Like a kicked anthill, soldiers crawled up from the lower decks. I teleported to the next ship with mages. These rank-and-file knights were no threat to me. The spellcasters, however, were too much of a wildcard to let run loose.
Murder a few to avoid massacring the others. My shallow excuse for murder was that this would avoid even more death. Without the spellcasters and leadership, the knights and soldiers would quickly capitulate. And so I took upon myself the grim task of using {Assassinate} on the mages and ship officers.
That's when I ran into someone sporting the title [Prince]. An aide ran up the stairs to the poop deck and talked to him. I decided to eavesdrop.
"Sire! Grand Magus Seohaben died. There is an [Assassin] on the loose. I detected several {Death Contract} on the ships around us."
"An [Assassin] came into my expedition? Who is attempting to sabotage me?" The [Prince] shouted. "This is my moment of glory. I'll get rid of Rhenius and solidify my claim to the throne."
Now that I could examine him closely, the guy was a rugged version of Rhenius. The aide that arrived wore black leather armor, and his {Appraisal} only revealed his Class, [Rogue]. A clear fabrication I couldn't pierce.
He detected my attempt and turned around to look in my general direction. My Skill level was too high for him. But he had two long daggers in his hands.
"Sire, the [Assassin] is here."
"Show Yourself!" The Royal scion commanded with the weight of a [Royal Order]. His eyes went wide with the obvious notification he got.
He chortled, "Where did Rhenius find someone that was both an [Assassin] and Royalty? Did he revive the fabled 'Death Princess'?" He mocked.
A dagger flew my way, courtesy of the black-clad aide. I sent it to my item box before it could find its mark.
> Contested Ego test won.
> Death Contract
>
> Shadow Step
>
> Assassinate
> You killed level 147 Rogue. Exp Deferred.
He tried to fight back the geas, of course. I gladly paid the four hundred Energy to keep him from moving. But attacking exposed me to the [Prince]. We were less than a meter apart. Our eyes met. He was struck with fright.
"You! The portrait! It cannot be!"
It was as if he was staring at the eyes of death itself. At the mention of a portrait, I remembered I was using Apricot's form.
Curious, I stood before him. "You know me?" I asked. "Is the noble lady called Anjou your ancestor as I suspect?"
He took a step back. "Stay away from me. You cannot be real!"
I changed my title to [Hero Princess] and set it to display. "Better this way, my prince?" I asked with a teasing tone. Then I shapeshifted my hands to black jaguar paws. "What about these? You must know what they are, don't you?"
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He screamed as if he was in a horror movie and jumped to the deck below, vanishing down some stairs. I looked up.
"No, you aren't going anywhere, little soul of a [Rogue]. You are coming with me and you are going to explain what is going on."
Death changes a person. Most souls, for example, held little attachment to the commitments of their (former) living selves. Only those with extremely high Ego and mental Attributes kept those. The [Rogue], fortunately, wasn't among them.
He told me everything I wanted to know.
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Romulus IV, the King of Virturia, in all his wisdom, decided to remove the failure of a prince from the Royal succession. But even dead, Rhenius still held value. He was to become a martyr to rally the people. Then this [Prince] would seize the "magical island", and use it as a staging and resupply point to control the trade routes around the region. That would catapult Virturia from "just another coastal country" to a "political superpower", especially because all these pirates were pardoned and incorporated into the military as privateers. The captains, as I suspected, were safely on dry land enjoying their sudden ascension to knighthood, the lowest rank of the aristocracy.
I made my way back to where Rhenius was still fighting.
I examined how well the prince was holding on. The answer was, not very good. The fight was still underway, now some of the military ships adding their well-trained soldiers to the rabble of pirates. I used {Shadow Warp} a few times and reached his shadow. A thick greasy blood coating three fingers' deep painted the deck red and seeped down into the ocean below where all kinds of creatures fed on the dead.
Rhenius must've had some balance Perk or enchantment because it was slippery as heck.
"Princess Arista! I'm sorry I can't welcome you as you deserve. I kinda noticed it from these scoundrels' taunts. Would you be interested in joining my side?"
Talk about double-meaning greetings. How did I deserve to be greeted?
"I don't see it happening, honestly," He confessed after parrying a few cutlasses and gutting another baker's dozen of pirates. "You are on the map and the rumors of the magical island will attract explorers from all over the continent. Your best bet is to stamp your Royal seal on said map and make your territorial claim respected."
He made no mention regarding the baby Queen Eathelin expected. I believe he didn't know, and I would rather be dead than tell him.
The Prince tapped his gauntlet with the flat of the blade and a wave of Force pushed the pirates away to give him a breather, "As you can see, there's no shortage of idiots willing to throw their lives away for the promise of a handful of coins. I believe you have great wealth. Make use of it. I can help."
"Very cheap. You see, I like being alive. Aid me in surviving this invasion, support me when I come to take the throne, and I'll gladly ally myself with you."
The Prince didn't answer. He fought the next wave of pirates uttering only grunts for a good ten minutes before he used the Force wave again. Definitely the cooldown of that ability.
"I am not against being your vassal for a while if we can amicably review our alliance terms in ten years," He proposed.
"Gladly. They murdered my cousin," Rhenius snarled. "I saw when a pirate threw a dagger straight through Callisto's bosom."
The pirates left Rhenius to fight the soldiers of his own country. Taunts of "traitor" and others that don't deserve reproduction here dragged the prince's mood into the gutter.
I revealed myself next to him. A wave of Force magic cleared the stage for my stunt, throwing a deluge of blood away from me in a semicircle. "Marlowe, Sumsar. To me!"
Marlowe jumped out of the water while Sumsar just appeared from the item box. Rhenius kept fighting but he did hear the [Archmage]'s name.
"Marlowe is dead, what are you..."
"Focus on your fight, prince. Just know this, the dead serve me of their own accord. And in most cases, death to me is just a nuisance."
I brought Callisto's body from storage along with a dinner table and carefully placed her lying on it. I pulled the dagger from her chest. Inviting her soul to come down, I merged them back together.
"{Second Chance}!"
The cost to raise the noble lady was negligible. That's why I had sixty million Energy in the bank and still had my Wellspring at maximum feeding me the unused MP of every creature in range as Energy all this time. Callisto opened her eyes.
The good part was that she remembered her brief tenure as a ghost. The duke's daughter started to cry. I hugged her. I couldn't help it. She looked like Anjou more and more.
"Everything is fine. You are alive, Callisto," I soothed her.
She bawled something unintelligible. I took the two silk dolls inhabited by the [Archamages]'s souls and placed them next to her.
"Marlowe, Sumsar, keep the lady safe. I'll guide Rhenius to where his brother is."
Both dolls bowed. "As you command, my liege," Marlowe said. Sumsar just nodded.