/
Translator: Kell | Editor: Weasalopes
Price for the Abduction
Upon hearing the alarm, Grucel first went to the deck. Normally, he would go to the bridge and verify the situation while giving out orders, but the enemy was only one vessel—that is, if they were on a boat or a ship—so he decided to get a grasp of the situation first.
Grucel could only do this as he was a master in martial arts. He believed he could handle ten enemies on his own.
『Deena!』
His comrades on deck had surrounded two people—one was a boy wearing a black cloak and a silver mask, and the other one was Deena the secretary.
Smoke was rising from the deserted bow. Grucel could tell the loud bang happened there. Even now, the battleship was heading for Dew Roke. No one should’ve been able to catch up to it. So how? I’ll worry about that later, the commander thought.
「My name is Silver Face. You’re the commander, Grucel, right?」the masked boy asked, poking Deena’s head, who sank down on the floor, face pale and trembling.
『H-He knows about you, Sir.』she said.
『Deena! Are you all right?!』
『I’m fi—』
The masked boy poked her again before she could finish, as though telling her not to speak without permission. Grucel’s expression remained unchanged, but he was seething inside. He couldn’t stand to see his hardworking secretary treated like that.
『So you’re the one who kidnapped Deena. Don’t think you’re getting away that easily.』
Deena translated the commander’s words.
Silver Face scoffed.「That’s rich coming from you. Who was it that attacked Dew Roke and sent a spy on us? As if that wasn’t enough, you even laid a hand on my Healer. I’m pissed right now. Really pissed.」
Silver Face reached for the silver magic item hanging on his waist, one with a grip and a trigger. Grucel was taken aback. He recognized the shape.
『A gun?! But you shouldn’t be able to use—』
Silver Face pulled the trigger without hesitation. Grucel readied himself for the bullet, but what came out of the muzzle was a huge fireball.
『What?!』
The raging fire burned every corner of the deck. The next thing the commander knew, Silver Face was already gone, and only a trembling Deena was left.
『Deena!』
『Commander! No!!』
Ignoring the cries of the men around him, Grucel charged into the fire, not concerned about the flames licking at his clothes. As soon as he made it to Deena, he quickly carried her and escaped from the sea of flames.
『I-I’m sorry, Commander.』
『Don’t worry about it. It’s the superior’s job to save his subordinates when they’re in trouble.』
『That’s not it…』
『What’s wrong?』
They stopped at a spot away from the flames. The surrounding was in an uproar as the crew moved to put out the fire.
『That boy is dangerous… Bringing him here was my mistake. A huge mistake!』
Hikaru fired his revolver at the bow first, then made everyone gather at the deck to make it easier to move around inside. It was surprisingly effective; Hikaru walked down the corridors without much difficulty.
With his Stealth on, Hikaru snuck behind the guard and struck him, taking his key. The hit carried an “Assassination” buff, but he didn’t care. He knew that it was only Paula inside. He unlocked the door and entered.
「Paula.」
「Hikaru-sama!」
As soon as Hikaru cut the ropes binding Paula, she jumped into his arms, and he caught her.
「I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have shown you and Lavia to her.」
「You shouldn’t apologize, Hikaru-sama…」
「No, this is my fault. I was too naïve. I thought I could handle a little trouble.」
With the power of his Soul Board, Hikaru was nearly invincible. Almost none could see through his Stealth. He would be lying if he said that didn’t make him conceited. He thought there would be no problem since he gave Paula Stealth abilities too.
【Soul Board】Paula Nohra
Age: 18 Rank: 8 → 14
2
【Magical Power】
..【Mana】6
【Agility】→ NEW
..【Stealth】
….【Life Obfuscation】2
….【Mana Obfuscation】2
….【Imperceptibility】2
【Willpower】
..【Faith】
….【Holy】4
……【Healing Magic】8
……【Support Magic】1
Unlike Hikaru, Paula had no experience fighting while using her Stealth. As such, her Stealth was useless against fairly skilled opponents. Hikaru should’ve let her gain experience. He blamed himself for failing to consider that.
「Let’s get out of here for now.」
Hikaru’s Mana Detection picked up soldiers rushing towards the room they were in, but they managed to get back out to the deck by hiding in vacant rooms and going around.
They barely came across any crew, mostly because some were putting out the fire, a lot were scouring the ship for Paula, and some were on guard duty on the deck.
There was one more reason why soldiers gathered on deck.
