"I'm really sorry about that," I say after arriving at the room the older woman lead me towards.

"Oh, no that's not what I wanted to talk with you about. Trust me that stuff happens weekly."

"Oh?"

"I have something different to talk with you about." The woman says shuffling her feet awkwardly. Is this a confession?

"Go on," I say prompting her.

"It's rather a private matter but well you seem a nice enough person and you don't seem to be poor so I figured a better opportunity wouldn't arise. Please."

"Slow down, explain what you're saying first."

"Take one of my daughters please."

"Uh, excuse me?"

She did just say that right? I didn't mishear? Is there some other meaning of those words that make more sense? No, surely not that meaning either.

"I am sorry to be so forward about it but it's just…" She sighs rubbing her face firmly with a worried expression. "It's impossible to make due and I'm already… again."

As she says the final words her hand moves towards her stomach tenderly.

"Lyl works two jobs and the older girls work outside the inn at night as well, but there are still too many mouths to feed already."

I grimace slightly at her words but I can't blame her. I had heard similar stories when I walked past a slave trader with Rou earlier in the day. Parent selling young children in order to let the rest of the family survive. What kind of world is this? Or maybe it really isn't so different from my own.

"They are all hard workers. And they are very good looking. I can assure you of the virginity of two of them if you are worried about…"

"No, no. that's of no concern. Please, I understand."

The woman looks towards me with pleading eyes. I can't tell if she's a terrible parent or an amazing one. Her eyes show whole hearted care for her family but its hard to excuse the fact that she's attempting to sell me a daughter.

Or perhaps she just wants me to take one. That is what she stated. Does she want no money? Wouldn't it be better to just sell to the trader?

"You were with those two girls. They seemed well dressed and intelligent. And my husband is friends with a man from the guild he said you are strong. There could be no one better than with you. So please!" She begged, lowering her head.

"I understand, I will talk to Rou and Aqua about it first though. Please wait a…"

"Oh, Captain. There you are! I found our new crew mate!"

"Well about that…" I begin but Rou has already yanked the young girl into the doorway.

"Mirna?" The Inn owner suddenly says in shock.

"She was the one who told us about the ship, and when we made the announcement she had glimmers in her eyes I could tell!" Rou continues not noticing the tense moment between daughter and mother. "There is no one better suited for our crew! Don't get me wrong, I know she looks young Captain. But I was sailing alone at age eight. She will be perfect with proper training."

Rou slaps the girl firmly on the back to which she grunts cutely but steps forward a moment later.

"Mother I want to go. Will you let me go? Please?"

The mother was silent, probably still slightly in shock.

"You know your mother will probably really miss you. Won't you miss her too?" I ask prodding the girl and helping out her mother.

"I will but I want to go. And it will help."

"It will be dangerous you know? Will you promise her you will come back safely?"

"I promise mom! I'll come back perfectly fine! You'll see. I'll become a great pirate like big sister Rou and Aqua."

"Well you heard her, what do you say?" I say turning to the Mirna's mom.

Her mother glances at my face and smiles after a moment, she wipes a tear nearing her cheek and leans down and hugs Mirna tightly.

"Since you promised to come back safely. I suppose I have no choice. But you have to work hard you know. Earn your room and board properly. Be sure to follow orders and… just, please stay safe Mirna."

"Mmhm. I will mom." Mirna says through choking breath.

After the touching moment, Rou finally turns to me and bring the attention in the wrong direction.

"By the way what were you doing in here anyway?"

Mirna's mother, finally released from the tight grip glances at me worriedly but I quickly quiet her fear with a simple lie.

"Well I wanted to specially thank the proprietress for the great service, I thought I should give a tip."

I toss the woman a thick coin and she fumbles catching it. Likely unexpecting its heft. I was the same way. Apparently, it's called a slab, I thought it was just a normal gold coin but while shopping I found out it was worth ten.

"T…thank you." She says still seemingly entranced by the coin in her fist. "Ah, right Mirna you should pack your things if you are leaving. And say farewell to your sisters and dad too. You can't make your captain wait."

"Right!" Mirna says with a salute to me before running off with a smile towards the hall.

"I will keep her safe. Rest assured."

"Thank you. Ah, where are my manners? My name is Lynn. Please feel free to stop in whenever you are in port. You are family now."     

"Thank you. But that sounds an awful lot like an excuse to see your daughter."

