An urgent and important group of boats had to be sent to Girai.

  It seems the village had survived a monster attack and I hope they’re ok. Because it was urgent, I decided to break my previous record of…

  What was my previous record, Nilah? I can’t remember. Was it 7 hours? Let’s beat that!

  My tail used [Water Dragon Festival] and we zipped past all other slow boats and a multitude of villages. Some had been destroyed and most had walls with some simple barriers cast on them. The 14 boats behind me put up quite the resistance, so it would be close.

  Girai came into sight after 6 hours and 40 minutes, indicating that I might have become rusty, as it would take at least an hour to arrive.

  I failed to break my record as it took almost 9 hours when I arrived. Village Gregory was thankful, but a mountain of boats had accumulated and it was causing them issues. So I went back with more boats than I should have taken. Girai wasn’t the only village that had that problem, but I’m not a charity. Girai is the only village I know, the others will have to find their own fox.

  6 days were spent ferrying boats back and forth and something plagued my mind.

  Hey Nilah, do you also have the feeling that we forgot something?

  20 more boats came into dock 12 as the boat situation looked better. I finished the procedures and was about to take 20 more back to Girai when I bumped into an upset vixen.

  “And where have you been the last days, mister?!”

  So, it seems I forgot something important indeed…

  Uhhm, sorry?

  “And you wonder why we keep getting worried about you!” Giana came up to me and locked arms with me. “Now take me with you. Does it have anything to do with these boats?”

  You have no idea how cool you are! And yes, a village I’m acquainted with has a buildup of these boats as skilled water users are scarce, as you know. I spent the last few days helping out. Hop on.

  The usual procedures got finalized, and we could leave with 20 boats.

  Ok Nilah, lets show Deca how cool we are! Let’s try to break the record this time! We failed 14 times, but surely 15 is the charm!

  The morale and motivation were immeasurable now that a vixen was on board. I cracked my neck and got ready to go the moment the gate opened. The water users were smart and had gotten used to my speedy stunts by now. They always cleared away when they saw a stupid amount of boats.

  Let me show you the peak of water Dragonvein!

  The gate opened, the water dragons lifted the boats and we shot forward. I froze Giana to the deck as she almost flew off.

  “Wow! So fast!”

  She started to sing to motivate me. I don’t care if I break my record by getting buffed. The scenery flashed by, and it pained us, but we had to ignore a village getting attacked by monsters. Not everyone can be saved.

  Giana was amazing as we broke our record. It took us 6 hours and 21 minutes.

  Yes! We did it! I could kiss you right now!

  “Then why don’t you do so?”

  The villagers are watching…

  “So our zombie blacksmith has finally found a life and a wife. We were getting worried about you!” An old woman said who had been a loyal customer.

  Hey it's not my fault that you guys are all asleep every time I go out.

  “And that’s why we think you’re a zombie or a vampire… at least this sunlight is disproving that suspicion. Thank you for helping out. And young lady, please take good care of him, or he will work himself to death.” The old lady gave us a basket of fruits and mushrooms from the mountains.

  “See, even these villagers are worried about you. Thank you, I will make sure he lives a long and healthy life.” Giana said as she accepted the basket and gave a polite princess bow.

  Village Gregory approached me after the lady left as he looked at his checklist. “Thank you. This will do for now. Now go rest! And have some fun with your lady.” He turned to Giana. “He has been at it for the last 6 days. You may even knock him out if it makes him rest.”

  Nosy Gregory waved and went to do nosy Boatguy stuff.

  “Come on, Deca unless you want me to knock you out.”

  Hey where are the boats I need to bring back?!

  Gregory turned around. “They are cancelled for today! Go rest and come back tomorrow or the day after! If you come back before 6 in the evening, the whole village is going to knock you out!”

  That’s so not needed…

  “Where will we stay? Or are you running back to Gittrian?”

  Oh no, I have a house here. Come see!

  Giana got a tour of my house, and we relaxed in the jungle basement.

  “There is so much about you that I don’t know… Meanwhile, you know almost everything about me…”

  How about you sing all your songs. I haven’t listened to your music as much as I should have.

  “Ooh! I can do that! I can also show you all my photoshoot pictures!” Giana sang all night, showed me every picture of herself she had in her possession, and got to sleep in my tails for the first time in almost 4 months. I didn’t want to sleep, but she forced me to sleep with a lullaby.

  I showed Giana my workshop the next morning. She requested some sapphire daggers made out of her mermaid scales so I went full cheat mode and made 2 for her. I still had to make a magic weapon for her, but she was happy with the daggers for now.

