With the execution being held early in the morning and the relatively recent arrival of their ship, a few extra hours had to be spent just lazing around. Something Rex was fine with, spending his time with Danica. The duo had found a decent place to relax, with Rex's wide, muscular back pressed against one of ships railing walls and Danica in front of him, leaned against his chest as the spoke of miscellaneous things. He asked her about the traditions and etiquette he should maybee care about, what with them going to Danica's tribe, and she did in turn mention everything she thought important, adding that he could totally ignore it all. Not like they would stay with their tribe. There were plenty of places Danica had always wanted to visit, mentioned in tales as old as their culture and others she had learned off during her travels. Together, they could travel the world without being locked to the desolate lands that the outer reaches both their homelands resided. They also talked about various names their party could go with, since Rex would now have to form his own. Danica refused to even consider joining someone else's.

  "Sigh. It seems some things cannot be outrun." Rex sighed, sensing a familiar aura approaching, though doing nothing besides said sigh and sentence. Not that he had to, just a few minutes later, a familiar trio of two knights and leather armor clad beauty stood before him.

  "The wind whispered to me that you were seen boarding a ship, soon to depart towards the wolfkin wildlands. If I did not know any better, I would think you are avoiding me."

  "You in particular? Not really. The unnecessary rabble and fools that, like swarms of flies around a dead carcass, have you in their sight, undoubtedly. So, to what do we owe the pleasure?" his words caused Eve to furrow her brow, thinking about something, though she soon enough returned to her previous expression, ready to speak, though Rex add another sentence before she did that.

  "Speak freely. Whoever had their eyes on you, knows better than to get anywhere near this ship. Not after they learned of the condition their four A rankers guarding their precious merchandise was found."

  "I did as promised. The ones at fault have been executed. Would you grace me with the reasoning for you leaving our lands?"

  "He he." Rex chuckled a little at that, understanding now the relative worry Evelysandra was feeling. So, he explained. "Well. To be fair, you failed to catch the one, or ones, behind the operation, funding it, so your part was only done halfway through. Were they left in my hands, not only would they all be dead, what you have achieved, but I would have every single piece of info they had, names and all. And while I could, certainly hold a grudge for said incompetence, I don't overly so. Were I truly angry and leaving, never to deal with your family, or nation for that matter, you would not have been allowed on the ship, let alone us talking. Truth be told, all I am doing is escorting the reclaimed youth of Danica's tribe, while visiting the parents of my first wife."

  "Yes. I am the first. Work harder if you want to earn a place by his side." Danica grinned, seeing the fluster on Eve's face her words provoked. Though the younger woman was rather quick to school her expression. While she wanted to forge some strong relationship with Rex, his bloodlust alone proving his immense might, she had not considered such an approach at all.

  "Can I assume that you are still willing to listen to some of our requests in the future?"

  "My party will consider at least some of them, yes. Only after we return of course. " Rex confirmed, though leaving himself plenty of space to refuse whatever came his way, should he find none of offered jobs, or their rewards, satisfactory.

  "Do note I refuse to deal with anyone but you. Use it as a shield if need be. I assume peak A rank party's cooperation should carry quite the political weight" Rex added and seeing her nod seriously, trew a small item her way. "I bet those that have their spies watching over you must have started their own schemes, what with you getting in the way of their plans. Wear it at all times." Rex continued, gesturing towards the amulet Eve was now looking at "should you be in danger, think of breaking it and squeeze. A desperate call for help while doing so would be even better."

  Understanding the rather precious nature of the gift, she bowed to Rex, thanking for it and immediately wore the amulet. "Just so you know, it will also allow me to seek you out once we return and I am willing to look at the jobs you need doing, or if I want to try out those dungeons you mentioned. Anything else you wanted to talk about? I think our preparations are about done."

  "Nothing comes to mind right now. I thank you for your time." Evelysandra thanked once more and bowed, then along with her two trusty aides left the ship.

  "Think she is in actual danger?" Danica asked, finding the younger woman rather decent, not wanting her to experience undue hardships.

  "Yes and no. Physical danger? Not realy. Political backstabs and attempts to marry her off to god knows where, highly likely. No bottom tier noble could have the recourses to have spies of such high caliber, nor could they organize a response team to get rid of the loose ends so fast, ensuring their own involvement remains hidden. Such power would no doubt find her current actions crossing a certain line, calling for a response. And such a power would very likely have enough sway and favours to call in to make their schemes succeed. With an A ranked party only dealing through Evelysandra, a particularly powerful one with non vampire blood mage at that, even if said deals were to happen in the future, would serve as an insane level shield, rising her value in the eyes of her own family immensely. And then there is the gift I gave her to consider. She is a smart enough girl to know to parade it around, serving as an extra layer of protection. It shows an A ranker has taken a liking to her. And even the royals know how arrogant we are."

