Blood trickled down Kalaman’s cheek and dripped onto the floorboards. It was a tiny, inconsequential wound, but it was enough to make Armei’s blood boil.

“...Who did this?” Armei asked.

“I didn’t get a good look at their faces,” Kalaman replied with his usual cold tone, as if nothing had happened. “There were two of them, hooded. A male and a female. Humans, both.”

Armei clicked her tongue. “Another assassin. Is it someone from the crew?”

“The Remina seems to think so,” Kalaman replied. Armei thought he should really learn to use names more often. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It does. We need to find the assassin and kill them! They need to taste the worst spells in my arsenal before I’m satisfied.”

“Do what you want.” Kalaman walked away calmly.

“Ah ... wait!” Armei called out, which caused him to stop and turn his head slightly. She ran to his side and took out a single potion of healing from her pockets. She always carried one around with her for emergencies. “Here, you have to close that wound, or it’ll fester—”

“Don’t need it.”

As Armei opened the bottle and was about to give it to him, he continued walking, leaving her behind.

“Kalaman!”

“Save that for someone else.”

His eyes, dark as the ocean depths, betrayed nothing. Their conversation was short, but the entire time, he didn’t even look at her. Even if they were directed at her, he will never see her. Those eyes saw nothing.

She’s long accepted it. Kalaman Kampus will never look her way. But she’s fine with that. As long as she could be by his side, supporting him, nothing else mattered.

Right now, what matters is the assassin.

Remina believed that the assassin was hiding amongst the crew. Jarvarax would have thought the same as well, no doubt. It made sense; Kalaman said the assailants were one male and one female, and both human. Since Kalaman was the only human male in the party, they could rule out the possibility of a traitor having joined the party. It could only have been someone from the crew.

But something didn’t sit right with Armei. She just couldn’t tell why, but she felt unsafe.

Then, a thought she had before rose up in the back of her head.

A random adventurer joining the hero’s party, and agreeing to leave the moment the voyage ended without hesitation. There was the possibility that whatever her true goal was, it was attainable during this voyage.

Right. Nentonia’s reason for joining was always strange to her.

Kalaman suddenly warming up to a girl he just met, followed by him being attacked whilst in the middle of a voyage, miles away from land. It was all too convenient.

No, Armei thought as she shook her head. Her actions are driven by reason, not emotion. As much as she disliked Nentonia, she wasn’t going to let it drive her decisions. Her envy wasn’t as important as Kalaman’s safety. She needed to take this seriously.

As she took a deep breath, she noticed that she was still holding onto the potion of healing, its cap still open. She spaced out and almost dropped it. Closing the lid, she stared at the swirling red liquid inside the vial, her reflection staring back at her. She wasn’t very good at hiding her emotions, and the melancholy on her expression made no effort to hide either.

“Save that for someone else.”

She hung her head.

“There’s no one else, Kalaman. It’s only for you.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

†

Armei had cornered one of the crew members and began interrogating him, trying to wring out as much information as she could.

“Speak up. What do you know about the assassin?” she asked.

The crewman seemed terrified and defensive, his eyes darting around, looking for a way to escape. The way he behaved made it hard not to be suspicious of him.

“...Hell if I know,” he finally replied in an apprehensive voice, all the while averting his gaze. “Cap’n usually tells us nothin’...”

“Oh? So does the captain know something then?”

The animosity leaked from her voice, which caused the crewman to be on guard. “I-I don’t know! Go ask ‘im if yer so curious...!”

The crewman forced his way out and stormed off. It was clear that he wasn’t going to say anything more, and torturing him would most likely be a bad idea, so she just let him go.

“I’m getting nowhere, damnit.”

It always ended like this. Every time she’d interrogate a crew member, they’d just run away without saying much. It was as if they were afraid of talking at all.

Either way, it looked like confronting the captain, Nahar, was the only option left. She went to him to wring out any answers she could, but Nahar felt exasperated the entire time, as if he’d heard it a million times already.