"Ah no, that wasn't my…"

"Don't worry about it, I wouldn't keep a little girl away from her family. My adventure guild contract is here so this will probably be our port of call for awhile."

"Then you don't have a pirate adventurer card?"

"Oh, I was wondering that too? If you get one of those we can go into any adventurer guild we want, and docking fees will be cheap."

"I didn't know there was such a thing. I had been a little worried about only being able to take request from Marrow but that's a relief."

"Pretty unknowledgeable pirate," Lynn says looking at me with a lowered eyebrow.

"Right?" Rou says mirroring her expression.

~ ~

"Be safe Mirna" an older sister like girl shouts as we four walk towards the adventurer guild. It's already late but the moon is full so we have plenty of light.

Mirna is about six years younger than Rou and Aqua I'd guess. She's a significant amount shorter. Her height works perfect as an arm rest but she doesn't seem to appreciate it so I promptly apologize.

She doesn't seem to take much offense, but still, as an apology, I'm currently trucking her on my back as she was complaining about the walk.

Rou and Aqua seem somewhat upset over the turn of events but they reluctantly accepted it mumbling something like 'ah, so that's all it took'.

The adventure guild was empty. Muscleman was silently reading at the counter. He glances up with the bell and his scowl turns into a grin.

"Oh, The spirits Chosen."

"Eh, enough of the nicknames."

The man laughs while pulling out a set of forms.

"By the way, the Sea Dragons magic stone was sent off to the auction early this afternoon. Should hear results in a few days."

"Oh?" Now that he mentions it he did say something about an auction after he paid me for completing the request.

"As for materials. Here is what we've sold so far."

He hands me a thick bag and all eyes but Muscleman and I's seem to grow increasingly wide.   

"Oh, I didn't mention that huh, yeah I killed a Sea Dragon a few days ago."

"It was yesterday."

"Really? Oh, feels like a week ago." I say shrugging my shoulders. "That reminds me I want to register as a pirate."

"Hahaha," The man laughs loudly palming the desk a few times. "That sounds about right for you. Alright, here."

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

He pulls a few folders out and begins flipping through them. He finally finds the document he wants and places it in front of me. It longer than the first form I signed.

"Sign here, here, here, initial here, and here, and the name of the ship, and then blood here."

I follow his instruction until I get to a tough section.

"Any ideas?" I say turning to the three girls.

They all have ponderous looks on their face. it seems they understand my hesitation. We have no name for our ship.

"Sea Glide."

"S.S. Awesome Pirates!"

"Mr. Boat?"

Aqua, Rou, and Mirna answer in turn.

Muscleman again laughs before explaining that it could be left blank for now. Apparently, it was fairly common for the ships name to be chosen after the first journey.

I agreed to that and stuck my finger with a pin and dropped it onto the form.

"You have a second in command?"

I turn to Rou who blushes unconsciously before stepping forward.

I lightly grasp her hand and tap the metal prick against her index finger. She grimaces for a moment but after her blood pools onto the form her frown turns into a beautiful smile. I guess being the official first mate was something she appreciated. That's good. I will gladly take the smile as payment for the simple action.

"Well, that is all we can do for tonight until guild head gets here. Oh here take this too." He places the thick leather binding into my hands. It's the dead request booklet. "I sorted it a bit, it's nothing but ocean quests now, they're all yours."

"But isn't… the limit?" I stammer unsure of what to say. There was a limit on accepting requests. Currently, I have my limit of five already taken out. But now he was giving me a pile with probably over a hundred.

"Pirates don't have the limit. They take a bunch and come back years later sometimes. It no problem, take them."

"Thank you."

"Ah, don't mention it. I enjoy watching you, kid. I imagine it's just going to get more fun now."

I nod to the man and head for the door with the girls in tow.

"How did you kill a Sea Dragon? And how much did you get?" Rou finally asks after we near the piers.

"Hmm, let's see. Looks like gold mostly. As for how, it's a short but confusing story," I say recalling the event. "Technically I think someone else killed it, but with my body."

"What?" Aqua asks seemingly curious herself.

"Well, it came at me at a dangerous speed. I think even had it not hit me it probably would have died on impact. I just happened to be the impact point. Made me waste my 'God Rock'."

The three look at me with incredulous looks. perhaps they don't believe me either. Oh well.

