Reincarnated as a Genius Prodigy of a Prestigious Family - Chapter 176

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Reincarnated as a Legendary Talent Genius of a Noble Family Episode 176

 

117. Let’s Prepare to Set Sail

 

Captain Calico, surprisingly—or perhaps naturally—focused on my words instead of being stubborn.

 

“The ship remains my property. Unless you have the money to buy it back right now, Captain.”

 

“…I don’t have that kind of money. And I won’t… in the future either.”

 

Captain Calico had probably been making various profits through this ship.

 

Though I don’t know the details, without a ship he’d have to board someone else’s vessel as a crew member rather than a captain.

 

But it would be difficult for someone who used to be a captain to do that. There’s also the reason that the ship is that precious to him.

 

That’s why he was desperately trying to get his ship back.

 

“That ship is one I built by dedicating my entire life…”

 

Captain Calico’s hands trembled.

 

I could give it back out of sympathy.

 

That much would be nothing to me.

 

It’s not like I’d die without this one ship.

 

But that’s not how the world always works.

 

“Anyway, if it weren’t for me, that ship would have been lost. Whether it was used as a pirate ship, someone else’s trading vessel, or dismantled and sold… it never would have returned to you.”

 

“…”

 

So I made a proposal.

 

“Let’s do this.”

 

Realistically speaking, the only benefit I could gain from selling or dismantling this ship would be money.

 

Isn’t that right?

 

I’m not going to engage in trade, and I don’t know how to sail a ship.

 

On the other hand, I’d lose more than that.

 

First, I might not be able to reach Atalia Island, and I might miss an ‘opportunity.’

 

The opportunity to make Calico, the North Sea’s greatest captain, feel grateful and indebted to me.

 

And the opportunity for us to use the ship whenever we need it.

 

Plus one more thing.

 

“You’ll send a portion of the profits made using this ship every month.”

 

“…A portion of the profits?”

 

“Yes. That’s the only way the math works out, isn’t it? Since you don’t have the money to buy this ship right now, you’ll have to pay it back in installments.”

 

Captain Calico was flustered, but soon nodded his head.

 

“That’s… right.”

 

“And whenever we want it, you’ll prepare the ship at any time.”

 

I showed him my open palm.

 

“I’d say these are quite favorable conditions for you, Captain.”

 

Anyone in their right mind would be happy to recover a ship lost to gambling for ‘just’ this much.

 

It’s just that gambling paralyzes people’s thinking and makes them think ‘someone took it from me’ instead of ‘I lost it.’

 

Fortunately, Captain Calico was a person with good judgment.

 

“Hah, alright. Let’s do that. You’re right. If I had just kept my wits about me, this wouldn’t have happened.”

 

Of course, I have to consider that those gambling scam bastards are experts at luring in suckers…

 

I don’t want to go out of my way to sympathize with someone who lost money gambling.

 

We just recovered it because we need it now, and we’re simply negotiating about it.

 

“Thirty percent every month.”

 

“Th-thirty percent…! Understood.”

 

And I drafted a contract on the spot, had Captain Calico confirm it, then sealed it.

 

That’s the end of the contract.

 

“For reference, if you breach the contract, I’ll send debt collectors as written.”

 

“…I’ll definitely keep it.”

 

We each took a copy of the contract and shook hands, and finally I could see Captain Calico’s faint smile.

 

“Thanks to you… I’m saved.”

 

I grinned and said.

 

“So now you need to hurry and take us to Atalia Island.”

 

“Ah, right. That’s correct. I should do that. Ha, this is really something.”

 

He scratched the back of his head sheepishly, then suddenly looked at me and tilted his head.

 

“But I heard from Baron Dylan that your group consists of students including you, Young Master… are you really a student?”

 

“Yes. That’s right. I’m Dane Sogress, first year in the Autonomous Department at Imperial Academy.”

 

He seemed surprised by two things.

 

“My goodness, you’re Count Sogress’s son!”

 

One was Sogress.

 

“Do you know my father?”

 

“I’ve never met him directly, but who wouldn’t know the Empire’s greatest hero?”

 

And the other was—

 

“…And a first-year Academy freshman recovered my ship and is skilled at negotiating… you’re not some late-blooming freshman or anything like that, right?”

