[Middle of the Atacam Gulf, Serioca Sea]
(26th, Black Sea Moon (VII), 644 ASY)
The waves that raged at the Waverider quickly dissipated as they moved into the calm Atacam Gulf. Ashe stares out into the wide ocean. Around her, the crew make the morning rounds, clean the ship, check the ship's position, and other chores that keep the ship running. The salty sea breeze whipping her dark brown hair into a cloud behind her head. She had been thinking about what to do when they arrived in Acnoc. Daniel had told them to go to the "Starwidth Inn" to meet up with him. The only problem is that Daniel didn't inform them where the inn is. Ashe sighs and stares off into the distance. The past couple of days had been hectic, to say the least. She couldn't sleep last night and had come into Tyson's room. She hadn't thought much about it, and even now after a sleep cleared her head, she still felt no shame. They lived in the same apartment together with Daniel for the three years they were in college. That apartment has quite small, and none of them had much space anyhow. Entering each other's room in the middle of the night was common as both Ashe and Tyson kept losing their personal items in the apartment. They had been kicked out of the apartment once because they kept coming into Daniel's part of the room to look for keys. Hmm? What is that on the horizon?
"Hey, Wiv? What's that black spot on the horizon?" She yells out to the captain in the navigation room.
"What black spot…?" She mutters back as she comes up from the navigation room and takes out her spyglass. She tilts her head in confusion. "I'm… not sure… I've never seen something like that in my life. That's smoke. Usually, if a ship is on fire, the smoke that billows out isn't consistent as different ship's parts burn at different rates. Not only that, but you can see the light of the fire. Here, there's just black smoke billowing out. It wouldn't be a land-based fire since it's moving."
"How fast is it moving…?"
"35… maybe 36 knots. Why?"
"It has no magical signature,"
"..."
"..."
Ashe and Captain Wiv just stare at each other. Sailing with sails and not magic is slow, just like the other world. A ship going 35-36 knots without magic would be impossible with this world's technology. Only magical beasts can move that fast, and they won't billow out smoke from their backs.
"Is this some sort of creature that we haven't seen before?" Ashe asks.
"I highly doubt it… Even a mythical beast would still have some magical residue. With your prowess, you should be able to pick that up from beyond the horizon," Wiv shakes her head.
"Hey Tyson, get over here!" Ashe shouts into the ship. At this point, some of the crew members have seen this strange sight on the horizon. They stare at it and discuss what it could be in hushed voices.
"What do you wan- That better not be what I think that is," Tyson says while climbing up the stairs from beneath the ship. He changes his words mid-sentence as he sees the smoke on the horizon.
"I think we might be outmatch here…" Ashe sighs.
"What do you mean? The Waverider can defeat any ship in single combat, even if we're boarded," Captain Wiv asks in a defensive tone.
"That's probably a Destroyer if it's moving at that speed. Seeing as it's billowing smoke, I'm guessing 1920's or 30's technology. Do you think it has radar?" Tyson thinks out loud as he scratches his chin, completely ignoring Wiv.
"Even if it doesn't, if it has a single mage onboard they will notice the massive amounts of magical energy that the Waverider is putting out. I don't think whether or not having radar is going to make a difference at this range," Ashe shakes her head.
"Hey, listen to me!" Wiv shouts at Ashe and Tyson, who had completely ignored her question.
"Wiv. That ship most likely has metal armor. The Waverider's cannons are going to be useless against it," Tyson shakes his head at Wiv.
"Actually. Tyson, can you check out what the ship looks like? You have much better sight than I do," Ashe suggests while passing a pair of binoculars from a satchel that appeared from thin air. Tyson takes the binoculars and stares off into the distance where the cloud of smoke is heading towards the ship at an ever-increasing rate. Many of the crew are starting to panic and the gun crews have started preparing for combat.
"Well… I have bad, worse, and terrible news. What do you want to hear first?" Tyson sighs after some time staring at the cloud of smoke which was slowly becoming more and more ship-shaped as time passed on.
"Just go in order," Wiv stares at Tyson.
"Let's see… I'd say that it's a 1920's style destroyer, three smokestacks, 8 double turrets, fore and aft towers. That's the bad news. The worse news is that all of its guns are trained on us. The terrible news is that it's flying the four four-point star banner of the Dalycon Union,"
"And why is that…destroyer, is it? What's the problem with it flying the Dalycon Union's flag?"
"You know what Ganbast did?"
"I heard about it during the debriefing. Idiot went into the Union and got his ass handed to him, we lost some forts, and then they left,"
"The Union declared war. We're in their nautrical terriotory. We're also flying Alterya's naval banner. Put two and two together, Wiv," Wiv stares at Tyson for a bit after he says this. Suddenly, her eyes go wide.
"Oh no… We're going to get shot at…" Her instincts as a captain start to kick in.
"Do you think we can win against that?" Ashe sighs after looking at the enemy ship again.
"No way…" Tyson shakes his head. The ship suddenly turns hard to port, the wooden ship groaning in protest. "Great choice Wiv. Now, how are we supposed to get to Acnoc?"
"What's going on…?" A half-sleeping voice floats over the yelling and thumping of the crew as they prepare for battle. Lucya appears from within the ship, half-dressed and with her hair in a mess. Flowing her is Moricant, similarly awoken quite rudely and without much clothing. Then again, Moricant doesn't dress much in the first place.
"Ah, perfect. Wiv, can we get one of the speedboats from the side and try to sneak pass the destroyer?" Tyson asks.
"We still have those onboard?" She asks back. A loud roar interrupts whatever Tyson was going to reply. Pillars of water appear from the starboard side, about 150 meters out.
'How are they so good are firing?" Tyson hisses out after dropping to the deck after hearing the explosion. "Aren't they a couple of kilometers out?"
"We can return fire, you know?" Wiv shouts to the cannon crew. As the ship continues to turn to port, the cannon crews shift to their right to track onto the target now to their rear. A louder boom followed by a glowing cloud of smoke announces the Waverider's starboard salvo. 54 streaks of smoke sprout from the side of the ship, racing towards the ever-expanding silhouette of the enemy ship. Clunks and bangs, the screech of iron upon steel ring out in the air, even making its way to the Waverider, kilometers from the source.
"No damage…" Tyson sighs. "What did I say? I know we have magically enhanced cannonballs that can track a target so we can hit them from this range, but what are some iron balls going to do to a steel destroyer at this range?"
"Steel? That ship's made of steel?" Wiv turns to look at Tyson. "How did they make so much steel?"
"Bessemer process," Ashe mutters under her breath.
"Anyhow. I think that's they're return salvo…" Tyson sighs as the enemy ship suddenly lights up with an echoing boom drifting its way to the Waverider. The ship suddenly lifts up, the groaning of wood making evident of the damage.
"That damaged the hull!" Wiv shouts.
"Is it not supposed to?" Tyson asks, but Wiv is nowhere to be found. She has gone to help out with the rest of the crew in assessing the damage. Tyson shakes his head.
"Let's get on that speedboat and just make a run for it.." Ashe sighs. "Hey Moricant, Lucya! Get your stuff, we're taking a different ship!"
"What-?"
"Just get your stuff…"
Lucya shakes her head and turns to go back into the ship as Moricant turns to look at Ashe, a biscuit still in his mouth.
"Probably a good idea. I'll go get the speedboat ready," Tyson
The sun sinks down upon a small boat, not even 15 meters in length. Its sails are folded up, yet it's moving with incredible speed. Onboard the small little sailboat is a small parrot. Nothing else, just a parrot. The boat floats along until the last wisps of twilight sun are fully beneath the horizon. Suddenly, figures appear out of the parrot.
"I can't believe we managed to get through…" A gasping Ashe manages out. She chokes a couple of times, her lungs desperately reaching for a breath.
"Just… Keep going. Don't stop…" A equally out of breath Tyson appears from the parrot.
"I don't think I can keep the invisibility up for much longer…" Ashe finally says after a long silence. "Pushing the boat is fine though…"
"I'm guessing Lucya and Moricant are out cold? I didn't know they had such small mana pools," Tyson slides down onto the boat's wooden railing, his arms on top of the railing and his head over it.
