“Kingmaker……”


  A hoarse yet familiar voice echoed in Roel’s ears, rousing his consciousness.

  Shaking.

  The whole world was shaking.

  This was what Roel felt in his dazed, half-awake state. Fatigue assaulted his body, leaving him so lethargic that he felt like he had just run a full marathon. His eyelids were so heavy that he could hardly open them, but his surroundings were jarringly noisy.

  He could hear shouting around him—a lot of shouting—coming from many different people. Most of them had the gruffness of a man’s voice. At the same time, he also heard the sound of objects falling relentlessly on wooden planks.

  Other than that, there was also a ‘spltch spltch’ noise that Roel often used to hear from his computer in his previous life. To use more exact terms, it sounded like someone was stepping on some sort of viscous fluid.

  There were also some sounds Roel was familiar with. One of them was the reverberation produced when two metallic objects collided with one another, and the other one was the sound of a weapon tearing through flesh. These were sounds usually produced in war.

  Wait a moment, war?

  As the word flashed across Roel’s mind, he immediately opened his eyes, only to find that his surroundings were completely dark.

  “W-what’s going on?”


  Roel was confused by the encompassing darkness, and it made him feel uneasy. The ground beneath him felt cold to the touch. He tried his best to rise to his feet, only for a sudden quake to send him tumbling back down.

  It was a failed attempt, but it did provide Roel with some information.

  Darkness, shaking, things falling onto the wooden ground, battle cries above him, and the sound of waves—Roel swiftly understood the significance of all of these elements combined. He had experienced this once before, after all.

  Not to mention, there was also something else directly informing him about the situation he was in.

  【Warning!】


  【Warning!】


  【Warning!】


  【The System has detected the symptoms of bloodline awakening.】


  【Bloodline Awakening Support System activating……】


  【Activating the Witness State.】


  【Adventure and freedom, war and sacrifice. Like the relentless waves, they are stubborn and unyielding. The cracks on the gemstone linger, and gold shall sink in the depths of the ocean. 】


  【Countdown to the end of the Witness State: 119 hours 17 minutes】


  【Progress of Bloodline Awakening: 11%】


  【Evaluation: Low (6)】


  “As I expected!”


  Roel massaged his forehead as he looked at his System interface. Based on the description from the System, he already had a good idea where he was.

  The Golden Fleet.

  “Is it five days this time around?”


  Actually, Roel was delighted with the current turn of affairs. The overwhelming load of questions he had surrounding the Golden Fleet and the Twilight Sages Assembly had been eating away at his mind.

  What were the goals of those organizations? What were Winstor Ascart and the Ascart House’s place in the Assembly? Who were the enemies? Who were the friends?

  Roel was completely clueless, and he was anxious to get some answers.

  There was another notification from the System that caught his attention too.

  【Peytra’s Blessing

  A great existence bears great expectations for you. She has offered you a blessing for your survival.

  Effects: Enhances all attributes for the next three minutes. The degree of enhancement differs depending on the attribute of the user’s mana.

  Remaining Uses: 1】


  “Peytra…… That’s the name of that woman, right?” Roel muttered under his breath.

  His thoughts went back to the golden-haired woman with slit, catlike eyes. Even though his memories regarding her were very vague, he could still remember the unease he felt in her presence.

  If ‘majesty’ was the impression Grandar had left him with on their first meeting, the impression Peytra had left him with was ‘enigmatic’.

  Roel could tell that Peytra was an extremely powerful existence, but he couldn’t accurately gauge the extent of her strength. It was only fortunate that she bore no ill-will toward him.

  Based on Roel’s theory of ‘summoning heroic spirits’, the meeting between him and Peytra should be a coincidence too. Or perhaps, it might be because they had complementary personalities with one another.

  This piece of history was clearly fraught with dangers, so it was a relief to have her assistance, especially in the current situation he was in.

  Boom!

  Another explosion sounded from the deck above, followed by cries of agony. The intense shaking left Roel with no choice but to lower his body once more, but unexpectedly, this action caused him to bump into a familiar, soft body.

  “Ah?”


  Roel’s mind went momentarily blank. An incredibly ominous feeling arose in his heart as he hurriedly turned his head toward the sensation. A quick channeling of mana to his hand produced some dim luminescence that barely lit up the inky darkness.

  Just as he had expected, a familiar face came into view.

  “Damn it!”


  Roel suddenly felt a migraine setting in. He stared at the auburn-haired girl by his side in frustration and regret.

  While Roel was filled with great expectations for this Witness State, he was also equally afraid of it too. Having a companion would doubtlessly be a great reassurance to him, but he could hardly bring himself to feel that way if the companion was Charlotte.

  It was not that Charlotte was weak or a burden, but that he couldn’t stand the notion of putting her into danger together with him.

  He did bring Nora into the Witness State together with him the previous time, but they were in the middle of a confrontation with Peter Kater back then, so it could still be reasoned as a means of escape. However, this time around, Charlotte got embroiled in it for no good reason at all.

  Charlotte was a person who belonged to high society. She was the star of the fashion world and highlight of any social gatherings, the business prodigy who could influence the world’s economy. The battlefield was definitely not a place where she belonged, and it was far too dangerous for her.

  Roel stared at the unconscious figure before him with pangs of guilt in his heart, but there was nothing he could do about it anymore. So, he propped her up from the cold wooden floor and began inspecting her body for injuries.

