Bear School Astartes

Chapter 86: 86. Memories Emerge

This middle-aged man’s features are handsome and striking, and upon closer look, they even bear some resemblance to the portrait on the Oren Coin.

He adjusted the puffed sleeves on his hands and put down the miniature model.

”Ubank, you should know, it is because of these children that I have established a friendly relationship with the gentlemen of the Sun Sect.”

”And now, are you telling me? Just because of one filthy mutant scumbag, eighty children have directly turned into a quarter?”

Ubank didn’t raise his head.

Unlike his cautious and fawning attitude in front of Safra, facing his true boss, Ubank well understood—

Don’t seek forgiveness, show value.

The Sun Sect is the state religion of the Southern Niflgaard Empire.

They worship the sun as the only True God, and all the holy professionals can only be male.

Maintaining relations with them is a critical aspect that the boss values greatly.

”I will lead a team to the coast of Hidaris, where the aftermath of the war has yet to settle. The men have nearly all died, and the women are crumbling under fear and humiliation. Although many children have also died, as long as you turn over the farmers’ rice bins and search under the floors, you’ll be able to gather enough.”

”How are you going to assemble the team?”

The handsome middle-aged man spoke calmly.

For him, such matters were merely trivial business, and when it comes to business, one must consider the cost.

If Ubank dared to say ”please allocate some of your men,” he could end up lying in the manor’s flower garden today.

But fortunately, this Skellige warrior’s mind was sharp.

”I am a Skellige man; I can assemble a group of Skellige warriors at sea. We are all seasoned pirates, and one trusts homeland folk more than outsiders, so long as I release word that there is work, I can gather at least a dozen people.”

”But while Skellige warriors are ruthless killers, most of them have a sense of honor. How will you drive them to snatch children? Even as pirates, they engage in battles against slave ships despite the cost. Honestly, I believe that if you work in front of them, they might use an axe to cleave you first.”

The middle-aged man asked with interest.

”The pirate ships won’t only have Skellige people; once we open the situation, I will arrange a mead feast which Skellige folks love most. Pirate feasts always claim lives, and the warriors always die in the first batch...”

Saying this, Ubank revealed a bold and delighted smile like a true islander.

The naturalness of this smile prompted the middle-aged man to applaud in praise.

”Haha! You certainly are clever as can’t be expected of an islander, Ubank. You should rest for a few days.”

After applauding, the middle-aged man nodded.

”I will allocate you a longship fit for battle, along with a hold filled with supplies and silver too heavy for you to carry. And you, you shall bring back a hundred and sixty beautiful young boys for me, and finally, let this sinful slave boat meet its deserved fate, sinking in the wrath of Meretelli. You have two months.”

”At your command.”

Ubank bent over with a bow, his stiff islander spine forced into a graceful arc.

Just as he was about to leave the study, the burly man suddenly remembered something and mentioned it to his boss.

”By the way, sir, I keep thinking, that Demon Hunter won’t let it rest.”

Ubank cautiously and respectfully reminded.

”I’ve seen that kind of look...unless he tears both my and your throats out, he won’t stop.”

The middle-aged man, already engrossed again in his carriage model, waved impatiently.

”Don’t take such little bugs seriously, a Demon Hunter? Heavens, when did a lowly mutant’s name start appearing in my study?”

Ubank glanced at the two plate armor warriors at the corner of the hallway outside the door, shrugged, and left.

~~~~~~

Lann is now on a barge.

Embarrassingly, it was only after riding with Alia for a day and a half that he found a Temeria map tucked at the bottom of the bag prepared for him at Airetusa.

Only then did he realize, to travel from his current location to the Capital Vizima, taking a boat would be much faster than riding.

Thus, he led the curious little girl attendant aboard an inland barge at a river village’s dock.

In ordinary people’s lives, they rarely used whole Oren Coins.

Temeria is the most powerful country in the north, almost on par with Redania under Veltrest’s leadership.

Oren’s purchasing power and stability match this nation’s strength.

So when paying for the ship fare, Lann even had to split a few Orens from his purse, asking the ticket seller to use small scissors to clip the edges off the gold coin to avoid its excessive value.

Medieval levels of commerce is not just tossing several gold coins on the table and being done with it.

What’s the purity of the gold coins, how intact are the edges?

These all require professional accountants to identify on the spot, even using balances.

Lann adjusted his hood, and over the past few days, seemingly due to the continuous effects of the genetic seed.

He felt his appetite was growing increasingly larger, and the armor, initially fitting, started feeling restricted.

The hair on his head grew quickly, his original hairstyle hidden by length.

Now, half of Lann’s hair, hanging down to his neck, had turned into gleaming silver-white.

And according to the facial muscle data adjusted daily by Mentos, his face shape was constantly undergoing slight modifications.

The adjustment was very subtle, to the point that neither Alia, who was with him day and night, nor Lann himself could be aware of it.

But when Mentos called up the facial data from ten days ago for comparison, even Lann himself was amazed.

”This handsome chap is growing absolutely incredible, huh!”

The genetic seed seemed to impart a delicate and graceful refinement to the facial features.

But when balanced with Lann’s original looks, it only appeared healthy and full of vitality.

Lann nodded at the handsome face reflected in the water and walked toward the bow, stepping over passengers’ scattered luggage and bags along the way.

The horses crammed in the middle of the barge snorted, their hooves stomping on the deck with loud thuds. Alia claimed that looking after the horses was part of a squire’s duties, thus she was rightfully occupying Bopai’s saddle alone.

The hull was centered on the water, shrouded in dense mist. The barge’s bow parted the lilies on the water’s surface.

Riding horseback on a moving boat...she indeed had a good gift for balance.

As Lann passed by her, his mind automatically conjured up dozens of sword techniques to face an opponent with excellent balance on horseback.

This wasn’t simply a matter of frozen movements.

It was a full set of the movement styles, combat ideas, and timing grasp of dozens of swordsmanship!

The dizziness in his mind felt like Mentos in a Coke bottle, making the Demon Hunter’s steps falter momentarily.

But immediately in the following second, Lann’s steps regained stability.

”Mentos, you failed to intercept again!”

The young man walked to the bow, leaning on the railing.

Yet he had already started rebuking his bio-brain internally.

”How many times has the interception algorithm you developed worked for these spontaneous memory surges? You tell me!”

The knowledge in the memories was fantastic, but Lann didn’t want his brain overloaded during a sword fight with the enemy!

Yet Mentos, the system, also protested!

”Memories spanning ten thousand years! Ten thousand years! Do you know how messy and chaotic the contents are?!”

”I am just a primary student learning machine’s computing power! Do you think I can write the intercept algorithm well? I lack the ability, you know!”

”I’ve been just patching, patching here these days! Endlessly patching!”

”Anyway, the memory backlash will definitely last for several days more, so just bear with it.”

The bio-brain finished speaking, ignoring Lann’s sulking, and directly returned to work.

The Demon Hunter pinched the bridge of his nose, exhaling a breath of stale air.

Damn, I can’t even maintain the ”English butler dialogue style” I’ve set...making it utterly lacking any class!