"Yeah… They'll stay in the parrot for some time…"
"Why'd you choose a parrot as your persona?"
"I didn't choose it, ok! It just appeared when I used {Hidden Seal} for the first time,"
"Well, let's just keep it at that then. What are the specifications for a personal in the first place?"
"I dunno. Lost the book during the Weltkrama Fiasco. I already learned everything from the book. Didn't bother to read the lore,"
"You are going to get a massive scolding from Daniel, you know that?"
"Already have… He was so mad that I'd never read any of the specifics of the books…"
"You really need to pay attention to things. Lucya does a much better job at being a secretary…"
"I'm not trying to become a secretary! I'm trying to become a mage!"
"Mhmm, and what do you do in the Magio Admistratum anyhow?"
"That… right…" Ashe slumps down against the railing as well. The boat sails off into the night.
[Middle of the Atacam Gulf, Serioca Sea]
(26th, Black Sea Moon (VII), 644 ASY)
The waves that raged at the Waverider quickly dissipated as they moved into the calm Atacam Gulf. Ashe stares out into the wide ocean. Around her, the crew make the morning rounds, clean the ship, check the ship's position, and other chores that keep the ship running. The salty sea breeze whipping her dark brown hair into a cloud behind her head. She had been thinking about what to do when they arrived in Acnoc. Daniel had told them to go to the "Starwidth Inn" to meet up with him. The only problem is that Daniel didn't inform them where the inn is. Ashe sighs and stares off into the distance. The past couple of days had been hectic, to say the least. She couldn't sleep last night and had come into Tyson's room. She hadn't thought much about it, and even now after a sleep cleared her head, she still felt no shame. They lived in the same apartment together with Daniel for the three years they were in college. That apartment has quite small, and none of them had much space anyhow. Entering each other's room in the middle of the night was common as both Ashe and Tyson kept losing their personal items in the apartment. They had been kicked out of the apartment once because they kept coming into Daniel's part of the room to look for keys. Hmm? What is that on the horizon?
"Hey, Wiv? What's that black spot on the horizon?" She yells out to the captain in the navigation room.
"What black spot…?" She mutters back as she comes up from the navigation room and takes out her spyglass. She tilts her head in confusion. "I'm… not sure… I've never seen something like that in my life. That's smoke. Usually, if a ship is on fire, the smoke that billows out isn't consistent as different ship's parts burn at different rates. Not only that, but you can see the light of the fire. Here, there's just black smoke billowing out. It wouldn't be a land-based fire since it's moving."
"How fast is it moving…?"
"35… maybe 36 knots. Why?"
"It has no magical signature,"
"..."
"..."
Ashe and Captain Wiv just stare at each other. Sailing with sails and not magic is slow, just like the other world. A ship going 35-36 knots without magic would be impossible with this world's technology. Only magical beasts can move that fast, and they won't billow out smoke from their backs.
"Is this some sort of creature that we haven't seen before?" Ashe asks.
"I highly doubt it… Even a mythical beast would still have some magical residue. With your prowess, you should be able to pick that up from beyond the horizon," Wiv shakes her head.
"Hey Tyson, get over here!" Ashe shouts into the ship. At this point, some of the crew members have seen this strange sight on the horizon. They stare at it and discuss what it could be in hushed voices.
"What do you wan- That better not be what I think that is," Tyson says while climbing up the stairs from beneath the ship. He changes his words mid-sentence as he sees the smoke on the horizon.
"I think we might be outmatch here…" Ashe sighs.
"What do you mean? The Waverider can defeat any ship in single combat, even if we're boarded," Captain Wiv asks in a defensive tone.
"That's probably a Destroyer if it's moving at that speed. Seeing as it's billowing smoke, I'm guessing 1920's or 30's technology. Do you think it has radar?" Tyson thinks out loud as he scratches his chin, completely ignoring Wiv.
"Even if it doesn't, if it has a single mage onboard they will notice the massive amounts of magical energy that the Waverider is putting out. I don't think whether or not having radar is going to make a difference at this range," Ashe shakes her head.
"Hey, listen to me!" Wiv shouts at Ashe and Tyson, who had completely ignored her question.
"Wiv. That ship most likely has metal armor. The Waverider's cannons are going to be useless against it," Tyson shakes his head at Wiv.
"Actually. Tyson, can you check out what the ship looks like? You have much better sight than I do," Ashe suggests while passing a pair of binoculars from a satchel that appeared from thin air. Tyson takes the binoculars and stares off into the distance where the cloud of smoke is heading towards the ship at an ever-increasing rate. Many of the crew are starting to panic and the gun crews have started preparing for combat.
"Well… I have bad, worse, and terrible news. What do you want to hear first?" Tyson sighs after some time staring at the cloud of smoke which was slowly becoming more and more ship-shaped as time passed on.
"Just go in order," Wiv stares at Tyson.
"Let's see… I'd say that it's a 1920's style destroyer, three smokestacks, 8 double turrets, fore and aft towers. That's the bad news. The worse news is that all of its guns are trained on us. The terrible news is that it's flying the four four-point star banner of the Dalycon Union,"
"And why is that…destroyer, is it? What's the problem with it flying the Dalycon Union's flag?"
"You know what Ganbast did?"
"I heard about it during the debriefing. Idiot went into the Union and got his ass handed to him, we lost some forts, and then they left,"
"The Union declared war. We're in their nautrical terriotory. We're also flying Alterya's naval banner. Put two and two together, Wiv," Wiv stares at Tyson for a bit after he says this. Suddenly, her eyes go wide.
"Oh no… We're going to get shot at…" Her instincts as a captain start to kick in.
"Do you think we can win against that?" Ashe sighs after looking at the enemy ship again.
"No way…" Tyson shakes his head. The ship suddenly turns hard to port, the wooden ship groaning in protest. "Great choice Wiv. Now, how are we supposed to get to Acnoc?"
"What's going on…?" A half-sleeping voice floats over the yelling and thumping of the crew as they prepare for battle. Lucya appears from within the ship, half-dressed and with her hair in a mess. Flowing her is Moricant, similarly awoken quite rudely and without much clothing. Then again, Moricant doesn't dress much in the first place.
"Ah, perfect. Wiv, can we get one of the speedboats from the side and try to sneak pass the destroyer?" Tyson asks.
"We still have those onboard?" She asks back. A loud roar interrupts whatever Tyson was going to reply. Pillars of water appear from the starboard side, about 150 meters out.
'How are they so good are firing?" Tyson hisses out after dropping to the deck after hearing the explosion. "Aren't they a couple of kilometers out?"
"We can return fire, you know?" Wiv shouts to the cannon crew. As the ship continues to turn to port, the cannon crews shift to their right to track onto the target now to their rear. A louder boom followed by a glowing cloud of smoke announces the Waverider's starboard salvo. 54 streaks of smoke sprout from the side of the ship, racing towards the ever-expanding silhouette of the enemy ship. Clunks and bangs, the screech of iron upon steel ring out in the air, even making its way to the Waverider, kilometers from the source.
"No damage…" Tyson sighs. "What did I say? I know we have magically enhanced cannonballs that can track a target so we can hit them from this range, but what are some iron balls going to do to a steel destroyer at this range?"
"Steel? That ship's made of steel?" Wiv turns to look at Tyson. "How did they make so much steel?"
"Bessemer process," Ashe mutters under her breath.
"Anyhow. I think that's they're return salvo…" Tyson sighs as the enemy ship suddenly lights up with an echoing boom drifting its way to the Waverider. The ship suddenly lifts up, the groaning of wood making evident of the damage.
"That damaged the hull!" Wiv shouts.
"Is it not supposed to?" Tyson asks, but Wiv is nowhere to be found. She has gone to help out with the rest of the crew in assessing the damage. Tyson shakes his head.
"Let's get on that speedboat and just make a run for it.." Ashe sighs. "Hey Moricant, Lucya! Get your stuff, we're taking a different ship!"
"What-?"
"Just get your stuff…"
Lucya shakes her head and turns to go back into the ship as Moricant turns to look at Ashe, a biscuit still in his mouth.
