Scarlet was the first mate of the Reverence. She was tall for a woman, had a decent build, and a rough face. With an easy-going captain like Bluerose, his first mate needed some bite, and he took it literally, as Scarlet has pointy and sharp teeth, which shows that she's from Estnia, a wild and barely civilized region of the kingdom, which was conquered long ago but never truly included.
While the captain gave his orders to some of the more experienced members, it fell to Scarlet to instruct those who have little to no experience with seafaring. Personally, she would have rather recruited from the best of the best for this expedition, but with the prospect of never returning, it was hard to get those, be they from the royal navy or trading ships.
So the rabble had to do. “Listen, worms. I'm Scarlet and I'm the first mate. Means, I'm next in line after the captain. Every word of mine is an order and if you good-for-nothings follow them, you might survive. If you got a problem with the captain, come to me. If you have a problem with someone else, come to me. If you have a problem with me, then---” There was a certain threat in the air, courtesy to Scarlet's dangerous aura: “Go to Quartermaster Greggor.” That was the only person—aside from the captain—she would take critique from. “But even if you maggots got a problem, heed to my every fucking order or I'll throw you bait from board the moment we face a monster to distract it with a meal.” That was the best use for this riffraff after all.
“I have a question.” There were always some people brave enough to actually speak up, showing initiative and own thoughts.
All that was totally unneeded on open sea: “Shove it up your throat and either suffocate from it or hold it for a week. If you do the former, jump from board beforehand. If you do the latter, I might listen to it.” As if any question would be left after a week of work here. “I assigned experienced sailors to each to you, learn under them. I expect each of you to be able to handle the ship before we arrive at the Mist Sea, and Ocher will do some lessons with you later. Oh, and the eight of you: Get some sleep, welcome to night-watch!”
After showing everyone who is responsible for who, Scarlet took over for the captain, shouting orders and snarling at everyone who slacked off. If those bean-brains didn't learn now to take things seriously, this expedition was doomed from the start.
As they left behind any land in sight, it was time for the next step: “Unfold the large sails and brace them.” During her time shouting orders, she made sure that everything on deck was properly fastened. “Hold on to something.” She looked at Indigo and Turquoise, who will assist her in this endeavor, both of them nodded. “Accelerating!”
Scarlet wove her water magic, same as Indigo, while Turquoise created the wind. Using water and wind to push the ship to new speeds, it showed directly who had sea legs and who didn't. The latter weren't able to stay on their land-bound feet and most of them also screamed like sissies.
The Reverence was a thin ship to make most out of the mages it had, be it for fast travel or other methods. During storms, they would break the dangerous ways, which sturdier ships would simply endure, but being able to escape quickly was more important. Especially with Bluerose as the captain.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Until they would arrive at the Mist Sea, they would teach the basics of magics to the rabble as well, at least to those who didn't learn it already. That's why Scarlet and Greggor also took their time hiring a crew, to make sure that there was enough of a spark inside each member to not become a dead-weight.
After accelerating the Reverence enough, there was no need for more magic for a while, they would repeat it every hour from now on, as that was a solid combination of speed and conservation.
Scarlet saw Hank hurrying under deck, and she wondered whether she told the new night-watch to remember to use the belts of their hammocks. Though it would take a while to be able to sleep through these spurts anyway and maybe a hit or two on their head would prove to be a plus, as there usually was a lot of foolery and incompetence inside of these newbie heads.
The journey went well this far, but these were still chartered waters, many ships traveled them in the past and will continue to do so in the future. As long as they weren't eaten by the sea monsters.
“Incoming sea serpent on two o'clock,” the captain shouts, as his magic enhanced perception was on another level entirely. Scarlet was already aiming towards starboard, as she readied her magic to push the creature back the moment it immersed. Fighting it had no worth after all and at these speeds, the serpent would never be able to catch up with the Reverence. The captain had another idea though: “Slow down the ship. So early at a journey, a chance to impress and teach? Splendid!”
Scarlet knew instantly what he meant, and she was about to shoot this fool from board, but this would spell misfortune for this journey, so she did what every good first mate would do and supported her captain with grace and politeness: “YOU HEARD THE CAPTAIN, YOU STINKING BUGS!” She herself wove her magic to create large tides in front of the Reverence to brake it, while the crew started to take in the sails.
A huge snail with blue and black scales jumped out of the sea. It's enormous body would had been enough to constrict and break the Reverence, yet the captain smiled while looking at it: “A sea boa, how lucky we are! Indigo, let's show the crew how you fight at sea.”
Indigo quickly weaved her magic to make a tendril of water serpent out of the ocean, the captain jumped at it while clicking his heels, which deployed his floating skates. The pieces of wood sprang under his soles which allowed him to float on the water-tendril, following the current Indigo created while steering himself with his body-weight.
The sea boa didn't pay him any attention and Scarlet raised a wall of water in front of the Reverence, pushing the boa's head back, while the captain circumvented it. “Here we go!” He jumped of the tendril, right at the neck, or whatever the spot was called, that connected a serpent's head to the rest of the body.
One of the arm blades on the captain's sleeve sprang out and even people not as well-versed at magic as Scarlet noticed that it was full of magic, as light sparks came out of it and its form seemed to blur. The blade went through scales, flesh, and bone like a hot knife through butter, and all it took was a single attack for the boa to be decapitated.
The captain not only showed his power, but also his foresight, as the line of his attacked directly carried him back to the deck, as Scarlet quickly dispelled her wall. He landed gracefully, his floating skates already sheathed, and he said flippantly: “Well, I expect something like this of all of you soon.”
This proclamation was bold, as Captain Sebastian Bluerose was one of the strongest and most proficient magic-users Scarlet knew, and she knew quite a number. That's why he was able to explore the unknown, that's why the crown was ready to fund another of his trips, that's why he had several capable people—including Scarlet, who was a mighty mage in her own right—following him, and that's why he was Captain Sebastian Bluerose.