The wizard's journey

Chapter 10: The Magic Stone

At dusk, the massive ship of Lilith Cottage Wizarding Academy sailed on the waves lifted by the sea breeze. On deck, two to three hundred wizard apprentices were excitedly shouting and pointing at a giant maritime ship approaching within three hundred meters.

"Look, real pirates! It's my first time seeing pirates."

"Those pirates over there are too timid, aren't they? Why aren't they coming over quickly?"

The wizard apprentices discussed among themselves, unconcerned, and even the sailors maintained a composed demeanor. No wonder these individuals were unafraid of the legendary pirates. Serving as the transoceanic vessel for transporting wizard apprentices from Lilith Cottage Wizarding Academy, the fifty-plus sailors were all standard knights. Additionally, a sailor leader and Dilah the wizard's servant, Barlon, both possessed the strength of legendary knights.

With such a crew, ordinary pirate ships were no match for this wizarding academy's vessel. Even if large pirate ships attempted plunder, as long as Wizard Dilah personally intervened, not even a thousand pirates would dare to board.

Grim looked towards the distant pirate ship.

It was slightly smaller, about seventy to eighty meters long, crowded with people along its hull, masts, and railings. At a glance, there seemed to be hundreds of them.

All the pirates were men, dressed in tattered clothes, with many missing an arm, a leg, or an eye, wildly shouting and waving short swords, bows, arrows, and grappling hooks, seemingly overly excited with boundless energy.

Why were there no women on the pirate ship? The pirates firmly believed that women would bring bad luck to their vessel, summoning powerful sea monsters to overturn the ship and wicked sea sirens to devour their flesh, leaving only bones. This belief was unshakable among all pirates.

However, Grim noticed that the pirate ship did not immediately approach the wizard ships, for a simple reason. The pirate captain, through a folded telescope, spotted something unusual about the target ship.

The ship... was filled with cheering children?

Suddenly, the pirate leader, with years of sailing experience, seemed to realize something. His face changed instantly, covered in a layer of cold sweat, and his remaining eye showed deep fear. He roared to the helmsman beside him, "Turn around, quick, turn around now!"

The pirate leader's change of heart seemed to frighten those around him, even the monkey on his shoulder was startled, squeaking as it leaped onto the railing.

The helmsman, already scared witless, stuttered, "Turn around?"

It was evident that the pirate captain's authority was high.

With a metal hook, he pushed the helmsman aside, not bothering to explain. With his remaining arm, he frantically turned the helm, and the pirate ship, carrying hundreds of dumbfounded pirates, fled as if flying.

Elsewhere, on the ocean liner of Lilith Cottage Wizarding Academy, the door to the esteemed wizard Dilah's room suddenly opened, revealing a curious boy and girl stepping out. The sight of two children, nearly the same size as themselves, emerging from a wizard's room left everyone on deck incredulous.

For a moment, the deck was abuzz with the wizard apprentices discussing.

"What's the deal with these two, being able to stay out of the cabin, avoiding the moldy smell and mushroom soup we've been enduring these days that's almost making me sick!"

"Who knows, maybe they're descendants of wizards?"

"Don't speculate if you don't know. The other day, the wizard master said on deck that these two are once-in-a-century geniuses at the wizarding academy. We got here early and heard it all. Wizard Dilah said..."

People whispered among themselves, pointing at the two children who seemed utterly indifferent to the attention. Their arrogant demeanor was reminiscent of Yorkris back in Biser City, much to everyone's annoyance.

The girl, dressed in a white gown with golden hair and amber-like blue eyes, appeared innocently pure with a charming smile, like a little princess. Yet, the disdain in her eyes for the disdain shown by others on the deck betrayed her not-so-innocent nature.

The boy, fixated on a white rat he was playing with, ignored everyone on deck as if the rat was of utmost importance, exuding contempt.

"Yun Li Brother, look, those pirates actually ran away. How boring." the girl said coquettishly, shaking her golden hair, letting the sea breeze spread it.

The boy, without looking up, replied, "I told you, no pirate dares to h****k a wizarding academy's ocean liner. You wouldn't listen and insisted on coming out. It stinks on deck, let's go back."

"Okay, but it's just so boring..."

Ignoring the angry stares, the girl and boy nonchalantly entered the room reserved for wizards.

On deck, while the sailors were unfazed, the wizard apprentices were in an uproar, their complaints and anger filling the air. They questioned who these two were to act so haughtily, considering themselves as the elite selected from thousands to become great wizards.

Many speculated that these two must have some background in the wizarding continent or a connection with Wizard Dilah, nothing more than leveraging someone else's power. Including Grim, everyone was visibly annoyed.

Despite their annoyance, no one dared to question Wizard Dilah. Thus, the pirate incident came to an end with no further ado.

Three days after the pirate fiasco, Grim who was memorizing and reading the "Scent Atlas" in the cabin suddenly heard someone knocking on the door and shook his head, thinking that it was that Binhamson guy again, he was the only one who had nothing to do these days and always came to Grim's bed cabin to hang out for a while.

However, when Grim opened the door, he found that it was actually the two siblings, Yorkris and Yorklianna.

Grim was surprised but nonetheless welcomed them into his room. After a moment of thought, he decided to serve them with the fruit juice he had been reluctant to drink over the past few days. The juice, preserved using a method reserved for nobility, could remain fresh for up to two months.

It was evident that Yorkris had become much more mature and less arrogant after the brawl in the ship's cabin. Yorklianna, though still somewhat shy and reserved, took the initiative to speak up this time.

"Brother Grim, thank you for helping us that time. My brother and I are very grateful." she said softly, her voice barely above a whisper, clearly embarrassed by the vulnerability of her gratitude.

"It's nothing, really." Grim replied, downplaying the situation. Truth be told, despite his previous annoyance with Yorkris, he felt it was necessary to support one another as part of the same cohort on the ship. And ultimately, it was Lafi who played a decisive role.

"No, no, we truly are grateful to you, Brother Grim." Yorklianna quickly added, trying to emphasize their sincerity. Then, with a seriousness uncharacteristic for her age, she carefully took out two stones from her clothing and handed them to Grim.

"These are treasures my brother and I accidentally came across when we were younger. We later found out they are magic stones, currency among wizards. We've wasted some over the years, but we still have a few left, so... we'd like to give these two magic stones to you as a token of our gratitude."

Grim was taken aback, staring at the siblings in amazement. They actually possessed the currency circulated among wizards? This was not something ordinary, like gold or silver coins, which most people might never see, let alone own. Grim had never even heard of such things before.

It turned out that the siblings had possessed such valuable items all along, which explained Yorkris's previous arrogance. And there was Wade, who had used a magic stone to bribe Wizard Arowoz.

After a while, Yorkris and Yorklianna prepared to leave. Throughout their visit, Yorklianna did most of the talking, as Yorkris remained silent, seemingly embarrassed by the earlier incident. However, as they were about to depart, Yorkris suddenly patted Grim on the shoulder and earnestly said, "I was wrong before," then left without looking back.

Grim merely nodded in response, not saying much more. Once the siblings had departed, Grim sat back down at the table, now with two thumb-sized stones on it—the legendary magic stones. Filled with curiosity, Grim began to examine the magic stones closely, knowing well that even a single magic stone was a considerable treasure for a wizard apprentice.