NABC Chapter 25 She'll End Up Like Her Mother
Chapter 25 She'll End Up Like Her Mother
"Oh, could it be...?"
For a wizard of his caliber, freezing wine was hardly worth calling a technique, but it was enough to startle the sailors.
Usually, only someone of a captain's rank would be qualified to directly deal with esteemed individuals like wizards.
Though he hadn't revealed whether he was a knight or nobleman, to mere sailors, either would be like a master from heaven.
"So, to have such an esteemed person in this humble place..."
"Please speak comfortably. I'm the one requesting employment."
"No, that's a bit..."
The sailors seemed even more uncomfortable with Turan's polite manner.
Human nature is such that when the powerless bow their heads, it's seen as servile and looked down upon, but when the powerful bow their heads, others become flustered as if they've done something wrong.
This was one of the things he had learned while meeting people in the world.
"So, is it possible?"
"Pardon?"
"About boarding the ship as a passenger. Of course, I'll help repel any pirates or merfolk that might attack."
"That's a decision beyond my authority."
"Then I should meet with the captain."
"I'll call him right away!"
At Turan's request, the sailor who had mentioned going to the Enril Desert hurriedly stood up.
The person sitting opposite looked at him with a pitiful expression as if begging not to be left alone, but the standing sailor simply fled.
"Surely he's not really running away?"
"S-surely not, haha..."
The two spent nearly ten minutes sitting silently at the table without exchanging a word.
Fortunately for the sailor, the silence was broken when his departed colleague returned with the captain.
"Well, I'll be going then."
"Let's drink again sometime."
While the two sailors exchanged farewells, the one who had left returned with someone who sat opposite Turan and politely bowed his head.
A man in his forties with an eye patch over his left eye.
His darkly tanned skin and deep wrinkles suggested years of experience.
"I'm Pires, captain of the Blue Marlin."
"I'm Turan."
Perhaps because someone of his rank had met many wizards before, Pires looked at Turan with an observant gaze rather than cowering like the sailors.
After exchanging silent glances for a moment, Pires spoke first.
"I heard you want to board my ship."
"Yes."
"First, I'd prefer to talk somewhere quieter. Waiter! Do you have any private rooms available?"
"Yes, Captain."
Pires seemed familiar with this tavern, and through the waiter's assistance, they moved to a small room.
Once seated, the first topic he brought up was Turan's identity.
"First... are you a nobleman, or a knight?"
"I'm a knight."
Turan lowered his status because he thought the captain might be too frightened otherwise.@@@@
While a rebellious knight might be dealt with by dozens of armed sailors charging with spears and swords, for a nobleman, that would be merely after-dinner exercise.
As expected, the captain seemed more at ease after hearing Turan was a knight.
"Given that you've chosen such an unofficial route, I assume you're not affiliated with House Kamain. Perhaps your business in Enril is...?"
"It's personal."
"Well, of course."
When Turan showed his unwillingness to answer, the captain nodded readily, as if he had just been testing the waters.
Captain Pires suddenly lowered his voice significantly and said.
"While we do need a knight as you mentioned, to be honest, I can't hire you unless I know if your combat abilities are sufficient."
While knights didn't differ much from nobles in terms of magical power, that didn't mean their combat abilities were similar.
It required various elements, from hand-to-hand combat and weapon skills trained to compensate for lacking magical power, to magical ability and combat experience.
And to Pires, Turan didn't seem like a particularly reliable expert.
His youthful face, likely around twenty at best, was without a single scar, and he only carried a single dagger at his waist.
If there was any positive point, it was his sturdy physique that seemed well-trained.
"Combat ability, how would you like me to prove it?"
"While I'm not a wizard, I know several essential techniques that those who work at sea must learn. Can you handle water and ice?"
These happened to be techniques he had practiced on the way.
Turan called a waiter to bring a glass of water, then demonstrated some simple manipulations in front of Pires.
Starting with moving the water around, then instantly vaporizing or freezing it, transforming the ice's shape, and finally moving the ice around.
He continued pouring out complaints about the shipowner while showing Turan to his quarters.
"Here it is."
