{Edited} The Tiger's Bourbon - Chapter 4: Gourmet Hunters (Patreon)

EDITED - August 7th 2026

Chapter 4: Gourmet Hunters

Logic dictates that upon finding yourself in an entirely new world, a world with its own set of natural laws and dangers beyond what you are familiar with, you should stop and try to learn as much as possible.

Logic dictates that when finding yourself with magic and a safe place to practice, you should remain and understand what your limits are.

Logic dictates that when you leave at sundown to go explore a place with a bunch of monsters, you should at least bring a flashlight.

Axel understood logic. Yet logic did not understand him.

For he was a man on a mission.

A mission….to collect, fight, and cook seafood and booze in a fantasy setting. His passions demanded it.

And that’s how he found himself staring into the dull green eyes of Abby, a cute blond IGO employee with a ponytail at a booth before a massive metal gate at the southern end of Gourmet City.

“What do you want?”

Axel was highly tempted to say 'you' but resisted the urge and silently pointed at the gate. A kind guard had told him he needed a pass to be let through.

Abby yawned and leaned against her fist as she slid over a piece of paper. “Fill out this waiver and hand over your Gourmet ID.”

He silently looked down at the paper, understood the questions being asked in a language he didn’t know, and quickly penned down his answers in English before sliding the paper back.

Abby was already in the process of filing it before she blinked and double-checked. "….What language is this?"

“English.”

“And you didn’t respond in Standard because?”

“Can’t write it.”

“….then why did you fill it out?”

“You told me to.”

“…” The young woman looked up at the ceiling with a suffering gaze. “My shift just started.”

Axel clearly heard her mutter and tapped the bell on the desk when she started zoning out.

She snapped back to him with a twitch. “I’m right here!”

“Hn. I want to go through the gate.”

Abby silently stared at him momentarily before taking a deep breath and putting on a forced professional smile. "I'll fill out the form for you; just answer the questions."

He did so, and they moved along quickly before she was satisfied.

"That should do it. Hand over your Gourmet ID, and I'll tell you where to sign."

“I lost my ID.”

“…”

“…”

Axel silently slid a hundred Yen coin he found on the floor of his train ride into the tip jar.

“…”

“…”

“I’ll buy you dinner.”

“You just tipped me 100 yen.”

“I have a restaurant.”

“Are you seriously trying to bribe me by asking me out?”

“No. You get one meal half off.”

“I still have to pay half price?!”

“Hn.”

The pen nearly snapped in her hand at his immediate shameless reply before she exhaled and surprised herself by giggling slightly. "You're amusing, if nothing else. Maybe even handsome if you did something with that hair."

“Can I go through the gate?”

Abby rolled her eyes. "Come on, oh shameless one, I'll help you file for a new ID." She wagged a finger and got up, moving out of her booth and over to a different desk with a librarian-looking woman with an IGO badge on her chest. "Tracy, I need to file a replacement Gourmet ID request."

The librarian, as Axel categorized her in his mind, raised a brow before following through with the request.

For the next fifteen minutes, he just stood there as he was half insulted and half complimented by a bored Abby who clearly wanted to make him react before he was manhandled in front of a camera to take his picture with a dull expression.

“Smile.”

“No.”

“Please?”

“No.”

“I’ll accept your date request.”

“I didn’t offer.”

“Who hurt you?”

“Currently, a gate.”

The librarian watched with clear amusement before she finally cut in with a cough. "Abby, take a breath." With a kind smile, the woman turned to Axel and slid over a card. "Here is a temporary ID, Mr. Marq. You can use it to travel around Gourmet City or its direct surroundings, but if you plan to go farther out, you must wait for your official ID to arrive in the mail within three to five business days. The first replacement is free, but be aware that you will be fined if it happens again."

Axel accepted the ID and nodded politely. “Thank you, ma’am.”

"You're welcome, dear." The woman patted his hand and returned to her own work without another word, leaving him to face the irked expression of his original guide.

“Why are you polite to her and not me?”

“She was professional.”

“I’m not professional?!”

“No.”

"Grr!" Abby growled and looked like she wanted to take a swing at him before she calmed herself and pouted. "Just….go do your stupid hunt."

"Hn." He walked past her before pausing as his consciousness poked at him with a sigh. Turning back, he grabbed a pen on the desk and quickly wrote down his restaurant address on the back of a flyer with simple directions from his mini-map before handing it to the moody woman. "Here. One free meal, on me."

