The surrounding weather had changed, the wind was more gentle, the sea more silent.

“We’re out?” one of the crew asked no one in particular.

Everyone, with labored breath, slowly stepped back from their stations as they looked up at the sky. The blue above was now a little more clear, the faint rumblings of lightning now only roared far behind us. The raindrops had slowed down to mere trickles. The storm had passed. We had pushed through it. We overcame the storm.

“W-We did it,” said a crew member.

“We did it!”

“Yeah!”

“We did it!”

“We survived!”

The crewmen jumped up in complete joy, their faces full of smiles. They slapped their hands together, others hugged tightly in groups and jumped as they did so. Many of them cried, not of anything bad, but because of relief and happiness after overcoming an extreme hurdle. Their cheers and energetic cries echoed throughout the sea around us.

The people below definitely heard it.

Velar looked up at me. “Your Highness.”

I looked back at him and rubbed my face clean of water before smiling widely.

“We are triumphant against the force of nature!” I raised my fist. “Shout and cheer to your heart’s content, for all of you have overcome where not many could persevere!”

“AAAAH!”

“YEAAAAH!”

“You have truly become men of valor!” I enthusiastically added.

“That’s right!”

“Wooooooh!”

They raised their hands in the air, and they shouted until they strained their throats. Their voices were so loud that I was considering covering my ears, but of course I didn't. The ship mildly shook at their jumps and steps. They all looked like they had achieved something so significant in their life, one that they had never felt before.

Indeed, for they have conquered their fears and pushed through a place where death could come upon them. How liberating and significant it would be truly for people to feel such a thing. It was an achievement of a lifetime. One that they would remember for the rest of their lives.

And not one was lost.

“Open the hatch!” I said. “Bring them out and let them see the clear sky!”

“HAAAAAH!”

They quickly opened the hatch to the deck below. A couple of men quickly went down and announced the good news.

“It’s okay now everyone! It’s over!”

“We did it!”

With their incredibly loud and excited voices, I could practically hear them from here. I heard a tired and relieved sigh from beside me, the helmsman. He leaned on the wheel with an exhausted expression. I couldn’t imagine how hard it would be to pilot this ship in the middle of a storm.

I lightly patted him on the back.

“Good work. Wouldn’t have survived without you.”

He tiredly nodded with a grin. “Of course… But I hope I won’t go through that again.”

I chuckled. “I hope so too.”

I wouldn’t want to go through a storm, never. Fuck that shit.

“You didn’t seem particularly scared,” said the helmsman. “You were calm the whole time.”

I wryly smiled. “Believe me, I was pretty scared. But there was no point showing it.”

“Huh… Of course.”

Well, I was a bit nervous, if that counts. Imagine if the ship just capsized. Whew, that would spell the ultimate trouble. I would rather not swim all the way to the archipelago, that would be crap. And I had grown quite attached to this ship. I mean I worked hard to obtain this, you know.

“Well, can you really be surprised if I don’t look scared considering this one right here didn’t show any fear at all?” I pointed at Taneva casually grinning behind me.

The helmsman glanced at him with a small nod. “I guess so. Not afraid of drowning?” he asked Taneva.

“I can swim just fine.” He casually shrugged.

I heard murmurs as footsteps came out to the top deck. The women from below had started to come up. They looked up at the sky with relief. Despite the fearsome events here on top, it must have been quite frightening below as well.

The men started telling the story about what had happened earlier with visible excitement.

“It was scary! I thought I was gonna die!”

“I almost fell off the ship. Thankfully, I was saved by the princess!”

“I thought you were tied up?”

“Yeah, I didn’t tie the rope properly.”

At the same time, as the crew talked to each other, the younger helmsman came up to us. He looked exhausted, but he forced a smile.

“Good job, boy. You guided the men very well,” said the older guy.

“Y-Yeah.”

He glanced at me, so I had to form a smile. “You were splendid. Thank you for your efforts.”

He nodded excitedly. “Yes!”

“You should rest now,” I added. “The two of you.”

“But who will take the wheel?” asked the old guy.

“We can afford to lie low for now, right?”

“I guess.”

“Then go and rest. If need be, Taneva will take over the wheel.”

“What? Me?”

“Uh-huh, you.”

“Don’t I have a say in this?”

“What? Don’t know how to steer a ship?”

“I can…”

“Then we’re good.”

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Taneva pouted and just gave up resisting. I nodded with satisfaction. Just call it my little revenge for annoying me.

“Also, we saw a star whale!”

I glanced at the crew that had gathered.

“A star whale? What’s that?” one woman asked.

“A gigantic whale with the skin for stars! Really, it’s like the night sky.”

“Seriously? Something like that is real?”

