Chapter 5 - Pirates...again
Gustav had led them to some Nobles mansion. Apparently the Holy Queen had decided, to reside there for the duration of the Princess's visit or at least to welcome her. Before they had entered he had contacted Shacklegear through his bracelet, telling him only to contact him, should an emergency arise.
Shortly after Gustav had left them to announce their arrival and explain the circumstances around Bill's presence. It had been a few minutes since the paladin had left and he had the chance to take a good look around. Although it looked luxurious and well maintained, he didn't like it. Probably because it looked so luxurious and over the top.
Even back on earth, he had appreciated function over form. Something was supposed to work and do its job if you then managed to make it look nice, that was good, if you didn't, it still did its job. But this mansion was purely decorated with looks in mind. He didn't even dare sit down because the chair was so fragile with its twirled legs that it would not hold his weight. And who made a glass table with a normal glass plane that wasn't even half a quarter inch in width, that thing couldn't hold anything without breaking. At this point, Gustav returned.
"Renner-dono, Grayhate-dono, please follow me."
The paladin led them up some stairs and into a small study. There on a couch sat a woman with long blond golden hair, wearing some sort of tiara as well as a rather simple white dress, which made anyone focus on her face. He had to admit she didn't look bad, but she was rather young, somewhere between 20 and 30. This had to be the Holy Queen.
Behind her stood another woman. This one adorned in a set of silvery full plate armor, but without a helmet, which he thought rather foolish. If someone already limits their movement by wearing heavy armor, one should also protect their head, or any capable archer would just take the warrior out in a matter of moments. Her face was comparable to the queen, but she had brown hair, with a bob cut, something practical since it would be difficult for an opponent to grab her har. In the case she actually had a helmet, it would also make wearing it much more comfortable and easier. At her waist hung a whitish blue broadsword, weakly emitting some form of energy. He wished he would have at least put some levels into real magic caster classes, that could help him recognize the energy.
"Your Majesty, I present Princess Renner Theiere Chardelon Ryle Vaiself, adamantine adventurers Blue Rose and Captain Bill Grayhate."
At the mention of his name he bowed politely, he may not like political banter, but he had some manners. He was Japanese after all, it would only do for him to give a bow on their first greeting.
"Your Majesty."
He thought his display had been quite appropriate and since Stilg hadn't reacted he seemed to think the same, but still the armored women glared at him after his greeting.
"You dare disrespect Calca-sama like that? Do you not know how to greet royalty?"
"This is my first time in this kingdom as well as this continent, in addition to that, I have lived most of my life on the seas, trading. So I am afraid I do not know the customary greeting for royalty in this country."
Although baffled at his response the woman wanted to continue until she was cut off, before she could continue.
"It is alright Remedios. I am sure Captain Grayhate meant no disrespect like he said he does not know of our countries customs."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
He gave another bow.
"Now, Captain Grayhate. Gustav has informed me that you not only took care of five of the Demihuman pirates ships but also are willing to trade food with us."
"Indeed your majesty. We have more than enough, after all, we are traders where we come from and I also need some currency that is accepted on this continent or at least in your kingdom. So I saw no reason to decline the request. In addition to food, we also have many raw materials that you might be interested in. From what I have been told your country suffers from some sort of invasion, surely you could use materials to rebuild destroyed cities or manufacture new equipment."
"Yes indeed Captain Grayhate, but I am afraid due to the invasion of the Demihumans we will not be able to offer you much in exchange, most of our country's finances are dedicated to the military to keep the invaders at bay."
"That won't pose a problem, your majesty. There are many things besides money that can be traded. If the budget you can spare, is not enough, I am willing to trade for information, or the right to establish trade here."
"I am sure that can be arranged Captain Grayhate."
"Then I think there won't be a problem. Although there is one thing I have to ask of you." He saw the other woman tense up and subtly inch her hand towards her sword. This was the critical part, he prepared to go for his weapons, should things go wrong. "From what I have heard your country despises all nonhumans, but a large portion of my crew is made of nonhumans. So I would ask that you do not discriminate against us."