 

My age.

 

“I hear that often.”

 

“Haha… I don’t think it’s just ‘often’…”

 

Captain Calico then shook his head.

 

“This isn’t the time for this. I need to hurry and prepare for departure.”

 

“How long will it take?”

 

“Though they took the ownership papers, it’s not like they did anything to the ship, so gathering the crew and loading supplies should take half a day at most.”

 

“Good. Then we’ll set sail around evening.”

 

Then I have a little time left…

 

Should I take care of some remaining business?

 

Bang!

 

Perfect timing.

 

“Yeah, I knew you’d be here. If I’d known earlier, I wouldn’t have wandered around.”

 

As the door opened, the gambling gang appeared.

 

“The two bastards we put on surveillance haven’t reported back…”

 

The fact that there’s no news means Ernest did well.

 

He’s probably returned to the dormitory by now.

 

“Did you think you could just leave after taking all my money?”

 

From the looks of several more behind him, he brought them all.

 

But one guy is missing.

 

I don’t see that bastard who was using magic earlier.

 

“Did you think I wouldn’t know? You’re in cahoots with that bastard Dos?”

 

What?

 

That’s how they misunderstood it?

 

Well, then since they didn’t catch on, my skills were good in the end?

 

“Dos is gone now.”

 

I had been quietly listening to his words, then snorted.

 

“Scammers always talk too much like this.”

 

“So what? The one who got fooled is the idiot.”

 

To the fellow who came at me with shameless audacity, I returned those exact words.

 

“Then you guys are idiots too.”

 

“What?”

 

“Can’t help it if you can’t understand.”

 

Then Captain Calico stepped forward from beside me.

 

He picked up a broken chair leg and burned with resolute determination.

 

“A sailor is a corpse without loyalty. I’ll repay even a little of the debt for recovering my ship right here and now.”

 

I thought he wouldn’t, but he’s quite stylish.

 

But no matter how rough a sailor might be, there’s nothing they could do against several people all gripping weapons.

 

Unless it were me.

 

“I appreciate the sentiment, but please step back.”

 

“What? You can’t possibly mean to go alone….”

 

I’ve fought monsters and even tamed a hellhorse.

 

These guys are nothing.

 

I picked up a chair leg similar to what Captain Calico was holding.

 

“Perfect. As long as I avoid their heads, they won’t die even if I hit them.”

 

A sneer escaped me.

 

“What did you say? Ha, you’re seriously going to take us on?”

 

I looked at the guy laughing as if it were absurd and muttered.

 

“Why wouldn’t I.”

 

* * *

 

Captain Calico is someone who takes pride in being a sailor.

 

That’s why when pirates nearly took over his ship, when dealing with rough crew members, when getting into fights at taverns, he never backed down.

 

Backing down would be a sailor’s shame.

 

Perhaps that’s why he tried to scrape together money from everywhere, thinking he couldn’t let his ship be taken like this.

 

But….

 

That’s only when there’s a chance to step forward.

 

“Urgh, uuuurgh!”

 

“Aaaagh!”

 

“Kyaaaah!”

 

One strike, one down.

 

People were falling without fail, and screams were rising.

 

This happened every time the chair leg in Dane’s hand moved.

 

Honestly, it was hard to even see clearly.

 

Something just went whoosh! and one guy was down, then immediately the next guy fell.

 

Even more—

 

“Th-this is impossible!”

 

The strange sight of a sword breaking when it clashed with the chair leg occurred.

 

“Could it be… mana?”

 

They say weapons imbued with mana can sometimes split mountains.

 

It’s not quite that level now, but it’s enough to startle people.

 

Captain Calico doesn’t know much about mana or magic, but he could understand one thing.

 

‘This fellow is unbelievable.’

 

Just how incredible the skill level of this student named Dane was, as he knocked down sturdy sailors and gambling gang members with a chair leg right before his eyes.

 

“Phew.”

 

And now Dane was tapping the chair leg against his other hand, having left only one opponent.

 

“Just you left?”

 

The remaining one was Elroy.

 

“…You bastard!”

 

Elroy is quite skilled. To lead a fraud gambling ring, you need good reflexes and the ability to win most fistfights.