“I’ve told you, I don’t know anything.”

“You’re the captain. You have to know something.”

“I’m just a simple sailor, nothing more.”

“Bullshit.” Armei was getting impatient. “You’re the one who’s been giving the orders around here. You must know something.”

“And I’ve told you, I don’t.”

Nahar’s tone was getting harder, his patience wearing thin. But Armei didn’t care. All she wanted were answers.

“Liar.” Armei stepped closer, her voice low and dangerous. “You know something, and you’re not telling us.”

“And what makes you think that?”

“This entire commission’s been sketchy from the very start. Why hire a hero of Kalaman’s renown for such a simple escort mission? And why is a ship this large so understaffed?”

The two exchanged glares. Nahar’s expression did not shift in the slightest.

“Tell me, captain,” Armei lowered her voice even further, letting her animosity leak out. “Are you really a simple sailor?”

Nahar stared back, his expression betraying nothing.

“It’s not like I don’t understand your suspicion of me. I’d be suspicious, too, so I can’t blame you. Very well, I suppose there is one way I can help. You said that the assassins were one human male and one human female, yes?”

“...That’s right.”

“Most of my crew are men, though I doubt any of them could land a scratch on the Dragonslayer, but that’s besides the point. There are only three women in my crew at the moment. I’ll ask them to answer any question you may have for them. I can assure you here and now that none of them are capable of combat or assassination, but if it can ease your mind to hear it from them directly, then be my guest.”

The way Nahar carried himself was unsettling. He was too calm. Either he’s lying, has ulterior motives, or was just a very experienced sailor.

“That’s good enough for me.” Armei had a feeling that Nahar wouldn’t say anything more, so she just left it at that.

A day later, she went to see the three women in the crew, all of whom were humanoid, fitting Kalaman’s description of one of the assassins.

The first was timid and shy, possessing a body so frail that Armei was certain she couldn’t run the entire length of the ship’s hallways without stopping to take a breather. The second was brash and rude, often barking back at Armei’s provocations, but she had a pretty solid alibi. As for the third, she was larger and bulkier than most of the men on the ship, and the entire galleon would quake if she even thought about running.

The chances of any of the three being assassins was low. Armei did have a very sharp mind—something she herself was very aware of—but her intuition seldom failed her, and deemed the three of them innocent.

But if none of the girls on the crew were assassins, then...

“Oh, miss Armei! Fancy meeting you here.”

The familiar voice from behind her was nothing but grating to her ears. She turned around to see the cleric, wearing that ever-so-superficial smile on her face.

“What do you want?” Armei said as dismissively as she could.

“I just wanted to give my greetings, that’s all. It sounds like you don’t want to be bothered though, so I’ll be on my way.”

Nentonia began walking. These past few days, she’s been walking around the ship a lot, more so than when the voyage began.

“Wait,” Armei said. Nentonia turned around with a surprised expression on her face, as if she didn’t expect that. Considering how Armei treats her, it was to be expected. “Where are you going?”

“Um, the upper deck.”

“The upper deck? The clouds outside are darkening, and the crew is saying that a storm is approaching.”

“I know,” she smiled. “Still, I want to go. Truth be told, I’ve never been out during a storm, so I think it’ll be fun!”

Armei scoffed. “Are you stupid? If you get sick, then you’ll jeopardize everyone else on board.”

“It’s fine, I’ve never gotten sick in my life!”

“Tch, fine. Suit yourself. But I have one more question, Brava. What do you know about the assassins?”

Nentonia was quiet for a bit, as if organizing her thoughts. She finally replied, “not much. But I don’t think we’ll need to worry much about it.”

“Huh? What is that supposed to mean?”

“Kalaman’s pretty strong, I hear.” Nentonia began walking again, giving a small wave as she went.

It’s true. What Nentonia said was something Armei believed, too. She couldn’t see Kalaman fall to any assassin, especially ones as lousy as these.

But at the same time, hearing her say those words made Armei’s emotions churn.

At this rate...