"Probably a good idea. I'll go get the speedboat ready," Tyson
The sun sinks down upon a small boat, not even 15 meters in length. Its sails are folded up, yet it's moving with incredible speed. Onboard the small little sailboat is a small parrot. Nothing else, just a parrot. The boat floats along until the last wisps of twilight sun are fully beneath the horizon. Suddenly, figures appear out of the parrot.
"I can't believe we managed to get through…" A gasping Ashe manages out. She chokes a couple of times, her lungs desperately reaching for a breath.
"Just… Keep going. Don't stop…" A equally out of breath Tyson appears from the parrot.
"I don't think I can keep the invisibility up for much longer…" Ashe finally says after a long silence. "Pushing the boat is fine though…"
"I'm guessing Lucya and Moricant are out cold? I didn't know they had such small mana pools," Tyson slides down onto the boat's wooden railing, his arms on top of the railing and his head over it.
"Yeah… They'll stay in the parrot for some time…"
"Why'd you choose a parrot as your persona?"
"I didn't choose it, ok! It just appeared when I used {Hidden Seal} for the first time,"
"Well, let's just keep it at that then. What are the specifications for a personal in the first place?"
"I dunno. Lost the book during the Weltkrama Fiasco. I already learned everything from the book. Didn't bother to read the lore,"
"You are going to get a massive scolding from Daniel, you know that?"
"Already have… He was so mad that I'd never read any of the specifics of the books…"
"You really need to pay attention to things. Lucya does a much better job at being a secretary…"
"I'm not trying to become a secretary! I'm trying to become a mage!"
"Mhmm, and what do you do in the Magio Admistratum anyhow?"
"That… right…" Ashe slumps down against the railing as well. The boat sails off into the night.
[Middle of the Atacam Gulf, Serioca Sea]
(26th, Black Sea Moon (VII), 644 ASY)
The waves that raged at the Waverider quickly dissipated as they moved into the calm Atacam Gulf. Ashe stares out into the wide ocean. Around her, the crew make the morning rounds, clean the ship, check the ship's position, and other chores that keep the ship running. The salty sea breeze whipping her dark brown hair into a cloud behind her head. She had been thinking about what to do when they arrived in Acnoc. Daniel had told them to go to the "Starwidth Inn" to meet up with him. The only problem is that Daniel didn't inform them where the inn is. Ashe sighs and stares off into the distance. The past couple of days had been hectic, to say the least. She couldn't sleep last night and had come into Tyson's room. She hadn't thought much about it, and even now after a sleep cleared her head, she still felt no shame. They lived in the same apartment together with Daniel for the three years they were in college. That apartment has quite small, and none of them had much space anyhow. Entering each other's room in the middle of the night was common as both Ashe and Tyson kept losing their personal items in the apartment. They had been kicked out of the apartment once because they kept coming into Daniel's part of the room to look for keys. Hmm? What is that on the horizon?
"Hey, Wiv? What's that black spot on the horizon?" She yells out to the captain in the navigation room.
"What black spot…?" She mutters back as she comes up from the navigation room and takes out her spyglass. She tilts her head in confusion. "I'm… not sure… I've never seen something like that in my life. That's smoke. Usually, if a ship is on fire, the smoke that billows out isn't consistent as different ship's parts burn at different rates. Not only that, but you can see the light of the fire. Here, there's just black smoke billowing out. It wouldn't be a land-based fire since it's moving."
"How fast is it moving…?"
"35… maybe 36 knots. Why?"
"It has no magical signature,"
"..."
"..."
Ashe and Captain Wiv just stare at each other. Sailing with sails and not magic is slow, just like the other world. A ship going 35-36 knots without magic would be impossible with this world's technology. Only magical beasts can move that fast, and they won't billow out smoke from their backs.
"Is this some sort of creature that we haven't seen before?" Ashe asks.
"I highly doubt it… Even a mythical beast would still have some magical residue. With your prowess, you should be able to pick that up from beyond the horizon," Wiv shakes her head.
"Hey Tyson, get over here!" Ashe shouts into the ship. At this point, some of the crew members have seen this strange sight on the horizon. They stare at it and discuss what it could be in hushed voices.
"What do you wan- That better not be what I think that is," Tyson says while climbing up the stairs from beneath the ship. He changes his words mid-sentence as he sees the smoke on the horizon.
"I think we might be outmatch here…" Ashe sighs.
"What do you mean? The Waverider can defeat any ship in single combat, even if we're boarded," Captain Wiv asks in a defensive tone.
"That's probably a Destroyer if it's moving at that speed. Seeing as it's billowing smoke, I'm guessing 1920's or 30's technology. Do you think it has radar?" Tyson thinks out loud as he scratches his chin, completely ignoring Wiv.
"Even if it doesn't, if it has a single mage onboard they will notice the massive amounts of magical energy that the Waverider is putting out. I don't think whether or not having radar is going to make a difference at this range," Ashe shakes her head.
"Hey, listen to me!" Wiv shouts at Ashe and Tyson, who had completely ignored her question.
"Wiv. That ship most likely has metal armor. The Waverider's cannons are going to be useless against it," Tyson shakes his head at Wiv.
"Actually. Tyson, can you check out what the ship looks like? You have much better sight than I do," Ashe suggests while passing a pair of binoculars from a satchel that appeared from thin air. Tyson takes the binoculars and stares off into the distance where the cloud of smoke is heading towards the ship at an ever-increasing rate. Many of the crew are starting to panic and the gun crews have started preparing for combat.
"Well… I have bad, worse, and terrible news. What do you want to hear first?" Tyson sighs after some time staring at the cloud of smoke which was slowly becoming more and more ship-shaped as time passed on.
"Just go in order," Wiv stares at Tyson.
"Let's see… I'd say that it's a 1920's style destroyer, three smokestacks, 8 double turrets, fore and aft towers. That's the bad news. The worse news is that all of its guns are trained on us. The terrible news is that it's flying the four four-point star banner of the Dalycon Union,"
"And why is that…destroyer, is it? What's the problem with it flying the Dalycon Union's flag?"
"You know what Ganbast did?"
"I heard about it during the debriefing. Idiot went into the Union and got his ass handed to him, we lost some forts, and then they left,"
"The Union declared war. We're in their nautrical terriotory. We're also flying Alterya's naval banner. Put two and two together, Wiv," Wiv stares at Tyson for a bit after he says this. Suddenly, her eyes go wide.
"Oh no… We're going to get shot at…" Her instincts as a captain start to kick in.
"Do you think we can win against that?" Ashe sighs after looking at the enemy ship again.
"No way…" Tyson shakes his head. The ship suddenly turns hard to port, the wooden ship groaning in protest. "Great choice Wiv. Now, how are we supposed to get to Acnoc?"
"What's going on…?" A half-sleeping voice floats over the yelling and thumping of the crew as they prepare for battle. Lucya appears from within the ship, half-dressed and with her hair in a mess. Flowing her is Moricant, similarly awoken quite rudely and without much clothing. Then again, Moricant doesn't dress much in the first place.
"Ah, perfect. Wiv, can we get one of the speedboats from the side and try to sneak pass the destroyer?" Tyson asks.
"We still have those onboard?" She asks back. A loud roar interrupts whatever Tyson was going to reply. Pillars of water appear from the starboard side, about 150 meters out.
'How are they so good are firing?" Tyson hisses out after dropping to the deck after hearing the explosion. "Aren't they a couple of kilometers out?"
"We can return fire, you know?" Wiv shouts to the cannon crew. As the ship continues to turn to port, the cannon crews shift to their right to track onto the target now to their rear. A louder boom followed by a glowing cloud of smoke announces the Waverider's starboard salvo. 54 streaks of smoke sprout from the side of the ship, racing towards the ever-expanding silhouette of the enemy ship. Clunks and bangs, the screech of iron upon steel ring out in the air, even making its way to the Waverider, kilometers from the source.
"No damage…" Tyson sighs. "What did I say? I know we have magically enhanced cannonballs that can track a target so we can hit them from this range, but what are some iron balls going to do to a steel destroyer at this range?"
