The next day was quite heavy for the sailors of La Vieja Ana, since the night watches continue to diminish their spirits and bodies.

Although no anomaly had occurred during these days, most of the crew on board still trusted the captain's judgment and continued to treat each of his guards seriously.

Lucas and Ricardo had just woken up and were going to target practice with Paulo in the helm area.

Unfortunately for them, they weren't able to use the weapons the helmsman had given them, as Ron had never returned them so he had no choice but to practice with a traditional flintlock weapon.

"How are we supposed to learn to shoot... without shooting?" Ricardo asked, somewhat disappointed with the flintlock weapon in his hand.

"Although it should be obvious, I remind you that most of the supplies on board are limited and the captain doesn't shit gunpowder at the moment, so that some rookies are wasting it" Paulo replied, while chewing a black algae with golden points.

"Learning the basics is enough, it's definitely pulling a trigger and I wasn't planning on becoming a soldier either"

"In any case, I brought you two crossbows, so that you can practice aiming and we can have a little fun these two hours"

Paulo proceeded to explain to them how to aim and what the best techniques were to avoid being targeted, then they practiced unloading and loading the flintlock weapons they had brought, but were not allowed to use.

The practice lasted practically two hours and the boys of the guard going to sleep were like the end of class bells

"Very well, guys, you've made a lot of progress today, but it's almost dawn…" Paulo said chewing the algae in his mouth ".... If you manage to keep up this pace, probably in a week you'll have the same experience as the sailors on the ship."

"Are you so inexperienced?" Lucas asked.

"Perhaps you don't remember, but you're on a merchant ship and gunpowder is expensive enough to be used lightly" Paulo replied as he watched the disappointed faces of the boys

"Anyway, remember that common flint weapons only have one good shot, so most battles end up being resolved with swords or other soft weapons…"

"...the ones we could win" Paulo muttered to himself.

The two boys said goodbye to Paulo and went to carry out their assigned tasks.

On the way, they met Ron going with a group of sailors to the deck, Ricardo again tried to get the box from him, but Ron ignored him again.

Unfortunately for both of them, after yesterday's talk with Paulo for Ron, those two boxes had become his symbol of faith.

He knew that his chances were very few, however, he decided to bet his life that the merchant ship, being smaller than the military, would not be attacked.

If the bet went well, he would return the boxes to his friend Paulo as an indication that you should never lose faith and if it went wrong then they were of little use, because they would be dead.