“Yeah!”

“We saw it with our own eyes! It even jumped over the ship!”

“It was incredible!”

“It was so magical!”

“A once in a lifetime experience!”

Shayla’s eyes widened, and her shoulders shuddered. “Why didn’t you call us out?!”

“Eh?”

“That’s so mean! I want to see it too!” Shayla crossed her arms.

“W-Well, we weren’t exactly out of danger that time.”

“Still!” She let out a sulking whimper. “I just missed the experience of a lifetime…”

“... Maybe next time, yeah?” the guy gave her a grin.

Shayla smacked that guy on the shoulder. “Not helping.”

“Hehehe, sorry.”

I recalled the star whale. It was a mesmerizing sight indeed. And to think it was a magical creature or something, with the star skin and all. I would never see something like that on Earth. In some ways, I have to admit, compared to this, that old world was boring. I guess magic stuff made things a bit more interesting.

In truth, I wanted to see more of that. Beautiful stuff. Sadly, that star whale sight was short. But we were in the middle of the storm. And I had no trust in animals. Who knows, it could have crashed accidentally on the ship, and we would be swimming right now. It should have stayed a bit distant from us to be safe.

Such a waste. I would have enjoyed watching it leisurely from afar.

I guess I won’t be seeing that thing again.

I stepped down onto the deck.

I audibly cleared my throat, and they turned towards me. I formed a smile full of gratitude.

“Great job and thank you, everyone, for what you have done. For now, let’s keep things slow and rest up — you deserve it. Maybe let’s start with changing into dry clothes, shall we?” I said humorously.

The guys chuckled.

“And looks like there will be drinking tonight,” I continued. “Surely you haven’t drunk all the liquor yet?” I giggled.

“Haha, plenty of drinks in storage!”

“Weeks worth!”

“But let’s not overdo it though.”

“Hell no, we’ll overdo it! It’s a celebration!”

“Yeah, we survived where many sailors could have died.”

I nodded. “Indeed, tonight will be a celebration. So rest up so you’ll have plenty of energy to spend later.”

They laughed. With that, I left them and returned to my room. I had to change. Aaaaw, and I liked these piratey clothes too. Oh well, good thing I have some spares! That’s right, you think I only had this set? Nuh-uh.

Pirate outfit wearing Estelia is still far from over!

***

When the crew had a little party last night, I was only there for like half an hour. It was way past my bedtime, so the young princess had to sleep early, you know. I was still growing, not sleeping early would stunt my growth. On a serious note, I had to legit rest. I was tired. I was sick, and still basically healing. I needed to rest as much as possible before we arrived at our destination.

Needless to say, everyone quite had a blast. I could hear their noises from my room. But nothing too troubling that I wouldn’t have a decent sleep. As long as they had a good time, that was alright. What? Was I being too kind here? Eh. Well, guess what, I was a good and kind ship captain.

Anyway, when I got out of my room early in the morning, wearing another set of piratey outfit, can you guess what I saw? That’s right, everyone was still pretty knocked out! They were gonna be hungover for sure. Damn, and I warned them to keep it in moderation.

A lot of the men were sprawled on the floor, others leaning on the railing. The few women, eh, let’s just say they were not too different. Somewhere leaning together on chairs, while others leaning on their back to the mast, and a couple leaning on some guy. Huh, guess there were some sparks of love that I missed while sleeping.

I spotted Shayla lying on the floor, fast asleep. I didn’t know if some women had formed some trust with their crewmates that they let something like this happen, or perhaps the others most traumatized were back below. But maybe this was progress to their wellbeing.

Hartwin was also sprawled on the floor, and unlike the others, he still had a bottle in hand. There was still some liquor left inside it.

Velar, on the other hand, was already awake when I was. I glanced at him and smiled kindly.

“It was an enjoyable party, it would seem,” I said.

He nodded. “Yes, it was.”

“You didn’t drink as much?”

“I can hold my liquor more than anyone here.”

“I see.”

“Did you have a good night’s rest, Princess? I hope we didn’t disturb you.”

“Everything was fine.”

I walked over to him. “The other crew members that had the worst experiences, did they have a good time?”

“You mean…?” He realized what I was talking about. “Yes. They joined the celebration. They looked way better than before.”

“Good.”

He stared at me for a moment. “I’m glad you’re compassionate for the crew.”

I furrowed my brow slightly. “Was I ever heartless?”

“... Once… But, that was for those who deserved it.”

“Hm…” I looked up at the sky. “We can’t be compassionate all the time. Sometimes, being heartless is necessary.”

“That is a heavy thing to commit.”

“I imagine you would know.”

Velar nodded and lowered his head. “I have killed those that begged for mercy. But… removing them from this world was necessary so everyone can live safely. But mostly, I am not proud of it.”

