Chapter 109

“Benerix hates traitors, and I’m a thorn in his side. You’re all on his bad side, aren’t you?”

Rodella narrowed her eyes.

“So what do you think Duke Benerix will do with this ship, full of people he dislikes?”

The nobles were speechless, their faces now a mixture of despair and confusion.

Then, a sharp-faced man asked, “But Rodella Syveric, how would Duke Benerix know you’re coming? The Azure Knights could have offered a different hostage.”

It was a keen observation. Rodella nodded.

“Recently, the Ministry of General Affairs conducted an audit at Sir Latine’s estate and stripped him of his title for a ridiculous reason. Then they appointed an acting captain.”

Rodella paused for a moment before continuing.

“It wasn’t the person who was supposed to come; it was a man named Marvin Tilcot.”

“…!”

The nobles of the aristocratic faction reacted to that name.

“Isn’t that the man the Duke has been summoning frequently?”

“You get it now, don’t you? We don’t have time for this.”

Rodella’s words brought the wavering gazes of the nobles together, all focused on one person: Viscount Areti, the man who was supposed to be the captain.

“Dame Syveric seems to be right. It wouldn’t be strange if the ship had some sort of explosive device.”

“Exactly. This ship isn’t your property, either, is it?”

It seemed she was right, as the nobles’ faces turned pale and they began to look around nervously.

“Search the ship for… for a device!”

The people who had been pretending to be hostages and the centrist nobles who had been caught up in all this frantically scattered, searching every corner of the ship.

And it wasn’t long before…

“Here, there’s something weird attached here!”

“Here too!”

“Isn’t this an artifact?!”

The nobles were in a panic.

“Why are you just finding this now?!”

“We were tied up, but you were able to move!”

“Did you think we knew this would happen?!”

“The Red Knights told us they wouldn’t kill us if we helped them with the hostage situation!”

With the aristocratic faction nobles who were tied up and the ones who played the role of kidnappers now arguing among themselves, the centrist nobles weren’t about to stay quiet.

“What do you mean by that?!”

It was clear they had not been in on the plan at all.

“What are we going to do about this?!”

Screaming and running around wasn’t going to make the explosives on the ship disappear.

“I’m getting out of here!”

One person ran toward the stairs.

“Wait! Going to the deck is dangerous!”

Rodella shouted urgently to him.

“What? Then what are we supposed to do?! I… I want to live!”

To the man who was screaming, Rodella said in a clear voice, “Nobody here wants to die!”

Her loud voice shook the cabin, and the chaotic movement of the people momentarily stopped. Rodella quickly seized the moment.

“The reason I came in knowing the danger is that I have a plan.”

At that, a few of the nobles, whose reason had started to return, their eyes flashing.

“Yes, a plan, there must be a plan! Right?!”

At that point, Rodella put away her dagger.

Naturally, Viscount Areti, whom she had untied, did not resist.

“We are not escaping to the deck. If we go out there, our escape will be visible from the outside, and they will try to detonate this artifact.”

“Where in this sea are they watching from?”

“There are quite a few patrol boats that have gathered because of you. They’re probably on one of them.”

Rodella headed toward the cabin stairs, a step ahead of them.

“Go to the lowest floor, now!”

“What are we going to do down there?!”

“We’re going to breach the side of the ship!”

The nobles began to frantically follow Rodella.

“How? No, are you saying we’re going to swim in this vast ocean once we do?!”

“The Azure Knights already know my plan.”

The Azure Knights, led by Aivert, would already be on their way to rescue them.

But the problem was that there wasn’t much time.

And most of all…

“Is everyone coming?”

“The person who was on the deck hasn’t come down yet!”

There was someone on the deck?

It was the moment Rodella hesitated.

—Whoosh!

A strange vibration spread through the ship.

Rodella had felt a similar magical wave before, usually when a wizard’s facility or something similar sent out a signal. That flow of magic hitting a wall would produce this kind of vibration.

Wait, a signal?

Rodella’s face turned pale at that moment.

“The guy on the deck just planted a flag!” Viscount Areti shouted.

“I knew he was suspicious when he didn’t follow us, was he one of the Duke’s lackeys?!”

Planting a flag meant a signal had been sent to the outside.

There was no time!

“Get to the bottom floor quickly and press against the stern wall as much as possible!”

“And then what?!”

“They’ll probably destroy the center of the ship to explode it!”

You have to avoid the explosion, you idiots!

Rodella rushed down. Pushing past her, the people who followed rushed into the wide space and clustered against the wall.

“Make sure there are no devices on the wall—”

There was no need to say it.

They were already frantically fumbling at the wall.

“There’s nothing here!”

With people busy feeling the wall and others huddled up, Rodella couldn’t find a spot for herself.

“Stick to the wall!”

She was about to tell them to just stay still and prepare for the explosion when…

—!

Suddenly, with an explosion so loud her ears couldn’t process it, her body was thrown against the wall.

***

“Don’t come any closer!”

The man on the deck was shouting.

Aivert felt like he wanted to just split the ship in two and take only Rodella, but she was the kind of person who would grieve over the death of others.

Aivert stared at the man on the deck before turning his back. Unlike the opponent who was diligently checking the Azure Knights’ movements with a telescope, Aivert could see the deck clearly with his natural eyesight.

Rodella had safely entered the cabin. He also knew where the hostages were supposed to be on the ship. The precise blueprint of the ship, which Ryan Diepelt had supplied, had just arrived in his hands. It wasn’t much different from the rough structure of the ship that the Azure Knights had managed to find out. Rodella had seen the blueprint in the report, so there shouldn’t be any problems if she followed the plan.

As long as there were no variables.

Aivert recalled Rodella’s plan and held his breath slightly. The moment the opponent looked away, he secretly jumped into the sea.

—Splash!

A single person jumping into the vast ocean wasn’t a loud sound. Thanks to that, he could move more freely than when he was on the ship.

A little later, following Aivert’s signal, the Azure Knights also started to move.

—Splash! Splash!

Following him, a few knights who were going to rescue Rodella and the hostages jumped into the water.

“Do we wait here until we get a signal?” a knight asked.

“Yes. Once Rodella uses the explosion artifact, we’ll immediately go to the lowest part of the ship…”

Just as Aivert nodded and began to explain,

—Boom!

An explosion roared. Aivert, who had stopped for a moment, immediately dove underwater. Rodella was supposed to detonate the bottom of the ship, but the explosion he just heard was too…

—… !

The first thing he saw after pushing through the water was the intact bottom of the opponent’s ship. As he, in a state of confusion, immediately brought his face out of the water,

—Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of explosions erupted, and the opponent’s ship was…

…split in half and exploded.

The rising flames were reflected in his blue eyes.