Liam and the others walked out of a building after bringing in the captive attacker. They had spent almost an hour talking to the authorities explaining why they had the female tied up and brought to them. the authorities of the port town were surprised by what they had told them, but were even more surprised that the group had actually brought her in.

Liam and the others had learn right then that many who get attacked outside of town either take everything from the aggressor that lost and either kill them right there or leave them to die. It was a rare case for someone who wasn’t royalty to actually take criminals in to be punished.

After the authorities had asked if they wanted to press charges or not and received their answer. Liam and the others had left. They had ended up spending more time than they had wanted to here and needed to hurry to the meet up with Uncle Naro. They rushed over to the inn he had told them about.

Luckily, it was a fifteen minute walk from where they were and there wasn’t a lot of foot traffic around. As they turned the corner on to the street where the inn was on, Liam saw Uncle Naro’s huge frame. He had his back towards them and looked to be talking to a group of people. His head was slightly facing down as his arms and hands moved about. Liam wasn’t able to see who it was he was talking to, but figured he’d find out when he approached them.

Almost like he felt them coming, Uncle Naro stopped talking animatedly and turned to look at them. He waved them over as he shouted, “Took you guys long enough. Did you run into some trouble or something?” Uncle Naro’s smile slowly disappeared as he asked with a more concerned tone, “I was only joking, but those looks on your faces tell me you did. What happened?”

“Oh you know how it is. People just love to throw themselves at us,” Liam joked, trying to relieve the man of any worries. It didn’t. He still had that look of concern on his face. “We’re fine. We had to make a stop by the authorities and drop off someone who had attacked us.”

“Well aren’t you a fine and proper gent. Turning someone in to the law instead of leaving them to die. I’m gonna guess you didn’t snag any loot off em before turning em in eh?” someone suddenly said.

Liam looked confused as he heard the voice speak. The voice sounded soft and alluring, almost like it was trying to enchant him. However, it also felt like the person was being sarcastic while sounding disappointed and looking down on him.

Uncle Naro turned to look at the speaker and chastised, “Now don’t be like that. He isn’t one of your crewmates. He’s also a new arrival so he doesn’t know how things are done in our world.”

As Uncle Naro talked to this person, Liam was able to take in their appearance. He was both surprised at what he was looking at and confused. This female stood up to his shoulders and had long wavy hair that had dark blue roots that blended into a park purple color. Her jaded-green eyes brought out both the color of her hair as well as her dark blue skin tone. He had first thought she was a Tiefling, but didn’t see any horns on her head nor a tail behind her. Instead she had pointed ears like an elf and scales that ran up the sides of her neck before blending in with her smooth skin.

Around her forehead was a folded red bandana that wrapped around her head. She wore a reddish tan corset-like sleeveless shirt that showed off her slim waist and lean and toned arms. Her pants were covered from the knees down by her leather boots. If Liam had to pick a type of image he believe she had going, it would be that of a pirate. Especially with how she had her two thin rapier swords by her hips. He blinked a few times as he looked at the several people behind her. They all looked like pirates.

“What’s a matter boy. Never seen a Dark Sea Elf before?” the woman asked. Again, her voice sounded enchanted and alluring, but at the same time he could feel a threatening undertone to it. Like she was trying to lure him close enough to gut him.

Uncle Naro let out a sigh. “That’s enough Key. I just told you that he is a new arrival. He has never seen your kind before nor majority of the races here.”

“Bah, you’re no fun bear man,” Key scoffed as she made her way past him and up to Liam. “You’re Liam I take it? Yeah?”

Liam felt his body tense slightly as he readied his guard in case anything happened. He slowly nodded his head and remained silent, not trusting his voice. He wasn’t sure why he felt this way. She looked beautiful, like a Sea Goddess that ascended from the depths. Albeit, her movements and body language told him she could destroy him easily if she wanted to.

“Ack, relax boy. I ain’t going eat you,” Key scolded as she lightly slapped his shoulder. A grin slowly grew on her face, revealing perfectly whitened sharp teeth, as she looked up at him with almost a predatory look. “Not unless you get on my bad side, or I find you too delectable.

Liam inwardly shuddered at the thought. While she was smaller than him and confusedly looked like she was some damsel, those teeth and that grin said she was anything but.

“Key,” Uncle Naro said warningly while drawing out her name a bit.

