Alison started kicking her legs as she clawed for the surface. I found I was enjoying standing in the doorway and watching her struggle as I wondered if she would make it to the surface. However, I did know that if she did make it to the surface from this depth then she still might die, from decompression sickness. My eyes shifted looking past her at the hull of her ship as it sailed ahead of us. I frowned and decided to let it lose me. I glanced at my sails instructing them to raise and stow. The ship instantly began to slow down from the ship's weight dragging through the water. When something hit the surface of the water beside the pirate ship. I watched it sink for five meters before a second one hit the water. At ten meters I recognized it as a barrel. At twenty metres there were four in the water and at thirty meters it exploded. The shock wave pushed Alison back down. This happened again and again, several more times. After the sixth shock wave, Alison was pressed down against the deck. My ship had slowed to a stop and sunk to rest on the ocean floor. At this time, the pirate ship had sailed on, still dropping explosive barrels every dozen or so feet. Alison shot me a glare as she pushed herself off the deck and started clawing her way to the surface again. I was about to relax my hand when I felt a zap rush through it. An air bubble came out of a hole in the side of the lower deck before moving to rest on the deck in front of me. Inside the air bubble, was a woman. This woman was gasping for air as she coughed up the water she had almost drowned in.

“Hello,” I said to her in surprise.

Before she could respond, three more air bubbles came to rest on the deck next to hers, all with men inside them. They were also coughing up water as they tried to catch their breath.

You have reached level two.

The voice of the system whispered in my head. I instantly looked up to see Alison still struggling. However, she was visibly growing weaker and slower. I continued to watch her until she went still and began to float towards the surface. The system's voice whispered into my head again marking Lieutenant Alison Mcgregors death.

You have reached level three.

I let out a sigh before looking back down at the four air bubbles in front of me, with three men and one woman standing inside them. They were all watching Alison.

“Damn, we lost the L.T., and since the recruit isn't here, I'm guessing he is dead too.” the man standing between the other two said with a sigh.

The four of them turned their attention to me before the same man said to me.

“I am Sergeant Liam Redwood on the far end is Corporal Rebecca Coffee and the two men on either side of me are Privates Zack Epp on the left and Buck Wilton on the right. The four of us seem to have accepted the chance to negotiate for our souls, so what's your offer, Kai?”

My eyes drifted back up to Alison as she was nearing the surface, then to the water ripples the ship was leaving in the distance before deciding I needed to move before Alison gave away my position and ordered the sails to open and catch the currents before I looked back at Liam. I was about to open my mouth when an unfurled scroll appeared on the left side of my view, so I could read it but still look at Liam.

Captain Kai has offered six people a soul contract to serve aboard her ship. four people have requested to negotiate the details of the contract they are.

Rebecca Coffee

Zack Epp

Liam Redwood

Buck Wilton

They have asked for the following things to be included or amended in their contracts.

* Twenty-year service

* Permission to spend forty-eight hours or more ashore when the ship is in Port.

* A reasonable wage

* Guaranteed reincarnation here in the dungeon

* Rebecca has requested a separate room for females only

Alison Mcgregor has declined the soul contract.

Nicolas Stone drowned before he could make a selection. He did show signs of attempting to make a selection. Would you like to select negotiate for him?

"Yes, I would like to select negotiate for Nicolas Stone," I told the scroll.

There was a loud bang, then a man in an air bubble appeared next to Buck. The man I assumed was Nicolas was twitching like he had just been electrocuted. He suddenly threw up water and began to gasp for air. It soon turned into coughing as he flailed before getting to his feet and looking at me.

“I accept!” he said raspily.

“You accept what?” I asked curiously.

“Shut up!” Liam suddenly snarled as he glared at Nicolas.

Nicolas turned to look at Liam before shrinking back and shaking his head.

“Nothing, I accept nothing,” he said quietly.

I made a tsk sound as I turned to look back at Liam.

“One hundred years service, you can have provisional permission to go ashore, you are not getting a wage but you can have a percentage of profits from trades or plunder if directly involved, there are no guarantees but I will try to steer the reincarnation to being here in the dungeon and as for a separate room you can just forget that now, do we have a deal?” I asked.

“50 years and a room once we find a shipwright to build it.” Rebecca countered as she looked hopeful.

I pointed at Rebecca with a smile “50 years of service for you and you pay for the room.”

She then nodded and we both said “deal” at the same time. She smiled happily right before her air bubble moved to touch mine then popped as it pushed her inside the captain's quarters. I could feel her soul binding to the ship as I looked her over before turning to look at the men.

