Abyssal Awakening

Crashing down on the ship with Lorien, Alice massaged her shoulders as she could see the enemy fleet retreating back into the sea.

"You're back." Lorien sighed as Alice nodded her head.

She could see that he suffered a few light injuries but overall, was doing just fine.

"I held up my end of the bargain and even got them to retreat. Now please tell me that the shipment was unharmed." Alice leaned against the railings with a confident smile.

Her outfit was torn apart thanks to Minerva landing a hit with her flintlock but she covered it for now with a spare jacket she had in her pouch.

"Don't worry, your pay won't get deducted at all. A promised two platina per ship." Lorien adjusted his sleeves before calling for the crew to get ready to return back to the port.

The ship was still mostly functional as the damage it suffered was patched up using Sigils for the moment.

With them now making their way back, Alice walked over to the bowsprit and sat down.

She watched the fleet departing as her eye focused on the men hidden by their robes.

'I want one.' Alice narrowed her eye.

'So that's why you put a tracker on them. And here I thought you were simply interested in their identities.' Alyss raised an eyebrow.

'I'm interested in that as well. But where else have you seen a robe that can hide your energy and appearance like that? If I can get my hands on a few of them, I might even be able to commission Sigurd to make some once he figures out what they're made of.' Alice grinned.

If she could get her hands on a robe like that, it'd make having a disguise so much easier than using the Jester Sigil.

While the Jester Sigil was extremely helpful, one wound is all it takes for it to dispel.

And trying to reapply the disguise once it's been broken was difficult and takes too long. It's why she had to make do by hiding her face and hair using blood.

[I'm pretty sure he's already feeling a little scammed by promising five pieces of numbered equipment. Adding this strange cloak into the mix might make him flip.] Cayla chuckled.

###

Sitting on her chair while they made their way back to the port in defeat, Minerva was in a bad mood while Kolin didn't plan on cheering her up.

"You should've been more careful when approaching unforeseen situations."

"I KNOW!" Minerva snapped back in annoyance.

She was already annoyed that she lost the one vs one and she didn't need Kolin to lecture her about it.

Minerva noticed two main issues when fighting someone like Alice.

The first was the most obvious and that was the insane regenerations.

But it wasn't without its faults.

If she could somehow sneak poison or even foreign objects into the wound before it could regenerate, it'd be stuck inside her body, leaving her distracted. Of course, this was more of an assumption than an actual fault regarding the regeneration.

The second issue that was hard to bypass was that instinct of hers.

Despite waiting for the perfect chance for a one hit one kill using her flintlock, Alice was able to dodge at the last second, making it so that the bullet hit the shoulder instead.

This sense of danger was absurdly keen to the point where Minerva didn't know how to combat it.

How was she supposed to bypass this kind of natural defense outside of brute forcing it with superior physical power?

Unless she could solve these two issues, there's no way she could do anything to Alice.

However, maybe she doesn't have to.

"Kolin, are you able to help me with the next shipments?" Minerva asked as Kolin frowned.

"Just so that you're clear, I have no confidence in landing a sneak attack on that girl. She was tracking my position the entire time she was fighting with you." Kolin warned, surprising Minerva as she didn't expect Alice's senses to be that keen.

Thankfully, she wasn't looking to fight.

"We don't need to fight her since it seems like her focus is on keeping the Phantom Fleet away. As long as I can delay her, you can take care of those looking after the shipment right?" Minerva asked.

Folding his arms, Kolin stood in silence before opening his mouth.

"I was tasked to make sure you don't die from your recklessness. Not support it." Kolin rejected.

Just as Minerva wanted to reply, he gave her a glare.

"If I wasn't around, what do you think would've happened when that girl swung down the sword? She wasn't intent on killing you before. In fact, she was even playing around. But the moment you hit her with that flintlock, she didn't mind taking you out.

"Had I not stepped in, I would be seeing you separated at the waist, laying lifelessly on the deck of your ship." He reminded while Minerva bit her lips.

