Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad for fixing my SPAG problems, and Angel Wraith for beta-reading the chapter and providing feed backs.

As always, I will blabber some more in my end note.

Cross posted on AO3, for anyone who prefer that site.

The ship from Iris' family was more opulent than the same kind of ship owned by Archduke Wales. The size of their cabins are the same. No amount of coins could magically make a battleship's internal space larger than its outside. But comparing the furniture inside the cabin is night and day. The furniture inside the ships of House Arc are made of dark colored iron wood, utilitarian, and hardy. House Amelia on the other hand used mostly golden colored dryad wood, finely crafted with decorations covering its arms and legs like they are all handcrafted from a master. If Melty ignores the compact size of her cabin, she could believe she's in a small, but high class hotel room.

"...The rebuilding of Balafon is going nicely under Sei. The damage caused by the Three Heroes' Church, and later by Lord Shield Hero's little raid to free all the enslaved villagers were mostly done to the village itself. Still highly unfortunate for the people of Balafon, but recoverable. Balafon is near the forest of the northern province, so the village isn't short of material for its rebuild. But more importantly, its primary source of wealth, the dryad orchard created after the incident with the magical seed was unharmed..." Melty feels her head growing heavy from Iris' droning report. In her head, the crown princess of Melromarc knew she should pay the report better attention. They are the direct vassals of House Whiterun, and the newly appointed Baron Guston, but they are still her people. They lived through a great tragedy where their homes were destroyed and they themselves were enslaved. Not to mention Melty is appointed as their governor by Mother so she's directly responsible for rebuilding their homes. It doesn't change the fact that everything is extremely boring.

"It seems like your valet is keeping everything in control without my input, Lady Iris. I think I'll see what more I can help once I return to the village I'm appointed governor of. I'm sure it's much easier to take in all this information if I have something to look at, and not just listen to a report." Melty waves her hand at the heiress of House Amelia. Iris didn't say anything, her face didn't change from her carefully neutral look. She simply gives Melty a faint nod, and takes a step back. The perfect picture of a high society lady, just like her mother. Melty's finger clicks on the chair she's sitting on, her face slowly turning into a frown as she thinks about everything that has happened after the church's rebellion. She knows she's being a terrible governor to the people of Balafon right now, but she can't help it. She has something else to worry about. "Is there any way we can liberate my sister from the bond of slavery she's in without forcing her to marry my distant uncle, King Egbert? She didn't do anything wrong, but she's been made a slave to the Shield Hero. That's not fair to her. Why did Mother force the issue?"

"It's unfortunate, but King Egbert clearly forced the issue with Queen Mirellia. Especially after what former King Regent Aultcray did. Former Princess Malty is a victim in this case just like the people of Balafon, but there is nothing that can be changed about their situation. Because the kingdom of Faubley has enough power to back up its king for what he wants. And its nobility has reason to back up his demand because it gives them more power and influence. That's why to save herself, former Princess Malty pleaded herself as a property of Lord Shield Hero." Melty's frown only grows deeper as she listens to Iris' explanation. Wasn't Big Sister Malty one of her childhood friends? Yet, Iris is talking about the whole thing like she's talking about an object. "If you wish to change the situation around former Princess Malty, the only way to go forward is for you to take power. And rebuild Melromarc's strength so we no longer have to bow down our heads to our 'ally'. Because to someone like her majesty, having Princess Malty sacrifice herself for the greater good of Melromarc people is what's expected of a royal princess."

Melty doesn't say anything, and she simply closes her eyes and nods back to her sister's childhood friend. She hates how right Iris is being right now. Mother has made it very clear that both Big Sister Malty, and herself are the royal princesses of Melromarc first, her daughter and sisters to each other second. She even threatened to have another child just so Melty herself could be replaced if she continues to 'neglect her own duties'. Mother would not do anything to save her elder sister, from their distant Faubley uncle... or the Shield Hero. If she wants to free her sister, she'll have to get through Mother and do it herself. Another voice catches the attention of Iris, and herself. "Right now, the biggest threat to former Princess Malty isn't her majesty Queen Mirellia, King Egbert of Faubley, or even the Shield Hero himself. The smaller families who want to join The Game will push former Princess Malty to a road of no return before any of them would want to take care of her permanently."

Chapter 21: Black Flag

Melty turns her head to look at the other noble lady who will serve as her main advisor alongside Iris Lana Amelia. She doesn't like the noble lady known as Lacus Clyne Consevatie. Maybe she's being petty and unreasonable, but Lacus' brother was the one who originally enslaved Big Sister Malty. Melty doesn't feel like someone who is related to the scum that deeply hurt her sister is any trustworthy. But her mother was very insistent that she give the daughter of one of her obedient subordinates a fair chance. Melty does feel bad that she got angry and yelled at her mother after what happened to her older sister. So she allowed Lady Lacus to follow her around and voice her opinion. And right now, she is at least curious about what the pink haired woman wants to say. But Lady Lacus remained silent after her initial objection, so Melty beckoned her to continue. "Please, continue voicing your opinion, Lady Lacus. I don't plan to become a tyrant who punishes my advisors for saying something I don't agree with."