“I know, I know. I’m just teasing the young lad so don’t go coughing up honey or whatever it is you Bear-folk love to gorge yourselves with,” Key teased as she waved a hand.

“Fish is one of our delicacies. That and those similar in nature,” Uncle Naro sarcastically stated with a playful grin.

Key ignored the man’s comment as she placed both hands on Liam’s face and made him look at her. “Let me get a good look at you. Na…Naro has mentioned you a lot, so I want to get a good look.” As she looked him over, Liam felt like she was trying to find something. What she was looking for specifically, he wasn’t sure. But he did hear her mutter every now and then.

“Hm…curious and a look of someone who spends too much time focusing on anything they find interesting…Signs of a crafter for sure…” She sniffed. “Has the smell of different herbs, mana extracts and…oh poisons? An Alchemist huh?” She grabbed Liam’s hands and pressed her thumbs over his palms while running them over. “Signs of swinging a hammer.” She ran her hands up his arms squeezing in certain areas. “Blacksmithing huh? Yeah he would have you work on more than one type of crafting which means you probably have more crafts on your plate than anyone should have…”

The more Liam heard her muttering comments, the more she felt like she was trying to feel him out or trying to see if she could fully understand him. While some of the comments were on point, he noticed she didn’t fully know everything. That was until she looked back into his eyes.

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Her jaded green eyes looked mesmerizing as he started to get sucked into them. His Danger Sense pulsed faintly causing him to snap out of his stupor. His pupils and irises thinned into slits as he heard her say, “Slightly naïve, but at the same time has the look of someone experienced…yes, but experienced in what…Oh? I see…Trauma…abandonment…probably not intentional…at least for the latter…A deep hatred is in there but that doesn’t explain where the experience in kil…”

Liam took a step back, pulling away from the woman. He didn’t know why she was muttering all of this or what her true intentions were with this, but he knew that if she continued she would mention something that he wasn’t ready to have out in the open yet. Even though he stepped back, he could feel her curiosity grow. However, instead of pursuing the questions Liam could see forming in her eyes, she just smiled.

This smile wasn’t like the one from earlier. Instead of it feeling like a predator waiting to snare a prey, it was apologetic. A hint of sadness hid within it as she said, “I’m sorry for that. It’s a bad habit of mine to try and understand who I allow on my ship.”

“You can understand someone just by looking into their eyes and feeling their hands and arms?” Liam questioned. His tone sounded accusing and after he caught that he frowned and said, “Sorry…I’m not fully used to how people do things on this planet.”

“No need to apologize,” Key stated. “You’re cautious and you have every right to be. As for what I was doing. I was assessing what kind of person you are. The way I assess people are through their eyes. The eyes don’t lie, and you can see a lot they try to hide. I could go by that big oafs word, but sometimes it’s best to see it for myself.”

“And feeling my hands and arms?” Liam asked, suddenly feeling like those weren’t really necessary for her.

A playful smile formed on her lips as she added, “For my own amusement. Needed to see if you could handle some tasks I have planned for you on my ship.”

Liam shook his head. He had a faint idea what she was going to have him do if she was muttering things about crafts. He just didn’t know exactly which craft she was going to have him use for whatever tasks she had planned.

Key reached a hand out to Liam as she announced, “The name’s Keysilia, but you can call me Key. I’m a Dark Sea Elf Oceanic Swashbuckler. Naro and I go way back being a part of the same party and everything. You’ll be in good hands with me and my crew as we travel around.”

Liam looked at the small hand in front of him. Everything about the woman that he had seen so far felt contradictory. From the sound of her voice to the way she really spoke, the way she looked versus the way she moved her body. Everything about her felt like she was meant to deceive people into believing she was an easy target. She reminded him of a creature from Earth.

Deciding to take a chance and hope he didn’t offend her, he grasped her hand and shook it while saying, “Liam. I’m a half Cat-folk who is a Crafter. Tell me, have you ever heard of a siren before? You remind me of them from my home world.”

Key let out a laugh. Even the sound of her laughter sounded alluring. “I have heard of that name before; however we don’t have any creatures by that name. Instead we have nasty looking creatures called Nereid, Oceanids, and Sea Maidens. All of them look like monstrous or freakish, but their voices can easily make you think they are the most gorgeous beings you have ever seen. Nasty bunch really.”

