Sky walked to the house where they left Jericho's family. Both Jericho and Jay didn't even enter the house before they were greeted by Katelyn and Mabel. All three were in a tight and loving hug leaving Jay out, he didn't know whether or not it was appropriate to join the family hug.
After a while they left their hug. Mabel, Jericho's mother, had red eyes and wiped the tears from her face. Jericho told them not long ago that they weren't gonna see her for a long time, but then the next day she appeared before them leaving Katelyn and Mabel surprised.
Katelyn saw Jay and she was hesitant to hug him because her mother was standing right beside her. But the next second she jumps on him and wraps her hands around his neck.
"Jay!" Katelyn said happily.
Jay responded by wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her and swinging her around.
"Katelyn!"
Katelyn was surprised to see him swinging and carrying her like that. She got to know him before and his strength was low, but now he had grown stronger which was rapid progress to someone like her.
Before his strength stat used to be below 30, now it's nearing 200 which is considerable progress to an ordinary person.
Mabel sighed and smiled at the sight of them. She put her hand around Jericho's back and guided her to the house.
"Sweetie, go ahead and take a shower. I'll also prepare your favorite food while you're here."
"Um… okay?" Jericho thought she wanted to spend more time with her but she had forgotten she likes to be clean.
"Let's go to my room." Kately grabbed Jay's hands and led him inside.
"Nice to see you again, Mrs. Haydie." Jay greeted Mabel as he was being dragged.
"It's not Mrs. Haydie anymore, it's just Mabel." Mabel said, "It's nice to see you again, Jay. And make sure you take a shower before you touch anything in the house!"
Mabel didn't like or dislike Jay, but since her daughter is grown up and has chosen a good man she doesn't have much to say against it.
"I will!"
Mabel turned to face Sky. She walked up to him and held his hands tightly.
"Sky… Thank you for bringing my daughter back, thank you! Thank you for keeping her safe. Thank you for clearing the debt." She began crying again.
"You're… welcome." Sky nodded his head unsure of what to say.
Mabel wiped the tears with her sleeve.
"Sorry for crying so much. It's been quite a day. Please come!" Mabel guided Sky to the house with respect and care.
Upon entering Sky was shocked to see how much it had changed. It used to be an empty house, now it had furniture and other daily household items. There were also some new clothes and fresh food that were recently bought.
"The money you gave us after you left we were planning on using it to secretly buy a small boat, some clothes, and food then sail away to safety without the Caribbean noticing. We were on the verge of secretly buying one when Jericho called us and told us the debt had been paid off."
"Wait, you were planning on escaping that soon?" Sky looked at her.
"I… yes, we were. I gotta be honest with you, I had no faith you would be able to pay the debt back in time." Mabel looked ashamed in saying it but didn't lie.
"That's… pretty fair." Sky couldn't disagree with her, he also wouldn't put his faith in someone like that.
"Even when Jericho told us the debt had been paid we didn't believe her, until that Caribbean officer, Tristan, personally came to our house and told us the debt had been paid off. I thought it was a dream but it wasn't. And… the few million you lend us we thought about simply handing back the money you gave us when you returned, even telling Jericho about it, but she insisted and told us you don't mind it, but you knew that, right?"
"Oh… did she say that?" Sky inwardly smirked.
There is no instance of that conversation ever happening.
"Oh, no, she didn't tell you, did she?" Mabel realized and got scared.
"No, she's right. I was able to raise 500,000,000 shells this quick, a few million shells is nothing to me." Sky smiled.
Both Jericho and he know without her they wouldn't have gotten the money and much more from the chests she finds, giving away a few million is not worth fighting or starting something over it.
"That is… true." Mabel couldn't correct him. She was glad Sky didn't seem to be angry at Jericho. "Please, take a seat. I'll fix you something to drink." Mabel pulled a chair for him and sat him there.
As she was about to pour him a drink, she stopped and looked at Sky.
