Somehow I left the boat with my life. Well, I say that, but Theo actually just laughed it off as if it were nothing.  He was oddly understanding of my situation.

Aqua and Rou were eager to take him around the city and I still had work to do to prepare the chowder for tomorrow's festival so we parted ways.

Now El and I walk towards the farm.

I could, of course, opt to buy the ingredients but if we have any fresh it would be preferable.

Potatoes we have of course. And I have a few bushels of corn analog but I would rather not use my own supplies if possible.

"Two weeks out you say?" I ask one of the part time workers I found picking sprouts from the field.

"Mhm, at least. Everything is looking good though. We had problems with the flies at first but your brightly colored tape sticks worked wonders."

Oh, that's right. He is high in the command chain on the farm, isn't he? I met him once before, it seemed he was extremely knowledgeable about agriculture.

"Captain, can I help?" El asks seemingly bored by the lack of trees in the area.

"Yeah, go for it."

She excitedly bounces over to the field and sticks a finger deep into the dirt. She begins humming softly, rocking her head back and forth to the melody.

Both me and the farm manager watch the scene, but we are quickly distracted by motion in the corn field. The thinly wrapped ears swell and erupt with silk.

El completing her song pulls her finger from the mud and rubs it on her dress with little regard.

The man beside me quickly steps past El and splits the leaves open on an ear of corn.

"It's perfect." He says smelling it as if it were a fine Cuban. "So elves really have such a power?"

He looks at El in utter awe. I suppose this would be a skill farmers would die for.

"Good, thanks for the hard work El." I pat her head before turning back to the man who looked at the field in joy. "We will need at least a bushel tonight if you wouldn't mind."

"No problem!" He says firmly.

He whistles a few tones rapidly to a couple distant workers eating burgers. They, in turn, whistle a reply before gulping down the burger rapidly and rushing towards the field.

So something like the Greek whistle language exists here?

I'll never get sick of this world. I have to do my utmost to protect this world's culture.

I should really try to learn some of El's language before we go visit her home.

But that's for another day.

The restaurant is only a few blocks from the farm. The once run down building beside Mirna's family's Inn now had a well-organized line winding in front of it.

Once a group receives their food they hand a coin to Lynn who stands in front of the Inn and then they would find a table inside.

Oh, she has thought of quite the racket. But doesn't she look different? What changed? And what is she holding?

"Captain!" Mirna shouts running from inside the Inn. "You are here. Come on, come see!"

"Come see?" I ask while being dragged by Mirna towards the Inn's front door.

"Yes! Mother was so mean and didn't even tell me! She must be jealous of my new stew." She glares at her mother for a moment before returning to a proud smile. "Mirna got a new brother!"

""OH!?"" Both me and El gasp looking at the small bundle of child in Lynn's arms.

"I'm not jealous, you're jealous. And it's your fault for not coming by and checking in."

"Muhhhh…" Mirna growls before relenting. "But Captain, isn't he cute?"

"Mhm, he has Mirna's eyes," I say patting the proud older sister. "Ah, I am sorry its so sudden I can't think of anything better but, here. Congratulations."

I mumbled menu and found an appropriate gift in storage. A fine silk blanket from the inner capital. It was originally for my bed but it seemed the color was not agreed on.

It's not like it was ugly, it was dark blue but apparently, the girls preferred the color of the red dye.

"Is it really ok?" Lynn asks feeling the blanket after passing off the child to Mirna.

Mirna lightly pokes the babies cheeks while smiling widely.

"Of course. I insist. I have no use for it, and its a little small for my current bed."

"So I have heard." Lynn says smirking at me from behind the silk blanket.

"Rest assured I won't lay a hand on your daughter."

"So I have also heard…" Lynn repeats with a touch of disappointment.

Wait, what?

~ ~

Autumn joined a few minutes after my confusion abated. I explained the festival situation and showed the clam chowder to her.

"So you we are going to serve this tomorrow?" She asks spooning a bowl I had taken from storage.

"That's right. We will need to prepare quite a lot. I hope it isn't too much trouble."

"Not a problem. I will need a recipe but I think the girls will have no problem. If we need we can call in a few people who have the day off." She lifts the steaming spoon to her lips again slurping it happily. "Will we serve it at the restaurant?"

"No, we are a bit out of the way. Most of the festival will be taking place in the peddler square. I'm having Triff and the new construction workers build a booth."

