“Squad Leader Zhang Mingxia reporting for duty, Captain!” the Sect Heir announced loudly. Palin Zoc’uraghets stood calmly beside her.

Adrianna gazed dully at her. “Do you have to be like that?”

Mingxia blinked. “I apologise for not understanding what you mean, Captain Riftmire. Like what?”

“Acting so energetically this early in the morning,” Adrianna replied with a sigh, standing up from behind her desk in her cabin. “Do you think I want to have to deal with you right now? …no, forget it. Let’s just get a move on.” The woman with streaked curly dark hair pulled on her coat and walked out the door.

Zhang Mingxia turned wordlessly to Caspian leaning against the wall to her left, looking for an explanation.

Caspian groaned and straightened up to follow after his superior. “Ignore the Captain, Zhang. She always makes an effort to complain about her tasks but she ends up completing them to perfection.” Caspian held the door out for Mingxia and Palin. “She doesn’t have anything against you, she just has something against the whole Tower.”

“…as you say, Vice Captain.”

They followed her out onto the main deck. Adrianna took out her spyglass and scanned the horizon before turning back to them as she tucked it into her belt.

“Have you heard anything from Head Officer Stanhope about our task for this trip?” she asked seriously.

Mingxia shook her head but Palin saluted. “I’ve heard sparse details of the need to cull a few species of monsters in the outer fringes of the central zone,” he informed them. “But I wasn’t able to hear enough about whether that was our task for this trip.”

Adrianna nodded and walked over to the stairs of the forecastle. She sat on the bottom step and gestured to them to sit down on the barrels and other crates nearby. “The Distorted Depths’ Navy culls monsters on a strict ten-year rotation schedule. This is to prevent the more difficult monster species from gathering too much strength but also to allow some species to gain enough strength for their materials to be valuable.” The woman reached into her dimensional skill and withdrew a piece of rolled-up parchment.

She spread it on the deck boards and placed a small canteen on top to hold it into place. Palin, Mingxia and Caspian leaned forward to look at the map, which also depicted a diagram of the monster they would be eradicating.

“A… flying fish?” Caspian asked with one eyebrow raised.

“Sword-Edge Wind Fish is the name of the kind we’ll be hunting,” Adrianna replied as she lit a cigar and placed the end in her mouth. “They hunt in schools but don’t aim for large prey, so they hardly ever target the magic warships of the Navy. Additionally, their agility means that attempts to ambush their home Lair islands have been met with difficulty. The Commander said their instinct to flee is particularly strong.”

“And yet the M.W.S. Dawnlight has the agility and strength to chase or escape these airborne predators,” Zhang Mingxia mused as she studied the map, taking note of the razor-thin edges of their fins. “They do not sound like a threat to the Navy, I have noticed.”

Adrianna leaned back and took a puff of her cigar. “They’re barely more than a slight annoyance to the fleets when major combat occurs due to their tendency to steal away kills and monster cores. Now that the Dawnlight has set sail again, the Commander has told Wharifin and me that he’s looking forward to fighting without being interrupted by those opportunists.” A slight huff escaped her lips as she crossed her arms. “Apparently, the scales are used as glitter on many noblewomen’s dresses when they’re ground down too.”

“How will we approach this task, Captain?” Palin asked seriously.

Adrianna glanced at him and then gestured to Caspian. The demi-Atlantean took out a duplicate map of the archipelago on the White Squall Fortress’s side of the Distorted Depths, this one annotated in red pen.

“The Captain and I have been discussing using this opportunity to test the crew against some of the other monsters in the areas bordering the central waters,” he told them, tracing a circle around the island labelled ‘Sword-Edge Wind Fish’. “We’ve both agreed that we’d like to accustom the crew to combat with monsters on the crew’s own terms, but we didn’t want to do anything without talking about this with you two. You’ll be the ones responsible for leading the fights against the monsters.”

Palin opened her mouth but Adrianna pointed at him before he could say anything. “Yes, we know you’d prefer to give the position to someone else. Unfortunately, all of Wharifin’s colleagues were Squad Leaders themselves before coming here and my task is to give everyone experience. And I’m undecided about Griffin.”

Zhang Mingxia glanced at the outlined path on the map and pointed to the islands surrounding the flying fish island. “If we are to lead our crewmates into battle, I suggest granting us the opportunity to enhance our strength through levels utilising these less protected monster species. Our inexperience will cause fewer issues if we have the strength to make up for it.”

Caspian nodded thoughtfully while Adrianna looked at the ocean behind her. “The System will impose penalties on experience gain if we only attack monsters that are easy to slaughter. We’ll adjust our course for that if you need, but gather information from the crew to determine what order we should target the Lairs in to limit the penalties.”

