Six Souls [Isekai/LitRPG] [B1&2 complete, B3 in progress]

"How many want to come aboard?" yelled Prender.

"Where's your captain, boy? No disrespect to you, but we come in peace. It's only polite for an officer to be met by an officer!"

"I'm captain of the Windspite! You and two others can come aboard. No more!" He turned to one of the oarmen. "Yalt, get a dozen armed men up here fast!" The man hurried away while Prender and I watched the longboat move up to the side.

"Well done. Don't take any shit from him. Any problems, Bob and I will deal with this lot. Glimpse will burn their ship as well," I said quietly, moving away from the railing I had been leaning on to stand to one side of the kid with my arms crossed.

Yalt returned with an escort, and a pair of them tossed ropes down to the boat below. The former slaves stepped back and tried to look menacing, forming a semicircle around the young captain.

"Why is he speaking the language of the tribes?" I muttered as the first of them scrambled over the railing. It was the man in the black cloak, and unfortunately, he had neither a peg leg nor an eyepatch. In every other regard, though, he looked like a well-weathered pirate. Most of the sailors used Helipok or Juntian.

"We come bearing messages from afar, and all that. Any chance of a drink? It's a chill night, and we're low on supplies. Happy to trade for some if you want?" He addressed his words to me, not Prender. His eyes looked far more almond-shaped than I was used to seeing on Urth, and his skin… it was hard to tell. It might just have been a deep tan.

"Name and ship, captain," Prender barked. His voice broke slightly at the end, but otherwise, he did a good job of sounding stern. The man in black panned his gaze slowly to the boy and winked.

"I am Scholar Jintze, in service to the Sacred Library, here on a fact-finding mission for the Lady of the Tower. The gentlemen, I use the term loosely, aboard the Galebreaker, did not take kindly to my wishing to move on. Alas, we parted ways under acrimonious circumstances, but all is well. Your advent proved most fortuitous."

"The Galebreaker is your ship?" asked Prender, shooting a glance at me. I had tensed and shifted ever so slightly. This man wasn't Soulbound, but I'd bet my last aurox he was in the pay of Patricia. Lady of the Tower, indeed. I'd eat an aurox raw if it wasn't made of ivory. Fucking academics.

"No, our vessel is the… it doesn't really work in this language… The Wanderer's Burden? That's about right. The Galebreaker is the vessel you sank so spectacularly."

"Where are you from, Scholar?" asked Prender. Jintze's escorts scowled at the tone, but the man himself smiled.

"From the land of the rising sun. Far to the east, but not as far as one can go. It has been a long journey, many months, all spent searching for others like my mistress. And clearly, we have found agents of two of them in close proximity! Such good fortune, after so long wandering. Perhaps a drink? Some food? Then we can talk." He gave a fist-in-palm salute and bowed his head at a spot somewhere between Prender and me.

"I'll have something brought to my cabin. Yalt–" He jabbered something in Juntian that sent the large man and his entourage scurrying away. A couple of the men stayed to lean on the railing and keep an eye on the longboat below.

Jintze didn't speak as we made our way to Jasper's map room, which had since become Prender's room. Food, simple sailors' fare of hard biscuits and salted meat, and a jug of water were provided. The stranger's guards ate and drank ravenously, but the man himself just nibbled on a slice of pork. The foreign lieutenants joked in yet another language I didn't recognise. I needed some kind of universal translator. I had Bob, but he was hardly incognito.

"Which of you wielded the power?" Jintze asked the air between Prender and me.

"To burn the Galegrbeaker? It is shared among us," Prender lied badly.

"Young Captain. We have eaten your food and drunk your water. It is bad form to lie to those you have granted guest rights," the older man said with a smile.

"I've given you sea-rights. Same as I would any shit sailors who ran out of food. Nothing more," the kid snapped.

"The spell used to destroy our pursuers is not found on the Nine Heavenly Affinities. The Lady has learned other powers as well, but has largely been unable to enchant or imbue those spells into items. Perhaps our Magos simply haven't climbed high enough up the trees to discover them?"

Prender stood and slowly opened and closed his mouth. He shot me a desperate look, and I sighed. I picked up a biscuit and crunched into it.

"What level is she?" I asked, spraying brittle crumbs across the table that I swept off to the side with one hand.

"Ah, so you are the power here. Who is your… Exarch?" Jintze asked.

"My what?"

"The one who gifted you Souls, of course."

"Shikrakyn, that's what we call them." How to answer this? I couldn't claim to serve Amir, and Mortimer was dead. If they had any Soulbound back on their ship, they'd know that much. He had opened our conversation in the steppe language after all.

"The Warlord is my master." It was true on multiple levels. My role among the tribes was in some ways a prison, and Aresk was still my patron, and he was literally the Warlord.