I call it a booth, but it would be more apt to call it a food truck without the truck. But I'm not sure 'food truck' is a recognizable term here.

"But couldn't you have just told us this at home?" Autumn asks with arched eyebrows.

I had thought of that, but typically the restaurant staff wouldn't finish till after midnight, and I wanted to give them a chance to practice making the chowder. Though knowing their skill they would master it on their first try.

"Mirna doesn't have a recipe." Mirna interrupts, handing off her brother to her awaiting mother.

"What?" I ask towards her.

"Mirna remembers the recipe. Can't write."

Oh? How had I neglected that? I suppose it should have been obvious.

"My mistake Mirna. I will help you write a recipe for it. Also, would you like me to teach you?"

"Does Mirna have to?" She asks with a reluctant expression.

"You don't want to?"

"No, seems boring. So much to do in the day. Waste of time." Mirna says hammering a rock with her foot and sending it skipping across the road into a bush.

"But you know you could read interesting cook books," Autumn says from beside me understanding my intention.

"Mmmm…" Mirna hums with a hand to her chin. "Maybe."

Lynn steps over to her daughter and lightly whispers something in her ear.

"That's true, it would be alone time with Captain…" Mirna says with an interested expression. "Ok! Teach Mirna immediately."

"It will have to wait a bit but I will do my best."

"Acceptable. But remember who employs you, mister." Mirna says with a chastising tone.

""Employs?"" Lynn and Autumn ask glancing at each other.

I had nearly forgotten about that. And originally I thought Mirna would take advantage of it relentlessly.

A large crate of clams arriving in front of the restaurant saved me from explaining so Mirna and I got to work making a recipe card for Autumn to calculate based off.

Mirna's memory was good but her measurements were difficult to describe. One was based on how much powder could balance on her pinky fingernail. I concluded it was 1/8 teaspoon, which here is around 1/3 routan.

Don't ask me what a routan is. I have no clue.

In fact, don't even get me started on measurements in general.

Apparently it's a becoming a real problem for ETC. One 'pound' in Yellow Sands is always lighter than here. It's marginal when buying a hundred pounds of something but we are making deals in ten's of thousands of pounds now. We are missing hundreds of pounds in turn. Projected sales don't match actuals.

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

Don't get me wrong we make money hand over fist but it adds stress to Karlie's day. She now tracks two measurements in her books. The Marrow pound, and the Yellow Sands pound.

My world had this problem too in fact. We fixed it with some super fancy bricks of metal but even they failed eventually.

I will do my best but I don't expect any better results, perhaps a dwarf could help me.

We finish the recipe and deliver it to Autumn. She quickly begins calculating.

I was foolishly surprised that cream was included in the recipe. I asked Mirna if it would be good with the cookies but she looked like she would puke at my question.

Apparently, cream here is taken from the horse analogs. Even cooking with it is seen as strange, typically it's used to feed orphaned livestock. Even butter is seen as weird by some, I wonder if it was something Damien introduced?

But I will gladly take one for the team if it means cookies and milk.

Experimentation is vitally necessary if this world hopes to progress!

~ ~

But not that type of experimentation Theo.

"No… I don't think that is how… That's not something I really…"

"Ah excuse me. I was simply curious when I will get grandchildren. But I suppose that is private."

I can't imagine the two would… At the same time? That's just…

"Dad, could you please use a bit more tact?" Aqua asks beside a stuttering Rou.

"Ah yes of course. But Rou you should be careful or Aqua will leave you in the dust." Theo says looking between his daughters with gleaming eyes.

He is a good dad. I'm envious somewhat. No, I am completely envious.

I have no parents anymore, the feeling their dad has for them is something I crave. Although I suppose I get some of that from those around me. I'm truly happy to not be alone in this world.  

"So when will Rou and Aqua become more than girlfriends?" Theo asks, cutting off my thoughts.

What? Isn't that my job. And here I wanted to politely ask for his permission.

"That's… I was going to…"

"You needn't ask my permission. They are adults now after all. They claim to love you with all their heart which is all I can ask for. I just hope you care for them as much as they you."

"Of course. Without Rou and Aqua, I would have… I can't even imagine exactly. I think meeting them was the most important event in my life. I want nothing more than to spend my life with them. Assuming that's okay with them."