 

That’s how you survive even after committing fraud.

 

But today he met the wrong opponent.

 

Up until now, the strongest opponents were at most escort knights of rural nobles—

 

Whoosh!

 

The person swinging the chair leg flying toward him now is the Academy’s most talented genius freshman.

 

Thwack!

 

“Gaaah!”

 

Elroy couldn’t even land his dagger and fell after taking the chair leg to his shoulder.

 

Tremendous pain.

 

Was there a spike embedded in that chair leg?

 

“Does it hurt?”

 

“Grgh….”

 

Elroy barely managed to stagger to his feet.

 

Now seeing red, he charged in recklessly.

 

And—

 

“Gack.”

 

With a choking sound, he took a hit to the back and collapsed face-first.

 

His fingertips twitched.

 

Then they soon went still, so he must have fainted.

 

“It’s over.”

 

Dane casually tossed the chair leg aside and shrugged his shoulders.

 

Captain Calico stared blankly at the scene and unconsciously started clapping.

 

“Of all the fights I’ve seen… that was the cleanest.”

 

It really was.

 

Even considering that sailors fight so roughly and brutally, this was the first time he’d seen such a clean fight.

 

Not allowing a single hit and taking down one with each strike.

 

The last guy took two hits, probably because he was a bit tougher.

 

“Thank you for the applause.”

 

Dane bowed gracefully like a stage actor, then spoke toward the counter.

 

“Can you call the guards here?”

 

The shop owner who had been trembling behind the counter poked his head out.

 

“Ah, y-yes! I can call them! Should I call them now?”

 

“Yes. Tell them to arrest all of them. The charges are… fraud gambling and conspiracy to commit murder?”

 

Since these were guys who moved around committing fraud, the guards would probably think this was a windfall.

 

“Y-yes sir!”

 

“Oh, and.”

 

Dane searched through the fallen gang members’ belongings and found several silver coins and one gold coin, which he handed to the shop owner.

 

“This should cover the shop repair costs.”

 

“Th-thank you….”

 

“They’re going to be arrested and rot in jail anyway, so don’t worry about it.”

 

The shop owner bowed repeatedly and immediately ran out.

 

Meanwhile, Captain Calico looked at the sailors hired by the gang and clicked his tongue.

 

“What money does to people… normally I would have clicked my tongue asking if they had no sailor’s pride.”

 

Since Captain Calico had also been caught up in gambling fever until just now, he didn’t say anything more.

 

“Now everything’s resolved.”

 

“…I owe you more favors than I can count.”

 

Dane grinned at those words.

 

“Then you’d better not touch gambling ever again.”

 

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

 

Now he had his ship back, and the guys who stole it would be imprisoned.

 

As a bonus, they had signed a contract to share the ship’s profits by transferring the ownership documents….

 

And they had taken all the gang’s money too.

 

Now only one thing remained.

 

“Well then, let’s prepare to set sail.”

 

Finally, beyond the northernmost continent—

 

The frigid land.

 

Time to go to Atalia Island.

 

“Let’s go to our lodging first.”

 

I passed through the fallen guys and headed to the dormitory where my friends were staying, bringing Captain Calico with me.

 

And the fellows I met immediately started chattering that they knew this would happen as soon as they saw me and Captain Calico.

 

“What did I tell you? I said he’d come, didn’t I?”

 

“You only said that after Ernest arrived though?”

 

“So when did I ever not believe in Dane, huh?”

 

These children, they were worried.

 

I gave them a rough explanation of what happened.

 

Captain Calico hung his head low during the gambling part, but soon lifted it up with gleaming eyes.

 

“I will serve you with my utmost effort. Since this is a connection with Baron Dylan. And… because I owe you my life.”

 

Yeah, that’s good enough.

 

“So now we’re really setting sail?”

 

“Yeah. Probably in the evening. Oh right.”

 

Before I forgot, I showed them the side income I earned today while retrieving Captain Calico’s deed.

 

“…What’s this?”

 

“Money pouches?”

 

“Dane already has plenty of money though?”

 

I grinned.

 

“This isn’t what I originally had though?”

 

“Th-then?”

 

“I won it. From those guys who were cheating.”

 

The other three except Ernest stared at me blankly, at a loss for words.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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