She took it with a small smile. “Still not a date?”

He smiled back. “No.”

“Shame.” She punched his shoulder lightly and moved off back toward her booth with a sway of her hips. “Don’t die out there, Axel. I want my meal.”

“Hn.” He watched her go for a moment before the librarian’s chuckle got his attention.

The woman gave him a side glance. “She likes you.”

“She was cute.” Axel admitted and finally left for the gate with a wave. “Thanks again.”

“Hn.” He nearly tripped at the soft response behind him but refused to look back.

‘Am I going to spread that to everyone I meet?’

"This isn't in Standard!" An angry shout from the direction Abby walked off in quickly broke that train of thought, and Axel picked up his pace.

‘I said I couldn’t write in Standard before. Not my fault she forgot.’

He felt no fault, but he also definitely wasn’t running.

0000

The sun had fully set by the time Axel reached the open square before the massive metal gate. Thankfully, though, the area was clearly lit, and a decent amount of traffic was moving to and from the large tunnel entrance. He quickly got into one of a few waiting lines going through the gate checkpoint as he looked around at the crowds.

Men and women in what looked like adventurer gear heading off to fight dragons or wipe out goblin nests bustled by like it was the most natural thing in the world. If adventurers fought such fantasy creatures with automatic machine guns, grenade belts, and RPGs anyway.

Not all of them wore medieval-looking armor. Axel saw plenty in modern body armor, but just as many looked like cosplayers heading to a convention.

What did stand out, though, were the large packs and survival gear, and that every single one of them was armed with something from practical machine guns to classic swords and axes, to even what Axel was pretty sure was a giant meat cleaver three times the owner's size.

Said man walked by, but Axel wasn't the only one who leaned away from the strong whiff of rotting meat. 'Yeah, that's a giant meat cleaver. I wonder if he screams 'Tenderized!' when he hits something.'

A matching chuckle behind him grabbed his attention as the next guy in line commented. “That’s just sad.”

Axel raised a brow at the perfect imitation of a standard ‘Hero’ from a fairy tale. Long flowing blond hair, bright blue eyes, a handsome face, wearing golden armor pieces worn by use but well cared for, and carrying a longsword on his hip. The guy was only missing a white stallion and a soft breeze to toss his hair to be ready for a photo shoot.

Axel felt like punching his face on principle. “Hm?”

The guy nodded toward the meat cleaver hunter. "Him. He's trying to look intimidating by not cleaning his gear. He'll contaminate anything he hits. What an amateur."

"True. I wondered if he screams 'Tenderized!' when he hits something."

The guy blinked before bending his head back with a laugh. “Pft. I can’t get that image out of my head now.”

“A mutual circumstance.”

The guy laughed for a good moment before calming and wiping his eye. “Ah, I needed that.” He reached out a hand. “The name’s Luke.”

“Axel.” Axel met it and was slightly impressed by the thick calluses he felt from the hero.

Luke nodded and gave Axel a look over before scratching his cheek with an awkward smile. "I don't mean to be rude here, Axel, but you're new to gourmet hunting, aren't you?"

Axel debated denying it but saw no real reason to lie. “Hn. What gave it away?”

“Well….” Luke took an obvious look around before gesturing to Axel’s choice of wear. Sneakers, simple sweats, a black tank top, and with a light jacket over his shoulder. If it weren’t for his lifestyle keeping him active and the tattoos adorning his chest and arms, he’d look feeble compared to everyone else armed for war. Rather, Axel looked like a guy going for a light jog in the city. “You seem a bit….unprepared, so to speak.”

A shrug was the best response Axel could give to that. He did kind of rush out here after all, but it’s not like he had the equipment to match everyone else anyway. “I have everything I need.” In his item box, but he wasn’t going to share that.

“Is that so?” Luke looked genuinely worried for him and might have said more, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Luke, stop trying to mentor every newbie you find." A woman Axel could only describe as a commando stepped out from behind Luke.

Pixie cut hair with a bandanna and sunglasses on a face with a single long scar down her cheek. Dressed in military camouflage and with the most impressive-looking sniper rifle Axel had personally seen strapped to her back.

The woman had a slim figure and a no-nonsense look that plenty of men back on Earth would have paid to have aimed their way. "I've told you a dozen times, just because we've been around a while doesn't mean you have the right to judge others."

“I’m not judging him, Sam.” Luke quickly defended. “It’s a legitimate concern for a fellow hunter.”

