Insistent Assistant 9 (Patreon)

Insistent Assistant

Chapter 9

-VB-

“But you need a crew and a ship! How can you be so willfully contrived as to ignore the call of the sea during an era literally called the Age of Piracy?!”

Jack Sparrow, as he turned out, was a very annoying person. This was made worse by the fact that he very clearly wanted to go out and sail the seas, to claim his adventure as a pirate, and to have fun!

You know, aside from the fact that I had no desire nor intention of becoming a pirate, sailing the high seas with people I didn’t trust, or having no reliable method of making money.

I did want to sail the high seas. I did want to go on an adventure. I was planning and preparing for exactly that and Jack Sparrow didn’t have to annoy me every hour with his inflammatory statements spoken very loudly around a people who just got fucked over by pirates and could net me into very bad trouble that we may NOT BE ABLE TO ESCAPE FROM BECAUSE THERE WERE NOW BIG NAME MARINES HERE.

Yeah, see, when a major country got attacked by pirates, marines did come and respond to the crisis. While they weren’t here on time due to one reason or another, the fact that they came at all was … well, they were doing their jobs.

Fortunately for my well-being, I was currently an employee of the Ilisia Kingdom, a member of the World Government, and whose king was given a seat at the Levely. As a person directly employed by said king and one without an active criminal record - in fact, I had a good record as far as the Ilisia Kingdom was concerned a complete lack of one according to the marines - in possession, the marines gave me glares whenever Jack Sparrow, a very piratey looking fellow, made very suggestive recommendations about my intent.

Sufficed to say, the marines spied on very frequently, subtly if not overtly.

“We will sail when we are ready,” I replied.

“But we are ready!”

“And I have signed up with a major kingdom to perform a job. Until I complete said job, we’re not going anywhere. If you really want, then you can look for the crew but don’t forget to tell them that we aren’t sailing for a year at a minimum.”

“You may as well tell me that we’re not going to sail,” he grumbled as he pulled away from me.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did you not get the memo that there are people out there that can split mountains with their fists?”

“We can always talk our way out of things. Did you not get the memo that talking is mah thang?”

Jack Sparrow was annoying, but I also could not just ignore him because … well, my biggest concern was the fact that he would cause mischief or actual damage that would have me kicked out before I could collect any of the benefits of working for a major kingdom. My biggest calculation was that he knew a lot about sailing, fighting, politicking, and more. In fact, he was arguably better than Thorkell.

If I had to compare them like trading cards or gacha, then Thorkell was that low-end five-star that stayed relevant because his Offense was off the charts. Jack Sparrow was a mid-tier five-star that was a jack of all trades and a master of a few.

Well, more than a few. He was a master sailor, navigator, strategist, tactician, swordman, gunner, and explorer. At minimum.

If I learned just half of those skills from him to an adequate level, then I would truly be set as I can be for this world.

If only he wasn’t annoying…

*Giggles*

I turned and saw a bunch of ladies - not ladies of the night, prostitutes, or escorts but just regular ladies - giggling and Jack gave them air kisses, much to the ire of the husbands, brothers, and fathers with the ladies.

They glared at me, and I just sighed before tugging at Jack’s long coat and dragging him away.

-VB-

Training took time.

Training soldiers took even more time.

More importantly, when you trained elite soldiers, you needed an elite mindset and body.

What did that mean?

I didn’t just tell others to train; I trained with them. When they ran, I ran with them.

“We’ve got another three kilometers to run! Keep it up!”

““““YES!””””

I didn’t watch over them as they practiced; I showed them the practical side to things. When they sparred, I was among them, taking hits and delivering them but in a manner they could learn to roll with the punch or dodge them outright.

“That’s it! Dodges are useful, and you better keep using it! Make your movements unpredictable! A predictable fighter is a dead fighter!”

However, not everything was successful.

For one, some of the soldiers I was tasked to train did not respect me. It wasn’t just about being disrespectful but trying to get others to act like they did.

Two, the kingdom needed all hands on deck to fix the capital, which meant that a lot of our time was spent not training but fixing houses and walls.

Lastly, there was a general disdain among the nobles, who tried to make little troubles here and there. The fact that Jack looked like a pirate also didn’t help.

“So what are you going to do?” Jack asked me, and I glanced at him.

Today’s routine was over, so I was going over everything we’ve done.

“I don’t know,” I replied honestly. “I’m not used to this kind of thing.”

“Well, it seems to me that you simply need to remind them that you are not someone to be trifled with!” Jack harrumphed.

“But how? I can’t go and punch a noble.”

“Woah, hold your horses. Even I know that’s bad.”

“Then?”

“Start with the soldiers? Did you consider, maybe, perhaps, that the particularly troublesome soldiers are spreading rumors behind your back?”

“... No? Why would they do that?”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Alan, Alan, Alan… That’s what people do when they can’t win against someone. It’s human nature to be … scallywaggy. Mischievous. Evil.”

I raised an eyebrow. “So, what, beat the shit out of the disrespectful soldiers?”

“Of course!”

“... You know what, you’re right. I should do that. It’s not like I have many other options.”

Well…

Let’s just say that it didn’t go well.