Without an Accompany card, the group's destination stayed Andoniba.
Zachary leading the way made everything run smoother. His presence also put extra caution in the eyes of anyone watching Ronin and Neon. Some people clearly recognized him and kept their distance. Others saw Ronin as a fat target worth testing.
Ronin didn't mind either reaction. Part of him almost hoped someone would try something. Easy card harvests sounded good right about now.
"Having cards in my specified pocket already proves I'm not weak," Zachary said, growing bolder once he realized Ronin and Neon weren't complete monsters. "It's just that you two are on a whole different level."
Neon nodded. Most players couldn't pull off what Ronin did. Stealing a card before the owner activated it was basic, but doing it at that speed took real power. Zachary had simply been unlucky.
Ronin stayed quiet, scanning the hostile auras around them. He needed to find someone holding an Accompany card. One wrong move and the whole crowd could scatter with spell cards before he got what he wanted.
"No hints?" he asked Zachary.
Zachary understood the look immediately and started watching the area too. They were still outside Andoniba, so the watchers kept their distance. Any sudden move and they'd probably bolt.
Bounty notices kept drifting past on the wind. The game had jobs for almost everything. A hardworking player could probably live pretty well just doing bounties.
Ronin ignored them. More eyes followed them once they entered town, but nobody attacked until Ronin deliberately led the group into a narrow alley.
Robbery was simple when you were that much stronger.
They walked out with both Ronin and Neon's free pockets stuffed full of cards. The alley behind them held nothing but unconscious bodies.
Zachary stayed with them. Two more players had joined as well—one tall, one short—both now puppets dancing on Ronin's threads. That made three people ready to leave.
Ronin hadn't chased spell cards earlier because Leave was rare. Only thirty existed in the whole game. The Pass cards you earned by beating the port master had a hundred and fifty copies. The bottleneck was the port master himself.
For Ronin that wasn't much of a problem.
Once they had an Accompany card, Zachary activated it under Ronin's watch. He knew he was getting kicked out and still couldn't do anything about it. Part of him started hoping the port master would somehow stop this monster.
That hope died the second they arrived. Ronin casually knocked out everyone in the ferry terminal—including the port master—with thrown stones and turned them into cards.
Ronin didn't use the first Pass right away. He wanted to farm more.
A Pass actually dropped you on the real island instead of kicking you back to the starting point. To wipe the three players' save data, Ronin needed to deliver them to Battera's castle and keep them there for ten days. That meant he needed at least four Passes, especially since Neon planned to stay behind.
Neon felt confident in her own strength. She wanted to explore the game and collect cards while Ronin handled the exit.
Ronin worried, but after the number of attackers they had already put down, they had enough spell cards stockpiled to keep her reasonably safe. Still, not having a Leave card made him uneasy.
"I'm not going far," Neon promised. "I'll just hang around the port."
"No," Ronin said. "Don't stay at the port or Masadora long. Go somewhere else—Dulias, Shufurabi, or Aiai. Anywhere but those two spots."
Neon gave him an OK sign. She understood. If any Troupe members were still inside, Masadora was the most likely place. And if they wanted out, the port and its Passes were the fastest route.
The port master took six hours to respawn. When he finally walked back in, Ronin flicked a coin through his skull. The body turned into a Pass the moment Ronin touched it.
By the next afternoon Ronin had enough Passes. He gave Neon a few last instructions, gathered the three dejected players, and left the game.