Alex’s father was easily capable of blocking mind attacks from saints because of his complicated brand, so he specifically invented a technique for his offspring. Even though it seemed difficult at first, to polish and evolve the sense of smell was incomparably easier than creating one’s own soul brand and only now Alex could finally appreciate his father’s efforts.

In his case the experience of previously being born as a wolf was an incredible handicap, practically a cheat, and currently Alex was leaning at the wall pretending to be in agony, face hidden in both palms, but at the same time pointing out the positions of the eight boys around him just based on the sense of smell.

‘No, seven boys and one girl.’ Alex corrected himself after making another deep inhale.

Johanna, as usual, stood next to Robert and her flowery scent was easily distinguishable from the stink her fiancee radiated. Either he had not bathed for a longer time, or the mind tricks he tried to play took a serious toll on him.

“He sure looks miserable.” One boy from the cheerleader squad laughed, “Young master, are you sure you didn’t overdo it? What if he dies here?”

“So what if he dies?” Another one piled on, “Robert is a saint, he has right to execute people opposing him.”

“Ye! We don’t need rebels!” Third one didn’t want to be left out.

“Robert, are you ok?” Alex heard Johanna whispering.

“Ye.” Robert whispered back, but out loud he bravely said, “How is it, barbarian?! It’s time for you to learn the consequences of your actions! You two, will carry out the punishment. I’ll make sure he won’t play any tricks in case that bastard Tarazi taught him how to oppose me.”

“We should take care of that dude next! Who does he think he is?” Alex heard the one who arrived first punch his own palm as if showing he had the intention to beat up the captain.

‘Ok, here we go!’ Alex thought, ‘Let’s see how an actual blind combat works.’

Alex inhaled deeply again verifying everyone’s position one more time, but before he could act, he realized his vision actually turned black again, just like at the gate of the governor’s manor.

‘So you are afraid!’ Alex inwardly grinned, took two quick steps to his left and punched out.

Alex’s vision immediately returned, but to his surprise he felt a soft popping sensation from under his knuckles as if he had punched a small egg or a plum. His fist didn’t strike the Robert’s nose as he intended, but just below the center of his forehead. Excited with the battle where he finally could test out the results of his training, Alex infused his fist with Qi, just like he did during the regular practice. But unfortunately he struck Robert’s trikuta which under the pressure … ruptured.

Alex didn’t even wait for the boy to hit the ground. He immediately realized he was in trouble and, ignoring the stupefied expressions of the gang, dashed back to the street and then cut the corner, and then another one. For half a minute Alex ran changing the directions, then slowed down and mixed with the crowd.

‘It’ll probably take another minute for those morons to realize what happened, but just to be safe I’ll assume they already noticed that the Robert’s sainthood is crippled.’ Alex quickly analyzed, ‘It means I have few minutes to leave Haldenburg ... but that’s impossible ... alright, harbor it is!’

Alex entered another alley, glancing over the fences and when he found what he was looking for, jumped over unnoticed. The yard was small, just like others behind the buildings in the center of the city, but someone in this one was drying their laundry. Alex quickly gathered few pieces of clothing and jumped over the fence again. He was not a fan of such impromptu actions, but this time he had no other choice.

After verifying no one was looking, he quickly wore the black gown he just stole, then threw a thick tunic over it. The last piece he took was an ugly looking hat he wore right after, but at least now no one could recognize him, not from the first glance that is.

Alex needed to alter his looks since the harbor was almost half an hour of quick walk away and he would be easily caught on the way there, especially if he ran drawing the attention of the patrolling guards. It was much safer to pretend to be an old lady even though he now had to walk slowly and even limp a bit, to leave a more believable impression. At some point he even found a long branch to use as a walking stick to complete his guise.

Alex didn’t know he gave too much credit to the bunch. After Robert got punched, his face was bloodied all over, just like after their spar on the training grounds and kids thought Alex simply knocked him out again. One couldn’t actually blame them – the eyelid of the former third eye was closed and no one had a clue there was only a useless hole left under it.

Johanna hysterically cursed Alex and all his ancestors while ordering a couple of Robert’s underlings to carry him home and only there, after he was cleaned up, doctor noticed the boy was crippled. Well, technically he was fine, but he was saint no more and would never become one again.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Hansen family immediately alarmed the whole city looking for the perpetrator and guard squads began to storm around from house to house searching for Alex. After the alarm bells rang, the city gates were closed, but the search continued in the suburbs behind the walls as well.

Alex had no clue how much inconvenience he caused for tens of thousands people that afternoon, but he wouldn’t care anyway. He was hidden in one of the boxes at the pier waiting for it to be transported to the foreign ship.

Luckily he didn’t have to freeze there the whole night. Before the darkness fell, his box was loaded in one of the last cargo boats and half an hour later he was already carried to the ship’s cargo hold.