  Giana brushed Nilah while I told her the story of how Nilah fused with my sword when it was time to head back.

  We should be able to get back now.

  “It was short, but it felt like a holiday!”

  We walked outside, and the villagers were giving me strange grins.

  We didn’t do anything!

  “Sure sure. The boats are ready. You look well rested. Good job lass!” Village Gregory said as he gave Giana a thumbs up.

  Giana and I had already eaten dinner, so we were all set.

  It will be way after midnight after we arrive. How fast we get there depends on you!

  “Are you going to set another record?” Giana got on the boat and started dancing, and had jellyfish appear around her. “What if I help?”

  Hehe this will be our fastest run yet!

  It wasn’t… Giana was being consistent in being slow. It took us 10 hours to reach Gittrian.

  “Deca, I’m so sorry…” She said, as she was panting heavily.

  Don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault that you were born a slowpoke.

  The trademark soft headlock hit me. “Hey, do you hear that? It’s early in the morning, who would be here?”

  I think 2 other villages also use dock 12, maybe some water users just arrived.

  We erased our presence and followed our ears. There were only 2 guys, but they acted as if they owned the place.

  “Ugh, they sure put us water users to work. I’m out of mana.”

  “Well we have to keep up appearances else they might find out that we’re using this dock to smuggle in supplies.”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “Ssst! What if someone hears us?”

  “Hears us? At 4 in the morning? Don’t be ridiculous!”

  “What about that fox freak that goes back and forth with a million boats at a time?”

  “He has been at it for over 6 days, even those freaks must get tired. At least they’re helping humanity by working their asses off for us haha! Almost makes me feel bad for wanting to wipe them out.” The loud guy patted on the large container he was sitting on. “This will take care of those freaks and anyone siding with them. now, let's get to work. We need to transport this before the sun comes up."

  “Ugh, we need a raise…”

  “Don’t worry, a lot of jobs will open up after those freaks get wiped out hahaha!”

  The duo cast some inefficient [Conceal] and [Levitation] and walked off with 5 containers of suspicious substances.

  Please just be some random freelance team and not some stupid cult wanting to wipe out all the non-humans.

  “They called you a freak! Aren’t you upset?”

  But are they wrong?

  Giana gave me a 0-damage punch but it was actually quite cute. “You’re not a freak! But is it ok to let them leave like that?”

  Eh? It’s not my problem, right? If this is like Feshahn, then Gittrian should be fine. We can just relax and let the leadership and Gittrian police handle this.

  “But wouldn’t it be stupid if they tried the same plan that failed before?”

  Giana has a point. These lunatics also have a skill that hurts non-humans. Maybe it’s a bad idea to ignore this. Can’t these guys wait till we’re gone with attacking Gittrian?

  Ugh and we don’t know what their plan is… what a pain.

  “We could wait till they start their plan and destroy it! Identifying the culprits should be easy then, right?”

  I don’t know. Their plans always border on lunacy. I just hope the big shots are also here so we can just drop them all and be done with it.

  “Can…can I sneak around with you? I never get the chance.”

  Sure! I just don’t know where to start looking, though. Lets follow those guys.

  It was easy to locate the shady guys. They carried their cargo to a warehouse at the edge of the city. Surely the big shots won’t be here right?

  They just dropped off their cargo and left. Nothing important in this warehouse. We continued stalking the suspects. Will they disappear into the sewers? Or have a meeting in a dark alley? Maybe an abandoned building?

  “They seem to be heading for that mansion on that hill. Let's follow them!”

  The two men indeed went to the mansion. They stopped by a store that opened at 6 am sharp, and they came out in neat suits looking like butlers.

  Are they trying to kill us with style points?

  The security of this mansion was a joke. Although, using [Fade] could be seen as cheating.

  “Hey Deca, I don’t get it. They are against non-humans right? Then why does it look like the owner is a lizardman?”

  I don’t know. Let’s keep our eyes peeled. Maybe they’re here to assassinate the lizardman.

  It was a simple mansion. There was scaled armor everywhere and had many battle items. It seemed as if someone moved exhibits from a war museum to a neat mansion. This lizardman sure took pride in his strength.

  “Look! That certificate on the wall! He’s an A-rank adventurer! Adventurers can earn enough to buy a lifestyle like this?” Giana asked, looked for more clues.

  They can. Yv and I earned 30 silver per Pandabat we killed. Quite insane for creatures as weak as those losers.

