"Ok." Marty spoke slowly as he consulted the extensive notes he had taken alongside Tyrone. "Even discarding all of the ones that Poli objected to for being immoral or just incredibly sketchy- which I agree with, as I'm sure everyone else does..."

He glanced around, meeting everyone's eye as they nodded in agreement- except Oliver, who just shrugged. Aside from the more racist and sexist Bounties- and the ones involving slavery- he had few opinions when it came to the morality of the job. As far as he was concerned, he was just an instrument in the exchange, a tool used by the client to accomplish their goals... though even he had some limits, just less of them than the others.

"So... that still leaves us with fifty to go through. Didn't you say that we only went through the first couple pages of Bounties?"

"Yep." Oliver chuckled. "It's kinda like the Commissions: almost endless pages of people asking for something. I swear, my biggest complaint about the System is a lack of search function- or any sort of filter options, really."

"It would be nice if you could appoint like an assistant or something to help you do Commissions, too." Tyrone added with a wry grin.

"You hear that, System- or whoever is behind it?" Oliver said, staring up at the ceiling. "Just some quality of life suggestions, you know? A little fine tuning of the user experience..."

"It's hard to imagine there is really someone behind this weird System..." Poli muttered softly. "I mean, I know you said they spoke to you... But wouldn't they have to be incredibly powerful to make something like this? I mean, like God level power or something?"

While everyone else looked slightly uncomfortable at the suggestion, Oliver simply shrugged. "Probably. Of course, that implies that its possible other gods, or god-like entities, exist..."

"Not that it matters to us right now. It's not something we're going to figure out right now, and we've already got enough on our plate without worrying about whether God, or gods, really exist."

"Oli's right... And I swear, Ed, if I hear one more rant about power scaling and how you expect him to eventually become a god himself, I'll smack you." Marty glared at Ed, who mimed zipping his lips- though his smirk, and the laughter in his eyes, told everyone clearly that he had been considering it.

"Anyway..." Marty sighed, shaking his head at his friend's antics. "T and I have sorted them by reward amount, and made some notes of our thoughts to go along with them... First up, at a whopping 200,000 credits, we have an assassination Bounty..."

Glancing quickly over the Bounty, Marty sighed. "They client claims that the assassination target is a tyrant, regularly oppressing and persecuting people. Cruel, vindictive, heartless... Though, keep in mind that this is all based on the client's post. We literally only have their word to go on."

"Skip it." Oliver said abruptly. "Too many unknowns, and trying to assassinate someone like that means practically going against the entire country- or at least its army, and any sort of police force. It's a bit more than we want right now."

"Fair enough." Marty shrugged. "Next is... similar, actually. Though not quite as direct. 150,000 credits to assist in fighting against an enemy country-"

"Maybe we should go ahead and mark off those that involve us jumping in the middle of someone's war?" Poli asked with a hesitant glance at Oliver. "I mean, I'm sure there is a lot we could do in that situation, but there are a lot of variables... and it would be a big risk-"

"Yeah, skip that one and any that involve a big war." Oliver hugged Poli, offering her a gentle smile. "We're doing this together, remember? If you think it's too much, then it is. Simple as that."

She smiled warmly, and leaned into him more. The fact that he trusted and valued her opinion in this situation meant a lot to her... And the fact that he didn't even hesitate at all in doing it? "Yeah, skip any that look like they'll drag us into a big war."

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"Ok, well... that takes out the ten best paying Bounties... and a couple others..." Marty muttered as Tyrone started marking them off the list. "Discarding the wars, the next best paying is 107,000 credits."

A bright smile crossed his face as he re-read the post. "Oh, damn! I almost want to go along on this one! It must have been one that T copied down for us while I was distracted, because I definitely would have lost it!"

"Just read it already!" Gary laughed, opening a bag of chips to snack on- and, noticing the look he got from Poli, offered to share.

"Ok, ok. Just ruin my fun." Marty chuckled. "It's a high seas adventure! A ship is taking on a high value cargo, and wants extra security against pirates. Pirates, man! How cool is that?"

Oliver frowned slightly as he recalled that particular post- it had stood out to him as well. I mean, who didn't like the Pirates movies? "They don't mention what the cargo is, though, or how valuable it really is. That means we have no clue about how much trouble we would actually face."

"True, but they did say that they've already confirmed that they are being targeted by at least one pirate fleet-"

"A fleet is typically around twenty ships- or more." Gary added suddenly, a look of concern on his face. "It could be up to a couple hundred, easy... though pirates aren't really known for being organized. I guess it could be different on another planet, but that's still a lot..."

"How the hell do you even know that!?" Tyrone exclaimed in surprise.

Gary just shrugged. "History channel, bro."

"Not to mention that the post said the pirates are Devils." Oliver chuckled.

"...the Pirate fleet 'Sin Sails', led by the Devil Lord Chegor the Rapacious, on his flag ship the Inexorable..." Marty read aloud into the shocked silence. Looking up slowly, he cautiously locked eyes with Oliver. "You don't think that's just them calling him a devil, but him actually being a Devil?"

"Pretty much." Oliver shrugged. "I mean, at this point I've already met roach people in the Rach, lizard people in the Koman, and found a dead civilization of what I think were mosquito people called the Osquin. Are Devils really a stretch? Odds are, they are just one of the local people and the name of their race just translates to Devil for us... But they could be actual Devils; who knows?"

"Fair enough." Marty sighed, and everyone nodded in agreement.

"Wasn't there a second part to the reward?" Poli asked suddenly, a thoughtful frown on her face.

"Uh..." Marty said, still a bit numb at the possibility of Devils being real, as he quickly re-read the entry. "Yeah, though it's not exactly clear. 'The greatest treasure to be found anywhere in the Kingdom, the Hand of Lilina'vix'Strus'- no idea what that is supposed to mean, other than its a name. Maybe it's some kind of magic item? You know, like the Eye of Vecna or something?"

"Isn't the Eye of Vecna an evil artifact?" Ed asked with a scowl. "You think this reward is cursed or something?"

"The System has never allowed me to be screwed like that before... but I guess it's still possible." Oliver shrugged. "So, a solid credit amount and a questionable magic item, but we may have to repeatedly fight off pirates?"

"If our guns work on that planet, then it shouldn't be too bad- unless they have guns as well." Poli added thoughtfully. "And if they are sailing, there is a good chance our guns would be the best weapons around... and, even if they don't work, we have some damn good bows and crossbows."

"Mark it as a maybe, and we can circle back to it for the final selection."

"Sounds good... and I'm a little jealous, but not too much. I don't really want to face Devils." Marty chuckled. "Ok, moving on... The next best paying... 101,000 credits and, I shit you not, your weight in gold to help track down and capture a wanted criminal that has fled into what the client calls 'the Wild Lands'."

"Apparently, these 'Wild Lands' are an untamed frontier filled with dangerous beasts... and the criminal is wanted for the murder of an entire city of thousands! What the fuck! That's fucking crazy..."

"How the hell did he kill thousands by himself!?"

"Poison, it says... so, probably pretty dangerous... Or maybe not so dangerous, depending if he has the supplies and ability to make more poison to use against the people hunting him... The details are a bit thin, so I'm against this one guys."

"I also don't have a way to cleanse poison yet..."

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