"The killer? A strange path your master has walked." Jintze took a drink and rested one hand on the table to lean forward and properly examine me. "What are his intentions so far south?"

"The Pirate-King is a threat to the peace he wants to establish," I answered. "I'm here to remove the threat. What do you know about his path?"

"The Silver Tower sees far more than mortals would believe possible," he said darkly, then shifted back to a conversational tone. "It is much the same for my Lady. The Librarian sends out her Scholars and Magos, a killer sends lesser killers." He sniffed derisively.

"Show some respect!" Prender said fiercely. Goddamnit kid. Just leave this one to the grownups. He'd been doing so well, and I was hoping I could get some more information from this lot before things inevitably went south.

"Interesting." Jintze wasn't maintaining the charade that the kid was the person who needed to be addressed anymore; he was weighing me like a bag of salt. "What level are you, Magos of the Killer?"

"What level was the one who made your trinkets?" I asked.

"Trinkets? Ah… You did not use 'trinkets' as you call them. That was live magic. If you have the knack, you can see the difference. You must be very high. Over one hundred, perhaps. Your lord favours you? You did him some great service?"

"Something like that."

"It is the same for us." He took a sip of water and held the cup in front of his chest in both hands. "I hope to be elevated to Magos, in the event I survive this trip."

"Magos are Patricia's Soulbound? I'm guessing Scholar means you've been trusted with trinkets?" In some ways, Scholars could be more dangerous than Soulbound. No big glowing letters floating over their heads to let you know they were dangerous. Squishy and fragile in comparison, but just as capable of magical devastation.

"Either that or we have demonstrated how learned we are. I myself studied languages long before the Lady arrived in this world. Hence, I am a natural choice to serve as a diplomat. Has Raymond succumbed to the madness as Mortimer did? The northern reaches of this land are all ash and ruin from what I have gathered."

"Mortimer slaughtered cities to get biomass to feed his abominations and to create undead soldiers. He needed putting down," I growled.

"Biomass?" Jintze repeated the unfamiliar word.

"Bodies. And bits of them. If Patricia sees so much, she knows he needed to die." He flinched when I used his Lady's name.

"And you fear the Soldier will go the same way as the Landlord?"

"His followers didn't seem terribly keen to let you continue your journey? These Kentani pirates had a bad reputation before he took over, but it's been getting worse."

"Oh, has it? They were always slavers and pirates. Now they have galleons, and instead of cannon, they wield magic. He has made his adopted faction stronger. From the north, I hear talk of men riding as though they are one with their mount, almost as though man and horse are joined together. Superstitious peasants say the Warlord has merged some of his tribal savages with their beasts to create ungodly cavalry." I snorted.

"Hardly."

"Indeed. Far more likely, he has introduced stirrups and proper saddles. And advanced metals, so I hear. My Lady is deeply interested in the God-Forge he acquired. From afar, it looks like the Killer and the Soldier are merely mimicking each other."

"The Warlord didn't slaughter cities to feed people to monsters," I snapped.

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"Ah, Mond! Impressive work with that big bastard!" Bargip barged in and stopped to look at the strangers. "Who the fuck are these pansies?"

Jintze had gone very still at the use of my name, and his companions stood open-mouthed, food halfway to their faces, but their eyes were locked on me.

"Thank you for your hospitality. I think we will perhaps stay at anchor for a while and hunt to resupply," Jintze began. His companions rattled off something in an oriental sounding language between themselves, then the shorter of the pair said something to Jintze, and the man blanched.

"I've got nothing against Patricia. Amir is a problem, a threat to the peace, and needs to be put down. I'm open to an accommodation with your Lady."

"Unfortunately, your reputation precedes you, King Raymond Cobbler. How could we trust the word of an assassin?" The short one said. Had the escorts been the real officers? He was dark skinned, and white teeth glinted in the savage smile he gave me. He spoke with more of an accent than Jintze, but his voice was thick with authority.

"So you're the real boss? I assume Jeremy is giving your lady some trouble? He didn't seem like the sort to play nicely. How about I deal with Amir, and then the Sykareskyn will ride to support her?"

"Your offer is that you will lead your giants and your nomads east once you have secured your southern border? That's a strange gift," he said, leaning forward, both fists planted on the table.

"Prender, put Bargip ashore and leave him behind when we sail." I'd put off getting rid of that bastard for too long; might as well use him one last time.

"Lord! I'm just a humble merchant–" Bargip began, backing away.

"Who beats his whores black and blue. You were always on borrowed time."

"My Lord! I'll find the Kentani and tell them everything if you don't drop me at a port!" he snarled as he sidled for the door. I moved, blurring between the stunned foreigners, and snatched him up by the neck.