"As you wish, Your Highness." Lady Lacus gives Melty a full bow. Unlike Iris, Lady Lacus is very careful to make sure she treats Melty with all the courtesy her new position as Melromarc's crown princess required even in private. "You might be noticing that a lot of people have gathered around not only Lord Shield Hero, or Lord Spear Hero, but their fellow Cardinal Heroes as well. Many of them are scions from different noble, or knightly houses. Regardless which hero they directly serve, a number of them are gravitating towards former Princess Malty."

"Isn't that a good thing? That means there's still a lot of people willing to help and protect my older sister." Melty narrows her eyes at Lady Lacus. She wonders what's the issue that got her advisor seemingly concerned. Then she remembered that Lady Lacus is related to Sieg- no, Fuckboy. Was she afraid of Big Sister Malty's anger from Fuckboy's actions?

"On the surface, that is a good thing for a former princess like Malty. But I have taken note of what kind of person these are, and found them to be either from small, failing, or already fallen noble, and knightly houses. One of the most prominent families who sent their heir to serve the Shield Hero happens to be the only son of Count Valentine Winchester. And his rank is only a count, still has a lot of potential for him to rise as a noble." Once again, Melty doesn't see what the issue was. But Lady Lacus seems to see what she doesn't, and the crown princess could swear she hears the sound of distant rumbling thunder accompany Lady Lacus' words. So she turns to look at Iris next, and sees big sister Malty's childhood friend is frowning much harder than the younger sister of Fuckboy.

"Lady Lacus is concerned that former Princess Malty is being used by ambitious, prospective nobles and knights who want to profit from The Game. They have no birthright claim of their own to rise to their current positions. But through former Princess Malty, who is the first born daughter of our queen, they could advance their rank through her by helping her reclaim her birthright, maybe even taking it a step further by helping her ascend the throne." Iris seems to feel Melty's gaze. She looks up and elaborates on Lady Lacus' point. "At this stage when former Princess Malty is weak and needs their protection, they would offer security for her. But it would also mean former Princess Malty would owe them favors, and become dependent on their strength. She would be forced to make decisions that might be against her own wants and needs to benefit her supporters and allies or face losing them."

"Both of you think the new 'allies and supporters' around my big sister are only trying to use her. But she has no choice other than accepting them, because she needs them." Melty's body digs deeper into the cushion of her armchair. She feels a wave of exhaustion even if she hasn't done anything taxing to her body.

"Correct, Your Highness. This is the most likely reason why your mother was going to sacrifice your elder sister to King Egbert without hesitation. There is the fact that former King Regent Aultcray broke the covenant and betrayed every other nation to take control of all four Cardinal Heroes. Which would likely result in a crusade declared on Melromarc by the other nations and lead to countless deaths of our people. But the most immediate, and powerful push to get her grace to act would be the nobles allied to her. They know the situation much better than a man of humble birth who learns everything from baseless rumors and gossip, and they stand the most to lose." Lacus' words only further remind Melty of how hopeless a situation her older sister is placed in by both of their parents. But her previously distant voice suddenly has a subtle change. Almost like something is... rising in her alluring whispers. "That means you are the only one who is in any position to help your older sister, your highness."

"What could I do when my father, and mother both failed, or had no intention to help my sister Malty? I'm not even of age yet. Mother only appointed me to govern over the village of Balafon to gain administrative experience." Melty doesn't dare to hope that she could do a better job than her own mother. Mother is a legend who lived through The Great War, and led Melromarc back from the brink of destruction. Meanwhile, she is simply a young princess who learns most things from her books and the mouth of her own instructors. Yet in spite of this harsh reality, she dares to hope that maybe she could find a way to help her only sister. Big sister Malty took care of her when she's young, and when their parents were busy ruling the nation. She doesn't want her sister to meet her end in the hand of someone who wishes her harm, or be pushed onto a path of no return by those who pretend to help her, only to exploit her.

"Do not sell yourself short, Your Highness. With former princess Malty made a slave to the Shield Hero, you are the only princess and legitimate heir to Melromarc's throne left. And as you have seen during her majesty's return, many nobles were quite unhappy with the way she handled the situation. While I doubt all of them are selfless, there are those who oppose the current queen for what they believe to be right, rather than their personal gain. Like Archduke Wales, or the father of Lady Amelia. Both of them also happen to be some of the most powerful nobles of this nation. Much more powerful than the small, or fallen noble houses that's trying to rally behind former princess Malty." Iris looks at Lady Lacus from the corner of her eyes when her family is mentioned, but she doesn't say anything to interject, or interrupt. "If you successfully unite them behind your cause, you would have enough power to influence what decisions her majesty makes. And you could cower anyone who wishes to harm your sister, such as the Pig King of Faubley. Wouldn't it be worth it to have enough strength to push back at those who wish to do your sister harm?"

Melty isn't too convinced at what Lady Lacus said. But she does want to become strong enough to not let anyone else decide the fate of herself, and her older sister. She turns to look at Iris next, and the House Amelia heiress pries her eyes off Lady Lacus to look at Melty. To her disappointment, Iris didn't further elaborate on the possible success of Lady Lacus' plan. Rather, she gives some further steps on how to possibly achieve it. "Your grace, I suggest you start building a relationship with Lady Katarina if you wish to proceed with Lady Lacus' suggestion. Lady Katarina is distantly related to Lord Leif of the crusaders, but they have a very close relationship with each other, as if they are siblings. Through her, you could make connections with the rest of the crusader block. They are some of the strongest martial families of Melromarc. And with your mother's decision to distance with them, you will have a chance to secure an advantage over your own queen mother. However, you also must beware of Duke Alvis if you do proceed to go down this path. He is an active, and highly adapted figure in Melromarc court even before your mother's ascension. There will always be a chance for him to exploit your position as the crown princess, and possibly the next queen of Melromarc for him to further his own goals."

Melty fights back the urge to sigh, to scream in frustration, or to bang her head against a wall. All she wants is for her family to return to the time before the whole Wave of Catastrophe, and hero summoning. When everything was simple and they loved each other. But both Lady Lacus and Iris are pushing her towards this complex... court stuff she doesn't want to think about. And they are making it like her own mother is her bitter enemy. Yes, she's very frustrated with her mother with what she did to Father, and Big Sister Malty, but she doesn't want to fight against her own mother. But before she has a chance to say or do anything, a sudden wave of quake throws her off the armchair onto the wooden floor. For a while, Melty can't think straight, and everything looks faint in her eyes like she's seeing everything through fog. Someone helps her up from the side, she looks over but can't tell if the face belongs to Iris, or Lady Lacus. But the woman has pink hair, so it's probably the sister of Fuckboy. Someone slams the door to their cabin open. Once again, Melty can't see clear enough who it was. But the voice sounds like Iris' personal maid Tanya. "My lady, we are under attack by pirates! It's pure chaos out there!"

"How did we get sneak up on by an entire fleet of pirate ships? Where's our escort?!" For the first time since Melty could remember, Iris actually sounds angry and alarmed. Right... because they are on the House Amelia fleet's flagship The Golden Wind, and the escort ships should have blocked an enemy's fire like this. "What's Commodore Mitsuo Fukuda doing?!"

"There's only one pirate ship, my lady. And it's running circles around our escort ships. As for Fukuda... he's doing what he does best: hiding underneath his desk. Her Majesty has taken over command." The faint figure runs over to Melty, and helps her up from the opposite side of Lady Lacus. "Come on, my lady! We might need to get to the lifeboat... It's the Jackdaw. We are being targeted by Dread Pirate Robert."

The first sign that something was wrong is when Malty hears a large splash from the southeast. She tears her eyes from Naofumi and Sadina's drinking contest to look towards the direction of the thundercrack. Sure enough, there's dark smoke coming up from one of their escort ships from the distance. She briefly wonders if someone got careless with the stored explosive until the sound of cannon firing can be heard. Their escort ships are definitely shooting at something.

"What's going on?!" Malty turns her face around. Naofumi has jumped up from the stool where he was drinking with Raphtalia's self proclaimed escort (of very dubious competence). The Shield Hero leans his body on the wooden railing, desperately peeking his head over trying to make sense of the situation even if he can't see much. His psychotic fan follows his example. Sadina, on the other hand... she seems to have decided that she won the drinking contest against Naofumi with his premature departure and wanted to celebrate. The whale woman heaves the rum barrel with both hands, and pours its entire content down into her throat. She tosses the empty barrel away, and falls face down onto the deck, completely unconscious. Well... good thing nobody expected her to actually protect Raphtalia from anything. Or else Raphtalia might actually be in danger like what happened during the first wave.

"I don't know much about navy warfare, but we are definitely under attack." Malty closes her eyes and focuses on her hearing. She can't see much, on House Amelia's flagship behind their line of escort, but she hears the continuous sound of water splashing and cannon firing. "The fleet escorts are firing their cannons. It has to be either enemy ships, or a large sea monster. I saw smoke rising from one of the galleries, so my guess is on an enemy ship."

"I'm going to take Big Sister Sadina down the deck. She's not helping anyone here." Raphtalia pulls her unconscious protector up the floor. Malty gives her a quick nod, dismissing the racoon girl with her friend, and the inebriated Sadina.

"You think it's a pirate? Are they looking for One Piece and got lost? Ah, SHIT!" Malty has no idea what Naofumi is getting at, but she at least understands what a pirate is. The princess turned slave opens her eyes, just in time to see a ship with black flag squeezing its way through House Amelia's escort fleet towards them. Its forward mounting cannon opens fire like an enraged dragon, as metal balls larger than an adult man's head flies straight at them. Naofumi immediately pushes Malty down with himself on top of her. The sound of wood breaking mixed with a loud boom can be heard, and Malty knew the pirate's aim was true. The ship they are on has sustained some damage. The sound of angry screams and explosive curses can be heard all around them as Naofumi slowly moves over. Malty carefully raises herself up and looks around. One of the secondary masts has been knocked over, and there's a fairly large sized hole on the right side of their ship. The princess turned slave slowly peaks her head over the railing to look at the direction the pirate ship came from. At least three of their escort galleries are burning over the water. Blood chilling screams can be heard from their direction.

"How did that pirate ship get through our escort fleet?! How did it take down three ships this fast? How did a large ship move that fast?!" Malty nearly startled herself with how ear piercingly high her own voice sounds. But what just happened doesn't make any sense! The ship that made a charge at them a moment ago was a sized man-o-war just like the one they are on. Yet it's moving even faster and more nimble than a small gunboat.

"Not a large ship. It was a medium sized brig. Only two masts." Malty was instantly corrected by Theresa, who probably knew more about ships on account of her growing up on an archipelago. "Still shouldn't have moved that fast - they probably have some kind of powerful sea witch that boosts its speed, like casting a strong wind on its sail. I don't think they meant to attack us directly like that. Was probably trying to speed past and lose our escorts, and they ended up heading right at our ship by complete accident."

"What do you mean?" Naofumi turns his head to look at the cat girl from Cal Mira Island.

"They are sailing on a brig - a medium sized warship. We are riding on a Man-O-War, the heaviest ship with multiple decks of broadside cannons. We would have instantly shredded those pirates with our side guns if our gunners weren't too shocked to react from their sudden appearance. Even without our escort ships, they should be using their speed and agility to approach and weaken us from the back where a Man-O-War has its weakest defense in gun placement." Blake begins to run her fingers on the deck to help explain their situation. "I think Theresa was right. They were trying to cut through our escort ships, and overshot themselves. But their crew were better prepared than us so they took advantage of our slow reaction. Making it look like they intentionally attacked our ship."

"It had some kind of afterburner." Malty turns to look at Naofumi's annoying fan, his body is frozen like a statue, still leaning against the railing. Did he get scared witless, that he didn't even think of ducking down while cannon balls were flying straight at them (granted, she was also frozen by both shock and fear till Naofumi pulled her down, but that's besides the point). It seems like the Throwing Weapon Hero managed to see the whole exchange as a result. "There's a large stream of fire coming out of its sides like a pair of fire wings, then it crashes right through those ships, setting them on fire."

A fire magic user? Helping out in naval battle? This revelation caught Malty by complete surprise, since she's a fire user herself. As a result, she knows how much of a disadvantage they are at in open sea battle considering there's water everywhere around them. Steady, almost rhythmic footsteps come at them from the side. Malty turns her head, and sees Kael'thas walking beside him, the other three Cardinal Heroes quickly overtaking him and throwing themselves onto the railings. They all have good reasons to look frantic. Even a large Man-O-War only has so much room to spare besides their crew. So a large number of their retinue are distributed among the rest of the ships in the fleet. And right now, three of said ships are on fire. The eyes of the Phoenix Prince are thoughtfully narrowed, he opens his mouth after a brief moment of silent poundering. "It wasn't just a fire magic user. Neither a brimirian heretic, nor a pyromancer would be able to conjure strong enough fire to make a difference on open sea like this. It has to be either a high class Azuri, or Vermili clan member using a strong fire flow."

"[Meteor Spear]!" Motoyasu apparently didn't pay any attention to Kael'thas' explanation. His eyes grow round like a saucer as he jumps onto the railing and starts firing his spear weapon art at the pirate ship. His attack falls harmlessly besides the fast moving vassal, pushing a large pillar of water above the surface and gives a flurry of salty rain onto his target, but otherwise leaves them unharmed. The Spear Hero himself nearly trips forward into the sea below, if his two fellow Cardinal Heroes didn't immediately grab him by his ankles. And even as the Spear Hero becomes a side ornament of their ship, he continues to fire attacks at the quickly retreating pirate ship while screaming murder at it. "COME BACK AND FACE ME LIKE A MAN! YOU FUCKING STRAW HATS WANNABES! I'LL TEACH YOU TO HURT MY CHILDREN, YOU FUCKOS!"

"That's interesting. You want to translate in a language we can understand?!" While his friends are busy dealing with Motoyasu's tomfoolery, Naofumi's head turns sharply towards Kael'thas. His calm and collected voice slowly morphed into a desperate and loud yell at the indentured Phoenix Prince. Around them, the pirate brig continues to use its burst of speed to wreak havoc on their escort fleet, twisting them around into a cluster, or a line to rain cannon balls on them, or torch them with streams of fire.

"I'm terribly sorry, my king." Kael'thas nearly jumps on his feet at Naofumi's sudden outburst. He takes only a brief pause to recollect himself before elaborating. "Flow method is a technique used by high class warriors who are also accomplished elemental spellwrights. They combine the life force of a well trained fighter with the magic affinity of a spellcaster. Giving additional attributes to one's own techniques and weapon arts while not having as much direct draw back of the magical equivalent. From the way this pirate ship is moving with bursts of fire, I can only assume it has a high class Azure Dragon, or Scarlet Sparrow clan member onboard. Although it does beg the question... What is such a member from high class Siltvelt society doing here? Even if they are exiled by their family for whatever reason, there are surely better avenues to pursue than consorting with scums like pirates..."

Malty stopped paying attention to the Phoenix Prince at this moment. Her eyes and mind focused on the sea battle happening in front of her. The vassal of the legendary pirate continues making fools out of House Amelia's prided golden fleet. But she did notice one peculiar detail. Jackdaw is quick to disable House Amelia ships, but it doesn't seem to be interested in finishing them off. The first part is easy to understand even for an amateur like her (as much as she hates to admit her lack of competency, she can't even tell the difference between a heavily armed and fortified Man O War from a medium built ship like a brig on a first glance), legendary pirate or not, a single brig is entirely outnumbered and outgunned when going up against a proper fleet. So cutting its enemy's number down is obviously a top priority to make sure it doesn't get torn apart by an entire fleet of ships. But surely, the better option would be to sink the ships that are heavily damaged? Yet for all the ships it is torn into, they are all remaining afloat, even if they are all dead in the water at the same time. Even the three gunboats it set on fire had remained upright after the fire had been put out.

"Wind mages, power to the main sail! We won't sit around and let our enemy tear out our escort fleet!" Mother's voice can be heard from the wheel. Malty turns around to look at the direction of the command. Her mother, the queen of Melromarc, isn't literally piloting the ship, but she's standing at the helm giving out clear command. "We'll match our enemy for speed, and press them down with our superior fire power. Giving time for our escort to cut their escape route off! Today will be remembered as the day the Dread Pirate Roberts finally met his end!"

Normally, the idea of the heaviest ship matching any other ship lighter than its class for speed is absurd even when it's crafted by the most wealthy noble family like House Amelia. Especially for a ship that's moving with more nimbleness than the fastest ships. But the situation is very different when said vassal is commanded by the High Queen of Melromarc, with her entire retinue here to back her up. Most specifically, there are enough powerful, and skilled wind mages ready to use spells to enhance the ship's performance. As expected, mages in robes quickly rallied around the deck, pushing their magic onto a crystal ball embedded into the (thankfully undamaged) main mast of their ship. Specially made sails of monster leather blow up like a full moon, carrying the normally lumbering ship forward, chasing after the pirate ship attacking their escort ships.

"Fire at them, Itsuki!" Naofumi moves over to help Ren pull Motoyasu up, freeing the Bow Hero to go on the attack aimed at the pirate ship. After some brief struggle, the two of them manage to pull Motoyasu back onto the board again. Naofumi bodily tosses the Spear Hero down the railing and chastises him. "What were you thinking!? Did you want to dive into the ocean looking for dragon balls?!"

"He's an idiot, and a brainless simp! He's clearly not thinking!" The Throwing Weapon very unhelpfully said besides the Shield Hero. Naofumi throws him a dirty look, and bodily shoves his psychotic fan away. Once again, Atla looks more furious than a pot filled with boiling water. Thankfully, she's pushed back by the combined efforts of Theresa and Yatsuhashi.

"That black flagged fucker set our ships on fire! My children are on them!" Motoyasu lets out a quiet whine. The Spear Hero clearly knows that he messed up again, even if he's still blaming the pirate for his own misjudgement.

"[Random Arrow]!" Itsuki starts firing his own weapon art down at the pirate brig. His voice is nearly covered over by the sound of a full broadside barrage from The Golden Wind. Even with all the wind mages under mother's service working together, they can't turn a massive sea vassal into an agile ship. But The Golden Wind's forward speed going in a straight line still easily matched the Jackdaw, and they managed to get a good enough angle to fire on their target. For a brief second, Malty could see the legendary pirate vessel sunk by her mother, but then a spinning blue 'shield' of pure fire covered their target for a brief moment, prematurely detonating the barrage of cannonballs, allowing the nimble ship to once again slip away from them.

"Blue- No, AZURE FIRE?! IMPOSSIBLE!" Kael'thas nearly throws himself overboard like Motoyasu as the Phoenix Prince leans himself over the railing. His eyes nearly bugging out as he glares at the quickly retreating pirate ship. Malty snaps her face towards the shocked Vermili prince, and he quickly begins to explain. "The azure colored flame is a fire only used by very few members from the core Azure Dragon Clan members. The only one besides Lady Lung who could use it was the daughter of Lord Ozai... no, it can't be her. She's dead."

"So we are fighting against ghost pirates now? Wonderful!" Naofumi comments with no small amount of sarcasm in his voice. "Let's focus on beating this pirate back, before we get creative with the idea of where they came from. You are a fire user too, right? Can you take them on?"

Before the Phoenix Prince has a chance to answer, someone flips onto their ship. Malty narrows her eyes, and realizes she doesn't recognize the figure at all. He is dressed in tight dark clothing, wrapped under a dark cloak and wears a mask over his face. If not for the claymore in his hand, she would mistaken the man as some assistant, or bodyguard of their new Zeltoble liaison from Dalaran. The man slams a ruby gem into a slot in his sword, making both its blade and its sword guard wrapped up in red flame. The same battle enchantment as Theresa, but from the way she also lights up her double blade, he is no friend of hers. A member of her tribe that has gone rogue and joined piracy? The female tribal warrior didn't say anything, she ran towards the figure with a loud yell as they began to clash their weapons together. The clash between the two sends embers and waves of wind all around, blowing back anyone who dares to think about intervening in their duel as they dance around each other on the shaking board.

Both marine fighters incorporated a lot of spinning techniques to their move set. Something which would have been fancy, yet wasteful nonsense that's more suited for spectacle than utility for land based fighters such as a heavily armored knight. But on top of a rocking ship, these moves actually seem to take advantage of the natural momentum brought by a constantly wavering deck. Yet Theresa is clearly at a visible disadvantage. With fire being both of their go to enchantments for their weapons, she needs to constantly be mindful to not get The Golden Wind on fire. It forces her to avoid moves that incorporate vertical spinning due to the length of her double bladed staff saber. The claymore wielding pirate on the other hand, only has to spin the hilt of his great sword in his hand to have its burning guard threaten Theresa, plus he obviously doesn't care if any of his moves actually catch The Golden Wind on fire.

"I shall do my best to disrupt them, my king." Kael'thas replies back to the Shield Hero, now that he has a moment to breathe. He sends out his crimson bird familiar, it flies low towards the pirate ship, almost at the surface of the ocean. For a brief moment, Malty completely lost track of the small bird amongst the literal sea of dark water. That's until a small wisp of red suddenly burst into existence around the pirate ship as it rams into the side of the bow. Rather than doing something fanciful, the Phoenix Prince has chosen a stealthy approach. Letting his familiar sneak near the enemy vessel and then unleashing its power. The pirate boat shakes, but when the smoke clears they don't see any visible damage to the side where Kael'thas' attack impact. Even (or perhaps, especially) a pirate would invest a lot of money into their ship, it clearly has some enchanted armor to resist a magic attack. But still, the impact itself had slowed their target down for a brief moment to let The Golden Wind and Itsuki release another volley at it. This time, Motoyasu also joined in with his own weapon art attack. Likely to get some revenge for the danger the pirates put his children in.

Once again, an enigmatic looking blue fire blast out from the pirate ship like the last time. Unlike the last time when the fire spread over the top of the pirate ship like an umbrella, it surges out in a single direction. Pushing the pirate ship away just in time to avoid a direct hit that could seriously damage, if not sink it. But that doesn't look like the only thing the unidentified Azure Dragon sorcerer was trying to do. The stream of blue fire suddenly coils around at the end, leaping up towards the deck of The Golden Wind like a viper with a mind of its own.

"[Meteor Shield]! [Barrier]!" The Shield Hero immediately erect two layers of his defense in front of The Golden Wind. Both defensive abilities formed almost on top of each other, giving the meteor shaped shield art a golden hue. The blue stream of fire collided against his defense like a rapid stream falling on top of a boulder in the middle of a river. For a brief moment, both sides seem to be evenly matched, till the jet of fire engulfs Naofumi's barrier and overpowers it. Right, because the Shield Hero didn't have the time, or didn't think of bringing out his saiga. And he's too under leveled and underpowered compared to whoever was using this blue flame among the pirates. Kael'thas takes a step forward, waving his hands around to conjure up a spinning disk of red fire in front of them. The edge of his fire disk swirls much faster than the center, till it begins to elongate outward and reshape into a cone. The stream of blue fire rams into Kael'thas' swiftly spinning cone of fire, and gets deflected outwards.