All three claim they were tired from walking, but I quickly understood that to be an excuse to ride me back to the ship. I wasn't particularly thrilled about that so I properly tell them they have to walk themselves.

Mirna's reaction was the most heartbreaking so I reluctantly carry her the rest of the way.

Again I hear grumbling but I ignore it.

~ ~

"Ah! You stole it!" Mirna complains pounding on my chest as we near the boat.

That's right Mirna had told us about it, calling it her 'secret hideout'.       

"Ah no we didn't steal it Mirna. We properly paid, remember?"

"Y…you swindler! Conman! Smooth talker! Snake Oil Salesman!"

"Alright here Mirna. How about a deal? Since this ship is indeed your's."

I wait a moment. She nods firmly to my statement staring at my eyes with a hint of dissatisfaction.

"Therefore I am going to rent it from you, and operate as its captain. You will of course share in profits. And of course if you command something of me I will have no choice as your employee."

"Oh!" She says eyes glowing. "Mhm. That will be sufficient."

I had heard her mother use a similar tone so this must be Mirna (Boss version).

Aqua and Rou again glare at me but they seem to understand my intention. Mirna choose this life but she will still get lonely, we should make her feel comfortable while she still has determination. That way when she eventually feels down she will at least rely on us.

This is also a way for her to force me to return to marrow should she ever feel homesick.

I just hope she doesn't abuse her power. For some reason, the sly smile she's emitting makes me fearful.

~ ~

"This will be your room. Mine is next door and Aqua's is on the other side. Don't hesitate to come by if you need something or if you get scared."

"Mirna doesn't get scared!" She says with a fist in the air. "But having said that, where is Captain's?"

"…End of the hall." Rou reluctantly replies giving me a cold glare.

I want to explain that it's not in my control but I think to say anything would make me seem more guilty.

"But really this room is kind of a dusty. Sorry about that Mirna. Captain's room is the nicest so I was cleaning it first and then kind of got caught up."

I had noticed the captain's quarters looked nearly spotless. Even the bed appeared to have been refilled. I was kind of amazed by Aqua's cleaning ability but I didn't exactly know what to say to thank her for her hard work.

Aqua was a hard nut to crack. I wasn't exactly sure what she was thinking. She was a timid girl but also the main joker of the group. And She's someone whose firm in her beliefs, I don't know how to approach someone like that.

"If captains room is nice let's sleep there!" Mirna says putting her other fist into the air.

"Ah, no. Mirna where would Captain sleep? That's not nice." Rou says lightly patting her head.

"Together with the captain!"

"Mirna that…"

"I'm not opposed to it. The bed is very nice and quite large."

"Aqua what…" Rou says taking a large step backward and quickly looking between us all.

"Why not?" Aqua again says with flushing cheeks.

~ ~

Yeah. It's not exactly cramped. Aqua was right about the bed being large enough. But, it's awkward. No one has said anything. Rou refused to sleep beside me so I'm sided by Mirna and Aqua. Aqua is listlessly staring at me while Mirna is fumbling under the sheets in order to get comfortable. Rou, on the other hand, is just staring at the wood grains on the ceiling.

I feel a piece of cloth hit my arm and then a dress flies out of the sheets and into the corner of the room. Eyes turn toward Mirna who is comfortably snuggling up to her neck in the sheets.

"Mirna! You can't do that!" Rou suddenly shouts leaning up on the bed and nearly ripping the sheets off us all. She realizes her mistake and leans back down but continues to chastise Mirna.

"Oh, right clothes don't go in the corner. Mom said the same thing." Mirna begins shuffling out of the sheets which forced my hand. I wrap an arm around her thin waist and replace her into the sheets. I made it in time so no skin was seen.

"That's not the issue here. You can't sleep nude beside Captain!"

"We can't?" Aqua complains, jokingly.

I presume.

"Mirna can't sleep in clothes. Too many layers. Suffocating. Better this way."

"Eh, what the problem she's a kid," Aqua says to Rou who is still obstinate.

"Captain, can you tell me a story?" Mirna asks pulling her body closer to my arm.

"Hmm, Sure. I think so. Let's see."

I've read hundred of stories and seen tons of movies, I'm sure I can tell a story unlike any they've ever heard. And it will help distract me from the distractions surrounding me.

Oh. That will work.

"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...."

"What's a galaxy?" Aqua asks prompting me to rethink my method.