"Aqua was that a…"

"I think it was!" Aqua says nodding to Rou.

"No, no. A proposal has to be proper, down on one knee with a ring and everything."

"Ring?" Aqua asks.

"Is that not a thing here?"

"I think I have heard of some nobles using rings as a form of a promise," Rou says contemplating it a moment.

"Mm, I've heard of such a thing from their mother. Cole, are you of noble descent?" Theo asks rubbing his chin.

"Ah, no not exactly. I'm from…"

"Cinal." Aqua quickly says assuming my meaning.

"Oh! You are far from home! I only know rumors of Cinal. Is it very different?"

"Yeah, it's definitely different. But I like it here."

"How did you find yourself out here?" Theo asks taking a sip from his wood cup.

Remembering my own I follow suit.

Ugh. This stuff is terrible.

"I was… shipwrecked." I practically ask towards Aqua and Rou. They nod so I guess it's believable enough.

"Interesting. I didn't know many ships travel between the countries."

"Oh?"

"Most international trade and travel is done via air. It warms my heart to hear of a boat crossing the deep water. Although from the sound of it, it didn't end well."

Ah, now my lie is becoming a big deal. Maybe I should have left it more mysterious. But this is the father of Aqua and Rou. Honestly, I don't like lying about anything but I know the telling the truth isn't an option.

Alternative world problems.

"But being from Cinal explains the accent," Theo says after a few more sips from the cup and some small talk.

"Accent?" I say utterly surprised. Do I have an accent? I had never been told that. "Do I really have one?"

"Mhhh, it's not super noticeable, but you do say some words weird. And sometimes it seems like you are making up words. But it's not hard to understand." Rou tries to explain, nearly knocking over her cup with all the hand gestures.

She became like this when she drank. I was simply glad Aqua wasn't drinking. Rou warned me she was unable to keep secrets when drinking, so I strictly forbade it. Especially considering the secrets she now knows.

It's going to be the death of me some day.

But not tonight.

No, tonight this chunky mead will surely do it.

~ ~

It did.

I was awoken by the returning of the Restaurant staff. Particularly Pina, who seemed to be struggling to carry me towards the spiral staircase.

I was completely out I guess. But does Pina always return so late?

Hmm, she smells like clam chowder.

"Thanks, Pina." I stammer extending my legs to support myself. "I've got it from here."

"Ah, Admiral, You are awake?" She says sliding her arm from around me.

"Yep. Thanks for the assistance."

I brace my head after taking my first unaccompanied step. I had nearly forgotten Golin and Pina began calling me Admiral once they became captains.

"You ok?" She says glancing at my swimming eyes.

"Mhm. I don't feel drunk really, just the negatives. I need to take a seat."

Pina walks me towards the nearby couch and drops me in the center. I wave a hand for her to sit down beside.

"Feel better?"

"Mhm, the dizziness is gone. Oh, menu… I need a…" I trail off while searching through the [merchant] menu. Finding aspirin and bottle of water I swig them down paying little attention to Pina's confused look. "Oh, and this is for you."

I drop the small sheet of thick cardstock into her hand. Her eyes round and glimmer at the shimmering letter on the card.

"This is… It says 'Pina' on it?"

"Yeah, sorry I didn't know your last name so it's left blank. But if you go to the guild they can fix it."

"No that's not what I… Why? Why am I getting this?" She asks looking between me and the card in shock.

"Well, I already gave one to every fighter we have on the crew. And you will benefit from it the most, Clove mentioned you could hand out B rank cards like candy with one of those."

"But have I really…"

"You have already hugely proved yourself. I almost feel bad continuing to keep you in Marrow, I know you enjoyed your short time sailing. I am sure you are eager to return to adventuring on the seas."

Pina still slightly shocked by the golden 'A' speaks in a crescendo. "Thank you. This is… I don't know what to say. However, I'm not finished here yet, with this we will be able to open new trade routes. It has only been a half year I will thoroughly impress you once the year is up."

Her tone had returned to confident near the end. At the final words, she stood and raised a fist to the air. Perhaps Rou and I have rubbed off on her a bit?

"I expect as much," I say following her up and standing. "I am excited to sail with you. You will be welcomed openly once this year is up."

Honestly, I wouldn't mind her joining on our next journey, but I understand her position at ETC is currently irreplaceable.