“And I’m sure you didn’t rush us into line behind this guy by complete coincidence just to offer advice to a newbie looking to get himself killed?”

“Well….” Luke laughed awkwardly while the woman sighed and turned to address Axel. “Sorry about this idiot…” Her sentence cut short as she found Axel standing fifteen feet away and not even looking their way as the line progressed.

Axel wasn't going to wait around for them to do some kind of skit; the line was moving, and he had liquor and fish to go catch.

The woman flushed and quickly stepped forward, trying to play it off with a cough. "Luke means well; he just can't keep his opinions to himself."

Axel waved a hand lazily. "I'm not offended by a simple observation. And I am new to this, so no harm done."

Sam seemed mollified by that, but Luke wasn't quite done being a charismatic type. "See, Sam, no harm done." He smiled brightly. "Axel, this is one of my teammates, Samantha, but she prefers Sam, usually at gunpoint. Sam, this is Axel; he's got a funny imagination."

“Oh?”

“Yeah, you saw the guy with the meat cleaver a minute ago?”

“The overcompensating jackass with a dirty weapon? Yeah.”

“Axel here was wondering if the guy screams ‘Tenderized!’ when he hit things with it.”

“Pft.” Sam covered her mouth with a laugh and looked away, giving Axel a thumbs up with the other hand. “I can’t unsee that now.”

""Same."" Axel and Luke responded at the same time and shared a slight smirk.

Sam shook her head. "I doubt that guy's gonna last long; hell, just think of what Nathan would do if he saw…." Her words trailed off as the sound of screeching metal gathered everyone's attention. "Speak of the devil."

"How dare you!" The meat cleaver guy from before was fuming at a behemoth of a man wielding what looked like a giant spatula over the remains of what had once been a mighty meat cleaver. "What's your problem?!"

“Unsanitary.” The behemoth’s voice was low yet clearly heard all the way where Axel stood.

"It was supposed to be unsanitary, you dumbass!"

“Insult to ingredients.”

"I'll show you an insult, you bastard!"

Sam looked exasperated. “He’s at it again.”

A quick look at Luke answered Axel's unspoken question. "That's Nathan, our other teammate and a split hunter and chef focusing on BBQ. But he's actually a really nice guy with a shy personality."

“Ah!” The meat cleaver guy went down with a broken nose and was knocked out cold in the next second by a brutal stomp to the head.

“…”

"He does get a bit worked up about wasting food, though."

A snort from Sam summarized Axel's opinion on that, but internally, he was nodding in acknowledgment of the man's priorities.

“Hn.”

Luke gave him an amused look. “Not much of a man for words, are you?”

“Not much needs to be said to express yourself.”

“Ha, I think you and Nathan would get along well.”

“I could see it.”

Luke blinked at the honest response, clearly not expecting it. “You’re a strange one, Axel.”

“Says the guy dressed as a fairy tale hero.”

“Pft.” Sam cracked up to the side and looked away when Luke shot her an annoyed look. She played it off by waving to the approaching behemoth. “Over here big guy!”

Luke ignored her and shrugged. "I didn't start off like this; it just kind of happened."

“Whatever works for you, man.”

His brow twitched at the dismissal. “What brings you out here, Axel?”

“Food.”

Luke rolled his eyes at the simple response. "I meant, what's your reason for coming out to a hunting site?"

Axel turned to give the nosy guy a look while Sam seemed to be berating the big guy who cut in line to join his group, not that anyone else was willing to object to it. "Why do you care?" He wasn't being rude; just honestly curious why this blond guy kept talking to him.

Luke shrugged and pointed at the line. "We got time to kill, and like you heard before, I got a soft spot for newbie hunters."

“You’re not going to say you fund an orphanage of young hunter hopefuls or something, are you?”

Luke blinked. "I wasn't going to say it, but how did you know I helped out at the Gourmet Orphanage?"

Axel snorted humorously at the name and waved a hand. “Honest guess.”

"I see…" Luke shrugged but brought the conversation back with all the energy of a golden retriever. "So what's your reason?"

Axel sighed and gave in to the pushy guy. "I'm a seafood chef and new to the area; I'm curious about hunting."

"Oh, a seafood chef? It makes sense why you're heading for the Emerald Lagoon then." 

“Hn.”

“Anything in specific you’re looking to hunt?”

“Sakeyashi fruit.”

