Bear School Astartes

”Which of the gods?”

The One-eyed Man leaned close to Barnabas’s aged face, staring with his single good eye. On his face was a fierce and delighted expression.

Which one of the gods? Does it even matter? I’ve sworn to the gods!

Barnabas thought in his chaotic mind.

And his uncontrollable mouth said it too.

”Does it even mat... glub glub!”

Unfortunately, the One-eyed Man clearly didn’t expect a reply. He immediately shoved Barnabas’s head back under the steaming water of the cauldron.

This time, the submersion was only a few seconds, a bit better than before.

Perhaps the One-eyed Man considered that the old man didn’t even have a chance to take a deep breath previously; any longer, and he’d drown, ending the fun.

Once again coming out of the water as if reborn, Barnabas’s mouth dared not stop.

”All the gods! I swear! I swear to all the gods!”

”I’ve never met anyone who could talk so much bloody nonsense as you, Barnabas.” The One-eyed Man and his lackeys laughed loudly.

”You always invoke the gods.” The One-eyed Man mockingly grasped Barnabas’s head once more. ”It’s time for you to meet one of them. Old man, Hades is waiting for you!”

”No—” Barnabas’s plea was cut off midway by a splash of water. Once more, he returned to the painful abyss, his vision blurred, his lungs burning.

”What’s wrong, old man?” The One-eyed Man yanked Barnabas back up from the pot, taunting, ”Is it that the gods you believe in are mute, or have they already abandoned you?”

The guards overseeing the tied-up crew exploded in laughter.

”Kill him!” prompted one person.

Barnabas felt the One-eyed Man’s hand tighten on the back of his head again. He didn’t inhale this time, knowing that struggling would only make it last longer and hurt more.

”Why won’t you save me?” he whispered in his heart. Even as someone usually optimistic and openhearted, faced with the current situation, anyone would succumb to despair.

He saw the cauldron water rushing toward him once more...

”Let him go.” Suddenly, a voice echoed from the bay.

It was a woman’s voice, yet there were two sets of footsteps.

Barnabas stared at the water, his nose only an inch from the surface. His head was pressed down, and he could only glance sideways to see with his peripheral vision.

What he saw almost made him forget his precarious position.

He saw Cassandra striding confidently from the bay, her figure tall and graceful, exuding a sense of power.

Her face was chiseled and sharp, like it had been sculpted. Her eyes were shadowed, only a pair of fierce brows visible, and perched on her shoulder was something unbelievable—a great eagle, a bird of the gods.

Barnabas almost thought he had seen the daughter of Ares!

And the other person? The silent man?

Barnabas only thought it was a statue from Athens come to life!

He was as tall as the One-eyed Man, but not a hint of his clumsy bulk; his extraordinary height only made him appear more flawless.

He had hair like flowing silver and a finely chiseled face... In all his years on the Aegean Sea, Barnabas had never seen such a person.

But then, the dazed Barnabas was pushed down once again by the One-eyed Man.

His furious voice almost turned into a song.

”No one dares speak that word in front of me! No one! And you ask me to let him go?!”

Barnabas’s cries in the water sounded like a string of ’glub’ noises to the outside world.

Meanwhile, Cassandra amused herself by tossing a small obsidian sphere into the air and catching it.

The little ball was painted with an eye, looking like a prosthetic eye for a disabled person.

If the eyeball is removed, and the prosthetic eye isn’t used to keep the eyelids open, the muscles around the eye socket would atrophy from lack of use.

As soon as Cassandra brought out the eyeball, the One-eyed Man’s full attention followed its every rise and fall.

”He said ’One-eyed Man,’ so you feel your pride is hurt?”

Lann watched quietly from the side as Cassandra used a shockingly exaggerated tone to mock the One-eyed Man.

He found the woman’s tone and expression quite interesting when she mocked others.

Cassandra’s performance wasn’t over yet; it seemed she intended to infuriate the One-eyed Man into losing his cool completely.

”I understand people hate nicknames, but... don’t you think it’s fitting? After all, you’re hefty... I mean strong, large, and indeed, with only one eye!”

Meanwhile, the One-eyed Man’s single eye couldn’t contain anything but his fake eye.

”Give it to me!”

He stared intently at the obsidian eyeball.

”Give me my eye! If you do, I won’t pursue the matter of you stealing it from me!”

Lann had originally wanted to see what Cassandra might concoct.

After all, with the One-eyed Man valuing the obsidian eye so much, using it as bait or holding it as a protective charm in a fight could be a great str—huh?!

The thought process of a female mercenary from the Ancient Greece Era was clearly much more free-spirited than the simple young Mr. Lan.

Right then, a sheep bleated its way past the two of them.

Cassandra revealed a meaningful smile and held up the faux eyeball, ”You want it?”

She said, walking towards the sheep’s rear and lifting its tail.

The One-eyed Man froze, then panicked, ”If you dare do that, you’re dead!”

In response, Cassandra merely smiled at him and then deeply inserted it into the cavity under the sheep’s tail.

The sheep, bewildered, lifted its head and let out a terrified bleat. Then Cassandra slapped its rump, causing it to sprint awkwardly between the One-eyed Man’s two men, bouncing up the hillside, gradually moving away from the harbor.

The One-eyed Man... or rather, including Lann, and even the lifted-head Barnabas, everyone was stupefied.

After a good couple of seconds, the burly brute who controlled Cephalonia through violence and loans suddenly grabbed his head, releasing a cry of utter defeat.

”Ah, ah!!!!!”

Lann thought from the sound of his voice that it wasn’t the sheep that had something forced inside, but the One-eyed Man himself.

Cassandra, triumphantly, wanted to pat Lann’s arm beside her.

But even in his daze, Lann instinctively distanced himself from this frightening woman.

”Kill them... kill them for me!!!”

The One-eyed Man, finally accepting reality, hoisted his massive axe and loudly ordered his subordinates.