"Give me your best drink, lassie. I don’t think I’ll be sleeping tonight."
I felt bad for him, and wanted to say something, but it did not seem like now was the time. I had already apologized, but it did not feel like it was enough. I was just about to leave before Gennady stopped me.
"It’s not your fault," he said softly.
I stared at Gennady for a moment. He continued.
"Don’t blame yourself. I came with you out of my own accord."
I wanted to protest— but I caught myself. Neither of us would feel better that way; instead, I just tried to give him my best smile.
"Hey, maybe I could make you another one if I get good enough with tinkering."
He snorted. "No way that’ll happen. I doubt you’ll ever be able to understand how steam engines work. Just work on what you’re doing, and don’t spread out your skills too much.
"And don’t worry," he added, "we’ll get back at those pirates. Damned speciesist pricks."
"Right," I said, nodding.
Then he went back to his drink and I left him there. I was just about to return to the ship— go back to my room and just rest— when a young man stopped me.
"Hey, I heard you were looking for Inferiors."
"I am," I answered curtly. "Why?"
"Well," he said, reaching to his side and pulling out a gleaming mana crystal before handing it to me. "I just so happened to have some which I didn’t need. So you can have it."
I blinked. "Wait, I can’t accept this—"
"It’s fine." The young man grinned. "Ginah told us you and Mr Gennady are here to help us. So we might as well help you back where we can, right?"
I slowly reached over and grabbed it. "...thank you."
"It’s not a problem." He shot me a thumbs up.
I was just about to ask him for his name when he ran off, going over to Gennady; he began talking to the Dwarf, striking up a conversation with him. Then I realized, others were doing the same. They were trying to cheer him up— regale him by getting him to talk about other topics.
Should I also…? I shook my head. I did not want to drink, and I absolutely did not want to accidentally reveal any of my secrets by accident.
The fact that the people here were friendly, and were willing to help lighten Gennady’s mood was good. I could let them do that without feeling bad. However, I had to do what was important for me— and by extension, them.
If I could better my magic, I would be able to aid them better, no? So instead, I grasped the small Inferior mana crystal in between my fingers, and returned to my room.
Chapter 28: Interrogation
I felt the mana in the mana crystal flare up; I was forcing my will onto it— trying to drain it of all its mana at once. That would destabilize it, creating a violent dispersion of energy. It would not always result in an explosion, depending on the density of the mana inside of it.
I was not trying to force such a result regardless. My control over the mana crystal kept it teetering at the edge of destabilization, but not enough for it to fully shatter into tiny little shards. I just had to hold that feeling.
I raised my other hand, and I closed my eyes. I never once let go of the mana crystal, still maintaining the same amount of control over it; I copied over that feeling into my free hand, applying the same amount of pressure on the mana in the air.
A small green magic circle took shape, the air flickering where it formed. I watched the symbols and lines within its perimeter slowly begin to intersect, as I tried to emulate what I felt over the mana crystal.
The air around the spell circle grew visible to the naked eye, slowly coming together into the nebulous shape of a ball. It looked small enough that if I held it, I could completely wrap my fingers around it, but there was a constant rippling to it that made that seem like a bad idea.
I took a deep breath, and putting down the mana crystal, I exhaled. I shoved the rest of the mana in the air, forcing a rapid release. The compressed air… did not burst out into all directions, but instead fizzled out— almost like a spark being snuffed out.
Shaking my head, I put down the Inferior mana crystal and reached for my forehead. My head spun as the world around me turned to a blur, but after massaging my temples for a minute or two, my vision returned to normal.
I was tired.
After having spent a few hours last night doing the exact same thing before retiring to bed, I slept for a total of three hours before waking back up. I was… wary.
It was not easy to rest peacefully when I still wasn’t entirely certain whether I trusted these pirates or not. At the end of the day, they were criminals— very morally dubious. Sure, I was technically a criminal myself since I violated Holy Law every time I cast a spell. But the last time I gave my complete trust without any questions to a group of lawbreakers, I was… betrayed.
Or perhaps I betrayed them. Whatever it was, things did not exactly go so well, which meant I should at least be a little cautious when dealing with these pirates.
So I slept little, but I knew I couldn’t do that all the time. You did not
