“Pirate?!” Angor and Sailum both yelled out in surprise. Angor thought Nausica was from the military who commanded soldiers in wars, but the truth was totally the opposite.
She was a pirate!
It took some time for Angor to calm down. As he thought about it, Angor began to believe that this “profession” amazingly suited Nausica’s character.
She had followers, and she was strong. She could both lead wars and take it easy with pipe and wine.
If he did not think about whether piracy was good or bad, Angor quite admired Nausica’s legendary life. Maybe an experienced traveling bard could even create a beautiful story out of this.
When Angor was still indulged in his imaginations, he heard Sailum’s angered voice, “I can’t believe it. So you’re a pirate!”
Angor looked at Sailum and noticed his expression had changed from admiration to disgust.
“There might be some stories behind it but… the boy has some good moral senses,” Angor pondered. It seemed Sailum was a worthy friend.
Personally, Angor did not mind pirates. Rumors could be wrong. He preferred to check out the world with his own eyes instead of having his first impression diverted by rumors or prejudices against someone.
That was for himself though. If Sailum felt disgusted at pirates, he might be justified about it. However, Angor was wondering. If Sailum was really a kind person who believed in justice, how did he make it out of the deathmatches?
“Alas, looks like little Sailum has quite some problems with pirates,” said Nausica. She did not mind being yelled at. She was only thinking about how kids could have such weird temperaments. A moment ago, Sailum was admiring her, and now he was angry for no reason. Interesting.
“Pirates are bad. They took valuables from innocent people and commit all kinds of crimes,” Sailum left those words and went away to mind his own book.
“Oh dear, what a righteous kid you are,” Nausica joked.
Sailum was not looking at Nausica but he still retorted in a small voice, “I’m not a kid. I’m 13 already.”
Nausica raised an eyebrow, “I thought Angor is the only one among you people who believed these common rules. Now here’s another little hero of justice… Hey, I remember. Aren’t you the winner from chamber three?”
Sailum blushed for some reason. It seemed he did not want to talk about this. However, his belief told him that he should answer the question just to be polite.
He hesitated for a long time before stuttering out, “It’s none—not your business.”
Nausica was speechless at first, then she laughed out.
“This is really interesting. You’re even more interesting than him.”
Of course, by him, she meant Angor.
“Versailles Principality has so many interesting people. You’re as funny as Sharon Tori.”
“Sharon Tor—How could you address Her Highness like that!” Sailum gazed at Nausica in anger.
“I didn’t mean to. But your queen asked me to call her by that name the last time we enjoyed rose tea together.” Nausica shrugged. Her beautiful, glimmering eyes indicated that she was recalling something.
“You had tea with the queen? But how?!… Nausica, Nausica. Oh, I remember now,” Sailum widened his eyes. He gasped, “You are the King of Blackberry, Lord Asbel?!”
Nausica nodded in acknowledgment as she said, “Yes. Nausica Asbel is my full name alright.”
“You’re truly Lord Asbel?! The legendary Blackberry King who cleansed the entire Blackberry Waters of evil!” Sailum stood up in excitement.
Hearing those long introductions, Nausica shivered a little as if she got goosebumps even though she did not actually have them.
“I think?”
“Amazing! Lord Asbel, I’m your loyal admirer! I—I never thought I can meet you here! Oh, I’m so lucky!” The hatred was completely gone. Sailum only showed great joy in his eyes. He was almost going to kneel down in front of Nausica.
“You shined justice upon the entire Blackberry Waters. You saved countless suffering souls. You’re a hero!” Sailum was flattering her. No, he was complimenting Nausica as if he was singing an aria.
“I always thought Lord Asbel is a man. So you’re Lord Asbel. I was wrong about you, you’re a big hero!” Sailum quickly apologized for his previous words, fearing that Nausica would have bad ideas if he said sorry too late.
Nausica had other admirers too but Sailum was the first one that regarded her as an idol. Now Nausica was unsure of how she should react.
Angor had enough fun watching their drama and joined them. “What are you two doing? He’s changing his attitude so fast.”
Nausica did not reply. Instead, Sailum explained the matter, using a bunch of complimentary words, and some occasional flatteries… Still, his explanation helped Angor understand why Sailum was worshiping Nausica.
The Blackberry Waters was home to villains. Many pirates who gathered there kept burning and pillaging the surrounding areas. When Nausica came, she spent three years leading a team around the area and repressed the entire place. She removed all improper elements. Since then, merchant ships could pass through the Blackberry Waters without running into accidents. It was all due to Nausica’s effort.
“Ahem. I do charge some tolls from them.” Nausica felt embarrassed about all the overstatements and tried to speak.
“It’s fine! You’re a pirate, you absolutely should take tolls!” Sailum disagreed.
Angor could not help but snicker at those words. The boy was still hating pirates a minute ago!
Just like Nausica said, Sailum was interesting.
Sailum kept flattering while Nausica listened with uneasiness. When it finally ended, she wiped some sweat drops off her forehead. She never had such a “difficult” conversation before.
Angor suddenly asked, “What’s the ‘chamber three’ you just said?”
…
A moment later.
“Ahahaha! So you’re the one who won by playing dead?” After Nausica explained what happened in the chamber, Angor laughed out loud.
Angor was curious about how Sailum passed his deathmatch. Easy, he pretended to be dead on the floor.
“But, even if you stayed until the last moment like that, you still have to fight the last survivor. I can’t believe someone like you actually killed someone,” said Angor.
“That man killed a lot of people. He found me out in the end and tried to kill me too, so I…” Sailum’s voice went lower. Seemed like he was still troubled by his deed. “That moment kept coming back to me. I never slept these days. Only reading books helps me forget that sight, even for a moment.”
Angor thought that it was funny that Sailum had such a pale face with those dark eye circles as if he put up a smokey makeup. Now he sympathized Sailum.
Angor never killed people before. He did not know whether he would get a terrible mood if he actually did it, but he could understand Sailum’s sadness.
Angor patted Sailum’s shoulder to comfort the boy.
Nausica preferred to get rid of the atmosphere too, so she turned to Angor and changed the topic by asking, “Now that you heard about both of us, how about telling us something about yourself?”
Nausica looked at Angor straight into the eyes. Sailum also calmed down and showed curiosity. They were itchy to know about Angor. Why didn’t he join the deathmatches? Why was the Phantom Servant being so polite to him? Even the wizard on the cloud whale acted friendly.
Angor knew what they wanted to ask, but he did not even know why Sunders treated him so well himself, so he could only give them a simple explanation about his life.
“I was born into a noble family. I have an elder brother so I didn’t inherit the title, but my life was good. My brother is really nice to me. I have a teacher who knows a lot and taught me many things. But he grew ill. We tried everything we could to treat him… Later, I met an Apprentice Wizard by chance. To save my teacher, I came here, to the Fey Continent.”