The missile struck the wall of the water that surrounded the tornado and promptly exploded, resulting in the water splitting apart.

Soon after, the wind stopped and the waters calmed. It baffled us but there was no time to wonder what happened for alas the thing that was approaching us was revealed.

It was a wooden battleship. The front sails had been torn by the blast and its bow was damaged. Sailors on the deck scrambled to repair it while two individuals stood at the helm and were staring at us with anxious expressions.

"Do you see them?" Yeti asked.

"Confirmed. I bet that's the captain and the other is the first mate or some high ranking bloke," Diplomat said.

[Uploading identities to databank. Please proceed with caution]

Indeed, this time, we would try not to immediately blow them up.

"We need to hail them," Yeti said.

Indeed, our ship was small and so Yeti decided to ride on the other party's "pity"

"Our ship is smaller and they will assume we won't have much of a fight left if we hail them. But there is a problem, how do we hail them? I am unsure of this world's naval traditions," Yeti explained.

"Let's do what all humans do," Diplomat said. He walked to the very edge of the ship's bow and waved his hand.

"Confirming. The two persons at the helm are pointing their telescopes at us. Wave harder," Snake said.

Diplomat had both his hands up high in the air. He waved at the ship until there was a response of any kind.

"I'm seeing some other actions being undertaken... they're raising a white flag, I repeat, they're raising a white flag!" Snake said.

I confirmed her sighting to Eva who in turn tried to decipher what it meant. A white flag in this world would be different from that of Earth's, it may be a symbol of impending aggression.

It was too soon to say that a ship that size was surrendering to a mere Cog.

Our two ships continued sailing towards one another until we were only a few hundred yards away from each other. The wooden battleship suddenly stopped, forcing us to stop too.

"What are they doing?" Yeti was confused. The battleship's crew had closed the sails and exited the deck with only a handful of them staying. They surrounded the two at the helm when they stepped down and walked to their ship's bow where they began communicating with us.

[Deciphering.. now]

"Ahoy! I am Lira, captain of this here vessel. We are a humble merchant ship sailing from Graven bringing a variety of goods and luxuries to Port Idogo to the Western Shores," She spoke in a clear voice. The person who said this was clad in a suit that resembled the suits of admirals from the old British Royal Navy albeit differently colored. While the royal navy officers of old sported a dark blue coat, the person wore a dark purple coat.

The person was also a woman, even the one beside her.

Eva's translation efforts were not in vain. All of us understood what she had just said, making communications here on out easier. But.. I couldn't help but worry that Eva was actually using almost all her computing power and resources just to accurately do translations.

"They call that a humble merchant ship? I call BS. Also, whatever the fuck happened to the freak water tornado surrounding it!?" Snake said.

"Diplomat, you got this bud," Yeti said.

"Aye, I got this," Diplomat said.

We wondered how the people on that battleship thought when they saw four people in bulky black armor that they have never seen before sailing on a Cog that somehow had more powerful ordinances than the average wooden ship.

"Greetings, I am Diplomat. I speak on behalf of everyone onboard this vessel. We are an independent entity trying to seek refuge on nearby shores," Diplomat said through a loud speaker.

His loud and intentionally seductive voice surprised and smoothed the hearts of the two women onboard, or so I thought.

"Seeking refuge? What hast happened for ye to flee?" Lira asked with a confused expression.

"Is she being archaic with us now?" Snake asked.

"Maybe?" Yeti replied.

Diplomat then continued to make up a story of how our entire town up to the north was destroyed by the Empire's explorers, taking away our homes and killing the rest of our people. This was enough to grant us sympathy by the people on the wooden battleship.

"I-I see.. I then must apologize for the reckless show earlier. We activated one of our spells to deter what we thought was a pirate vessel heading towards our ship. I humbly apologize for our mistake," Lira said.

"There is no need to apologize, we too had done you ill by firing one of our ordinances at your ship. We were scared, we thought we had encountered another monster," Diplomat said.

"A-another monster?" Lira was stunned.

"Yes, we thought a giant squid was headed towards us, we have thus been relieved that it was not true. A friendly face to come by is a breath of fresh air," Diplomat explained.

Diplomat had gotten good at conversing with the world's inhabitants. I hoped that the region we were headed to did not harbor too much of a difference and diversity in language.

"Right then. I must let go of formalities, is that alright?" Lira asked.

"That would be acceptable," Diplomat said.

"Right then, you people don't know where you're headed right?" Lira asked.

"Correct," Diplomat answered.

"If you continue heading south, you'll eventually find yourself in Hilridan Shores. Port Mustaf is near here but I doubt they'd let you in without paying a heft sum of your ship's goods and supplies because I doubt you have any silver or gold, no?" Lira said.

