Chapter 16 - Gearspire Stronghold
Adam was sitting atop a barrel, gazing out at the vast and deep ocean with lifeless eyes... And no wonder, it had been approximately two hours since he left the infirmary, and he hadn't accomplished anything.
Initially, it hadn't been very difficult to find the other members of his group, but the result for every one of them had been the same. The first he found was Li, who at that moment was trying to rest in a chair inside the tavern, surrounded by many other pirates who had succumbed to the drink long before him and were now unconscious on the floor.
"Right now, I can't focus on any of that. If I have any questions later, I'll just ask you. For now, leave; I feel like my head could split in two."
Said Li, gesturing with his hand to indicate that the boy should leave and not bother him any further.
Knowing that insisting would be a futile effort, especially given Li's lack of interest in the information and the adverse effects of alcohol impairing his ability to think critically, Adam decided to leave and search for the next team member. This was Mr. Sebastian, whom they had already met. He was in a sort of makeshift workshop with two other short-statured individuals, and all of them had burn marks all over their clothes.
“Oh my, sure, just let me gather my things, and we can get going.”
But when the middle-aged man tried to turn around to grab his coat, a small explosion occurred in the hands of one of the pirates due to mishandling one of the mechanical serrated swords, releasing a large amount of black smoke into the surroundings.
“Oh no, young Rusty, did you activate it again without it being fully assembled? Let me see.”
Without wasting any more time, the man approached the object and began to inspect it using a pair of black gloves, while the two pirates watched.
“Hmm… Excuse me, Mr. Sebastian, do you understand how their machinery works?”
Adam asked, fascinated by what he was observing, finding it incredible that someone from the "real world" could understand fictional technology. However, Sebastian quickly shook his right hand and simply gave him a nervous smile.
“No, oh no, nothing as amazing as that, it's because the internal workings of some of these things bear a striking resemblance to how an old pocket watch operates, and I happen to be a watchmaker, so I've managed to help a little bit hehe."
The man explained, still moving some gears visible even from Adam's position. However, suddenly, some springs and rivets jumped out of their position and scattered across the floor.
“Oh dear, this might take longer than I thought, young Adam. Please go on ahead, I'll catch up once we're done here."
Immediately after saying this, the other mechanical swords resting quietly behind them also had their rivets suddenly popping out, one after another.
“Oh dear, oh dear…”
The next ones Adam found were Kazue and Nikolai together, who were in the midst of a dice game, or what appeared to be dice, along with many other men.
"What do you mean that there is important information about the story?"
The girl said as she rolled a pair of strange symbol dice, achieving a result that made everyone present laugh and lament in equal parts.
“Do you mean… Lore?!”
With a single leap, the girl jumped from her seat and looked at Adam with wide eyes and a huge grin, startling him as he didn't expect such a reaction. After confirming that the information she had to share pertained to their world, Kazue announced she was withdrawing from the game, leaving her winnings so far for anyone who wanted them, a gesture that was well-received by the others.
“Hey, Niko, come here, listen with me.”
Gesturing for him to come closer, she signaled to the other guy who had been sitting and observing everything that was happening. Adam had met him a couple of days ago and knew his name, but they hadn't spoken until now. Truth be told, the look he was giving wasn't very reassuring.
"Alright, we can head back to the infirmary and wait for Mr. Sebastian to tell them everything I've managed to learn about the world we're in, Drake was informed up to a certain point in advance, so I'll give him a quick rundown when we get there."
But despite that being the plan from the beginning, Kazue had other plans.
"Are we going to have to wait? No, no, Drake even had a head start, you will sit here and tell us everything up to that point"
“O-oh? Okay, I guess”
They found a spot to huddle beside one of the corridors, and then the student began to recount everything about the book he had obtained and the existence of the 7 pirate guilds. However, much like what happened to the blonde guy, the expression on her face started to change slowly and gradually, shifting from attentive eyes and a big smile to an open mouth and eyes that seemed on the verge of pointing in different directions.
It was clear that Adam's method of recounting things was not exactly suitable for someone like her, who expected flavor and incredible information, only to be bombarded with a lot of jumbled facts as if in a university presentation. The boy hadn't realized this and continued explaining until a voice interrupted him.
"Enough already, I'm not understanding a word you are saying anyway, and this girl here seems to have stopped functioning several minutes ago... Hey, hey! Are you awake?"