"Steel? That ship's made of steel?" Wiv turns to look at Tyson. "How did they make so much steel?"
"Bessemer process," Ashe mutters under her breath.
"Anyhow. I think that's they're return salvo…" Tyson sighs as the enemy ship suddenly lights up with an echoing boom drifting its way to the Waverider. The ship suddenly lifts up, the groaning of wood making evident of the damage.
"That damaged the hull!" Wiv shouts.
"Is it not supposed to?" Tyson asks, but Wiv is nowhere to be found. She has gone to help out with the rest of the crew in assessing the damage. Tyson shakes his head.
"Let's get on that speedboat and just make a run for it.." Ashe sighs. "Hey Moricant, Lucya! Get your stuff, we're taking a different ship!"
"What-?"
"Just get your stuff…"
Lucya shakes her head and turns to go back into the ship as Moricant turns to look at Ashe, a biscuit still in his mouth.
"Probably a good idea. I'll go get the speedboat ready," Tyson
The sun sinks down upon a small boat, not even 15 meters in length. Its sails are folded up, yet it's moving with incredible speed. Onboard the small little sailboat is a small parrot. Nothing else, just a parrot. The boat floats along until the last wisps of twilight sun are fully beneath the horizon. Suddenly, figures appear out of the parrot.
"I can't believe we managed to get through…" A gasping Ashe manages out. She chokes a couple of times, her lungs desperately reaching for a breath.
"Just… Keep going. Don't stop…" A equally out of breath Tyson appears from the parrot.
"I don't think I can keep the invisibility up for much longer…" Ashe finally says after a long silence. "Pushing the boat is fine though…"
"I'm guessing Lucya and Moricant are out cold? I didn't know they had such small mana pools," Tyson slides down onto the boat's wooden railing, his arms on top of the railing and his head over it.
"Yeah… They'll stay in the parrot for some time…"
"Why'd you choose a parrot as your persona?"
"I didn't choose it, ok! It just appeared when I used {Hidden Seal} for the first time,"
"Well, let's just keep it at that then. What are the specifications for a personal in the first place?"
"I dunno. Lost the book during the Weltkrama Fiasco. I already learned everything from the book. Didn't bother to read the lore,"
"You are going to get a massive scolding from Daniel, you know that?"
"Already have… He was so mad that I'd never read any of the specifics of the books…"
"You really need to pay attention to things. Lucya does a much better job at being a secretary…"
"I'm not trying to become a secretary! I'm trying to become a mage!"
"Mhmm, and what do you do in the Magio Admistratum anyhow?"
"That… right…" Ashe slumps down against the railing as well. The boat sails off into the night.
[Middle of the Atacam Gulf, Serioca Sea]
(26th, Black Sea Moon (VII), 644 ASY)
The waves that raged at the Waverider quickly dissipated as they moved into the calm Atacam Gulf. Ashe stares out into the wide ocean. Around her, the crew make the morning rounds, clean the ship, check the ship's position, and other chores that keep the ship running. The salty sea breeze whipping her dark brown hair into a cloud behind her head. She had been thinking about what to do when they arrived in Acnoc. Daniel had told them to go to the "Starwidth Inn" to meet up with him. The only problem is that Daniel didn't inform them where the inn is. Ashe sighs and stares off into the distance. The past couple of days had been hectic, to say the least. She couldn't sleep last night and had come into Tyson's room. She hadn't thought much about it, and even now after a sleep cleared her head, she still felt no shame. They lived in the same apartment together with Daniel for the three years they were in college. That apartment has quite small, and none of them had much space anyhow. Entering each other's room in the middle of the night was common as both Ashe and Tyson kept losing their personal items in the apartment. They had been kicked out of the apartment once because they kept coming into Daniel's part of the room to look for keys. Hmm? What is that on the horizon?
"Hey, Wiv? What's that black spot on the horizon?" She yells out to the captain in the navigation room.
"What black spot…?" She mutters back as she comes up from the navigation room and takes out her spyglass. She tilts her head in confusion. "I'm… not sure… I've never seen something like that in my life. That's smoke. Usually, if a ship is on fire, the smoke that billows out isn't consistent as different ship's parts burn at different rates. Not only that, but you can see the light of the fire. Here, there's just black smoke billowing out. It wouldn't be a land-based fire since it's moving."
"How fast is it moving…?"
"35… maybe 36 knots. Why?"
"It has no magical signature,"
"..."
"..."
Ashe and Captain Wiv just stare at each other. Sailing with sails and not magic is slow, just like the other world. A ship going 35-36 knots without magic would be impossible with this world's technology. Only magical beasts can move that fast, and they won't billow out smoke from their backs.
"Is this some sort of creature that we haven't seen before?" Ashe asks.
"I highly doubt it… Even a mythical beast would still have some magical residue. With your prowess, you should be able to pick that up from beyond the horizon," Wiv shakes her head.
"Hey Tyson, get over here!" Ashe shouts into the ship. At this point, some of the crew members have seen this strange sight on the horizon. They stare at it and discuss what it could be in hushed voices.
"What do you wan- That better not be what I think that is," Tyson says while climbing up the stairs from beneath the ship. He changes his words mid-sentence as he sees the smoke on the horizon.
"I think we might be outmatch here…" Ashe sighs.
"What do you mean? The Waverider can defeat any ship in single combat, even if we're boarded," Captain Wiv asks in a defensive tone.
"That's probably a Destroyer if it's moving at that speed. Seeing as it's billowing smoke, I'm guessing 1920's or 30's technology. Do you think it has radar?" Tyson thinks out loud as he scratches his chin, completely ignoring Wiv.
"Even if it doesn't, if it has a single mage onboard they will notice the massive amounts of magical energy that the Waverider is putting out. I don't think whether or not having radar is going to make a difference at this range," Ashe shakes her head.
"Hey, listen to me!" Wiv shouts at Ashe and Tyson, who had completely ignored her question.
"Wiv. That ship most likely has metal armor. The Waverider's cannons are going to be useless against it," Tyson shakes his head at Wiv.
"Actually. Tyson, can you check out what the ship looks like? You have much better sight than I do," Ashe suggests while passing a pair of binoculars from a satchel that appeared from thin air. Tyson takes the binoculars and stares off into the distance where the cloud of smoke is heading towards the ship at an ever-increasing rate. Many of the crew are starting to panic and the gun crews have started preparing for combat.
"Well… I have bad, worse, and terrible news. What do you want to hear first?" Tyson sighs after some time staring at the cloud of smoke which was slowly becoming more and more ship-shaped as time passed on.
"Just go in order," Wiv stares at Tyson.
"Let's see… I'd say that it's a 1920's style destroyer, three smokestacks, 8 double turrets, fore and aft towers. That's the bad news. The worse news is that all of its guns are trained on us. The terrible news is that it's flying the four four-point star banner of the Dalycon Union,"
"And why is that…destroyer, is it? What's the problem with it flying the Dalycon Union's flag?"
"You know what Ganbast did?"
"I heard about it during the debriefing. Idiot went into the Union and got his ass handed to him, we lost some forts, and then they left,"
"The Union declared war. We're in their nautrical terriotory. We're also flying Alterya's naval banner. Put two and two together, Wiv," Wiv stares at Tyson for a bit after he says this. Suddenly, her eyes go wide.
"Oh no… We're going to get shot at…" Her instincts as a captain start to kick in.
"Do you think we can win against that?" Ashe sighs after looking at the enemy ship again.
"No way…" Tyson shakes his head. The ship suddenly turns hard to port, the wooden ship groaning in protest. "Great choice Wiv. Now, how are we supposed to get to Acnoc?"
"What's going on…?" A half-sleeping voice floats over the yelling and thumping of the crew as they prepare for battle. Lucya appears from within the ship, half-dressed and with her hair in a mess. Flowing her is Moricant, similarly awoken quite rudely and without much clothing. Then again, Moricant doesn't dress much in the first place.
"Ah, perfect. Wiv, can we get one of the speedboats from the side and try to sneak pass the destroyer?" Tyson asks.
"We still have those onboard?" She asks back. A loud roar interrupts whatever Tyson was going to reply. Pillars of water appear from the starboard side, about 150 meters out.
