Jax secured transportation before noon.
By midafternoon, he had secured future business partners.
By evening, he had secured enough curious stares to make even Nyxian jealous.
The Dark Continent, as it turned out, was not nearly as dark as the stories claimed.
Different?
Absolutely.
Strange?
Without question.
But evil?
Not so far.
The port city was alive with trade, noise, food, labor, gossip, and people trying to make money.
In other words—
It was a city.
Jax loved cities.
Cities had problems.
Problems had solutions.
Solutions created businesses.
And businesses created profit.
The first merchants he met were cautious.
That was expected.
Some had horns.
Some had scales.
Some had tails.
Some looked like someone combined three animals, a nightmare, and a tax accountant.
But they were merchants.
And merchants spoke a universal language.
Opportunity.
Jax brought samples from Solmere.
Spices.
Preserved fruits.
Refrigeration crystals.
Small luxury goods.
Pixie Mead.
Fairy Cider.
And just enough clever presentation to make every buyer think they were getting access to something rare.
Which, technically, they were.
More than once, business stalled for the same reason.
A merchant would lean closer.
Sniff him.
Or squint.
Or tilt their head in confusion.
Then, with the bluntness of someone asking about the weather, they would ask:
"What are you?"
Jax never flinched.
"Me? Oh, I'm human."
The reactions were always interesting.
A scaled woman selling imported oils nearly dropped her pen.
A horned merchant with four arms froze mid-calculation.
One older demonkin trader leaned back so quickly his chair nearly tipped over.
"Human?"
"Yep."
"From the Human Continent?"
"That's what people here seem to call it."
The merchant stared at him.
"You say that openly?"
Jax smiled.
"I don't have a reason to lie."
That answer seemed to affect them more than any sales pitch could.
Many on the Dark Continent had heard stories about humans.
Some stories were exaggerations.
Some were not.
Humans who enslaved beastkin.
Humans who hunted demonfolk.
Humans who believed themselves chosen above all others.
Humans who slaughtered anything different.
Jax listened to those concerns without dismissing them.
Then explained, patiently, that things had changed.
Not everywhere.
Not perfectly.
But changed.
The Empire was gone.
Alexandria had joined the United Kingdoms.
Slavery had been outlawed.
Beastkin and demonkin had rights now.
And Jax had crossed the ocean to build trade, not conquest.
By the time he left several of those meetings, the same merchants who had stared at him with suspicion were speaking more softly.
One even muttered as Jax walked away:
"Maybe not all humans are monsters."
Jax pretended not to hear it.
But he did.
And it mattered.
The strangest thing, to many of them, was how polite he was.
He thanked clerks.
He thanked dock workers.
He thanked drivers.
When someone opened a carriage door, Jax gave them a respectful nod and said, "Appreciate it."
The driver stared at him like he had just been granted a royal title.
Bunny noticed.
Later, as the group moved toward the transport yard, she looked up at him.
"You always compliment and thank everyone."
Jax shrugged.
"It doesn't cost anything to be kind."
Nyxian immediately added, "It doesn't cost anything to be rude either."
Jax slowly turned and gave her a flat look.
She raised both hands.
"What? It doesn't. They're both the same price."
Llandra sighed.
"That was not helpful."
Nyxian smiled proudly.
"I was being accurate."
"Accuracy and usefulness are not always the same thing," Llandra replied.
Pixelle, riding on Lexi's shoulder, nodded solemnly.
"I learned that from tax meetings."
Jax chuckled and kept walking.
Their destination was Demonia.
A major inland city.
One Emberlyn knew by reputation, though not by experience.
Despite her long history sailing to the Dark Continent, she had never gone far beyond the port.
"I know the docks," Emberlyn admitted while studying the road maps. "Taverns, traders, black market contacts, which warehouses not to rob because they're owned by people who stab creatively."
Jax looked at her.
"That last one sounds specific."
"It was a learning experience."
"But you've never gone inland?"
"No."
She glanced toward the dark road ahead.
"Pirates don't usually take scenic carriage rides."
Demonia was roughly two weeks away by road.
Their plan was simple.
Stop at four towns along the way.
Resupply.
Sightsee.
Study local customs.
Establish trade connections.
Find merchants willing to introduce them deeper into the continent.
Jax called it exploration.
Nyxian called it networking.
Emberlyn called it "weaponized friendliness."
Llandra called it "Jax being Jax."
The carriage they rented was sturdy, wide, and well-built for long travel. Once Jax installed Barb's portable dimensional transport units, it became far more comfortable than anything the local company had expected.
The outside remained a normal carriage.
The inside became home.
Living space.
Kitchen.
Storage.
Sleeping arrangements.
Private rooms.
Enough room for the Vixens to travel without strangling each other.
Probably.
The driver seemed nervous once they left the port road and turned inland.
At first Jax assumed it was because of the passengers.
A human.
The Vixens.
A famous pirate captain.
A fairy queen.
A bunny woman with a hammer larger than the driver's entire body.
A succubus who looked like she was mentally undressing half the continent.
That would make anyone nervous.
But after an hour, Jax realized the driver kept glancing at the trees.
The road narrowed.
The land darkened.
Purple-leafed branches stretched overhead, casting strange shadows across the path.
The driver slowed the carriage.
Jax leaned forward.
"Something wrong?"
The driver swallowed.
"This stretch is dangerous."
"What kind of trouble are we talking?"
The driver hesitated.
"The vampire kind."