"Oh, how long will you be staying here?" Mabel asked.
"A few days at most."
"Oh, okay." Mabel expected more time but understood they had to leave again soon,
Sky looked around looking at the nice furniture. A thought surfaced in his head. He stepped on the backyard examining the size.
"It's kinda small but it'll do." Sky took out a card and from the card a small boat appeared. As long as the boat is under his ownership and doesn't get destroyed he can teleport to it no matter the distance.
Sky entered the house again and sat down while scrolling through his inventory.
{Red gem of the Dragonsky King}
{Able to unlock a special purple+ portal when used}
"I already have two purple portals I can enter, one with this gem, another one at the top of that tower, and there is that other one coming out soon."
Sky looked at the mission given to him long ago.
{Personal quest: Polymorph}
{It is us again! After studying your world we realized there is one ability that we could use to easily transport high valued slaves: polymorph! In exactly 2 months and 1 day there will be a purple dungeon that drops the polymorph skill}
{The purple dungeon will be shown on the system's map along with a timer. Any more information about the dungeon will not be given}
{Quest rewards: 3x purple scrolls, 80,000,000 shells}
Sky couldn't wait for this dungeon to arrive. Two months was more than enough time to get strong enough to clear a stronger purple dungeon.
"Here you go, Sky. Jericho mentioned you preferred sweet drinks." Mabel handed him a glass of lemon juice with ice cubes, with a slice of lemon, and a tiny parasol.
Sky tried it and enjoyed it.
"Hmm… that's very good. Thank you."
"Thank you." Mabel left to check on Jericho.
{Poison resistance activated}
"Um what?" Sky dropped the drink out of shock and it broke and splattered everywhere.
{Ha! Gotcha! No poison detected… maybe? :)}
"..." Sky realized that the system was fucking with him.
"What's wrong?" Mabel quickly ran downstairs.
"I uh… dropped your glass." Sky looked apologetic while thinking of ways to get back at the blue screen.
"Oh, my. Are you alright?"
"I'm good, thank you." Sky didn't have to worry about being cut, his stats are so high he wouldn't get scratched from picking up broken shards of glass.
Mabel quickly ran to the closet and took out a mob.
"I'll help out, I made a mess." Sky said.
"No, please, we owe you so much so please sit down." Mabel grabbed his shoulder and somehow managed to make him sit, she wasn't able to do it because she's physically strong but rather her gentleness reminded Sky of his own mother.
Seeing her clean up the mess he made reminded him of times in his childhood where he would mess up, sometimes his mother would get angry, but she always helped him.
"Mom…" Sky realized he hadn't been with his family in a while. He could teleport to them but if he does he knows he'll wanna stay with them for god knows how long.
'Perhaps… I can visit them for a few hours instead of calling them.' Sky thought and never realized how much he missed his parents.
"Everything alright, Sky?" Mabel asked genuinely concerned.
"I am well, thank you. Just tired and… hungry."
"Oh, well dinner is almost ready but I wasn't expecting all of you today. But ever since I've met you my cooking skills have increased dramatically. Even Kate's skill to read the dead language is improving fast."
"Is that so?" Sky wasn't surprised, both of them had always remained in his crew, and as long as they're under the influence of the system their stats and skills will increase rapidly.
Mabel nodded and finished cleaning the area. After she was done she ran off to make dinner, Sky offered his help but she insisted on him not lifting a finger to help her.
"Mom!" Katelyn ran down the stairs in a hurry.
"Everything alright?" Mabel asked.
"Could I have some money? For Jay and Jeri."
"What do they want?" Sky asked, it wasn't like them to ask for money or things.
"They took a shower in separate baths but they don't have any dry clothes."
"Oh, right." Sky took out a pile of male clothes and girl clothes and gave them to Katelyn.
"Woah… how'd you do that?" Katelyn wasn't expecting that and it shocked her,
"Magic!" Sky waved his hands like Madame did.