'How are they so good are firing?" Tyson hisses out after dropping to the deck after hearing the explosion. "Aren't they a couple of kilometers out?"
"We can return fire, you know?" Wiv shouts to the cannon crew. As the ship continues to turn to port, the cannon crews shift to their right to track onto the target now to their rear. A louder boom followed by a glowing cloud of smoke announces the Waverider's starboard salvo. 54 streaks of smoke sprout from the side of the ship, racing towards the ever-expanding silhouette of the enemy ship. Clunks and bangs, the screech of iron upon steel ring out in the air, even making its way to the Waverider, kilometers from the source.
"No damage…" Tyson sighs. "What did I say? I know we have magically enhanced cannonballs that can track a target so we can hit them from this range, but what are some iron balls going to do to a steel destroyer at this range?"
"Steel? That ship's made of steel?" Wiv turns to look at Tyson. "How did they make so much steel?"
"Bessemer process," Ashe mutters under her breath.
"Anyhow. I think that's they're return salvo…" Tyson sighs as the enemy ship suddenly lights up with an echoing boom drifting its way to the Waverider. The ship suddenly lifts up, the groaning of wood making evident of the damage.
"That damaged the hull!" Wiv shouts.
"Is it not supposed to?" Tyson asks, but Wiv is nowhere to be found. She has gone to help out with the rest of the crew in assessing the damage. Tyson shakes his head.
"Let's get on that speedboat and just make a run for it.." Ashe sighs. "Hey Moricant, Lucya! Get your stuff, we're taking a different ship!"
"What-?"
"Just get your stuff…"
Lucya shakes her head and turns to go back into the ship as Moricant turns to look at Ashe, a biscuit still in his mouth.
"Probably a good idea. I'll go get the speedboat ready," Tyson
The sun sinks down upon a small boat, not even 15 meters in length. Its sails are folded up, yet it's moving with incredible speed. Onboard the small little sailboat is a small parrot. Nothing else, just a parrot. The boat floats along until the last wisps of twilight sun are fully beneath the horizon. Suddenly, figures appear out of the parrot.
"I can't believe we managed to get through…" A gasping Ashe manages out. She chokes a couple of times, her lungs desperately reaching for a breath.
"Just… Keep going. Don't stop…" A equally out of breath Tyson appears from the parrot.
"I don't think I can keep the invisibility up for much longer…" Ashe finally says after a long silence. "Pushing the boat is fine though…"
"I'm guessing Lucya and Moricant are out cold? I didn't know they had such small mana pools," Tyson slides down onto the boat's wooden railing, his arms on top of the railing and his head over it.
"Yeah… They'll stay in the parrot for some time…"
"Why'd you choose a parrot as your persona?"
"I didn't choose it, ok! It just appeared when I used {Hidden Seal} for the first time,"
"Well, let's just keep it at that then. What are the specifications for a personal in the first place?"
"I dunno. Lost the book during the Weltkrama Fiasco. I already learned everything from the book. Didn't bother to read the lore,"
"You are going to get a massive scolding from Daniel, you know that?"
"Already have… He was so mad that I'd never read any of the specifics of the books…"
"You really need to pay attention to things. Lucya does a much better job at being a secretary…"
"I'm not trying to become a secretary! I'm trying to become a mage!"
"Mhmm, and what do you do in the Magio Admistratum anyhow?"
"That… right…" Ashe slumps down against the railing as well. The boat sails off into the night.
[Middle of the Atacam Gulf, Serioca Sea]
(26th, Black Sea Moon (VII), 644 ASY)
The waves that raged at the Waverider quickly dissipated as they moved into the calm Atacam Gulf. Ashe stares out into the wide ocean. Around her, the crew make the morning rounds, clean the ship, check the ship's position, and other chores that keep the ship running. The salty sea breeze whipping her dark brown hair into a cloud behind her head. She had been thinking about what to do when they arrived in Acnoc. Daniel had told them to go to the "Starwidth Inn" to meet up with him. The only problem is that Daniel didn't inform them where the inn is. Ashe sighs and stares off into the distance. The past couple of days had been hectic, to say the least. She couldn't sleep last night and had come into Tyson's room. She hadn't thought much about it, and even now after a sleep cleared her head, she still felt no shame. They lived in the same apartment together with Daniel for the three years they were in college. That apartment has quite small, and none of them had much space anyhow. Entering each other's room in the middle of the night was common as both Ashe and Tyson kept losing their personal items in the apartment. They had been kicked out of the apartment once because they kept coming into Daniel's part of the room to look for keys. Hmm? What is that on the horizon?
"Hey, Wiv? What's that black spot on the horizon?" She yells out to the captain in the navigation room.
"What black spot…?" She mutters back as she comes up from the navigation room and takes out her spyglass. She tilts her head in confusion. "I'm… not sure… I've never seen something like that in my life. That's smoke. Usually, if a ship is on fire, the smoke that billows out isn't consistent as different ship's parts burn at different rates. Not only that, but you can see the light of the fire. Here, there's just black smoke billowing out. It wouldn't be a land-based fire since it's moving."
"How fast is it moving…?"
"35… maybe 36 knots. Why?"
"It has no magical signature,"
"..."
"..."
Ashe and Captain Wiv just stare at each other. Sailing with sails and not magic is slow, just like the other world. A ship going 35-36 knots without magic would be impossible with this world's technology. Only magical beasts can move that fast, and they won't billow out smoke from their backs.
"Is this some sort of creature that we haven't seen before?" Ashe asks.
"I highly doubt it… Even a mythical beast would still have some magical residue. With your prowess, you should be able to pick that up from beyond the horizon," Wiv shakes her head.
"Hey Tyson, get over here!" Ashe shouts into the ship. At this point, some of the crew members have seen this strange sight on the horizon. They stare at it and discuss what it could be in hushed voices.
"What do you wan- That better not be what I think that is," Tyson says while climbing up the stairs from beneath the ship. He changes his words mid-sentence as he sees the smoke on the horizon.
"I think we might be outmatch here…" Ashe sighs.
"What do you mean? The Waverider can defeat any ship in single combat, even if we're boarded," Captain Wiv asks in a defensive tone.
"That's probably a Destroyer if it's moving at that speed. Seeing as it's billowing smoke, I'm guessing 1920's or 30's technology. Do you think it has radar?" Tyson thinks out loud as he scratches his chin, completely ignoring Wiv.
"Even if it doesn't, if it has a single mage onboard they will notice the massive amounts of magical energy that the Waverider is putting out. I don't think whether or not having radar is going to make a difference at this range," Ashe shakes her head.
"Hey, listen to me!" Wiv shouts at Ashe and Tyson, who had completely ignored her question.
"Wiv. That ship most likely has metal armor. The Waverider's cannons are going to be useless against it," Tyson shakes his head at Wiv.
"Actually. Tyson, can you check out what the ship looks like? You have much better sight than I do," Ashe suggests while passing a pair of binoculars from a satchel that appeared from thin air. Tyson takes the binoculars and stares off into the distance where the cloud of smoke is heading towards the ship at an ever-increasing rate. Many of the crew are starting to panic and the gun crews have started preparing for combat.
"Well… I have bad, worse, and terrible news. What do you want to hear first?" Tyson sighs after some time staring at the cloud of smoke which was slowly becoming more and more ship-shaped as time passed on.
"Just go in order," Wiv stares at Tyson.
"Let's see… I'd say that it's a 1920's style destroyer, three smokestacks, 8 double turrets, fore and aft towers. That's the bad news. The worse news is that all of its guns are trained on us. The terrible news is that it's flying the four four-point star banner of the Dalycon Union,"
"And why is that…destroyer, is it? What's the problem with it flying the Dalycon Union's flag?"
"You know what Ganbast did?"
"I heard about it during the debriefing. Idiot went into the Union and got his ass handed to him, we lost some forts, and then they left,"
"The Union declared war. We're in their nautrical terriotory. We're also flying Alterya's naval banner. Put two and two together, Wiv," Wiv stares at Tyson for a bit after he says this. Suddenly, her eyes go wide.
