Reaching the deck, the sailors were hard at work and moving with practice as they moved around the ship. It looked like madness, but each sailor knew what they were doing, and the men were about their jobs without needing to be shouted at. It looked like Cassandra found a good ship for us to be on as we made it down the river.
As the distance increased, you couldn't help but think about what happened back at the old city we left behind, and I noticed the Necromancer looking back in the distance towards the city as we sailed further away. I brought Kara out, and I quickly noticed Stacy smiling as she saw me while Freya brought something over. It was a nice meal, and we all sat down and ate.
I raised a hand to silence everyone, and we all ate in silence, and I tossed some food for my tigers into the room. I would never neglect them, and once we reached the Demon Lands, I would focus on them for a time. For now they continued to lounge inside the captain's room with Kitty as she sat waiting for attention. I looked at Stacy and Freya and smiled while we ate. "Today, we will continue to sail into the next city. We will then learn what happened in the last city and, if we are amazingly lucky, sail from there to the ocean and travel by sea toward the Demon Lands. If unlucky," I shrug, "We will continue on foot, maybe with the Empire's military on our heels." I shrugged, "Those are our two things, and we have cargo to sell to make us look like legitimate merchants. Our cover is set. It all depends on how the military view the sudden mass sailing in the dark of the night fleeing the city."
The ladies nodded, and there was nothing we could do about it at this time. "I think we will be fine, Mistress," Freya said, looking at me, "We have the proper paperwork, and many ships, including legit merchants, also ran with us. The military will severely damage themselves if they attack all of us. You look like a slave merchant running with a slightly empty cargo because of the undead. With the Necromancer, we can say they are a traveler that purchased a ticket out of the city and was already on the ship when we ran," Freya commented, and I nodded.
"Yes, But we can speculate all we want later. First, Meet Kara," I said, pointing at the cute maid tiger girl sitting with us. "She was a slave to the city lord and will be traveling with us from now on," I told her and noticed the look in Stacy's eyes as she looked at the new girl. I knew instantly she wanted to peek at Kara. She was a pervert for the female body through and through, and I turned to her. "Kara will need to look for a weapon to train in Stacy," I said, "You will go through and find what weapon, if any, she is good at. Understood?" I asked Stacy.
Although still an amateur, Stacy was an Arms Master learning multiple weapons. She was rusty as hell, but she could handle every weapon with some skill. Stacy was a D rank bordering C rank when we reached the Empire's city. She was extremely out of practice after our time in the Empire, but those skills never just disappeared. Stacy looked at me with a smile like she had just been given a gift. "Yes, Mistress!" She smiled and turned to Kara.
"We will go through each weapon a little and try some things out on the deck and below deck, Kara," Stacy said, wiping her mouth a little. "We can see what you are good at and work from there."
"O- Okay," Kara replied, unsure of herself, and I stood as I finished my food.
"Someone feed Kitty. I need to heal and regain energy in case we need to flee," I said, "Also, let the bitch out of the hold and let her walk around a little. Melony will start to reside inside the captain's cabin with us. I will start training her later. First, she needs to recover. Allowing her that short time will not do too much." I finished.
"Yes, Mistress, I will keep an eye on her," Freya said, and I smiled.
With that, I departed from the table on the steady river. The sailors tried to pretend we were not here, and we stayed out of the way. Still, I walked over to the Necromancer, looking to talk, and sat near them. "Any News?" The Necromancer asked.
"I have the same information as you. Now show yourself," I said, insisting because they saw who I was.
The Necromancer pulled back their hood, and their short brown hair with blue skin appeared. The features on their face made me wonder if this Necromancer was a man or a woman, but her blue skin, like all of her skin cells, didn't breathe or something. My eyes narrowed, and the Necromancer smiled. "First time seeing a Lich?" They asked their voice, also unable to discern their sex.
"To be honest, yes," I said, surprised, looking at the Necromancer or Lich. "I thought Liches were more bone," I added.
"That is true, but I am much different than the other Necromancers; I use Life Mana, and they use death mana to do the same things. The Death mana interacts differently," The Necromancer said. "I do not feel that I should explain more than that, though."
"I will not make you give up your secrets," I told the Necromancer, "You are on my ship, though, and I wonder what your plans are in the future," I said, continuing the conversation.
"Ah, That is an interesting question for one that has lost their place recently, isn't it?" The Necromancer sighed, looking out behind us. "I feel that the Necromancer guild is dead or driven so far underground that coming back to the Empire in the next century will be a bad idea. There is death back in that city, and I cannot help but wonder what the actual goal of the attack the leader of the Necromancer guild was after. I thought it might be for something, but I seem to have been betrayed and sent away. That, luckily, seems to have given me another path in life. But the world is unfavorable to those of my form of power. We are shunned and attacked for it. So maybe a life a sea may be for me?" The Necromancer said uncertainly.
There was something about the Necromancer that told me that this was a good time to bring up a proposition. "What about going priate? Find an Island and set up a base, and raid supplies from the shipping on waters. As a Necromancer, you need to kill your first sailors, but once you do?" I shrugged. "I can act as a contact to help you smuggle goods back to sell and gather the necessary supplies. We would need to be sure if we even can when we get to the Demon lands, but you and your betrayed associates might be able to make a new guild out at an Island," I said.
The Necromancer looked back at the river and sighed, "Maybe, But I will have time to think, and we must make it there first. I am unsure of how the Empire will react. Their military was quick, and I do not know how much was compromised and if you were also compromised. We can talk more about this in the Demon lands or when we are closer. My associates have been separated from me after all," The Necromancer said, motioning out towards the sails a little bit away behind us.
"Fair enough, Find time to recover in case we must battle, Necromancer. I will be doing the same," I said, standing up as the Necromancer nodded and watched me go. I walked back to my cabin and started stretching, ignoring Kitty and Melony.
My eye caught Melony lying flat on the floor bound and Kitty happily eating, but none of that mattered to me at this moment.
I slowly began to move my energy but focused more on bringing in and converting the new Mana to Energy. It was slow, but my movements were slow. I took my time and enriched myself instead of expanding, and my wounds cried as I moved at a glacier's pace and sweat dotted my brow quickly. My concentration was absolute, and the gentle sway of the river allowed my mind to calm.
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