The wood creaked underfoot as the sun shone down on the ship. The warmth was quite a respite from the chill morning air – slightly damp and containing the sharp tang of salt. A brown-haired man with gold eyes stretched as he stepped onto the main deck, the deck moving beneath him.
A woman’s voice called his name, drawing his attention.
“Hey! Morning… Conlan!” A woman with dark blue hair next to the ship’s edge was waving to him. Then she hesitated. “I got it right this time, didn’t I?”
Conlan smiled and nodded.
“Yes! Gah, I can’t believe I got your name wrong yesterday,” Maeva Winrich muttered, crossing her arms. She shook her head. “So embarrassing.” She gestured to him with a curious look on her face. “Why are you up so early?”
“Why are you?” Conlan replied.
She clicked her tongue. “Don’t throw my question back at me. I’m up because anywhere with the water element rejuvenates me.”
Conlan chuckled and came up beside her, watching the choppy ocean. “As a warrior, my CON is high, so I get up early. Are there any others awake?”
Maeva gestured to the foredeck with a tilt of her head. “Sure. The Sect girl, your archer friend and Caspian are all up. Must be the water element, or water-aligned abilities in the cultivator girl’s case.” She gained a strange expression and looked up at the main mast. “There’s also…”
Conlan blinked when he noticed the wild-haired figure sitting on the topsail beam, her luminescent curly hair drifting in the wind. She wasn’t wearing her Captain coat.
Maeva pointed to Adrianna. “She was out here before even me. I have no idea why she’s up there of all places.”
Conlan studied Adrianna as she sat up there. Instead of her Elite Officer uniform, she was dressed in a white shirt with her sleeves rolled up just as he had seen her wear in the past so often before.
She was always an early riser. I think she’s just a light sleeper. Also…
He frowned when he saw the object she was holding in her hand, a small trail of dark smoke drifting from it.
She’s… smoking cigars already?
He hesitated for a moment. That… that can’t be a good thing, right?
He was brought out of his thoughts by a nudge from Maeva. “Have you got anything you could share about this new Captain of ours? We’ve known her for two weeks yet I still can’t work her out.”
Conlan smirked and crossed his arms. He now had his first opportunity to begin to move the crew’s opinions. If he could make them side with him… then he’d have a party he knew like the back of his hand for his future Guild.
And he could ensure it was him who Adrianna relied on and not anyone else. He didn’t need to care about Catherine. She and his other party members had followed him with little effort on his part, so he was sure events would turn out the same, with them being his loyal Guild members once again.
Only Adrianna was an issue. She had never paid anyone special attention. Anyone but her Vice-Captain and Liliana. Even when he tried to prove he could be useful to her, she dismissed him as just another member of the Dawnlight.
It made him so mad to be treated like that when he was the Hero of Light. He wanted to be her equal- no, more than equal. They were even the same age, but it was she who became the leader of the crew and not him. Still, she never removed him from the crew even when his attempts to prove himself went awry, so he knew he was important to her somehow.
But now he needed to become the one person keeping the crew together, instead of her in this timeline. And to do that, he would use her antisocial personality to gain the goodwill of the crew. She was always going to end up pushing away the rest of the crew, so how could it hurt for him to use that for himself?
“Adrianna Riftmire is… a difficult person,” he slowly replied, keeping his voice quiet with an awkward smile on his face. “She doesn’t like to talk to people much. But she’s an excellent mage.”
Maeva scoffed. “Tell me something I don’t know. I was there when she beat you lot to within an inch of your lives.”
Seems I’ll need to try a bit harder. Maeva was one of the most confrontational towards me in the past.
“Oh… what I mean to say, is that our group of former cadets…” He gave her a small smile. “Most of us don’t have the best impression of her.”
Maeva raised an eyebrow but they were interrupted when a short figure came up the stairs onto the deck. With wispy ash-coloured hair and large brown eyes, the crew’s resident half-fae hovered above the deck, ready to take up her post as the lookout.
Noirel Arventiel flew up to the bird’s nest… and then flew back down a few seconds later, looking slightly pale. She saw Conlan and Maeva and frowned. “Thee couldst've toldeth me the lady wast there…” she muttered.
Maeva cocked an eyebrow. “I didn’t even know you cared our Captain was up there.”
Noirel turned her head away. “The false one maketh me uncomf'rtable.”
“I haven’t heard you call her that before,” Conlan replied in a bright voice. He recognised the nickname the half-fae had for Adrianna and had never discovered why Noirel called her ‘the false one’ in the past timeline for… certain reasons. “Is there a reason why she seems ‘false’ to you?”