  "Our power does give us that right." Danica agreed with a simple nod, then, remembering something she asked "Wanna hear about a couple of dungeons we could jump in when in our lands?"

  "Do tell." Rex replied, an obvious eagerness in his voice.

  "There are a couple of them, spread across the great plains that are accessible for anyone willing to try, placed on neutral lands where large markets are formed." Danica started, sharing in quite the detail whatever she knew about the places. She went on and on, even as the ship slowly departed, continuing her explanation. A couple hours later, when there was nothing but wilderness in sight, she finished with a question. "So, which of the dungeons would you like to explore?"

  "Once we are there and every other task is completed, why dont you choose?"

  "You sure? No takebacks later."

  "Yes" Rex smiled "I am sure."

  ----------------------

  Since their path led them upstream, it did take them considerably longer to reach their destination, some sort of an engine, as primitive as it was, using monster cores as the source of energy, propelling them forward, Rex had quite the time to kill. As such, he decided on tasks he could focus on, creating a sort of a training regiment for both himself and Danica. He started with understanding Danica's full strengths and weaknesses, and once he had formulated a proper way to help her advance as well, he did precisely that.

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  Danica was, for all intent and purposes, a melee fighter. As an A ranker, she naturally had some aptitude with mana control, using it similarly to the way Rex used sometimes, enforcing and enhancing his body with a constant stream of mana. She was not much of a mage material though, her control, finesse and mana pool relatively small. Luckily, it was never too late to fix either of the issues, and as such, Rex spent an entire day assisting and engraving similar runic network onto her as he had himself. He had rune marked their own room beforehand, ensuring none of her grunts and screams would escape it. She herself was warned several times of the pain she would experience, though that did not stop her from going through with it regardless. If there was a way to help her grow stronger, she would gladly take it. Rex did cuddle her for a few hours afterwards, her body exhausted and stiff, some phantom pain jolting her every now and then for the rest of the night of the procedure, eventually herstate returning to normal.

  The next day Rex taught Danica the proper way to utilize said network, both exhausting her mana pool, ensuring it grew, even if little by little, while strengthening her body at the same time. She was also informed of the side effects of utilizing the technique, since she would be left exhausted and without mana, leaving her vulnerable. Danica did joke that he was lying to her. How could she ever be vulnerable, with him and Snek nearby, earning a solid laughter from Rex, though nevertheless receiving her promise to be careful and only use it when in the correct locations and such..

  Rex obviously told her about Snek as well. They would travel together after all, and the surprise at its appearance could lead to unexpected and undesired results. Much to Rex's pleasure, she took quite the liking to the small form of the snake, the reptile blooded monster finding her sleeves, when she wore corresponding clothing, to be just as nice to sleep in as Rex's. And, with Rex and Snek watching over her, she could go wild with exhausting her mana, slowly growing stronger during their trip.

  And since Danica could simply sit as she operated her body's rune network, Rex used the time to refine his own control and precision over his blood chains. The number and length of which had grown since he had slaughtered the A ranked buss tarantulas. Since he could freely manipulate the thickness, colour and shape, as well as rigidness, he used them as fishing lines, forming hard and tough hooks at the ends, placing juicy meat bait on them and fishing, catching quite a few fishes along the way, ensuring they would have fresh meal with tasty fish all the time. The sailors who had glared at Rex, doubly so when they learned Danica had become his woman, quickly learned to respect, or fear the man. His rather impressive skill with those strange, almost alive, fishing lines, as well as the near reverent attitude towards him from the teenagers worked wonders. The way he effortlessly beat up the dumbest and most agrieged of them, who had gone out of their way to find trouble, all also did its part.