Nikolai was visibly upset by what had happened, even attempting to shake Kazue when he noticed her blank expression.
"What? How? Where? ... Where am I?"
Surprised as if she had just been woken up, it took her a moment to regain her composure. Afterward, Adam tried to figure out when she had stopped paying attention and suggested that he should summarize what he was saying better to avoid further communication issues. However, the exact same thing happened again for the second time, which was too much for both Kazue and Nikolai to tolerate. They decided to return to the deck to resume their games.
“Wait, I really think it's important information that you should know in order to…”
But his words were cut short once again by the young girl, who simply turned to give him a smile and a few last words.
"Don't worry, I got the gist of it. A big city with seven guilds in charge. We'll figure out the rest as we go."
Defeated and with no one to accompany him for his explanation as originally planned, Adam returned to the infirmary to at least finish informing his companion. However, he found the ship's doctor blocking the door, refusing to let him in.
"The patient has requested complete silence and tranquility while resting in the last few hours before we reach land, so I must ask you to leave."
Which brings us back to the present moment... The boy didn't know what to do at that point. To pass the time, he had returned to the Chrono study, but all he managed to do was return the two books he had borrowed. The librarian was too busy to lend him any more reading material, and it was already too late in the day.
"What should I do? ... I wonder if all of this has to do with my hidden title."
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Adam thought to himself… A hidden title? What did he mean by that? He slowly waved his right hand in the air and brought up his status window, looking at his information and focusing his eyes on a particular section—the titles part—which now revealed a slight difference he had only seen when he had his '[Cursed Vision]' at level 4.
⌠Name: Adam Scholar⌡ ⌠Age: 23⌡ ⌠Species: Demi Lich - Rank F⌡ ⌠Points: 67⌡ ⌠Potential: D⌡ ⌠Titles:⌡ ⌠Ghostmarked Warden: Bound and Cursed⌡ [Hidden:] ⌠Luck's Last Laugh⌡ ⌠Skills:⌡ ⌠Cursed Vision Lv4⌡, ⌠Lesser Undead Control Lv1⌡, ⌠Ghost Phasing Lv1⌡, ⌠Mental Resistance Lv5⌡, ⌠Mark of the Damned LV10⌡ ⌠Treasures:⌡ ⌠Necronomicon Single Page [1/5] (Replica) - Rank F⌡
⌠Title: “Luck's Last Laugh”⌡ ⌠Cursed Vision Knowledge⌡ ⌠You've experienced such a stroke of luck that it's been deemed unmerited⌡ ⌠Laaame!⌡ ⌠Hidden: User choices that rely solely on luck have a fixed 30% probability of success inside a scenario, regardless of the original odds.⌡ ⌠Haha, yes... "Luck"⌡
He wasn't sure when he had acquired that title, but it was intriguing. Not only did it apparently play with the laws of causality, but it also presented an additional dialogue as a form of mockery, something he didn't recall seeing in any of the system's options until now. But upon reflection, it didn't make sense for this effect to have caused what had happened.
“*Sigh* Oh well…”
For now, all he could do was gaze at the horizon. Perhaps there was something to be learned from all of this, like how the sea in that area was quite calm and of a darker hue than usual. Yet, all that could be seen was the vast expanse of the blue blanket and a brown dot in the distance... A brown dot? Adam squinted and realized what that blotch on the horizon meant.
Land, finally land! If it was visible to the naked eye, it meant they weren't far from reaching it—perhaps an hour or two more. He had sufficient time to review everything he had memorized up to that point.
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“Ready to enter the port!”
The entire crew was on the deck, eagerly awaiting the ship's final entry into the Stronghold's facilities. It had indeed been an impressive sight for everyone, as the place was surrounded by immense steel walls that raised and lowered to allow various ships to pass in and out of the city, all operated by machinery producing loud noises and emitting large amounts of white smoke.
One of these large plates slowly opened as the ship approached close enough, shaking it violently due to the released marine current. However, none of the pirates were fazed by this; on the contrary, they cheered loudly upon entry. On the other hand, to say that the entire team of recruits was left speechless after seeing the interior would be an understatement. Once they passed through the containment walls, an infinite ocean of lights, colors, and shapes unfolded.
Enormous buildings with an ancient appearance stretched as far as the eye could see. Factories emitted huge clouds of smoke into the sky. Hundreds of people in various types of clothing strolled through the area, and in the distance, one could even spot two small zeppelins hovering over the zone.