  The 2 suspicious guys loafed around and then disappeared to the basement.

  I got us out [Fade] and we disguised ourselves as more people in similar attire joined them. They had one thing in common; they were all human. Even though the staff upstairs was as varied as Gittrian itself.

  We sat down in a hall that looked unlike the main floor.

  Deca, please use a better disguise, no human has a body shape like that…

  “But I love my body shape…”

  Giana [Transformed] into a disguise that wasn’t vixen shaped and looked around. “It almost looks like we’re in a different building.”

  Spotlights converged on a woman wearing an enormous hat, wearing a red, extravagant dress.

  “Activate the soundproof barriers, please! My oaf of an husband has great ears.”

  Barriers got erected, which seemed to block sound.

  “Lovely humans! Today is the day when we will get rid of all those freaks! Are you excited?!” She held her hand at her ear and the crowd shouted excitedly.

  “Our plan in Freak City had failed because that moron Gilbert messed up gravely. I won’t make the same mistake. My plan isn’t as simple and unambitious as him! We already have wonderful humans in the AA that will lock the building down. All we need to do is deal with the Gittrian Police and a handful of adventurers.” She gestured for the crowd to cheer.

  “We have teleported experts in from all over the continent. It should be impossible to leave or enter Gittrian after 10. Special fake quests with great rewards had been handed out to get all the strong adventurers out of the city, you can all rampage to your hearts content. Let's make this a wonderful slaughtering!”

  I raised my hand.

  “Deca, what are you doing?!” Giana whispered.

  Asking questions. I whispered back.

  “Hmm, yes you. Do you have a question?” She pointed her microphone at me.

  My mother always told me that I might be dumb as bricks, as she always had to explain things to me 4 or 5 times. Why are we doing this again?

  I heard sighs and ‘this question again’. At least someone has asked this before.

  “Oh, glad that you ask!” The woman said, overly excited. A lot of humans gave me angry glares or tired stares. “So it all began with our marriage! It was a wonderful marriage! We…”

  I tuned out as I realized why these humans reacted like this. This woman started with her whole life story. That’s not what I asked. I decided to stop trying to ask questions, as I had already earned the enmity of most of the humans here.

  The woman kept talking and talking, and half the humans had fallen asleep. A man interrupted her rambling after almost 2 hours.

  “Oh, look at the time! It’s already 9:30. It’s time to get into action! Don’t forget to study [Humanity’s Last Hope] before you go out. Our special surprise should activate at 11:00 so kill as much as you desire before that as you will lose your chance afterward.” The woman smiled and disappeared through a door behind her.

  “I see, she didn’t expect there to be this much difference in culture between her and a lizardman, and it had built resentment in her, causing her to hate her husband and non-humans.”

  Wait? You listened to all that?!

  “Listening is one of my forte. She sounded nervous, she concealed it well, though. I have an idea of what is going to happen. Follow me!”

  We got up, and I followed Giana. Leaving the mansion was easy as we were supposed to go out and kill non-humans.

  “This is probably not the only place that held terrorists. She must be working together with other rich terrorists.” Giana said as she [Transformed] back into herself.

  How big is the chance that they're all angry housewives?

  Giana canceled my disguise. “I don’t know, but the best we can do is make sure the AA doesn’t get shut down.”

  Something powered down in the distance, indicating that someone had one-upped us.

  This is escalating quite quickly.

  Screams filled the street as the killing had already started. Giana wanted to rush to every victim, but I stopped her.

  Listen Giana. I know that its your nature to help anyone nearby who gets hurt, but this is the last thing you should do.

  “What? Why? The people! They need my help!”

  More people fell to their bullshit skill, and I pulled Giana back in.

  “Deca! Please! They! They!”

  Giana was panicking, so I kissed her. She was confused at first but put her hands on my face and reciprocated. It calmed her down as she tunnel-visioned on me.

  I pulled back.

  Did you calm down?

  “Thank you. I will try and keep myself under control.”

  I’m not telling you to not save people but…

  I pointed at the chaos.

  How long do you think it will take you to save them if you continue rushing at everyone that gets hurt. Deca my dear, you’re thinking too small. If I flood the whole city, and you go into your mermaid form, how many people can you heal and prevent from getting hurt?

  A big smile appeared on her face. She was always beautiful but her smile always elevated her beauty. “As long as I can see them. All of them!”

  That sounds like it. Just a request. Also protect them from my attack as it hits indiscriminately, but I’m sure you would love it. We counterattack in 2 minutes!

  “Yes!”