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Marize stood at the edge of a ship’s deck, letting out a sigh as she watched the scenery passing by. That ship was not a sightseeing or passenger vessel though, but a transport ship for commerce. Still, that did not make it uncomfortable, other than the more pronounced swaying every once in a while.

Behind her, many brawny sailors were hard at work keeping the ship moving. Marize was the only one who seemed out of place there, but no one paid any attention to her, not out of diligence with their work, but because they actively rejected her presence.

A letter Marize received just before the end of the school term had led to this, sent by her uncle’s family who had just started a maritime cargo business, and wanted her to go along as supervisor.

She had not received any letters from them in a while, so she was a bit dumbfounded that they would contact her for that. Still, they were her legal guardians and were still paying for her stay at the Academy, so she did as they asked. But when she arrived at the ship, her motivation just continued taking hits.

The ship would travel along a river that passed by the territory of Viscount McNiel, but the surrounding areas were still largely uninhabited and unknown, so their route lacked many details. On top of that, all of the sailors on the ship were people who owed money to the company, so they had only recently been instated as sailors, half forcefully.

Marize was also a beginner when it came to trading, but she had grown up near a river. She was fully aware that being familiar with rivers and actually being in a ship were completely different things though. Either way, considering the way the sailors had been gathered, it was hard to say they enjoyed being there.

At first she felt some compassion for them, but in their eyes she was simply another person from the company, making them shun her.

‘Don’t get in our way, brat.’
‘Just stay in a corner somewhere and don’t bother us.’

Those were their first reactions when she tried approaching them, so she never tried again.

Therefore, she did not really have anything to do on the ship anymore, and just spent her time watching the scenery.

“I’m so bored…”

That feeling had not started there though, but way before.

Olivia had graduated from the Magic Academy earlier in spring that year, so Marize lost her afternoon sparring partner. It was thanks to Olivia that Marize had learned some Magical Arts, and the training regime she adopted from Olivia had also pushed her to become far stronger than she had ever been. Thanks to all of that, Marize had been relocated to Classroom A, giving her access to more advanced lessons and stronger classmates to train with.

But it was not a very big change.

She had felt much more alive back when she could trade blows with Olivia, or would get reprimanded by Mathias.

“I wonder what Olivia is doing right now…”

She muttered absentmindedly, but when she heard herself, she began shaking her head wildly.

(That just makes it sound like I’m in love with her! I’m not, I’m not! She might have helped me a bit, but I don’t like her, I hate her!)

She could smile happily even with her parents dead. She had friends to support her during hardships. She had no issue approaching someone who had insulted her. She could undergo the hardest workout without breaking a sweat. She never faltered no matter how desperately Marize tried to attack her, blocking it without effort. Sometimes she would even break into a kind smile.

All of that made Marize envious, and she hated it.

“I hate her I hate her I hate her I hate her I hate her I hate her I hate her I hate her I hate her I hate her I hate her I hate her I hate her I hate her I hate her I hate her.”
“The hell is she doing?”
“Rich girls’ brains are wired differently. Just ignore her and get back to work.”

Some sailors noticed Marize, holding her head and shaking it around while muttering something incoherently, but they chose to keep their distance.

Just as they were going around a curve in the river, a distant clamorous noise reached their ears. It did not originate from their ship, but some unknown flute-like instruments coming from afar.

“Captain! River pirates!”

Many small boats emerged from the shade of trees in the river banks around them, while their main flagship with their leader came into view from the curve ahead, completely surrounding Marize’s ship.

Those pirates would often target smaller ships going to peddle their items to the various riverside villages upstream, and their stronghold was disguised as a common village. Viscount McNiel’s territory was located further upstream, so Marize and the sailors did not know of their existence, and had unwittingly walked into their turf.

“Tsk, the b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲s̲. Everyone to arms!”
“W-Wait, where are the weapons?”
“In storage below deck obviously! Go fetch them already!”
“We don’t have time! Why are they down there anyway?!”

The captain dished out orders, but the fact remained that the sailors had been put together rather randomly. While they knew how to perform their own personal duties, they did not really know much else about the ship as a whole, and that lack of information was starting to create friction between them. In the end they chose to just pick up whatever they had nearby that could serve as a weapon, like pieces of wood or knives.

Meanwhile a group of boats had already gathered on the ship’s port side, where they began throwing ropes with hooks onto the guardrails.