The woman now had her hand resting around the handle of her blade, ready to draw it, no longer trying to be subtle. He was ready to draw his flintlock pistol, the instance the blade left its sheath. He could also feel the other paladin behind him tense up. It took the queen a few seconds to formulate a response.
"I am sure we can work out a deal that both of us are satisfied with."
"That is all I hope for, your Majesty."
It had not escaped his notice that the women seemed much more on edge now than before. Her voice showing only the slightest bit of concern. The armed woman on the other hand was openly hostile towards him. Glaring at him like he was something that shouldn't exist.
"Calca-dono. I can assure you that Captain Grayhate is a good man, that can be trusted. He saved my life after all."
Everyone was stunned at the sudden statement by the princess. Until the silence was interrupted by a loud mechanical voice coming from his wrist.
"{CAPTAIN, PIRATES!}"
He immediately dropped the polite facade and brought the jade bracelet to his face, ignoring the shout from the woman who drew her sword at his sudden movement.
"{How many?}"
"{TWELVE SHIPS APPROACHING FROM THE NORTH. ALL THREE-MASTERS WITH CANONS, FLYING THE FLAG OF THE DEMIHUMAN PIRATES. THEY WILL BE IN RANGE IN ABOUT 15 MINUTES.}"
"{Load all canons, but do not engage yet.}"
He turned towards the queen.
"It seems we will have to postpone the negotiations, your majesty. Will you let me take care of this?"
"I am afraid we can not repay you, even if you manage to take out all those ships."
"That is not important right now. What is, is if you permit me to do so. A reward can be determined later."
"Very well."
"{Shacklegear, same procedure as with the five ships. Bord them and search for prisoners. Afterward, sink the ships. I'll be there shortly.}"
"{AYE CAPTAIN.}"
"Stilg, stay with the princess. Princess if an emergency appears send Stilg here to me, I will try to come as fast as possible."
With that Stilg jumped from his shoulder and perched himself on top of Evileye's head.
"Captain Grayhate," he turned back towards the queen "may I ask how you plan to get to your ship. Do you possess teleportation magic?"
"No, I am no mage. But I have my ways."
He had plenty of items that would allow him to teleport, but most were single-use so he would just swim back to the ship or summon another Sea Dragon and immediately go for one of the ships. His race was at home at the deepest depths of the oceans, getting there won't be a problem.
"When you said that some of your crew was nonhuman, did that include yourself?"
"What if it did?"
The brown-haired woman immediately jumped in front of the Queen, who was now standing. Her sword drawn and pointed at him, giving off a low glow.
"You will not harm a hair on Calca-sama, you filthy nonhuman."
"And what makes you think that I was going to? Unlike you, I have not drawn my weapon, neither have I confirmed that I'm no human." At this point distant explosions could be heard, it seemed that his crew had entered combat. "All I did, was order my crew to attack the pirates that were planning to raid, pillage, plunder, and destroy this town. Devouring any survivors they would find afterward. So I don't see any reason for your hostility."
With that, he turned to leave.
"Now, unless you want anything else I got some pirates to dispose of. If you still wish for friendly relations afterward you are welcome to contact me, otherwise, I will not set foot in this country again."
He made his way towards the door. His path was obstructed by the Vice-Captain of the paladins. The two stared right at each other and after a few seconds, the man made way and allowed him to leave. He could hear the shouts of protest from that idiot woman, but he ignored them. He wanted to get out of here and inwardly thanked and simultaneously cursed the pirates for attacking at this moment.
He ignored the panic inside the town and rushed towards the harbor. It only took him about a minute to reach the docks, he was quite fast after all, even if he wasn't sprinting. As he passed the 'Swallow' he saw the man he had directed here, embrace the girl. It seemed his hunch had been correct, those eyes couldn't have been a coincidence after all.
Without stopping he activated his [Water Weaving] skill, before jumping on the water. [Water Weaving] was a superior version of [Water Walking], although one's feet would sink about an inch under the water surface, it allowed one to glide over the water at a much higher speed than walking. Additionally, it also increased one's speed and agility when beneath the water surface.
Vera had just taken care of the last ship. It didn't even take them half an hour to eradicate the pirate fleet.
"Bulmir, any survivors?"
"Aye Captain, seven of them. Three are just small children."
"Condition?"