"So what? Are you just here to make sure I don't die? Am I a baby bird that can't do anything without mommy bird's protection?!" She glared back.

"Darrow doesn't wish for you to die here." Kolin shook his head.

However, his reply only made Minerva angrier. But before she could do anything, Kolin has already left the room.

He didn't leave any last words or notes for her. He simply left, not wanting to talk more.

A vein bulged on Minerva's neck as her anger reached its peak.

*BANG!!!

Punching down on her table, she snapped it in half while taking rapid breaths to try and calm herself down.

She may have failed today but she won't give up.

###

Arriving back at the port, Alice gave the shipments a glance before turning to Lorien.

She was extremely curious right now but it wasn't the right time yet.

Walking up to Lorien, she didn't say anything and simply opened her hand with a grin.

Understanding what she was aiming for, Lorien sighed before opening his pouch and handing over six Platina pieces. Two for each ship.

"Good work today."

"Thank you~ Am I to assume I'll be handling the Phantom Fleet again if she were to attack next time?" Alice asked, receiving the pieces and putting them into her pouch immediately.

It's as though she was afraid they'll fly away which caused Lorien to chuckle before nodding his head.

"As long as the Phantom Fleet is occupied, we can deal with the rest. No one else can handle Minerva after all." Lorien admitted.

The guards he hired could handle a standard crew with a bit of struggle. But Minerva was something else entirely and it required someone like Alice to handle her.

He could stall Minerva to a certain extent but she's never alone. With his capabilities, he wouldn't last a minute against a group of people along with Minerva trying to kill him.

"Ohou~ If you tell me that I might want to charge extra to keep her occupied. I took a pretty nasty hit from her too." Alice pointed out her damaged dress.

"You already took six Platina from me." Lorien's smile twitched but Alice shrugged.

"My dresses are as important as my time."

". . ."

In the end, Lorien begrudgingly forked over 10 gold pieces for her to buy a replacement outfit before shooing Alice away.

The more he stayed around her, the more he felt like it was a mistake to get into a contract. However, he had to admit that her methods were effective.

During the fight, he had glanced over to see how she was faring against Minerva and there was only one thing on his mind.

Never fight her!

It was just a short period of hand to hand combat but it was enough to send a chill down his spine.

That speed, that reaction…

If he allowed her to get close, death was basically guaranteed.

Against someone like this, even if he had to fork over more gold than he wanted, it was worth it!

###

Undoing his collar, Darrow slumped down into his chair as he let out a sigh of exhaustion.

Opening his drawer, he pulled out an expensive cigarettes and held it up.

Beside him, Kolin appeared and lit it up with a lighter.

"Seems like it was pretty rough if the fight spooked you to this extent." Darrow muttered, taking a deep breath of his cigarette before puffing out a large cloud of smoke.

Opening the windows, Kolin nodded his head.

"The girl that Minerva fought against, I cannot kill her. I can't even hide from her senses." Kolin admitted as Darrow raised an eyebrow.

"Quite a troublesome opponent for you then. Is Minerva still being stubborn? Or is she going to take a step back and observe things?" Explore more at empire

Furrowing his brows, Kolin thought about what to say but Darrow only laughed.

"Your silence already tells me what I need to know. With Minerva's personality, she probably asked you to deal with the shipment while she keeps the girl occupied right?"

"Indeed, it's as you say." Kolin nodded.

Puffing out another cloud of smoke, Darrow smiled and tapped his finger against the table.

"Listen to her for now and see how she plans on handling this with the tools she's been given. And while you're at it, give me information on who Lorien is trading with." Darrow ordered as Kolin nodded before leaving the room.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

With how many risks that Lorien was taking to trade with these guys, Darrow theorized that whatever he's receiving is something worth this risk.

Something that'll let him forget the fear Lorien felt towards him.

With this kind of confidence backing him up, it's only natural that Darrow took an interest in this as well.