“This is incredible”
Adam thought, wishing he could have stayed longer to observe such wonders. However, as soon as the ship finally grounded to a halt, all the pirates began to descend hurriedly, pushing past each other without hesitation. In the end, only the six recruits and the captain remained on board. The captain, by the way, was holding Kazue's shoulder to prevent her from descending with the others as she had tried to do.
"You six will now come with me. We're heading to the border headquarters of my guild to register you as recruits."
The captain announced as he disembarked, followed by the others. Normally, this would be the part where they should be worried, but truthfully, everyone was too impressed to think more deeply about the situation. And they couldn't be blamed; after all, that place seemed like it was from a rather epic dream.
As they made their way through the city's interior, they observed a variety of characters and establishments. From common pirates causing a ruckus in a bar to two men in immense, heavy-looking mechanical armor adorned with visible gears emerging from a workshop bearing the logo of the Arcanotinker Crew. There was certainly much to see and learn in that place, but that would have to wait for now.
The journey to their destination lasted only a few minutes, eventually arriving at what appeared to be an ordinary white building with a large logo of a skull and bone adorning its metal gates—the symbol of the Gearforged Raiders.
"Line up behind me and stay together."
The pirate said as he entered, followed by everyone else, with Kazue at the front of the group and Adam at the rear, hoping for a little more time to review everything he could. The interior resembled a large office or lobby, fairly empty except for some scattered chairs and a counter attended by a woman with well-defined muscles.
“Hello, Magnus! Are those new prisoners to trade for ransom?”
The receptionist said with a mocking smile, something the captain shook his head at.
"No, Seraphina, they're new recruits. I'll take them to see the supervisor."
“Oh, new cannon fodder, I got it, supervisor Bartholomew is in his office.”
That didn't sound reassuring at all, but they had no other choice. Everyone followed Magnus into an adjacent room, which was a miniature version of the reception area, almost empty with just two chairs and a desk. Behind the desk sat a man in the classic attire one would expect from a fictional pirate—a long jacket and a bushy beard tied into three braids. He even had a parrot on his shoulder... or did he?
*Tweet CLINK tweet*
To everyone's surprise, the small bird perched on the man's shoulder was a mechanical entity shaped like a parrot. It even emitted bird-like sounds amidst the classic noise of nuts and gears turning.
"Ah, Magnus! What brings you here? I thought I wouldn't see anyone around this place until next week."
Bartholomew seemed to brighten up at the sudden appearance of someone else in such a monotonous place, but his intentions to engage in more cheerful conversation were thwarted by his comrade's cold response.
"I'm afraid I haven't come to chat or stay. I've brought a group who will be joining the guild as recruits."
Magnus replied, causing a brief but uncomfortable silence in the room.
"What are you talking about? If they want to join, they can do it without you having to bring them here. It's not like they need to sign anything or whatever."
Bartholomew retorted, confused and scratching his head.
"No, I mean I witnessed what they can do. That boy took down ten of my crew single-handedly, and those other two have some pretty rare but effective weapons. I firmly believe they could be useful in the siege of Ironwave Anchorage."
Magnus clarified, quickly pointing out who he was referring to, leaving the supervisor deep in thought for a moment.
“Are you sure? Do you vouch for them?”
"I do, my crew has been with them for a few days; to some extent, I can say they don't seem like spies from the Armada."
After considering it a bit more, Bartholomew finally sighed and responded affirmatively.
"Okay then, I'll allocate a small budget for them, and they'll be sent to the front tomorrow."
“Right.”
It seemed like everything was going to end well, and they might even receive some money, but the question remained, something Adam couldn't keep to himself any longer, so he finally broke his silence.
“I’m sorry, what is the siege of Ironwave Anchorage? We are not familiar with it.”
After this, the supervisor's confused eyes shifted from the group to Magnus and vice versa.
“Do they not know anything at all? Where do these individuals come from?”
“We think they come from the inland, but does it matter?”
The pirate captain excused himself, making it clear that where they came from didn't matter as much as how useful they would be to the cause. However, Bartholomew didn't seem to share the same sentiment.
"Very well, if you're willing to throw your life into a war, I suppose it's only fair that you at least know why you're fighting... Pay attention, rookies, I'll tell you why it's worth giving your life as long as you die as a free person."