Remus had never been taught to sail before, he didn’t even read any books about it during his imprisonment in Hell. In his early life as a Royal Knight, he had been on plenty of voyages, but never really helped. Someone not knowing how to do things tended to make more work for everyone else.
But he did observe some things.
Now at the ship’s wheel, held with one hand, the other raised up above him, channeling a focused route of wind. It wasn’t too powerful, just enough to cup the sails and edge the ship out of the docks. He had even forgotten to untie the ship, only realizing it when the ropes strained against his wind and snapped.
From the helm, the ship’s crew judged him through their glassy eyes from the deck floor. For ending their lives or his shoddy ship work, perhaps both. Regardless, these men were not soldiers. They were sailors, smugglers even. The only fights they were ever in were likely ones they would win. That method only works until it doesn’t.
The knight didn’t know how to work the ropes or alter the sails, so he just pumped more wind into the route. He didn’t know how to slow the ship down either, so he slashed the sails with jagged projectiles of wind.
The ship finally slowed down, coming to a stop, bobbing in the moonlight, in the middle of the dark bay. Remus waited, glancing about the ship for anything further of interest. While he waited for his companions, he had already rummaged below decks, looking for more evidence and coming up dry.
The box, or coffin, was already safely stored in his spatial space. Checking on it, thankfully, the containment systems were still intact and operating fine. The last thing he needed was contaminating the rest of his storage.
’The crew did say the term infect, after all. Like this body is carrying a disease, maybe?’ Remus mused.
Judging by their nerves around the box, and the sheer complexity of its containment, its contents would have to be incredibly contagious.
Remus was left to his thoughts, gazing out into the horizon. Jack’s ship finally appeared, growing closer with great speed. Hoisting himself up onto the rail, he stood on top of it, hanging on to one of the ropes. Turning his head, he gazed back at the deck. With his other hand, he reached out, chanting a command.
Mana left his hand, channeled directly to a large glyph he had drawn in chalk during his wait.
As Jack’s ship passed alongside him, Remus hopped off his ship onto Jack’s. They left the empty ship behind. All three of them gazed back at it, receding into the distance.
About a minute after Remus boarded, a thundering crack of wood sounded from the distant ship, its head and tail hoisting upwards. The vessel collapsed in on itself, like its middle imploded, and it sank down into the depths like a rock.
"That’s one way to hide yer tracks," Jack grunted with admiration.
"No fuckin’ clothes on tha’ ship?" Gus complained, shaking like a leaf.
Neither Jack nor Remus acknowledged him.
All three of them kept staring at this sinking ship until there were just bubbles and froth on the water.
"What was in the box then?" Jack asked quietly.
"A corpse, funnily enough," Remus commented quietly.
"A fuckin’ coat on tha’ corpse?" Gus grumbled, his teeth chattering with the bells.
Remus pulled a spare cloak out of his storage, tossing it behind him to their small companion. The short man flung the cloak around him, rubbing his arms with his hands, sighing in satisfaction.
If anyone saw him in the large cloak, he would have looked like a boy in his father’s clothes.
"What now? Back to the tavern, a round to finish off our success?" Jack offered, glancing over at Remus.
"Can’t. I have to teach a class in a few hours." Remus replied. "I also need to debrief the queen."
"Don’t we all," Gus grumbled to himself, tightening the cloak around him.
Both men turned to him, as if remembering he was there.
"You know, I think I’ll keep you, Gus." Remus declared quietly, looking at the small man with intent.
Gus paled, like he was handed a prison sentence.
"You make him sound like a puppy." Jack guffawed. "One with gout, or something."
"Keep me for what?"
"You have many uses, I imagine. Besides, from what I saw this evening, you are an excellent dancer."
Gus’s face started to redden as he gritted his teeth.
"Your opinions are as dangerous as your hips," Remus commented, with a tinge of amusement.
The ship brought them back, the sails carried by Jack’s booming laughter.
"You have two hours until the next session bell to complete this examination," Remus explained to the class as they individually came to his desk and collected a paper.
"This will test your current knowledge, and additionally challenge your potential for the coming year."
Despite having been warned that there would be an exam this morning, there were still some dreary faces. As they all settled back in their seats, papers ready, Remus called for them to begin.
The professor sat down at his desk with a small sigh, taking out his own work to get on with.
When he arrived home a few hours ago after his task, he relayed everything he had discovered to the queen via the relay pen. She was as stumped as he was as it came to the mystery of the corpse, and more specifically, the people involved with it.
What was it exactly? And why Eric Lancen of all people? Someone by no means a tycoon of industry or the field of medicine. It would need further investigation.
Lilith seemed to welcome the chance to guess. She seemed to be in a foul mood from before. Apparently she had invested quite a bit in a demon pawn, finally placing him into a regal position as an advisor to a King. The King of Alspana, to be precise, a country far south, just slightly across the water from the Fredel Empire.
What frustrated her even more, none of her servants in the capital or the outskirts of the country were answering their messages. Neither the stations nor the teams had been in contact for some time. It was like the country disappeared.
Remus pushed it all back on his mental list.
Unless ordered, Alspana was not his problem.
He was going to need to get somewhere secure, quiet, and start building some containment infrastructure if he wanted to open and inspect this box. It was going to take some planning.
The students were deep into their test, their pens frantically moving at different speeds, creating a unique sound.
To Remus, it sounded strangely like a river.
Staring past the words of his book, he tuned them out, just listening to the noise.
Reminiscing.