The sun shines high above, its red glow blazing in the middle of the sky. No clouds can be seen to protect the skin of sailors, as they quickly tie a massive ship to the docs.
David slowly strolls up the platform that connects his ship, The Wiseman, to the docks of port Sandstorm. On the deck, he watches his sailors run around, getting to thoroughly know the ship.
Jeeves exits the ships entrance, his beard and hair far cleaner than before. As soon as he catches sight of his captain, he runs straight for him, a complicated look on the carpenters face.
"Jeeves, report, how is the ship?" David interrupts, his authoritative bearing returning quickly after gaining back his status.
Jeeves quickly nods towards his captain, noticing how much more confident David is."It is fucking weird captain. The ship has no runes or enchants anywhere." he answers, shaking his head in disbelief."This ship should not even be able to support its weight, but the complexity of the design, wood structure, and metal supports…….its outright amazing!" he yells, barely restraining his glee.
David lifts an eyebrow up at Jeeves, disbelieving his explanation.
"It's true captain, I am not lying to you," he adds, looking at David's skeptical face, barely able to keep still while he does so.
Nodding towards his carpenter, David glances at the ship. It's structure so foreign and well made. The designs across the hall and sheer amazing woodworking gives credit to Jeeves story.
“What else can you tell me about the ship,” David asks, looking back towards Jeeves.
“Well, this ship is massive. I would say it is possibly 500 tons in weight alone. The only problem is that we would need a proper crew of say hundred fifty to run it properly but a skeleton crew of just us should be reasonable.”
David nods, the idea of such a large ship means a lot of possible profits. Now to only have the means to protect his ship. Realization strikes David as he quickly turns to Jeeves."What of the cannons, I didn't see any," he asks.
“That is the problem. The ship did not come with any cannons but it is built to hold a good 80. We can put our own cannons to use but…..It seems this ship was built for much larger cannons than our own.” Jeeves adds, a nervous look on his face.
“What in the hell is this ship built for? How in the hell is it able to even hold 80 cannons and stay afloat? What the fuck did that man give me?” David asks, his calm look changed to something incredulous, as he looks towards the direction of the Inn, the place Valen went off to.
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Valen walks into the empty inn, immediately noticing that it is not empty as he would expect. Diva sits quietly at the corner, her arms across her chest, leaning back in her chair.
"Valen!" Daniela shouts from the center of the room, her large girth firmly secures around a stone pole."Thank you so much for getting the dwarfs out of here," she says, cleaning the tables with a cloth. "I don't know how I was going to break it to them that I ran out of beer yesterday."
A smile forms as he looks to the friendly Innkeeper."Well I merely came here to pick up my stuff, and I think the dwarfs will come here to do the same," he says, watching a confused expression don Daniela's face.
“Really? Why is that”,” She asks, her cleaning slowing down.
“Well, I brought in a ship yesterday night, so they are joining me on it.”
Daniela's mouth opens as she takes a quick look at Diva."Take Diva with you," she quickly says, Diva's attention momentarily taken by someone using her name."She made a huge mistake a few months ago when she left the Amazon island," Diva begins to glare at the snake-kin, but Daniela completely ignores it," she wanted to go to the center continent, but took the wrong ship, and was dropped off here. Now she can't even leave." Daniela explains smiling at Valen.
Valen nods as he looks towards the Glaring diva, her cheeks slightly redder than her skin. Taking a deep breath, he strolls towards the back of the inn, and takes the seat opposite Diva.
“I plan to head towards the main continent. You are free to book passage on my ship,” he says, only a glare is his answer.
“She doesn’t have any money on her,” Daniela quips from across the room, listening to the two converse.
"Well that's fine too," Valen waves dramatically, "our ship is relatively empty anyways and I wouldn't want you to be stuck here for so many months."
"Do not insult me," she answers, her Amazon pride taking the better of her "We amazon do not accept pity from other."
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Valen just looks at the Amazon, remembering a certain tiger-kin, and the sheer pride she seemed to possess.”Well…...Lin said that the Amazons are great warriors, so how about I hire you as a bodyguard till we reach shore?” he asks, hoping to come to some agreement.
“Amazon’s do not hire so cheaply,” she answers, with much less glare.”To what reason are you heading towards the main continent?” she asks, her stance more relaxed.
“I….want...no..I need to become stronger,” Valen forces out of his mouth, remembering how weak he truly is.”So I plan to head towards Gargantuan, the massive elven city. I plan to join their magical college….er.. institution to learn how to better use my mana.”
"Getting stronger is a noble cause," the Amazon nods, a rare smile donning her face."I will become your bodyguard until you reach the city," she exclaims. With only those words, Diva gets up and walks towards her room to pack up.
Before she exits the dining area, she stops and looks towards the snake-kin."Daniela…...thank you," she says, continuing her stride towards her room, a delicate smile on her hardened face.
Valen and Daniela watch quietly as the Amazon leaves their presence, a smile donning both their faces.
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Though it is night, the sailors are very busy lifting and carrying cargo into the hold of their new ship. Smiles and excitement are on their faces as they work with great speed. David helps them bring in the cargo, something that would be unsightly for a good captain. Fortunately, David is a great one, as can be seen by the respectful looks of his man.
As he places the crate on the deck of the ship, he is interrupted by Jessica, who holds a notebook and pen, writing down and organizing the cargo." Captain, we are going to make a huge profit here if we can get to a city port."