After making sure there was no one around, Alex climbed out the box and comfortably stretched like a cat. He was in a good physical shape, but sitting still in one position for a long time and in cold was really tiring.

The surroundings were completely dark and Alex could mostly find the way by touch, but after experiencing the recent events he tried to guide himself by smell as much as possible. Surprisingly it had proven to be a useful sense even for a human.

He kept bumping into boxes and barrels, and even tripped few times, but in the end found the exit. Unfortunately it turned out only to be a separate cargo room, much smaller in size, containing several heaps of cloth. After a lot of grabbing and touching, Alex realized that here was stored some kind of clothing and few minutes later he was already changed in a completely new attire.

After hiding his old clothes below few boxes at the side, Alex began searching for the exit once again when suddenly a trapdoor above him opened and an angry voice barked, “What the hell are you doing there! Get out in this instant!”

Alex was blinded by the light for a moment, but then noticed primitive stairs leading up. He got caught, but this situation felt wrong for different reasons.

The moment he got on the deck, Alex saw an angry, scarred face staring back at him.

It yelled, “I asked, what the hell were you doing there, recruit! Answer!”

“I …” Alex stuttered looking around in shock.

He was definitely not on the merchant ship. This one was half its size at best and the people around were definitely not the regular passengers, but men and youths dressed in the dark blue attire of the imperial navy! And he himself somehow managed to get into a similar uniform.

‘This will be fun!’ Alex inwardly thought not knowing whether he should laugh or cry.

“What are you gawking at! … smaaack …” The angry man in front of him yelled out once more and slapped Alex so hard he flew a couple of meters and almost lost his consciousness.

Everyone, except the one who hit him, began to laugh hysterically and Alex sighed in relief after verifying his teeth were still there – dental services were not the best in this world.

He slowly got up and said, “Sorry, Sir!”

The scar-faced man took a single step towards Alex, but somehow suddenly appeared right in front of him and … smaaack … slapped him again, “Sorry? Where do you think you are, on your father’s farm?”

Alex flew away again, barely discerning what the man said through the loud buzzing in his ears. He landed heavily on his back, but once again all his teeth were still there and he didn’t suffer any real damage. That man was a real master-slapper!

This time he didn’t say anything, but got up and tried to look as guilty as possible while staring at his own feet.

“Look at me when I’m talking to you!” The man yelled again, but didn’t slap since Alex immediately complied, “You’ll address me as sergeant Nur!”

‘I even know a captain, but he doesn’t run around smacking people.’ Alex complained to himself. It was annoying when a random Qi warrior punched him around on a whim.

But out loud he shouted, “Understood, Sir!”

“And don’t let me catch you sneaking around the cargo hold again, recruit!” Sergeant Nur commanded, “What the hell were you doing there?!”

Finally Alex got a clarification what role he had to play and from there on it went easier, “I was lost, Sir, sergeant Nur!”

“Lost?” Sergeant almost slapped him again, but then realized he saw Alex for the first time, “What’s your name recruit? What squad do you belong to?”

“The third one, Sir!” Alex pulled a random answer from a thin air.

“The third one?” Sergeant furrowed his brows in confusion, “Why the hell would they accept such weakling?!”

“I … my family …” Alex pretended to stutter and as expected the man immediately interrupted.

“I don’t care what connections you or your family once had! This will be your family from now on! The third brigade already left this morning to the north so I guess that makes you my problem. What is your name, recruit?”

“Jack Sparrow!” Alex gave the only name of a sailor that came to mind.

“That’s a stupid name!” Sergeant Nur yelled back and slapped him again. Fortunately this time the slap was not that heavy, “I’ll call you ‘Troublemaker’ from now on! And watch yourself! Don’t make anymore trouble!”

“Sir, yes, Sir!” Alex shouted back while inwardly confused by the sergeant’s weird logic.

“What the hell are you looking at, bastards?!” Suddenly sergeant yelled at the men on the deck who enjoyed the play laughing to their heart’s content, “Wanna stay hungry tonight?!”

Immediately everyone went back to their earlier business or at least pretended to get busy.

“You, Troublemaker! Grab the bucket over there and go scrub the cabins! That’ll be your job from now on!” Sergeant Nur commanded and Alex seriously nodded – this was better than being killed right away, although he could not figure out if it was luck or a curse to land here. Only now he realized his earlier idea of sneaking on a ship was childish and delusional, and sooner or later he would've been found. And if that happened in the open sea – who knows if he was thrown over board. The perspective of drowning was not too pleasant.

While pondering if the body’s age was influencing his ability to think, Alex grabbed the bucket sergeant Nur pointed at. It was half full with water and a had yellowish sandstone floating in it.

‘This will be fun.’ Alex sighed to himself and proceeded to the cabins.

For now he was safe, but there was no telling what would happen next. In addition he really needed to go to the toilet for the number two reason …