Early Evening - Early Winter : Old Home

-

"Is everyone ready?" Father came out of the cave with a few chests of treasure stored in a larger chest.

He was the last to get ready. "I think so." Quickly checking to make sure I had the few things I needed, I looked over at Mother and Krystallo, who nodded as well.

"Alright then. Krystallo, we will fly at your pace, so if you need a break, just let us know. It will be a fairly long flight." Father spoke with a slightly worried expression, knowing that Krystallo's pride would prevent her from saying anything.

-But I'm sure she’ll be fine, right?- "How far is it?"

"It’s only a smidge over half the distance to Kaelallan, but we will be taking our time."

-Ah.. that is pretty far…- Knowing firsthand how little Krystallo has ever flown, I couldn’t help but get a bit worried as well. -Maybe I'll ask for a break in her stead if I see she’s getting tired…- "In any case, let’s get going. It will be nice to watch the sunset above the clouds." Looking over at Maria, I motioned her over. "Here, I’ll carry y-"

But I was quickly cut off. "I will carry her!" Krystallo pridefully stuck out her hand to let Maria promptly climb on.

-Did she.. plan that?- Understanding I wouldn’t be able to change her mind to carry Maria, I quickly turned to Mother. "If she’s carrying Maria, would you like me to carry the memorial, Mother?"

But, unsurprisingly, she just gave a slightly saddened glance at the metal box next to her. "It’s alright, sweetie. I’d like to carry it myself…"

Feeling bad that I was the only one practically carrying nothing, I looked toward Father. "Is there anything you want me to carry?"

But he just shook his head as well. "I think this should be everything we need. Krystallo, you have your favorite gem, right?"

"Mhm!" She quickly nodded with an excited look.

"Alright, then. I think we are ready!" Seeing everyone nod in agreement, he quickly spread his wings and took to the sky with the rest of us quickly following suit.

*Fwoosh-fw-fw-fwoosh*

But instead of having a super exciting road trip style of flight, it was quiet and a bit boring, at least at the beginning.

Once we eventually got above the clouds, however, things got a bit more comfortable. Mother and I could simply glide with a bit of help from wind magic while Father tried to guide Krystallo through some simple magic that would make flying easier.

I honestly wanted to step in and help out a bit, but another part of me thought it would be better for her to learn herself. -Once she starts getting tired, I'll help…-

But surprisingly, she was quite relaxed even while simultaneously learning magic from Father.

Mother, on the other hand, was still concerned. "How are you holding up?"

But Krystallo thought Mother’s worry was needless. "Hehe~, perfectly! I don’t need to flap my wings as much anymore!" She pridefully looked up in the air before turning her attention back to Father.

-Haah… I wonder if this flight will even make her tired…- Looking ahead once again, I looked at the sun setting on the horizon with a warm expression.

The clean white clouds slowly turned orange as the snowflakes that floated in them glistened like gold.

It was an incredibly beautiful view that even made Father stop his magic lesson to enjoy the moment.

But eventually, the sun finished setting and the rainbow-colored night sky was left behind, leaving me to spend all the time I could stargazing.

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But it made me quickly lose track of time.

Before I knew it, nearly 9 hours had passed, but we had already flown close to 6,000 kilometers.

It wasn’t actually until Father snapped me out of autopilot that I realized how far we had gone. "We should be getting close."

-Huh?- Quickly snapping out of my thoughts, I looked up from the ocean below to see a small island cresting the horizon. "Is that the island with the space rune?"

"Yes. The rune is in an old temple from the Great War that was built there."

-An old temple?- Immediately getting a bit excited to see a structure over 10,000 years old, I got ready to ask if I could fly ahead, but instead noticed something odd. "Is there normally a ship on the island?"

Father’s expression warped immediately. "Uh, no? Are the ships in the water or beached?"

"It’s a pretty big ship floating in the water just off the beach."

Mother’s expression quickly darkened. "That could be a problem…"

-Are they not supposed to be there?- Thinking I might be able to fight, I jumped at the opportunity. "Can I go up ahead and take a look?"

Father seemed to understand what I meant immediately. "Just don’t kill them all. I need to at least talk to their leader."

"Roger that!" Not wanting to waste a single second, I dropped a few hundred meters and blasted my thrusters. *pssh-RUMBLE*

Behind me, Maria watched with a look of awe on her face. "What a monster…"

Mother simply smiled proudly at her. "You should take pride in the fact that such a ‘monster’ is your Master."

Slowly turning back to see the blue light from my thrusters continuing to get smaller and smaller, her cheeks started to redden. "Maybe.. being a slave won’t be so bad…"

-

- Unknown Woman ~

"Haah…" I let out a deep breath as I sat down on an empty alcohol barrel behind the helm. "At least I have you to take my mind off those idiots…" Letting my black cat, Muffin, hop in my lap, I gave him a few pets. "Thank you for being here, Muffin. You help more than you can imagine."

As I gently touched the recording artifact on his collar though, a loud shout came from the shore. "Captain!"

"What now?!"

"Are you sure we should set up here?! That temple gives me a bad feeling!" It was one of my crewmates.

"Yes, we are setting up here! Muffin already cleared the perimeter, and when I watched through the artifact, there was nothing odd! This will be our new home, so you should get used to it!" I spoke with an annoyed tone since this was the third crewmate to ask the same thing. "Haah…" -Instead of worrying, they should be thankful we even found this damn island…-

The island was extremely secluded and was akin to a random outcrop in deep water, but that made it perfect for us. The water was too deep and dangerous for trade ships to come close, but it was still close enough to the major routes that we would not have to travel too far for resources and money.

-Sinder’s main trade routes are all only a couple days from here… I truly couldn’t have asked for a more ideal spot…- Slowly turning my attention back to Muffin, I finally decided to continue helping the crew and perched him on my shoulder. -I guess I should start with a few barrels…-

Quickly making my way down to the cellar, I picked up a barrel of frozen meat and made my way onto shore.

*puff-puff-puff-puff* Quickly making my way up the beach, I came up to a small path that led into the woods and followed it until I came up to a large clearing that bordered a huge freshwater lake.

We were planning to just set up camp here for now, but eventually, I wanted to turn the place into a pirate city. -I'd need to call some of the other groups up north but this would give me more control over them than we already have...- Plus it was a perfect way to get a steady source of resources, trade, and money that would last even when I gave up my position as captain. -Hell, if things go well I could make the next Kingdom of Elynnor.-

Although Elynnor had long since become a proper nation, it was originally founded by pirates, with the current royal family being descendants of the captain who settled the area.

-But now isn’t the time to daydream…- Quickly shaking off the extravagant thoughts, I looked up toward the group of tents and simple shelters with a proud expression -I just need to take things one step at a time!-

"T’ think th’ capt’n can make a face li’e that." One of the new crewmembers, who was helping set up a tent nearby, spoke as I walked past.

Everyone who heard him stared at him with wide eyes as the entire area fell silent.

"I thought our capt’n was a stuck up boss li’e one o’ them nobl-" *THUNK*

The sound of someone hitting wood resonated through the air after I hit him in the head with the barrel I was carrying.

The surrounding crew who was watching in silence immediately went back to what they were doing as well. "Haha, t’ think the newbie got his first beatin’ already."

They all let out some hardy laughs as I set down the barrel and made sure I didn’t break anything. -No cracks? Maybe I didn’t hit him hard enough…-

But as I idly thought about that, the entire island shook. *THUMPPP*

Immediately whipping around, I looked toward the shore with a pale face. -WHAT WAS THAT?!-