Under the escort of a squad of the governor's guards, Renato set out along the road leading to the highest point of White Harbor.
Residents stepped aside as they passed, their gazes sweeping over the tall Black-Armored Swordsman, their murmurs mingling awe with curiosity.
Renato remained composed, but he did not let down his guard.
That was both the benefit and the price of fame. It could make strangers put aside their contempt, but it could also draw the eyes lurking in the shadows to you before you arrived.
Governor De Sousa's unsolicited invitation came as no surprise to Renato.
After all, the governor needed only to send someone aboard the Pickle Barrel for a brief investigation to discover how many undead and corpses awaiting reanimation had been stored in the ruined freighter.
Large quantities of negative energy lingered in the shattered hold, along with the Necromancy Mage's dismembered remains and tokens associated with Myrkul...
And the strength of the Black Blade, who had destroyed those bloodthirsty monsters in a single night, spoke for itself.
Violence in an outsider's hands could always make the locals set aside their discrimination and prejudice and adopt a relatively friendly attitude-at least on the surface.
Goodwill never came from nowhere. It often rested on a delicate balance between strength and fear.
Renato had understood that truth from his very first day after crossing over to Ereel.
Yet what he had discovered while looting the freighter after the battle had far exceeded anything he had initially expected.
The cargo stored aboard the Pickle Barrel was nothing like the supplies he had expected for an ocean voyage.
There were no barrels of salted meat or fresh water, no large bundles of planks or sailcloth...
Instead, the cargo hold was packed with densely stacked corpses. Renato had