「What is happening?!」
Luke, his men, and the Healer they were escorting were on deck too. They came out of the guest room after hearing the alarm.
「Sir Grucel! Sir Gorja! What’s going on here?! Why is the ship moving?!」
「Monsters were spotted, so we set sail. That is all. Please relax. There was a small fire, and—」Gorja was trying his best to come up with an excuse.
「Come on, you shouldn’t lie.」
The space beside Luke warped, and Hikaru, Group Obfuscation disabled, appeared.
『It’s you!』
Soldiers readied their weapons all at once.
「Silver Face?! What are you doing here?」Luke demanded.
「Landon, they’re lying. They did what they shouldn’t have done. Lying on a national level.」
「What?」
Hikaru told Luke everything—the invaders’ objective from the start was to get a Healer. There were no sick persons on board. They were sailing to Grand Dream where the Healer would be asked to cure their ailing king. The enemy even laid their hands on his own comrade.
Paula didn’t have her mask, so instead she wore a black robe and pulled it low over her eyes.
「You expect me to believe you—」
「Emperor Kaglai and I share the same opinion. I mean, look at those guys’ faces.」
Seeing Gorja’s stiff expression, Luke realized Hikaru was telling the truth.
「I see… Very well. We will be heading back to Ville Zentra. Our ship is around here somewhere, right?」Luke immediately decided to return using their own ship.
「You think we’ll let you go just like that?」Gorja wouldn’t back down that easily.
They finally obtained the one thing they wanted: a Healer. Giving up was not an option.
Tension hung in the air.
「Hey, Silver Face.」Luke whispered.「You better have a plan.」
「I do. A plan where the both of us make it out for sure.」
「What about us?!」Luke asked.
「I’ll create a distraction, but after that you’re on your own. I’m sure a knight who serves Vireocean can manage.」
「Hmm… Very well.」
Satisfied by Luke’s answer, Hikaru once again took out his revolver.
『Move back!』
『That thing’s dangerous!』
Gorja and the other soldiers kept their distance from the masked boy. Hikaru shot a cursory glance at Grucel, who was positioned behind the crew, before turning his attention to Gorja.
「Gorja. You laid a hand on my friend. I hope you’re prepared to face the consequences.」
「Heh. Don’t act tough. We have you outnumbered. You seem to use some strange magic, but some fire is not enough to scare us.」
「I actually thought about killing all of you.」
Cold sweat beaded on Gorja’s forehead.
「But there are people from Ville Zentra here too. They need time to escape. You better thank the Healer who happened to be on the same ship as you. Also to the Supreme Leader who approved of their being here. Whether you live or die now is up to you.」
Hikaru pointed the gun at his feet.
「Run.」he whispered at Luke.
The knight started running towards where their ship was towed, guarding the Healer all the way. Before Gorja and the soldiers could make a move, Hikaru pulled Paula close and squeezed the trigger.
Bang.
A bright, super-hot, orange beam with high penetrating power shot out from the muzzle—a spell called Flame Laser. When Lavia tried using this, she got blown ten meters back. For its incredible propulsive force, it also had a tremendous recoil. Hikaru had Lavia pack the spell into a bullet.
As a result, Hikaru, while carrying Paula, flew up, tracing an orange ray of light in the air, like a rocket.
Paula screamed, enduring the gravity on her body as she clung to Hikaru. In the blink of an eye, they were high up in the sky, looking down on the battleship.
Eventually, they stopped mid-air due to gravity. Paula breathed a sigh.
「One more.」
「What?」
Hikaru aimed the revolver sideways and fired.
「Whaaaaaaat?!」
They flew as fast as an arrow.
「Wh-What’s that…?」
Luke couldn’t believe what he was seeing, but indeed Silver Face caused a distraction. Now’s our chance.
「Lord Luke! The enemy will be on us soon! We’ll hold them back. Please take the Healer and go!」
「Tsk. I suppose there’s no other choice.」
They didn’t have much time, so a few remained to buy some more. Then suddenly, the floor shook. Hikaru didn’t just shoot at his feet for nothing. He aimed at the ship’s very power source. The laser pierced through, the high temperature speeding up the mana reaction exponentially.
「Wh-What?!」
The magic source started going out of control.
『Run! Take cover!』
『The ship’s going to explode!』
The enemy soldiers escaped in a hurry. One after another, they jumped into the sea. The fire jetting out of the ship’s side prevented the other ships from getting close.
「G-Go!」
Luke and the knights, too, broke into a run.