“You regret killing them?”

“No… It’s just… for what I do, many that I committed, there is no pride to hold from it. It is a dark deed.”

“... I see…”

“What about you, Princess? Are you ever proud of those that you kill?”

Now that was the question, wasn’t it? Of course I was proud! I found pleasure in it! At least, until recently. But that’s beside the point.

“... Who knows.” Of course I wouldn’t say that I liked it. “As I said, we must be heartless sometimes. And that meant doing whatever we must, even taking many lives.”

“Then you are already walking a dark path… Someone like you shouldn’t go through something like this.”

“Is that so…? Perhaps you’re right… Before any of this, my life was peaceful. No danger, nothing to be afraid of. Just me in the palace, doing whatever I wanted. Read books, look at the scenery, and spend time with my family… If none of this had happened, right now I might have been in the library, reading.”

I would have continued my endeavor to become a true bookworm.

“But things had changed…” I continued. “And there is no choice but to stain my hands with blood for what I’m fighting for.”

Although they were already stained with buck loads of blood.

“What a sad thing it truly is,” Velar muttered.

“I appreciate that you care, Velar. But you do not need to worry about my mental wellbeing. I will be fine.”

“... If you say so. But you’re still young, Princess…”

“... Yes, I am. But there are no paths for me to take but this.”

Velar looked into my eyes. “Considering your situation… I imagine your path might be a hellish one.”

That’s where you’re wrong. It will be my enemy’s path that will be hellish for crossing over mine.

“Be that as it may, I will still push forward.”

“I see.” He lowered his head.

“I must say, you should not always think about what you consider as a dark deed.” He shifted his eyes towards me. “You should focus on the good deeds as well. The good outcomes you brought.”

“The good outcomes, huh…”

“Personally, we should focus more on the good that we gave. For what you have done in your life, Velar, perhaps one, or many of those you came across, had considered you a hero.”

His eyes widened. “I see… I hope so.”

“Hope so? Still unsure?” I formed a small smile with a brief chuckle. “Maybe you can start by looking at what’s in front of you.” I extended my hand towards the crew lying on the floor without a care for the world.

I could not understand his lack of pride at being a soldier. To kill your enemies. His actions brought upon goodness, an outcome so decent. One where everyone could be happy. Some may consider killing as a dark deed, but he really shouldn’t disregard the good outcomes. And the good outcomes are always the most important.

He stared at the people in front of him, and he formed a small smile. “... You’re right, Princess.”

“So I say to you, Velar. Take pride.”

He nodded with a wider and satisfied smile. Then, shortly after, he glanced at the sun. “It’s about time. Should we wake them up?”

“Hmm,” I pondered about it. “Give them another hour. Forcing awake someone that’s heavily hungover might be more troublesome.”

They definitely slept quite late, best to give them some more time to sleep. Wasn’t I a good captain? Praise me for my generosity!

And thus, after an hour had passed. We started waking them up. Pretty much all of them groaned as they were shaken awake. Some were holding their heads in their headaches. Some still couldn’t help but lean on anything. Yup, rough night.

I also helped wake everyone up.

I stood right next to Hartwin and crouched down.

I poked his cheek. “Wakey wakey.”

It’s time for school.

His face wrinkled, and he turned sideways away from me. “Mm, mm. A few minutes…”

Hey what the hell? I’m not your mother.

“Hartwin, there’s plenty of work that needs to be done. Wake up already.”

“Mmmm.”

I frowned. I was slowly losing respect for him. It was like trying to wake up a child.

“Better wake up before Velar kicks you awake.”

He flinched, that he seemed to have really heard. With a loud groan, he slowly got up and gently rubbed his eyes.

“Wake Shayla up for me,” I said to him. I could have done it, but I just wanted him to do that so his sleepiness would subside.

He groaned as he slowly crawled towards Shayla. Yeah, it would appear he couldn’t stand properly yet. Just how much did he drink?

“Hey Shayla… Wake up.”

Shayla flinched and shifted away from him.

“Let me sleep, Hartwin…”

“Seriously, time to get up.”

“Leave… me alone, you perverted… fish mouth.”

Woah.

Hearing that, it snapped Hartwin off a little bit from his drowsiness and formed a confused frown. He was more confused than offended.

“Where the heck did that come from?” he muttered. As if to annoy Shayla, he started shaking her by the shoulders. “Hey, wake up already. We’re about to start sailing again.”

I let out a subtle sigh and stood up, looking around. Everyone was still feeling like shit. It would seem it would take a while before we continue on our way. The liquor really hit them hard.

Well… It’s a pirate's life for me.

Guess something like this would happen once in a while.