David wipes the sweat off his face and turns to his quartermaster, a giddy smile on her face as she rubs the pen passionately. Something that David notices jealousy."I am guessing we are getting good prices on the cargo?" he asks, eyes turning towards her exceptionally large breasts, clothes barely keeping them in place.
"Fuck yes," she answers, a smile blooms on her face"They have been stockpiling goods for such a long time, that they need to get rid of it. Skins, Poison's, Mana cores, and other goods. All sold to us for but a fraction," she answers passionately, the gold digger in her coming out."We are going to get a massive profit when we unload all our good."
David nods, trying his best to look at her face" And what of our three passengers?" he asks, failing to look her in the eye.
Heeding the distracted captain no mind " Their is a lot of space on this ship, as well as three guest quarters. Valen and Lin are in one, while the Amazon is in another. The captain's cabin is yours, Jeeves has the last guest room, Alfred will be in the crews quarters, while I get the quartermasters next to yours.
David’s eyebrow lifts up”This ship has a separate room for a quartermaster?” he asks, confusion evident on his face.
"Yes, I get my own fucking room," she squeals, her large breasts jiggling dramatically."It has a bed, a desk, and a large space for whatever else I may need. I am going to have so much sex in there." she declares.
The captain sighs and shakes his head. His crew is filled with a bunch of idiots. A smile forms on his lips as he looks at his hard working sailors, many of them have smoking skin, a sign of strengthening their bodies to carry large crates with ease.
“Valen says he wants to go to the main continent, primarily to Gargantuan. You did explain to him that the orc blockade means we won’t be able to use the river, right?” David asks, interrupting Jessica from her pen rubbing.
"I did and he didn't seem to mind. He just said to get him towards the continent, so I figured we go to the trading city Ezarik. It has a massive port, and is large enough to buy all of our cargo."
Nodding slowly, David glares at the pen in her hand "Can you stop rubbing that thing. What the hell is it anyway?" he asks, slight anger present in his tone.
"This?" she holds the pen in the air, clicking it passionately."It was a gift from Valen for taking care of Lin. It is such an amazing tool. similar to an ink and quill, but so much less messy and this notebook has some of the thinnest pieces of paper I have ever seen. He gave me a bunch." she exclaims, excitement present in her voice.
David just sighs dramatically.”When can we head out?” he asks, looking towards his quartermaster, who is rubbing the notebook passionately to her face.
"Even though we don't have enchanted cold wood to keep our meat from spoiling, Valen filled our kitchen with a lot of supplies. Fruits, veggies, and other things I have never seen before. So, combined with our own rations, we should have more than enough. I think we can leave the port at noon tomorrow."
David nods and turns towards the dock, walking back down from the ship, arms stretching to carry more cargo.
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A great many residents of sandstorm watch as the Wiseman leaves their port, it’s sails spread and blowing to the tune of the wind.
“Grandfather, when did that ship come to shore?” Zeran asks, looking at the very old scorpion-kin, cracks spread throughout his body.
"Sometimes," Zelorian starts, continuing to stare at the ship." you meet truly amazing people in your life and the best thing to do about that is just to take it in stride," the old scorpion answers, his claw holding a white nos between its pincers.
Zeran just looks towards his grandfather, noticing the surprising happy mood. Nodding slowly, he turns back towards the ship, watching it leave his sight.
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Velan wakes up on the next day, his head immediately thinking he was on an aircraft carrier, but the wooden ceiling brings him back to reality. Looking around his large bed, he discovers that Lin has already left, the sun streaming into the room from the circular windows granting a clear sight of his room. Getting up, he releases his mana from every pore of his skin, engulfing him quickly and then with a thought, his sleeping wear is replaced with something more appropriate.
The ability to change his clothing on the fly is probably the most practiced technique he ever had. Only instinct allowing him to do something so complicated.
Walking out of his room, Valen heads towards the kitchen, hunger slowly growing with every step. When he finally enters the mess hall, half the crew is sitting on the tables, watching Lin as she stands on one. Her cute eyes turn to Valen, a cheeky smile embracing her lips. Without breaking eye contact, Lin starts to stomp on the table in rhythm. Her shoes making a thumping smile as she continues to stomp. Immediately the Dwarfs start to hammer the tables, syncing it to her stomps.
"Pancakes, Pancakes, Pancakes," Lin starts to chant. As one, the dwarfs start chanting as well.
Valen watches as over 20 dwarfs and a tigress child stare at him, chanting like a mad cult, slamming the tables with glee.
Sighing loudly, Valen put his hand on his head, a smile gracing his lips."Alright!" he yells, the chanting stops as laughter ensues. Valen wanders towards the kitchen, hidden from the dwarves. He summons his pancake mix, and all of the other ingredients on the table."Lin, get in here, you’re helping," he yells, as he prepares the mixtures.
About a half hour later, the dwarfs are consuming pancakes, Lin moving back and forth from the cook station, her cute maid outfit flutters to her motions.
The sight of hardened dwarfs eating colorful pancakes, while an adorable tigress child in a maid outfit serves food immediately stops Alfred in his tracks. Covered in sweat, and breathing hard, his mind attempting to make sense of the situation.
"Oy, you lousy shits," He yells, mind finally moving forward," Orc ship has been sighted, man the stations!" he yells, the trained sailors immediately leave their food and run up towards the deck.
Alfred turns towards Valen as he exits the kitchen, a kitten picture prevalent on his apron."We need you on deck as well," he says, immediately running after the sailors.
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