Ning and the rest arrived at the next town over and made their way through to a bad part of the town with vacant houses and houses that weren’t taken care of.

Young and old people looked at them suspiciously as they walked through the part of the town, some even clearly wondering if they should rob them.

Tim timidly walked close behind Ning who walked openly with not a shred of distress in his steps.

After walking for a few more minutes, the group arrived at a large house that looked way better than any other in this part of the town.

It was a two-story building with not just plaster on the brick walls, but also white paint that covered it on all sides.

It was a wide building with clearly many rooms just on the front side itself.

A few strong-looking men sat by the front door, playing some sort of game with a bunch of small pebbles placed in a certain pattern. One of them looked up at the newly arrived group and stared at them.

“You here to see the captain, love?” the man asked.

“I am,” Jasmine answered.

The man looked at Ning and Tim. “Who are they?” the man asked.

“My friends,” Jasmine answered. She turned toward Ning and Tim. “Stay out here. I’ll go in and be out in a few minutes.”

“Stay out?” Ning chuckled a little. “Girl, I’m going in. I’m quite curious about this… what did he say? Captain? About this captain.”

Jasmine glared at Ning, almost stunned at his audacity to say such a thing this close to the place.

“We have trouble, love?” the man asked.

“No trouble,” Jasmine said quickly. “Would it be alright if my friends came to visit the captain too?”

The man looked at Ning and Tim for a bit before saying. “They can go in,” he said.

Jasmine let out a secret sigh of relief. She walked over to the group and started taking off the many rings she wore on her fingers.

Some were regular gold rings, some silver rings. Some of them were plain, and some of them were with small rubies and sapphires. The men took them in a pouch and tied them up, placing them by their side where they played their little game.

Jasmine walked past them and turned around. “Give them whatever you own. You can’t go in with your weapons, bag of coins, jewelry, or treasures.”

Tim panicked a little. “Treasures? Why should I give them my—”

“You questioning us, lad?” the man asked.

“Um, no, no,” Tim said quickly and turned to look at Ning who simply shrugged. Unwillingly, Tim took out a pouch of a few silver coins as well as his Horn and handed it over to the group.

The men there all looked at the horn curiously, clearly understanding that it was a treasure of some sort.

Finally, they waited for Ning to take out whatever he had as well. However, Ning simply didn’t look at them and walked in.

3 of the men stood up at once, stopping Ning at the door. “What’s the meaning of this, lad?” the man asked.

“You can’t go in with your items, boy,” another one spoke.

The third one put his open coat aside, revealing a gun on his hips that he was ready to pull out at a moment’s notice.

Ning looked at them all and sighed. “I don’t have anything to give you. Can I walk in now?” he asked.

“Nothing? Nonsense,” the first man said. “Stand up straight. We will search you.”

Ning put up his hands and let the men thoroughly pat him down. They checked all locations they could but found nothing in the end.

“Can I go in now?” Ning asked.

“Yes,” the first man said. “You can go.”

“Thank you,” Ning said and gestured for Jasmine to start walking.

Jasmine stared at Ning in absolute awe. How was any of this possible? How did he not have anything on him? Didn’t she just watch him pull a massive book out from his body and put it back in just this morning?

Was she going mad?

Jasmine quickly calmed herself and started walking away. After watching someone pull two people out of themselves, maybe it wasn’t such a big deal that they had nothing.

Maybe Ning just hid his treasure really well?

Jasmine walked up the stairs, arriving at an area upstairs where a man sat on a large sofa, his hands spread along the side as he simply stared at the ceiling, showing just a thick beard that blocked anyone from seeing his neck.

There were quite a few men and women standing around the man, everyone talking among themselves.

Tim looked bothered. The girls in this place were wearing clothes that weren’t exactly what he could call good. They were rather scandalous, to say the least.

The men were all out of shape but still strong looking, many with shaven heads, and a lot of tattoos on their bodies clearly visible.

The man on the sofa looked away from the ceiling and toward them at the sound of their footsteps.

He was a dirty-looking man, with some sort of disease turning random patches on his face dark and spotted. He wore a red eyepatch across his left eye, and had his dreadlocks tied in a clump above his head.

He was a massive man with pistols sticking out from his waist. He tapped the wooden stump of his leg on the floor as Jasmine and the rest arrived close.

“Jasmine, me lass. Ya weren’t supposed to be here for another day or two,” the man asked.

“Captain Darkwater,” she gave a small nod as a greeting. “It is indeed not my time to come, but I have still come because I need to talk to you about something.”

“What words do you have for me?” the man asked.

Jasmine took a deep breath and said, “I have come to ask you if it would be okay if I was gone for the next year.”