Chapter 254 – They Make Their MoveI"m back. I asked for a boat, and I was thinking of going alone—」
「At times, we take out the wicked!」
「At times, we leave mysteries behind!」
「And sometimes, we incur grudges from people!」
「And sometimes, we act with no regard for others!」
As soon as Hikaru entered the hotel room, Hikaru saw two girls wearing black cloaks and silver masks.
「We move in the darkness of the night and shine like the morning star!」
「We are—」
Spreading both arms, Lavia and Paula brandished their staffs.
「Silver Face!」
「S-Silver Face!」
The room went completely quiet and as still as death.
「…What?」
「Not much of a reaction.」Lavia said nonchalantly, removing her mask.
「Nooooo… This is too embarra.s.sing.」Paula said, covering her face with both hands and crouching down on the floor.
「Uh, my bad.」Hikaru apologized.「Whoa. What. In. The. World?」
「Now that just sounds too forced.」Lavia said.
「Noooooooo!」
「What"s going on?」Hikaru asked.
Hikaru returned to the hotel to inform them of the current situation and he was greeted with this. In a way, he was caught by surprise.
「Don"t you remember? We bought masks since we sometimes need to conceal ourselves too.」
They bought the cloaks and masks just in case they needed it. It would be best if they never got to use them. Lavia"s fire magic and Paula"s healing magic were both among the most powerful ones in this continent. If there was a chance they would draw attention, they could just blame it on Silver Face.
「Okay, so now what?」
「So we thought I"d be more interesting if we had like a trademark pose.」
More interesting?
「I read something similar to it in a book a while ago.」
「I see… I think you shouldn"t do that, though.」
「What?! Why not?!」
「You mentioned “darkness of the night” and “morning star”. Someone out there might draw the connection to us since our party name is New Moon Star.」
「Ah…」
She didn"t seem to notice. A rather unusual mistake for Lavia to make.
「Hmm… We should change it to a different line instead.」
「Let"s not do it again.」
Lavia and Paula started discussing. It"s so peaceful here, Hikaru thought.
The Ruined Continent"s warships were anch.o.r.ed just far enough that it couldn"t be seen from land. The messenger"s boat was heading towards Ville Zentra, carrying a flag painted with yellow and black lines.
It was dusk, and the small boat—fast for its size—could be seen clearly. It didn"t have any sail; it seemed to operate using a different method. Thick smoke billowed from the funnel sticking upwards from the boat.
「Captain Landon. What do you think powers that boat?」
「It"s different from ours. I"m interested in that black smoke.」
Luke Landon, the young knight who welcomed Kaglai in Ville Zentra, stood in the docks, waiting for the messenger to arrive. The harbor had been cleared of fishing boats to an extent. Unfortunately, removing all vessels from the huge port was impossible.
I believe painting the flag with yellow and black lines is an old practice, Luke thought.
Luke happened to hear about that tradition as he belonged to a military family. The flag meant “we wish to negotiate”. There was quite a disconnect—these invaders possessed unknown weapons to them, yet still used old methods.
As the boat drew nearer, Luke saw a lone man standing on the stern.
「Do not attack! He"s a messenger!」
The man looked similar to the captured spy Gigy. He appeared calm, as though he believed he wouldn"t be attacked, which irritated Luke. It didn"t help that he had the same silver hair as the soldier.
When the boat reached land, the man disembarked and looked at Luke.
「Are you the one who"s supposed to come pick me up?」
「Indeed. Luke Landon, Captain of the Knight"s Fourth Squad.」
The man"s blunt att.i.tude only served to amplify Luke"s exasperation. Wearing an unbleached fiber shirt and bright yellow trousers, it looked like he was going to a resort. On his right hand was a bracelet of intricate design that Luke hadn"t seen before.
The bag he was carrying on one hand—also made out of unknown materials—probably contained some sort of letter.
「My name is Gorja, a messenger.」
He wasn"t armed, or at least that"s what it looked like. The people around them stirred as Gorja approached Luke casually, holding out his right hand. In response, the young knight stepped forward and grasped the hand. Firm and solid, he could feel power from it.
