Tenebris Renasci: A World of Magic and Gunpowder

Antoinette stared at Ben a second longer before turning around with a nod. "Good, help load the ship while I meet with the captain of this mission."

Ben sighed as he gave a halfhearted nod, "Yes… ma'am." He said under his breath, before walking towards the gangplank.

As he walked past her, Ben made sure to look Antoinette in the eyes, so that she could see the worry and hurt he felt.

Antoinette returned the gaze her expression stern, yet her eyes flickered with sympathy. 

As she watched Ben walk away, she couldn't help but sigh inwardly. 

She didn't like the idea that Alexander was missing any more than he did, and if she could, she'd support Ben in any way to help find him.

But she also knew the kind of man Ben was.

He was passionate, extremely so, and if left to his own devices he most likely would have created major issues for himself, Antoinette, and Alexander.

Shaking her head, Antoinette turned to approach the captain of the mission, who was chatting with the captain of the ship.

As she approached the two men, she began to hear their conversation.

"Damn, this is such a botched situation, that kid is as good as dead." The mission captain, a pathfinder of an older age, with silver hair and wrinkled lines near the eyes.

His uniform coat was slightly longer than that of lower-ranked pathfinders, and his rank was on his left shoulder.

"I don't doubt that, but Lady Béatrice seems adamant about finding the boy, even if what we find is a mutilated corpse." The ship captain replied, another older man, who looked just slightly younger than the mission captain, with his hair a mix of silver and black strands that were slicked back.

His uniform was that of a naval officer, a long white coat with gray trousers and a large white hat and feather. 

Antoinette felt a surge of irritation at their casual discussion of Alexander's potential demise.

Upon nearing the captains, she cleared her throat audibly, causing both men to turn around curiously. 

"Evening Sirs, I am Lieutenant Antoinette," she said with a sharp yet respectful edge to her voice. "I have just been informed that I'm under your command, is there anything I should do or know?"

The mission captain nodded as the ship captain crossed his arms. 

"Took you long enough, lieutenant, mind telling us where you were?" The mission captain asked with a curious grin, his eyes closing studying Antoinette's figure.

Antoinette narrowed her as she crossed her arms, "nothing mission-related," she replied, "but if you must know, it involved something I'm sure your wives are lacking."

The captains paused as a tense silence settled around the trio.

The two men exchanged wordless glances as Antoinette remained stern in her stance.

"Heh…" a soft chuckle escaped the ship captain as he turned to look at Antoinette's face, which was as stoic as ever. 

The mission captain stifled a laugh with a snort.

Antoinette raised an eyebrow, her expression growing curious as she watched the two captains struggle to contain their laughter.

"Something funny Sirs?" She asked.

The two captains burst into soft chuckles, "That was a good one." The ship captain said with a grin.

"Honestly, my wife shut the front door after our third kid." The mission captain replied, "I've been lost ever since."

Antoinette blinked in disbelief as the two captains began to joke with each other.

The ship captain then sighed with a grin on his lips, "ahh anyway," he said while gesturing towards the ship, "you can join the other lieutenants on the bridge, and form a plan for each of your respective platoons."

The ship captain then gestured towards the mission captain, "Captain Benoit here will review the plans, and he likes it, approve them."

The mission captain- Benoit smirked, "Let's hope your mind is still as sharp as your tongue lieutenant, I hate to see the effects of rust and age on such a great asset."

Antoinette frowned, "I see, very well then… Captain." She said with a half-hearted salute. 

She then performed a sharp turnaround, and 

Made her way towards the ship with a determined expression.

As she left, the two captains once again exchanged glances.

"You know… it's hard to believe Antoinette is still that fiery girl who graduated top of her class." The ship captain said with a nod, "She seems so mechanical these days."

Benoit sighed, "That's what happens when you join the armed forces, especially a Pathfinder house," he replied, "you get bogged down and eventually, lose your spirit, though that Ben fellow… he certainly seems to breathe life into her."

