A Sorcerer’s Journey

Ten days later.

Across the distance, a huge ferry was being chased by another smaller ship. The large ferry was a hundred meters long, while the smaller ship appeared to be sixty meters in length.

The small ship launched ropes onto the larger ship and immobilized it.

The people in the smaller ship wore patchwork clothes and were quick to move. They shouted their war cries and glided along the ropes to board the ship. They were holding simple weapons as they launched their attacks.

“Hmm? Pirates?”

Grimm was standing in mid air as he looked at the chaotic scene on the deck. His eyes were fixed on a female knight.

The knight wore a helmet and was fully clad in silver armor. She was carrying a long sword and was faltering under the attacks of three excited pirates. Still, she clenched her teeth, not willing to give up. There was a mole at the corner of her lips.

For Grimm, this was the perfect image of a wife when he was still young.

“Haha, we’re in luck! We’ve got a girl here. I’ll…”

“Bastard, spare your strength! If you dare hurt her I’ll tear off your limbs and feed them to the sharks!”

Two of the three attacking pirates had red-filled eyes like a pack of hungry wolves that had seen a lamb. They looked like they were about to have their way with her at that moment.

Only one of the pirates was relatively calm.

He knew that such a nice reward was only reserved for their leader. How could underlings like them ever have their turn?

The pirate shook his head. He wore a metal brace around his hands. After surveying his surroundings, he became startled. He started to rub his eyes frantically. The pirate was trembling; his mouth was agape. He pointed toward the sky.

“White-headed ghost, what are you doing?”

The two pirates that were ganging up on the female knight yelled out after seeing the stunned pirate who had metal braces in his hands.

“Sor… sorcerers! Sorcerers!”

After the pirate came around, he pointed to the sky with his index finger. He cried out in hysteria.

In the seas, sorcerers were nightmares that were on par with the sea monsters. They were the greatest, unknown fears of the pirates.

Clink!

The pirate who was pointing at Grimm was turned into an ice sculpture. Grimm slowly descended from the sky and coldly looked at the pirate.

“The dignity of sorcerers shall not be defiled.”

Clang! The ice statue shattered into tiny crystal fragments.

Grimm swapped Mina’s essence of ice body with Brianna’s water boiling runic abilities. Although he still couldn’t use a more advanced principle of the spell, it was more than enough to deal with a normal human being.

“You…”

Clink! At the corner of Grimm’s eyes beneath the Mask of Truth, another pirate who was pointing at Grimm turned into an ice sculpture as well.

The rest of the pirates were already scared beyond their wits. They threw down their weapons and cried in anguish. Grimm paid no attention to them. He looked at the female knight’s eyes, which looked like the startled eyes of a bunny. He asked in a hoarse voice, “How far is it from here to the Eastern Coral Island?”

“About… about three days’ journey.” The female knight answered falteringly.

She was also in fear. It was the primal fear that a low-level being has when faced with a higher being that could kill anytime he wanted, like when Grimm was faced with the Stigmata Sorcerer of Black Isotta.

Grimm couldn’t care less about what these human thought. Though, the stubborn female knight that looked pitiful just now was Grimm’s image of a perfect wife when he was younger.

Grimm continued to ask, “Did you come from the Eastern Coral Island?”

“Yes.” The female knight nodded frantically.

“Okay.”

After Grimm’s reply, he made a fireball between his fingers. It was glowing brightly like a newly-christened tiny sun.

The temperature around the fireball rose up dramatically. The surrounding air became twisted. The wooden deck under Grimm’s feet started to curl up under the heat.

“No… please, don’t kill me, I would give you anything…”

The female knight’s face was pale. She begged at Grimm terrifyingly as she crawled backwards, trying to hold on to something to shield herself from this demon.

Grimm looked at the female knight confusingly. Then, it dawned upon him. He let out a quiet sigh, as if his dream had been shattered.

He slowly turned around toward the pirate’s ship.

“No!”

In the distance, the leader of the pirates was squealing in a futile manner.

Waves of fire rose up in an ear-shattering explosion. Wooden debris flew across the sky. The remaining pirates wailed hopelessly on the burning ship, which was quickly consumed by the fire and sunk into the ocean.

“Ah! Why? You bastard! Why! Why would a high sorcerer like you get involved with…”

Before the leader of the pirates could finish his speech, his eyeballs popped up. His face, body, and limbs started to twitch in an odd faction. Rip! As he cried exasperatingly like a baby, his body was ripped into a few portions. They turned into tentacles and started to eat each other up.

This was the first time Grimm had tried out Dissimilation Sorcery in the field. The scene after the remains had dissimilated looked horrid, even by sorcerers’ standard.

“Arghh…”

“Ughh….”

The horrifying scene not only terrorized the pirates on the ship. Even the traveling merchants, sailors, and knights became petrified as they distanced themselves from this evil demon.

Grimm flew upward casually as he asked rhetorically, “Why? For justice.”

A while later, Grimm returned into the sky and calmly said, “Not bad, we’ll reach the Eastern Coral Island today.”

A few days’ worth of journey was but one or two hourglasses for the sorcerers.

Nina, who was chatting with the Myna turned around in confusion. “What’s that all about? Why did you get into the trivial fights of the humans?”

“It’s nothing. I was just fulfilling a meaningless childhood dream.” Grimm replied nonchalantly as they continued their flight.

After about two hourglasses.

As more and more ships appeared beneath their feet, Grimm and Nina who was tearing across the sky in breakneck speed saw a dash of land on the horizon. Nina cried out with joy, “We’re finally here!”

Suddenly, Grimm thought of something. He turned toward Nina and asked, “Where did you live? Do you want to go check it out first?”

But Nina became depressed. She shook her head and said, “There’s nothing much to see. I came back after becoming a real sorcerer. There was just… nothing.”

Nina was probably referring to her parents and relatives when she said there was nothing there anymore.

After all, a century was too long for the average human being, not to mention that Nina had probably taken more than a century to become a sorcerer.

Or should an old woman suddenly trace back her bloodline, and say to another old woman that she was her great-grandmother from centuries ago?

It would be a trivial, meaningless act.

Grimm nodded and said softly,” Well, let’s fly toward Bi Seer Castle then.”

Krakatoa Port. This was the port where Grimm and the rest of the bunch departed from when they first left the Eastern Coral Island. Until now, Grimm was still intrigued by the mysterious moonwell.

But since Grimm had missed Lefay so much, he didn’t stay around to study the moonwell. She led Nina to tear across the sky.

“Oh right, Grimm, do you still remember the viscount who gave us a grand send-off at Krakatoa Port? He had some baby fat on his face, the one who always liked to twist the red ruby ring on his right thumb,” asked Nina.

Grimm nodded. “I could still remember some, what is it?”

Nina continued on slowly. “I only knew about this after I became a real sorcerer and came back. He was actually a real sorcerer that was hiding in the secluded region of the Eastern Coral Island.”

Grimm was intrigued. But he merely nodded and didn’t really care all that much.

Two days later.

Grimm, who was filled with excitement, suddenly came to a halt as they flew over Bi Seer Castle.

At the street beneath their feet, a squadron of battle-worn knights that had stern expressions held out their long swords as they paraded the streets, chanting “Sacrifice!” with pride.

There were common people on both sides of the street. There were decorations all around, and they were cheering.

At the back of the parade, prisoners whose faces were covered in dust were tied up by metal chains.

The scene was a far cry of what Grimm had in mind. He thought that the streets would be broken and corrupted, and that the bottom feeders were constantly oppressed by those who had a higher standing in society. He also thought that there was something twisted in the prosperity of the streets.