{Jay}
The first thing I did was make them dump the majority of their excess food into the sea, leaving the remaining amount locked inside of Lyra's wagon. A wagon which even some relatively strong monsters would have problems breaking into, never mind these weaklings.
The sirens sure were happy about that, they tore into the floating food and mermaid meat.
"I can't believe you made us get rid of our food. I have to constantly eat, or I'll starve!"
Maud said to me, and I just shrugged.
"Should have thought about that before you decided to try - and fail - to kill us, but don't worry. As long as you're on your best behavior I'll make sure you don't die."
I pointed to where all the rest of the remaining crew are sitting - three of them died.
"Go sit down."
She cut me an eye, but obeyed.
I causally stared up at the mounts surrounding us.
Most have basic plants covering them, with sea birds and other amphibious animals living on them.
At the moment the Wavecutter is moored on one of the continuous seamounts.
It will take another week of sailing to get out of this labyrinth of mountains.
I quit my daydreaming, and went to stand above the crew.
Jurea and the rest are also standing above them with their weapons drawn in case they are thinking of doing something stupid.
"So, this is how it's going to go, we own you..."
Flora began to say.
"Shut up Flora."
She looked hurt that I said that to her.
"Or did you forget that we are in this mess because you're a cheapskate?!"
She shrugged.
"Well, it worked out."
Seeing as I was about to slap the shit out of her, she quickly elaborated her point.
"Now that their plan to kill us has failed, and we control the remaining food, we can force them to sign a contract that we'll hand over to the guild. So, if they ever want to do business at any big port they'd be as good as our slaves! A full refund, free future rides, seventy percent of the profits, we'd get to expand their operatio..."
"No."
Maud and co. looked surprised when I said that, but not as surprised as Flora.
"What?! I... I know we'd have to hire someone to control them while we are gone, but the profits we'll make will offset..."
"I said no. They're drug smugglers, and we're not going to be making money off drugs."
"They tried to kill us! We are owed compensation for that."
"That's on you."
"What?! No, it..."
"No one's as dumb as you think they are. I know this was your plan all along. You could have bribed them to take us, but you purposefully threatened their lives so they'd try to take us out. You did that so I'd be so pissed at them that I'd turn a blind-eye to you robbing them blind, but here's the thing... I'm more pissed off with you."
"Well, for your information, not everything went as planned. Like, I had hoped you'd have killed the captain in a fit of rage, and I'd have leveraged that to intimidate the rest of the crew into obedience. You, however, failed to accomplish that, but I don't hold that against you."
She motioned over them all with Fate Weaver.
"Besides, we owe these miscreants nothing, they're drug smugglers who are just getting their just desserts. Why shouldn't we profit off of them, like they profit from those poor drug addicts? Bad people like them deserve this."
She cares about rat turds more than she does addicts.
"I said no. We will not profit from drugs."
I could see the hope fill the crew as they heard I wasn't planning on ruining their livelihood.
Time to kill that hope.
"Don't worry, neither will they."
Maud's jaw dropped open.
"We're going to find a place here that won't be easily found, and dump their drugs there. Once we're off this God forsaken ship they won't be taking the trade back up again."
"YOU CAN'T DO THAT!"
Maud having heard I was going to wreck her business snapped, and decided to try to tell me off.
"This our livelihood! If we don't smuggle drugs, we'll be pushed out."
"That seems like a you problem to me."
"We'll starve!"
"Should've thought about that before you attacked us."
She snarled at me.
"You can't expect me to obey that!"
"Oh, I don't."
"Huh?!"
"Because you ain't captain of this here ship anymore."
"What?!"
I looked over at Cees.
"Congrats Cees, you just got promoted."
I gave him a thumbs up.
He looked like I just told him that he would never die.
"YOU CAN'T DO THAT!"
Maud yelled, and Ashera was frantically nodding her head in agreement.
"It's okay captain, he got a bite alright, but he don't got no fangs to back that bite up."
Hai stated coldly.
Maud smiled.
"Yeah, you're right."
Her gaze met mine.
"You can't enforce shit! Once y'all leave we'll just set sail, and never have to worry about you ever again! But y'all still need us."
She shifted her gaze to glance at all of us, and stood up.
"If y'all want to make it to the capital, y'all better give us back the food you stole!"
Ashera joined her up on her feet.
"Yeah, like, you need me to, like, sail this rig! Looks, like, we have a better standing to haggle than you, like, thought!"
Eric held her bow up high.
"We have the weapons though."
"But you need us to get to your destination."
Maud said.
"So, here's the deal..."