"I don't know if Patricia told you about this, but I have a code. I don't kill innocents." I was speaking to the Scholars, all of whom had reached for bracelets of amulets hidden under their clothing, but my words were being hissed into Bargip's face as he dangled from my fist. "You had to have done something for me to come after you. Killers, rapists, criminals, peddlers of misery, like Mortimer had been back home. Goodbye, Bargip."

I carried him, his legs swinging uselessly against me, to the railing just outside the chartroom. I pulled him back to toss him over the side, and something shiny and black appeared in his fist. I looked down at the flint dagger sticking out of my chest. Blue and gold blood welled up around the wound. I reached out and crushed his right elbow with my hand and spun once more to build momentum.

He soared out over the moonlit waves, screaming as he went. There was a splash a couple of dozen metres from the ship that turned the scream into garbling gasps as he fought for breath. I turned smoothly and walked back into Prender's cabin, picked up my cup, and took a swig of water.

"I had a code. I still have a code. Of all of them, of us, that Poseidon tricked into the dinner and killed to send us here, Patricia had the cleanest hands. As long as she hasn't become a monster like Mortimer, I'd be happy to live in peace with her."

"We could destroy this ship." Jintze's voice shook slightly.

"But you can't kill me." I plucked the stone dagger from my chest. It had sunk deeper than any of the other attacks I'd suffered recently. I tossed it on the table as I waited for my chest to heal. "And it would be a bad way to start a peaceful relationship."

"You're the Warlord?" squeaked Prender.

"He is. And he is not what I was expecting," said the shorter lieutenant. "We will be permitted to depart unmolested?"

"You won't beat me to my destination. I suspect you'll be heading home? Having scoped out the opposition, don't you need to report to your mistress?" I asked. My chest had healed up, and I used a sleeve to wipe away my strangely coloured blood.

The three strangers began bickering in their strange language, and I looked on bemused for a minute as they argued. Tall-lieutenant and short-lieutenant did most of the talking, but Jintze occasionally interrupted in a much more respectful tone than the other pair used between themselves.

"We can go a step further." I tensed and narrowed my eyes as the short one produced a crystal from his pocket and laid it carefully on the table in front of him. It was a perfect cube, perhaps an inch long on each side. He reached out a finger and delicately tapped the top face.

"Well, it's pretty. But what is it for?" asked Prender, who was now avoiding looking at me as though his life depended on it.

A light flickered up, and it resolved into the back of a head I recognized.

"Patricia." My voice was flat. The illusion spun, and there she was. The least dangerous of my enemies. She wore an odd headdress, almost a crown, and her face wasn't as full as it had been. She had lost weight since I last saw her at the meeting of the gods.

"The killer. Have you hurt my followers?" The voice was the same, smooth and intelligent, but now with an air of arrogance or superiority to it.

"He has not, Lady," said Jintze hurriedly.

"Luntzu?" The head spun around as she searched the room. I had no idea what Affinity she had unlocked to get access to this kind of spell, but I mentally moved her up a couple of notches on the threat list. Instant communication would be a huge advantage if it ever came to a battle between our forces.

"All is well, Lady. King Raymond is looking for an alliance of sorts, so I thought it worthwhile to use a charge on the communication crystal," the shorter escort replied quickly. The head swung back to me, and the eyes narrowed over her equine nose.

"Well?" she snapped impatiently.

"Do you want to go back? I'm not so sure anymore. I've got a good thing going on Urth, and old Earth with an E doesn't seem so tempting anymore."

"This place has some appeal to me. I've done a lot of good with the Library. You've done a lot of what you did back home since you got here," she said softly.

"I've done what I had to. What's Jeremy up to? I bet he makes for a poor neighbour!" I chuckled as her eyes went wide for a moment before returning a schooled indifference.

"His people are… challenging, but he is no threat to us. Jakrathun is beyond the veil, and his minions cannot approach undetected. Only one of us has been knocking off the others like it's a coconut shie. And now you want peace?"

"My plans don't really involve you, as long as you'll keep away from me, I'll do the same for you," I offered, but she sneered at me.

"Oh, plans, is it? Off to kill Amir, then you'll come against us in the east. I've seen what happened in Urkash, Settal, Burnfri, Parntik, and the rest. Thoth has shown me the ruins you've left behind."

"I only recognise two of those names. Settal and Urkash were depopulated by Mortimer. Look, Patricia, a siege is never pretty. Did my guys do some bad shit? Sure. But I hanged anyone I caught killing civilians."

"I watched you kill Gallagher. In his cell." Her bloody god was going to be a pain in the ass. I added him to the list alongside Poseidon. But how could I kill Knowledge? "He was broken."

"He would have healed. He was too dangerous. If you saw that much, you know I sent his woman child away with enough wealth to live a good life!" I snapped back.

"A sop to your atrophied conscience! Why should I trust you over the Narcissist? One of his Beauties was here not a week ago, looking to make a similar alliance with me. That you're the only one of us who's hunting the others suggests you aren't the best choice."