"I would like the same deal as her, I have a hobby I could use the room for," Zack told me as he took a few steps forward.

I nodded my head deciding that was fair and I didn't mind. I could feel His soul binding to the ship as he entered the captain's quarters. We smiled at each other before turning to look at the last three.

"I accept" Buck suddenly said as he started walking towards me his bubble shifted with him. I nodded and his bubble touched mine letting him walk in as I felt his soul binding to the ship. As I was turning back to the remaining two.

Buck suddenly screamed "now die you filthy slave!" as he swung his axe towards my throat.

I raised my hand to defend myself from the axe only for it to shatter into particles of light. They then wrapped themselves around Buck's neck and started to squeeze. Buck's hands moved to his neck, clawing at it as he tried to scream before he shattered into particles of light. A scroll appeared in front of me and was read out to all by an angry voice.

Treason!

Buck Wilton has committed treason against his Lord and Captain in accordance with the binding contract he agreed to; his soul has been banished to limbo until his Lord and Captain finds a use for it.

Everyone was staring at the scroll hanging in the air that was now rapidly fading into nothing before an audible gulp was heard.

I noticed Rebecca and Zack taking a few steps away from me as I turned to look at the last two.

I coughed a few times to clear my throat before talking.

“What will it be? Acceptance or…” I trailed off as I looked up at the surface of the water.

I noticed Nicolas taking a step away from Liam before speaking.

"I accept, fifty years service, provisional permission to go ashore, a percentage of trades and plunder I help bring to the ship and the reincarnation thingy, I accept."

I smiled and nodded my head to him. I watched him walk toward me feeling his soul bind itself to the ship as he came into my room. I turned my attention to Liam while the other three stood behind me, watching him.

“I won't go lower than one hundred years for you,” I stated as I glared at him.

Liam glared back at me.

“It's not treason if I kill you before I agree to anything!” he shouted before running towards me with his axe raised but the moment he passed through the edge of his bubble his body looked like it had had all its strings cut and began to float towards the surface.

“Damn, the bubble was keeping us alive,” Zack whispered.

“Seems so,” I agreed as I moved my hand to adjust the helm and make sure we were on course with the intended port so I could meet up with Tishma.

I turned away from the doors but as I did I noticed the words on the scroll sitting to the left of my view change.

Captain Kai has offered six people a soul contract to serve aboard her ship.

This has resulted in the following.

Rebecca Coffee has signed and now serves aboard the Nightwind.

Zack Epp has signed and now serves aboard the Nightwind.

Liam Redwood committed a crime against the captain during negotiations and has perished.

Buck Wilton committed treason and has been stored.

Alison Mcgregor has declined the soul contract and perished.

Nicolas Stone has signed and now serves aboard the Nightwind.

Do you wish to apply Buck Wilton to the ship? This action will result in the ship being repaired by 5% per day.

A smile spread across my face as I eagerly agreed.

“Yes, I would love to have the ship repair itself each day, considering how many planks have fallen off today!” I exclaimed cheerfully as I watched the scroll change again.

Buck Wilton has been applied to the ship, the ship has acquired the skill self-maintenance level 1. You have no more souls in limbo.

When I finished reading the scroll it faded until it vanished.

I looked over at the desk and nodded, it was time to find out what was in that drawer. I walked over to the desk. Standing in front of the drawer, I slid the key I had kept hidden into the keyhole and turned it. A click from the drawer was heard before it slid easily open. Inside was a scroll laying open, with a ship drawn in the middle of the scroll. Its level of detail was very high as I easily recognised it as the ship I was on. However, clouds surrounded the ship all the way to the edges.

“Holy crap, that's a fleet admirals map, they’re meant to be really rare.” Rebecca gushed as she looked down at it.

“What does it do?” I asked her curiously.

“Well, if you are the owner of the map, it shows you everywhere you have been in great detail while these clouds hide everywhere you have not. The best bit is only the owner can see it, everyone else just sees the ship surrounded by clouds,” she explained as she waved her hand indicating what we could all see.

“I own the map, but all I can see is the ship surrounded by clouds,” I told her.

"There wouldn't happen to be a soul orb in that chest, would there?" She asked as she pointed at the chest under the cot.

"Why do you ask?"

"Because someone isn't considered dead if they are trapped in a soul orb waiting for a priest to revive them."

I made a face of annoyance as I eyed the chest noticing it had a small indent about where the medium-sized one had its.