Mingxia looked up. “Gather information from the crew?”

Caspian nodded. “Some of us, like Ruel, can throw elemental spells and cause devastating damage to the enemy frontlines with that method. But others like Dais fight through purely melee. The Captain and I will still be here to discuss anything you might need to about fighting the monsters, but you need to organise these plans with your squads yourselves.”

Zhang Mingxia and Palin Zoc’uraghets trades looks. “Then I suppose we begin that now?” Mingxia asked.

Adrianna gestured to the stairs descending to the lower decks behind them. “Yes. It’s time to wake up the others, anyway. Arventiel needs to get some rest.”

They all looked up to see the half-fae in the crow’s nest, barely able to keep levitating in the air through her sleepiness.

“Captain Riftmire, I have been somewhat curious…” Mingxia glanced at the curly-haired woman. “Are you aware of the reason why she calls you the ‘false one’? It feels as though all reasons for her fear of you stem from that.”

Adrianna frowned slightly but stood up and didn’t address the question. “Stop asking about irrelevant details. It’s likely just her fae instincts responding to my Superior illusion affinity.”

Mingxia narrowed her eyes.

But I have already asked Noirel Arventiel that, having come to the same conclusion myself. She has told me that it is not so.

“Arventiel called Griffin something like a ‘Distortionist’ or similar too, didn’t she?” Palin mused.

“Yes, ‘Distorter’,” Mingxia agreed.

“That doesn’t sound like a good title,” Caspian said with mild bemusement. “Then again, ‘false one’ doesn’t sound the greatest either. Maybe Noirel has nicknames for everyone she keeps secret and only mentions the ones for Adrianna and Conlan.”

Palin stood up and straightened out his uniform’s sleeves before walking off. “I’ll go wake the men. Officer Zhang, you should wake the women.”

“I will do as you suggested.” Mingxia stood up and waved to Caspian. “I foresee that I will want to discuss things further with you about our tasks, Vice Captain. Could you leave an opening in your schedule for us to meet again today?”

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Caspian smirked and crossed his arms. “Cathy still hasn’t managed to get you to stop being so formal. Maybe we should give Ruel the task instead.”

She smiled and shook her head. “If he can persuade my fellow disciples then perhaps he would have a chance to persuade me as well. However, that remains to be seen.” She saluted to Caspian. “I shall wake the women of our crew up, Vice Captain Wharifin.”

He waved goodbye to her and Mingxia smiled as she descended the steps.

The longer I spend among my crewmates, the more I feel ill-suited to the life of a successor to my clan and Sect. Nonetheless, the differences between them and I are still clear. I only wish that… part of this life would stay with me when I return to my realm…

----------------------------------------

I can feel that Griffin’s up to something, but what I don’t know…

Adrianna frowned as she put away her spyglass and spun the wheel. Silenis Vima was busy charting their designated path in the map room below deck, so she had the responsibility of steering for the morning. Her gaze caught on the three people she had talked to this morning but then she refocused her attention on the horizon.

Arventiel’s reaction to me is making the crew curious. I’ll need to talk with her about this before she begins to reveal a bit more to the rest of the crew and create difficulties.

She inwardly sighed as Zhang Mingxia began to walk up the steps to the quarterdeck. The cultivator never seemed to run out of conversation topics. Adrianna sometimes wondered if she should’ve worked harder to ignore the girl, but she hadn’t thought it would be an issue because Zhang Mingxia and her company ended up leaving them at the end of the year for unknown reasons. That choice was coming back to bite her because now the Sect heir seemed to think she made a good conversation partner.

“Captain, am I disturbing you?” the girl asked with a calm smile.

Adrianna stared at her and then turned away to look at the horizon again. “Yes.”

“Then I will have to apologise beforehand,” the Sect heir claimed without an ounce of shame. “I wanted to ask you something.”

Adrianna’s expression twitched and she tried to avoid looking at Zhang Mingxia as the cultivator stood next to her.

“Officer Zoc’uraghets has a sensible and collected character so I understand your reasons for selecting him as one of our Squad Leaders,” Zhang Mingxia began with her hands held behind her back. “However, I cannot help my curiosity about why you selected me as a Squad Leader.”

Adrianna glanced at her with a slight frown and tilted the wheel slightly to use the headwind to speed up their sailing. “I thought it should be obvious. You’re here to learn about the Navy of the Mystical Realm and our interactions with the Beast Realm. I’m required to provide you with the opportunity to gain experience in leading others.”

