Chapter 74: Awe of Myself (Patreon)

Should I pretend I didn’t hear him?

No, he yelled pretty loud.

Reluctantly, I walk back up the stairs and wave to ‌both of them.

Unlike before, Ilgrash looks at me with a warm smile instead of the stern front from earlier.

Lady Finmon‌ raises an eyebrow while looking me up and down silently.

This time, I’m certain it’s about my outfit.

“Miss Finmon,” Ilgrash turns. “I understand your position, but I would appreciate it if you added your bodyguard to the boarding list. Even if we move from the capital, I don-”

“Bodyguard? You said this route was safe!” She looks at him, appalled.

Oh no.

“You… you don’t have a bodyguard?”

“What in the heavens are you speaking about?” She looks at him as if he grew a second head.

“But- Then-” Confused, he turns to me.

Confusion quickly becomes anger as he gazes into my eyes.

“You-!”

Suddenly, a yellow rotating light activates at the top of the door of the cabin.

‘All passengers to their quarters’

‘All passengers to their quarters’

‘Captain to the deck’

‘Captain to the deck’

After the announcement finishes, a deep tone sounds throughout the ship.

Women grab their frilly dresses, while the men link arms with them and head below deck.

Ilgrash reaches out and grabs me by the wrist. “You’re coming with me.”

Before I can speak, he looks to Finmon. “Lady Finmon, please retreat to your room. I will speak with you shortly.”

Startled, she nods and hurries to the stairwell.

Without another word, Ilgrash turns and pulls at my wrist before halting mid-step.

I don’t budge.

Realization hits me. 

I should probably go with him.

If the alarm is because of the pirates, I’ll be able to know more if I follow.

He looks at me in confusion before pulling again.

This time, I stumble and allow myself to tag along.

“I don’t know how you snuck aboard, but there’ll be hell to pay. Thirty macro-cycles, and I’ve never had a single stowaway.”

I want to argue, but I simply let him continue complaining as we enter the cabin.

A classic steering wheel sits in the center of the room, wooden and waist-height.

Several people wearing the same colors as the captain work at tables covered with unfamiliar instruments.

On one of them, there’s something that looks suspiciously like radar.

“What is it?” Ilgrash yells.

“Captain!” The man at the radar elbows to the right, which I assume is some sort of salute.

“One skipper class, four of the speeder class at angle fourteen!”

Ilgrash curses under his breath and releases me. “Darius, take this one to the brig.”

One of the crew members not at a desk with a short sword at his side approaches me.

Another at a different console speaks up. “Captain, I thought the A.S.Titan moved through here three cycles ago!”

“It did.” Ilgrash grinds out.

“Sir, please come with me.” The guard at my side grips my wrist.

Yet another man bursts through a door at the side leading to the deck, panic on his face. “It’s an unidentified flag!”

The bustle of the room abruptly falls silent.

The guard at my side pulls at my wrist with both arms, but I ignore him.

“Wait!” I yell, making Ilgrash and a few crew members turn to me.

“I just wanted free passage, but I can help! I’ve worked on a ship for half my life, I swear!”

Ilgrash nods. “Darius, release him.”

Darius hesitantly glances to Ilgrash before complying and stepping away.

Well.

That was easy.

“You believe me?”

Ilgrash raises an eyebrow in suspicion. “Are you lying?”

“No! I just didn’t think you’d let me go so easily.”

He sighs. “They have an unidentified flag. You know what that means, right?”

I don’t have the faintest clue.

“Yes, sorry, I understand now.”

He nods, wasting no time throwing out orders.

I lean to my right, nudging and whispering to the guard next to me.

“Psst. What does an unidentified flag mean?”

He turns with dread in his eyes. “An unidentified flag means one of two things. Either it’s a new crew, which wouldn’t have been able to hide from the Titan. Or, it’s a crew that doesn’t leave survivors.”

Oh.

Two crew members argue with each other before Ilgrash yells and shuts them down.

The implication is clear.

The crew doesn’t think we’ll survive.

I turn and exit the cabin onto the deck, which is now completely empty.

My eyes scan the horizon, eventually spotting something in the distance.

Slightly to the right of the bow, a ship floats, surrounded by four more far small ships the size of speedboats.

Based on how quickly they’re closing the distance, I still have a few minutes.

Reaching over my shoulder, I pull the massive bow from my back.

Just like the royal longbowman, it takes several pulls of the arrow to fully free the arrow from the quiver.

At over two and a half feet, the arrow is a work of art equivalent to the other weapons held by the royal guards.

Gleaming silver, perfect craftsmanship.

The head of the arrow tapers to a point the shape of a cone that insists on no resistance.

Carefully, I place the arrow against the string and take a deep breath.

“Kevin, aim perfectly, and focus on hitting your shots.”

I know the command doesn’t magically make me better at things, but I’ll take whatever help I can get.

Footsteps clomp behind me.

Ilgrash and the rest of the crew members are there, over twenty of them.

The guards wield their short swords while the rest of the members use an assortment of weapons.

Ilgrash stands at the front, holding a sledgehammer laid across both hands.

He nods to me and I do the same.

One Mind/Two Bodies

I vent the excess brainpower into controlling my movements.

The ship is closer now, less than a thousand feet away.

At a third of the size of our ship, the pirates indeed have a flag.

Red splotches against a black background.

It’s an eyesore.

Closing my eye, I focus on my breathing.

