Late Evening - Early Spring : Strait of Western Elynnor

"What are you guys doing up?" Lynn casually walked up once she saw us.

"Well I got up to watch over the ship since we are getting close to the pocket, but Vasilias said he saw 3 ships towards the horizon from the crows nest."

"What, are you sure they were ships and not just your eyes playing tricks on you in the dark?" She didn't seem to believe me.

I couldn't blame her though. "Yeah, two big ones with a smaller one in the middle."

"Could it be 2 merchant ships and an escort?"

Adrian took over as he leaned up against the railing. "We think it's either that or a subjugation team."

"Whatever it is, I think we should check it out. If it's merchants, we rob them, if it's a subjugation team, we just leave. It's not like they'd be able to catch us if we run either way."

Adrian slowly turned to me. "Vasilias, how far out were they? Could you tell?"

"Probably 40 or 50 kilometers."

"Damn, okay. We need to get moving then. Lynn, go wake up the rest of the crew and kill the lights." A wild grin spread on his face as he turned towards the horizon. "Let's see if we can get paid early!"

Within the next few minutes, every light on deck was turned off and all the crew were up and getting ready.

The ship was wrapped in a shroud of silence as soon as the lights went off. Everyone on board started to move around like ghosts, silencing their footsteps and not talking at all, but they all wore the same ominous, excited smile.

As time passed, the ships proceeded to get closer until their well lit decks came into view.

"The two big ones are definitely merchant ships, but that small one definitely isn't an escort.." Adrian was whispering to Emelia as he stood at the helm.

"So what's the plan?" Emelia anxiously gripped the handle of her sheathed sword.

"Well since they’re merchant ships, we will take it from whoever has control of them, mercenary group, or pirates." A greedy smile appeared on his face.

"Are you gonna join the fight Emelia?" She had changed into combat gear with the rest of the crew, but I couldn't help but notice her nervousness.

"Y..yeah. I feel like if I want to stay here, I should pull my weight.." She was slightly shaky.

Adrian rolled his eyes when he heard her. "You already know that's unnecessary. Not all the crew participate in robberies anyways so you not attacking isn't a big deal."

His words didnt fade her nervousness at all. "But they have at least all killed someone, and wouldn't hesitate if they needed to.."

-Oh.. she's nervous about killing..- It wasn't a subject I could truly sympathize with since, as a dragon, killing a human felt about the same as killing a fish, but I could at least understand her struggle. -If she needs an extra push, I can influence her with my aura.-

“Just.. don't push yourself too hard..” Adrian wore a fatherly worry as he comforted her.

A few minutes after that, we started getting close and somehow, the people on the enemy ships either couldn't see us, or just didn't notice us. -To be fair, this ship blends in with the darkness ridiculously well..-

*Tap*

Adrian tapped the railing by the helm and everyone on board nodded in unison.

*Tap-Tap*

*Creeaaakk* The entire ship creaked as Adrian whipped the helm around.

Emelia, who wasn't holding on to anything, nearly got thrown across the deck but was caught by Ilios. "Thanks Ilios.."

"Hey, did ya' guys hear that?" A somewhat distant voice sounded through the night as I saw a few guys walk to the edge of the merchant ships railing.

I glanced over at Adrian to see how he'd react, but his expression didn’t change. -Does it not matter that they heard us?-

"Enemy ship, port side! Closing quickly!" The guys that heard the noise quickly noticed us once they knew where to look.

Everyone on the merchant ship hastily ran about, likely preparing for battle, but Adrian didn't give them time for that.

*CRRUUNCHHH* The sound of wood breaking filled the air as our ship slammed into the port side of the merchant ship.

"How about we make some money boys!" Adrian yelled out as he locked the direction of the helm and jumped onto the main deck with the rest of the crew. "Let's have some fun!"

- Lynn ~

*CRRUUNCHHH*

"How about we make some money boys!" A deep excitement welled up in me hearing Adrian yell out those fateful words. "Let's have some fun!"

He dashed forward with my following in suit.

As we boarded, we were met with several bandit looking guys with a few heavily armored knights pointing their swords at us.

I glanced over at Adrian. "With her gone, we can finally fight together like the old days!"

"Haha, how long has it been?!"

An old memory of his younger self flashed in my mind as he showed a smile full of excitement. "Haha, too long! Well, shall we?" I reached out to give Adrian a fist bump.

"Haha, just like old times." He quickly reached out and lightly tapped his fist against mine.

*tap* *Fwoosh* The instant our knuckles touched, we disappeared from where we were and began the slaughter.

-Its a shame none of them are strong..- I glanced at Adrian as I unsheathed my dual dao blades. -It should be good to leave some strong ones for him to let loose on.-

"Get ready!" A tall knight in the middle started to give orders as I darted forward.

Quickly appearing in front of him, I used the tip of my blade to flip up his face shield. *tink* "Hmm, if you were a bit cuter I might have spared you."

His face instantly washed with anger. "You da-"

*Shink*

The noise of my blade slicing through his armor cut off his voice.

*Thud-Clink*

As his sliced body limply fell to the ground, the others around him were either too stunned to move or were already charging me.

I swiftly dodged all of their attacks while taking my time to enjoy the fight.

*Clang-Clink-Clang*

The methodical ring of blades colliding filled the air like music.

*Shink-Clank-Clang-Shink*

Under the barrage of attacks, I couldn't help but slaughter two of the pirates.

“You slick bi*ch!” The other armored knight in the group charged at me with his greatsword.

“Heyyy, that's rude.” As he swung at me, I moved over and cleanly cut off his hands.

The blade flew over me and sliced through the pirate behind me. *Crunch* His bones shattered under the weight of the greatsword.

The knight looked from his hands to the pirate with a fear filled, pale face.

“Wow, to think you'd attack your comrade. What a shameful man.” I gave a joking smile as I swiftly swung up and cut him in half. -It feels good to be back..-

Glancing over at Adrian, I saw him grab the last knight from his group by the collar and throw them overboard.

-Pfft..- I nearly burst out laughing seeing how easily Adrian threw him. "Maybe it's time I wrap things up as well." I gave the man behind me a smile that struck fear into him.

“AHHHH!” He blindly charged at me as he was washed over with fear.

I casually ducked under his blade and went into a hand stand, kicking his weapon out of his hand in the process.

*Clink* *Shing*

As he lost his balance and fell on me, I jumped out of my hand stand and cleanly sliced him in half. "It was fun guys!" I casually stood there and looked over the group of sliced and slaughtered bodies.

Looking towards Adrian, I saw him rinsing off his hands in a water barrel and walked up to clean off with him.

"Should we help the others?" I glanced towards the other merchant ship while cleaning the blood off my blades.

"No, they'll be fine. We should look for their leader in the meantime."

"Well.. if he isn't on the merchant ships, wouldn't that just leave the 3rd ship?"

Adrians face paled slightly as he heard me. "Wait, where's the third ship?!" He instantly darted to the railing in a panic, finally noticing the third ship wasn't where it used to be.

I hastily jumped up to a lower mast and looked around, the issue was that it was such a dark night. -Where is it.. Where is it?!-

"Looking for me?!" A voice boomed out from the darkness in front of us.

As soon as I looked towards the voice, I saw the outline of a ship that was broadsided with ours. My heart sank as I saw several small orange glows in the darkness. It was the glow of cannon wicks burning.

Looking back at our ship which was about to be bombarded, I saw someone still casually sitting on the railing. -Vasilias!- "NOOO!"

*B-B-B-B-B-B-BOOOM*