As Theresa and the unnamed pirate finish another exchange between them, something from the corner of Malty's eyes flickers. The next thing she knows, a brown figure dashes out among the crowd and closes in upon the two fighting mariners. As Theresa steps away, the figure reaches a hand out, and presses her palm into the chest of the unnamed pirate. It was the elderly martial art master granny (Malty can't recall her real name). The masked man lets out a pained grunt as he's knocked flying back, but not before he tosses his claymore towards the mast like a shooting star. Malty's head rises as her eyes trails after the sword. She reaches her hand up towards the sword streaking through the air, trying to gather enough of her magic to shoot it down. But she's too late, its sharp tip stabs right through the main mast of The Golden Wind, right through the wind crystal. With a loud boom and a blast of air pressure, Malty is knocked onto the board. Her head spinning from the impact. That must have been what the masked pirate was aiming at to begin with: the magical crystal which gave The Golden Wind its unmatched speed for a large and heavy Man-O-War which allowed it to pursue the Jackdaw.

"So long, my good marines. All of you shall remember this day when Dread Pirate Robert almost got caught~!" Malty slowly pulls herself up by the railing. She only gets to see a sorry sight of House Amelia's disarrayed, and very damaged fleet floating around in complete chaos as the pirate brig cutting through wind and waves, riding into the horizon. The Sword Hero swings his weapon forward, pointing it at the pirate brig and casts his sword art [Swords of Revealing Light] in an effort to hold it back. The Jackdaw freezes on water for a brief moment, before shattering his weapon art and continues its escape unimpeded.

With its main mast down, unable to receive the benefit of mother's mage entourage, The Golden Wind no longer has the ability to keep up with the vessel of the legendary pirate. Malty turns around to look at her mother. Just as she thought, the color on the high queen of Melromarc's face is shifting between red, blue and pale white. Her face is that of a high class lady who accidently caught a fly in her mouth during an important event. Someone who doesn't want to swallow the nasty bug, but is too afraid to open her mouth and let everyone see a fly leaving her tongue. Iris, who came out from the lower deck, looks about the same as Malty's mother. This fleet is supposed to be the pride of her family. Yet put on a decidedly embarrassing display for everyone to witness when they were attacked by a single pirate ship. Granted, the ship belongs to the legendary dread pirate, who has sunk countless numbers of famous warships, even entire fleets. But it's still a bad look on her family that their golden fleet got torn apart by a single medium sized brig with nothing to show for.

"You useless idiots! The pirates got away from Naofumi-sama because you three stooges were useless!" The Throwing Weapon Hero stomps over to the heroes and points his finger aggressively at them. Malty silently wonders if she could simply knock the idiot overboard, and pretend it was an accident.

"Says the one who did nothing but spectate the whole naval battle." Ren crosses his arms and sneers right back at the idiot.

"Still! We aren't letting them get away with this, are we?" Itsuki slams his fist onto the wooden railing in frustration. He left a fist shaped indent in the wood. It might not look much, until one remembers House Amelia built their ships with the strongest (and often, most expansive) materials. In this case, Galian stone wood. A kind of wood that's harder than steel and stone. While the Bow Hero is helplessly raging at the pirate vessel from getting away, the Spear Hero had turned around on his heel and ran towards the back of their ship. The drastic movement caught Itsuki's attention as he turned towards Motoyasu. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to get a boat! I have to check if my children on the other ships are hurt!" Motoyasu didn't bother to look back, he simply shouted out his reply at Itsuki while he's making a straight line for the lifeboats strapped on the back of The Golden Wind. The Bow Hero takes a brief pause, turning his face down after hearing the Spear Hero's answer before running after him.

"Itsuki is right, Naofumi. Are we simply going to let these pirates go? What will people think of us if words get out?" Ren looks at Naofumi from the corner of his eyes. He appears much more calm than Itsuki and Motoyasu, but he looks deeply annoyed at how easily a ship of a few dozen pirates get away from them with almost no damage. The only one who got hurt was that lone, masked pirate who boarded their ship to take down The Golden Wind's mast. And even he was only beaten back by a one-hundred year old martial arts master.

The Shield Hero is silent. His finger brushing the bridge of his nose for a brief moment till he turns around to look at Gaelion. The response from the miniaturized dragon lord was as quick as he is steadfast. He crosses over his tiny little front limbs, and then pushes them outward over and over again. "NO WAY! You youngsters won't get to ride me like a steed, or a transport vessel whenever you like to! It's different if you have a life or death emergency, but I'm not about to carry you into a dangerous battle like some fat bird steed. I'm the direct son of Lord Gaia, gods damn it! I have to keep some of my dignity!"

"I have to agree with Lord Gaelion, my thane." Naofumi's stoic bodyguard breaks his silence and stands in front of the Shield Hero. He also has his arms crossed into an X shape in front of his chest while shaking his head fervently like Gaelion. Ren stares into his back, the corner of his mouth curved downward. "They already made a mockery of an entire well equipped fleet of warships, and were shown to have power and skill to defend themselves. Moreover, you would be fighting on unfamiliar terrain that deeply favors our enemy, a ship on the open sea. It's simply too dangerous an act to take for revenge, or vanity reasons."

