I Stole The Duke - Chapter 124

“Drop anchor here.”

Joel raised his hand sharply after measuring the distance. It would be bad if the target got spooked by the large ship.

“Drop the anchor!”

The sailors echoed his command, hurrying across the deck.

“Get the bait ready and prepare the boat.”

“Yes, Young Master! Bring the boat alongside!”

While giving his final orders, Joel reached into the wooden tub beside him and pulled out a sea turtle.

Hey! Are you seriously doing this now?! I was eating!

Olive flailed wildly, a half-eaten fish still in his beak. He had been enjoying the sailors’ fresh catch.

“It’s time for us to part ways.”

Joel picked up a rope and tightly bound it around the turtle’s shell and belly.

Let go of me, you cruel, animal-abusing fox bastard!

Olive squirmed frantically, hurling every curse he knew—but to Joel, it was just a series of angry little blubs and bubbles.

“Lower the boat.”

“One, two! Heave-ho!”

The boat carrying the bait was lowered first, followed by Joel and ten sailors climbing down the rope ladder.

“Release the tie rope. Let’s move out.”

“Yes, Young Master. One, two—stroke!”

With well-practiced strokes, the small boat glided swiftly across the water.

SPLASH!

Not long after, a massive dark head shot up three meters into the air before crashing back into the sea. A salty, white froth splashed across the boat.

“Blegh!”

The boat had narrowly avoided being crushed by a creature over 40 tons in size. Still, the sailors just spat out the seawater they’d accidentally swallowed and kept rowing without a hitch.

“Stop here. Dump the bait.”

“Yes, Young Master!”

At Joel’s command, the sailors stopped rowing and began tossing buckets of fish—three days’ worth of catch—into the sea.

As expected, once the small fish hit the water, a dark, massive body began to glide silently toward the boat.

Perfect target.

Joel estimated the size—one massive body, at least 15 meters long, accompanied by a smaller one.

SPLASH!

Without hesitation, Joel tucked Olive under his arm and dove straight into the sea.

“Young Master, be careful—!”

The sailors shouted after him, their voices void of any real concern. In the Terius family, if a man died in the sea, then he was simply a man who deserved to die.

Wooo-oooo-oooo!

Underwater, the mournful song of a whale echoed through the depths.

Whooooom…

The massive mother whale circled Joel, inspecting the intruder with her knobby, barnacle-covered face. It was a highly intelligent, gentle humpback whale.

No weapons here.

Joel quickly spread his arms to show he meant no harm, easing the whale’s suspicion.

Bloop!

As the mother whale swam past, her calf playfully shot bubbles at Joel’s face. It was just a game.

I promise it won’t hurt. Just help me out a little…

Though humpback whales barely eat during their nursing period, this one wasn’t about to turn down an easy meal. The mother whale hovered near the boat, sucking in the small fish that were still being tossed into the water. Joel carefully swam toward her tail.

One wrong move, and a hit from that tail would be fatal. But Joel worked swiftly and precisely. Anyone who’d completed squire training under the ducal house could tie a basic slipknot in one or two seconds on land—and within three seconds underwater.

You damn fox! I’ll make sure you die the most painful death possible!

Olive thrashed and cursed violently—but his protest was nothing more than underwater babble.

Bloop bloop bloop!

The baby whale, fascinated, fired a stream of bubbles at the dangling sea turtle tied to the rope.

GYAAAH!

The blast of bubbles sent Olive spinning through the water.

Bloop! Bloop!

Delighted, the calf flipped upside down, showing off its pale belly.

Perfect.

Joel grinned as he finished the knot in just two seconds. It was perfectly secured—tight enough to stay in place, but loose enough not to damage the tail. Judging from the size of the mother whale, she likely wouldn’t grow much more, and the noose now sat like a collar at the base of her tail. Three meters behind her, Olive dangled helplessly from the end of the rope.

Breathe well, travel safe.

Joel gave a casual little wave toward Olive.

Sea turtles, like Olive, could hold their breath longer than whales, and their diets overlapped—small fish, shrimp, and the like. Besides, humpback whales were famously gentle and altruistic creatures, often called “angels of the sea.” If Olive managed to befriend the mother whale, she might even share a few fish with him.

If the rope gets tangled, figure it out yourself.

If Olive upset the whale and made her angry, he’d be stuck living off the barnacles and parasites clinging to her skin.

I won’t be seeing you off any further.

Joel gave a thumbs-up, his dimples forming even under the sea.

