Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1182 1164. River Shipwreck
The local knight and his followers watched as everyone got on board, and not a single mercenary escaped.

The inland barge untied the fixed ropes tied to the wooden stakes at the ferry and began to move forward in the river. Only then did it breathe a sigh of relief, thinking that it had completely completed its work.

The knight, whose leather straps on his armor were almost unable to hold tight, pulled his horse's head and turned to leave. He looked at Sakia who was standing on the bow and looking into the distance with reluctance.

This ship should also be chartered by Shiward. A group of mercenaries and warriors with clanking armor and ferocious looks came up, and the captain didn't even raise his eyelids.

As an adult sailing on the Pontar River, he had seen a lot of the world, so this certainly didn't shock him.

Several mercenaries wanted to talk to the captain to see if they could get some additional information.

But the captain was only focused on driving the boat, chewing a dried fish fillet in his mouth, as if he didn't notice anyone around him at all.

So the mercenaries, who couldn't get any information, were indignant, but they couldn't do anything to the captain on the ship. They could only spit and curse at the captain as they walked away.

The Embers Knights were different from the scattered mercenaries. All ten of them held long swords in their hands and stood around their war horses and their own baggage.

Significantly different from the mercenaries next to them, the mercenaries seemed to sense this incompatible atmosphere, so most of them walked around the Embers Knights.

Qilin didn't want to be crowded with a group of horses, so when he reached the ferry, he just ran away.

The Qilin that ran away on its own, and the fluffy ball that jumped off the Qilin and ran to Lan En, both startled the group of people.

But it was just a surprise.

There are so many strange things and unprecedented species in this world. I heard that people have discovered a mermaid kingdom in Sidaris that built palaces on the seabed in the offshore area.

A knight of Sidaris also married a merman there who had lost her fish tail.

Pragmatic mercenaries and warriors accept these things quickly, just like Geralt and Berengar, or romantic Dandelion.

Most of those who want to get to the bottom of things are scholars or professors.

"I have to say," the fluff ball stood beside Lan En, and the two kittens spread their paws helplessly, "They look really unfriendly, meow."

"I took the initiative to greet them, meow~"

In fact, as soon as the kitten jumped out of Qilin's mane and ran to Lan En, it greeted the others enthusiastically.

But most people were just surprised when they saw a large calico cat wearing armor and carrying a sword, and could talk.

Then he didn't respond, but just frowned and moved away from the deck where Lan and the fluff ball were.

Shows an attitude of not intending to get involved.

This was a bit of a blow to the fluffy ball, who was greeting them enthusiastically.

The triangular ears on the kitten's head drooped down.

"They are here to make money or gain fame." Lan En lowered his head and explained to the fluff ball, "They have clear goals, and will try their best to avoid getting entangled with uncertain factors in the process."

I don’t know if the fluff ball didn’t care, or if it accepted Lan’s explanation, but its mood soon improved.

"So we're going to take the boat all the way to the river valley, meow?"

The fluffy ball jumped onto the bow rail of the barge, squatted with its tail drooping, and looked ahead.

It asked, but the little head didn't look at Lan En behind it.

Instead, he looked at the only mercenary standing next to him who showed no resistance.

Sachia was standing at the bow, holding the railing and looking forward.

The sudden action of the fluffy ball jumping next to her did not scare her. Instead, she turned her head to look at Felyne with a slightly surprised expression.

It seems that she is more open to new things than the mercenaries.

"That's true." Sakia said very naturally and in an equal manner to a race that was obviously not human. "I think that Duke Seaward should have set up camp near the ferry outside the valley."

"We are now the people he is waiting for. Once we have enough people, we should go in and solve the problem."

She seemed to like the pom-poms.

The dark-blonde-haired female warrior stretched out her arms and pointed to the front of the barge: "Our ship has been sailing for two hours, and the next ferry is not far ahead. But I don't think we should stop like ordinary barges."

On the right side of the river bank ahead, there was a small wooden sentry box and a layer of wooden boards laid on the wet river beach at the ferry. A group of scattered people were seen walking back and forth.

"If we don't stop all the way," Sakia thought for a moment, "I remember Knight Samaresh said that we can arrive before dinner."

Hearing this, the flannel ball's tail, which was hanging down the railing, wagged a little more cheerfully.

The brave kitten can never wait for adventure.

But at this time, Lan En also walked onto the bow of the barge. He stood on the other side of the flannel ball, stretching his tall body and looking forward.

"But it's hard to say now, fluff ball, Sakia."

