"Halt! Assemble your crew on the deck and raise your arms over your head. Prepare to be boarded."

The hassle started as soon as we neared the ocean gate. Rou had warned me about this. The Excalibur, no matter how you look at it, is a ship consigned by the royal army. The proof is the fact that the ship coming to board us is nearly identical except, likely, the interior. This is the royal family's ship after all. Or it was.

"This is all of us."

"Huh, oh, understood. Please link your fingers behind your back and face me."

*Clink Clink*

"Uhm can I ask why I am being handcuffed."

"Fool, obviously because you have clearly stolen a Navy ship. We will bring you to the capital where you and your crew will face punishment of death."

Alright, this isn't funny anymore I guess I will have to play a card.  

"Ok, that enough of that," I say, removing my hands from behind my back with a click and gesturing to the man that I mean to make a deal with him.

He stares at the cuffs on my hands in disbelief. A group of guards quickly descends and draw their blades towards me.

"Wait." The guard who threatened my life moments ago says to the men who are about to strike me down. "Is this real? It must be. I've never actually seen one before. It's as beautiful as they say."

He was staring at the seal on the paper I held in my hands, it was the summons from the king. I thought of it more as a 'get out of jail free' card though. And it seems my thought wasn't wrong. It's apparently a 'get out of execution free' card.

"But then this ship…?" The guard asks looking at the deck below his feet. "Oh! but it couldn't be… The Ilusidor? I was a rookie then, but I helped try to retrieve it years ago, Young man, was this ship near Marrow harbor?"

"That's right, I haven't had the opportunity to talk to the former owners of it yet but I was able to remove it from the beach."

"Ah, the former owners… It matters not. We will escort you to the sea wall, from there I will have a subordinate lead you to the capital right away."

"Actually no rush I also came here to complete a request. You haven't heard anything about this have you?" I show him the abyssal subjugation request. His eyes get wide but he claims he hasn't heard anything about it. Perhaps it really was just a ploy to get me here.

"Oy, hurry up and take those cuffs off the girls, these people are guests of the King. Treat them with respect."

"Oh actually hold on a second on this one," I say point at Aqua who has been looking at me with a half grin for awhile now. "You want to try right? Don't worry I will pay for them, I think you can do it."

She smiles brightly and extends her arms to me for a hug. A loud clink resounds and she wraps her short arms around me. Ah, she really is strong. The men nearby look at the two of us as if we are monsters. The rest of the girls seem to struggle with their cuffs for a second but end up giving up.

I wonder if I could use this for training. It's similar to the first stage of the log training, except slightly more erotic.

Ah, I'm getting off topic.

"Here for breaking mine and her cuffs," I say tossing the first guard a silver coin. No, not a signet, a silver coin. I'm stupid with my money but not that stupid.     

"Not a problem it was… an honor to see that type of strength."

"Yeah, yeah."

~ ~

Well, that was an interesting interaction. I wasn't particularly worried but seeing the girls in cuffs was somewhat painful. The guards are lucky they treated them well or there would have been hell to pay.

"So you guys are ok?"

"Yep. It was scary but I knew Captain was protecting us."

"Well, I am glad you guys didn't react rashly. Unfortunately, it seems our hunt for the Abyssal will have to wait."

"No worries, we get to go to the inner capital this is exciting!"

"Rou is right! This is surely better than finding some phantom Abyssal."

"Yeah I suppose you are right this could be fun too. Is there anything else I should know about these people before I meet them though?"

"Hmm…" Rou thinks about it for a moment tapping her cheek cutely.

"I've heard the princess is beautiful!" Mirna says piercing the air with her finger.

"And the prince is apparently kind of…"

"Insane?" El says finishing Aqua's thought.

"I was going to go with psychotic, but that works too."

"How so?"

"I've heard he was raised mostly by his uncle who was the former king before the coup. The princess is apparently kind and very like her father but there is a shadow of the old king in Prince Calis. At least that's what they say."

"Well, what does he do that's so psychotic? I hate to judge a person based on no evidence."

"Mu, I guess that's right… But you should still watch out for him."

"I will, thank you for the advice."

~ ~

Oy, this Prince Calis guy is a straight up piece of shit.

He approached in a hurry as soon as we finished mooring our ship. The first words from his mouth weren't bad.

"Oh! It's 'my' Ilusidor. It has been so long since I have seen it."

This alone wouldn't anger me of course. He wasn't aware of the change in ownership. He had no way of knowing. But then he walked up the plank as if he owned it, almost knocking Rou into the water with a shove.

Now, this was a bigger deal so I gripped his shoulder and pulled him off the plank with some strength. He flew back a half dozen feet and landed on his butt with an awestruck look on his face.

'Just who does he think he is' was written on his face.

Calis rose slowly, his face turning black. He began to draw his sword without a single word but the Guard who escorted us quickly stepped in front of the prince and explained what his captain had told him. That this was now my ship, and that I had a meeting with his father.

The man's face twisted for a moment but then he turned back to face me.

"Let me see it!" The Prince demands with a sharp tongue.