The ship captain chuckled, "Well, he is young, I'd say around the early twenties, he probably gives the old girl something to look forward to.."

"She's only what… forty?" Benoit joked, "If she's old, what are we?"

The ship captain grinned, "ancient."

"Ha!" Benoit laughed heartily.

— — — 

While the two captains chatted leisurely, Antoinette was entering the bridge of the frigate, which was underneath the quarterdeck. 

Inside the room was a large table that had several sergeants and three lieutenants standing around it. 

The room was well illuminated with both rudimentary light bulbs that were powered by the ship's steam engine, and the row of windows that covered three out of the four room walls. 

The atmosphere within the room was tense, filled only with the moderate talking of the lieutenants.

As Antoinette approached the table, she noticed the atmosphere within the room was tense, filled only with the moderate talking of the lieutenants.

And even more surprisingly, the lieutenants barely even spoke of her presence, greeting her simply with, "Glad to see you here lieutenant, we could use your input."

Antoinette nodded and approached the table with a curious expression.

On the table was a map of the demon continent, specifically the horn of the demon continent which was connected to the main continent. 

The map had three types of identifiers that were spread across the map.

First were for cleared/allied land, which included colonies, forts, and allied demon/Jafren tribes.

The spaces were marked with the flag of the Ambur kingdom. 

The second identifier was for unclaimed/unknown regions, which included just that.

These spaces were marked with nothing and marked the vast majority of the map.

The third and final identifier was for active war/combat zones. 

Combat mostly consisted of various pathfinder houses, along with the royal armed forces and aligned demon/Jafren tribes engaging in direct hostile tribes, beasts, creatures, and occasionally even other main continent powers from the east. 

These were marked with red flags, which dotted the vast map widely. 

As Antoinette studied the map, the true vastness of the operation came into focus. 

The map was littered with rough sketches of routes and shortcuts, obstacles, and points of interest.

Finding Alexander in such a hostile and chaotic landscape wouldn't just be difficult but near impossible.

"Hmm, I think we can cut everything east and north of the Ta-Kora mountain range out of our focus." One lieutenant said a tall man with a scruffy beard and gray eyes commented, "Since we're dealing with Hakshi smugglers, I don't think they'd be dumb enough to interact with the eastern countries."

Antoinette turned her attention to where the bearded lieutenant pointed. 

There she saw the Ta-Kora mountain range, which was essentially a series of high-rising mountains that split the main continent from the demon continent… mostly.

There were still several valleys and other passes between the mountains, but they were mostly controlled by the eastern nations, which were more Jafren nations, similar to the western empire.

Antoinette nodded at the bearded lieutenant's suggestion, her mind beginning to churn with a logical plan to face the challenge ahead. "I agree, and to compliment that, I believe we can also skip searching everything south of the Demon Strait." She said, pointing towards the strait that separated the horn of the demon continent from the rest. "I highly doubt the smugglers would attempt to sell off Alexander in completely foreign lands."

"That just leaves the west," another lieutenant chimed in, a young man with blonde hair and blue eyes. "It's a smaller area to search, but its density makes up for that tenfold, there's just too many cities and small towns, along with well-hidden smuggling routes and criminal organizations."

The final lieutenant, an older woman with long black hair, nodded. "Indeed, in fact, it'll most certainly be easier if the boy wasn't there."

She then frowned, "With the rate of trafficking and smuggling in those areas, time is of the essence, and that's if lord Alexander hasn't already been sold or killed."

Antoinette furrowed her brow as she absorbed the increasingly complicated situation. It was evident that the mission success rate would grow dimmer as time passed, but time was what was needed to plan for a successful operation in the first place…

Antoinette inwardly sighed as she crossed her arms. 

Though her mind was mostly focused on the map and lieutenants, part of her was praying that somehow, Alexander was okay, no matter how slim the chance was.