"There are three," I said with a sigh.

I watched Nicolas's eyes roll into the back of his head before he fell to the floor.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Zack and Rebecca both looked very shocked. Zack was the first to recover announcing he had by letting out a low whistle.

"Daaamn, a soul orb costs one platinum each and there are three here, thats like three platinum right there, that's three hundred gold, that's fricken thirty thousand silver, that’s… that’s…" he started counting on his fingers as he frowned before Rebecca had mercy on him and told him.

“That is three million bronze coins, an unbelievable amount of coins that a commoner would never see, let alone dream of having.”

Zack nodded his head as he looked down at the chest.

“The gold coin is also called the nobles coin as they are the only ones that tend to have any other than very wealthy and successful merchants, and they normally use them to buy a small Lordship title.”

I walked over to the chest and pushed the small indent on it, opening the chest I then reached in for the medium chest and pressed its indent, opening it and showing them the merchant's pouch and the three soul orbs.

“Owner of that map is most definitely in one of those orbs,” Rebecca said as she peered into the chest. I let out a sigh of annoyance as I looked down at the three orbs, my left hand clutched around the ethereal scroll that I thrust at them and growled.

“One hundred years of service and relinquish ownership of the admirals' map to me!”

An ethereal elf with long flowing blond hair and green eyes dressed in knee-high boots, leather pants and a frilly cloth shirt yelled. “I refuse! Take us to the church at once!”

You have entered negotiations with

Margaret Silverleaf.

A scroll to the left of my vision appeared and then unfurled itself to show me these words.

“I refuse! You can take two hundred years of service for making demands of me and relinquish the damn map!” I shouted back at her feeling a little cocky that she couldn't attack me. Boy, was I surprised when a strong gust of wind hit me and knocked me off my feet.

“Fuck you, hobgoblin you will do as you are told!” she screamed back at me.

I got to my feet fuming with anger. As I did, I noticed the orbs out of the corner of my eye and turned and grabbed one holding it out to her.

“Five hundred years, the map or we lose an orb to the sea!” I shouted at her as I glared.

She looked at the orb before lifting her nose a little higher.

“Bosun Elwin Silverleaf will be missed, but he would gladly give his life to see this ship and all its cargo and possessions returned to our clan,” she stated calmly.

I walked over to the doors and held the orb out to it threatening to toss it into the ocean as I glared at her.

“Do not think I won't do it,” I stated just as calmly.

She froze as she looked beyond the doors at the ocean, her mouth slowly falling open.

“We are underwater… and sailing,” she said with a disbelieving voice.

She suddenly dropped to one knee, her left fist on the deck as her right fist was placed over her heart, her chin on her chest as she stared intently at the ground.

“My Lord forgive me, I thought you were some thief coming to steal my clan's possessions, I had no idea you were the oceans lordling. I will, of course, obey my clan's laws and agreements and bow to the oceans lordling. However, if I may make one suggestion?” she hastily spoke.

I slowly brought the orb back towards me. I narrowed my eyes at her as I wondered if this was a trick of some kind.

“What is your suggestion?” I asked hesitantly.

“I will serve one thousand years with the option to extend my service if you let me keep the map and stand as your quartermaster, my lord!” she said passionately. She turned her head to look at the chest then her face lit up with an idea before it quickly turned back to the deck.

“My bosun Elwin would eagerly take up the position of bosun aboard your vessel if you are willing to offer it. My shipwright Faelyn Silverleaf would also eagerly jump at the chance to serve aboard the lordlings vessel!”

Two ethereal men appeared behind her as they nodded their heads, the one on the left looked like a young sailor in cloth pants and shirt with leather boots on his feet. The man on the right had a cloth shirt and leather boots as well but his leather pants looked like they had had a few patch jobs done to them, he also wore a belt around his waist with all sorts of tools and things hanging from it. Both men had blond hair and green eyes and looked eerily the same as Margaret.

“I am guessing that is Faelyn on the right and Elwin on the left?”

They both nodded their heads again before Elwin spoke.

“Yes, My Lord, it would be a great honour to serve aboard the Lordling’s vessel.”

I tilted my head as I looked him over before looking down at his soul orb in my hand.

“First, I don't know what you mean by Lordling. Second, I am not sure I need a bosun as I have no need for sailors to move my sails. I can do that with a simple thought.”

I watched what little colour I could see in his face slowly drain before he stammered.

“How can you not know what you are?”

Margaret suddenly stood up and looked at him, I saw him slam his mouth shut before she turned to look at me.