Turan's quarters were so narrow that he could touch both walls with his arms spread wide.
It contained just a bed placed lengthwise and a chest for storing belongings, with a window made of two wooden panels joined by hinges.
"It's a bit... narrow."
"Well... yes, it is. Actually, the captain's cabin is bigger, but he needs that space for various items he has to handle."
Even the boisterous Lenak showed an embarrassed expression on this point, having nothing to say in defense.
Still, thinking it was enough to have a place to lay his body, Turan simply unpacked by putting his bag in the chest.
Lying on the bed and looking at the sun shining through the window, various thoughts came to mind.
Originally, when Turan first stayed with House Berk, his plan was to head south from the Dakein Plains, then east from near Maderi City where he had met Asiz, toward the Enril Desert.
This was also the route that appeared in the 'World Tour Journal', the first book Turan had ever read.
The problem was that this route had suddenly become a battlefield between the dark elves who had risen up and House Arabion.
If caught by the dark elf army, he would be torn apart and become a meal, and Arabion would surely not welcome a wizard of unclear house affiliation wandering nearby during wartime.
In this situation, Turan's chosen alternative was to move straight east to the North Sea, then take a ship southeast to land on the northern edge of the Enril Desert.
'I wonder how Meisa is doing.'
The princess of Arabion, now likely in the midst of war with the dark elves.
That skeletal young lady was a powerful figure that the current Turan didn't dare think he could defeat, but even the strongest wizard wasn't invincible.
After arriving at the Enril Desert, he would need to gather news from that direction as well.
==
"Kiaaaaa-!"
In front of the burned fortress, the Arabion knight saw dark elf warriors charging toward him with grotesque screams.
Beings who couldn't handle undead magic due to lack of spirit power, no different from commoners in human terms...
But their strength and agility were not much different from those of skilled knights.
Due to the innate racial difference.
That's why they must have been able to trample and rule over humans long ago, before the descent of the Prea god-folk.
"Hyap!"
As he enhanced his sword's speed and power with magic, a dark elf's body was split in half.
The next one who charged in was burned in the face with flames, then another sword swing.
But there were too many of them to dispatch them all like this.
Two, four, six...
As his movements became increasingly confused, attacks slipped through the gaps, tearing at his magically tempered flesh.
In his dizzy vision from blood loss, a longsword swung down toward him.
Just as he sensed death, a thunderous roar and flash of lightning pierced through the dark elves from the sky.
"Kyaaaak!"
A scream similar to before but mixed with more terror.
Above the darkened sky, a woman with a skeletal, gaunt face flew in.
The lightning bolt shot by Meisa Arabion instantly split into dozens of branches, burning all the dark elves to death.
"Th-thank you, my lady..."
"Return to your unit."
"Yes!"
After saving the stranded knight, Meisa looked down at the battlefield with a tired face.
The fight against the dark elf army was far from an honorable duel.
They repeatedly ambushed vulnerable parts of the Arabion army by sending regular soldiers through tunnels, and the knights' corpses that resulted were dragged underground to become undead and used as forces by the necromancers.
While there was no one strong enough to face Meisa directly, having an enemy that wouldn't fight head-on meant that strength alone was useless, no matter how powerful.
"Meisa, are you unharmed?"
"Yes, Uncle."
Meisa barely nodded in greeting toward the middle-aged nobleman flying toward her.
His name was Kadram Arabion, the house head's half-brother and deputy commander of this subjugation force.
"Don't overexert yourself. Your life is far more precious than one or two knights."
"I'm fine with this much. How's the battle situation?"
Despite Meisa's stiff tone, Kadram maintained his smile as he answered.
"Not bad. At this rate, we should reclaim this area soon. Though we haven't found the tunnels yet."
"Let me know when you find them. I'll go myself."
"You should rest..."
Before Kadram could finish speaking, Meisa had already magically lifted herself and flown off in one direction.
"Tsk, what an ill-mannered girl. Brother raised her too loosely."
With no trace of his previous gentle attitude, Kadram clicked his tongue and glared at where Meisa had passed.
"At this rate, she'll end up like her mother and sister..."