"What misfortune had taken this… baron, so early in the voyage? I'd reckon he was already sick when he left Castor. A foolish decision. The sea's no friend to the frail," the Marquis remarked with confidence, as though he had already solved the puzzle before us.
In hindsight, his words made the baron's death even more tragic. The man had set out with dreams of crossing the world, yet he hadn't even gotten far. He was buried in the soil of the same continent where he was born.
Clifford, sensing Elena wasn't eager to answer, stepped in. "Mana exhaustion, Lord Boarsmouth. In a battle he led in Lacquer, he… fatally overspent his mana."
The Marquis' face darkened. "Lacquer?"
"Yes," Clifford replied. Even he sounded surprised at the name he picked up. "We made a stopover in the town about a week ago. Prince Basil requested our aid to exterminate a roving band of orcs that had been raiding several nearby villages. The baron offered to lead it."