Kately ran up the stairs to her room to give Jay and Jericho their dry clothes.
Some time later both Jay and Katelyn walked down the stairs hand in hand. Seeing them walk down made Mabel smile a bit.
Sky took this opportunity to also take a shower.
"Um… mom, why is there a boat in our backyard?"
"What?" Mabel looked over the glass door.
"Don't touch that boat!" Jay said, which shocked them both.
"What?" Katelyn asked, perplexed.
"Don't touch the boat. It's Sky's."
"Oh, that explains it. But why does he need a boat there?"
"It's weird to explain so please just don't move it." Jay said.
"Sky can place whatever he wants here, he did all this for us." Mabel gestured to the house they were in..
"Oh, that reminds me, Jay, what did you guys do during your travels? Jericho didn't tell us much." Katelyn looked at him curiously while holding his arm.
"Oh, sure… actually maybe it's better if I don't." Jay looked the other way. He couldn't say much because a lot of the stuff they did shouldn't be said to others.
"Aww, come on, Jeri doesn't want to tell us much as well."
"Kate, if he and Jericho have a good reason not to say anything it's best not to ask." Mabel said.
"Mom is right." Jericho walked down the stairs still drying her hair with a towel. "We can't say what we did or say for our protection. Don't worry what we did wasn't… that illegal." Jericho looked the other way.
Killing pirates, holding a mermaid as a slave that is wanted for her information, having to do with the disappearance of a high ranked Caribbean officer, Sky's weird abilities, all information that nobody else should know.
"It's not that illegal… What? Is that what you said?" Katelyn was shocked and confused.
"Not important. Let's eat!" Jericho sat down waiting for her mother's food.
Katelyn and Mabel looked at each. They knew that there is no possible way they could have earned that money through legal means.
"If you guys need a place to hide from others you can always hide here." Katelyn said.
"We're not wanted or being hunted down… I think."
"You think?"
Meanwhile…
Far away…
Seven fishmen were swimming in the middle of the ocean at night.
"So this is the place?" The Warlord asked.
"Without a doubt." Balthazor looked around. This was the place where he attacked Boris to kidnap the mermaid.
There was nothing here but the endless sea, but Balthazor's and Juvia's high mind and intelligence stats helped recognize the place using the stars.
Sebastian was lazily kicking his feet in the water while yawning.
"What's the point of being here again?" Sebastian asked.
"Juvia was the only one who got a clear view of everything. With her high intelligence stat she remembers everything and hopefully it'll tell us who cursed Beeethazor." Xiv said.
"Alright, Xiv, you're dead!" Belthazor rushed at Xiv with a sword.
"Another question, why are we here if she already remembers everything? Does it really matter if we're here or not?"
"It matters because I don't do well under pressure, Sebas! Now shut up!"
Sebastian raised his hands in defeat and didn't say anything afterwards.
"Oh… wait weren't there like 20 or 30 other guys here helping you out? I feel like they might've seen something." Yok asked.
"We killed them to hasten the deal, remember?" The Warlord said.
"Ohhhh…"
"Everybody, quiet!" Juvia said, trying to concentrate.
Juvia recalled her memories. At first she used magical mist to hide her presence and the presence of everyone else. Second she summoned the kraken to bring down the ship, then lastly she brought out Bruce aka Megalodon to help out Belthazor.
She remembers the ongoing slaughtering between the Caribbean and the fishmen, she also remembers Boris and Balthazor having an epic fight that nobody else could get close to. Suddenly she remembers an ice trident hit Balthazor's back, it didn't hurt him but it staggered him for half a second, which was enough for Sky to see him and curse him.
Afterwards Megalodon kept Balthazor safe by keeping him in his mouth before Boris could deliver the finishing blue.
"Hmmm… Oh, I know who it was who slowed down Balthazor. Remember that kid… BALTHAZOR STOP FUCKING AROUND!"
Balthazor stopped chasing Xiv and swam towards Juvia.
"What?"
