Royal Princess of Blood

Estelia grabbed the keys and kept them in her pocket, just in case. She stepped out of the cell with silent steps. She looked around to make sure the way was clear. She wanted to sneak outside, but there was no window in this part of the ship, nor would it be quiet enough for her to make a way for herself. Furthermore, if she wanted this to be successful, it would be best to reduce the number of enemies from here and investigate the ship at the same time.

And it was nighttime, the people inside should be resting or best at sleep compared to those above. Additionally, most important, she had to find her daggers. She hoped they would be around here somewhere.

The closest weapon was the sword of the man she had only killed, placed beside the chair he was sitting on. With a displeased frown, she picked up the short sword.

Not even a knife, shit.

She was not so keen on using a sword to silently kill a person in this tight space. But she had no other choice. Besides, her magic was now usable, using Physical Enhancement should be smooth sailing from now on. That being said, she must search for where her daggers were put in.

She moved on through the corridor silently. She heard snoring from the next room. Taking a look, she found three men sleeping. One on a hammock, while the other two slept on the floor with sheets to soften the surface.

Hmm.

She pondered on how to kill them without causing any loud noise. After making up the plan, she quietly stepped inside the room and approached the closest one first. She covered his mouth and instantly plunged her sword into the man’s throat, easily cutting through it, the blade’s tip touching the wooden floor. And thus with that, the man couldn’t even make any sound as he was basically decapitated instantly.

As blood poured to the floor, she continued on to another one sleeping on the floor and did the same. Swiftly killing her enemy. And then she proceeded to the one sleeping on the hammock, faintly swaying with the ship’s motion.

Moving down behind him, she pressed her hand into his mouth, pointing her sword right next to his neck. This woke up the man, of course, and his voice was muffled as he tried to either speak or shout.

“Quiet,” she said in a grim tone. “Behave or you’ll end up the same as your friends there.”

The man looked at the gruesome death of his colleagues from the corner of his eyes. And he was shaken. With that, he stopped trying to resist.

“I was the pretty girl you imprisoned at the back. Tell me, where are my daggers?”

“Hmm-mm!”

Estelia pressed the blade slightly into his neck, a tiny amount of blood came out. 

“Don’t talk. Point me in the direction.”

The man lifted his hand and pointed away with his index finger.

“You better not be lying to me.”

He frantically shook his head. And with that, Estelia slit his throat deep. She kept a firm hold of him as he writhed in his fading life. Once he had finally stopped moving, she let go, leaving the corpse dripping blood to the floor. However, before leaving, she pulled up the sheets of all the corpses covering up to the head. If anyone were to pass by, she only had to hope that it was too dark for them to notice something was off, especially the blood part. At the very least, it could buy her a few seconds.

She continued on and walked down the corridor and headed for the direction the man pointed towards. There were a few men sleeping on the way, but she decided to leave them be for now and continued on quietly sneaking through. She didn’t want to risk it with her current short sword.

A moment later, she noticed a small room with several better looking weapons inside, better made than the sword in her hand.

That must be it.

She stepped inside and began looking around, with only the faint lamp light from outside. It was a bit hard to see, so she cast a small flame at her fingertip.

Imagine if there were gunpowder, I would have blown up. That would have been embarrassing. But there isn’t, so…

It was then she began to wonder if they had gunpowder. Because from what she saw, there were no cannons whatsoever. Could it be because they didn’t incorporate any ship cannons, or because ship cannons were not a thing? She found it surprising, especially that the Empire had fireworks. Perhaps only they had it.

They haven’t invented guns. Guess that’s good. Magic beats guns anyway.

It was blasphemous and a controversial statement. She might have scoffed at such an idea in the past. But knowing what magic could do, it was better if you were capable of it.

It was then she found some familiar hilts. Estelia quietly put down her sword and quickly grabbed the three daggers, shutting off her small flame.

Finally! Found you guys. Did they intend to add you to their collection? Those fucks.

As she held the three of them as if they were her babies, she looked around with a concerned face.

Where are the others?

She realized that the rest of her daggers weren’t here.

Bastards. They have them, don’t they?

She was pissed, of course. All that were left was these three medium-sized daggers, and these were the only ones usable to her here. There were only swords and spears.

And my special dagger! Those fucks, it was expensive. And I have killed plenty of targets with that.

She was concerned about where her precious special dagger could be. But considering how expensive looking that was, they must have it stored somewhere else. She stared at the daggers.

Fine, these will be enough.

She sheathed one dagger on her thigh before she left the room and continued on. There was one walking towards her, his eyes droopy as he patrolled. Estelia crouched in the corner and waited for the man to pass by. She sheathed one dagger on her back waist. When the man was finally in front of her, she promptly covered his mouth and stabbed her magically coated dagger into his throat. After a twist of her blade, she quietly dragged the man into the room and pulled out her dagger.

Taking out the enemy one by one would take plenty of time. She could do it, but once the bodies were discovered, it would all be over. Eliminating as many enemies below deck would save her a lot of trouble, better if she gets to kill all the ones below. She wasn’t planning on killing all the enemies, as she would still need a crew for the ship afterwards. But she could hear footsteps from above, so there should still be plenty for her to remain.

And thus, she began cleaning the house.

As an assassin that had been honed to perfection, the sharpest of her generation, she was able to weave through the various rooms and open spaces, quietly kill the enemies in their sleep. Even if they were sleeping right next to each other, it was no issue. She was completely silent and swift in her kill. She killed two, then a three, then another was a five. None could even make a noise as they die, some may have not even realized they were killed. Even the few that patrolled the tight corridors were not safe from her.

