Trillia's confusion was evident on her face. Looking from Layla back to Robert, she shook her head.

"What on Alirast are you talking about? What deception?"

Robert didn't look up but answered the question all the same. "The intent was to free the slaves in that port. Utilizing your mana pool to ensure the fleet could escape any would-be pursuers. The Argo has a reputation in pirate ports and is often shot on sight. The only reason we weren't in Port Korinthien is because of our new status as a pact-bound vessel."

Trillia nodded. "Sure. So, what deception was there? You told us before we joined that we might have to handle and deal with pirates sometimes because that's your deal with the leviathans, right?"

The crew seemed confused at how calm she was. Robert looked up at her and tilted his head. "You aren't angry?"

"I have no reason to be angry. You serve Lord Arlyss. Lord Arlyss and I share a vision of freedom from the shackles of slavery. You saw that vision through, and because of it, several thousand people can live free lives and try to find happiness of their own. You are a pact-bound, like me. Our mission is to see our god's vision completed. I have no reason to be angry. If I have to spend my entire mana pool to ensure people are free, that's my job, Captain."

The Captain stood and sheathed his saber, now looking down at Trillia. "I guess I expected you to be angry at the deception and using your resources without filling you in. I didn't want to risk you saying no."

Trillia shrugged and motioned to the crew. "If they had asked, maybe I would have said no? I don't know all of them particularly well. But Lord Arlyss chose you, Captain Highwind. That means a great deal to me. I trust his judgment, even if I do not trust yours. I know he wouldn't offer a pact to a dishonorable, cruel individual. If he did, he'd certainly warn me about that individual's tendencies before assigning us a mission together. In the future, tell me, and I will be prepared to help more."

The Captain nodded and bowed deeply to her. "Forgive my ignorance. Thank you for understanding. I will be sure to keep you up to date on any plans I have, regardless of how secret I feel I need to keep them. There is another port two weeks east. It will delay our journey to the central continent, but I would like to escort the refugees there if that's acceptable."

Trillia nodded. "You are the Captain. I am sure that Lord Arlyss would agree that saving this many lives is worth a short delay."

Trillia turned to Layla. "I take it that you are going to the other ships to ensure everyone is healthy?"

The acolyte nodded and glanced at Lak'Lorn. Trillia offered a smile. "I'll come with you. I want to watch you do healing magic to see if I can create a custom healing skill of some kind. Is that ok, Captain?"

Robert nodded.

The crew remained mostly silent as they watched the two young orcs hop into the rowboat that Lak'Lorn provided.

Trillia was surprised to see that Lak'Lorn could not only keep up with the ships but also move faster. She chalked it up to him having skills that helped with this sort of thing. "Thanks for taking us everywhere, Lak'Lorn. I appreciate your efforts."

The ogre gave her a thumbs up and kept pushing their row boat around. Layla fidgeted for a while before speaking up. "Are you really not angry? I felt bad for deceiving you and not explaining the plan. I just..."

As Layla looked down at her hands, Trillia only smiled. "It stings a little that you didn't trust that I'd want to help those people as well. But no, I'm not angry. I have faith, Layla. Faith in you, faith in Lord Arlyss, faith in Captain Highwind. I'm gaining more faith in the rest of the crew as the days pass. You guys hammered it into me for months. That I had to stop doing everything myself. I guess, I guess I just realized that I could be miserable and do it all alone or accept that I'm a real small part in a big plan."

Layla grabbed Trillia's hand and squeezed it. "I won't ever hide things from you again. Thank you for helping save all of those people."

Trillia leaned over to hug the girl. "Maybe once this portal mission is done, we can talk to the Captain and crew about sailing around and liberating other places that have a lot of slaves. I think it would be a good use of our time, plus we'd get to see a lot of the world. Maybe by then, the others will feel comfortable joining us."

Layla nodded.

A few seconds later, Trillia heard Layla's voice in her head.

"We are doing well. We liberated a few thousand slaves from a port town. Hope the delving is going well."

Trillia smirked a little as she heard Fred's reply.

"That's awesome! We stopped delving. Ralrouk is dragging us out on patrols. We will catch up, Trillia. Love you both."

The next week was spent healing the many, many wounded among the slaves. The two of them were thanked thousands of times. It made Trillia feel odd. In D'Jamu, everyone sang the praise to Lord Arlyss. But on the ships, rumors had spread that it was because of the young orc girl that their escape was a success. Couple that with Layla spending most of her day healing them all. The two were well-liked.

They sat next to a young elf woman. Illana was slowly stroking the girl's hair. She had been unconscious since the escape.

The amount of scars on her body made Trillia want to throw up. Anger burned in her head. Layla was doing her best to heal the girl, but it was taking time. Most of the damage was so deep that Layla lacked the ability to heal it. A lot of damage was also mental, and neither of them was well-suited to healing that sort of trauma.