  Yes, everything looks fine…… Wait, that’s not right!

  The heat returned to his body once more, faster than he could have imagined. He quickly shook his head and snapped out of his daze.

  “Charlotte! Charlotte, wake up!”


  After ensuring that she was uninjured and her heartbeat and pulse were normal, he began shaking her body to wake her up. Most likely, she had only fallen unconscious due to the impact of entering the Witness State, similar to what had happened to him.

  He continued shaking her for a while before her eyes finally fluttered open lightly.

  “Roel?”


  “Yes, it’s me. How are you feeling at the moment?”


  “I’m still fine. Wait a moment, where is this place?”


  “We should be in a ship’s hold at the moment.”


  “A ship’s hold?”


  Facing a confused auburn-haired girl still a little dazed from waking up in an unfamiliar environment, Roel gulped down his saliva and added.

  “To be more exact, I believe that we’re in the hold of one of the Golden Fleet’s ships.”
……

  A few minutes later, in the darkness they were in, to a noisy, warlike background noise, Roel quickly explained the circumstances they were in, which left Charlotte dumbfounded.

  “The Ascart Bloodline…… is actually capable of something like this?”


  “It is. I have been through this once before, but there were many times that I only survived by the skin of my teeth.”


  Just recalling the journey to the past he had at Holy Capital Loren left him feeling a little heavy on the inside. He looked at Charlotte and spoke with a conflicted tone.

  “This power is extremely dangerous, and I’m unable to fully control it. I didn’t think that I would implicate you as well…… I’m sorry, Charlotte.”


  With remorse in his golden eyes, Roel offered a sincere apology.

  Charlotte remained silent for a moment as she listened to the clash of weapons and cries of agony sounding above her, and her face couldn’t help but pale a little. Her hands had long clenched into fists out of nervousness. Yet, despite so, she had no intentions of succumbing to her weakness.

  “You aren’t to blame for this. If we really have to accord responsibility for this matter, I was the one who hired you to investigate the Golden Fleet in the first place. You are only fulfilling your side of the agreement.”


  Charlotte took a few breaths to calm herself down first, before proceeding on to confirm the magic tools she had on hand.

  “Your ability is exactly what we needed. We won’t get a better opportunity than this to uncover the secrets behind the Golden Fleet. You need not think too much into it; you’re only fulfilling the request I had made. If anyone should apologize, I should be the one to do so. It was I who implicated you.”


  Roel stared at Charlotte in surprise. He didn’t expect her to absolve him entirely of blame. It made him feel so moved that he began fumbling over his words.

  “No, I-I……”


  “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”


  “Huh?”


  Charlotte took out the pendant hanging around her neck and the ring she wore on her finger before squeezing out a smile at Roel. It was quite a forced smile, possibly the most awful one she had ever shown to him. Yet, it was such an expression that made his heart thump wildly.

  He raised his hand in front of him to cover his view of her for a moment as he grumbled helplessly.

  “What are you talking about? During times like this, I should be the one to……”


  Boom!

  Roel’s words were cut short by an explosion. Unlike those before, this explosion had happened in their vicinity—a part of the deck right above the pair’s heads had been directly blasted open by the ongoing battle. The muffled noises outside suddenly grew much clearer as a ray of light crept into the ship’s hold.

  At the same time, a silhouette fell through the hole as well.

  Roel and Charlotte immediately darted toward the corner when the explosion occurred, but soon, they realized an anomaly.

  The silhouette that had fallen in was thrashing about quite a bit. Under the ray of sunlight shining in, the two of them saw a humanoid creature with the face of a fish crawling up from the ground. Fresh blood was flowing from its body, an indication that it was injured.

  As it raised its head, the creature happened to catch sight of the two youths hiding in the corner, staring at it in bewilderment.

  Gblu!

  The creature let out a bizarre cry, seemingly excited to have encountered human younglings. The mana shrouding its body suddenly intensified as it opened its mouth wide, revealing three rows of dagger-like teeth.

  This creepy image left Charlotte’s face completely pale. She took a step forward with her trembling body as she raised the glowing ring in her hand.

  “Roel, be careful……”


  From the moment this mysterious creature appeared before their eyes, Charlotte’s wariness had already been heightened to the max. The pressure she felt from the creature gave a rough gauge of how powerful it was—it was roughly equivalent to an Origin Level 5 transcendent—but she couldn’t be sure whether it possessed any special means or not……

  While she was channeling her mana in preparation to curb the creature, another person wrapped in crimson mana had already darted forth from her side.

  Roel closed the distance swiftly with his body lowered toward the ground to reduce air resistance. It took only the blink of an eye for him to reach the 2 meters tall humanoid. He hurled his fist forward, and the crimson mana produced a powerful shockwave that blasted the creature’s head all the way into the wall of the ship’s hold.

  Pah!

  With a crisp sound, the fishlike head of the creature exploded like a smashed watermelon, and its viscous brain matter splattered all over the ground. Its uninjured lower body convulsed under the rays of the sun before collapsing to the ground. From start to end, it never even had a chance to brandish its sharp claws at them.

  Charlotte halted her spell as she stared at the fallen enemy with her jaw dropped. It was also then that Roel turned around and happened to meet her eyes.

  “Well…… I’m actually pretty strong myself.”


  Standing right beside the creature’s carcass, Roel scratched his cheek as he spoke.

  —


  Starve’s Simple Ship Glossary: