'What do I do?' Lux thought as he paced back and forth inside the room. 'This is no good. I am out of options.'
Earlier, it was Millie that was pacing anxiously, but now, it was him.
The green-haired Dwarf even felt more anxious because Lux was the one she was counting on to find the Princess. Seeing how pale his face was, she could tell that something was terribly wrong, and it made her feel her stomach churn in anxiety.
"Did something happen?" Millie asked in a worried tone. "You don't look good."
Lux sighed before he sat on one of the chairs and rubbed his face with both hands.
"The members of Twilight Rain will be arriving in this place soon," Lux answered. "They have Six Rankers, and Ten Initiates. Their plan is to get on a boat, and take the Princess somewhere far away, to avoid the detection of those who are attempting to rescue her."
Millie gasped in shock after hearing the bad news. She didn't even bother to ask Lux how he knew about these things, and just believed him unconditionally.
"... what are we going to do now?" Millie asked helplessly.
She was willing to lay down her life to save the Princess, but the way things were, she would just die a dog's death if she attempted to rescue her alone.
Millie didn't even consider Lux accompanying her to save the Princess because, in her eyes, the Human was just a Grade A Apostle.
In the eyes of Rankers, Grade A Apostles were not a threat, so it wouldn't be a big deal even if there were hundreds of them. Knowing what the Dark Guild was planning to do, the green-haired Dwarf suddenly had an idea that would be frowned upon by anyone who heard it.
"They will travel by boat, right?" Millie asked. "What if we destroy all the boats in the Port? If we do that, they will need to think about other options, right?"
The Half-Elf shuddered because he could tell that the green-haired Dwarf was dead serious.
There were dozens of boats that were currently docked at the port, and if she were to destroy them all, it would be similar to poking a hornet's nest.
They would undoubtedly become the Public Enemy of all the Merchants within the city, as well as the Earl who ruled the Earldom of Draycott.
Lux was desperate, but he wasn't that desperate!
"Calm down, Millie," Lux said as he pressed his hands on the Dwarf's shoulders and looked her straight in the eye. "I know that the Princess is important to you. My friends are important to me as well, but involving the innocent is not good. We don't know what the consequences of destroying the ships in the Port would be. If we are going to destroy a ship, it would be Twilight Rain's ship and no one else's!"
Millie recovered a bit of her composure after hearing Lux's reply.
"So, we can still destroy their ship, right?" Millie asked.
Lux nodded. "Yes. You can destroy it as much as you like."
Even Lux felt that this was the only option available to them, so that they could delay Twilight Rain's plan to take the Princess far from their reach.
Fortunately, Scarlet had now become Princess Anastasia's bodyguard This gave Lux a sliver of hope that an opportunity would present itself to him, while he waited for his allies to arrive.
"Let's go to the Port," Lux proposed. "Perhaps we can identify what ship they will be using. We can destroy it subtly, while they are still not here."
Millie agreed to this plan, so the two left the Guildmaster's Office and headed to the Port in order to check all the ships one by one.
Lux currently looked like a chubby human teenager, which caught the attention of several Dwarves along the way. The Kingdom of Gweliven was very strict in keeping the other races away from their borders, so seeing Lux appear in front of them was like seeing a rare animal in the zoo for the first time.
The Half-Elf ignored these stares as he used his Soul Book to appraise every ship that was docked in the port.
He didn't know if he could use his appraisal ability in this manner, but he still decided to try since he was out of options.
—-----
< Black Pearl >
Captain's Name: Jack Spawow
– This is the day you will always remember as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Spawow!
—-----
< Flying Dutchman >
Captain's Name: Hendrick Van Der Decken
– The Dutchman sails as the captain commands!
—-----
< The Dying Gull >
Captain's Name: Josh Amie Gibbs
– Dead Gulls tell no tales.
—-----
Lux went past several ships and appraised them one by one. Some of them had been sailing for many years, while others were newly built. Right now, he was desperate to look for any clue that would help them delay the members of Twilight Rain from leaving the Port before their reinforcements arrived
—-----
< Twilight >
Captain's Name: Brytman
– No. I am not Batman. This isn't Twilight Rain's ship. We are not members of a Dark Guild. We just happen to know some of their members. We're not suspicious people.
—-----
Lux almost slipped while walking on the dock as he walked past the ship named Twilight. This was the ship that was at the very end of the port and, from all looks and angles, it looked like a decent merchant ship that was just here to trade some goods.
Suddenly, an ingenious idea popped up inside his head. It was a very risky idea, but if it worked, he would be able to save the Princess, his friends, and even get Clyde off the ship under the Ranker's noses.
But, the Half-Elf was very conflicted about doing it. This plan involved Eiko going inside the ship, which would put her at great risk.
She had already died once, and the red-headed teenager wasn't too keen on having the baby Slime die a second time.
As if sensing his thoughts, Eiko crawled down from Lux's head and sat on his shoulder. She then poked Lux's cheek, making him turn to look at her.
"Pa!"
The baby Slime looked at Lux with a smile because she and him shared a strong connection, allowing her to vaguely understand what he was feeling and thinking.
Of course, Lux and Iris had made sure that both of them had a piece of Eiko's body with them as insurance if ever they needed to revive her again. Even so, they didn't want her to do dangerous missions just because they had the ability to revive her.
"Pa!"
Seeing that Lux wasn't answering her, Eiko pouted and gave her Papa a face filled with injustice.
In the end, the Half-Elf sighed and told the baby slime what she needed to do.
Eiko nodded her head in understanding and gave Lux a very reassuring smile.
"If something bad happens, abandon the mission and teleport to me immediately, do you understand?" Lux said as he held the baby Slime on the palm of his hands.
"Pa!" Eiko nodded before jumping off Lux's hands and sneakily entering the Merchant Ship, which they believed to be the ship that Twilight Rain was going to use to escape their pursuers.
'Be safe, Eiko,' Lux said to the baby slime via telepathy before leaving the dock with Millie, who didn't know what the baby Slime and the Half-Elf discussed before parting ways.
Even so, she understood that Lux wasn't doing things at random, and decided to just keep quiet for the time being.
Ten minutes later, the members of Twilight Rain entered the Port City of Watford, and just like Lux had expected, they headed straight to the Merchant Ship, where Eiko was currently hiding.
