White Flag & The Condition

Because the sun was almost setting, Lord Loir, whose shoulders were sore, finally stretched his arms and got up from the chair. Then with a thin smile he walked towards a large mirror on the edge of the room and started to make a proud face.

"Hmm, it would be a shame if I went straight home. Should I go have a drink at the bar first?" He muttered with a faint laugh.

When they come home from work, most soldiers with 5 stars like him will probably rush home immediately to meet their families and their 3 children. But because the man with a tall stature and a thin beard was still single, he still had the freedom to use his night time as he pleases.

But since he also didn't want to spend it alone, he approached the man who was standing not far from the door of his room. "Yo, Jury, how about we have a drink tonight?" He said.

"But I have to take turns guarding the port, so…"

"Eyy, there are already a lot of guards over there, so you can skip it once in a while. Trust your boss!"

"...You said that last week and I got punished by Mr. Ramon."

"Tsk, that grandpa sure is no fun." He grunted. But then his eyes caught a soldier running towards him. "Oi, Wiz, how about we grab a drink--"

"Mr. Loir, you gotta go to the port now!" Said the man with a panicked face. "There are pirates approaching the docks! And… And it belongs to Irigen!" He added.

"...!" And without further ado, both Loir and Jury immediately started running to follow their subordinates. After all, the name of the most wanted pirate in the kingdom definitely didn't bode well.

"What do Irigen want over here? Don't tell me he already shot a fireball at the pier?" Asked Jury while all of them were running.

"Fortunately not yet." He replied.

And sure enough, when they got to the docks, there were already dozens of other soldiers preparing to receive the attack. Even the merchants who are usually busy selling around the area have already fled somewhere else.

Then far away on the sunset horizon, you can see a ship with a black flag approaching. They even had another ship following behind--even though strangely it looked kind of shabby.

Seeing their leader coming, one of the other soldiers approached him again. But before he could start reporting, Loir asked first. "Have you guys given any warning signs? And had he returned the signal to attack or something? He demands something?"

"Ah, that, we already gave a warning sign, but…"

"But they said they would still attack?"

"No. In fact, they even seem to be waving a white flag."

"..." Unsure of what he was hearing, Loir fell silent. Until finally he decided to grab his subordinate's binoculars and go to the front row. And as his subordinates reported, there was indeed a white cloth that could be seen fluttering in front of the ship.

"Wait... That's not Irigen." He muttered while continuing to squint his eyes to see more clearly into the binoculars. "Kranfein…?"

==================================

"Damn clams! I knew there would be a lot of soldiers on the docks!" Said Feny while biting her trembling finger. "I'll just lower the flag!"

"Just leave it." Cut Rei to stop her. "Besides, we already put on the white cloth. It won't attract enough attention if we put down the black one too." He added relaxedly.

Especially when he looked back through the binoculars, his smile immediately widened. "Ah, Loir finally came too. I was worried that he already went home, but luckily he hasn't."

Rei turned to the small ship beside to check on their precious captives. But when he saw that Aria was still busy treating the dreadlock man's wound, he got a little annoyed. "Stop wasting your meager magic when it's almost evening like this! After we hand him over, someone will heal him later." He shouted.

But whether she heard it or not, Aria didn't pay any heed to it and kept busy messing up the contents of one of the boxes on the ship. Because with such a large stab wound, Aria's magic alone is not enough to close the wound. So even though it wasn't much, luckily the old man had some herbs they used to sell.

Although Irigen who saw it also became more confused. It wasn't because of Aria's useless kindness or even her cleverness in healing wounds, but rather her defiance towards the noble on the next ship.

"...You're not his servant, are you?" He asked in a weak voice, although Aria also didn't answer because she needed to apply the medicine first. "Ack!" He groaned, although the sensation immediately felt better until finally Aria finished wrapping the bandage around his stomach.

BUGH! But just as Aria was about to return to using her healing magic on the pirate, Rei suddenly jumped back on the ship and immediately pointed his sword at Irigen's neck. "Don't even try." He suddenly threatened him.

"W-What are you doing?" Aria asked, confused. "He can't--"

"His magic is already back." Rei cut in, who had indeed run there right after Feny squawked that she couldn't use the magic anymore. And after feeling it more, even though it was faint, Aria also started to realize the existence of magic from Irigen's body.

"Well, that dagger is a lowly item, so it's not surprising that the effects only last for a short while." Rei added.

Slightly hesitating, Aria looked at the man whose neck was in danger of being cut. And indeed, the person seemed to be widening his smile like he was laughing at something. But unsure from where, Aria didn't feel that laughter hinted at his intention to fight back.

"…Wait, at least let me heal him a bit more." Aria said finally.

"Are you even listening? Tie him back to the stake!"

"But if I do that the wound on his stomach will be compressed again."

"..." From the grit of his teeth, Rei looked like he was about to move his sword towards Aria. But somehow, he was able to endure it. "You, really… Just go! I'll look for him instead!" He could only scolded her that much.

Aria hesitated a bit, but she finally decided to walk away. Even though Irigen laughed again at that. "Haha. Must be troublesome to have such a disobedient servant." He taunted. "I understand, you know. I also have a lot of incompetent subordinates, so sometimes I--"

"Shut up." Interrupted Rei while bringing his sword closer.

Irigen initially complied and said nothing more. But then he thought of a question that had confused him from the start. "But really, why do you even want to hand me over to the kingdom? Do you even get anything in return?" He asked.

"Well, I know the price of my head is a bit expensive…" He suddenly added with a proud thone. "But it shouldn't be much either, especially for a noble like you."

"…You yourself, why didn't you try running away from earlier?" Rei replied. Because even if he already got there as fast as he could, he would still be a few moments late if Irigen immediately tried using his magic.

"A beautiful woman is treating me! Why should I run away?" Replied Irigen as if that was obvious. "Although, I'm not sure about it now, hm… But well, if you call her again, it's certain I won't think of that idea anymore."

With a wary frown in his brow, Rei brought his sword closer to Irigen's neck again. But then his eyes caught the figure of Aria on the side of the ship who seemed to have heard that and started to make a hopeful face that she can treat Irigen again.

"...Screw it. Come here again." He said and Aria immediately ran over.

"But on one condition." He added suddenly while restraining Aria, and he again sharpened his eyes on Irigen. "Don't break out of prison before a week. Or at least 6 days." He said.

Because with Irigen's abilities, Rei knew clearly that he could do it easily. Been many times like that. And that could interfere with his plans.

"Huh?" Irigen glanced at Aria to see if she understood what he meant. But because Aria also wore the same confused expression, Irigen replied, "Why should I? You think I didn't know they were going to put me in the stocks in public after a week?!"

"Don't you know it'll be easier if you run away when the show starts? Because you will be released from prison by then." Said Rei.

"Ha! Already tried it! But unfortunately they poisoned me with a debilitating drug right before the show started."

Rei played with his lips to find another inducement, and surprisingly he found one. "...I'll let her visit you if you do as I say--"

"Really??" Irigen replied, who was immediately excited when he saw Rei pointing at Aria's face. "Every day?"

Rei glanced at Aria doubtfully. "Twice."

"Four--"

Thump! Spontaneously, Rei immediately put his foot on Irigen's face. "Two. Or I will have them cut your throat right away before you can even go to prison."