Mid Afternoon - Early Spring : Strait of Western Elynnor

"To think the young miss has grown so much!"

"You have truly grown into a gem!"

"To think you have reached S rank at such a young age. You truly are the captain's daughter!" Emelia was getting showered in praise by the crew, none of which she knew how to respond to.

Emelia looked around for help as a muscular woman walked up from below deck. "Hey, you old farts, back up and give her some space!"

Emelia's face lit up as soon as she saw the woman. "Auntie Lynn!" Darting through the crowd of people, Emelia jumped into Lynn’s arms.

"Haha, to think I was worried that you wouldn’t remember me, it seems like that was a needless worry." She gently rubbed Emelia's head with a motherly smile.

“How could I possibly forget Auntie Lynn?!” She looked up at her with a childish determination.

“So..” Lynn's smile turned smug. “When did you get a boyfriend?”

Emelia didn't understand though. “Huh? I.. don’t?”

Lynn twitched a bit at the unexpected response. "So who's the new kid?" She slowly turned around and looked up at me. "Did you have another kid, captain?"

"Hahaha, I was wondering how long it would be before someone noticed him!" Adrian let out a hardy laugh. "He’s a friend I met in Emelia's tavern."

Lynn didn't believe him at all. "You want us to believe you actually made a friend? And a noble kid, at that."

"Very funny Lynn. You'll come to like him soon as well, don't worry." He wore a playful but provoking smile.

As Lynn looked back at me with a curious look, I just gave a gentle wave. "I guess now that Emelia has had her moment, I can introduce myself."

I lightly jumped off the railing down onto the main deck. Most of the crew wore cautious, untrusting looks, but I couldn't blame them.

"My name is Vasilias Whyte, and that good boy up there is Ilios." I pointed up towards Ilios who was sticking his head through the railing. "I can't say anything about where I'm from, but it's a pleasure to meet you all." As soon as I finished my introduction, no one moved or said anything.

Silence just filled the area until Lynn walked up and set her hand on my shoulder. "Just about everyone here has a sensitive past so don't worry about it. The only thing that determines how you're treated here is your strength!" She wore a friendly smile.

"How do you all test each other's strength? Do you just fight it out?” I originally planned to peacefully ride across and learn about the ocean, but by the looks of the crew, learning anything from them would be difficult.

"Haha, we are pirates not barbarians! We determine strength with arm wrestling! It helps keep the damage to a minimum when some of the crew members are well into the nation rank."

-I guess that's a decent idea, but mages are at a total disadvantage..- As I looked around though, not a single crewmember looked even remotely like a mage.

Seeing me look over the crowd, she tried to encourage me a bit. “You don't have to beat everyone to get the crew's recognition, you just need to do the best you can!”

-Hmm..- I wanted to try it but at the same time didn't want to make a scene. -If I hold back a tad it should be fine..- "Well, in that case, I'll give it a try." I wore a relaxed smile.

But it seems the crew just got provoked by my relaxation. "I noble brat dares to be so arrogant on this ship?!” Grabbing everyone's attention, a random crewmember stood up and pointed at me. “I'll be the one to test and challenge you!"

-Who does this guy think he is?- Him provoking me definitely fired me up though.

As I got ready to respond, Lynn whispered to me. "His name is Vice, he’s currently one of the strongest crewmembers besides me and Adrian so don't feel bad about yourself and just decline his challenge. If you don't think you can challenge anyone, don't worry and just relax. I'll at least make it so you aren't bothered too much.." She seemed genuinely worried for me.

Her worry went unregarded though. He piqued my interest too quickly. "Haha, don't worry. I'm more than enough to deal with some delusional pirate."

“You little..” Vice showed clear and visible anger as he walked back below deck with me following behind him.

Back above deck, Adrian looked over at Lynn with a playful look. "If you want to see something hilarious, you should come below deck."

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Raising her head from her palms, she gave a look of confusion and curiosity.

As we walked down the stairs, we walked onto a floor of the ship that was full of supplies, beds, and cannons. -It's quite spacious down here..- Even with all of the supplies and cannons, there was plenty of walking room.

Continuing across the deck, towards the bow, there was a small open area lit by an artifact, with one huge wooden peg acting like a table. (It’s just a strong peg that reinforces the bow by connecting it to upper decks)

"Hey kid, I hope you don't mind your arm being broken." Vice was oozing confidence as he walked up to the table.

A crewmember who seemed glued to his side whispered in his ear. "Man, shouldn't you be more careful? You saw how the captain introduced him, right?"