"Those things are quite rare." Luke rubbed his chin. "I don't believe there are any in the outer circle, you'd have to head deeper in to find some."

Axel considered that helpful bit of info and gave Luke an evaluating look. “Have you been to the area often?”

"Of course!" The guy lit up at Axel's first true initiation to the conversation. "My team and I have been in and out of the Emerald Lagoon on occasion over the past few years. It's one of the best starting hunter zones."

“What makes it a good starting zone?”

"Consistency." Luke answered immediately. "The biggest danger to a known hunting zone is changes due to moving predators, but the Emerald Lagoon doesn't change its pattern."

He held up a finger and reached into his pack, pulling out a worn notebook and turning to a fresh page before drawing a fat-looking egg. "This is basically the shape of the Emerald Lagoon, but the actual distance between the northern and southern ends is close to five hundred kilometers."

Axel whistled at the size. ‘That’s practically the size of Iceland from east to west.’

"Yeah, the area is massive, but no one really goes that far out." He outlined a wide U-shaped area at the bottom of the egg. "This is really what gets explored by most hunters. The outer ring of the egg going all the way around is static in its Capture Level ranges, so it makes it safe for hunters to fan out and explore.”

Luke drew a smaller circle at the bottom of the egg. "The starting town, or base camp if you want to call it, is at the bottom center of the egg, making it a good launch point for anyone looking to head northeast or west to explore, and its also the last place that electric signals can be used."

“You can’t get a signal in the lagoon?” Axel asked in surprise, his gaze falling to the compass on his mini-map.

“No, it’s a natural dead zone.” Luke shook his head, finishing his sketch of the base camp. “It’s why I learned to sketch, since its quite common for wild areas to not have signal access.”

Axel hummed at the basic design. “What about going straight north?”

The line moved along, and Axel handed his ID to a guy in a military uniform at the gate. The soldier scanned it before handing it back with a silent nod and let him through into a well-lit wide tunnel with a two-way moving floor like an airport walkway.

He stepped on curiously and felt himself get pulled along before Luke quickly caught up and answered the question.

"Most try to avoid that." Luke chuckled and drew a long oval through the center of the egg. "The inner area of the lagoon is where the real danger is. At least in the outer ring, you won't face anything above level 2 out of the water, but in the inner area, it gets chaotic. Predators as high as level 5 roam freely."

“Is that as high as they go?”

"As high…" Luke paused to shake his head. "Seriously. Don't look down on Capture Levels, Axel. A level 5 monster is strong enough to take down a tank."

“Really?” That bit of info was interesting. “What about a level 1?”

“Did you really come here without knowing something that basic?”

“I’m a ‘live in the moment’ kind of guy.”

“I can see that.” Luke chuckled and quickly explained. “Even a level 1 creature is said to require ten hunters armed with shotguns to take down.”

"Seriously?" Axel blinked and thought back to the Sakeyashi fruit he had read about. "Does that mean I need a shotgun to defeat a fruit?"

“Pft, no.” Luke waved a hand with a laugh. “Capture levels aren’t simply based on the ingredient or creature itself. It’s a general level set by the IGO for everything surrounding it.”

“So, the fruit won’t fight back?” Axel asked for confirmation.

Luke paused to think before shaking his head. “Not for that one. For ingredients, Capture Level involves the difficulty in where it grows from the environment to surrounding creatures. For creatures, it can mean anything from a creature with a strong defense, speed, poison, or other characteristics. The number of creatures is endless, so the capture level is based on the all-around difficulty of capturing something.”

“Huh.”

“Of course, you can always get lucky and come across an injured creature or be able to sneak past whatever is around your ingredient.”

Axel mentally pictured a cartoon version of his Uncle Jeff out hunting. He couldn't see the guy sneaking his way past anything; rather, he just saw the chibi version of the guy beating down whatever came his way with his fists. "What if a hunter is very physically strong?"

"Then he might find specific prey easy." Luke shrugged. "One of the biggest jobs of a hunter is to identify your target and learn to target its weak areas. You wouldn't want to face a Barbeque Pig's charge head-on but get out of its way, and you can easily cripple its legs or aim for the eyes with a rifle. It won't go down easily, but keep your distance, and you can narrow down its health. Although, the more damage you do to it, the less it will be worth when you sell it."

Axel felt that was pretty reasonable. “So it’s all down to luck?”

