The Master of Language - T.M.L Chapter 21 (Part 1):

Kiririring-!

The rusty anchor chain was unraveling at a rapid pace.

It was a deafening sound of friction that made me wince involuntarily.

As it descended so quickly, there was a sound like a giant ball bursting when the anchor collided with the sea.

Soon after, a heavy vibration traveled up the anchor chain. Everyone lost their balance and stumbled, and Oshalo even fell forward.

Thud.

It was a close call. Cannonballs were falling all around the ship. Countless water columns began to rise before our eyes.

Swoosh-!

Swoosh-!

Some of them burst right in front of our ship.

If the ship had been just a little bit forward, it would have been shattered to pieces.

Naturally, the Count, myself, and Oshalo, we all ended up soaked like wet rats.

“Oh. Good thing I didn’t wear it.”

The Count was stroking his necklace.

Wasn’t that a dangerous situation just now?

If we had made the slightest mistake, we could have been sinking together to the bottom of the sea.

Suddenly, my trust in him plummets.

I looked at the captain and said,

“You’re going to accelerate again, right? I’ll raise the anchor for you.”

The captain nodded at my words, somewhat bewildered.

The device for raising the anchor is shaped like a giant millstone, with five sailors holding handles protruding in five directions and turning it.

Recalling this mechanism, I extended my staff. The device began to turn on its own, starting to pull in the iron chain connected to the anchor.

The five sailors assigned to this task wore blank expressions.

“Don’t just stand there, you turn it too!”

As the captain shouted, they quickly grabbed the handles and started turning rapidly.

The captain raised his hand again.

It was a matter of moments before the first mate recognized this and signaled to the slave overseer in the hold, and the slave overseer in turn signaled to each of the slaves.

Kirik-!

As the anchor was fully raised, the ship began to move forward quickly once more.

These slaves are strong.

The captain passed by Count Furst, myself, and Oshalo, placing one foot on the bow of the ship, and took out a telescope from his bosom.

Then he carefully examined the Franche warship.

“Won’t they fire their cannons sequentially?”

The captain answered the Count’s question in a low voice.

“If they had the brains for that, they wouldn’t have thought to fire randomly in the first place. As expected, the number of fired cannonballs matches the number of gun ports. We just need to get within range before they reload. It’s risky, but if your mage can block that glowing thing like before, we should be able to approach successfully.”

The captain glanced at me once and then passed by us again, heading towards the helmsman responsible for steering the ship.

The pirate ship moved in a zigzag pattern while rapidly advancing towards the Franche warship.

Definitely not a simple pirate.

“Ran. I see a red glow, it seems they’re preparing magic again on the other side.”

Hmm, it’s the same magic.

They probably dismissed the previous failure as a fluke.

Well, all I did was manipulate the moisture, so they probably didn’t sense traces of my magic.

Just like before, I held up my transparent magic book and raised my staff high, gathering moisture in the sky above the Franche warship.

As time passed, the red light rose into the sky and gathered in an instant.

Pop-!

As expected, the fire magic only produced a small light for a very brief moment before disappearing.

I lowered my staff and said,

“They must have noticed by now. That there’s a mage here too.”

“Then, what do you think they’ll do next?”

“Well… They’ll probably join the attack, won’t they?”

Whoosh.

Speak of the devil.

A small flame rose like a ball from the bow of the Franche warship, soon growing large enough to obscure everyone’s vision.

The light wasn’t strong enough to reveal our position. However, it was clear they intended to throw it at us as we approached.

It would be more accurate than cannonballs, I suppose.

I heard hurried footsteps approaching from behind, and soon the captain spoke to me.

“We’re within cannon range now. But they’ll soon discover us and that fireball will hit us.”

He means he wants me to get rid of it, I guess.

I shrugged my shoulders.

“I can’t eliminate that with my power.”

The captain’s face contorted at those words.

Just as he was about to express his anger, I stole his timing.

“If we turn tail and run now, we’re more likely to be hit by cannonballs. Our only option is to charge ahead.”

The captain looked back and forth between the Count and me several times, then growled,

“Let’s hope we don’t all end up as ashes.”

As he stomped away, Oshalo muttered,

“Up close, the Franche warship doesn’t look that big? We have almost ten ships, right?”

“That’s right. We might have helped too much.”

When I looked at the Count, he gave a slight nod.

It would be good if the pirates defeat the Franche army, but they shouldn’t win too easily.

The more pirates survive, in the short term, the more payment we’ll have to make, and in the long term, it leaves potential future problems.

“Come closer, just in case.”

Oshalo and I quickly moved next to Count Furst.

The captain stood on the high deck, shouting various orders. The pirate ships at the two ends of the V-formation gradually increased speed to form a straight line, then slowly reversed into a V-formation again.

It seemed they intended to surround the Franche warship.

“Pirate ships!”

“They’re here!”

We were close enough to hear the shouts of the Franche soldiers.

And at the same time, the fireball floating at the bow flew towards one end of the V-formation and collided with its center.

Boom-!

The fireball did more than just collide with the ship; it exploded in all directions simultaneously.

As a result, that ship completely lost its function, rapidly slowing down and beginning to sink into the sea.

Another fireball started forming on the Franche warship.

Dangun

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