“You are a hobgoblin, you have not evolved into your Lordling form yet, you must be very early days, when did you see a blue lady?.”

I shook my head slowly before mumbling.

“recently, as in I met a blue lady sometime in the last few days, but that was just a hullicination.”

All three suddenly turned to face each other and began to whisper intently before I managed to overhear Faelyn's comment “she’s a hatchling we can not seriously be expected to…” their whispers continued until I heard Elwin. “It is our duty! We swore an oath!” Margaret nodded her head at this comment and turned away from the other two to look at me.

“Our clan is called Silverleaf because we are the elves sworn to answer the call when a Lordling summons us to service. Our entire clan roams the ocean on ships waiting to be called, Honing our skills and perfecting our position and knowledge so that when we are called, we are ready to serve. A captain will gladly become the powder monkey for the Lordlings vessel if that is what is required of them. However, no one in their wildest dreams ever thought one of us would ever be called to service by a hatchling. It is a bit of a shock.”

“A shock?!” Rebbecca suddenly shouted as she took a step toward Margaret.

“A bloody shock was coming aboard a floating wreck only for it to fucken sink in less than thirty seconds!”

Margaret ignored her and kept her focus on me as she thought about what to say next.

“We will of course answer the call My Lord, it is our duty and we did swear a lifelong oath to do so. However, you are a hatchling, therefore we will need certain agreements in our contracts to ensure we can aid you to the best of our abilities and ensure your rise to power.”

The scroll on the left side of my vision changed and as I looked at it I could see the things they wished to negotiate for.

Captain Kai has offered three people a soul contract to serve aboard her ship. They have requested to negotiate the details of their contract, they are.

Margaret of the Silverleaf clan

Elwin of the Silverleaf clan

Faelyn of the Silverleaf clan

They have asked for the following things to be included or amended in their contracts.

* One thousand years of service with options to extend

* Permission to spend forty-eight hours or more ashore when the ship is in Port.

* Certain positions aboard the ship

* Margaret has requested the Quartermaster position

* Elwin has requested the Bosun position

* Faelyn has requested the shipwright position

* The right to renegotiate the contract three times each per century

* Margaret requests to be the captain's advisor

“I am curious, if you are calling the hobgoblin a hatchling then how could your clan have made agreements and oaths with or to the Lordling if the hatchling has not evolved into the Lordling yet?” Zack asked as he moved around me trying to get a look at the scroll.

“Because she is not the first, the ocean only ever has one but that one can be killed and then the ocean selects someone new, I will admit this is the first time it has selected a hobgoblin,” Elwin replied as he watched zack.

“I agree to the contract you may take your posts now,” I said as I turned away from everyone the scroll faded and vanished as the three elves' souls were bound to the ship, becoming more solid, lifelike, their skin was now tanned as if they had been on a ship all their life. I moved to the doors looking out at the ocean. I managed after a few minutes of searching to spot the ripples of the pirate ship off the starboard side moving towards Alison who was far behind us now.

“We will have to rise to the surface before we can go into port, once there I will need to deliver something to a blacksmith. However, we need to lose that pirate ship first,” I said as I watched the ripples. Margaret stepped behind the desk and placed her hand on the map before looking up and shouting.

“Helmsman, come to a south by southwest...” she trailed off as she slowly looked around the room before continuing “..erly, where is the helmsman?”

I laughed as I reached out in front of me and gripped the helm, turning the wheel as I felt my mental compass move until the ship was facing a point between south and southwest.

“Don't have one” I replied.

Margaret slowly smiled as she nodded her head.

“Aye Captain, then pardon me while I issue the directional orders to you!”

I nodded my head as I ran my finger slowly over the shield in front of me.

“We have an hour before this fails and the ocean comes rushing in, we will need to be on the surface by then” I informed my new crew.

I flinched when I heard a muted explosion from far behind the ship followed by a dozen more evenly spaced out.

“Guess they have started dropping those barrels again” I mumbled.

“Depth charges, they’re used to scare the big monsters to the surface so we can hunt them,” Rebecca told me.

My eyes instantly started darting around the surroundings as I felt trepidation running through me again.

"How big are we talking?" I asked nervously.

"Well the little ones are twice the length of this ship, about the same width though…oh maybe a little pudgier. As for the height they are about halfway up the mast" Rebecca said calmly as she watched me.

Nicolas suddenly sat upright and yelled.

"Oh, goddess help me, I'm going to become fat!"