“That may be so, yet would it not suit you better to select a member of the Mystical Realm?” Zhang Mingxia asked curiously. “You were the one to inform me of my inability to utilise spiritual energy to deal significant damage to the monstrous creatures in the realms of magic.”

“You mean when you tried to make Stanhope give you a different sparring partner but your tantrum didn’t work?” Adrianna stated flatly.

Zhang Mingxia’s expression froze and she turned away to cough. “I was… young and immature, but-”

“You think you’ve gained that much maturity in barely seven months?” Adrianna asked dubiously. Zhang Mingxia avoided her gaze and Adrianna gained a brief smirk before it disappeared. “You’re overthinking this. You’ve demonstrated that out of the members of our cadet camp, you’re genuine about wanting to fulfil your responsibilities. You also know what is required of a member of the military. That’s enough to make you a Squad Leader.”

Zhang Mingxia narrowed her eyes at Adrianna, clearly not believing that it was such a simple reason. Adrianna hadn’t exactly lied per se, but…

The cultivator sighed and gave her a salute. “As you say, Captain. I presume that even if I press here, you would refuse to answer. You’re that kind of person.” She turned around and began to descend the stairs, but looked back to say one more thing. “Although, Captain Riftmire… I must say that I am impressed by your impeccable soul control. If you were a cultivator, I’m sure my own Sect would wish to take you on as a disciple.”

Adrianna eyed her with mild suspicion. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

Zhang Mingxia blinked. “It was a sincere compliment. I didn’t mean anything else outside of that.”

She left Adrianna to her own devices, guiding the M.W.S. Dawnlight through the frigid, cold grey waters of the Distorted Depths.

Impeccable soul control… ah, she must’ve reached a new level in the cultivation of her Soul Art. The Longevity Vast Glacier Sect is known for being the Sect with the strongest Soul Arts and Scriptures. Is she able to perceive my surface-level emotions now?

There had never been a time that Zhang Mingxia had approached her like that in the past, though. She looked through her memories to think of what the difference could’ve been, and…

My strongest emotions during that first year of being in charge of the Dawnlight were… fear and anxiety. I didn’t want any of them to find out my secrets and I was already treading a fine line by showing the talent I had.

There was also Griffin. After I saw him survive my first attempt to kill him, even if he didn’t know about my involvement, I didn’t kick him out because I wanted to observe him. I was on edge the entire time to make sure Griffin didn’t think I was showing him any specific attention…

Adrianna sighed and pressed a hand to her temples.

After that first attempt, he gained strength at an exponential rate. I had my suspicions about why I was able to gain strength at an unnatural rate, but he was an anomaly. My Origin Skill excels at analysing cause and effect but he defies all their laws.

And then I discovered that any attempts to harm him only served to strengthen him…

Her fingers twitched on the steering wheel when the subject of her thoughts himself walked out onto the main deck. As was his habit, the first thing he did each morning was search for where she was. He eventually found her behind the wheel and smiled and waved, but she ignored him as she always did.

A burst of fierce wind rushed over the ship and she ran a hand through her messed-up hair in an attempt to get it back into its normal position.

I was originally thinking about Zhang Mingxia. I shouldn’t think about Griffin any more than I have to.

Consistently, ever since the crew was officially formed, Zhang Mingxia had been approaching her everyday to talk to her. It wasn’t a major issue, but Zhang Mingxia wasn’t in any of Adrianna’s plans and she intended for it to remain that way.

Zhang Mingxia was a short-term member of the crew and in comparison to the others, Adrianna didn’t actually know much about the Sect heir. She wasn’t aware of any of the girl’s past. The real reason why Adrianna had selected Zhang Mingxia to be a Squad Leader was actually that the girl was a ‘neutral’ force that never got pulled into Griffin’s crappy orbit.

Adrianna didn’t want to interact with her other crewmates very much because she expected them to leave and join Griffin’s Guild when he created it. As for why she was going to allow that…

Griffin’s ability to distort events meant that the people who joined him would be protected by his abilities and benefit because of it. She was perfectly happy to ruin the members of Griffin’s Guild who weren’t part of her original crew, but she wanted the members of her crew to stay safe.

The true reason behind her actions in the Navy was to ensure that Griffin’s worse personality traits could be revealed and plant the seed of conflict within his forces but let the crew benefit from being his ‘allies’ for as long as possible. She had confidence Griffin would find a way to screw things up on his own as he had done the exact same thing in the past, and she had her way of planting ticking timebombs to spice things up.

So, her role in this timeline would be to ensure they survived and had enough friction with Griffin to face issues when the time for the Millennium Chapter came around. Because any of her crewmates who began to confront Griffin had the risk of being deemed ‘enemies’ by his Origin Skill and Class. That would spell disaster for them.