Instead of answering him, Noirel scowled. “I wont’eth answer thy queries, distorter. Thy character is worse than the false one.” She glanced around and looked at Maeva. “I'll taketh mine own leaveth and inspect the quarterdeck. I shalt warn thee the distorter hides a character yond coequal the vilest slime spawn would avoid.”
And with that, she flew up and left them. Maeva gazed strangely at the leaving half-fae. “What was all that about? False one? Distorter?”
Conlan smiled awkwardly. “I wouldn’t know.”
So even in the new timeline, I’m still the ‘distorter’. And she won’t tell me why because it’s her fae heritage acting up. I bet she doesn’t even know herself.
Conlan paused and looked at the ground, a hand on his chin as he thought.
Only Noirel called me that. Only Noirel and… that man I met in Tartarus. I think it was when I was chasing down a clue I thought would lead me to Adrianna during that time she pretended to be dead, and then I killed that woman to erase my tracks when it turned out to be a red herring.
He frowned slightly.
He used death mana, but looked human so… wasn’t he a wraith? The strongest race in Tartarus, one of the death race? The fae and the wraiths are so far apart that it’s very strange I got called a ‘distorter’ by both of them. It might be best if I try to follow up on this ‘distorter’ thing in this timeline. But Noirel has now gone and messed up the progress with Maeva…
He sighed. Oh well. I’ll try again another time.
Conlan glanced in the direction of the Captain’s room and smirked.
I have something more important to do anyway.
Maeva and Conlan nearly jumped when the hatch to the lower floors’ stairs slammed open, and three figures came marching out. The one in the lead, a young dark-haired girl dressed in flowing white and blue robes, planted her hands on her hips and looked around. Behind her were two weary-looking men, both wearing the Elite Officer naval uniform.
“It appears our fellow Officers do not share our enthusiasm for the morning!” the girl proclaimed. “It is of no consequence. We will instil motivation in our crewmembers and aid them using the morning exercise techniques of our Sect!”
“Senior Sister Mingxia, you’re being very loud,” Liao Tengfei said with a groan, placing a finger in his ear. “We don’t need to be up this early.”
Zhang Mingxia tsked and turned away from her Sect members. “Clearly you’re lacking discipline, Junior Brother Tengfei. I will lower my voice for now, but we will address this in the future.”
A brief grimace appeared on the narrow-eyed man’s face, but he sighed and readjusted his uniform’s collar. The scarred man beside him, Zhang Meng, leaned against the main mast with his arms crossed, silently watching everything.
Zhang Mingxia turned to Conlan and Maeva. “I had seen you were awake with my spiritual sense. The spiritual energies above deck are pleasant at this time of day.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“I’m not sure how useful ‘pleasant spiritual energies’ are for a water-element healer like me,” Maeva replied with a slight smile.
Zhang Mingxia blinked and then fell silent as if to contemplate Maeva’s words. She nodded after a moment. “Indeed, you are not a cultivator. But I am sure it must nourish your soul in some way.” She looked around the deck again and turned back to them. “And what have you been conversing about this morning? I was too preoccupied with my two junior brothers to concentrate on the conversation.”
Maeva gained a strange expression. “But you weren’t even here. Why would you be listening to our conversation?”
Before the Sect heir could say anything Conlan interjected, “A cultivator like Officer Zhang has spiritual sense. She can hear almost anything on this ship.”
“Yes.” Zhang Mingxia nodded. Then she turned around and looked up at Adrianna, still sitting on the topsail beam. She returned to looking at them with her dark blue eyes. “Except in situations when my spiritual sense is reflected by other spiritual energy, as is the case with our Captain.”
“Oh?” Maeva raised an eyebrow, her curiosity piqued. She glanced up at the curly-haired woman above them. “You know, our conversation had been about this new Captain of ours. I was asking what Conlan here thought about her. What does the great heir of the Vast Longevity Flowing Glacier Sect think?”
“Of Adrianna Riftmire?” Zhang Mingxia looked up at the subject of their conversation. “She is… a unique person to work with.” Then she looked at them again and shrugged. “However, it has been three months since we last met, and so the former cadets and my own feelings regarding her have been quieted somewhat.”
Maeva crossed her arms. “What, did you lot dislike her or something?”
Zhang Mingxia’s expression became slightly awkward. “For the Commander of White Squall Fortress to show such obvious interest in another cadet of similar age… I cannot deny that the relationship between the other cadets and Adrianna Riftmire was strained, including myself. But we have all had time to calm ourselves after the events of the training camp and I hope we all show more maturity than before.” She gestured to herself. “I have made progress in the temperance of my spirit as my art has instructed me, and should not focus on the failings of the mind and heart at my current stage.”
