I had no idea how long Captain Hawk had been talking or what he was talking about. I couldn’t stop yawning since he started preaching. He reminded me so much of Master. Well, not based on his look but his non-stop rambling. They shared the same similarity in that aspect, although I hoped Captain Hawk wouldn't roar as much as Edgar.

The weird man with an eye-patch on his left eye agreed with me too. He had yawned for nine times- oh, no! Ten times since Captain Hawk started to speak. I'm sure I can get along well with him. We shared the same perspective on rambling and lecturing.

Uh oh! The bald man was about to fall! I can’t believe he actually fell asleep while standing. Looking at his shiny bald head, I moved slightly to the left to avoid the blinding reflection on his head.

I counted everyone present on the deck – A total of eight crews including me. I wondered if we had more crew on the ship? And… am I the only female on this ship? I remembered Captain Hawk mentioned about gathering more crews to join his ship previously. Did he succeed?

“Alright, that’s all for now. If you have any more questions, you can ask anytime. Baldy, take her to the small room next to the captain’s cabin.” Said Captain Hawk, his eyes fixed on the bald man.

“Yes, Captain. Come here, beauty. Follow me. Is this your cat? I always wanted a cat,” Said Baldy, the man who had almost burned me to death by his shiny head.

“Hello, Baldy. What a nice necklace you have there. This is Oyen,” I said cheerfully to him, praising the weird bones and shell necklace he wore.

I watched as Baldy dragged my luggage all the way down the stairs and along the narrow pathway. Struggling with my heavy luggage, he staggered on the floor and almost fell. Should I feel bad? Yeah, I should. Ah, poor wooden floor. They were covered in scratches.

He stopped in front of a room and opened the door.

“Here we are, this is your room.” Said Baldy, wishing me good luck and left me alone to deal with the unknown monster lurking in the dark, tiny room.

I looked at the bare room that was smaller than the turkey coop we used to have before our turkey ran away because someone had forgotten to lock the door. That someone was scolded by Edgar and had been punished to eat vegetarian diet for a whole month.

Life on the sea is not luxurious, I reminded myself over and over again.

I walked over to the bed and I couldn’t help but frowned by the disgusting smell of urine and vomit all over it.

Life on the sea is not luxurious, I told myself again.

At least the room came with a small round window I can barely fit my head. I closed the door and took out my wand. I had spent half of my mana just to clean the mattress and get rid of the horrible stench.

I took out a lantern and put it on top of my luggage. Next, I spread a new bed sheet and covered the horrible-looking mattress. I sat on the bed and stared at the luggage that doubled as my bedside table. I tried to fit in as much as I could inside the luggage. Master had forbidden me from keeping my stuff inside of Baddie's pocket, only my cauldron and broom were in there.

“Ah, home sweet home. Great job, Mia.” I gave a pat on my shoulder, I deserved this compliment.

Seeing that everything was in place, I looked at Baddie who had found his spot under the bed. Lucky for him, there was an available vacancy under that bed. I can’t imagine him going around the ship looking for a job.

“I’m sorry Baddie, this was Master’s decision to let you join me in my adventure,” I apologized to Baddie who had been sulking at me when he knew he had to resign his post at my previous queen size bed. Baddie snorted and refused to talk to me.

Oh, well, if you said so. I left him as he got himself busy introducing himself to the spiders and dust under the bed. I walked out of the room and climbed up the stairs to make friends with my fellow crews.

“Stay out of the way, young girl!” A man yelled at me, he was carrying large crates down the stairs. I pinned my back against the wall, giving him way as he passed through. I watched his back as he disappeared in the corner. He was such a strong man, I couldn’t help but admired him.

Finally made my way back to the deck, I looked around to see where the rest of the crews were. I couldn’t see Baldy or the eyepatch man, and Captain Hawk wasn’t there too. Did they suddenly got eaten by a shark?

“Stay out of the way, young girl!” The strong man yelled at me again. He grabbed a large sack just next to where I stood and carried it down the stairs again.

“Don’t mind him. That Derby boy always acts that way. Mia, right? I’m Jakob,” Another man suddenly appeared behind him and greeted me.

I looked at the handsome man with golden hair and blue eyes, he was about a head taller than me.

“Mia,” I said, I had no idea too either I was introducing myself or calling him.

Jakob smiled and grabbed the large sack, carrying it down the stairs as Derby did. I wondered if I had to do it too? Well, I’m part of the crew too. Master said I must share the responsibility with the rest of the crews and not let others look down on me.

I took a deep breath and grabbed the brown sack.

Oh, pumpkin! My back was going to break! What are these? Stones?

“Mia! Put it down! You don’t have to carry it,” A childish voice yelled at me.

I turned around and saw an adorable young boy slightly lower than me carrying a bucket and a mop. He looked exactly like the imaginary younger brother Edgar refused to kidnap for me. I smiled at him and pinched his cheek. This little boy shall be my new brother.

He smacked my hand and puffed his cheek at me. Angry, he scolded me. “Don’t ruin my face!”

“I’m sorry,” I apologized to him. “You remind me of my younger brother. What’s your name?”

“I’m Fran,” He said. He pushed the bucket and the mop to me and ordered me to mop the floor. I can’t believe this little brat actually dared to order me around? Fine. I shall do it because I’m a good girl. I took the mop and started mopping the floor. Luckily, I had a practice on mopping before I left the cottage.

Fran disappeared from the deck and came back later with a broom. He swept the deck and sighed each time he turned around to my direction. I had to admit, he was good with sweeping. At least better than me.

Not wanting to lose to Fran, I matched his pace and put my best effort to mop the floor. Must not lose face, must not lose face…

“Mia, what are you doing?” Said Captain Hawk, suddenly appearing behind me.

“As you can see Captain, I’m mopping the floor,” I said proudly to him.

Must not lose face, I told myself.

“Hmm… Fran, switch with Mia. Let her sweep the floor instead.” Said Captain Hawk, grabbing the mop from my hand and calling Fran over.

Fran sighed and came over, passing me the broom. Confused, I watched as Captain Hawk disappeared into the cabin again.

Fran shook his head and sighed. If he keep on shaking his head that way, I’m sure his head will fall off soon.

He took the bucket and mop, dipped the mop into the bucket of water and started to wet the floor with the mop.

I frowned as I watched him washed the mop inside the bucket of water and smeared the floor with dirty water. This young boy clearly didn’t know how to mop.

Deciding that it wasn’t my business, I started sweeping the floor. I was sure I was such a good sweeper, but the wind had decided to plot against me. It kept on scattering the dust that I had painstakingly swept all afternoon.

By the time Fran had finished mopping, he lost his patience and fired me from my post. That little boy couldn’t be messed up with when he was angry. He sure was scary, I changed my mind about making him my brother.

“Giving up already, young missy? You want to go home now?” Said Jakob, noticing the gloom on my face. He sat next to me as we watched the sun disappeared on the horizon. He passed me a butter cookie and pat my shoulder.

“I can’t lift heavy crates, I can’t sweep and I can’t mop… I feel useless…” I confessed to Jakob the thought I had been having for the past couple of hours.

“I won’t deny that,” Jakob chuckled, he offered me another piece of butter cookies. “…but Captain Hawk said that you’re a strong warrior. The time will come then you will prove your strength to us. Now, let’s go and have some dinner. Don’t sulk and sit here alone.”