And if she was going to get the revenge she wanted, Griffin needed to place his trust in the crew before they all abandoned him.

It’s fine. Griffin will probably stay here for another year and a half before leaving to create his Guild. I can enjoy this peace for a while longer before doing anything.

…she still had to deal with that annoyingly outgoing Sect heir, though. Adrianna looked at Zhang Mingxia and then clicked her tongue. Silenis Vima soon arrived on the quarterdeck and took the wheel from her with a calm nod.

Then Adrianna walked down the steps with her coat loosely slung over one shoulder, ready to look for her equally annoying second-in-command.

I need to sort things out with Arventiel…

…

“During the fights, you can either choose to join Officer Zoc’uraghets group, with officer Griffin being part of them or my group, commanded by Officer Zhang Mingxia,” Adrianna informed the half-fae coolly. “Take your pick.”

The ashy-haired girl was staring at her with a pale face and wide eyes. She looked like she might faint. “I-I need to be part of the same squad as the Distorter?” she stammered.

Adrianna tilted her head with her arms crossed. “Or with me, the one you claim is the ‘false one’.”

Noirel Arventiel took a step back from her and Caspian, who was watching from the side. “I don’t want to do either!”

Adrianna narrowed her eyes. “You are required to be part of a group, Arventiel. As a member of this crew, you need to be led by someone, and that can either be Zoc’uraghets or Zhang Mingxia. Unfortunately or fortunately, Griffin and I are in two separate groups. Would you rather be in a group with both of us? I could arrange that.”

The half-fae’s face paled even more and she quickly shook her head. “No, I’ll choose. Between the distorter and the false one…” She hesitated for a moment and then grimaced. “…I’ll join your group, Captain Riftmire.”

“Good.” Adrianna turned on her heels and marched off. “Stop bringing up anymore of this ‘false one’ business. I don’t care about your opinions of me but I am still your Captain.”

Arventiel slowly nodded as Caspian walked after Adrianna, having to jog a little to catch up to her pace. “Adrianna, are you not curious why she calls you that at all?” Caspian asked.

“No. I already know why she calls me that,” Adrianna replied indifferently.

Caspian’s eyes widened. “Really? What’s the reason then?”

“I don’t recall that being any of your business.”

He scowled and acting on impulse swept a leg out to try to kick her chin. She didn’t even react and continued walking. Caspian’s expression twitched and he walked over to the edge of the ship.

Adrianna looked back. “What are you doing?”

“What am I doing? I’m sulking!” Caspian angrily exclaimed, leaning his arms on the edge of the ship.

“…okay,” Adrianna said with a strange expression. She came up beside him. “Why exactly are you sulking?”

“Oh, I wonder why!” Caspian shouted with indignance, looking incredibly irate. “I have a ridiculous superior who refuses to call me by my first name, she just loves to keep me in ignorance, and she does whatever she pleases while expecting me to do whatever she tells me to!” He buried his head in his arms. “I might just quit, I swear.”

Adrianna studied him for a brief moment and then she placed a palm on his head. Caspian stiffened.

“There there,” she said tonelessly while patting him.

“What-” Caspian stared at her with wide eyes.

“Or at least that’s how I think I’m supposed to treat someone shorter than me.” And with that, Adrianna walked off.

Caspian shouted after her with anger, “Hey!”

…

Caspian rested his head on the table he was sitting at. “And then she just pats my head, saying ‘There there’, and claims she did it because I’m shorter than her!”

His conversation partner, Maeva, smirked and patted him on the head. “There there.”

He looked up and glared at her. “Not you too!”

Maeva paused when she felt his hair and walked forward to ruffle it. “Your hair has a really interesting texture. It’s surprisingly soft and fluffy.”

He groaned and swatted away her hand. “I’m not some pet for you to pat!”

“Can I come in?”

Caspian looked up and glared at the speaker when he heard the familiar voice. “No.”

Ignoring his response, Adrianna walked down the stairs below the main deck and pulled up a chair near a porthold. “I’m coming in anyway.”

“Why did you ask me if you were going to ignore me?” Caspian retorted.

Adrianna marginally raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m the Captain of this ship. I can go anywhere I please. I was only asking for politeness’ sake.”

Caspian slammed his head on the table again. “I haaateee youuu…”

“That’s what Ross tells the Commander everyday yet I hear he still hasn’t quit,” Adrianna replied while looking out of the porthole.

Her Vice Captain just groaned as Maeva smirked and patted him on the head again. “There there, Vice Captain. Things will get better soon.”

“Stop treating me like a kid!”

“But you’re younger than me, Caspian.”

“Argh!”