“Hmmm…” Maeva held her chin. “So, what you’re saying is you lot used to have friction between you and our Captain.” She gave the cultivator the side eye. “And you’re all fine with her now?”
“From what I’ve overheard our fellow crew members say, yes.” Then Mingxia glanced at Conlan, who had been staying silent to watch how the Sect heir and Maeva’s discussion played out. “Everyone except that spear-wielding friend of yours. Officer Sherwood seems to still be quite vocal about her opinions of Adrianna Riftmire.”
“Ah… well…” Conlan smiled. “Catherine does have quite the hot-headed personality. It must be because of the fire element.”
They were startled when they heard the sounds of heavy boots hitting the deck. They looked back to see that Adrianna had dropped from the topsail beam, using a spell to slow her fall, and was marching across the deck with that pace of hers that made it seem like the only emotion she knew was anger. She paused for a moment to look at them.
“If you have the spare time to discuss me amongst yourselves then you have the spare time to prepare for the day ahead.” Adrianna looked out into the ocean. “Vice-Captain Wharifin informed me that a storm will occur in four hours.”
With that, she walked back into her cabin, shutting the door behind her.
They exchanged glances. Zhang Mingxia turned around and walked away. “I shall awaken the rest of our fellow crew members. We have yet to have weather dangerous enough that our Vice Captain feels the need to warn us.”
Maeva sighed. “She has a point. I’ll do an inventory check of the medical supplies.”
She walked off, leaving Conlan alone. He watched as Noirel flew up to the bird’s nest, and then he looked around, wondering what to do.
I’m getting impatient, waiting for the real monsters to come out so we can start levelling. But if a storm is going to be happening today…
He glanced at the Captain’s cabin.
Then maybe I’ll have an opportunity for that later.
…
“Quartermaster Vima, turn to starboard! We’ll capsize if we hit these upcoming waves head-on!”
The grey-haired Silenis Vima saluted and followed Adrianna’s orders, spinning the wheel. Conlan watched as the woman marched down the slick steps to address the crew at the front of the ship.
Then Conlan gazed out over the choppy seas, watching the vague forms of monsters in the distance clash among the waves.
The sensation of the rocking boat is bringing back all sorts of nostalgia.
He heard the sound of a breeze and glanced back to see Noirel Arventiel descending from the bird’s nest, walking towards the forecastle. He knew that as the lookout, Noirel only descended when she had something important to tell them all. He rushed down the steps and climbed up the forecastle stairs to see what Noirel wanted to report.
Adrianna was busy discussing something with her Vice-Captain and the healer from the Citadel, Charlene Junem, so the half-fae awkwardly loitered behind their Captain, clearly wondering what to say.
“I beg thee excuse me… Riftmire…” Noirel fidgeted. “Ah, Captain…”
Adrianna stopped to turn around, ignoring Conlan who was watching. The icy-eyed woman tilted her head when the ashy-haired girl didn’t speak. “What is it, Arventiel? It must be important if you came to speak to me.”
The half-fae grimaced. “I did sight monsters in the way of our ship. We'll cross paths with those folk if 't be true we keepeth heading this way.”
Adrianna frowned, looking out at the sea.
Caspian glanced at her. “Commander Arkenast ordered for us to avoid combat for now. We’ll have to take a detour.”
She acknowledged his words with a nod, holding her chin. Adrianna looked at Noirel. “Tell this to Quartermaster Vima. He’ll change the ship’s direction accordingly.”
The half-fae quickly did as told, eager to get away from Adrianna. Just as Adrianna was about to say something to Caspian, Conlan decided to give his input.
“Captain, I don’t think we need to avoid the monsters,” he said, getting their attention. “The island the Commander requested us to visit is covered in Lairs. We’ll end up meeting them either way.”
“Commander Arkenast ordered for us to avoid combat,” Adrianna stated blandly, ignoring him to grab a spyglass from her belt and look at the sea. “We won’t be going against his orders.”
Conlan shook his head. “But are his intentions and his orders the same thing?” He smirked and gestured to them. “It’s nearly impossible for us to avoid combat when we’re heading directly to the nests of the monsters. Yet the Commander ordered us to go there anyway. I think he wants us to fight them.”
Caspian and Charlene nodded thoughtfully, thinking about his words. Adrianna didn’t look at him as she replied, “The Commander has ordered us to avoid combat. We will be following his orders.”
