Translator: Seven
Editor: Ana_Banana
The Bloodred Plunderers swiftly closed the distance between them and the Cortez.
They were trying to save lives instead of running away. Maybe they knew they wouldn’t be able to escape.
The Oscar Islands was after all the home of the Bloodred Plunderers and even when considering the size of the ships, the Bloodred Plunderers would be much faster.
The fact that he didn’t have to go through any annoying chases made Kunst feel better.
After the pirates got close enough to the Cortez, they threw planks and ropes to connect the ships and some of them even directly jumped onto the ship.
Kunst looked around and laughed loudly.
“Kukuku. This is amazing.”
He hadn’t had high expectations because it wasn’t the Nitilus, but this ship had quite a few students on it.
There seemed to be at least 40 of them.
Most of the students in the academy were children of nobles.
Since they valued their bloodlines and seeds so much, they would have no choice but to accept any offer he gave them, even if it was ridiculous.
‘If I do it well this time, I can earn enough to play around and eat well for the rest of my life.’
Then a middle aged man with a stiff face came forward.
It was Mac, Captain of the Cortez.
He quickly realized that Kunst was the leader of the group of pirates so he addressed him directly.
“Do you know what this ship is?”
“Of course I do. It’s the treasure ship that’s gonna make us rich. Kuhahaha!”
“Kuhahaha!”
The pirates behind him laughed as well.
Mac realised that they had indeed encountered the worst situation.
These pirates had intentionally attacked the Cortez.
He’d had a rough idea when the warships had been destroyed before, but he couldn’t believe that they dared to lay their hands on imperial ships.
Ice Spears had destroyed the two escort ships in an instant.
‘How did pirates get a wizard like that?’
The sky seemed to turn yellow.
When the battlemages had suffered such gruesome deaths in vain, Mac knew that there was probably nothing he could do or say.
“You dirty pirates…you picked the wrong opponent.”
A student rose up from his seat.
As soon as he saw the student’s angry expression, Mac became flustered.
He urgently turned to the student.
“Wa-, wait a minute.”
“Shut up. As the son of the Gilassion Family, I can no longer tolerate these scum acting in such a manner.”
The male student who said that, closed his eyes and began channeling a spell.
No, more like he tried to.
The moment the student tried to speak.
Swish.
Puk.
“Kuk.”
A dagger flew out from nowhere and got stuck in the student’s throat.
The student grabbed his neck like he could not believe what happened and it wasn’t long before blood poured from his lips.
“Ku-, kuk…kuk…”
The wheezing student fell to the ground and soon stopped moving.
He was dead.
“Kyaaaa!”
“Hiiik” (TL: think a squeak)
The student all screamed in horror.
All of them were fine bred nobles, believed to be at the top of the food chain, but just a moment ago one of their own was killed in a bloody manner right in front of their eyes which caused them to scream loudly in terror.
The students’ screams made the pirates laugh loudly in enjoyment.
“Puhahaha! Do you think anyone will give you time to cast your spells?”
“I guess you all haven’t realised your situation yet. If you wanted to use magic, you should have done it before I came over here.”
The pirate captain laughed loudly.
Of course, if they had cast their magic before he boarded then it wouldn’t have made much of a difference anyway.
One of the students collapsed and peed himself.
Of course, the pirates wouldn’t miss such a sight.
“Kuku. You disgusting bastard. It smells.”
“Ah! I can’t take it, throw him into the sea so he can get clean.”
“Waaah!”
“U-, uwa!”
The student was so frightened that even though the one eyed pirate approached him slowly, he did not have the strength to resist.
One eye carried the student into the sea and the student seemed like he didn’t know how to swim as he was flailing around like a fish out of water. (TL: get it?)
The student swung his hands, trying to find something to grab on to, however the fragments from the broken ships were all quite a distance away from him.
“Puhp…! Help…! Sa-…save me..!”
The student eventually got tired and sank into the dark cold water, never to be seen again.
To the students on the ship, it looked as though he was buried in the darkness.
“O-, Oak is dead…”
“I don’t believe it. He was a 2 star wizard.”
A 2 star wizard could tackle ten normal men on their own.
At least that’s what the students were led to believe.
However before they could even do anything, two students had already died.
Helplessness and fear slowly enveloped them.
The students had never encountered a situation like this and they did not know what to do.
Only a few of the group manage to keep their resolve.
The rest were huddled together, embracing each other.
And that was exactly what Kunst wanted to happen.
Each one of the students were a valuable piece of treasure, but he had killed two of them to get rid of the chances of any bothersome rebellion.
He smiled and stepped forward.
“Now. Sir Captain, now that the mood has been set, how about we talk business?”
“…I’m just an employee.”
“I know. Still, none of these brats would be able to talk to me.”
“…”
Mac couldn’t help but think of one person, who didn’t seem to be affected by the situation at all but soon shook his head and stepped forward.
It was at that moment.
A dark shadow appeared behind Kunst and began forming into an ominous shape.
Mac was shocked at its appearance.
“Li-, lich? Yo-, you joined hands with an undead?”
“I’m just getting some assistance from Sir.”
“Yo-, you’re crazy! Undead don’t care about the living! You’re nothing but a toy to him!”
“Huh? That’s just bullshit spread by some foolish old men.”
Mac grit his teeth.
It was only then that he realised why the two 4 star battle mages had been defeated so quickly.
From its power, this lich had to be 5 stars at least.
‘It wasn’t just pirates, this is more dangerous than I thought.’
Kunst didn’t understand how dangerous the undead were.
Mac hurriedly opened his mouth again but was interrupted by the lich.
[Come out.]
His voice was horrible, sounding like demons screaming.
Some of the students trembled at the voice.
[I know you are hiding here. If you don’t come out, I’ll kill them one by one.]
Clang.
At that moment hundreds of ice spikes appeared above the heads of the students.
If the lich made a move, dozens of students would die.
Sik.
Then someone stood up from among the students.
The Lich’s red eyes shined brightly.
[Hoo…it was you…who stopped my magic.]
Mac recognized that person’s face and couldn’t help but make a hard expression.
He was the most important person on the Cortez and he was who Mac believed to be the best wizard there.
Mac didn’t want anything to happen to him because he was quite possibly more valuable than all the other students combined.
However the person simply raised their head and spoke in an even tone.
“That’s right.”
Only
[What’s your name?]
The man’s reply was as firm as his expression.
“Peran Jun.”
(TL: As I pointed out in my notes in chapter 10, there are many discrepancies when compared to the manhwa. The novel is more serious, more brutal, the manhwa is more for comedy as well as companionship.
Notice that in the manhwa Isabelle joins him on the trip (I can’t say if she won’t appear in the future since I read as I translate) and Peran saved the boy who tried to be a naive hero.
I’m sure there are many other changes we will see(at least up to the point where the manhwa was last updated).
Please don’t ask me why there are differences…I don’t know either…)