“Stop! Stop! The Ether Point Core will overheat!”

“Hey, Ferd! What the hell! Turn it off! Do an immediate landing!”

“Aye, Captain Merissa! The ship did fly for at least ten minutes now.”

We brace ourselves for a landing and the impact it will bring. Currently, the SS Iowa is descending from the sky from its flight. They slowly retract the glider of the ship while tilting it upward and they reduce the energy output of the jet engine that releases fierce blue fire.

The vertical stabilizer behind the ship is flapping as the wind collides with it and the yard atop of the ship’s mast sways left and right. The main and foresail accumulate wind resistance as we descend.

SPLASH!

The ship successfully landed in the sea and I expressively heave a sigh. Looking around, I saw Merissa and her crews painstakingly writing notes and memo about today’s flight result and wrote those they need to change and repair or modify.

Everyone runs around the place and checks the newly added parts. The dumb doesn’t know anything about what they are talking about. Ichirou is being useful by carrying heavy objects for Merissa.

Even Hibiscus is useful as she flies with Emby through my Divine Ascension and scout ahead for any storm, or turbulence if there is one forming. She also measures the intensity of the wind above using a device made by Merissa.

Casablanca, with my Divine Ascension, is doing something about what Merissa called special relativity which if I remember, is a theory of Albert Einstein with an equation of E=mc2 that states that anything that has mass takes up an amount of energy and those with energy take up a mass.

I don’t know how that works…

Also, don’t use my Divine Ascension like a utility tool!

Everyone is so busy except for me. I am just watching to the side and sitting with a fishing rod in my hand. I immediately cast my line with a worm as bait and started another boring wait and reel.

I used to love fishing and all but, right now, when they told me that I probably just fish, I feel like they just dump a trivial work for me and it was depressing.

Supporting my head with my palm, I sigh again as I stare at the ripples that the sea leaves as it sails. The warm and gentle sunlight rays down upon me and it gives a comfortable and comfy feeling. The salty wind brushes my skin and sways my hair which I keep in a ponytail. Because the short pants that I am wearing expose too much of my thighs, the breeze the keeps blowing brought an uncomfortable chill and my expose shoulder and armpits feel the same.

But it was not that bad…

More like, those conditions are perfect and ideal for a nap…

Yeah…a nap…

I feel like…taking…a…nap…

.

.

.

“Everyone, I believe that I have already explained our plight so now, I have a request to make!”

I shouted in front of the captains of each and every ship. I already explained everything about the devils, the existence of the Order of the Sin, Nil and the whole ordeal this world is facing. Although I am still clueless of what this world may end up if we lose, I am certain that it would lead to something much crueler than the existence of the devils themselves.

All devils must perish!

“Bear my name and title for I, Asagao Lionheart, the Princess of Land of Prosperity, the human continent, and the newly hailed Empress of the Sea, shall request your heartfelt cooperation to save this world by any means necessary!”

I am so embarrassed by what I said but I cannot show it in my face and I cannot falter here. It is something I need to say regardless of what emotions I am bearing right now. From my complete introduction, everyone’s mouth gapes open and their eyes widened in utter surprise.

Upon their questioning gazes, I summon my dimensional storage and fetch my Lionheart Insignia. It is an emblem with a lion as its motif. It is made of pure orichalcum mixed with what Violetta said to be soul spar. As I grasp it in my hand, I raise it towards the sky and showed it to them.

“This is…too good to be true…”

“We are…going to serve not only the new Empress of the Sea but also a royalty…”

“Oh no…”

Gants who is a human paled as he saw my insignia. Remembering all of the rude things he has done, he paled so well that I felt the best. He falls on his knees while trembling upon my presence. Merissa nodded in satisfaction as if she feels like my achievement is also hers.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Since they saw Gants, the leader figure, kneeled before me, everyone also did the same and they fully recognize my authority.

“Accept my deepest apology for being rude earlier Princess Asagao Lionheart of Land of Prosperity and the new Empress of the Sea! A request is not needed as you now hold us under your reign. It is now simply an order!”

“Princess Asagao! That’s why she has this royal atmosphere!”

“Stunning beauty and excellent leadership, Princess Asagao is truly magnificent!”

Stop saying princess over and over!

It really makes me uncomfortable considering that I thrashed most of you yesterday night. However, this much respect is expected. I was told by Ferd earlier that I should display an overbearing amount of authority against them or I will not be respected.

“So, what could be the heartfelt request of our esteemed Empress?”

“I won’t beat around the bushes…”

Everyone tense up as I close my eyes and prepare for my next words.

“Everyone, please be part of the joint army naval force. It is a force that will be responsible for protecting the seas of this world and watches over the center continent’s sea condition. Of course, I know that all of you are pirates, however, I shall take all of you under my protection. Bear my name and title and all of you shall be under one banner that I will lead!”

Everyone’s eyes were shaken by what I just said. They are indeed pirates but, I am aware that the naval force of every continent can be overpowered by these said pirates. They will be a good for transportation job too.

Considering that there are one people that I know that can only use warp, which is Violetta, transportation through the sea is the hardest hurdle in traveling towards the center continent.