Estelia rubbed the blood off her blades with her victim’s shirt and continued onward after hiding or covering the corpses with their sheets. Although, her experience was not exactly smooth. The strain she sustained from the excessive casting of magic was still plaguing her. Her head hurt, and she was slightly dizzy, her body ached with every movement. But she endured it.

It was then she heard sobbings and whimpers. She paused.

What’s this?

She moved towards the sound. There was a guard sitting on a chair, but as one would expect from lax security, he was sleeping. Estelia quickly disposed of the man, leaving him in his chair, and headed for the wooden grating on the floor. She looked down at it.

People?

There were many of them. She couldn’t tell how many exactly, but there could be more than a couple of dozen.

I see. Human trafficking.

Someone looked up at her, but he didn’t speak.

“Listen to me and answer quietly.” Estelia leaned in closer. “Are you prisoners?”

“... You are not one of them?” a man asked.

“Answer my question.”

There was a pause for a moment. “... Yes. Or to be exact, products to be sold.”

Of course, something like this is in this world.

Human trafficking was also pretty common in her former world. Sometimes the organization completed some tasks for the syndicates. Either hunting their competition, or some annoying authorities close on their tail. There were even a couple of daring syndicates that foolishly declared war against the organization because of its actions, but of course, their fate ended up being dead.

What humans do to themselves. Pretty hilarious.

It never ended up good for the victims of these human trafficking, men and women, old and young. But of course, Estelia never cared. They were never significant to her in any form.

“That’s terrible.” She faked her compassion.

“Help us, please,” a woman pleaded, her voice seeming to be on the younger side.

“Please, set us free,” another man begged.

“Sshh, be quiet or I’ll leave you.”

And with that, they stopped talking. Estelia looked away for a moment to make sure no one was nearby, and gave the situation a little thought.

“Tell me,” she continued. “Is there anyone with you that can sail this ship?”

Estelia would not know how to sail a ship like this. She had only seen these kinds of things during movies or video games. Best to leave things like this to the professionals. She would not want to mess it all up because of her own ignorance.

“Hey, anyone?” one asked their fellow captives.

“She asks if there’s anyone that can sail this ship.”

They whispered to each other.

“I can, I’m a sailor,” one said.

“Me too. I can navigate the sea…”

“Can you sail the ship even if the crew is not trained?” Estelia asked.

“Of course, guidance is still the most important piece,” the first sailor said.

“Good.”

This changes things.

She could just have all enemies die. It would be easier to control the crew if they were fully on her side. These people here would want to come back to where this ship sailed from.

“The men will fight with me. Can you do that?”

There was silence.

“If you don’t fight, then you will be sold.”

“... I can fight. I’m a soldier.”

“Oh, I can also use swords~.”

Estelia narrowed her eyes. “The rest, even if you aren’t fighters, you will have to fight. Do you understand me? There will be a little revolt.”

If they don’t even want to fight for their freedom, then they don’t deserve to have freedom.

“We will fight,” the soldier answered for the others.

“Good.”

Estelia checked the metal padlock and checked the dead guard’s person. With him were multiple keys. She tried each on the padlock until eventually one unlocked it. She quietly opened the wooden grating.

“Be absolutely quiet as you step out.”

A couple first stepped out. One was a tall and muscular man, thick chains wrapped around his arms. He was almost seven feet tall. They were trying to hold the man hard. Estelia tried one of the keys into his shackles until one unlocked it.

The second man was on the thinner side, but he had that wide and casual smile on his face. As if he was trying to be both friendly and charming at the first impression. Estelia removed his shackles, and he bowed his head deeply, there was a trace of flamboyance in it.

“Thank you ever so much, milady. I must say, you are quite the beauty.” The way he spoke was eloquent.

But Estelia couldn’t help but frown and gave him the keys.

“Prioritize the men that are to fight. However, keep the sailors here. I don’t want them to die once we are finished.” She also gave them the other set of keys she had. “Also try these keys. I no longer have any need for them.”

“You seem confident we would win,” the muscular man said.

“What choice do we have?”

“Mm.” He went and grabbed the sword from the dead guard. And the blade glowed for a moment.

Armament Magic?

Estelia was a bit relieved to see that he was capable of sword magic. It increased the chance of victory ever so slightly.

“There are more weapons there.” She pointed to where she found the weapons earlier.

“Hm? Where are the other guards?” the thin man asked.

“I killed a lot of them, but there might be others still around here. So be careful.”

The thin and smiley man’s eyes widened in astonishment. “Amazing. Then I will go and grab some swords.”

As more men were released, suddenly there was a lone guard that came. His eyes widened in confusion, his sleepiness disappeared in an instant.

“Hey—”

Estelia’s dagger struck into his throat. And he collapsed to the floor as blood spurted out. Estelia walked over to him and retrieved her dagger.

“Move quickly. This is an all out fight. Kill all the enemies. Though leave at least a couple alive.”

“And what will you do, if you don’t mind me asking?” the soldier asked.

“I will aid you, don’t worry.”

Estelia walked towards one weapon port and quietly opened it. It was big enough for her to fit through.

They use ballistas, huh?

Instead of cannons, they had medium-sized ballistas. She imagined they might set the arrows on fire before shooting them at an enemy. Or there might be explosives she didn’t know about, but unlikely.

“I’ll be going out through here.”

“Understood,” replied the soldier. “Once we are ready, we’ll begin our attack.”

“Don’t take too long.”

“I’ll set a plan quickly. Don’t worry.”

Estelia nodded. She was a bit relieved to know there was someone at least reliable among them.

And with that, Estelia sheathed her weapons and slipped out through the window.