"Ok?"

"Meow?"

The man and the cat looked at Lan En in confusion at the same time.

The demon hunter said calmly: "There seems to be something wrong at the ferry ahead."

Lane's observation was correct.

As their barge got closer, the situation at the ferry not far ahead became increasingly clear.

When they arrived nearby, the people on their boat discovered that the people walking back and forth on the wooden boards laid at the ferry were not civilian peddlers carrying goods.

It was the sergeant with the emblem of the Principality of Elland printed on his clothes. "Don't go over there! Slow down! You have to slow down and stop the ship!"

A sergeant on horseback ran out from the ferry, came close to the barge and shouted at the boat.

The mercenaries all frowned immediately, and some of the more sensitive ones even drew their weapons.

However, matters on the river and on the boat still have to be handled by the captain.

The captain, holding a piece of dried fish in his mouth, frowned, stepped away from the rudder, walked to the side of the boat and shouted a reply to the sergeant on the shore.

"Hey! What's going on? Didn't you get the notice? This is a ship chartered with a note from Duke Heward! It never stops!"

The wind and waves on the river were quite loud, so the captain developed the habit of shouting loudly.

Before he spoke, he took the dried fish off and held it in his hand to prevent it from spraying out while he spoke.

The reasons given by the mounted sergeant on the shore were quite reasonable and convincing.

The captain, who had the personal approval of Duke Heward, began to slow down without saying a word.

He only shouted one sentence.

"There's a shipwreck in the river ahead! Are you guys trying to feed the fish?"

Finally, with the captain's frantic emergency braking, the inland barge stopped in front of the ferry.

A small boat was rowed out from the ferry direction and came to the barge in the center of the Pontar River.

The captain lowered a rope ladder and brought the people up.

That was also a sergeant.

But Lan En looked at his gasping, bandaged body and confirmed that the man was not injured in the shipwreck.

This wound could only come from combat.

The first thing he did after getting on board was to ask the captain for people.

"We know this is the Duke's chartered ship, it's not stopping. We received the notice, but huh~"

He took a breath and continued.

"But if you want to get there quickly, you need people to help us clean up the river. The more people we have, the faster we can clean it up. Is that right?"

The captain who pulled the people aboard and the mercenaries on the ship all had grim expressions on their faces.

If they fail to arrive at the agreed location on time, they will not be able to get the full payment. They may even get no payment at all and make a wasted trip.

"Pah." The captain tilted his head and spat out the dried fish residue in his mouth. "Clearing the sunken ship in the river, this project will take at least two days, right?"

"Alas, our contract is over."

The captain lamented, but the sergeant's tone was not so pessimistic.

"It won't take more than two days. The ship just sank and it's not very big. If we work together, we can clear it out quickly."

But as soon as the sergeant finished speaking, Lan En came over from the bow and asked.

"It just sank, so it's not big?"

The tall figure approached, causing the others to unconsciously step back.

"Then why did this kind of boat sink at the ferry? The hydrological environment here is very stable, right?"

"Wait. Who are you? Melitari! And what is this cat in armor?"

The sergeant's eyes widened in surprise.

But the captain asked impatiently: "Don't worry about those unimportant things. It's just a cat in armor. I have seen mermaids! I'm asking you a question! What's the situation at the ferry? This concerns the rewards of dozens of us!"

The sergeant scratched his head, looked at the mercenaries and captain who were surrounding him ferociously, then looked at the fluffy ball beside Lan's leg that raised its little paw to greet him.

"Well, the main thing is the Scoia'tael. They rushed out of the forest and attacked the ferry. The boat was sabotaged and sank. Fortunately, there was only a small boat like this one parked at the ferry, otherwise it would have been a real blockage."

After saying that, he looked around.

"Do you want to send someone or not? You are the ones who should be most anxious about this matter."

The sergeant is right, that is indeed the truth.

So in order to catch up with this mission from the Duke and get the reward.

After a few angry curses at the Squirrel Party in low voices, a few of the mercenaries boarded the sergeant's boat and were taken to the shore to help clean up the river.

The boat went back and forth several times, taking quite a few people aboard.

Lan En and the others also reached the shore.

"In my opinion, the Scoia'tael here are too rampant. They're almost like Kaedwen!"

After landing, the mercenaries talked in low voices on the way to the ferry.

"But Temeria is actually pretty nice to those non-human bastards, right?"

"What's the point of saying this? Non-humans are all ungrateful bastards who can't be trusted. This is just another proof. They should have been killed long ago."

(End of this chapter)