"The servants of Amir aboard the Galebreaker killed Numinis on sight. Lord Mond has treated us fairly so far," said Lintzu.

"I will not take your report in front of my enemies. Numinis is gone? So many threads in my mind, I didn't realise it was his," she sighed and spun back to face me. "Will you release my people?"

"I was planning to."

"Let them go, and we can speak again. Luntzu, I'll reach out again in a few days to confirm you are allowed to leave. Keep this crystal, Raymond. It will only have one more charge to call me, but I can reach out to you as often as I choose. Your eyes have changed."

"I was wearing contact lenses at Poseidon's dinner," I replied with a shrug.

"I know." I got the feeling she used that phrase a lot. "Your wife and son must mean something to you. We'll speak again." The head vanished, and Prender giggled. I shot him a glare, but he didn't stop.

"Is the boy damaged?" asked Luntzu, crossing his arms.

"It might have come as a shock to him that I'm me." I smiled ruefully as the kid tried ot nod. "I've gotten something of a bad reputation among the southerners. Unfairly, I'd like to point out. I wasn't turning people into monsters. Well, not against their wills anyway." There was Marbo and Mulius, my titans, who probably qualified as monsters, but they'd both been willing to undergo their transformations.

"We've seen the monsters the Soldier has made. One of them, anyway. Deformed leviathans bound in chains," said Jintze, earning a reprimanding look from Luntzu.

"I'll find a way. Monsters and armies, well, I've been given tools to deal with them. You wanted supplies?"

"Aye. When Numinis was killed, we fled aboard the Burden. Only the smaller Kentani ships could match our pace, and we managed to lose all but Galebreaker. Its captain was a cunning man."

"Her. Ships are female," said Prender as he got control of himself. "I don't want to be anywhere near this. You're all fucking mad. No offence!" he added hastily.

"None taken," I said drily. "Where are you going next?"

"Back to the Library. We will travel faster once we get back to Harthip in the east. From that port, it will take us a few weeks to return to the sanity of the Sacred City. You barbarians are far too excitable for my tastes, I'm afraid," Luntzu said with a grin, and Jintze chuckled.

"Can you spare the supplies?" I asked Prender, who scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"Not enough to see them that far, but enough to reach the nearest port? Of course. It pays to help another ship where possible. You never know when it will be you whose biscuits get damp and moldy. I'll make the arrangements." He hurried out into the darkness and began shouting orders.

Normalis Humano slain x1

Ten Souls gathered.

And there went Bargip. Good riddance. The crew was soon loading casks of biscuits and a couple of smaller ones of salted meat into Patricia's emissary's longboat by carefully lowering them over the side.

"You can get water on your own? There's a river at the top of this cove." Luntzu and I were standing to one side on the deck, watching the barrels being lashed in place along the centre of the longboat that was riding dangerously low in the water to my untrained eye.

"I know." Were those words some kind of catchphrase for Thoth's pets? "Should the Soldier ever turn his eyes to the east… I will speak on your behalf to the Lady, next time I contact her.

"Why?"

"I don't know what your eyes were like before, King Raymond, but do you know what I see in them now? Regret and revenge. As long as my Lady is not the object of the latter, I see no problem with an alliance."

"If Amir is gone, there'll only be three of us. And I won't come East unless I'm forced to."

"Even now, your armies recover and stockpile supplies. Where are you planning to march so many men and giants?" he replied amicably.

"East was the plan. I didn't know if Patricia could be reasoned with." I admitted.

"She has told us much of your world. And much of the other Exarchs. The Narcissist is not an easy neighbour, as you surmised. Good luck against the Kentani, King Raymond. May knowledge illuminate your path." He bowed, both hands pressed together in front of his chest as though in prayer.

"Cheers. Happy trails, bloke." I nodded as he climbed down the rope and joined the rest of his crew. He was the last of them, and several oars reached out to push against Windspite's hull and spin the boat away until they had space to row properly.

Glimpse? Keep an eye on them for me?

What do you think I've been doing, Raymond? The bird shot back. I borrowed his senses to find he was perched on a railing on Burden, being fed tidbits of meat by a man with scarlet letters floating over his head.

Who the fuck is that?

Their captain, I believe. I don't understand his language, but he saw me in the rigging and offered me some snacks. No eyeballs, though.

He had Body and Mind at A rank. He babbled something at Glimpse that prompted the bird to cock his head to one side.

I don't think this lot is dangerous, the crow sent. They're half-starved.

A hungry man is always dangerous. Stop begging for food and stay in the air. You were supposed to be ready to nuke them if needed!

The meeting went well? Glimpse asked.

I guess. I said I'd let them go back to their mistress. But now they know about you, can I afford to let them go?

Of course you can. Next time, I won't let them see me, and they'll be afraid of the skies if they attack you.