When it feels right, I open them.

I pull the string.

At least, I try to.

The string remains stubbornly in place.

Straining, I use both arms to force the bow apart.

It doesn’t move more than a couple of inches.

Damn!

What the hell did the longbowman’s status look like!?

Only one option now.

“Kevin, use all of your strength to draw the bow.”

“What?” I hear from my left.

The command washes everything away as I focus inward.

Only the ship and my bow exist.

Muscles catch my bones in a death grip.

My jaw clenches.

My arms shake as jets of pressurized blood shoot out in thin streams.

Slowly, the bow and string pull apart.

A deep, throbbing ache seeps into my bones, proof that the command to ignore pain is wearing off.

The ship continues advancing, only a few hundred feet away now.

They angle to the side, aiming to slide against us broadside to broadside.

Feeling the end of my strength coming, I aim at the center of the ship, where I suspect the enemy’s core is.

At three-quarters draw, my arm gives out.

Fingers slip away, and the bow fires.

The string snaps forward in an instant, the arrow vacuuming my sweatpants toward it as it blinks away.

BOOM

The arrow crashes into the side of the ship, tearing through it in an explosion of wood.

Chime

Chime

Chime

Chime

Chime

My jaw drops as a level-up travels through my arms, lessening the pain.

A hole the size of a door tears open in the side of the ship.

The sky is visible through it.

After a second of delay, the ship falls.

Not slowly or gradually, but like a rock.

As if the world itself had decided it’s not meant to fly any longer.

Silently, it leans forward and speeds silently down to the ocean below.

The four smaller speedboats change course, flying around each other like a swarm of gnats before heading back where they came.

My gaze snaps back to the main ship, watching over the next twenty seconds as it falls and slams into the ocean without a sound.

Chime

Chime

Chime

Chime

Chime

A second level-up hits me, lowering the pain in my arm even more.

Ilgrash stares at me with wide eyes.

The rest of the crew does the same, mouths hanging open.

The corners of my mouth pull up. “See? I-”

In the blink of an eye, the surroundings vanish, replaced by the all too familiar grey cobblestone.

“-told you…”

My words trail off since there’s no one to listen to them anymore.

Chuckling, I sit down against the wall and grimace as pain shoots through my limp arm.

That was a fun one.

I wonder if we’ll be able to make airships once we get home.

No, I’ll make sure of it.

System, let’s see it.

[   You have slain Guardsman (Kellan Grosque) lv. 54   ]

[   You have slain Core Specialist (Jermeni Reckall) lv. 85   ]

[   You have slain Guardsman (Tan Unbellast) lv. 54   ]

The list of names is over a dozen long and drives a bit of guilt into my heart.

Gotta remind myself that they were pirates, and likely not the ‘take your valuables and leave’ type.

From the crew’s expressions, it seemed like they thought they were going to die.

My lips pull up as I close my eye and focus on healing myself.

Because of me, they’ll live to see another day.

“Kevin, don’t feel pain.”

The throbbing washes away, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

Feeling the drain open wider in the healing skill brings a little more joy.

[   Partial experience granted x38   ]

[   Companionship Pact Leader(lv. 33) > (lv. 35)   ]

[   Class skill selection available   ]

[   (II) High Human(lv. 18) > (lv. 20)   ]

[   High Human’s Musculature(lv. 7) > (lv. 8)   ]

[   One Mind/Two Bodies(lv. 6) > (lv. 7)   ]

Only two skill level-ups?

True, I didn’t actually fight and just shot a bow, but still.

The real bonus in the next skill.

It feels like I only got stasis and stamina stomach yesterday.

[   Primary Objective: Completed   ]

[   Secondary Objective: Completed   ]

[   Title Upgraded: Solo Stomper > (II) Solo Stomper   ]

[   (II) Solo Stomper   ]

[   Awarded to users who have completed 2 exfiltration situations during the solo phase of the system’s tutorial for new galaxies   ]

[   Grants a 2% increase to all stats   ]

Sweet! It does exactly what I thought it did.

With missions going this quick, I should be able to stack up quite the bonus before the end of the solo phase.

[   You have earned: 1 (II) Exfiltration Crate   ]

[   Accept / Bank   ]

[   Efficient Heal Companion(lv. 0) > (lv. 1)   ]

Without waiting, I accept my reward.

My hand snaps out, but the object doesn’t fall into my hand.

A piece of paper, straight out of a copier, floats through the air, gliding in unpredictable ways as paper does.

Snatching it from its path, I inspect the page.

One side is blank, the other filled with lines that curl and twist around each other.

Clearly, a formation of some type.

I get to my feet after swiping the screen away and begin my trek back through the castle.

The mage’s door hangs ajar.

Taking a peek in, I don’t see Brax, although many things are different from when I first passed through.

Most noticeably, the staves that were lining the wall are now laid against the desk.

Passing by my room, I take off my chest plate and weapons and set them on the bed.

I would take off my gauntlets as well, but I have no idea how.

I’ve explored all of the formations, and none of them allow for it.

Which sucks, because they’re twice as heavy as the chest plate and everything attached to it.

Sighing, I step back out into the hallway.

A quick walk takes me through the pointlessly long corridors of the castle.

Eventually, I emerge into the kitchen.

Brax isn’t here either, but the smell of meat tells me he’s not far.

Curiously, I step through the next door.

Sure enough, a head of orange hair is barely showing over the back of the largest chair in the dining room.