Nyxian perked up instantly.
"Vampires?"
The driver nodded.
"Bandits. Exiles mostly. They prey on travelers between the port and inland towns."
Nyxian smiled.
"Vampires are distant cousins of my kind. I wonder if any of the troublemakers are long-lost relatives."
Llandra did not miss a beat.
"If they are troublemakers, I'd say the probability is high."
Nyxian placed a hand over her chest.
"Thank you."
"That was not a compliment."
"I chose to receive it as one."
Jax looked ahead at the road.
"How long is the danger stretch?"
"Several miles," the driver answered. "Most carriages slow here to preserve the beasts. If bandits appear, we either rush forward or retreat depending on where they strike."
Jax nodded thoughtfully.
Then stood.
"I'll go ahead."
Every Vixen reacted at once.
"No," Llandra said immediately.
"Absolutely not," Bunny added.
Nyxian leaned back with a groan.
"Here he goes again."
Emberlyn looked between them.
"Does he do this a lot?"
Bunny turned toward her.
"What? Go fight impossible odds by himself?"
Nyxian pointed at the window.
"You saw him fight a Kraken alone."
Emberlyn paused.
"Fair."
Jax raised a hand.
"I'm not going to start a fight."
Everyone stared at him.
He sighed.
"I'm going to scout ahead."
"That is not the same thing," Llandra said.
"It is if everything goes well."
"And if everything does not go well?"
Jax smiled.
"Then we'll learn something useful."
That answer made nobody feel better.
Still, he insisted.
He wanted to see how the locals reacted when he traveled alone.
No Vixens.
No obvious army.
No shadow beasts visible.
Just one human walking the road.
If the bandits were real, he suspected they would show themselves faster.
Reluctantly, the Vixens agreed.
Not happily.
But they agreed.
Jax stepped out of the carriage wearing his armor beneath his black trench coat.
Peacemaker remained in his inventory.
Requiem rested at his sides.
He thought he looked pretty badass.
Possibly too badass.
There was a chance any bandit with common sense would avoid him completely.
Fortunately, common sense was rarely a bandit's strongest trait.
He sprinted ahead, moving far faster than any normal traveler could manage.
Once he had put enough distance between himself and the carriage, he slowed to a casual walk.
The forest closed around him.
Dark trunks.
Purple leaves.
Thick mist curling low to the ground.
The road climbed gradually toward a small ridge.
That was when he heard them.
Movement.
Not one person.
Several.
Coordinated.
Fast.
They moved through the trees on both sides.
Others circled behind him.
Jax kept walking.
He did not look around.
Did not slow.
Did not react.
Let them think they had the advantage.
At the top of the incline, the road opened into a small clearing.
A lone man stood in the center of the path.
Waiting.
He was filthy.
Long tangled hair hung around his face.
A jagged scar cut from his forehead to his jaw.
His clothes were torn, stained, and dark with old blood.
His skin looked pale beneath layers of grime.
His eyes glowed faintly red.
Jax continued walking toward him without changing pace.
The man's smile widened.
"What do we have here?"
His nose twitched.
"Smells like human."
Jax stopped a few yards away.
The vampire tilted his head.
"Are you a hunter here to kill our kind?"
Jax blinked.
Vampire hunters were real?
That was interesting.
"Nope," Jax said casually. "Just a friendly merchant on my way to Demonia. Hoping to establish trade."
"Trade?"
The vampire looked him up and down.
"You travel alone."
"Currently."
"That is either brave or stupid."
"Depends how the next few minutes go."
The vampire laughed.
Movement stirred around the clearing.
Jax heard others stepping into position.
Behind him.
To the left.
To the right.
The vampire smiled wider.
"Well, merchant, I'm afraid there's a toll to pass through our road."
Jax's system activated.
Several labels appeared over the vampire's head.
[BANDIT – MURDERER – RAPIST – ARSONIST]
[VAMPIRE – LEVEL 50]
Then a second message appeared.
[SYSTEM QUEST ACTIVATED]
[Kill the Bandits]
Jax read the message.
Then smiled faintly.
"Well," he said, "it looks like we're going to be at an impasse."
The vampire's grin faded slightly.
"An impasse?"
"Yes. Because I'm going to refuse to pay anything, and you're going to dislike that. Which means we'll need to remedy this situation with an unfortunate delay."
The vampire chuckled darkly.
"Delay?"
His eyes flashed.
"I think you mean final resting place."
Jax tilted his head.
"That seems overly dramatic."
The vampire stepped closer.
"Oh, don't worry. We won't kill you right away."
His smile became vile.
"Human blood is rare here. We can feed from you for weeks. Maybe a month if we're careful."
The other vampires emerged from the woods.
Twelve more.
All dirty.
All disheveled.
All carrying blades, axes, or hooked knives.
They looked less like noble creatures of the night and more like feral predators who had forgotten civilization existed.
The leader's eyes crawled over Jax.
"And once your blood is nearly spent, we'll find other uses for that body of yours."
For a moment, Jax simply stared.
Then the meaning clicked.
Ah.
So that was the kind of monster this one was.
Jax's expression cooled.
"Yeah," he said slowly, "I think you might have some competition on who gets to use my body."
The vampires laughed.
The leader spread his arms.
"You should not have come to vampire territory alone."
Jax looked around the clearing.
Thirteen vampires surrounded him.
All armed.
All confident.
All marked by the system.
Then Jax chuckeled to himself.
"Alone?"