"Yeah, no."
I cut her off.
"I believe in freedom and all that, so once we land you are free to leave, but you lost this ship. Take the loss, trust me, and take the loss."
"Fortune favors the bold, bastard!"
She swiped her claws at my throat. I just let them fall.
They hit my skin, but didn't even pierce my scales.
"Ow!"
Instead, her claws cracked.
I ignored her cries of pain, and went to stand in front of Ashera.
"Too bad the bold is so often the first to die."
I said, and Ashera's eyes grew wide.
"What..."
I punched her in the chest.
I felt her bones cave as she fell back on her ass.
She started grasping for air as copper blue blood leaked out of her mouth.
Huh, I must've punctured one of her lungs.
Patty, absorb her.
Yeah, I could have, but I didn't.
Ashera turned into energy, and flew into my gem.
"You...you...YOU KILLED HER!!!"
Hai yelled, while rising to his feet.
"I'M GOING TO KILL..."
Bonk!
Thud!
Before he could turn word to action Jurea conked him over the head, and all the rest of the crew got the hint and chose to remain seated on the deck.
Maud was still holding her hand in pain, but she is glaring at me.
"Like I said, all of you are free to go once we get to the capital, but don't try my patience. You'll quickly find the line you shouldn't cross."
I glanced back at Maud.
"And don't worry, Ashera is not dead, but she won't be able to help you backstab us."
I sighed, and looked in the direction we'll have to head to.
"Give me about an hour, and Ashera will be back sailing us to the capital."
I turned, and headed for the hold.
I know I'm gonna regret asking, but what was?
Showing mercy isn't being a wimp.
Oh, thanks I gue...
Shut up Patty!
_______________
------------------
Name : Ashera
Level : 15 points available : N/A
Species : Sea Elf
Strength : 100
Intelligence : 430
Durability : 100
Energy : 800/5,000
Health : 100
Stamina : 100
Luck : 243
Speed : 100
Agility : 300
Special ability : Hydrokinesis
Hydrokinesis: it literally says it in the name. If you can't figure out what this power is, then whatever schooling system on your home planet has failed you, and they should be ashamed of themselves.
------------------
I was in the hold perusing Ashera's stats while the girls were on the deck watching the crew like hawks.
Damn these are getting more and more snarky.
But I am giving you your due respect...none.
Thank you.
Snerk!
I looked down at Ashera's sleeping form.
I had let her out awhile ago, and she's since shown me how not to be a graceful sleeper.
Be it the snoring, scratching inappropriate areas, or...
Brrrrrrrfffttt!
The really stinky farts! My God! What crawled into her ass and died?!
Her nose crinkled up as she smelled her own fart.
"Gwah!"
She woke up from the smell.
She sat up without noticing me, scratched her belly, smacked her dry mouth, lifted her hand above her mouth to use her racial ability to make some water, gargled her mouth, and then spit onto the floor.
Then, she started picking her nose.
"Um...hello."
Startled, she looked up at me.
"Hey! Don't you, like, know it's rude to watch someone sleep?!"
"You mean like how it's rude to try to kill someone?"
She looked down.
"We, like, didn't succeed. So, that, like, doesn't count."
"Just because you are incompetent doesn't mean that it didn't happen."
She looked back at me angrily.
"Hey! I'm, like, not incompetent!"
"Your track record says otherwise."
"Hey!"
"I'm not here to be your friend. Now, what do you remember from inside my gem?"
"What?"
"Just now you were sleeping, before that..."
"Oh, you, like, mean that weird dream I had?"
"Sure, let's just go with that."
I don't have a lot of energy, but here goes nothing.
"You won't harm anyone affiliated with my party, you will act in my party's best interests, you'll keep our secrets to yourself, and you'll acknowledge Cees as your new captain."
Mini status.
------------------
Energy : 0/1,090
Health : 1,200 /1,200
Stamina : 706/706
Extra energy : 5,000
------------------
Shit, that cleared me out.
"What! I'm, like, not...not."
She struggled to say she wasn't going to do it, but when she finally figured out she couldn't, she glared at me.
"What did you, like, do to me?!"
"Used my powers to make you obey me."
"You enslaved me?!"
"I don't like that terminology."
Shut up Patty!
"Why me?"
I shrugged.
"I assumed you are the most important one here. You sail the ship, have the most power, and control those water puppets."
Also, you seem like the dumbest, so I doubt you'd be able to find a loophole in my orders; but I see no reason to say that aloud.
"You, like, probs thought I was dumbest too, right?"
Okay, not as dumb as I thought.
