Remus walked up the empty pier, stopping near the edge, holding his own lantern. He could see well enough in most darkness, but the arriving ship would never be able to find the dock without it.
He was dressed plainly tonight, the usual long traveling cloak and hood he wore for visiting the tavern. The hood was up, covering most of his face, the rain pattering lightly on top of it.
The faint sounds of cleanup could be heard in the distance. The sweeping of brushes, buckets of water being sloshed onto the ground. Remus had given Jack and Gus plenty of instructions after the group had been disposed of. It was up to them to remove all traces of them, including the depowered glyph itself.
The knight wanted no suspicion of ’Mr. Bell’ here.
Remus also instructed his companions to stay away from the pier and hide in the warehouse until he called them.
About ten or so minutes later, a shape molded itself onto the dark horizon. A ship, specifically the same ship as seven nights ago, was quietly making its way towards him. Like then, it held no lighting, a vessel of silent camouflage. Even the sail on it appeared to be dyed grey, instead of the common cream or white.
As it steered alongside the pier, men on board cast out ropes that Remus quickly caught and tied to pillars. Finishing his last knot, he glanced up to the ship. A man, the same speaker from last week, was glaring down at him.
Even in the darkness, he could make out his dusty complexion. His wiry, long black hair was fluttering in the wind.
"Why are you alone?" He called down quietly to Remus, eyeing the rest of the pier slowly.
"After the hassle of moving it last week, the boss opted for more efficient transport," Remus answered, his dark hood gazing back up at the foreigner.
Now up close, and hearing the man’s accent without the static of his telescope artifact, Remus knew this ship came from the Fredel Empire. A nation further south on this continent, and last he heard, not exactly on friendly terms, but not at war either.
"It takes at least four men to lift this box even off the ground," The Fredel ship captain argued, frowning down in annoyance at Remus. "And there is just one of you."
"Yes." Remus nodded, his voice polite. "The boss asked me to do this, as I have a spatial artifact."
The captain’s eyes widened in surprise. "You have an artifact that powerful for something this large?"
"I do," Remus confirmed. "Put down your ramp, and I will collect it. Save you all the effort of carrying it down."
The captain squinted at him in judgment, but eventually opted for the easier life. Gesturing and calling to his crew, he ordered a small ramp to be pushed down from the ship, allowing Remus to board.
Stepping on board, Remus pulsed a faint echo of mana, scanning for life on the ship. It seemed there were only six living individuals, all presently on deck. He was grateful. It made things easier.
The Fredel captain nodded towards his crew, directing Remus to where the men were removing canvas and tarp from over the cargo. After everything was removed, a long and thick wooden box was revealed. Now that he was up close, it really did look like a coffin, Remus thought.
"This here?" Remus confirmed with the captain, pointing at it.
The foreigner nodded, keeping his distance from the box, eyeing it with mistrust and fear.
Noting that, Remus approached it anyway. He detected no obvious foul play, nothing mana-related in terms of traps. It didn’t seem to be leaking any mana.
In fact.
It didn’t seem to be leaking anything. At all.
Squinting his eyes in curiosity, he knelt down beside the box. He could now see it was absolutely covered in glyphs, carved finely into the wood on all sides. It was astonishing the amount of procedure and functional relay was in operation here.
A sophisticated containment system, effectively holding what was inside in perfect stasis, oblivious of the outside world.
But what was inside?
Even though he could have dismissed the box into his storage, he decided on a different approach.
Placing his hand on the container, Remus made it look like he was going to place it into his storage. After a moment, nothing happened.
Remus then turned his head to the captain, putting on a face, glaring at him from his hood.
"I can’t absorb it. What the heck are all these symbols on the box? They are preventing me from collecting this."
The foreign captain tutted, as if, remarkably, expected this to happen. "You know exactly what they are, to prevent that shit from killing us all."
Remus couldn’t exactly ask ’what shit?’ unfortunately, as he’d imagine the people coming to collect this would have some knowledge. Especially since they moved the initial box.
"You are wasting my time." The captain growled, irritated now, his accent getting thicker. "If you can’t put it in your fancy ring, we will just lift it onto the docks. Go get your friends."
Remus patted the box playfully and stood. Two of the crew looked like they were going to jump overboard after those pats.
"That will take too long," Remus argued with cocky authority. "Let me scratch some of these, and I can absorb it."
Another of the crew looked as if he had soiled himself when he said that.
But the captain marched towards him, growing angrier. "Are you fucking stupid!? Pendo swine!"
The foreigner got into Remus’s deliberately arrogant face, jabbing his chest with a finger.
"Mages sealed that specifically. You know this, Pendo fuck!" The captain shouted, spittle hitting Remus’s face. "You damage any of those, it gets out, we are all infected, we all die! And—"
But the ranting captain froze, staring closer at Remus.
The irate man had been seeing Remus’s face change, his posture, but not his eyes. Those dark eyes remained unmoved throughout the whole argument, indifferent.
Stepping back, the captain said coldly, "You are not one of Lancen’s men..."
"No," Remus replied simply, and then quietly chanted something.
A thunderous pressure erupted from him, like a suffocating pop of pressure in the air. The captain and all of the crew were unable to move, as if their feet were bolted to the floor. Men struggled, flailing about, helplessly.
But the captain didn’t panic. "Mage!" he roared, unsheathing his sword. "Soros!"
One of the men behind Remus at the helm of the ship, likely Soros, stretched their arm to the cabin wall. Swiping at some marking, it had a sudden chain reaction. Fine glyphs glowing purple erupted in a straight line from that spot, setting off newly appearing ones all around the ship, blooming from the rails.
As they quickly faded in, the floor of the ship turned a low purple, as if a purple light source covered the ground.
All the crew staggered as the snare upon them vanished. They could move freely.
"Fucking Pendo!" The captain screamed, charging Remus with his saber.
Remus glanced about at the purple field of light blanketing them all.
A nullifying mana field, preventing anyone from using magic.
And an annoyingly good one.