Conlan’s smirk grew wider. “But it would be the perfect timing. We’ve had sailing without difficulty for the past two weeks, so something has to change. Something unexpected, so the crew will be faced with their first challenge.” He pointed at the rest of the ship behind him. “He wants to know how we’ll react when we have to go against his orders.”
The two beside Adrianna were frowning slightly, looking uncomfortable. But it wasn’t their opinions he cared about. Adrianna slowly turned around to fix an icy stare on him.
“Griffin,” she said with a cold voice. “Go get my staff from my cabin. I have a feeling I’ll be needing it soon.”
Conlan expected her to send him away somehow. But how she chose to send him away… he couldn’t believe his luck. He stared at her for a second.
This… isn’t a trap, right? Such a coincidence is… no, she wouldn’t know what I’m looking for yet. And her spiritual perception at her current strength doesn’t extend to the cabin. This is just a heaven-sent gift.
Adrianna narrowed her eyes when he didn’t move. “Griffin. I gave you an order.”
“My apologies, Captain.” He saluted. “I’ll do ask you asked.”
He tried to hide his eagerness as he walked down the stairs, too excited to notice the lingering icy gaze behind him. He walked across the main deck and opened the Captain’s cabin door, shutting it behind him. He registered the position of her staff, and then ignored it, rushing over to Adrianna’s desk. He studied the legs and tabletop, looking for a latch or button of some kind.
A secret note is sealed within this desk. I saw her find it at the last minute, but she kicked me out of her cabin. Something important must be written on it.
There was always the possibility that it wasn’t anything important, but…
His hands brushed across the indent in the wood and he smiled. Found it.
Pressing on the underside of the desk released a small panel of wood, the promised paper resting on top. He quickly scanned the message.
Major Kingdom… Fernfall Estate… fallen dukedom? What is… this? Why would it be inside this desk?
His eyes caught one line of the letter, and he nodded.
I see, so this was a message an Officer left for the noble who would become the Dawnlight’s Captain that decade. I don’t know why they never found this letter, but…
He stuffed the letter into his pocket after replacing the panel and snatched Adrianna’s staff from its spot against the wall.
I can study it later. I can’t spend any more time here or else it will seem suspicious.
But as he walked across the ship’s deck, one sentence from the letter remained in his memory.
The ‘Possible resting place of the Legendary Sword Gaisgeach’.
----------------------------------------
Opposite Lucille, a silver-haired man with half-moon glasses was frowning, his arms crossed as he pondered her response. The room was silent… save for the snoring of her bond in his human form beside her. Not that he was truly asleep. He was just pretending to avoid her aide’s wrath.
Vincent raised his eyes. “On the 15th of every month?”
Lucy shook her head. “On the 15th of every second month. February, April, June, August, October, December.”
“And it’s non-negotiable?”
She shrugged. “As I said, I only received his letter telling me to do this. Until I meet him again, nothing can be done about this.” Lucille sighed. “And I’m not prepared to go against the Archduke’s wishes when you already know he doesn’t hold a favourable attitude towards me.”
Vincent frowned further. “Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier? We could’ve discussed this trip.”
Lucy scoffed. “I apologise, but the time I had originally planned to set aside for us to discuss this was this week. Instead, the time I was planning on using to increase my strength was taken up by entertaining two teenagers and their overly suspicious guard.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Oh, so this is my fault now?”
“Somewhat, but no,” Lucy replied calmly, leaning forward on the couch to pour a cup of coffee for herself. “This is Annaliese’s fault. I blame her for everything.”
He pinched his nose bridge as she enjoyed her steaming mug of coffee, relaxing after their strenuous journey.
“But meeting the Archduke in person every second month, alone is just…” Vincent groaned and gave her a weary look. “Couldn’t you have resolved this with your ‘future knowledge’ or similar?”
“Ha. This problem stems from my use of my ‘future knowledge’,” Lucy said with a self-derisive chuckle.
Vincent narrowed his eyes abruptly. “Lucille, if you think I’m going to ignore that statement right now then you’d be very, very wrong.” He sat up straighter and crossed his arms. “In fact, I had planned on asking to discuss your past in greater detail once you returned from the Dungeon. I was busy, so I let you do what you wanted, but…” He gave her a serious look. “This isn’t a topic we can keep avoiding forever.”
Lucille placed down her cup and closed her eyes. “I know. But you need to understand that while you may be very curious, for me, my past isn’t interesting because it’s my past. The present is more immediately important to me, especially resolving the situation with the Archduke.” She opened her eyes and ran her fingers through her fringe. “As for how my ‘future knowledge’ relates to the Archduke…” She grimaced. “As a noble, you’re likely aware that the powerful noble clans have ways of detecting when somebody knows something they shouldn’t. I know a secret of the Archduke, and he’s aware I know. So he wants to keep me around him to ensure I can’t do anything with his secret.”
