27 Chapter 7. Inspector or Is the Inspector Coming to Us!? Part 4.

Here's a chapter for the power stones

***

As expected, my squad of poor souls with swords was in a sorry state. They swung them around as best they could, clearly trying to replicate some moves they had seen on the sidelines. What to do in such a situation, I wasn't entirely sure, so for the first few days, while I pondered, they suffered through physical training.

Push-ups, squats, and whatever else I could come up with. Of course, I didn't make them do it on the floor, because, well, why bother?

I even sought advice from the captain – he may try to pass himself off as a seasoned sea wolf, but he had served as an ordinary private soldier. He suggested pairing them up: one practicing a simple strike, and the other a simple block, for a long and tedious period, occasionally switching the strike and block.

Scratching my head, I agreed, and for the first week of our journey, that's what they did, wearing serious expressions. It turned out that out of twenty poor souls, four were higher in rank and could supposedly command the others. Without much thought, I divided them into groups of four, each responsible for them in front of me.

Then gradually I would appoint one as a deputy and delegate everything to them that didn't require my involvement. So I wouldn't get too bogged down in these work matters and simply give commands to one responsible person, and ask them if needed.

Afterward, I decided to spice up their routine with something slightly more fun and added sparring with me, whether it was with a spear or a sword – they seemed to grasp the minimal swinging of both. And I played the role of some enemy, not with a rapier, lest I blunder, putting up different blocks, while grabbing one of the swords.

My task was simple – I put up blocks to their attacks and obviously and slowly counterattacked, so the poor soul had time to put up a block or react somehow. Of course, ideally, they should have just sparred, but let's be honest – they'd just end up injuring themselves. They're not mature enough yet.

There were no surprises, no geniuses, and no complete failures either, probably because it couldn't get any worse.

But after another week, there was some progress. I even somewhat successfully had them fight each other: it went without surprises, and they clanked their weapons decently. And I realized too late that maybe I should have taken wooden swords. But hindsight is 20/20.

At the same time, I tried to instill some proper attitude towards the sword, apparently allowing too... Panda-like interpretations on the side, so with time, even through the slits of their helmets, you could see a thoughtful look. Also, the rest of the crew would often gather to watch and listen to my training sessions, sitting with such a thoughtful look, as if I wasn't feeding them philosophical nonsense to add some brains or at least principles, but revealing the truth in the last instance.

Teach them, maybe, a bit of their principle, that they should look like an automatic weapon, attached to a rifle, without any unnecessary sparkle. Nah, life will teach them. I can't do it myself.

Watching all this, I realized that the plan – to take the first ship by boarding – was bad. I decided to first show a master class and that pirates are nothing. Because there were too many fearful talks about pirates. About overly romanticized pirates, like some kind of Robin Hoods.

Maybe kind-hearted pirates exist on the vast ocean, but I had too much dealings with all sorts of scum during my training with the master, and during my outings, to understand that it's all crap. Kind bandits, just like knights falling in love with princesses after saving them – only exist in fairy tales.

To my surprise, an unexpected thing happened – they tried to flirt with me. There were plenty of girls on our vessel, eight of my poor souls alone, and plenty of locals too. Of course, not all of them, but a couple approached and tried to start a conversation.

Maybe I'm flattering myself – it's not easy for me either: I could only talk normally with the captain, but even then, he's pushing forty, I'm eighteen. We found interesting topics for conversation, but nothing more. And the captain was busy with the ship we were sailing on, not in a hotel.

Oh yes, by the way, about "sailing." I didn't mask this very well from the crew, but I was seasick the first week. This is the main reason why I decided to start training myself later. Before, I was simply incapable.

By the second week, it was getting easier, but now I don't like ships. Period. Nor swimming. Let's add that to my list of dislikes. This list isn't too long yet: helmet, swimming, and arranged marriages.

Anyway, I decided to blend in with the team a bit, and during the next "secret" binge in the barracks, which no one "notices," despite the laughter that makes the fish scatter, and the stench of alcohol in the morning, I went there. I wouldn't mind having a drink either.

"I'm telling you, he's a sword spirit, not a human, don't look at his age," one of my poor souls exclaimed, waving a half-empty sake cup emphatically. His cheeks were slightly flushed and his eyes were mischievous, but the way he praised me made him blush even more. "Did you see how quickly he can move? No, seriously, did you see?"

"Yeah, we got it, Katsu, just sit down," one girl chuckled, smiling sweetly. "I heard he's a student of Piandao, not some sword spirit. He's too... alive for a spirit. I've seen where his gaze occasionally falls," she finished, blushing slightly.

Well, what can I say? The dress code is indeed flexible, but many often only wear the basic elements, and many dress more sportily for training. So the girls often have a nice rear in something tight-fitting, more or less. Sometimes, my gaze may wander, let's say, but solely for observation purposes! Just in case someone's doing something wrong.

"I think it's just a disguise," grumbled a displeased guy, nevertheless taking a seat.

"I think with time, we'll figure out if it's a disguise or not – right now we need to give it our all to stay under his command," a slightly overweight guy, as much as possible in the army, chimed in. "You understand why we're here, right?"