"They're all stable and not in need of immediate medical attention."
"Great. Vera, take three of your men and bring the survivors to the city with a rowboat. Return immediately, unless the Queen or the Princess has a message."
"Aye."
"Bulmir, start salvaging the wrecks. Also, bring their weapons. Even a standard level 15 dagger seems to be quite extraordinary here. If we want to sell weapons, we'll need something that fits the standard of this world. And see if you can save any documents, although I doubt it."
"Aye."
"Rigla, any injured?"
"No Captain, apart from Zvrem's headache."
He raised an eyebrow. What would a headache have to do with this?
"He was hit in the head by multiple cannonballs."
"Did he take damage from them?"
"No, he's just the usual crybaby."
"In your eyes, everyone is a crybaby."
"Well, they are, even you sometimes Captain."
"Yeah yeah."
He turned and walked towards the helm.
"Trelios. You got a good look at their sea charts when they explained the route right?"
"Aye Captain."
"I want you to plot a course for Re-Estize from what you can remember, and create some more accurate maps as we travel."
"Aye. But why not use the |World Atlas|?"
"We don't know if it works in this world. Also, it is quite the powerful magic item and I want to keep it hidden for now. But I'm sure you'll manage either way."
After that was finished he walked towards one of the masts and looked up.
"Plihg."
He had to yell so that the skeletal boy would hear him.
"Aye Captain?"
"Are any ships approaching from the city?"
"No Captain, although the harbor seems rather busy."
"Good, if they send a ship immediately report it."
"Aye."
With that, all the business on deck should be finished, so he proceeded to descend into the bowels of his ship, towards the front hatch, where Bulmir and his men would bring their findings. When he arrived there was already a small mountain of loot. He used this opportunity to take a close look at the cannonballs their opponents had used.
They were just pure iron. He wasn't sure if he could call them balls, as they looked more like someone had taken raw materials, as well as broken weapons, and kneaded them into a somewhat sphere-like shape like they were clay. No wonder their aim was so shit, those 'balls' would never travel in a predictable trajectory. Which brought up the question of how Zvrem had been hit by multiple of them.
Next, he took a look at the weapons and armors. There were mostly leather armors, something he expected, what pirate would wear heavy armor after all. If you'd fall into the sea wearing something like that, it would be a death sentence. Looking at the weapons there were all kinds of different ones, although again no pistols.
Both armor and weapons were of questionable quality, no higher than level 7 at best if he estimated correctly. Even the weakest equipment they had in stock right now was at least level 10. It wasn't profitable to sell anything below that, by the time someone had enough money to buy something of decent quality they would already be about level 8 or 9, so he never stocked up on equipment below level 10. Not only were the weapons of low quality, but their owners also hadn't taken good care of them, many of them were rusted, dull, or just plain filthy. He had tried to swing one of the swords, but he put in a bit too much force, and the blade separated from the hilt. He could not sell them in this state.
{Captain.}
{Aye?}
{Stilg has returned with a message from the Princess.}
{Thanks. Tell him I'll be on deck shortly.}
"Hey, take a few others and get this equipment in a shape that we can sell it without being ashamed of ourselves."
"Aye."
All he wanted to accomplish by coming here was once again built up the 'Sailing Survivors', but now that would probably not be possible in this country in the foreseeable future. It hadn't gone too bad until Shacklegear had informed him of the pirate attack, the Queen had seemed to be willing to cooperate with him, despite the nature of his crew. That seemed to promptly change when she suspected him of being something other than human and he didn't deny the claim.
He wouldn't be surprised if they made up some story that he and his crew actually orchestrated this whole attack to lower their guard so that the real Demiuhuman Pirates could then devastate the city. It would be a predictable propaganda approach and seeing the hatred that one woman had shown at them meer mention of something other than human, he wouldn't put it beneath them.
But according to Rigla, Stilg actually had a message from the princess, he doubted it would be a message just telling him to leave her alone, she could have just attacked Stilg if that were the case. He was intrigued at what she would have to say to him.
The people on deck were mostly cleaning their weapons, it was a necessity after a battle. Unlike the pirates, they took care of their weapons. He doubted the high-level weapons would really be damaged if left alone, but this wasn't a game anymore, so they should be careful.