"I wish the world wasn't so cruel." Trillia held the girl's hand as Layla slowly worked on healing another set of scars.

Illana smiled and continued to stroke the girl's hair. "The world isn't cruel, Trillia. The people inhabiting it are. It's gotten worse since so many of the gods are silent."

"I wish we could help Arlyss' sister ascend. Or convince her to do so."

Illana nodded. "That's just how rules and immortals are. Alirast suffers because of a primordial fight. The easiest way to punish Lord Darktone was to stop him from interacting with his family and children. Alirast is just collateral damage in his punishment. Such is the way of immortals and deities. Mortals are always collateral."

"I wonder if she just doesn't care. Or if there are other reasons."

Illana paused and looked at Trillia. "Think of it this way. Their father may not be able to interact with them. But other angry deities that want them to die also can't interact with them or Alirast. From what I've heard from you and others. Mariah is being tutored by her mother. Queen Alliyah is keenly aware of strategy and tactics. Young Mariah is probably being told not to ascend so that all of them can grow more powerful and grow further into their own abilities."

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"Once that debuff is gone, Lord Darktone may be able to return and interact, but it will start a lot of wars as other deities want the three new deities dead. They will push and urge their followers to wage these wars for promises of power and glory. I've seen it happen many times over the centuries."

It all made sense to Trillia. But her frustration remained. "If he does return. Do you think sealing the primordials will take a long time, like it did before?"

Illana shook her head. "No. Because his generals are already high-level and extremely capable. When the great beast war originally broke out, Queen Alliyah was at the highest level. If I recall correctly, she was only in the low hundreds."

Layla took a deep breath and sat back, sweat beading her forehead. "I need to stop. Healing scar tissue is difficult, and I've already been refilled too many times today. Sorry."

Illana shook her head. "Don't apologize, Layla. You're doing what no one else in the fleet currently can. With such limited access to divine healing magic, we're grateful you are here."

Layla nodded and sat back, happy to stay and chat all the same. "I wonder what they called the other great beast wars."

That drew looks from Trillia and Illana. Layla shrugged. "You guys have said before that this happens every thousand or so years, right? I imagine Alirast is an old realm. So I wonder how many times this has happened."

That made Trillia sit back and think as well. After a few minutes, she shook her head. "I have an idea for my skill. I'd like to try it on you, Layla, since we both have tenacity. Just in case something goes wrong, neither of us should die."

Layla nodded. The two girls left Illana to look after the young elven girl and went back up on deck. Captain Highwind was standing at the helm. He seemed in farr greater spirits. Only a handful of the freed slaves had perished. Wounds too deep and too infected to be healed in time. All in all, everyone considered it an incredible success.

The two girls sat behind him on the upper decks, Layla would cut her hand open, and Trillia would try and stitch it back together with mana. It was proving an impossible skill to acquire. Layla's Divine healing worked far differently than other skills did. The amount of mana used was incredibly low compared to the result.

The first time Trillia had tried to brute force her way into a healing skill, she flayed most of the skin from Layla's hand with the sheer amount of mana she pushed into the skill. Apparently, just giving your mana the intent to heal wasn't enough.

A few hours passed with no luck. Trillia was annoyed and fed up with it, so the two joined the crew for food.

-=- A Week Later -=-

The elven girl had finally woken up. She seemed skittish and only trusted Illana. The two only ever spoke in the Elvish language. Layla had done her best to fully heal her. They pulled into another port. Well, it had a dock. It wasn't really a port, more like a church in the middle of the ocean.

Trillia didn't quite understand why until she realized they worshipped leviathans.

After a few hours of getting the other vessels docked and settled in. Captain Highwind stood on the bow of his ship. He had asked for Trillia and Layla to join him. Illana was already standing next to him.

They waited for an hour.

A notification popped into Trillia's mind.

You're in the presence of the Leviathan Charybdis! Skill effectiveness is reduced by 95%!

You're in the presence of the Leviathan Charybdis! Healing reduced by 95%!

You're in the presence of the Leviathan Charybdis! You must have a derived stat that equals or exceeds 15,000 to use any offensive abilities!

You're in the presence of an ancient Leviathan capable of manipulating water mana! You cannot use water mana skills or abilities.

You're in the presence of an ancient Leviathan capable of manipulating wind mana! You cannot use wind mana skills or abilities.

You're in the presence of an ancient Leviathan capable of manipulating fire mana! You cannot use fire mana skills or abilities.

You're in the presence of an ancient Leviathan capable of manipulating pressure mana! You cannot use pressure mana skills or abilities.

Trillia felt an immense pressure on her body. She looked around and saw nothing. Looking into the ocean didn't help. A few seconds later, a mermaid popped her head out of the ocean.