"It's not only for revenge, or pride. I see an opportunity if we can catch up to, and force these pirates to work for us. And we'll be dealt a very severe blow if we let them get away."Naofumi's eyes begin to sweep around the people around him. "Think about it. We just rejected those self-serving noblemen's attempt to divide us up among them from the Hero Conference to stay in Melromarc together. What would they say once when they learned we allowed a single pirate ship to smash the fleet that's carrying us back to Melromarc? They are probably going to say something about Melromarc can't protect us, or we aren't strong enough to force us away again. But if we chase the pirates down, on the other hand..."

"We could take them down by the four of us. Showing the four heroes working together is stronger than an entire fleet from one of the most powerful nations." Ren finished Naofumi's sentence for him. And judging by how the Shield Hero nods alone, he was thinking the exactly same thing.

"Not only that. These pirates are proven to be capable fighters. If we take them down and force them to fight the Wave, we get some additional manpower that won't be controlled by one of those scummy nobles." The Shield Hero stops talking for a moment and looks down, his face pensive. "Normally, I hate press gang people into fighting a war they might die from. But we are talking about criminals who would be executed, or be forced into indentured service. So at least this way, they do something good with their lives..."

"You are finally going to build your slave army, Naofumi-sama?! I'm so happy for you!" The Shield Hero shoots a dirty look at his psychotic fan. But he didn't say anything back or deny the accusation. It might have been what he went through with the Fourth Wave, or maybe for the fact that he already used a technicality from slavery to keep Malty herself from the clutch of the Pig King of Faubley. People might call Naofumi a hypocrite for doing the exact same thing he wishes to abolish, but it seems like he's no longer fundamentally against the practice of slavery regardless of their reasoning.

"I hope you know what you are doing. But I'll go get Motoyasu and Itsuki." Ren gives Naofumi one last look as he runs to the back of the ship to find their fellow heroes. Naofumi turns his gaze towards Gaelion once again. The shrunken dragon lord didn't dignify him with a verbal response, choosing to bar his teeth and grunt at the Shield Hero instead.

Malty doesn't know where Naofumi's sudden change of thinking like a Player of The Game, rather than a selfless hero who goes around doing his best to help everyone came from. Perhaps it's witnessing how self-serving all the so-called 'leaders of the world' acted during the Hero Conference. Or perhaps it's the way that the people of Cal Mira Island desperately trying to hide the news of a Dragon Hourglass being discovered around their home in fear that their 'eternal neutral ground' status would no longer keep them safe. Regardless, it seems like the Shield Hero realized the importance of having power to protect himself. And it makes Malty think about herself. When she first joined Naofumi, she wanted to use his influence, and power to win prestige for herself in hope of replacing Melty as her mother's successor. After the third wave, she was focused on Naofumi, and her own survival. Now that she is no longer in immediate danger, and she has given up her chance to inherit her mother's crown... What can she do to help Naofumi?

"We do not have to impose Lord Gaelion for the task of carrying you to battle, my king. While my power is nowhere near a son of Lord Gaia, I could, and would be honored to serve you." Kael'thas interrupts the staring contest between the two competitors of the human-pygmy dragon staring contest. He kneels down, and his humanoid body begins to change shape, growing into something much larger. When he was done, a long eared human in crimson, elaborated battle robe was nowhere to be found. In his place is a red bird the size of at least two carriages with golden flame burning on his wings and crest feathers. The sound of Prince Kael'thas coming out of the red phoenix as his beak opens. "We children of Malis are blessed by the beast spirit of our lost home land. And for some of us highborn, we can still assume the form of our ancestral spirit."

End Note:

Just so everyone remembers, yes. We are definitely running with the 'Darth Lacus' (the only explanation in SEED canon that made any remote sense because fat bastard Fukada is an incompetent idiot who can't do a war story with actual depth unlike Yoshiyuki Tomino) build for Lacus. And yes, Iris is also a self-serving Player of The Game. She's one of the better ones as she tries to make things right for people around her rather than toss them away, or step on them to get to her own goals. But when the chips are really down, she'll choose her own goal over what's doing the right thing as this chapter show when she further played along Lacus' manpulation on Melty, rather than clearing it up for her.

Not sure anyone expected a naval battle shortly after 4th wave, but since I'm writing this story and I throw as much pop culture reference in as I damn well please... we are having a (magical) naval battle chapter. Enjoy me, who knows nothing about naval battle writing a naval battle scene armed with nothing other than being helped by my fellow fanfiction writer Angel Wraith's experience from playing Ass Credit African American Flag, and Ass Credit Meat Pigeon. Random and completely useless trivia: Chinese meme, Rogue's pronouciation sounds like 'meat pigeon' in our language.

Also a friendly remind that Kael'thas might look and act as a typical fantasy elf, but he is in fact, NOT an actual elf. He doesn't have a phoenix familiar, he IS the phoenix. Oh, and also... Naofumi is slowly transforming from a selfless hero of the people, to an actual Player in The Game even if he'll always be more optimistic and well meaning than Malty.