. He had not expected the stern Dr. Kal'tsit to have this side to her. He could see now that this suspicious person really was a member of Rhodes Island, and that she had quite a good relationship with Rhodes Island's upper management. It was very possible that she was part of the upper management herself.

"Dr. Kal'tsit, I understand the situation now, and the misunderstanding has been resolved. Miss Warfarin did not do anything excessive, so I won't do anything to her."

"Really?! Then I'm leaving!" Warfarin's face instantly brightened, and she turned to rush out the door. But after only two steps, Kal'tsit grabbed the back of her collar and dragged her back.

"After doing something like this, you should at least apologize first."

"I'm sorry, I'm truly sorry. I won't dare do it again next time." Warfarin apologized without the slightest hesitation, almost with too much force.

"Uh... all right. I accept your apology, Miss Warfarin."

Yesterday's commotion with Miss Warfarin had gone on for a long time before Claude could finally sleep. Today was the day he received the remaining medicine. Claude sat in the car, looking at the several full crates of medicine in the trunk. Centaurea sat beside him.

Claude reached out and rubbed Ceobe's hair, messing up the disappointed girl's hair.

"All right, Ceobe. Stay here and get treated properly. We'll be back soon. It's very dangerous where we are, and your Oripathy is so severe. It's better for you to receive treatment here."

"I'm not afraid of danger. I'm really strong! I can help you beat up bad people!!" Ceobe stubbornly puffed out her lips.

"But I don't want to see you get hurt. Listen to me this time. Once you're better, I'll take you with me wherever I go."

Ceobe still looked reluctant, but she nodded. Then she held out her hand before Claude and extended her pinky finger.

"A promise. Neither side can break it."

Claude smiled, extended his own pinky, and hooked it with hers. Their thumbs pressed together.

"Of course. Neither of us can break it."

After comforting the child, Claude turned to Dr. Kal'tsit.

"Dr. Kal'tsit, I'll leave this child to you. I will cover all her expenses."

"Mr. Claude, we will certainly take good care of her. And naturally, there is no need for any medical fees. Consider it a gift in celebration of our partnership."

"Then I won't stay any longer. Goodbye."

The vehicle left the massive landship, while a petite yellow-haired figure remained standing on the deck for a long time, until the vehicle vanished from sight.

The car first returned to Kazimierz's Great Knight Territory. He still needed to say goodbye to his friends here, so he went to the Nearl Family first.

Old Cyril opened the door as usual. Even at his age, he still appeared robust and energetic. After Claude told him he was leaving, the old man did not ask much, merely telling him to take care.

The only people left in the Nearl Family were Maria and her aunt, Zofia. Miss Zofia did not live in this estate; she had a residence of her own.

When he entered the workshop in the backyard, Claude was surprised to find Miss Zofia there as well. When he saw them, they were gathered around a table and did not notice him even after he approached.

A strange weapon rested on the table. It could be called a sword, but its handle was too long. Yet if it was called a spear, it was too short. If it had to be given a name, "sword-spear" would be the most appropriate. It did not look easy to use. It likely required training from childhood before it could become as natural as one's own limbs.

Only when a tall black shadow covered them did the two ladies, who did not seem far apart in age, finally notice him.

"Master Claude!!"

"Mr. Claude."

"Maria, and Miss Zofia, I'm here to say goodbye. Everything here has been taken care of, and I need to return as soon as possible." Claude held his helmet under his left arm and smiled as he explained his purpose in the afternoon sunlight.

"Mr. Claude, you're leaving so soon? If you have time, please bring your friends to visit my home. You've helped Maria and Margaret greatly, and I have yet to formally thank you."

"Of course, Miss Zofia. But we really must return now. I will certainly visit another day."

"And Maria, this is for you." As he spoke, Claude took a notebook from his clothes and handed it to his apprentice.

"Master Claude, what is this?"

"Some of my own experience. I wrote it specifically for you over the past few days. Follow the plan inside carefully, and you will definitely achieve the expected results. I'll come back to check on you whenever I can, so don't slack off." Claude rubbed the young knight's neatly arranged golden hair, prompting the child to complain at him with mock annoyance. He could not help laughing.

He remained at the Nearl Family home for a while. After accepting the warm hospitality of the two ladies, drinking some tea, and eating some biscuits, he finally came outside.

Centaurea, who had been waiting impatiently in the car, saw him emerge and said with some irritation, "Finally finished talking with your little apprentice?"

"You're the one who didn't want to go in with me. If you'd gone with me, you could have eaten something too before we set off." Claude found it amusing.

"Forget it. It's better if I don't meet them." Centaurea said nothing more and got into the car first.

"Don't dwell on it so much. You don't have any conflict with them. Don't get stuck in your own head." Claude also sat in the driver's seat. All the food and drinking water had been purchased. They only needed to say goodbye to Old Martin and the others before leaving.

"Leaving so soon? I thought you'd stay a few more days. Looks like there was no way to make any drinking money off you after all."

"Come back and visit when you have time. That little Maria makes a pretty good helmet. She's already reached the level I had back then."

"Though you couldn't drink with us, talking with you was a pleasure. Goodbye, friend."

"All right, friends. I'll be back soon. When I return, we'll have a proper gathering."

After bidding farewell to all his friends here and loading the large and small packages they had stuffed into his hands into the car, Claude drove away from the place he had only returned to a week ago.

"Get some rest in the back. Following me on this journey must have tired you out." Claude understood his own physical condition very well. This was not enough to make him tired, but the same might not be true for others.