“And said secret you won’t tell me about because you don’t want to put me in ‘danger’,” Vincent said dryly, referencing what she had told him after the banquet.
Lucy shrugged. “Look, we can either move onto my past or ‘future knowledge’ or whatever you wish to call it, or remain stuck on discussing the anxiety-inducing situation of the Archduke. Which would you rather do?”
He scowled. “You, Lucille Goldcroft, are very crafty and good at avoiding the topic.”
She smirked. “I try.”
He sighed and rested his head against the couch, looking tired. Lucy helped herself to her mug of coffee again and kicked her feet up onto the coffee table. Vincent gave her a dull look but seemed like he couldn’t be bothered to complain about it.
After a minute of him frowning and scratching his neck, Vincent finally decided to move on. “If you don’t want to continue talking about the Archduke, then will you share some details about your past with me?”
Lucille eyed him expressionlessly for a moment. Then she huffed and crossed one leg over the other. “I suppose. But I need to inform you that most of my life wasn’t the highly exciting adventure you believe it to be. For roughly 150 years, I was a researcher and nothing more.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Then how do you explain Miss Verdon’s comments about being an Admiral?”
“I was an Admiral. For a total of twenty years.” She sipped her coffee. “I quit at the age of 43.”
“Why did you quit?” Vincent asked curiously.
Lucy smirked. “Because I was sick of the sea and wanted to see more of the Empire. I loved magic, not the military.”
Actually, it was because… the Hero requested I leave the Navy and join his party. That was when I realised I would never escape him as long as I remained in the Distorted Depths. I also wanted Caspian to take his own path but… that didn’t turn out well.
She pointed at him. “That was when I chose to become a professor of the Academy. After that, I stayed on the Aeonic plane for some time.”
“The Athenaeum…” her aide murmured. Then he blinked as he realised something. “That was why you told me you didn’t need to go back to the Athenaeum, wasn’t it? Because you know not just the records they have, but the records of the next two centuries and a half too.”
She nodded. “As such, there’s no benefit to me being part of the Athenaeum.” Then she narrowed her eyes. “I don’t believe the Athenaeum would survive placing me as the student of one of their Archmages either.”
Vincent rubbed his chin, deep in thought. Then he raised an eyebrow at her. “You’ve met me before.”
She tilted her head as he crossed his arms. “That was why you picked me as your aide. You know me.”
Vincent frowned. “How did you know me? What was our relationship?”
Feeling amused at his reaction, Lucy hummed and pretended to think. “Let’s see… well, we had a very unique relationship, and not one most people have with each other…”
Her smirk widened as his expression changed while he tried to figure out what she meant. She decided to put him out of his misery by spreading her arms in a wide shrug. “We met about three times at three separate Empire banquets. We shook hands once. That’s about it.”
He stared at her disbelievingly. Lucille grinned. “Vincent, why would we ever need to converse more than that? I’m commoner born and from an undiscovered plane. The only way I’d ever need to interact with the Aurelian Commission is purely for politeness sake.”
The silver-haired man scowled. “You said you’d reveal some details about your past. You did not state that you expected me to have to extract details from you every time I ask a question.”
“Honestly, Vincent, this should be expected by now,” Lucy said with an innocent look on her face. “What kind of person do you think I am? You should know me better.”
He sighed in defeat as she smiled, returning to her cup of coffee. On the other end of the couch, a golden-eyed boy shifted and hesitantly cracked open an eye to sneak a look at them.
“So, uh… you’re not going to argue about the Archduke thing?”
Vincent gave the snake a flat look as Lucy rolled her eyes.
“The Archduke situation will be discussed at a later date,” Vincent stated dryly. Then he glanced at Lucy. “But I’m more interested to know what you plan on doing during the days leading up to your trip to the Aethereal Palace.”
Lucille paused and placed down her mug of coffee. Scytale, confused by her reaction, looked at her thoughts and then his eyes widened.
Lucy intertwined her fingers and glanced at Vincent. “Well, I thought it might be best to begin setting up the framework for our ‘internal affairs department’. To do that, I intend to gain the help of a very special organisation. I’m not going to use Ravimoux.”
Thinking about the one other person she called a true ‘friend’ in the past timeline, she gave Vincent a strange smile. “Have you ever heard of the House of Wordless Observers?”
There was only one force that could be considered the real ruler of the underworld. And it wasn’t Ravimoux.