"We have no such gold or silver, only a humble stash of food," Diplomat said.

"I see, well then, I encourage you to sail to Port Graven where we sailed. It is the most open port in this area of the seas. If you explain your story properly, you may be able to dock whilst only needing to pay a part of your cargo," Lira suggested.

"Oh? Well then, I shall tell my fellow crew. Thank you for your suggestion. You have are sincerest of thanks," Diplomat said.

"Safe travels, Diplomat," Lira ended.

Our two ships then sailed past each other for the first and maybe the last time. As we passed by the wooden battleship's side, their were no hatches for cannons to poke their heads out. I was mistaken to assume that the ship was actually a battleship. Must have been a glorified wooden cargo ship.

Yeti summed up all our thoughts of the ship in one sentence.

"That's one hell of a merchant ship,"

As we sailed forth to the south, the wooden ship turned to the west and vanished into the distance. Yeti was monitoring its movement for any chance of course, even if they were out of sight, there was still a chance the ship would tail us and ambush us by dusk.

"Radar shows they're sailing straight to the west. We are now alone with waters on all horizons," Yeti said.

"I doubt that would be the last ship we encounter. Everything went smoothly but I can't say that the rest would be so civilized," Diplomat said.

[Lira uploaded to Database]

The wind had slowed down. At the rate we were sailing, we wouldn't reach the other side of the strait in the estimated time det by Eva.

"Good thing we have enough food stored for a week, that is if we considered ourselves in the rations but so far, Eva had updated her estimates and that we only need to eat every 3 days," Yeti said.

"That is true, still, I'm hungry so I'll go grab something below and accompany the little girl," Snake said as she shrunk her suit and went down the ship.

"Ask for her name, if she has one, that is," Diplomat said.

"Will do," Snake said.

It was smooth sailing for the next couple of hours. When dusk finally arrived, we turned off our suit light to avoid detection. The sky was littered with large clouds, effectively forming a sort of blanket across the night sky that prevented much light from illuminating the sea's surface.

"You know, it's only been a few days since we got here but I still can't fathom thoroughly that we're actually.. in another world," Yeti said.

"Well, to see is to believe but we're not just seeing it but also living it. A brand new world where we can walk, breathe, and live. Not even the scientists back at home knew this was even the slightest of which possible. In a way, we're lucky, but in another side of the spectrum, we're damn screwed," Diplomat said.

"Say, Diplomat.. and Ghost, haven't you ever wondered.. if all our sacrifices have bore the fruits that were promised we would bear for the world?" Yeti asked.

There was a silence that took over before Diplomat replied.

"I would say.. for the most part, yeah. Earth has been at peace for quite some time, 80 years or so, most of it was because of our actions behind the scenes. Without us, there would be no peace," Diplomat said.

"We're cold blooded killers, eh?" Yeti said.

I saw Diplomat smile awkwardly under his visor before saying,

"Truth be told, we're more than just cold-blooded killers. We operate because of our fears, our fears that one day, some day, or in the future, we would witness what we had tried to much to forget.. all of us have something like that, right? Something we wish to forget but could never do so, so instead, we walk out, facing the eternal rain of bullets and hell just so others won't have to go through what we did," Diplomat said.

I then realized I still had my armor at it's normal size so I had it shrunk and I leaned back on the block that was in front of the helm.

"Do you think this world deserves us?" Yeti asked.

It was quite an odd question coming from Yeti.

"Well.. what do you mean?" Diplomat asked instead.

"This world was the first to attack us, should we even show them mercy if they begged it?" Yeti asked.

"To dictate how one's life is worth is beyond humanity, if you were to ask me how I really felt about it. But we are bound by our duty to humanity as well, the duty to protect the masses and expelling anything or anyone who wish to topple what we worked so hard to build," Diplomat said.

"If you were to ask me, a life is worthless if it has no meaning, even if it does, I would still gladly take it away if they mean me or the one's I protect ill," Snake walked out from under the deck and sat on the stairs that connected the main deck to the helm.

"How is the little girl?" Yeti asked.

"She is asleep. Thanks to Eva, I somewhat understood what she was telling me," Snake answered, "She also has no name, meaning we could name her,"

"Is she really a slave as we thought her to be?" Diplomat asked.

"I think, she only told me what she remembered. She was from a village somewhere in near the Empire, she was taken from her home. Her village, she said was 'destroyed' and 'burned' by some beasts," Snake said.

"Beasts?" Yeti was curious.

"Yes, and speaking of beasts, I would gladly take the life of another of those goblins if we were to come across their kind again, their blood doesn't stink as much," Snake said.

"We are in no position to dictate what their lives are worth, that decision falls onto only one," Diplomat said.

At first I thought they were referring to some God of Death but they both turned to look at me.

"Our God of death.. " They whispered.