Chapter 226 - Naval Battle

When the sun started to rise, the group had already dealt with ten ships. While they gained forty allies and five ships, they also lost six ships, all the crew inside them. They weren't losing as many soldiers as the enemies, but things weren't progressing that well either.

After the tenth enemy ship was destroyed, the group realized that they had dealt with the scouts, but they already could see more enemies approaching in the distance, and they still were two hours away from one of the bases Ferdinand was using.

"They are trying really hard to keep us away from Kerstia," Orleand said, mentioning the nearest island. "I assume it would be really bad for them if we were to arrive at the port."

"They is also the possibility that they are trying to buy time," Erean said. "A ship or a raven might be moving to alert their main fleet and then come to crush us."

The sailors and the soldiers of Vezar looked pretty comfortable, but Zaos was feeling a bit weird. Fighting like that with so many pauses seemed really odd from his perspective. Still, he should have considered that since they could only fight on the ships.

"Let's just keep it up," Erean said. "We have more shields than them thanks to that battle on the main island."

Although they weren't attacking as wildly as the enemies, they were suffering fewer losses considering the numerical disadvantage thanks to those shields. That was actually good for Zaos since the fights will last longer, and he will recover more mana. Still, he would rather empty all his mana to return home one day earlier than just fighting with a decent amount of mana all the time.

"Captain, I think…" Zaos said.

"Just stop thinking and do your job," Erean said. "If you didn't waste three years of your life in the North, then you should know that the needs of a soldier are irrelevant to the whole battlefield."

Zaos sighed. He knew that, but he wasn't trained enough by Elius; if his goal was to turn him into a soldier who only follows orders without thinking about anything else, then he failed miserably. They had become good friends after the first battle in the North, so there was a possibility that he went easy on him. 

"Have I told you before, Zaos? That I have three daughters and beautiful wife waiting for me at home?" Erean asked.

"No…" Zaos replied.

"You see… I would gladly offer my arms if I could just return home after this battle," Erean said. "My daughters are so cute, that it wouldn't surprise me if the very moment you saw them, you would ask me to marry one of them."

"I am sure they got their looks from their mother," Zaos smiled.

"You really are an insufferable brat…" Erean said and then laughter. "Still, you got my point. You don't want to return home more than me, and I don't want return home more than you."

Zaos sighed… it was the unavoidable truth, but it was a truth that he couldn't accept so easily. Zaos was trained so that he could be more selfless on the battlefield. After all, one day, he might lead an army, and thousands of lives will hang on his decisions.

Zaos sighed again because it wasn't time to think about that. The next fleet was approaching, and he had to fight, not to mention, they were approaching as a group. It would be harder to take them down one after the other like that.

The ship's captain began to move away because apparently, that fleet of twenty ships was moving toward them… they sure had an excellent network of information or their captains were really good at noticing which ships they had to take down first. That being said, even though some of the allied ships moved to work as a wall to protect them, they were completely destroyed in a single strike.

"… It seems those battle ships are much better than the others," Erean said with a darkened expression on his face.

"They probably belong to Ferdinand's personal fleet," Orleand said. "Remember that I said that he made a fortune building and selling them? I forgot to mention that he kept the better ones for himself. They probably can make us sink if two or three of them hit us."

Zaos didn't doubt that since he could see a thick layer of steel in front of the ships. That part seemed pretty sharp and study as well, so it wasn't an absurd idea to say that those ships that been built to destroy other ships.

"Oh, shit…" Erean said when he noticed that the wind was on the enemies' side this time. "Can you destroy their masts, Zaos?"

"Captain, you sure have a lot of faith in me, and I am thankful for that," Zaos said. "But I am just a single human being. I can even say that I can destroy five of them before they reach us."

Erean bit his lips in exasperation. He also knew that there was nothing they could do to stop that fleet, but he was hoping that Zaos could offer him a solution. He was a resourceful kid, after all. Once Erean fell silent, everyone in the ship realized that their ship would sink, and if they are lucky, they won't be killed by the impact or by enemy arrows. After that, they will drown or escape, and they die after a few days trying to find land in any direction. However, it seemed that Zaos had other plans.

"Hey, mister smuggler," Zaos said. "What do you think of becoming the captain of one of those?" 

The smuggler captain frowned when he heard that. It seemed that the kid had lost his mind now that he realized that the game was over. The others also thought the same thing, but then Drannor realized what Zaos was thinking.

"You can't do that alone," Drannor said.

"I am sure that I can," Zaos said. "Still, it will be faster if you come with me."