"I am a little tired. While the roads are still decent, I'll sleep for a while." Centaurea stretched, revealing her slender yet firm waist beneath her short white top. The girl always appeared agile and light. Though she had once been an assassin, she drew attention very easily.

"Don't sleep in the seat. The rear seats can be laid flat."

At Claude's words, Centaurea climbed into the back. Sure enough, she folded down the seats, creating a flat surface like a single bed.

"When did this feature get added? How did I not know?"

"While we were at Rhodes Island a couple of days ago, I had someone modify it for us. We'll be using this car often in the future, so now one person can rest while the other drives. Don't be too touched."

"Tch. The conditions are so bad. Who'd be touched?" Centaurea lay down in the back seat, wrapped herself into a ball with a blanket, and soon fell asleep peacefully.

Claude smiled, shifted gears, and accelerated. With everything they needed and his companion in the vehicle, he drove back in the direction they had come from.

An Originium explosive detonated beside the car, nearly flipping it over. The rider in tattered protective gear was secretly delighted. Just two more blasts would definitely overturn the vehicle, and then everything inside would belong to him.

Before he had even succeeded, he was already wary of his companions. Seeing that the others on their battered motorcycles had failed to catch up, he eagerly pulled out two more bombs.

The bombs slipped weakly from his hands and fell to the ground. He raised his head in confusion, but blood kept spilling from his mouth, staining his mask red.

A pitch-black lance had pierced his chest. The other end continued exerting force, lifting him off his motorcycle. The riderless motorcycle crashed into a roadside boulder and became a heap of scrap.

The raiders following behind then witnessed a horrifying and absurd scene. A man was impaled on a lance held one-handed from the off-road vehicle, his ragged clothes fluttering in the wind like an old flag. The sight did not last long. With a flick of the lance shaft, the raider hanging from it was flung away like a rag doll. He smashed into the two raiders at the front, tangling them together with their motorcycles.

The raiders' leader raised a clenched fist, and everyone slowly decelerated their mounts to a stop. He knew clearly that this was no longer a target he could handle. They had to cut their losses in time.

"You run into these guys everywhere. They're like vultures and hyenas."

Listening to his companion's complaint, Claude used a clean cloth to wipe away the threads of blood and scraps of flesh caught in the gaps of the lance. To him, this had long since become ordinary.

A New Beginning: Chapter 41, Grit Your Teeth

This was an extremely dilapidated tavern, built from thick logs and discarded sheets of iron. Though its appearance was nothing to praise, it could at least shield people from wind and rain. At the very least, it did not leak too badly. The trees on this wasteland were distributed very unevenly. Some areas were thick with trees, while others were completely barren, where not even grass would grow. The tavern clearly stood in the latter kind of place.

The lack of vegetation covering the ground made the winds and sand here fierce. This tavern was buried beneath a layer of dust all year round. Yet despite being a place that looked worse than junk, it was quite famous across this wasteland. It was where the dozens of gangs large and small in the vicinity traded supplies and sold stolen goods. They also exchanged local intelligence here. The era of ruling a mountain as king had long passed. Idiots who knew nothing about the situation around them had already died out. By now, anyone understood that they needed to figure out who nearby they could not afford to provoke, lest they one day kick an iron plate.

Thus, this run-down tavern was never short of customers. All kinds of people came and went, exchanging information of uncertain truth, making the place increasingly chaotic and mixed.

A sign hung above the tavern entrance, covered in rusty nails. That was the tavern's name: Rusty Nail. Back when the nails had not rusted, it might not have been called that. The tavern owner, Tonk, was a powerful Forte. He looked nothing like the other Fortes, who seemed honest and dependable. Instead, he exuded a sense of savagery and coldness.

There was not a single hair on his head, not even eyebrows. Only a thick brown beard covered the lower half of his face. With no hair to conceal them, the bases of the two pairs of curved horns atop his head were fully exposed. Along with his nearly two-meter-tall, muscular body and scars large and small covering him everywhere, he looked ugly and brutal even with an apron tied around his waist.

Anyone capable of running this tavern was naturally no ordinary person. All the tavern's regulars clearly remembered how the owner had torn off the head of a troublemaker with his bare hands. The attendants in the tavern were all burly, fierce men like him. Each of them carried a crossbow and a battle axe at his waist while serving drinks. Clearly, when facing troublesome customers, they did not merely throw them out.

A place like this naturally had no fine liquor. The drinks were crude spirits made from corn, grain, and potatoes, roughly distilled several times and simply strong. Some were even hard liquor mixed from industrial alcohol. But the people nearby welcomed it all the same. For people who lived from day to day, what could possibly suit them better?

The tavern's low door was pushed open, and the crude hinges let out a harsh scraping noise that drew everyone's attention. A tall figure walked in. By a woman's standards, she was remarkably tall. But no one could see her face. She wore a thick gray cloth cloak, and only the sharp bone-spiked tail of a Vouivre revealed her race.

A woman arriving alone at this den of criminals seemed like a sheep walking into a tiger's mouth. But those sitting here were not complete fools. They understood well enough that a woman able to come here by herself said a great deal. So no one did anything foolish.

The tall Vouivre woman came to the counter and placed a piece of gleaming golden metal upon it. This was the world's hard currency, a product known as Red Gold. Though only the size of a finger, it was enough to hire several well-equipped mercenaries for days.

Displaying such wealth in a place like this meant she was either a fool or absolutely confident in her own strength.

The bald Forte narrowed his eyes. He did not immediately accept the considerable fortune. Looking at the woman before him, he asked in a deep voice, "What do you need? Food, alcohol, information—we can provide many things."

"A vehicle, along with a large amount of food and drinking water. At least enough for three weeks."