"Oh no… We're going to get shot at…" Her instincts as a captain start to kick in.
"Do you think we can win against that?" Ashe sighs after looking at the enemy ship again.
"No way…" Tyson shakes his head. The ship suddenly turns hard to port, the wooden ship groaning in protest. "Great choice Wiv. Now, how are we supposed to get to Acnoc?"
"What's going on…?" A half-sleeping voice floats over the yelling and thumping of the crew as they prepare for battle. Lucya appears from within the ship, half-dressed and with her hair in a mess. Flowing her is Moricant, similarly awoken quite rudely and without much clothing. Then again, Moricant doesn't dress much in the first place.
"Ah, perfect. Wiv, can we get one of the speedboats from the side and try to sneak pass the destroyer?" Tyson asks.
"We still have those onboard?" She asks back. A loud roar interrupts whatever Tyson was going to reply. Pillars of water appear from the starboard side, about 150 meters out.
'How are they so good are firing?" Tyson hisses out after dropping to the deck after hearing the explosion. "Aren't they a couple of kilometers out?"
"We can return fire, you know?" Wiv shouts to the cannon crew. As the ship continues to turn to port, the cannon crews shift to their right to track onto the target now to their rear. A louder boom followed by a glowing cloud of smoke announces the Waverider's starboard salvo. 54 streaks of smoke sprout from the side of the ship, racing towards the ever-expanding silhouette of the enemy ship. Clunks and bangs, the screech of iron upon steel ring out in the air, even making its way to the Waverider, kilometers from the source.
"No damage…" Tyson sighs. "What did I say? I know we have magically enhanced cannonballs that can track a target so we can hit them from this range, but what are some iron balls going to do to a steel destroyer at this range?"
"Steel? That ship's made of steel?" Wiv turns to look at Tyson. "How did they make so much steel?"
"Bessemer process," Ashe mutters under her breath.
"Anyhow. I think that's they're return salvo…" Tyson sighs as the enemy ship suddenly lights up with an echoing boom drifting its way to the Waverider. The ship suddenly lifts up, the groaning of wood making evident of the damage.
"That damaged the hull!" Wiv shouts.
"Is it not supposed to?" Tyson asks, but Wiv is nowhere to be found. She has gone to help out with the rest of the crew in assessing the damage. Tyson shakes his head.
"Let's get on that speedboat and just make a run for it.." Ashe sighs. "Hey Moricant, Lucya! Get your stuff, we're taking a different ship!"
"What-?"
"Just get your stuff…"
Lucya shakes her head and turns to go back into the ship as Moricant turns to look at Ashe, a biscuit still in his mouth.
"Probably a good idea. I'll go get the speedboat ready," Tyson
The sun sinks down upon a small boat, not even 15 meters in length. Its sails are folded up, yet it's moving with incredible speed. Onboard the small little sailboat is a small parrot. Nothing else, just a parrot. The boat floats along until the last wisps of twilight sun are fully beneath the horizon. Suddenly, figures appear out of the parrot.
"I can't believe we managed to get through…" A gasping Ashe manages out. She chokes a couple of times, her lungs desperately reaching for a breath.
"Just… Keep going. Don't stop…" A equally out of breath Tyson appears from the parrot.
"I don't think I can keep the invisibility up for much longer…" Ashe finally says after a long silence. "Pushing the boat is fine though…"
"I'm guessing Lucya and Moricant are out cold? I didn't know they had such small mana pools," Tyson slides down onto the boat's wooden railing, his arms on top of the railing and his head over it.
"Yeah… They'll stay in the parrot for some time…"
"Why'd you choose a parrot as your persona?"
"I didn't choose it, ok! It just appeared when I used {Hidden Seal} for the first time,"
"Well, let's just keep it at that then. What are the specifications for a personal in the first place?"
"I dunno. Lost the book during the Weltkrama Fiasco. I already learned everything from the book. Didn't bother to read the lore,"
"You are going to get a massive scolding from Daniel, you know that?"
"Already have… He was so mad that I'd never read any of the specifics of the books…"
"You really need to pay attention to things. Lucya does a much better job at being a secretary…"
"I'm not trying to become a secretary! I'm trying to become a mage!"
"Mhmm, and what do you do in the Magio Admistratum anyhow?"
"That… right…" Ashe slumps down against the railing as well. The boat sails off into the night.
[Middle of the Atacam Gulf, Serioca Sea]
(26th, Black Sea Moon (VII), 644 ASY)
The waves that raged at the Waverider quickly dissipated as they moved into the calm Atacam Gulf. Ashe stares out into the wide ocean. Around her, the crew make the morning rounds, clean the ship, check the ship's position, and other chores that keep the ship running. The salty sea breeze whipping her dark brown hair into a cloud behind her head. She had been thinking about what to do when they arrived in Acnoc. Daniel had told them to go to the "Starwidth Inn" to meet up with him. The only problem is that Daniel didn't inform them where the inn is. Ashe sighs and stares off into the distance. The past couple of days had been hectic, to say the least. She couldn't sleep last night and had come into Tyson's room. She hadn't thought much about it, and even now after a sleep cleared her head, she still felt no shame. They lived in the same apartment together with Daniel for the three years they were in college. That apartment has quite small, and none of them had much space anyhow. Entering each other's room in the middle of the night was common as both Ashe and Tyson kept losing their personal items in the apartment. They had been kicked out of the apartment once because they kept coming into Daniel's part of the room to look for keys. Hmm? What is that on the horizon?
"Hey, Wiv? What's that black spot on the horizon?" She yells out to the captain in the navigation room.
"What black spot…?" She mutters back as she comes up from the navigation room and takes out her spyglass. She tilts her head in confusion. "I'm… not sure… I've never seen something like that in my life. That's smoke. Usually, if a ship is on fire, the smoke that billows out isn't consistent as different ship's parts burn at different rates. Not only that, but you can see the light of the fire. Here, there's just black smoke billowing out. It wouldn't be a land-based fire since it's moving."
"How fast is it moving…?"
"35… maybe 36 knots. Why?"
"It has no magical signature,"
"..."
"..."
Ashe and Captain Wiv just stare at each other. Sailing with sails and not magic is slow, just like the other world. A ship going 35-36 knots without magic would be impossible with this world's technology. Only magical beasts can move that fast, and they won't billow out smoke from their backs.
"Is this some sort of creature that we haven't seen before?" Ashe asks.
"I highly doubt it… Even a mythical beast would still have some magical residue. With your prowess, you should be able to pick that up from beyond the horizon," Wiv shakes her head.
"Hey Tyson, get over here!" Ashe shouts into the ship. At this point, some of the crew members have seen this strange sight on the horizon. They stare at it and discuss what it could be in hushed voices.
"What do you wan- That better not be what I think that is," Tyson says while climbing up the stairs from beneath the ship. He changes his words mid-sentence as he sees the smoke on the horizon.
"I think we might be outmatch here…" Ashe sighs.
"What do you mean? The Waverider can defeat any ship in single combat, even if we're boarded," Captain Wiv asks in a defensive tone.
"That's probably a Destroyer if it's moving at that speed. Seeing as it's billowing smoke, I'm guessing 1920's or 30's technology. Do you think it has radar?" Tyson thinks out loud as he scratches his chin, completely ignoring Wiv.
"Even if it doesn't, if it has a single mage onboard they will notice the massive amounts of magical energy that the Waverider is putting out. I don't think whether or not having radar is going to make a difference at this range," Ashe shakes her head.
"Hey, listen to me!" Wiv shouts at Ashe and Tyson, who had completely ignored her question.
"Wiv. That ship most likely has metal armor. The Waverider's cannons are going to be useless against it," Tyson shakes his head at Wiv.
"Actually. Tyson, can you check out what the ship looks like? You have much better sight than I do," Ashe suggests while passing a pair of binoculars from a satchel that appeared from thin air. Tyson takes the binoculars and stares off into the distance where the cloud of smoke is heading towards the ship at an ever-increasing rate. Many of the crew are starting to panic and the gun crews have started preparing for combat.
"Well… I have bad, worse, and terrible news. What do you want to hear first?" Tyson sighs after some time staring at the cloud of smoke which was slowly becoming more and more ship-shaped as time passed on.