"You're just paranoid. Cap probably liked him because the kid gave him money or something." Vice casually brushed off his friend's warning.

"Haah… You should really listen to your friend's warning."

Vice’s friend slowly glanced back at me. "He.. heard that?" His face was covered in anxiety.

"Demihumans are known to have good hearing, I'm sure it's nothing." Somehow ignoring yet another red flag, he finally sat down at the makeshift table with an unbothered, confident grin.

-This guy loves brushing off warnings huh..- I was genuinely in shock.

*tap-tap*

As I sat down I tapped on the wood to double-check its hardness. -I need to hold back a bit to not break it but.. it should be fine.-

- Lynn ~

"If you want to see something hilarious, you should come below deck." Adrian had an excited look.

-How long has it been since I've seen you laugh and smile so much..- Although I knew I could account for some of his joy and excitement with Emelia, I knew there was something more than that. -Is it really because of this kid?- I turned back and looked at the demihuman named Vasilias with curiosity.

As we went below deck, the crew was talking up a storm.

"There's no way that kid is going to beat Vice right?"

“No, his presence is practically non-existent.. It feels like he’s a normal guy..”

"Yeah.. but that kid's demeanor is.."

"Is what?"

"Something about it feels off.. it doesn't feel like arrogance."

"You're probably just imagining it."

I couldn't help but agree with them. The kid's presence was the same as a normal person, completely incomparable to any of the crew. -Something about the way that kid acts worries me though..-

As I looked over at Adrian, I saw him grinning cheek to cheek. "I'll bet 2 platinum on Vasilias!" He lightly tossed 2 platinum coins onto the table.

*C-chink*

The entire room went completely silent and everyone instantly rethought who they wanted to bet on.

But since it was a bet that didn't make sense, someone gave a possible reason for it. “Is Cap just trying to pay us in a fancy way this time?”

*thud-clink* "I'm all in on Vice." One of the younger crew members tossed their entire coin punch next to the table, wanting to get more of a payout when he wins.

-What the f..- I couldn't help but watch the scene in disbelief.

"25 gold on Vice."

"20 gold on Vice."

"23 gold on Vice."

One after another, the crew continued betting huge on Vice.

I couldn't believe it. -Are they insane?-

Among the crew, I had been around Adrian for the longest by far. He was someone I grew up with and was constantly around, but I had never seen him so genuinely confident in someone winning. -And the crew is going against that confidence?-

I couldn't help but watch the scene in disbelief as everyone threw entire pouches of gold next to the table.

"What's your vote, Master?" My (26-year-old) apprentice, Mary, was waiting for my vote.

I leaned down and whispered so no one could hear. "Put every penny you have on Vasilias, this is a chance to win big."

She seemed a bit taken aback before walking up and dropping her pouch down. "353 gold on Vasilias."

Everyone in the room paused and stared at us with greedy smiles, but I didn't care. "2 platinum on Vasilias." I tossed my ID into the pile. I was one of the few crewmembers that used bank artifacts since I didn't like carrying coins.

"So what's the final bet tally?" Vasilias looked a bit curious, but his confidence didn't fade at all, and he wasn't the slightest bit nervous.

-How rich must you be to look at the pile of coins totally unfazed..-

Vice looked back over at Vasilias with a greedy smile. "Should be 13:4, me."

It was a bet with thousands of gold on the line, and the crew simply didn't think it was unusual.

"Haha, to think I'm going to make so many people go broke in one sweep." Vasilias looked over the crew with an unreadable look.

Vice didn't notice it as he set his elbow down on the table and got ready. "Don't cry if your hand is broken after this, kid."

Vasilias didn't even respond to him, he just rolled up his sleeves revealing an extremely toned forearm, and grabbed onto Vice’s hand.

-And here I was thinking he was just a noble pretty boy.. even his form is pretty good..-

As they both got ready, Phil finally walked up to the table. He was the crewmate in charge of bet distribution and finances on the ship. Simply put, he was the best with numbers among any of us there.

On top of being the accountant, he was also the judge for things like this. "Okay, are you both ready?" He lightly set his hand over theirs to make sure they weren't starting before the countdown. "Alright. 3.. 2.. 1.. Go!"

*Crrreeeaakkkkk*

The creaking of the boat echoed through the silent room as people couldn't believe their eyes.

Vice's face was steadily getting more red as veins started bulging out of his forearm. Vasilias, on the other hand, seemed completely relaxed.

-What a monster..- He withheld Vice's full strength totally casually.

The entire crew watched them in silence and awe.

Vice couldn't believe it either. "That's.. impossib-"

*pop-Crack*