I open my hand to him and then remove it from storage. I just honestly want to mess with this guy now.

He barely seems to notice and rips the paper from my hand reading it carefully.

"Ha, a clear forgery. Guard quickly lock them up." He says turning the form into ashes with fire magic I presume. "Actually rather, leave those two." He points to Mirna and El, and now it's on.

I step around the guard and directly up to the still pointing prince. I place a hand on his chest and begin walking him backward. At first, he resists but he realizes after a moment that it's impossible, his shoes merely skid on the ground. He steps back to the wall with my hand still on his chest.

I begin to push on his chest, crushing him against the brick wall of the harbor.

I feel the flex of ribs and the pulse of his heart beat grows stronger on my palm.

"Can you feel that?" I ask him casually.

Terror is spread on his face. He is a few inches taller than me but because of his weak knees, he is at my eye level.

"Can you feel it?" I ask him again.

Calis nods.

"How about this?" I ask, placing a thumb on his forehead.

He is unable to nod now but he bubbles an incomprehensible "Yes"

*crack*

"Oh, oops. I went a little hard there. I have to be careful. You know if I press too hard your skull will explode. And the shards will have only one place to go. Do you know where?"

Oh, he's unconscious, huh? Damn, I hope he isn't dead. I just wanted to scare him a bit but the situation got out of hand, didn't it?

Oh, my. That's a lot of guards. I don't doubt I could take them but please understand I was just protecting my crew.

"Stand down." A polite voice sounds from behind the crowd.

The guards quickly step back from me and put their weapons away. An aisle is formed by the guards and a beautiful woman steps through.

"The princess I presume?"

"The hero I presume?" She asks with a laugh.

"Sorry about this," I say pointing to Calis.

"Oh, it is fine. You were completely in the right. To be honest I found it very entertaining."

"I was curious who was laughing. I didn't imagine it was my crew. Oh speaking of, everyone ok?" I quickly check over the girls and they seem fine. Rou's shaken but Aqua calmed her and my actions seemed to have elicited another level of adoration from her.

"Captain was cool!" Mirna shout leaping towards me. I catch her and spin her around before dropping her back to the ground.

"Oh, thanks, Mirna I was worried I was scary but I'm glad you didn't think so."

"No way! Mirna loves captain! Could never be afraid of Captain!"

"I'm glad to hear." I pat her head and turn to the rest.

"That was indeed impressive. I suppose you took my advice."

"Yeah about that, I'm sorry you were totally on the mark about him earlier. I should have believed you. He is psychotic."

Rou's eyes go wide looking at the royal guards and princess nearby.

"Oh, have the rumors become such?" The princess says with a mischevious grin. "Well, it's true enough so no worries. Well, I will escort you to the castle since you incapacitated your first escort."

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"Escort?" I say looking at the crumpled prince who is being tended to roughly by a couple of port guards.

"Yes, my father sent him to personally escort you to the Inner capital but it seems my foolish older brother got ideas of his own."

"I had thought you were the older one."

"People often say that." She says with a graceful smile. She is surely princess material. I can feel silent growls coming from my crew though, so I should keep a distance of at least a foot. And no hand kissing.

~ ~

"This is the inner Capital from here on only nobles are allowed. Even the guards in this area are from lower families or branch children."

"Interesting."

"Oh? What do you mean?"

"Ah, I meant no offense. Where I am from we don't have classes like nobles so it's interesting to see a place segregated by class."

"It's deplorable is it not?" She asks as we walk down the street.

"Excuse me?"

"I hate it. I hate nobles and the whole system."

"What do you mean, why?"

"Well, I suppose that's not fair. I don't hate nobles, I just hate that they have to exist."

"Whats the alternative? Spread their wealth amongst the peons in order to make a more standard level of living."

"No, that's idealistic and childish. I just wish they would have more incentive to use their money for good."

"And how would you accomplish that?"

"Well there are many steps but the first would be removing the monarchy from power entirely and putting a parliament or congress in charge of everything."

"I suppose you are a princess but isn't that treasonous talk? Should you really speak about this on the street?"

"Everyone knows the princess has weird ideas." Aqua inserted from behind us. Was it really common knowledge? And isn't that a bit rude?

"Haha, yes that was one I personally helped spread." The princess said with a laugh. "Oh, my I accidentally got so excited meeting you that I forgot to introduce myself properly. Princess Clove at your service. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Nice to meet you, Cole Moedy." I shake her hand lightly and bow. "Though I'm curious how I came under your radar, I tried my very best to avoid the limelight yet it seems to have failed spectacularly."

"Ah well, I bought the water affinity Core that you sent to the auction. Ever since then I have had my spies scouring the country for information about you. My intelligence agents are nowhere near my father's level but they were able to ascertain quite a bit. We even spoke with the father of Rou and Aqua in hopes we might find out about your background but he had never heard of you. Don't you think you ought to introduce yourself to your brides' fathers?"

"B…bride?"

"You met with dad?!" Aqua says after Rou's outburst. "Where? When?"

"Well, not personally but my agents did. He was down on the southern coast. It was around two weeks ago I believe."