“Is that so? So you’re saying you aren’t on the same level as them? What with your alluring voice…You aren’t bewitching me to believe you are this gorgeous woman when you’re probably some monster in disguise?”

Key let out another laugh. This one was playful and warm. She then turned to look at Uncle Naro and said, “I like this one. He reminds me of him. Didn’t he also say the same thing to me?”

Uncle Naro shook his head as he said, “Yeah, he did. His two little ones did as well.”

Key snapped her fingers. “That’s right, they did. Except those two weren’t nearly as good with their words nor able to snap out of the Sea’s Trance I placed them in while assessing them like this one. Those little shits.”

This time it was Uncle Naro who laughed. Liam wasn’t sure who they were talking about. However, the tension he had felt earlier had finally lifted as he felt his body relax a bit. He then felt his cheeks burn as she looked back at him and replied, “I promise you I’m no sea creature playing with your mind. If you think I am some gorgeous woman then that’s because that’s how you really see me. But I will have to let you down. I’m not interested in some young blood whose never sailed a day in his life before.”

Deciding to not say anything else, Liam kept his mouth shut. He then watched as she did the same thing to the others in his group. She teased both Artem and Roman quite easily as she told the big guy he was too gentle for his size, and he needed to toughen up more. As for Roman, she had stunned him so well he didn’t have any comebacks, which shocked everyone.

When she assessed Avery she noticed her looked at the two swords on her hips. A knowing grin grew as she talked her about how well she could swing hers. Avery was shocked before realizing what she was doing and then felt embarrassed. That embarrassment turned into excitement as the woman offered to work with her on her swordsmanship and possibly other stuff.

Her assessment of Blair was a solid approval. Liam learned the shorter woman respected a girl who could hold her own and could swing a heavy weapon. Mercer’s and Ariyana’s assessments went well too. They were shorter than the others, but that was because she said they were in a hurry. That left Gimmel.

As she looked at Gimmel her expression looked confused. She turned her head enough to look at Uncle Naro who just sharply nodded once. That confused look turned into surprise as she looked back at Gimmel and gave him her assessment. After that she then lead them down the way and towards the area where all the ships were at.

Her crew that was still standing there gave them all smiles of approval, probably because their boss didn’t have anything bad to say about them, which made Liam wonder if they would have attacked them if she did have something bad to say. Since she didn’t he wouldn’t know. After walking for some time they finally arrived to a spot that had a beautiful sight. It was a real ship.

Liam wasn’t what he was expecting. Since this was a fantasy like world, he thought the ship would be something he wouldn’t have thought of. However, after seeing the ship in person, he was both relieved to see that ships were still the same as how they should be and disappointed because he was hoping to see something he never would have imagined.

He paused for a long moment as he took in more details of the ship. While it was big and long, dark brown with some light blue paint touches here and there, there were some qualities that told him this was more than just a ship. Besides the cannon holes with the cannons slightly poking out of them, wear, and tears here and there along the sides showing signs of battles, the flag that fluttered in the wind, or some other signs. He believed one thing was true now…This was a pirate ship and Key, and her crew were actual pirates.

“There she is,” Key started to say as she made her way up the ramp and onto the ship. The others followed one by one as they continued to listen to her, “Welcome aboard the Sea Key’s Pearl.”

Liam and the others took in the sights on deck. There were a few barrels and boxes here and there, a few tables and chairs, stairs that led down and up to different levels of the ship and more. Liam could feel the sway underneath from the waves of the water. While he never had sailed before, he could feel the difference between the way his legs, knees, and feet felt on solid ground vs the boat in the water. He would need to adjust to the differences and try not to fall over while they sail.

Before he or the others could say anything a familiar voice called out, “Miss Key. We are glad you are finally back. Have you received the guests you talked about earlier?”

“Ah Mr. Wobbleknees. I see you’re finally adjusted to the waves,” Key grinned as she turned to look at two people coming up the stairs from below deck.

“I told you my name isn’t Mr. Wobbleknees. Its…,” the man started to retort before taking in Liam and his group.

Both he and the young girl beside him looked just as confused and shock as he and his teammates. The two people were Omira the teenage girl from earlier and the frantic Elf man who was accompanying her.

Well shit. Liam thought as he looked at them. It looked like they might get entangled some more in whatever it was they had going on. Hopefully, it wouldn’t involve people trying to kill them again.