Warrior Training System

Chapter 517: The Princess’s Escort

Cassian spent the next three days "recruiting," though in reality, he didn’t bring in anyone new. It was just an excuse to bring Lumine and the others along.

He’d already told them to come up with proper stories—why they wanted to travel so far, how they knew him, all of it.

He had no idea what kind of questions they might be asked, and Brigid was taking this seriously. She didn’t want any unnecessary trouble, especially not from shady people—though, ironically, they were already shady enough themselves. The goal was to move smoothly, without drawing more attention than they already were.

"The ships are so big..." Althea said, a bit surprised.

Cassian hadn’t expected the ships to be this big either. Each one was at least a hundred meters long, with four decks.

"Looks like they don’t plan on making any stops," Wanni said, glancing around at the sails and then toward the back of the ship. She paused, a bit surprised. "They even have mana propulsion attached... your friends really spent a lot on this, huh?" ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

Cassian was surprised too. He had assumed Brigid wasn’t getting much support from the cult for this mission—but that only seemed true when it came to manpower. In terms of money, they’d clearly backed her heavily. She’d managed to book two massive ships.

As he boarded, he noticed just how many people were on them—easily in the hundreds. With four decks, there was constant movement everywhere, people hauling supplies up and down.

Out of those hundreds, only a portion were cultists—but Cassian recognized quite a few of them, scattered among the mercenaries. Most of them were gathered around the middle of the ship, blending in as they waited.

Soon, what looked like the captain of the ships stepped onto the deck. Behind the bearded man stood Brigid.

"Welcome aboard..." the man said loudly.

The chatter around the deck died down as everyone turned to look at him, some of them clearly surprised. Cassian caught someone nearby whisper, "Isn’t that Salavador Klassen?"

Cassian wanted to hear more, but the man continued.

"I am Salavador Klassen, captain of the Royal Katrina. Our lady Brigid has hired me—and all of you—to safely transport her back home in the midst of this war..." His voice was rough, like that of a chain smoker, carrying easily across the deck.

"You will all be paid once she is safely back in her castle in the Mariossa Kingdom. And while you’re on my ship, you’ll treat her better than you treat your own home. Otherwise..." his eyes swept across the crowd, sharp and warning, "...I’ll treat you the way I treat my shit—flush it straight into the sea."

No one spoke up.

Clearly, no one wanted to be "flushed."

"You’ve all likely been briefed already, so I won’t waste time with details," he went on. "My men will split half of you at random onto the second ship—it’ll act as a scouting vessel, as you already know. So move. We set sail in a few minutes."

Everyone nodded as a few sailors began calling out names. Cassian’s and his teammates’ names were among them, which surprised him a little—none of them were cultists, only hired mercenaries.

Well... he thought.

Then the last name the sailor called caught his attention.

"Kirja..."

She stepped toward the group on one side of the ship.

"You all will be on that ship," the sailor added.

Cassian frowned, confused, and glanced at Brigid. She only gave him a brief look before turning and heading back toward the captain’s room.

Wanni noticed his expression. "What happened?"

The others looked at him too, but Cassian just shook his head. "I’ll tell you later. For now... let’s go."

Cassian and the others followed the group being led off the main ship, stepping across the secured planks toward the second vessel. This one was just as large, with the same four-deck structure, but its design was different—sleeker, narrower, built more for speed than carrying bulk like the first.

The moment they boarded, the atmosphere shifted. Fewer people, tighter movement, more focused.

A man who seemed to be in charge of this ship stepped forward, eyeing them all briefly before speaking.

"You’ll be provided food and a small cabin in exchange for helping around the ship. Guard duty is one, cooking is another," he said in a firm, no-nonsense tone. "You’ll have to share sleeping space—we don’t have enough for everyone. Two people per cabin. It’s only big enough for one person to lie down comfortably, so pick your partners."

A few murmurs spread through the group.

Cassian glanced at his team.

"Me and my sister will share one," Theon said, glancing at her. ƒreewebɳovel.com

"Then you and Wanni take one. I’ll partner up with someone else," Cassian replied, his gaze shifting to Kirja. She stood off to the side, looking tense, giving off a dangerous vibe as he walked toward her.

"Does he know her?" Althea asked Lumine.

Lumine just shrugged. "Maybe?"

Cassian stopped near Kirja and spoke a bit more quietly, so others wouldn’t pay attention. "So... why did she send you and me on this ship while keeping the rest of the group back there?"

"You know her better. She didn’t tell you?" Kirja replied coldly, leaning back against the railing, which only annoyed Cassian more.

"Don’t mess around. Is she planning to ditch these people once we get close or what?" Cassian asked, irritation creeping into his voice. He hadn’t been told anything, and he didn’t like walking into things blind.

Kirja smirked, clearly enjoying his reaction. "Nothing like that. She just doesn’t want to lose her people, so she’s keeping them on the safer ship—with Captain Klassen. As for why she sent me and you here... it’s just to keep an eye out for any troublemakers."

Cassian didn’t fully trust her, but he nodded anyway. "Sure... I’ll believe you. Now, how about we share a cabin?"

She looked disgusted, already about to refuse, but he cut in, "I’m not taking no for an answer. Or I might just bunk with your sister over there... and don’t doubt that I can’t."