"What?"

"Oh," he sighed meaningfully, "he's an inspector. Usually, children of important parents end up in this position, so they have somewhere to place their son, where he'll get rewards and won't risk his life too much. And around him, you can practically count on a guard of soldiers. And in our case, it's exactly the opposite – we're practically useless to him, just the required number of soldiers, so..."

"Good conclusions," I intervened, deciding to interrupt this speech, "but not entirely correct."

Everyone jumped as if stung and stared at me with eyes full of fear. One of the four "commanders" stepped forward.

"Uh, Captain, we were just... we just..."

"You're drinking," I prompted, smiling slightly, although they say, my smiles are often maniacal, when artificially induced, and judging by their slightly paler faces, it's true, "and not for the first time. Your laughter is heard throughout the ship, by the way."

"We... we..." No one knew what to say in this situation, only the one who had stepped forward tried to start but couldn't come up with anything else.

"Cut the panic," I smiled even more kindly, "I didn't come here to reprimand, everyone needs to relax sometimes. I just decided to join in, drinking elite sake with the captain is cool, of course, but I think no one will mind if I sit here with you?"

"Of course, of course," they assured me immediately, making way, seating me, pouring a cup of sake, and continuing to stand and stare at me.

"Sit down," everyone sat down.

Yes, the hierarchy here is cruel, so they sit, trembling like rabbits in front of a snake. And although they may look tired, everyone has their own rules, especially people like me, who can let a lot of things slide, so theoretically, I could even throw someone overboard.

"Why are you all frozen?" I raised an eyebrow and looked at the one who had spoken, "Let me continue your conclusion. By and large, it's correct, but there are tasks that I alone can't handle. Not combat, of course, but there are. And that's where I need you. So don't relax too much from his words, you'll be working on various assignments and combat tasks with me. But if you look at it from another angle – the job ahead of us isn't dusty. To explore the colonies and draw conclusions, send reports. Problems may arise only if someone tries to make us shut up forcibly, and that's why we've been sailing the wrong way for a week now. First, let's earn ourselves a reputation, any reputation, and chop up all the pirates we see into tiny pieces. And then we can go ashore. That's the plan."

"But Captain, we don't have enough supplies!" one of the soldiers spoke up, "there's only enough for a week at most."

"We'll negotiate in ports," I shrugged, "not a big problem. The inspector has a lot of different rights, including requisitioning supplies for himself. Alright, I understand casual conversation won't work, so let me tell you something. Want to hear about how my friend and I killed a huge wolf when we were kids?"

Agreement and joy poured from all sides, as it seemed, they weren't planning to beat us up.

"Well, if you want, let's drink first!"

Well, they listened to my story favorably, and maybe someone even concluded that I'm not from an ordinary family, but my Russian face gives that away anyway, so it's not much of a secret. Then, after another one of my stories, tales from the army and other incidents started flowing – in short, we were just having a great time drinking.

I, soul-wise, relaxed – the scrutiny of my rank was still there, but rest is rest. I won't ruin their day by reminding them they have training tomorrow.

Everyone fell asleep wherever they could, and I didn't go far myself, falling asleep somewhere on a sack with a soldier on top of me. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a drunk who climbed on and passed out, but what about me?

In the morning, out of habit, I woke up before everyone else and, carefully pushing the body off me, went to dress properly, tidy myself up, and return to wake everyone up with my usual emotionless face.

"MORN-ING!" I can yell, that's for sure. It's probably somehow related to being an Airbender, but who knows?

"Captain, please don't yell," muttered the liveliest one from yesterday, "maybe we can skip training today, huh?"

"I don't understand," I approached him and leaned in, yelling right into his ear, "MORNING! Just because we drank together yesterday doesn't mean anything. If you're not on deck in full gear in twenty minutes, forget about alcohol altogether! Can't handle your drink – tough luck. I'll break you in training!"

Thirty minutes later, everyone stood on deck, swaying slightly, bodies emitting heat hotter than their fire. I'm sure they cursed me thoroughly, but there was nothing else to be done. I'm now, shall we say, trying to pretend I'm okay and ready for anything, swaying myself.

***

"Aki, pirate ship at one hundred twenty degrees, what's the plan?" Ully's voice echoed as I watched my poor souls work once again.

As they say, you can watch three things endlessly...

Several more days passed on my voyage, and finally, we arrived at a pirate-infested area – where trading ships go. And I was already itching for a fight, eagerly scanning the horizon, and then this gift.

"We're catching up, old friend, catching up and getting close enough for me to jump," I commanded.

Ully shouted something briskly from the cabin, and our ship gained new speed towards the wooden sailboat, a mere speck compared to our vessel. The pirates must have noticed because they swiftly adjusted their sails and began sailing away from us, but to no avail.

In just five minutes, we were almost side by side.

"Alright, listen to my command," I roared, picking up the scabbard with my rapier and pulling it out while on the move. "Watch and pay attention, see how pathetic these pirates are."

And with those words, I jumped from the height of our ship to theirs. Time to clean up the sea from all this rubbish, isn't it?

Hi, now for every 200 power stones there will be a chapter.

patreone com paracetam0l