"Stilg."
"At your service my Captain."
"You got a message?"
"Yes indeed. The third Princess as asked of me to ask you to remain here, so when it is time for her to return home, she may once again travel alongside you. She also offered you the possibility of assistance in creating trading relationships in the Re-Estize Kingdom."
"Captain. Vera is signaling that she needs to talk with you."
"Thanks, Plihg." He turned to another crew member. "Get to the storage room and get me a pair of |Message Stones|. Stilg, please wait here, I'll need you to deliver something to the princess later. {Vera.}"
"{Aye. I'm currently talking to the lass's father. He insists on coming with me, to thank you.}"
"{What's his name?}"
"{Pavel Baraja, says he's some bigshot here, part of some colors. He is 'The Black'.}"
"{Ok, just wait a moment.} {Pavel Baraja?}"
"{What how-}"
"{I'm speaking to you through a magic item, Vera said you wanted to come on board. I can hear your answer, you just need to talk.}"
"{Yes, I wanted to thank you.}"
"{I don't think it is a good idea to do that in person, you see both your Queen and her bodyguard are extremely wary of me, and after the end of our conversation I don't think they'd like me coming back, or some color, or whatever your position is, to come to me.}
"{Her bodyguard? Do you mean Remedios Custodio?}"
"{The Queen called her Remedios at one point, so probably yes.}"
"{She overreacts all the time and is not fit for politics, you are the man who fought off the entirety of the Demihuman Pirate fleet, I'm sure she will be able to come to an agreement with you.}"
"{I'll tell you the same thing I told her, only a small part of my crew is actually human.}"
"{Yes, Neia already told me. I have no problem with dwarves and elves and neither does the queen.}"
"{Let me rephrase that. Only a small part of my crew is made of species that you wouldn't consider monsters or animals, including myself. I merely restricted who she saw so that no trauma would resurface, but should you decide to come here, I will no longer hide any of my crew, both of you will see all of it. And there is the possibility of your country labeling you a traitor. So the choice is up to you.}"
With that, he ended the spell.
"Stilg, when the Stones come, bring them to me. I gotta write a letter to the princess."
He quickly went into his quarters and sat down behind his desk. This was a real shitshow of a day. First, the absolute bust that had been the meeting with the queen and then he had to tell a loving father that he couldn't thank the savior of his daughter because of fucking politics and because it would probably resurface some trauma if she came along, and he knew the man wouldn't leave his daughter behind, not after he had just got her back.
But now he had to write that letter.
«Dear Princess Renner,
I appreciate the offer and will gladly accompany you again, so I can start trading in your kingdom. However, I doubt that the Holy Queen will take kindly to me continuing to anchor in front of the city, therefore I will leave.
The stone is something called a Message Stone, it allows for communication similar to the Message Spell with its counterpart, which I am currently in possession of. If you use it to contact me the day before you leave for home, I'll return and escort you.
Please relay my intention to leave to her majesty, so that there will be no misunderstandings. We will set sail at sundown at the latest.
Until then.
Bill Grayhate»
He folded the letter and waited a few minutes for Stilg to arrive with the pair of |Message Stones|.
"Great, Stilg, I want you to take one of the stones and this letter to the princess."
"As you wish my Captain."
He went back outside and onto the helm, joining Shacklegear and Trelios.
"Shacklegear, how long till Vera returns?"
"APPROXIMATELY BETWEEN 45 AND 60 MINUTES."
"Good, I send Stilg off with a letter for the princess. Once both return we set sail."
"Where to Captain?"
"Just north west for about half a day. We will wait there until the princess will leave for her home, then we will accompany her again. We are leaving as a precaution so the Queen won't get any foolish ideas and attack us."
Hey, I know it has been a while since the last chapter and I'm sorry. My second Exam Phase is coming up soon and a lot of shit happened, including my shower drain getting clogged which resulted in me almost flooding my flat.
So yeah, I put some political banter in which was also a reason this took so long, I wanted it to feel right and wrote that part god knows how many times. I could probably still improve it, but I decided to go with this version. Hope it's not too terrible.
So that's it for this next chapter see you next time, hope you enjoyed it.