Chapter 254

Translator: Kell | Editor: Weasalopes

They Make Their Move

「I’m back . I asked for a boat, and I was thinking of going alone—」

「At times, we take out the wicked!」

「A-At times, we leave mysteries behind!」

「And sometimes, we incur grudges from people!」

「A-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 embarrassing . 」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 anchored 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 attitude 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 shells 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 hell 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 pass 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 .