"Grand Charybdis is impressed with your abilities, Liberator. You have done well to uphold your contract. The Argo is clear to sail the central seas for another decade under the protection of Grand Charybdis. You must still negotiate other oceans with their rulers. You have freed more than five thousand souls on this day. Name a reward you would like."

Robert kneeled and bowed his head to the mermaid. "I do it for the glory of Lord Arlyss and for the glory of Grand Leviathan Charybdis. I am but a humble tool used to free the innocent from the wicked."

The mermaid paused. Water began to coil around her tail and lifted her to the bow of the ship. She was much larger up close. Pale white skin, dark blue lips, and tangled green hair. Coral armor wrapped around her body, and a trident, easily twice Trillia's height, was held comfortably in one hand. "Lord Arlyss? Grand Charybdis is familiar with that family. A Darktone, is he not?"

Robert gave the slightest of nods.

The mermaid continued. "Cursed by the dragon father."

Trillia tensed up. Leviathans were like dragons, right?

The mermaid moved closer to Robert. "Grand Charybdis would be most interested in meeting your Lord Arlyss."

The pressure on Trillia vanished. Arlyss stood next to Robert with a smile on his face. "It would be my honor to meet Grand Leviathan Charybdis. I must ask, in my infinite ignorance, are leviathans beholden to the same curses and laws?"

The mermaid bowed as low as she could to Arlyss. "No, Great Arlyss. Leviathans are not beholden to the curse of the dragon father. We seek to break them of the curse of their blood. So as not to anger your mighty lineage. Forgive me, but this one cannot speak to a deity on behalf of the leviathans any further."

Arlyss motioned for the mermaid to stop bowing. She did so reluctantly. "Once the ceremony of safe passage is complete for the Argo and my followers, lead me to Grand Leviathan Charybdis. We can discuss anything she desires."

The mermaid nodded. As her fingertips touched the Argo, the entire ship seemed to hum with power. The mermaid circled the ship twice before returning to the bow. "It is done, Grand Arlyss. Please follow this lowly servant when you are ready."

Arlyss nodded, and the mermaid retreated back to the water, visibly nervous. Arlyss turned to look at Trillia. "Excellent work in Port Korinthien. Both of you. I'm proud of you. Once you start traveling towards the central continent again. We will have maybe another month or two before I am unable to communicate with you. I have faith in you both. Is there anything you need for your journey before I go and speak with the Leviathans?"

Robert and Trillia both shook their heads. As Arlyss turned to leave, Illana stepped forward. "Forgive me, Lord Arlyss. I ask a request of you, knowing that I am not your pact-bound."

Arlyss turned to glance at her. She continued. "There is a young elf girl here. She....has faced horrors no mortal should face. I know that the priests and clerics here will do their best to heal her mind."

Arlyss raised a hand. "I will see to her once I am done with the leviathans. I do not wish to keep them waiting."

Illana kneeled. "Tell me how I can repay your favor."

Arlyss shrugged. "Take care of my people, Lady Illana. Continue to pursue freedom for all on Alirast, as my father desires. That is favor enough. The girl doesn't deserve the fate she has been dealt. Darktones have a duty to help those we can."

With that, he turned and floated down into the water. After a few minutes, they all breathed a sigh of relief. Trillia glanced over at Illana but said nothing. "Captain Highwind. How many years is the Argo allowed to sail the central sea? Does it stack?"

The Captain chuckled and glanced over at her. "A little over four hundred years remaining. I probably have a dozen rewards that the Grand Leviathans want to give me, but honestly, I do it because I hate the idea of slavery. I figure if I'm ever in a real bind, I'll ask them for help. I get the feeling they would do so, even if I wasn't owed anything."

Layla stood and glanced over the railing. "Why do the leviathans care so much about the freedom of mortals?"

Illana walked over to stand next to the acolyte and look into the water as well. "Because Lord Darktone demands it. Dragons are the same way. They are not allowed to interfere directly without the chance of immortals stepping in to interfere. But they are incredibly powerful creatures capable of doling out great rewards. So they task lesser mortals with ending slavery. Not that I think it's a mission that can ever be succeeded. There are plenty of deities who revel in suffering and task their own mortals to make people suffer. But the great beasts of Alirast know not to anger its creator."

"Almost true." Andromeda spoke. To everyone's surprise, the pain wasn't quite as bad as usual. "The great beasts loyal to the Darktones pursue freedom and peace. The great beasts loyal to other deities have no such reservations. The problem is none of the other great beasts care to get into a direct conflict over lesser mortals. So, instead, they play off of each other. One side frees, one side enslaves."

The Captain and Illana excused themselves. Trillia looked at Andromeda with a nod. "I see you've learned better control over your psionic abilities."

The woman nodded and stopped a solid ten feet before the railing of the bow. "Not much else to do."

The three sat in silence for a while before Layla also excused herself. Trillia sat on the railing and waited for them to depart. Andromeda said nothing else, merely watching the crew go about their tasks while waiting to depart the church.