“What? No! It’s about being prepared and extensive study.” Luke practically blew steam out of his nose while saying it. “The trick to staying alive is knowledge! Knowledge, experience, and a healthy body to face your challenges will take you far.”

A wave of charisma rolled off the guy that had more than a few hunters turning their heads with nods, but Axel was long since immune to the brainwashing mind tentacle creature in human skin.

He wanted his booze and fish, not this guy's logical argument. "Hn. So, where's the Sakeyashi fruit?"

Luke's enthusiasm cracked at the question. "Well…" The guy sighed and looked back at his sketch. "The direct few kilometers around the starting area won't have them. The area has long been picked clean of anything valuable above water."

He pointed to the sides of the egg. "You would probably have to travel a few days northeast or northwest to reach an area that might still have them."

“What about the inner area?” Axel asked.

Luke blinked. “Well, it probably would, but you did hear me say it’s dangerous, right?”

“How far would I have to go?”

“You’re going to go whether I say it’s safe or not, won’t you?”

“Mn.”

Luke sagged like a golden retriever being told he wasn't going to the park before he bounced back with a small smile. "Newbies. This is why I can't help but like you guys. So willing to brave dangers."

He added a line to the sketch. "If you head straight north from the starting area, it wouldn't take very long to reach the southern tip of the inner area, maybe an hour or two, depending on your pace. You'll know you're there by the change in illumination."

“Change in illumination?” Axel tilted his head.

“Dude….” Luke facepalmed. “Do you not even know why it’s called the Emerald Lagoon?”

“Something about water?”

“…”

"I read about fish, booze, and diving pools, and that was enough for me."

“Are you an idiot?”

“No. I’m a chef.”

“How does that answer the question?”

“Hn.”

“That’s still not an answer!”

A crackle of laughter behind the two had them turn to see a very amused Sam leaning against the chuckling behemoth of a man named Nathan. "Oh, don't let us interrupt. We were enjoying the byplay."

The large guy locked eyes with Axel and patted his chest. “Nathan. Chef.”

Axel copied the gesture. “Axel. Chef.”

They stared each other down for a moment before nodding in silent respect.

Luke raised a brow at the exchange. “What was that?”

Nathan pointed a finger at Axel. “Chef.”

"I got that much. What was with the silent manly bonding? You guys literally just met, and I've known you for almost a decade!"

"You wouldn't understand." Axel patted the guy on the shoulder. "It's a chef thing." He had no idea what he was talking about, but Nathan nodded along.

“Chef thing.”

“I’ve been explaining basic common knowledge to you since we met!” Luke retorted.

“But that’s hunter stuff.”

Luke raised a finger, paused, thought about it, and lowered it. “You guys are mean.”

Sam just kept laughing to the side. “Hurry it up, Luke, we’re approaching the end of the tunnel.”

Axel looked down and saw they were approaching another gate in the distance. 'How big is this wall? I think we've been traveling for a solid five minutes now.'

His eyes panned to his mini-map and slightly twitched at the surrounding blackness around the straight tube of the tunnel's path. 'They really give no fucks about construction costs here, huh?'

[Explorer’s Map has reached level 2]

He took that as an answer before refocusing on the others, as Luke coughed to bring attention back to himself. "Alright, obviously, I need to explain the most basic facts about the life-threatening location you're looking to go hunting in; without even a weapon, for some reason."

"Technically, I only asked about the fruit." Axel pointed out and was promptly overspoken by the adamant golden hero. 

“I’m exxxppplllllaining!" Luke's eyes shined with righteous light, and he took a lecturing pose. "Emerald Lagoon is a unique standalone environment nearly five hundred kilometers long made up almost entirely of a unique kind of mangrove tree. Rather than simply growing out of salt water, they actually produce salt water.”

“They make salt water?”

Luke nodded. “It flows out of their trunks and forms deep pools of water.” He tried to draw an image for it. “And in the water is a special compound that produces a type of glowing rock candy on the floor of the ponds.”

Axel watched him draw an interesting image of some kind of coral.

“These rocks attract prey, the prey attracts predators, and the roots of the trees absorb any nutrients from corpses. This is how the entire ecosystem of Emerald Lagoon formed. Simple enough?"

“Where are the fruit?” Axel asked directly.

"I'm getting to that!" Luke grumbled and went on. "The rock candy, also called Emerald Candy, is the main attraction of the Emerald Lagoon. The candy can be harvested inside the dive pools around the trees, and the deeper they grow, the higher the quality.”

