Chapter 122 - The Knight And His Princess

Mopher crept through the narrow way, sneaking in wearing the identical suit that he borrowed from one of the men that brought him here. Using his mana sense efficiently, he checked every chamber in a narrow way. Though his mana sense could not let him see the faces inside, he could make it do with most of them being empty.

It was already a couple of hours since the designated time. The tainted are at least efficient in their times with all their flaws. Mopher could close his eyes before the entrance of one of the chambers. If there was no one inside, he did not have any problem, but if there were anyone, he needed to concentrate more to find out if it was his highness or not.

Then there was his highness, erratic behaviour at times. He might not even be able to find her with his senses if she tries. Mopher wished it was not the case now. After all, getting into the ship was her plan in the first place. If she really gets captured and gets herself into a helpless situation, it will be a failure on his part as well.

A frown appeared on Mopher's brows, as he felt two men inside. Yes, men, unconscious most likely. Shaking his head, he crept away to the next one. There was no one. He moved to the next one after that.

There were close to two hundred chambers like this in this ship, and he had already finished checking a quarter of it in half an hour. It looked like he had to search for a little more. Perhaps his highness already left, getting bored here. Since he managed to free himself, why wouldn't she do it? Mopher shook his head at once. He can't just give up even if his highness was gone, it was his duty nonetheless.

"Hey, what are you doing there?" a shout came abruptly, halting Mopher in his steps.

He cursed himself, thinking he was never the sneaky type. Princess Scarlett was too good at it, but he could not leave it to her. 

Mopher turned and found a couple of men wearing the same suit as himself. 'Wouldn't be that difficult,' he reckoned, though he did not want to mess up with them if could.

"What is it?" he asked them at once, standing wide open with hands on his back.

"What are you doing here?'' The one who yelled first repeated his question, reading the nameplate on Mopher's chest which says, Pitt Noah, 305. "Pitt Noah, shouldn't you be below with the others, checking for what went wrong?"

"I was," Mopher answered. "They had already found out what went wrong, so I was excused."

"Really?" the other one asked with curious eyes. "What happened? Can't be the slaves, can it? After all, we are already in the zone. What kind of mischief could they do?"

"I don't the entire thing, but I think we found a few corpses in the bunker," Mopher said, walking along with them slowly. "And they were not the corpse of slaves."

"Ahh," the curious one nodded as his eyes gleamed. "Something interesting did happen, huh? So who are the corpses belongs to?"

"I don't know," Mopher said slowly. "You should know we are not of high rank to know all things."

"Bah," the first one, who had the broader shape, grimaced. "Don't worry, you will find out soon enough."

As he finished his sentence, his leg shot towards Mopher into a violent kick, but unfortunately, it found empty space, as Mopher was ready for anything to go wrong. The curious one of the group spun, two sleek daggers in his arm, coming straight at the weaponless Mopher.

Mopher shook his head and lurched at the sidewall, kicking it to get an elevation before he got back at the broad-shouldered male, pinning him down in one simple move. His fist dug immediately into the stomach, as the man lurched up in agony. Mopher was about to punch again, but he spun instead, disappearing from there as soon as a dagger swung just where his neck was.

"What the . . ." before the one with the dagger could finish his sentences, a dropkick connected on his back, pinning him against the other one.

Both of them grunted in pain as Mopher came into vision before them. They were about to make a move to attack or flee again when Moper said, "No need."

The shorter curious one blinked, not understanding, while the one below seemed to have no intention of listening, jerked up, to come up with a violent fist, as mana started to condense in the fist, it if connects the way he wanted, it could crack the bone of his opponent easily. But there was a big fat If.

Mopher's figure disappeared from there to appear barely a couple of steps in the left. "You two are participants, right?" he said next, with the interest of not wasting his time of effort on the two. Though the two seemed to have quite the strength and expertise in their areas, Mopher had dominated them entirely and could do even further. The only reason he was not doing it was that these two were like him, a participant in the trial. Since their goal was the same, why bother fighting among themselves?

"So it really is a trial," the one with the dagger muttered from the floor, with no intention of getting up like the other one did.

Mopher did not answer. These two should come here in the attempt to get the suit from him, or since it will be the most important thing here for them, to ward off against the corruption. But they had chosen a wrong target, thinking him of one of the slavers. Mopher considered them for a second, before leaving, since others will appear hearing the disturbance soon enough even though they barely wrestled.

"Hey," the short one of the group said, finally standing up.

Mopher heard him, but went on to do his job.

"Hey, do you want to team up?" the short fella said again. "We two might not be strong enough to beat you, but you are not the strongest either. Join up with us, we have—"

"Not interested," Mopher said, continuing on his strides.

Ten minutes later, Mopher finally found the chamber he was looking for, but his brows knitted together immediately, feeling there were actually half a dozen people inside the room yet it was still silent. Moreover, it appeared the entrance of the chamber was unlocked.

Revolving his mana inside, Mopher pushed the heavy metal door with cautions.

"You are finally here," a female voice said instantly. "I was getting bored and perhaps would have left you late by even a minute more."

"Your highness," Mopher muttered as his eyes checked the eccentric redhead princess Scarlett first. Finding no harm, even a scratch was done to her. His eyes drifted off towards others. Four guards laid unconscious on the four. No, perhaps they were dead, though from outside it did not look like they had been through anything. Moreover, one of them was superior. Currently, only a corpse.``

His eyes then found the other person in the room. a youth of sixteen years with his arms bound behind him, eyed the two of them with horror. In contrast, Scarlett was free as the wind, though resting leaning against the wall, one leg above another, hands on the chest.

There was no mistake that she had done all this. But why didn't she run away? Mopher could very well guess why. If he asks, she will probably give silly reasons like running away does not align with her personality, or she was in control of why bothered to run away.

"Your highness, I apologise for being late," he said immediately, on one knee.

Scarlett shook her head in annoyance, while the other person's horror turned to sheer bewilderment.

"At ease," Scarlett said, and stood up. "I think we are finished here. Let's go."

"But," Mopher said, standing straight. "What about him?" the two of them looked at the stultified fella at once.

"Him?" an odd expression appeared on her face. "I almost forgot about him. Free him if you must, just don't take too much time."

Mopher nodded, striding towards the fella. He did not need to do a lot, just cut the cuffs from behind, which was not that difficult a job for him. He turned to find Scarlett was already only one step away from getting out.

"Your highness, you will need one of those suits to ward against the corruption," Mopher said, gesturing at the dead men immediately, finding out the princess forgot about the suit.

"I am well aware of that, but do you think I'll wear those sweaty bastards' suits?"

Mopher cursed internally. He should have seen it coming. Even if the air was far foul and corrupt here, he will never manage to get her into one of those used suits. It was as if someone else's sweat and scent was far more terrible than the corruption that could break her mind.

"I can protect my mind very easily inside the ship," Scarlett said, finding his dilemma. "But you are tasked with getting me a new one before this ship sinks."

"Yes, your highness, I'll look into," Mopher paused immediately. "The ship sinks, your Highness?"

"Oh, come on, Mopher," the princess grimaced at him. "Do you think we came here just for a picnic? Since I had free time to think after I take care of the few, I came up with a brilliant idea."

"Brilliant idea? To sink the ship?"