Raani’s face did sothing complicated, and Jake could see her wrestling with the urge to argue versus the understanding that he was right.
"At least wait until you’re fully healed," she said finally.
"I will," Jake agreed.
"A few more days of rest. Then I want to look at A-rank and higher missions."
By the third day, Jake’s body had recovered enough that he could move around the villa without assistance, the bloodline regeneration having closed the worst of his wounds and reduced the rest to manageable soreness. The sling ca off his arm. The bandages around his torso were reduced to just covering the deepest cuts. He felt stronger than he had before the dungeon, his bloodline humming with power that felt more accessible, more responsive, as though nearly dying had taught it sothing about efficiency.
He returned to the guild office on the afternoon of the fourth day, ignoring Raani’s concerned protests and Chelsea’s resigned acceptance.
The main hall was busy with the usual afternoon crowd, and Jake noticed more people watching him now than had been paying attention during his first visit.
Word of the solo A-rank clear had spread, and the watching had shifted from curious to assessing, other adventurers asuring him with the attention of people who were recalibrating their understanding of what the Raikarndel heir was capable of.
Jake moved to the mission boards and headed directly for the higher-rank postings, scanning B-rank and A-rank contracts with the focused attention of soone looking for specific criteria.
He needed combat that would push his limits. He needed situations where his Serpent King abilities could develop further. He needed—
His hand reached for a posting at the sa mont soone else’s did.
Their fingers touched the paper simultaneously, and Jake looked sideways to find a woman in her early forties looking back at him with an expression of mild amusent and zero intention of backing down.
She was striking in a way that had nothing to do with youth and everything to do with the particular confidence that ca from years of knowing exactly who you were and being completely comfortable with that knowledge.
Tall, broad-shouldered, built like soone who spent most of their ti doing physical work, with sun-darkened skin and grey-streaked dark hair pulled back in a practical braid. She wore adventurer’s gear that was well-maintained but clearly seen extensive use, leather and reinforced fabric designed for function over appearance, and her hands when they touched the posting showed calluses that spoke to weapons training and manual labor in equal asure.
Her eyes were sharp and green and currently assessing Jake with the sa calculating attention he was directing at her.
"Interesting choice," she said, her voice carrying the roughness of soone who spent a lot of ti shouting orders over wind and waves.
"Not many people go for pirate suppression missions. Too much risk, not enough guarantee of payout."
Jake looked at the posting properly now, reading the details that had caught his attention.
[PIRATE SUPPRESSION - B-RANK MISSION]
[TARGET: PIRATE QUEEN ELISABETH - OPERATING IN BAY OF BAENIL]
[OBJECTIVE: CAPTURE OR ELIMINATE PIRATE FLEET LEADERSHIP]
[REWARD: 500 GOLD PERCENTAGE OF RECOVERED CARGO]
[RECOMNDED PARTY: 6-8 CLASS II MINIMUM]
[SPECIAL NOTE: TARGET POSSESSES RARE MAGIC ITEMS AND UNKNOWN ABILITIES]
The posting included a sketch of the target that had been drawn from witness descriptions, a woman’s face rendered in enough detail that Jake could make out her features—sharp and angular, with eyes that looked amused even in a wanted poster and hair styled in a way that seed familiar, though he couldn’t imdiately place why.
And then he could.
He didn’t register what the woman said, as he was too focused on the poster.
The recognition hit him with the force of seeing sothing from his first life appear unexpectedly in his second one.
That face, those features, the particular way the artist had captured her expression—he knew that face.
And it was not from this world.
From the other one. To be precise, from the magazines and news reports and the kind of fa that crossed international borders.
She had been soone famous in his first world.
That face had belonged to soone notable enough that Jake’s first-life mories had filed it in the category of people-everyone-knows-about.
Which ant she was like him.
Another agent. Another reincarnated soul brought to this world by a god and given a second chance at life.
And she’d beco a pirate queen.
Jake looked back at the woman whose hand was still touching the posting alongside his.
"You’re going after her," he said.
"I am," the woman confird.
"I’ve been tracking her fleet for three months. This is the first ti the guild has posted a formal mission on her, which ans she’s gotten bold enough to threaten major trade routes. Perfect timing for soone who’s been waiting for official sanction to move against her."
"Alone?" Jake asked.
The woman smiled, showing teeth.
"I have a crew of my own. But if you’re interested—"
She gestured at the posting. "—you can join and we can move faster and get in and get out before she moves locations again."
Jake considered this with the quick, organized part of his mind that was already running calculations.
A pirate queen operating in the Bay of Baenil was sixty-nine miles from Roakan, which ant several days of travel by road or ship. The mission was rated B-rank, but the unknown abilities notation suggested it could scale higher depending on what the target actually possessed.
The reward was substantial enough to be worth the risk, and more importantly, if the pirate queen really was another agent from his world, engaging with her might provide information he couldn’t get anywhere else.
"What’s your na?" he asked.
"Captain Nailer," the woman said.
"You’re Jake Raikarndel, the newly returned heir who just cleared Ghoul Sanctum solo and nearly died doing it."
She said this without judgnt, just stating facts.
"Word travels fast in the guild."
"It does," Jake agreed.
"So?" Nailer gestured at the posting.
"Are you interested in hunting pirates with ?"
Jake thought about the pirate queen’s face in the sketch, about the possibility of eting another agent from his world, and about the combat experience he would gain from engaging with soone who possessed unknown abilities and had survived long enough to build a pirate fleet.
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