“Don’t let them climb up! Make them fall into the river!”
“Aye!”

The sailors did their best to knock off anyone trying to climb onto the ship, but there were too many of them. Not to mention that the pirates had little regard for human life compared to the sailors, who were regular people gathered there to pay off their debts. As long as the pirates were pushed back while they climbed, the sailors had an advantage, but if they managed to get onto the deck, there would be nothing stopping them.

Seeing that made Marize feel like she needed to help too, but just as she was about to run forward, the captain took hold of her shoulder.

“What are you trying to do, brat? Just go hide in the cabin or you’ll just get in the way!”
“Don’t treat me like a kid! I can fight too!”
“And this is why I’m calling you brat! Do you know how people like that treat women?!”
“Ugh…”

Marize knew, and because of that she could not say anything back.

Seperion was safer than other neighboring countries, but that did not mean it was devoid of crime, and Marize was old enough to know how people like that would treat women they captured. Sometimes dying would be a better fate than that.

And even though the captain’s words were not the kindest, it was clear he was worried for her safety.

“Go hide, now!”

The captain shouted again, then picked up a sword and went to fight the pirates.

But Marize refused to follow the captain’s orders. Her own strength, a bit of pride, and her rebellious nature stopped her from that.

“What would they do in this situation…”

That was obvious. They would forget about everything and just focus on exterminating the pirates. That was how brave and powerful they were, the pair she was so envious about. Olivia would do it with a carefree smile, and Mathias would fight like it was the obvious course of action.

I’m so mad! Both of them tried to push me forward but I can’t even measure up to them in determination alone. They’ve already graduated, and I haven’t caught up to them at all. I’m so jealous. And I’m so mad at myself. If I just continued like this…

“I’ll never catch up to them!”

The basic lightning magic spell, Thunderspark. It was a really easy spell to learn, though that also made it rather weak. But it was Marize using it, who had mastered the ability of rapid firing basic spells.

More than a dozen lightning bolts rained down around the ship, shattering the pirate boats and electrocuting the pirates, who fell into the river.

“Am I dreaming..?”
“Incredible…”

Seeing that, the sailors stopped moving while letting out shocked voices.

But there were still boats left, including one hiding right behind the ship, from which a pirate climbed up onto the deck and made a beeline for Marize, who had quickly become the biggest threat.

Hearing footsteps and feeling a murderous stare behind her, Marize turned around with her fist clenched.

“Die already!”

Marize swung her fist at the incoming assailant, but her fist would not reach him.

“Ghah!”

The captain’s sword slashed through him first.

“Don’t get distracted now, brat.”
“Hmph, worry about yourself first.”

Both of them insulted each other, but they were grinning.

But the pirates would not give up so easily, as their main ship was still sailing straight at them. Their ship was also made of wood, just like Marize’s, except that it was surrounded with spikes made of sharpened tree trunks, so if they collided it was easy to see which ship would break first.

“Captain, the enemy’s shipping is trying to ram us!”
“Then dodge them!”

The captain shouted, but most of the sailors were still recovering from the earlier attack so they could not get the ship moving on time.

“Hold onto something!”

There was a violent impact coupled with a horrifying sound as the large wooden spikes tore through the ship’s right side like a beast’s claw.

“Ow…”
“Oh no, they’re coming!”

Marize was knocked onto the ground, which made her groan in pain, but that was just the beginning.

It was common in maritime combat to board enemy ships to take them down, and the pirates had much more experience with that than the sailors. The pirates quickly recovered from the hit as they began crossing over the ships, and then the final fight began, though it was more of a stomp.

The sailors tried to fight back, but obviously enough, the pirates were much more skilled at combat too.

“Ughrah!”

The pirates’ swords swung faster than the sailors could stand up. Some tried to fight back, but they were so outnumbered that once they locked swords with one, another pirate would take them down.

“Stop resisting, we’ll let you live if you surrender your ship and cargo.”

The leader of the pirates appeared and said that, but the sailors would never agree to that.

Marize slowly began to stand up, glaring at the pirate’s leader, but the captain moved to cover her. After stopping Marize, the captain held his sword ready to face the enemy.

“Oh, so you must be the leader of these pirates. Why don’t we settle this like real men, captain against captain.”
“Kehahah, I guess you must really enjoy getting hurt then.”

The pirate leader also unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the captain.