YOU—YOU XX XXX XXX… HEY!!!

Olive shouted every curse he knew from dry land, hurling them at Joel with all the rage in his tiny body.

Whoooom…

As the fish stopped falling from the boat, the mother whale lost interest and slowly drifted away—Olive bobbing behind her, growing smaller and smaller in the distance.

Special Mission Complete

“……”

Michalis spread all the magic cards he had onto the desk and quietly looked at them.

Two Teleport cards.
One Polymorph Other (used to change someone’s appearance).
Two Dispel Magic cards.
Two Cure Physical (healing) cards.
One Cleanse card.

The number of uses left didn’t really matter—once the mana stone inside a card broke, it could be replaced with a new one to make the card usable again.

If I had to plan a new mission with these limited resources…

This mission involved the Mage Tower. The more preparation, the better.

All the high-ranking mages are currently out at sea. If that’s true…

An outline of the next operation was beginning to take shape in Michalis’s mind.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Just then, a knock on the door snapped Michalis out of his thoughts.

“Come in.”

“Your Excellency, the decoy plan using the Mage Lord’s movements is complete. We’ve also retrieved the robe.”

The black robe that had been used to impersonate the Mage Lord across the empire had finally been returned.

“Is that so?”

Michalis’s eyes turned to the black robe Iadis was holding. There’s a saying: The longer the tail, the easier it is to catch. It was the right time to end the fake trail operation before it caused more problems.

“What should we do with the robe?”

Iadis asked carefully. The Mage Lord’s robe was a precious artifact of the Mage Tower. Simply throwing it away felt wrong, but keeping it could lead to being tracked by the tower. It was a tricky decision.

“Give it to me.”

“Here you go.”

Michalis draped the black robe over his own clothes.

“Sir Iadis. You remember the Mage Lord’s face well, don’t you?”

“Of course.”

Iadis replied without hesitation. He had stared at the man’s unconscious face for hours. Among the members of the mission unit, no one knew the Mage Lord’s appearance better than Iadis.

“Then turn me into him.”

Michalis handed him one of the magic cards on the desk.

“…Excuse me?”

“It’s the same spell I used to turn him into a turtle. You remember the chant, right?”

“I do, but…”

“Then do it. It’s not like the spell will kill you if you mess up.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

Relieved by Michalis’s calm tone, Iadis nodded and collected his thoughts. Come to think of it, Polymorph wasn’t a particularly dangerous spell. Even if it failed, the worst that could happen was a weird face or wrong body part.

“Imperial Polymorph Other.”

Iadis focused on the Mage Lord—Olive’s—face in his mind and spoke the chant.

“How do I look?”

“Exactly like the Mage Lord, sir.”

Iadis replied, barely managing to close his mouth in shock. Thanks to his photographic memory, Michalis now looked exactly like the real Mage Lord. Wearing the actual robe completed the disguise, making any minor flaws hard to notice.

“Sir Iadis, your role in this operation is key.”

Michalis picked up a small mirror from the desk and turned his face this way and that as he spoke.

“Are you… planning to infiltrate the Mage Tower yourself, sir?”

Iadis turned pale. He knew what his lord was thinking—and the Mage Tower was no place for a simple mission. It would be incredibly dangerous.

“The role of the Mage Lord—”

“You can’t, Your Excellency!”

“—won’t be mine.”

“…What?”

Iadis had braced himself for a harsh command, but his eyes widened at the unexpected words.

“Sir Iadis. How is a perfect mission made?”

“When the timing, conditions, location, and right person all come together… the mission is flawless.”

“You are the right person this time.”

“…I’m ready for your orders.”

Without hesitation, Iadis knelt down on one knee and gave a proper knight’s salute. His heart beat fast with pride. At last, he was no longer just a behind-the-scenes assistant—he was being trusted as Michalis’s first knight, given a mission that truly mattered.

Day 6 of the Voyage

Twenty mages, each with their own tray, quietly ate lunch on the deck.

Today’s meal was grilled fish, chickpea soup, coarse rye bread, orange marmalade, and a cup of peppermint tea. It was nothing luxurious, but for a military ship, it was a decent meal. With the bright weather, sitting on the deck, letting the sea breeze brush past, and sipping tea had a quiet charm to it. There weren’t any chairs or benches on the warship, so everyone just sat on the floor.

Who is that man, really?

Legionty nibbled on his rough bread while discreetly watching the pink-haired man from a distance.

This was the sixth day of observing him. And the more he watched… the more suspicious the man became.

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