“Also, all of you will be a great asset for a good line of information network! It is something that we need to constantly keep under our wing to provide the latest news of happenings. That’s why I need every one of you to be in contact with each continent’s naval forces.”

I also thought very hard about it and considered that communication and passing of latest news are crucial. For example, in the sea of Land of Greenwoods, the Elf Continent, a devil like the other day appears. It’s going to be a lot easier to pinpoint where it appeared if the information about the place is instantly relayed through the communication devices that they have.

Informing the naval bases in each continent about an incident like that could save lives of people who live close to the sea or sailing boats that came to the place to fish.

“I see! As expected of the empress. It seems you have given this whole situation a deep thought. We might as well cooperate to keep this tranquil life of us pirates.”

“Are you going to bid to my orders?”

“We will, however, we need to further broaden the given situation and topic so we are going to gather opinions and give additional options.”

“I’m game!”

And so, with the full agreement of every captain, we started a heated discussion as how many fleets are going to be formed and the boundary of their patrol and such. It is also discussed how they will assure that they will not be attacked by the naval forces.

All of their worries are understandable. After all, they are pirates who ransacked traveling ships and boats throughout the sea of this world.

We settle in the formation of four fleets as the only continent with naval bases is the humans, the beasts, the dragons, and demons. They cannot make contact with the elf as they are deep within the forest and the dwarf dwells in the mountain and above all, those two races are in a cold war.

The boundary shall be decided by the assigned flagship of each fleet and they will administer an appropriate formation and division inside their ranks.

And for the last part, I already wrote letters with my official stamp to be carried by each flagship as a proof of my subordination.

The rest are to be decided by the experienced and pirates who has more knowledge. Merissa already told me earlier that she will take us to the fairy continent with their ship.

From her statement, the underlying meaning of it is that she is actually boasting that the Esteemed Empress of the Sea and Princess of the Human Continent is boarding her ship. She flaunts me like she owns me!

Afterward, I heard she pulled out a lot of resources and excavated some blueprints for her new modification for the ship.

The assembly was formally dismissed and we headed to our own destinations…

.

.

.

“Gao...! Gao! Wake up! Wake up!!”

“Ah?!”

BONK!

“OUCHIES!”

“OW OW OW!”

As a voice called out to me, my body immediately jerks up and from my sudden action, my head seems to collide with someone else’s head.

Because of the pain, I hold my head and frowns as I look at Merissa who also did the same gesture.

“Merissa?!”

“Gao, don’t sleep there!”

“Ah…I fell asleep…”

I rub my eye with the back of my hand as I stare at Merissa’s haggard appearance due to consecutive days of no sleep. However, her eyes are still lit with fire as her drive and motivation peaks from all the ideas she can do to her ship.

“What do you want, Merissa?”

“Asagao, there is something I need  advice with.”

“I see. Is it work related?”

“Yes. Come with me.”

Merissa and I stand up. I follow behind her as she blabbers about things I don’t understand about how this ship works, of how staring and examining Ichirou’s spirit tech gave her ideas. She has now immersed in her own world of machines again.

It is not that bad.

She’s always like this whenever it comes to machine. It is what you call passion and a passion is something you obsess over. That’s why, for this very same reason, I can see her smile.

We arrive at the main deck and she brought me to a table with a large blueprint pinned onto it.

“Gao, can yo--!”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”

“?!”

A voice of someone far away is heard…

Confused, everyone frantically looks around for the source of the voice. In reflex, I immediately deploy my Intangible Barrier that reaches for several kilometers in radius now.

My normal barrier could only extend to a considerable size to protect two or three ships. However, my intangible barrier which is the extension of my senses can reach up to a kilometer towards the sky now.

And in an instant, I immediately picked up where the voice is coming from!

“[Barrier!]”

I jump up and launch myself with the barrier that I created beneath my feet. Upon reaching the limit of the launching distance of the initial barrier, I created scaffoldings around me jumps repeatedly like an acrobat.

Then I saw the figure of someone falling and flailing in the air…

Without delay, I launch myself towards her and with outstretched arms, I caught her in my embrace.

I look down and calculated my landing point. Twisting and spinning my body and with the help of my barrier, I adjusted my position so I can land directly on the ship. I don’t want to land in the sea as I cannot swim.

And before I knew it, before I crash, Ichirou catches me with the girl I have in my arms…

“You’re being reckless again, Asagao…”

“I have to!”

He put us down and I stare at the girl that I caught.

Donning a beautiful flowing light brown hair that reaches above her waists and chestnut gentle eyes, with a complexion of fairness tinged with healthy color, she fixes her gaze towards me in surprise. She wears a maid uniform composed of a frilly apron over a short frilly skirt. Her plump and sexy thigh is visible as she sits in an uncomfortable position in front of me.

Her lacey black thigh high fed my eyes with so much sexiness. Judging from her frame she is around fourteen years old, however, as I stare hard at her face…

I cry…

My lips quiver from so much tension as I look at her. Without hesitation, I throw my arms around her and tightly squeeze her in my embrace!

“Milin!!”

“Eh…No…my name is Topaz…”

No…she looks exactly like Milin!

My chest constricts in pain and so much guilt upon seeing her.

I simply can’t let her go…