“What kind of quality?”

Luke hummed in thought. “I think the going rates are low-quality around 10K Yen per ounce. Mid-quality goes up to 100K. And high-quality will reach up to a million yen."

"Say what now?" Axel had been only half-listening to the speech until he heard the values. "A million for a single ounce?"

The dollar signs practically flew through Axel's eyes at the thought of how many ingredients he could buy with that money, but Luke's following words popped his bubble.

“Yup. But you won’t find Mid-quality Emerald Candy outside of the inner area, and the High-quality is in the central area.”

“You didn’t mention a central area.”

"I shouldn't have to." Luke rolled his eyes and drew a thinner oval in the center of the inner area oval, the bottom of which wasn't very far away from the bottom tip of the inner area. "It's where the highest-level creatures live, and even after being a hunter for a decade, I wouldn't step foot in there if I was paid to."

“You would if you were paid enough.” Sam couldn’t help but add in before Luke flipped her off.

“Not the topic of this conversation, Sam!” He focused back on Axel. “Even if you went in there and somehow avoided all the monsters, you still wouldn’t get the High-quality candy, so don’t try.”

“Why?”

"Because of the depth it grows at." Luke pointed at his sketch. "The outer area has dive pools that only go a few dozen meters or so. The inner area can easily reach up to two hundred meters. And in the central area, no one knows how deep they go. Mid-quality candy doesn't grow above a hundred fifty meters, and I heard high-quality ones don't appear above three hundred. No one can survive that; the pressure would kill you."

“No one normal anyway.” Sam muttered and was again ignored by Luke.

“Not important, Sam.”

“Debatable.”

“Look, I’m trying to keep this….”

Axel zoned out on whatever followed as he thought about what he had just been told. 'I've only ever gotten around fifty meters after years of on-and-off free diving, but that was with damage to my lungs. What if I manipulate the water to offset the pressure?'

His gaze sharpened as he considered the possibilities of his new abilities. ‘How far can I take water magic?’

Multiple ideas popped into his brain before he tuned back in. "What about scuba diving with an air tank?"

Luke paused in his ranting to focus on him. "Huh? Well, it's not like some people don't try, but that kind of gear is clunky, and you'll get screwed if something tries to attack you.”

He winced at some old memory. “Those waters aren't exactly friendly, and all it takes is a single hole in your tank for things to go bad fast. Not to mention the added weight on top of whatever other armor or gear you need."

“But people try it?”

“Sure, in large groups to protect stuff. But hunters don’t form big groups, too many issues pop up from it.”

"The IGO probably does it." Sam chimed in and added at Axel's look. "The IGO hires promising hunters and gives them training and resources if they sign decade-long contracts and such. They're the only ones you can trust in numbers. Gourmet hunting isn't for the friendliest sorts."

She gave Axel a hard look. "Don't go trusting every moron to try and offer you 'help.'"

"Oi. I'm not a moron." Luke grumbled but didn't deny her point. "I try to help newbies when I come across them, but she's right. Most types will offer to team up and use you for bait or to save their asses. And there are occasional thieves who will ambush you on your way back.”

The very idea seemed to disgust him, yet the blond still accepted the reality. “It's survival of the fittest once you're out there, but generally, hunters are not looking for trouble; just keep a respectful distance. If you get caught hunting Gourmet Hunters by the IGO, you're on a straight path to Gourmet prison."

Axel twitched at another thing with the word gourmet in it but still nodded to the group as they reached the end of the walkway and passed through another gate before coming out into what looked like a small town of wooden buildings. “Hn. I’ll watch my back. Thanks for all the info.”

"Anytime." Luke smiled brightly. "I'd offer to let you tag along, but we're headed for the inner area to set up camp, and we can't protect you out there. Stick to the outer area, alright?"

"Hn." He wouldn't. "Come by my shop sometime, and I'll make you a meal." He passed along a similar card to the one he handed Abby.

Luke accepted it with a smile and walked off. “Buy yourself a good weapon, you hear?”

Sam passed by with a tap of her fist against his shoulder. “He can’t shut up once he starts, but he gives good advice. Stay alive out there.”

Nathan just grunted with a respectful nod that Axel returned.

‘Nice bunch.’ He watched them walk off to the left and moved off to the right, thoroughly done with human communication for a bit.

"What language is this?" Luke's voice rang out, and Axel walked just a bit faster.

Chapter end.