Chapter 262

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 .