"Remember that kid? The one who owns the slave mermaid? He's the one who cursed you."
"Really?" Balthazor found that hard to believe, "I don't know much about humans but… isn't he too young to know such a powerful curse?"
"It makes more sense when you know that he might truly be the one we're after." The Warlord said.
"Wait a minute." Sebastian said, "Didn't that skull say it's rare to see such a powerful curse even in the Land of the Gods? How does that make sense for that guy to know such a powerful curse? Even if he practiced in his mother's womb there is no way he could've gotten that good."
"You're right, son, it doesn't make sense at all. He cannot be from someone in the Land of the Gods, or else he would have done much more than throw an ice trident at Bal. Everyone from that place is too powerful but even for them evolving and improving spells is… difficult."
"Please don't call me Bal ever again."
"No promises." The Warlord smirked.
"There is no point in thinking about it." Juvia said, "We can either stay here and think up theories or we can find him and 'ask' him nicely, after that we can kill him and get the reward."
"Sounds fair, do you remember where he went?" The Warlord asked.
"Hmm… he flew North-east." Juvia pointed.
"Okay, we'll split into groups of three... Wait, where is Tola?"
"Here I am!" The voice of a cute girl could be heard behind him.
"AH!" Warlord jumped up in fright. Behind him was a young lively fishwoman, it was his daughter.
"I always forget you're just like your mom, being all sneaky like that." The Warlord chuckled. "Okay. the three of us, Juvia, Yok, and I will go look for the human. Sebastian and Bal go find anything about the mermaid, if we can get that nightmare blade it'll be great. Last I heard from my spy is that other mermaids got her but I find that hard to believe. Tola and Xiv you two will maintain the base and communicate with the spies."
"YAY!" Tola was happy. Xiv was glad he wasn't gonna fight.
"Yay, uncle!" Sebastian swam to hug Balthazor but he put his hand on his face to keep him away.
"I wanna look for this human who cursed me." Balthazor said to the Warlord.
"I would agree with you, but you're slowed down."
"I can simply slow down time and keep up."
"No, you can't use that spell all the damn time, it consumes a ton of mana."
"But…" Balthazor was seemingly angry but understood.
"Okay, so long everybody. With enough luck we'll be home by dinner. Go!" The seven fishmen quickly disappeared from their spot and went in separate directions.
Meanwhile…
The being that watched from Sky far away that was covered in darkness, Madame, stared at Sky while rubbing her chin.
"Hmm… seems like he's in trouble, even those are too much for him to handle. Can't let him die this quickly, I cannot let such a promising young man die."
She stretched out her hand and a bunch of purple scrolls appeared out of nowhere, she stored them all in a card.
Then the legendary black scroll appeared in her hand. This scroll is one of her greatest treasures.
"Should I? Or shouldn't I?"
Madame closed her eyes before coming to a decision.
"No, he can buy black scrolls with money from the merchant, which seems kinda unfair but knowing that… black scrolls will become obsolete to him in the future. I gotta do this now so he can owe me, but how do I keep him from betraying me?"
Madame took out a picture from out of nowhere. It was a picture of her shadowy self, beside her is a beautiful, young, cheery bright girl with long black hair. There was a large scar covering most of her face but that did not deter her from her beauty or her cheerful self.
"Melody… I can't believe I'm actually doing this to her."
With a difficult decision she transformed the black scroll into a card.
She took out a piece of paper and wrote down a contract using the language of the dead. Halfway she realized something…
"Oh, no, if I write down a contract he won't feel obligated to me. But if I simply hand it to him and rely on his word alone I might lose my black scroll. I don't know him well enough to trust him like that! AHHHH!" She grabbed her head as she had a hard time deciding.
"Fine! Fine! No contract! Dammit!" Madame summoned a black bird from her shadows, the bird swallowed the cards before flying away.
"I swear you better keep your word when the time comes, Sky." Madame looked down wondering if she made the right decision.