"Well, like, the jokes on you! I'm, like, the smartest one here, I've already figure out multiple ways to undermine your orders."
"Like what?"
"I'm not, like, gonna tell you. Then, you could fix your obviously glaring mistakes."
Welp, guess it's time for plan B.
Bluff my ass off.
I chuckled like an evil bastard.
"Do you really think it's that simple?"
I paused. Long enough for it to sink in, but not long enough for her to respond.
"You must not be as smart as you think you are."
I stared down at her, using my size against her.
"I can make monsters out of thin air. Do you really think just giving you orders is the extent of my power? What do you think will happen to you when you try to disobey me?"
Now, to think up a scary punishment.
"Oh, gods above! Will it make me feel like I'm always in labor forever? Little worms will infest my body, eating my body from the inside while healing me so that it lasts forever? Visions of my loved ones dying in front me playing on loop forever? Will a phantom cock fuck me up the ass dry forever? Will..."
What the fuck! I was gonna say like you'd have constipation.
Her mind's seriously fucked up, and what's with all this forever business?
"Eh...sure. That's exactly what is going to happen."
"Which one? Or, like, all at the same time? Or is it, like, something I can't even fathom because you're twenty steps ahead of me? Should I follow his orders to the, like, letter? Or because I, like, don't truly wish to do so, would it activate the, like, punishment?! Or..."
Did I just cause her to have a mental breakdown?
"Just don't try to undermine my orders, and you'll be fine...probably."
I know.
"Pro...probably!!!"
I'll probably tell her the truth if I ever meet up with them again.
Exactly.
Yup.
"This is normally when I'd walk off leaving you to yourself, but this is where I sleep. So, get back to the helm."
I pointed at the doorway, and she took off through it.
Not wanting to further anger me.
I laid down, and closed my eyes.
It's been a long day.
Wake me up if anyone comes here.
Today you are.
My eyes stated to drift close.
....
....
....
....
....
A stream of notifications rang out.
What the fuck is Emira up to?
Shut up Patty.
....
{The birds}
The conclave of birds is a singular spectacle that happens maybe every other five hundred years, thousands upon thousands of species converge on one predetermined place in the spirit of peace. The colors alone would drive an artist mad trying to replicate them all, and the tweets, chirps, caws, and other vocalizations of numerous birds would deafen a snake.
All that said, it's still a bitch to organize!
Some species are diurnal whilst others are nocturnal, and so the conclaves must be held at dusk.
Prey and predatory species must be separated, least a predator makes a quick snack of one of the smaller birds.
And no matter what, owls and eagles must always be separated!
In a time long since forgotten one of the species - no bird knows who - said a really mean yo mama joke, and ever since they've hated each other.
They randomly kill each other for no reason for thousands of generations.
Most in attendance were already peeved that the others birds had already launched a preemptive attack on the purple-haired one, but without the consent of the conclave!
To make matters worse, the attack was a total failure.
Not only did they fail to kill the land dwellers, but the purple-haired one retaliated by setting yet another fire.
The survivors told a horrific tale of it casting sickening tricks on them, turning their fellow birds into living eruptions of fire.
The old tales of when the ground grew jealous of the birds, and threw smoke, fire, and molten rock into air, came to mind.
So many of the young died in the resulting flames, and all of it was avoidable. If only they had waited until they could attack en mass, then they would've killed all of the land dwellers.
As if that bad news weren't enough, those damn sea birds decided not to aid their kin!
Because they live on water they think it can not harm them.
The stupid fools!
The purple-haired one will always find a way to destroy everything.
The bird-lore tellers are convinced that it is Karkakkok the defiler.
A sleeping monster newly hatched young are told about to scare them into not overusing the land that provides, least it awakens Karkakkok.
Karkakkok is the one responsible for the great flames that ravages the great grasslands once dry season occurs, and its insatiable appetite is not fed.
And that's just when it's still asleep.
Once fully awake it will turn its gaze to the forests, jungles, swamps, and every other green place.
The water will turn undrinkable, fiery rocks will fall from the sky, and healthy birds will fall dead just from being in its presence.
So, the gravity of the assertion that the purple-haired one is Karkakkok is a heavy one indeed.
And yet bird after bird is willing to risk wing and talon to fight this indomitable beast.
All for the safety of the world!
As for Karkakkok, they'd send their strongest, and bribe some of the furry land dwellers with food to join in the attack.
This day will go down in bird-lore as the day that they flew up at tyranny's face.
As the day that they decided to kill a foe of all birdkind.
After all, even devils can die.