Salt and Blood [A Pirate LitRPG]

All you can see for miles in every direction is smoke, sea, and hard working men and women. Truly Nirodas is the pinnacle of industry in Bluestone

-Overheard in a tavern in Highbream

Despite her best efforts to investigate the barrier that surrounded the ship, Rose was unable to figure out how to break it. It was as though every time she drew near to figuring out part of the energy flow, it would suddenly shift to become something different.

She had tasked Daniel with interrogating the prisoners, given that both her and Commander Axel had been forced to remain on deck. It was annoying that she couldn't do it personally, but she had faith in him along with Everyn and Jason.

At the very least if they didn't learn anything from them, once they were dead the barrier might fall of its own volition. Unfortunately the journey to Nirodas wasn't that long—there was only around an hour left.

Despite the short journey Rose decided to be productive with her time. She took out her sketchbook and pencils, sitting on the prow to watch as the shoreline of Derridas came into view.

***

Skill up!
Drawing 37 > 38

Your occupation has advanced!
Apprentice Scholar 70 > 71

It was only a single level, but every little counted towards Rose's goals. She was so close now to completing her first occupation.

In comparison to an average person it was still an exceptionally fast completion, but she wasn't competing against the average person. She was at war with the greatest superpower in the surrounding oceans and she needed every edge she could get.

The completed drawing was a simple landscape. It depicted the sparkling golden sands of the beaches along the coastline of Nirodas, as well as the city itself.

Compared to some of the impregnable bastions she'd travelled to, it was rather unimpressive, but it was still a metropolis in its own right. The walls were tall and sturdy, made from polished white stone.

It gave Nirodas an ethereal look, as if it wasn't a city of this world. That contrasted with the pillars of smoke that rose from every inch of the city, yet it didn't take away from the city's industrious charm.

"Tell all of your men to return on board. If no one can figure out how to take this barrier down or I found out you've been lying about it, there will be consequences. We will have to question you regardless of what happens," Greavis told her as they approached the harbour.

There were dozens of ships moored up and down the sprawling docks. Huge beasts of the Derridas navy that dwarfed even the metal monstrosity Rose was piloting, medium sized merchant caravels, and even tiny fishing vessels that reminded her of home.

This close to the city, Rose could smell the acrid scent in the air. It lingered and clung to the insides of her nose and the back of her throat. It wasn't pleasant, but the citizens seemed inured to it.

When Daniel returned to the deck, Rose dragged him close to ask how the interrogation went. The barrier was still up, so either they hadn't disposed of the prisoners yet or killing them all hadn't caused it to fail.

"They refused to talk at first. I wasn't sure how to make them. I'm only a damn fisherman's son, not an evil pirate like you, you understand," he hissed. "However, when I thought back to the image of Fairwater Bay burning, something inside me snapped."

Rose placed a comforting hand on his shoulder at those words. She felt the same, but Daniel wasn't a particularly violent person so for him to go that far was a big deal.

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"And? What did you learn?"

"Not much. Whoever they were, they adamantly refused to talk. The only one who let some information slip seemed to be concussed. He told us that this barrier is called the death arena. Apparently it's a technique that should only be used when you are committed to wiping out your enemies. Also, one of them yelled 'Glory to Minenblum' before taking a poison pill," Daniel told her.

"I suppose that means the barrier will disappear if all of the prisoners are dead, then? Why hasn't it?" she asked in reply.

"There was one that Everyn said we should keep alive for you to talk to. He refused to speak a word, but we figured out the poison pills were hidden in their mouths and stopped him from killing himself," he continued to explain.

Rose was worried that keeping the barrier up might cause some misunderstandings with the Derridas soldiers, but it was a risk she was willing to take. After all, Minenblum was their true enemy and any information they could gain here would give them an advantage in the battles to come.

The Derridas soldiers had docked their ship and had begun to disembark. Since no one on Rose's vessel could leave to dock their own ship, the soldiers along the harbour had to do it in their stead.

Luckily there were chains which were attached to the outside of the hull for that purpose, or it would've been an impossible task. The commander marched off towards an imposing building bearing two flags with the royal insignia of Derridas on them.

Rose took the opportunity while he was gone to slip below deck in order to interrogate the final prisoner. The other bodies were piled up in the corner. At her entrance, the man's gaze snapped to her face.

His hands were bound behind his back and his feet were also tied. There was a fierce malice in his gaze, as though Rose had personally murdered his entire family.

"I should be the one looking at you with that hateful expression," Rose scoffed as she crouched down in front of him. "I've never heard of a unit of the Minenblum navy like yours. Who are you?"

"As if I'd tell a dirty scum like you anything," he spat.

She easily avoided the glob of spittle that flew towards her face, smirking at the resistance. If he'd been calm, she would've given up on obtaining any more information. However, the fact that he was emotional enough to lash out meant there was a chance.

"That wasn't very nice of you," she sighed. "I wanted to have a pleasant conversation but if you're going to behave like that then I'll need to get a little rough."

The man didn't flinch at her warning, though it had been delivered in a sing-song voice with a smile, so perhaps he didn't gauge the threat behind her words. That would be his final mistake.

Rose gathered a sharp pin of arcane energy in her fingertip, pressing it against the dip in his right collarbone. She let it burst outwards, biting into the soft flesh.

He grunted, but one little pinprick wasn't enough to break him. Rose saw the flickering of his core as his body resisted her poke.

When she did the same to his left collarbone, his reaction was still muted but the grunt was louder. She smirked inwardly before poking him just beneath one of his ribs.

His torso spasmed and he cried out in pain, before snapping his jaw shut. She saw a trickle of blood dripping down his chin from where he'd split his lip.

It took almost fourteen more pokes in various weak spots of his body for the man to finally break and start talking.

"Damn you! I'm part of the nightsail. We're a black ops unit tasked with dealing with major threats like you, pirate," he snarled, still defiant despite his bloodied figure.

Rose considered what her first question should be when he suddenly slammed his jaw shut once more. His cheeks swelled and then he spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground.

His head toppled forward and slammed into the ground. Rose cursed, realising too late what he'd done. She shot to her feet, looking around the room for medical supplies to stop him from bleeding out but it was too late.

She hadn't expected to gain much in the first place, but to only have a name for the organisation which had targeted them wasn't much. Nonetheless, it didn't change her goals. Destroying Minenblum was all that mattered.

Kicking the corpse into the pile in the corner, she hurriedly returned to the deck before anyone realised she was missing. She heard loud voices as she reached the door, worried that a fight had kicked off between her crew and the Derridas soldiers.

Thankfully that wasn't the case. When Rose opened the door she saw that the barrier was gone. The noise was simply the soldiers discussing its sudden disappearance.

At least one more of her questions had been answered. Rose wanted to experiment with techniques that relied on certain conditions, given how potent the barrier had been.

This wasn't the time, however. A stern-faced Greavis was standing on the docks beside the ship, with an even more wizened and annoyed looking man beside him.

"I thought I told you to remain on deck," he said to Rose as she approached the railings.