  Of course, the few weeks of travel and their relatively busy schedules did not stop Rex and Danica from enjoying each others bodies either, Danica messing with her niece as well. With plenty of naughty promises, she managed to get Rex on board, annoying Reika some nights, only to earn an earful from the younger woman. As Danica explained, both Reika and her mother, the younger one no doubt taking after Danica's sister, had teased her quite a few times regarding her own inability to find a proper partner within both their tribe or those nearby, so it was only fair for her to now have her own little revenge. Unfortunately for Igdan, he did suffer as a result, Reika either complaining or commenting on his single status as a result, since Danica was no longer appropriate target and she herself was quite annoyed. The wolfkin man only helplessly shrugged, not taking any of this to heart. He was well used to Danica's brand of humor, earning some extra respect from Rex. As such, he also offered his brother in law some help in training, having been informed early on that Igdan would not join as a member of the party Rex and Danica were forming. One of the siblings leaving was fine, but Igdan wanted to stay with the tribe, noting there was a lass he wanted to pursue as well, though that was information he shared with Rex alone, least even more teasing and relentless questioning followed. And with Danica in good hands, Igdan could go on with his own plans without a worry.

  As the ship continued on its way, the scenery on both shores changes. From being mostly enveloped in large expanses of grasslands, fertile fields fit for growing all manner of plants and trees, extremely suitable for human agricultural life, it slowly was hidden within large forests. enormous trees casting quite the shade on their ship, making it somewhat gloomy. And with the more and more untamed land around them, the river itself was becoming similar as well. The monsters considering said river as their territory and kingdom followed along with the ship, making it much more fun for Rex to cast his fishing lines, resulting in quite the number of predatorial monsters that went after one, or sometimes multiple of his baits being hooked and consecutively finished off. And while said monsters could be a problem for some of the lesser ships, with said monsters barely reaching B rank, they were of no issue for their transport since there were a few B rankers among the crew itself as well.

  The large forest soon ended, giving way to more expanses of lush grass, with animal subspecies in shapes and forms Rex had not yet seen. Deer, the size of elephants, with what looked like a small brush, growing in place of horns, some rather tasty looking berries growing on them. Some felines, with fur similar to fire, moving as if having a mind of its own, irregardless of the direction the wind was blowing. Birds, in sizes from ones that could hide inside ones palms, to ones with five to even nine meter long wingspans, easily capable of grabbing and carrying away even adult humans.

  The scenery changed again, to one of a forest, then back to that of grasslands, until finally, in one of said grasslands, they slowed down, a wall of black stone appearing in their sights. A port was build close to it, though outside of the walled settlement itself. It was well secured regardless, having it's own wall around it, though separate from the other wall.

  "Home sweet home." Spoke Igdan, having come up some time ago, his gaze locked on the black wall, a slight smile on his face. Danica just hummed a bit from her own position, sitting right next to Rex, exhausting her mana reserves as she worked on her physical development, strengthening her body. She had gotten quite comfortable with the practice, allowing her mind to wander, resulting in her ability to join such simple conversations.

  "And don't be afraid to beat up the fools who think they are more worthy of me. The word should have reached the place, but you never know how many idiots actually live within a cities walls at any given time."

  "I will do just that then. Thanks."

  "Huahhh." sighed and groaned Igdan. "What have I done to deserve this."

  As they docked, Rex had the time to take note of the location, as well as the rest of the ships currently moored. Now there were five in total, the other four looking quite similar to the one he had taken to reach this place. He noted that there were no large group awaiting for them, only a few carriages, pulled by oxen sized wolfs. 'How does that work?' Rex wondered, his eyes darting between the pack animals harnessed to the carts and the wolfkin, their ears standing straight, twitching every now and then.

  "Dont. Just dont ask." Igdan spoke, noticing Rex gaze moving between the two objects of his interest, namely the pack wolves and the wolfkin ears. There was something there, something rather embarrassing and messed up. He could not be the only one who would have though of it, right?

  "But..."

  "No. Just. DO NOT ASK." Igdan replied, almost spelling it out.

  "Fine, but I will learn of it eventually regardless. And you know what will happen then." Rex replied, shrugging, but a clear promise of a certain number of jokes launched Igdans way an unspoken promise.

  The two carriages were large enough for the group that had boarded back in Ravenhold fort, and once boarded, they departed towards the city, leaving the sailors to deal with the ship, something they had numerous times and so would not take them too much time either. As the carriages approached the gate, it slowly rose up, chains creaking and complaining about the heavy load they had to hold as the massive door was slowly opened, and once they were inside, with a similar creaking, they were shut close once again.

  Just a few minutes later, they had reached another building, this one felt like an inn of sorts, as far as Rex could figure out, could have been a hospital of sorts for all he knew. The few people in white clothing walking around, reminding him of modern day doctors only enforcing said belief. It was here that the teenagers and the traumatized women were offloaded, leaving only Rex, Danica, Igdan and Reika inside one of them, moments later continuing on their way, Swei waving her hand, as they departed, having once again thanked Rex for his part in their rescue and return home.