"He's doing well then," Aqua says placing her hand on her chest with a content smile.

"We also visited with the king of the elves but he believed El to be dead and had our agents imprisoned for spouting lies."

"Sounds like dad," El says with a wide grin.

"And Mirna, What about Mirna?" Mirna asks wanting to know of her own investigation.

"Mirna was the most mysterious of all. An expert cook, and beauty who suddenly appeared beside Cole. Our agents clearly had their work cut out for them so they ventured deep into the mountains where they found a wise sage. The sage was of little help though, his only words were 'Gold Slab'."

"Woah!" Mirna says with wide eyes.

"In the end, we came to no conclusions about you. You remain a mystery and a potential threat!"

"Mirna isn't a threat!" Mirna shouts putting her hands up as if being mugged by the princess.

"Well, that's a relief."

These agents are terrifying. Not only had they found a person who didn't want to be found but they found out the exact price I paid for Mirna. I don't want to get on this princess' bad side.

I thought El would be upset hearing about her own death but the more I thought about it the more I wondered if it was just something her dad said to keep his benefactor at bay. He may be a pretty good father. But I will decide for sure once I actually meet him.  

"And what about Captain?" Rou asks curiously what they dug up on me. "Did you visit his country or something to find his family?"

"We know absolutely nothing about Cole's background. We found no information about him. Honestly, this is the first I'm hearing about another country. As far as we knew he just washed up on a beach north of Marrow."

"Ah, so you learned nothing about the key target."

"Unfortunately."

No, you hit the nail on the head on basically all accounts.

"Well as much as I would like to gather more information we have arrived at the castle. So from here, I would like my father to play his cards."

"Sounds reasonable. After you."

"Ah, a gentleman."

~ ~

"I hear you beat my son to a near pulp."

"Yes, my humble apologies. He spoke disgusting thing about my crew so I had to put him on the ground, I just pray I didn't put him 'into' the ground by mistake."

"No, he is alive. He regained consciousness only to defecate and fall back into unconsciousness."

"Dear do you really think you should be telling him that?"

"Eh, Calis insulted the man's crew he deserves some revenge. And from the sound of it, Calis fainted before you were able to finish speaking to him?"

"That's correct."

"Well once the healers are done you are welcome to continue if you want."

"Ah, well… I will leave that for him to decide."

"A wise choice. Ha, Dear, I think this man should be king. I should just abdicate already."

"Dear, you shouldn't joke about that. The prime minister is crying."

"Pull yourself together Greg you're 78."

"Please don't abdicate Sire, I can't get used to a new king again. It's such a long process. My frail bones can't take it."

"Ah, I was kidding. I doubt this kid wants my country anyway. Hell, if he wanted it he would have already taken it."

"You're not wrong. I simply came here because I had to. I want nothing to do with the politics of this country. I just want to live an enjoyable life."

"See. Though I must admit Cole, I was a bit saddened that you didn't come to see me once you received the invitation. But I assume that is because you know what I am going to ask you?"

"I have a rough idea."

"The demon king?" Mirna asks, finally breaking the silence the crew had until now.

"She is indeed wise beyond her years." The king says with a smile. "Indeed you are correct miss."

"It's ok to call Mirna 'Mirna', 'miss' is my mother."

Oh, you stole my line, you thief. Though I stole it to so I guess I don't have room to complain.

"Ah, yes I understand." The king laughs looking fondly at the proud Mirna.

"Dear, we should really have another kid."

"Yes, perhaps, but after the talk of the demon king. So, how much are you aware of Cole?"

"About the demon king? Revives every hundred years. Hard to track because he assembles his army slowly. Blah blah A rank."

"Yes, that's about the gist of it."

"Do you know for certain if he is alive currently?"

"Our mathematician thinks the chance is around 90% that he is alive. If he isn't he is likely to revive in the next decade. But if that's the case he won't be a threat for awhile. However, there is a 20% chance he already has a large army."

"I see. And what exactly does being 'The Chosen Hero' entail? I assume that is what you are proposing?"

"Mm, we intended to give you A rank. As for details, the prime minister can tell you fully but basically, it is to continue your training until we either find the lair or the demons attack. Hopefully the former. If the demons do attack we will rely on the hero's party to help defend the country."

"Just the country?"

"Mm, I was wondering if that would come up. I have heard you are from a far away country. You would surely worry about them as well. But unfortunately, it's not the jurisdiction of our hero candidate to fight there. I'm sure your country has a defender title of some kind?"

"Ah, yes of course."

So that's how it works. I defend this country and leave everything else to the other heroes. It feels kinda half hearted but if that's how this place works what position do I have to say otherwise.

It might not be a bad idea to become the hero candidate in a few countries though. That might make finding the demon king easier.

Oh, am I into this? I got excited for a moment to fight a strong opponent. Surely demons could rival me in physical strength. My heart is pumping fairly hard. I hope he is alive. And I hope his army is strong.

Ah, what am I saying? Thousands would die. No, I want to destroy him before he can even gain a follower ideally.

"I'll agree to it. I'll become the A rank. I'll kill the demon king."      

Let me at him.