He"s stronger than me, Luke realized in just that one handshake. He didn"t have Gorja"s build and toned body. He would lose if they fought one-on-one. The thought sent a chill down his spine.
「Are you alone?」Luke asked, hiding his discomposure.
「That"s right. Oh, I"m not really familiar with the language here, so I might end up using odd words. Can you help me out with that?」
All of a sudden, the straight look on his face was gone, and he winked at Luke.
「O-Of course. We are well aware of that.」
「W-Well aware? Does that mean “know”?」
「Yes. It"s already late, so the meeting with the Supreme Leader will have to be tomorrow morning.」
「Oh, I see. What should I do for dinner? Ah, I did bring preserved food with me.」
「No need to worry about that. We"ll prepare your meals.」
「Yay! ＊＊＊＊＊＊＊!」
Gorja was delighted, exclaiming in their language. It seemed he was very interested in the food here. Dumbfounded, Luke escorted Gorja to the Supreme Leader"s residence.
The moon was already high up in the sky by the time Gorja was served dinner. The small boat leaving the harbor parted waves as it headed east. Manufactured using plenty of magic items, the vessel had a maximum capacity of only four people. Despite its structure, it could only go forward, reverse, and turn.
Hikaru"s Stealth should be able to conceal the boat and the splashes it made from sight, even suppressing the sound it made. It still left a wake in its path, but since it was a small vessel, it wouldn"t really draw attention.
That must be it.
He could now clearly see the huge warships, almost as big as car ferries. Their bottoms were painted black, while the hulls were a uniform white—clearly different from this continent"s practice where materials were used as they are.
What caught Hikaru"s attention was the searchlight that scanned the surface of the sea. It actually grazed his boat just moments ago.
Looks more like a battleship. There"s like a few centuries" difference in technology here. These things are equipped with cannons too. No wonder Vireocean"s navy lost.
As Hikaru inched closer, he activated his Mana Detection. Men in pairs patrolled the whole place in a fixed route.
It"s almost midnight.
Out of the ten ships, one was clearly bigger, positioned as though it was being protected by the rest. Hikaru planned to sneak onto it. He took out a rope with a hook attached to it and started whirling it around.
The hook caught the railing perfectly with barely a sound. It was easy enough with his ten points on Throwing. Having checked that no one was around, he quickly climbed up the rope.
Hikaru made it to the ship"s deck. Behind the cannons were sh.e.l.ls covered in huge sheets. After collecting the rope, he weaved his way through the cargoes. The routes the patrols took were well-thought out; no matter where he went, he encountered patrols along the way.
Not just the civilization, their way of thinking is advanced as well. Who the h.e.l.l called it the Ruined Continent? There"s like a 300-year difference in civilization here.
None of them noticed Hikaru with his Stealth on, of course. He took cover behind objects, or climbed on top of cargoes, as he waited with bated breath for the patrols to pa.s.s him by. He checked the men"s Soul Boards as well. He came to a conclusion after the tenth one.
None of them have stats as high as that spy Gigy. But for foot soldiers, they"re still quite high.
Of the soldiers, knights, and ordinary adventurers Hikaru met, most of them had a max of two points on Weapon Mastery. But the majority of the patrols here had three, while very few had two. They could probably have quite the career as adventurers. Gigy was a level stronger with four points on Short Spear. That"s probably why he worked as a spy.
There were two more things he noticed. First, their soul ranks ranged from just below 100 to around 120, an indication that powerful monsters inhabited the Ruined Continent. The second one was surprising.
Not one of them can use magic!
They didn"t even have the “Magical Power” board unlocked. Hikaru even suspected that perhaps they didn"t have it on their boards in the first place. They did, of course.
This is worth investigating.
Out of pure curiosity, Hikaru headed to the soldiers" sleeping quarters to check their Soul Boards one by one from the corridor. Indeed, not one of them had unlocked Magical Power.
A ship full of muscle-brains!
Hikaru imagined a bunch of half-naked, brawny men rowing a boat while laughing out loud. This ship was powered by sorcery of course, so that wasn"t possible.