Chapter 233 – Back on land.

“Ughh…”

“Egh, that’s disgusting.”

“Shut up you damn shrimp…”

Grisalde proclaimed while leaning her head over the edge of the main deck to relieve herself of some food. This brought a smile to Senna’s face that was to the side just watching as the oversized woman was still vomiting after getting drunk once more.

“I hate this ship… how much longer ‘till we get to land … URP!”

“Nah much o’ a sailor. We’ll be thar soon, want some rum?”

“Leave me alone.”

Isabela started laughing along with all the other sailors that couldn’t help but tease the large barbarian woman. She didn’t stomach the waves too well and along with the proclivity to get drunk, she spent most of the days flopped against the edge of a deck.

Roland at this time was closer to the bowsprit of the ship and looking out into the distance. There he could almost see the port town that he had visited all those years ago. Due to the situation, they found themselves in, the captain decided to first reach the closest safe haven.

‘We should get there within the hour, finally I can put this whole mess behind me.’

His long mission to get this golden rank was finally over. With his new card, he would be able to organize his own small expeditions if he wanted and command other adventurers. Some of the prices would also be lowered and he would get paid more but was this worth what he had been through?

The biggest problem was the reemergence of his old enemy, the Abyssal Cult. Even now they were probably still setting the city and the forest ablaze. The only lucky part of that whole mess was that due to the chaos his name would probably be forgotten. His old enemies would probably turn their attention towards the church instead.

‘That is if the Church wins…’

There was a possibility of the cult actually winning the battle. If they managed to catch people from the golden order that knew of his involvement he would find himself in danger. The possibility of that happening was very low and he didn’t believe that the cult would go that far. Their main mission was probably to either retrieve that illusion device or destroy it.

‘After they take care of that thing they will probably try to lay low for a while…’

That was the usual way criminal organizations went with their business. If they started sticking out too much they would try to hide. The people in power couldn’t send out their forces to track them down forever. Everything cost money and after some time had passed they would be able to return to their evil ways.

‘Although now everyone will be alert to their presence, I’m not sure the nobles will just let their cities be invaded, just how many of them have already fallen?’

Edelguard popped into his head, there he had a run-in with the cultists. He had presumed that the cultists were just hired assassins to clear out the merchant union in the city but after coming in contact with the brain slugs he needed to reconsider his position. Could the person hiring them be part of the cult? Perhaps he was forcefully conscripted?

“Hey, how about you try to smile from time to time.”

Senna interrupted Roland’s brooding session and brought him back to reality.

“Would you look at those two idiots.”

She didn’t ask about his thoughts but instead pointed over to Orson and Dalrak that were leaning against some barrels. They looked like they had their life sucked out of them.

“What happened to them? Are they sea sick or drunk?”

Roland wasn’t really that noisy and kept to himself so he wasn’t sure what the problem was here. Only after seeing Isabela’s sisters walking out of their private cabin did he realize what this was about. He recalled seeing the two men interacting with these ladies and going inside that very cabin.

“Ye dwarves were supposed t’ ‘ave a lot o’ stamina.”

Eve shouted out while bringing everyones attention to the two floppy men.

“Aye, sorry mah lassie, th’ spirit is willing bit th’ flesh is weakening…”

“At least yer dwarf can still speak, that scallywag passed out in the middle, had t’ do all the work meself!”

Christie, the second sister grumbled while looking at the passed-out Orson. The man was barely moving and his complexion was quite pale. When looking at the two men he wondered if Isabela and her sisters had any succubus blood running in their veins. This was a possibility as their sex drives were a bit over the top. He did not indulge in these kind of events for a few reasons, the current one being that he had already settled on one woman and didn’t really see the point of branching out to any others.

“Maybe this will keep them from spending their money on whores for a while, we’ll have some money to buy better equipment. Hey Wayland, you know Albrook right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

After having a good chuckle Senna turned towards Roland. She was clearly looking at the runic armor that he had on. Previously he didn’t make it obvious that he was the one that made it but after going through some repairs on this ship it became more obvious.

“We’ll probably be stuck there for a while, know any good places with good weapons…”

“Are you looking for anything specific?”

He replied while playing dumb, it didn’t take a genius to know where this conversation was going. Senna was obviously looking at his runic items with a glint in her eye. Normally he would ignore such deliberate prodding into his business but during his journey, he had started realizing that perhaps it was impossible for him to do everything himself. Even though he was probably the main driving force behind their escape, without everyone else he would have probably not made it onto this ship by himself.

“Well you know, that big lug is missing an axe and she will probably need something fit for a gold rank adventurer… probably something with runes in it.”

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Senna pointed to Grisalde that was apparently now part of their party. Her weapon had been dented during their escape and needed some repairing.

“You are right, might as well replace it now instead of repairing it, probably something with an impact rune to increase the cleaving power…”

The barbarian woman reminded him of his old acquaintance that used a large hammer with that kind of enchantment. It was perfect for people with low mana capacity and a lot of strength. It would just increase the weight of the weapon during the swing to produce more damage.

“Now, where could we find a nice runic craftsman that could help us out with that…”

“We can agree on the price later but It’ll probably be cheaper than whatever you can get in the other shops. If you want something just ask it directly”

“Oh, so you own your own store?”

Senna asked, seeming slightly surprised.

“Yes, something like that.”

“That does fit you more…”

“What does?”

“Owning your own store, don’t take this the wrong way but you don’t come across as someone that works well in a group.”

“Yeah, that’s probably accurate…”

Roland started thinking back to his past where even when he worked for others he was mostly doing everything himself. When working for the gnome he received his own small workshop where no one bothered him. Since then he preferred to just not interact with other craftsmen and do everything his way.

“So, Wayland. Who are you really?”

“What do you mean?”

His heart skipped a beat as Senna continued questioning his true identity. Luckily for him, this was not related to his noble birth in any way.

“I mean, you are obviously not just a mage, you can work with a hammer…”