Sabrina rushed out of her cabin and made towards the deck upon hearing the crewman's screams, all the while, a frown was on her face. 'To think that monsters would actually attack despite my S-Ranker aura... this is odd... if anything, I was expecting pirates or slavers.'
After reaching the deck, Sabrina clicked her tongue in annoyance and she took her ornate rapier out from its sheath before launching herself at the closest monster. Stabbing the creature in its eye, piercing its brain and killing it before it could eat another crewman, Sabrina frowned.
"They're actually Relks... why on Altros are Relks targetting my ship?" although she had a cute appearance normally, her current face looked absolutely furious.
As far as she could see, there were at least forty Relks on the Galleon. Relks were large monsters that were agility focused. They looked somewhat like a mix between a Lion and a Gorilla, only half as large and four times as vicious. Their dark-red fur glistened in the night as they tore Sabrina's crewmates apart with their sharp claws.
It only took a few minutes for the door leading down to the sleeping quarters of the hired Adventurers and Mercenaries to burst open with the Half-Orc from a few days ago leading the charge.
Malt and Al'ka's groups spilt out after him with the other groups following behind. They had been paid to defend the ship and its cargo, so do that they would.
After nimbly pouncing on another Relk and killing it with her skill, Pierce, Sabrina looked around somewhat nervously. 'Where's Lone's group? I know they were weak, but surely they couldn't have outright died? I was the one that asked them to come aboard... I can't have their deaths on my conscience!'
Unfortunately for her, she had no talent for magic and hadn't awoken any of her mana organs, so she couldn't use any sensory magic to find Lone's group. She could only shake her head and hope that they were still alive or hiding below deck.
Thankfully, the attack only consisted of roughly fifty Relks in total, and with Sabrina, a few of her elite crewmen, the Adventurers and the Mercenaries, it was easy enough to kill them all.
The only known casualties were ten newly consigned Ensigns, so Sabrina's losses weren't unbearable. However, even after doing a headcount, only two of Lone's group members had been found. Both Swind and Eolande. The two wooden plates had been knitting and reading respectively below deck, seemingly ignorant of the attack entirely.
With an anxious expression, Sabrina asked the Tylwyth Teg before her, "Eo, do you know where your leader and the other members of your group are? I can't find them on the ship and we were just attacked by a small horde of C-Rank Relks."
It would have been an easy matter if she had found their bodies, even if such an outcome would have been very dispiriting for the Catkin, it would have been better than not knowing anything at all like now.
Eolande liked the nickname given to her and grinned before flashing a knowing look nodding, getting Sabrina's hopes up. "Yup, I have no idea where Lone, Sophie and Breena are. Maybe they went swimming?" she said with a cock of the head and a ponderous look on her face.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
"ARG! Now isn't the time for jokes! I don't have the time for this..." Sabrina hissed, greatly amusing Eolande. Seeing this, Sabrina stormed off, clearly not in the mood for Eolande's attitude.
"Damn it damn it damn it DAMN IT! I can't have a Golden Foxkin, especially a nine-tailed one, dying on my watch! If only I could use magic..." Suddenly, a light flashed through the cute Catkin's eyes. "That's it!"
Quickly running up to the deck, Sabrina stood in front of the helm and she slowly inhaled as much air as her small lungs could hold. "ATTENTION! ANYONE WHO CAN USE SENSORY OR DETECTION TYPE MAGIC OR SKILLS WITH A VERY LONG RANGE, COME TO THE HELM IMMEDIATELY! CAPTAIN'S ORDERS!"
After shouting this, Sabrina deflated like a popped balloon and wheezed a bit. "huff... huff... using my 'Loud Voice' skill and making it span over an entire Galleon is more taxing... huff... huff... than I thought it would be..."
Naturally, since Sabrina herself had no such magic or skills, she thought that since she had several groups of Adventurers and Mercenaries on board her ship, and under her payroll, why not try her luck to see if any of them could help her find Lone and his friends?
"I'm really a genius, huh? If this works, those smelly old geezers back at the clan will be shocked to learn that I, Sabrina Yellowclaws, have the favour of a Golden Foxkin... hehehehe..." Her laughter was menacing and made her seem like a scheming little devil. Her crew were already used to such antics so they smiled wryly while holding their ears that were still aching from her shout.
Just as Sabrina was about to get anxious from waiting for a response, two people approached her. One was Al'ka, and the other was the High Elven woman whom Al'ka had called 'Your Highness'.
An innocent and joyful expression quickly took a hold of Sabrina's face. "Are one of you two able to use the magic or skills I asked for? If you can, I'll immediately double your promised reward regardless of if you can find the targets or not."
Turning to the Elven beauty, Al'ka spoke in their home tongue. "Rels iks mas tonk clas fa'la rein mal'lak ut min?" His face looked concerned and almost pleading. It was as if he didn't want the woman to exert herself for the sake of others.
Giving him a fierce glare, her dainty face unexpectedly replied with fire in her tone. "His clat. Mok mo. Al'ka mel'wah. im sunhui!"
Looking shocked, Al'ka dropped to one knee and bowed towards her with a fearful look on his face. He shortly stood up and looked at the confused Catkin powerhouse of a Captain.
"My party member is able to use a long range form of nature magic to scry beyond our current location by roughly two miles. However, doing so will put a heavy burden on her and exhaust her. I would ask for the reward to be tripled for her efforts, please," Al'ka asked with a slightly greedy expression on his normally handsome face.
He looked unbecoming for a High Elf, but Sabrina could see a hidden meaning behind his desire for money, she just wasn't powerful enough to detect what that meaning was.
Gold didn't matter much to Sabrina considering her status within the Sun Catkin Clan, but collecting favours meant a big deal to her since her goal was to become one of the most influential figures of her generation.
Unfortunately, Sabrina wasn't very wise and didn't realise that her power as an S-Ranker had already accomplished this dream of hers, but that was a story for another day.
"That's fine, how about this, if you don't find the targets, I'll triple your reward, if you do find the targets, I'll quadruple it. Sound good? The target is Lone Immortus, the Golden nine-tails Foxkin and his two companions, a female Human and a young three-tailed Crimson Foxkin girl," Sabrina said with an innocent and cute grin, showing off her little tiger teeth.
Al'ka's eyes flashed and he then spoke some words to the Elven woman who nodded her head before closing her eyes and summoning a very decorative and enchanting staff from a spatial pouch. It would seem that she had started to search for the targets.