Chapter 52: Arson Is My Specialty
The commotion here was huge, attracting a lot of attention. Crowds of onlookers gathered on the distant streets, shrinking back timidly yet unwilling to miss a single glance.
Anse also spotted figures of Silver Scale Bay guards, but they paid no attention, probably waiting for orders from superiors.
Recalling the bearded man’s earlier act of impersonating a guard, he felt a faint sense of worry.
After thinking for a moment, he took out the holy symbol, hung it outside his cloak, and casually cast a Holy Slash on it.
‘I’m not impersonating anyone; whatever you imagine has nothing to do with me.’
Hoofbeats sounded like urgent death drums. The slavers knew they couldn’t outrun the horses, so they chose to scatter and flee, darting into crowded places.
But they guessed wrong again. Crowds might not dodge people, but they would definitely dodge horses, especially a horse like Nolnos that looked like it could trample someone to death at a glance.
Anse cast Jump and Feather Fall on Nolnos again, leaping over congested areas.
Thus, the people of Silver Scale Bay saw an aerial flying horse that could leap more than ten meters in the air for the first time!
Among the six fleeing crew members, two were level 1 professionals, but facing the pursuit of one man, one horse, and one eagle, escape was impossible.
Four ordinary crew members died one after another under Nolnos’s ramming horn and whip tail. One professional tried to blend into the crowd but was precisely locked by Anse’s Magic Missile.
The last professional ran fast but was electrocuted to death by one of Anse’s Prismatic Sprays at the dockside.
Continuous experience prompts brought a smile to Anse’s lips.
In fact, these crew members had long been abandoned. 【Conch】 received the news and immediately untied the mooring ropes, raised sails, and set off.
By the time Anse reached the dockside, the sailing ship had slowly pulled away from the shore, but due to the trouble of sailing ship departure, it was only thirty or forty meters from the dock at this point.
There were no passengers on the deck; they had probably all been herded into the cargo hold.
Nolnos was eager to go, needing only one 「Fey Step」 to teleport onto the deck.
But Anse didn’t want to take the risk. There were still more than a dozen muskets on the ship, plus the captain or the behind-the-scenes owner who had never shown up. Jumping aboard might mean no return.
Watching the sailing ship gradually drifting away, ideas raced through his mind: Control Winds, Dragon Breath… one spell after another flashed in his thoughts.
‘Get closer, deploy neck armor.’
Nolnos cautiously advanced, with steady steps.
Anse lightly touched the Spell Storing Ring, and rays of spell light flashed one after another.
One Magic Missile and two flame Prismatic Sprays landed successively on the ropes and main sail. The ropes snapped, the sail burst into flames, and the fire quickly spread around.
“Quick, put out the fire…”
“Stop him…”
“Shoot…”
“…”
The sailing ship was still moving away, but with the sails damaged, its departure speed dropped sharply.
Anse slightly crouched, hiding behind his neck armor, and focused on spellcasting.
“”
Scorching Ray!
Powerful Dragon Speech shattered the sea wind. Three fire rays instantly hit the sail, ropes, and winch. The burning ropes and sail fluttered everywhere, igniting more flammables, and flames erupted all around.
Anse’s eyes lit up. Ignoring the sporadic bullets, he switched to the faster and more accurate Sorcerous Burst, not seeking power but multi-point ignition.
Six or seven continuous flame Sorcerous Bursts hit various sails and rigging each time, and 【Conch】 was filled with smoke and fire.
By now, no crew members were shooting at him anymore, as it was pointless.
A wooden sailing ship was full of flammables, with all power relying on sails and rigging. If they didn’t put out the fire, the whole ship would be doomed.
The sailing ship drifted farther with the current and inertia, beyond maximum range, but Anse had already achieved his goal.
“See how you run now!”
In the shadows under his hood, his lips curved up, feeling immensely satisfied. The pent-up frustration from days of fleeing disasters and underground creatures was swept away.
This wave brought over five hundred experience points, and even Nolnos gained experience. He wondered what new changes there would be.
There were many people on the sailing ship, and it had plenty of firefighting measures. The flames were gradually extinguished one by one, but the losses were heavy, and loss of power was inevitable.
The dock was unusually quiet at this moment. Anse turned his head to look; within a hundred meters around him, there was no one, while in the distance were densely packed onlookers.
Several guards stood at the edge of the crowd. Seeing the glowing holy symbol on Anse’s chest, they exchanged glances and didn’t dare approach.
At this time, people began squeezing out of the crowd one after another. By their attire, they seemed to be professionals.
“Hey, friend, what happened?” A burly man carrying an axe shouted loudly to Anse.
The holy symbol would make some people wary, but it could also dispel most people’s fears. After all, how could a Follower of Tyr be a bad person?
“This ship is a slave ship!” Anse raised his staff pointing at 【Conch】, his voice piercing through the sea wind and carrying far. “They tricked people aboard for five gold coins and sold them as slaves elsewhere. Didn’t any of you notice…”
He put on a very indignant appearance, mostly acting.
The crowd was in an uproar, buzzing with discussion.
“Is it real or fake…”
“I noticed something wrong earlier; they didn’t check tickets or count money…”
“Good thing I didn’t board; you were still complaining about me…”
“I was the smart one…”
“You just have short legs and run slow…”
“…”
Faerun has laws, but it praises heroic deeds even more. Often, no solid evidence or witnesses are needed because spells are too convenient: Detect Evil and Good, Detect Thoughts, Zone of Truth… each more useful than the last.
The premise is not harming the interests of upper nobles; otherwise, they can grab you without any reason.
“They’re trying to escape…” Someone pointed at the sailing ship and shouted.
Anse turned to look. On the still-drifting sailing ship, crew members were taking out rolls of hemp rope and canvas from the cabin, hurriedly making emergency replacements.
‘So many spare supplies?’ He didn’t know much about sailing ships, but just seeing the complex ropes made him think they couldn’t repair it anytime soon.
The crowd gradually closed in. Now they weren’t afraid of Anse anymore, and many stared at Nolnos with amazement.
Many professionals gazed at the sailing ship with flickering eyes, eager to try. Striking evil was a good excuse, and that ill-gotten wealth was a reward for “justice.” Surely a Follower of Tyr wouldn’t mind such side details.
“Everyone quiet!” A rough voice instantly overpowered the noise. “Everyone leave this area; Silver Scale Bay guards are taking over.”
Anse looked toward the voice. A woman even taller and more burly than a man pushed through the crowd, followed by dozens of guards.
【Guard Captain, human, level 5 barbarian（Zealot）】
Barbarians of the Zealot path receive blessings from a god or pantheon, with the core being the “ultimate ecstatic rage experience fused with divinity.”
Anse observed for a moment and indeed spotted the “upright flaming sword” emblem on the great axe on her back, the holy symbol of the war god Tempus, who was a neutral deity.
But following a neutral god didn’t necessarily make one neutral.
This female captain seemed quite famous. The professionals and commoners scattered like mice seeing a cat upon spotting her, not daring to breathe, and soon most were gone.
She came before Anse, her gaze sweeping over Nolnos and the holy symbol before settling on his face. “I’m Ragna, Silver Scale Bay magistrate and guard captain. How should I address you?”
“Anse.” Anse remained calm.
The bigger the incident, the more advantageous it was for him.