"Just go in order," Wiv stares at Tyson.
"Let's see… I'd say that it's a 1920's style destroyer, three smokestacks, 8 double turrets, fore and aft towers. That's the bad news. The worse news is that all of its guns are trained on us. The terrible news is that it's flying the four four-point star banner of the Dalycon Union,"
"And why is that…destroyer, is it? What's the problem with it flying the Dalycon Union's flag?"
"You know what Ganbast did?"
"I heard about it during the debriefing. Idiot went into the Union and got his ass handed to him, we lost some forts, and then they left,"
"The Union declared war. We're in their nautrical terriotory. We're also flying Alterya's naval banner. Put two and two together, Wiv," Wiv stares at Tyson for a bit after he says this. Suddenly, her eyes go wide.
"Oh no… We're going to get shot at…" Her instincts as a captain start to kick in.
"Do you think we can win against that?" Ashe sighs after looking at the enemy ship again.
"No way…" Tyson shakes his head. The ship suddenly turns hard to port, the wooden ship groaning in protest. "Great choice Wiv. Now, how are we supposed to get to Acnoc?"
"What's going on…?" A half-sleeping voice floats over the yelling and thumping of the crew as they prepare for battle. Lucya appears from within the ship, half-dressed and with her hair in a mess. Flowing her is Moricant, similarly awoken quite rudely and without much clothing. Then again, Moricant doesn't dress much in the first place.
"Ah, perfect. Wiv, can we get one of the speedboats from the side and try to sneak pass the destroyer?" Tyson asks.
"We still have those onboard?" She asks back. A loud roar interrupts whatever Tyson was going to reply. Pillars of water appear from the starboard side, about 150 meters out.
'How are they so good are firing?" Tyson hisses out after dropping to the deck after hearing the explosion. "Aren't they a couple of kilometers out?"
"We can return fire, you know?" Wiv shouts to the cannon crew. As the ship continues to turn to port, the cannon crews shift to their right to track onto the target now to their rear. A louder boom followed by a glowing cloud of smoke announces the Waverider's starboard salvo. 54 streaks of smoke sprout from the side of the ship, racing towards the ever-expanding silhouette of the enemy ship. Clunks and bangs, the screech of iron upon steel ring out in the air, even making its way to the Waverider, kilometers from the source.
"No damage…" Tyson sighs. "What did I say? I know we have magically enhanced cannonballs that can track a target so we can hit them from this range, but what are some iron balls going to do to a steel destroyer at this range?"
"Steel? That ship's made of steel?" Wiv turns to look at Tyson. "How did they make so much steel?"
"Bessemer process," Ashe mutters under her breath.
"Anyhow. I think that's they're return salvo…" Tyson sighs as the enemy ship suddenly lights up with an echoing boom drifting its way to the Waverider. The ship suddenly lifts up, the groaning of wood making evident of the damage.
"That damaged the hull!" Wiv shouts.
"Is it not supposed to?" Tyson asks, but Wiv is nowhere to be found. She has gone to help out with the rest of the crew in assessing the damage. Tyson shakes his head.
"Let's get on that speedboat and just make a run for it.." Ashe sighs. "Hey Moricant, Lucya! Get your stuff, we're taking a different ship!"
"What-?"
"Just get your stuff…"
Lucya shakes her head and turns to go back into the ship as Moricant turns to look at Ashe, a biscuit still in his mouth.
"Probably a good idea. I'll go get the speedboat ready," Tyson
The sun sinks down upon a small boat, not even 15 meters in length. Its sails are folded up, yet it's moving with incredible speed. Onboard the small little sailboat is a small parrot. Nothing else, just a parrot. The boat floats along until the last wisps of twilight sun are fully beneath the horizon. Suddenly, figures appear out of the parrot.
"I can't believe we managed to get through…" A gasping Ashe manages out. She chokes a couple of times, her lungs desperately reaching for a breath.
"Just… Keep going. Don't stop…" A equally out of breath Tyson appears from the parrot.
"I don't think I can keep the invisibility up for much longer…" Ashe finally says after a long silence. "Pushing the boat is fine though…"
"I'm guessing Lucya and Moricant are out cold? I didn't know they had such small mana pools," Tyson slides down onto the boat's wooden railing, his arms on top of the railing and his head over it.
"Yeah… They'll stay in the parrot for some time…"
"Why'd you choose a parrot as your persona?"
"I didn't choose it, ok! It just appeared when I used {Hidden Seal} for the first time,"
"Well, let's just keep it at that then. What are the specifications for a personal in the first place?"
"I dunno. Lost the book during the Weltkrama Fiasco. I already learned everything from the book. Didn't bother to read the lore,"
"You are going to get a massive scolding from Daniel, you know that?"
"Already have… He was so mad that I'd never read any of the specifics of the books…"
"You really need to pay attention to things. Lucya does a much better job at being a secretary…"
"I'm not trying to become a secretary! I'm trying to become a mage!"
"Mhmm, and what do you do in the Magio Admistratum anyhow?"
"That… right…" Ashe slumps down against the railing as well. The boat sails off into the night.
[Middle of the Atacam Gulf, Serioca Sea]
(26th, Black Sea Moon (VII), 644 ASY)
The waves that raged at the Waverider quickly dissipated as they moved into the calm Atacam Gulf. Ashe stares out into the wide ocean. Around her, the crew make the morning rounds, clean the ship, check the ship's position, and other chores that keep the ship running. The salty sea breeze whipping her dark brown hair into a cloud behind her head. She had been thinking about what to do when they arrived in Acnoc. Daniel had told them to go to the "Starwidth Inn" to meet up with him. The only problem is that Daniel didn't inform them where the inn is. Ashe sighs and stares off into the distance. The past couple of days had been hectic, to say the least. She couldn't sleep last night and had come into Tyson's room. She hadn't thought much about it, and even now after a sleep cleared her head, she still felt no shame. They lived in the same apartment together with Daniel for the three years they were in college. That apartment has quite small, and none of them had much space anyhow. Entering each other's room in the middle of the night was common as both Ashe and Tyson kept losing their personal items in the apartment. They had been kicked out of the apartment once because they kept coming into Daniel's part of the room to look for keys. Hmm? What is that on the horizon?
"Hey, Wiv? What's that black spot on the horizon?" She yells out to the captain in the navigation room.
"What black spot…?" She mutters back as she comes up from the navigation room and takes out her spyglass. She tilts her head in confusion. "I'm… not sure… I've never seen something like that in my life. That's smoke. Usually, if a ship is on fire, the smoke that billows out isn't consistent as different ship's parts burn at different rates. Not only that, but you can see the light of the fire. Here, there's just black smoke billowing out. It wouldn't be a land-based fire since it's moving."
"How fast is it moving…?"
"35… maybe 36 knots. Why?"
"It has no magical signature,"
"..."
"..."
Ashe and Captain Wiv just stare at each other. Sailing with sails and not magic is slow, just like the other world. A ship going 35-36 knots without magic would be impossible with this world's technology. Only magical beasts can move that fast, and they won't billow out smoke from their backs.
"Is this some sort of creature that we haven't seen before?" Ashe asks.
"I highly doubt it… Even a mythical beast would still have some magical residue. With your prowess, you should be able to pick that up from beyond the horizon," Wiv shakes her head.
"Hey Tyson, get over here!" Ashe shouts into the ship. At this point, some of the crew members have seen this strange sight on the horizon. They stare at it and discuss what it could be in hushed voices.
"What do you wan- That better not be what I think that is," Tyson says while climbing up the stairs from beneath the ship. He changes his words mid-sentence as he sees the smoke on the horizon.
"I think we might be outmatch here…" Ashe sighs.
"What do you mean? The Waverider can defeat any ship in single combat, even if we're boarded," Captain Wiv asks in a defensive tone.
"That's probably a Destroyer if it's moving at that speed. Seeing as it's billowing smoke, I'm guessing 1920's or 30's technology. Do you think it has radar?" Tyson thinks out loud as he scratches his chin, completely ignoring Wiv.
