Chapter 449: Time to cover our tracks
=Funny? How so?=
=Yeah, he and the kaijin fought Grub in the dead of night in order to avoid causing a fuss or something along those lines.=
=…=
=I swear you made this observation before…=
=I think it was in regards to the proto-kaijin? Or possibly the creation of another insect kaijin?=
=How…how on Valresta do you figure that?=
=…I am going to strangle you.=
=Yes, but they sleep. We don’t.=
<...fuck.>
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‘Wait…fuck, I just realized something important.’
[Hmm? What’s that maestro?,] Hurricroak asked.
At this point in time, Zhen Liu, Hurricroak and Razorstella were on their way back to the ship, but they we’re now close enough to it that someone could hear them if they used verbal communication, ergo, telepathy time.
Nepherage and Frosttusk would have joined in the conversation as well, but both we’re still exhausted from the finishing move and were given explicit orders to rest.
Frosttusk didn’t mind since he had been running cold this entire evening and absolutely hated it, Nepherage was bit bothered due to her innate stubbornness.
Regardless, both were sentenced to take a nap.
‘When he smacked Marlancer away from the ship, I think we were far enough to avoid detection by most of the Grand Masters aboard the ship, right?’
[I believe so, director,] Razorstella answered.
‘Okay, good…did we remember to factor in grandfather, who’s an Aether Lord?’
[Uh…]
Razorstella and Hurricroak looked at each other for a bit, trying to recall if either had them or the other kaijin mentioned Zhen Liu’s name at all during the battle, releasing sighs of relief when they realized they hadn’t done so.
[I’m fairly certain your grandfather won’t know that you are your own mysterious master, maestro,] Hurricroak assured her lord.
‘Yeah, but do you think he’ll realize that you guys looked a bit like the “puppets” I command.’
[Oh.]
As the realization that their secret might be exposed because of a glory seeking swordfish, Hurricroak and Razorstella went wide eyed.
Thankfully, while Zhen Liu was physically exhausted, he was still mentally salient enough to come up with a plan.
I.e., more lying.
‘Okay for starters, we need to get back to the ship. And for whomever of you two need to talk to him, and if he asks what I think he is going to ask, tell him this…’
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“Is…is it over?”
“Think so… I’m not hearing anymore explosions, or seeing anymore light shows.”
“Lords above…what kind of monsters were they?”
“Don’t know, glad they were on our side though.”
When Zhen Liu(the mysterious master) and his kaijin(his weird disciples) showed up to take down Marlancer(Grand Fisher), the group had made sure to fight the kaijin (monstrous fishman) in an empty area so as to avoid getting anyone caught in the crossfire.
This did not stop on-lookers from gathering on the side of the ship that just so happened to be in the same direction as the group’s flight path. They may have been unable to winess specific details of the fight, but they could at least hear the shouting between the two parties, the explosions caused by aether arts colliding with another and the bursts of color that would accompanied these aforementioned explosions.
However, dotted amongst the crowd of gawking Zhen Clansmen and crewmen, there were a few people that did have sharp enough senses to pick up some more intimate details of the fight that had just occured but, whether or not they shared this information with others was up to them.
“I’ve never seen aether armor look so…brutal before.”
“What was that weird energy they were using? Could I learn how to use that stuff?”
“Marlancer…what an odd name.”
But with the battle now over, the people on the steamship proceeded to stop gawking and return to whatever duties they had to take care of for the evening, along with cleaning up the ship.
Thankfully nobody had died this evening, due to the invading monsters being a little more than mindless drones made of coral, but there were many, many injuries that had to be treated.
Evidently, an unexpected benefit of all this hustle and bustle occuring, was that it made it very easy for a kaijin and their exhausted lord to sneak back onto the ship without anyone being any the wiser.
Of course, there was exactly one person on the ship that could have detected this odd movement, but he was thankfully distracted.
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‘So that’s what [Chaos] can do? And my grandson was taught how to use that?,’ Zhen Shi asked himself as he continued staring off into the distance, in the direction the battle had just unfolded.
As the only Aether Lord on the ship, Zhen Shi was the only one who could see and hear everything that had occured when Zhen Liu’s master and his (possibly) monstrous disciples engaged with the warrior known as Marlancer. Granted, while the battle was majestic and he did gain a lot of insights from watching everything unfold, there was something that was said during the fight that had caught his attention.
A single word and a strange title associated with that word.
“Kaijin” and “kaijin lord”.
‘What in the nine hells is a kaijin?,’ Zhen Shi wondered, ‘is that another term for the “chaos-born”? Is that…is that what that ice giant was?’
Questions upon questions swirled in Zhen Shi’s mind as he tried to figure out what all of this meant.
Why did those warriors look so much like Zhen Liu’s puppets?
Did he model them after those other disciples?
Were they even disciples in the first place?
Did that mean his grandson was now a walking apoc-
“Patriarch Zhen Shi?”
“Huh? What? Oh you’re…”
“Rachel. I was the one who was using those spin moves to counter Marlancer’s moves?”
“Right… what’s that in your hands.”
“A gift.”
“Huh?”
Evidently, Zhen Shi was so engrossed by his questions that he failed to notice Rachel, the sharp featured dancing disciple of Zhen Liu’s master, sneak up behind him. In the woman’s hands was a familiar looking harpoon, albeit, it looked like it went through some things and looked a touch more metallic…and looking like a swordfish.
Without hesitation, and in the moment Zhen Shi went “huh”, Rachel immediately presented the harpoon to him.
“D-the master said to give you this weapon that Grand Fisher left behind when we defeated him”
“Okay…why?,” Zhen Shi asked as he took the harpoon.
It was common etiquette on Valresta that if a warrior of a higher ranking than oneself gives a gift or requests something from them, that the weaker party either accepts it with gratitude and/or do everything they can to fulfill that request.
Granted, it might less be common etiquette and more of…survival instinct, either way, the weaker party was allowed to ask questions in regards to the gift or request.
“He said that it was only right to compensate you for all the damage our problem has caused you and your family,” Rachel answered smoothly, “that and for the fact that we technically stole your fight.”
“Ah….well then, tell your master I said thanks.’
“No problem,” Rachel nodded, “now if you excuse me, I need to-”
“Wait! If you don’t mind” Zhen Shi suddenly interjected, “can you answer one more question for me?”
Rachel looked a touch annoyed at this sudden ask, rolling her eyes a bit for effect, before allowing the question to be asked.
“Alright, what do you want to know?.”
“Okay, uh…I couldn’t help but observe the fight from a distance. Your fellow disciple, Harriet, said I could and-”
“Ah, okay. So you know that Grand Fisher was just a title and that his name was-.”
“Marlancer, yes, but that does not pertain to my question.”
“Okay…then what is your question.”
“Well…”
Zhen Shi took a deep breath to steady his mind before asking a rather, possibly loaded question.
“When you guys were fighting Marlancer, I saw the three of you transform into what I assumed were your aether regalia forms, but I couldn’t help but notice something in regards to your transformations.”
“And that is…”
“Why did you three look like my grandson’s puppets?”
“…huh?”
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[Huh. You were right, director. You’re grandfather did decide to ask us pointblank about that puppet thing.]
‘Saw that coming…okay, now just like how we rehearsed, well…said I guess…’
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“I know my question sounds weird,” Zhen Shi tried to explain himself, “it’s just that I-”
“Pinocchio.”
“What?”
In lieu of saying anything further yet, Rachel proceeded to stick up one of her hands and had it transform back into her normal knife-like claw hand.
“Have you ever heard of the story, Pinocchio?”