Zack kicked the man's ankle and glared at him before turning back to me and Rebecca.

"Don't worry our ship was halfway back to the pirate port from the edge of the deep waters, those monsters don't come this shallow… normally" she said as she glanced out the doors a little nervously.

I placed my hand over my chest as I muttered something about people taking joy from scaring my poor heart.

We all slowly sat down and rested as we watched the ocean. I hadn't realised 30 minutes had passed until Margaret spoke.

"Captain, make heading west, come to depth, 10 meters."

I turned to look at her, for her to only nod her head and tap the map.

"Pirate ship is well behind us and 10 meters should pop the crows nest out nicely to take a look around." She said as she smiled at me.

I looked confused as I reached out and gripped the ethereal helm, turning the wheel while pulling back gently, bringing the ship's course to the west and the depth to ten meters.

" I am confused, quartermaster, why do we need to bring the crows' nest out of the water when no one is up there?"

I watched her blink a few times as the realization of those words crossed her face.

"Crap, I forgot there's only seven of us." She mumbled.

It was at that moment I felt the ship shudder and I somehow knew the three holes in the bottom of the ship had just been repaired as if they had never been there.

Grabbing the helm again, I pulled it until we slowly rose out of the sea to sail on the surface before letting it go and stepping out of the captain's quarters. I walked across the deck to the railing on the starboard side and looked down and sure enough, the holes in the lower ship were gone.

“How the hell did 5% translate into repairing three holes?” I asked in shock.

“Oh, that would be me,” Faelyn said as he walked over to the rail next to me. He leant over it to Look down at the side of the ship. “I have a skill that can boost a ship's skill by 45%. I can use it once a week. So I guided it to repair those three holes as they were below the waterline. I thought it best that people didn't ask how we managed to get into the dock without sinking.”

I nodded my head and smiled at him.

“Good thinking.”

I turned away from the railing as I noticed something on the horizon. Squinting, I moved one hand to shield my eyes as I tried to get a better look.

Margaret smiled as she stood next to me, shielding her eyes as she looked at the city port on the horizon.

“That is the port of Lekton in the Kingdom Albian, and this port is ruled over by Viscount Peckleton. He is not the best noble in the kingdom but he is fair to the common man, however, if you're a fat merchant ship limping into his port you better be related to a noble or you're about to get fleeced.

I frowned as I turned to look at her, I guess my face had the question on it because she smiled and answered it.

“The map gives descriptions on almost everything.”

“How are we going to avoid being fleeced then?”

Margaret answered my question by holding up a small piece of metal about palm size.

“This is the coat of arms for the Silverleaf clan, anyone that dares disregard it will find their cities visited by the entire clan, there are a lot of us.” she smiled as she pinned it to her shirt just over her heart.

“Well then, let us head into port and brave their lust-filled eyes.” I smiled as I lifted my chin to show my bravery.

It wasn't until we were a short distance out of the port that I had a thought and decided to voice it.

“Uhm, what cargo do we have anyway?”

Margaret turned her head to regard me as she frowned.

“You have not been below deck?”

I shook my head before listening to her.

“Of course, you haven't. Okay, below this deck is the gunners' deck but as this is now the lordlings ship we will have to find a rune crafter and get Faelyn to install a box. taking up most of the gunner deck leaving room for the cannons around the box. We will need to use a room expanding rune with a mana resupply rune so the gunners have space to work. This will also involve a lot of remodelling inside the box with a lot of runes and lumber. Below that is the cargo hold, so we will want a box in the middle of our big box so we can lower cargo down without it getting in the way of anything. All of that will probably cost us about twelve gold, and we will have to find and trust an enchanter aboard our ship.” she gave me a look that said she didn't trust any enchanter anywhere near the ship before she continued. “As for the cargo hold, it is full mostly of crates and barrels containing a great deal of salt and meat. However, by now I would be surprised if the meat is even there. But the one thing aboard this ship that will take it from a food transport to a fat merchant whale is the single crate hidden away below a floorboard in the cargo hold, containing twelve master rune crafting skill books, we had intended to sell one in random ports. of course, we would not sell one in every port, we are not idiots.”

I stared at her for a solid minute before a smile spread across my face and said.

“I am an expert enchanter.”

She smiled back at me before she said “then all we need is wood.”

“Don't we all?” Rebecca joked as she grinned at us

The three of us quietly giggled before we heard the voice that would bring the challenges of the port.

“Heave to! And set your sea anchors, prepare to be boarded"