"Even if it doesn't, if it has a single mage onboard they will notice the massive amounts of magical energy that the Waverider is putting out. I don't think whether or not having radar is going to make a difference at this range," Ashe shakes her head.
"Hey, listen to me!" Wiv shouts at Ashe and Tyson, who had completely ignored her question.
"Wiv. That ship most likely has metal armor. The Waverider's cannons are going to be useless against it," Tyson shakes his head at Wiv.
"Actually. Tyson, can you check out what the ship looks like? You have much better sight than I do," Ashe suggests while passing a pair of binoculars from a satchel that appeared from thin air. Tyson takes the binoculars and stares off into the distance where the cloud of smoke is heading towards the ship at an ever-increasing rate. Many of the crew are starting to panic and the gun crews have started preparing for combat.
"Well… I have bad, worse, and terrible news. What do you want to hear first?" Tyson sighs after some time staring at the cloud of smoke which was slowly becoming more and more ship-shaped as time passed on.
"Just go in order," Wiv stares at Tyson.
"Let's see… I'd say that it's a 1920's style destroyer, three smokestacks, 8 double turrets, fore and aft towers. That's the bad news. The worse news is that all of its guns are trained on us. The terrible news is that it's flying the four four-point star banner of the Dalycon Union,"
"And why is that…destroyer, is it? What's the problem with it flying the Dalycon Union's flag?"
"You know what Ganbast did?"
"I heard about it during the debriefing. Idiot went into the Union and got his ass handed to him, we lost some forts, and then they left,"
"The Union declared war. We're in their nautrical terriotory. We're also flying Alterya's naval banner. Put two and two together, Wiv," Wiv stares at Tyson for a bit after he says this. Suddenly, her eyes go wide.
"Oh no… We're going to get shot at…" Her instincts as a captain start to kick in.
"Do you think we can win against that?" Ashe sighs after looking at the enemy ship again.
"No way…" Tyson shakes his head. The ship suddenly turns hard to port, the wooden ship groaning in protest. "Great choice Wiv. Now, how are we supposed to get to Acnoc?"
"What's going on…?" A half-sleeping voice floats over the yelling and thumping of the crew as they prepare for battle. Lucya appears from within the ship, half-dressed and with her hair in a mess. Flowing her is Moricant, similarly awoken quite rudely and without much clothing. Then again, Moricant doesn't dress much in the first place.
"Ah, perfect. Wiv, can we get one of the speedboats from the side and try to sneak pass the destroyer?" Tyson asks.
"We still have those onboard?" She asks back. A loud roar interrupts whatever Tyson was going to reply. Pillars of water appear from the starboard side, about 150 meters out.
'How are they so good are firing?" Tyson hisses out after dropping to the deck after hearing the explosion. "Aren't they a couple of kilometers out?"
"We can return fire, you know?" Wiv shouts to the cannon crew. As the ship continues to turn to port, the cannon crews shift to their right to track onto the target now to their rear. A louder boom followed by a glowing cloud of smoke announces the Waverider's starboard salvo. 54 streaks of smoke sprout from the side of the ship, racing towards the ever-expanding silhouette of the enemy ship. Clunks and bangs, the screech of iron upon steel ring out in the air, even making its way to the Waverider, kilometers from the source.
"No damage…" Tyson sighs. "What did I say? I know we have magically enhanced cannonballs that can track a target so we can hit them from this range, but what are some iron balls going to do to a steel destroyer at this range?"
"Steel? That ship's made of steel?" Wiv turns to look at Tyson. "How did they make so much steel?"
"Bessemer process," Ashe mutters under her breath.
"Anyhow. I think that's they're return salvo…" Tyson sighs as the enemy ship suddenly lights up with an echoing boom drifting its way to the Waverider. The ship suddenly lifts up, the groaning of wood making evident of the damage.
"That damaged the hull!" Wiv shouts.
"Is it not supposed to?" Tyson asks, but Wiv is nowhere to be found. She has gone to help out with the rest of the crew in assessing the damage. Tyson shakes his head.
"Let's get on that speedboat and just make a run for it.." Ashe sighs. "Hey Moricant, Lucya! Get your stuff, we're taking a different ship!"
"What-?"
"Just get your stuff…"
Lucya shakes her head and turns to go back into the ship as Moricant turns to look at Ashe, a biscuit still in his mouth.
"Probably a good idea. I'll go get the speedboat ready," Tyson
The sun sinks down upon a small boat, not even 15 meters in length. Its sails are folded up, yet it's moving with incredible speed. Onboard the small little sailboat is a small parrot. Nothing else, just a parrot. The boat floats along until the last wisps of twilight sun are fully beneath the horizon. Suddenly, figures appear out of the parrot.
"I can't believe we managed to get through…" A gasping Ashe manages out. She chokes a couple of times, her lungs desperately reaching for a breath.
"Just… Keep going. Don't stop…" A equally out of breath Tyson appears from the parrot.
"I don't think I can keep the invisibility up for much longer…" Ashe finally says after a long silence. "Pushing the boat is fine though…"
"I'm guessing Lucya and Moricant are out cold? I didn't know they had such small mana pools," Tyson slides down onto the boat's wooden railing, his arms on top of the railing and his head over it.
"Yeah… They'll stay in the parrot for some time…"
"Why'd you choose a parrot as your persona?"
"I didn't choose it, ok! It just appeared when I used {Hidden Seal} for the first time,"
"Well, let's just keep it at that then. What are the specifications for a personal in the first place?"
"I dunno. Lost the book during the Weltkrama Fiasco. I already learned everything from the book. Didn't bother to read the lore,"
"You are going to get a massive scolding from Daniel, you know that?"
"Already have… He was so mad that I'd never read any of the specifics of the books…"
"You really need to pay attention to things. Lucya does a much better job at being a secretary…"
"I'm not trying to become a secretary! I'm trying to become a mage!"
"Mhmm, and what do you do in the Magio Admistratum anyhow?"
"That… right…" Ashe slumps down against the railing as well. The boat sails off into the night.
[Middle of the Atacam Gulf, Serioca Sea]
(26th, Black Sea Moon (VII), 644 ASY)
The waves that raged at the Waverider quickly dissipated as they moved into the calm Atacam Gulf. Ashe stares out into the wide ocean. Around her, the crew make the morning rounds, clean the ship, check the ship's position, and other chores that keep the ship running. The salty sea breeze whipping her dark brown hair into a cloud behind her head. She had been thinking about what to do when they arrived in Acnoc. Daniel had told them to go to the "Starwidth Inn" to meet up with him. The only problem is that Daniel didn't inform them where the inn is. Ashe sighs and stares off into the distance. The past couple of days had been hectic, to say the least. She couldn't sleep last night and had come into Tyson's room. She hadn't thought much about it, and even now after a sleep cleared her head, she still felt no shame. They lived in the same apartment together with Daniel for the three years they were in college. That apartment has quite small, and none of them had much space anyhow. Entering each other's room in the middle of the night was common as both Ashe and Tyson kept losing their personal items in the apartment. They had been kicked out of the apartment once because they kept coming into Daniel's part of the room to look for keys. Hmm? What is that on the horizon?
"Hey, Wiv? What's that black spot on the horizon?" She yells out to the captain in the navigation room.
"What black spot…?" She mutters back as she comes up from the navigation room and takes out her spyglass. She tilts her head in confusion. "I'm… not sure… I've never seen something like that in my life. That's smoke. Usually, if a ship is on fire, the smoke that billows out isn't consistent as different ship's parts burn at different rates. Not only that, but you can see the light of the fire. Here, there's just black smoke billowing out. It wouldn't be a land-based fire since it's moving."
"How fast is it moving…?"
"35… maybe 36 knots. Why?"
"It has no magical signature,"
"..."
"..."
Ashe and Captain Wiv just stare at each other. Sailing with sails and not magic is slow, just like the other world. A ship going 35-36 knots without magic would be impossible with this world's technology. Only magical beasts can move that fast, and they won't billow out smoke from their backs.
"Is this some sort of creature that we haven't seen before?" Ashe asks.
"I highly doubt it… Even a mythical beast would still have some magical residue. With your prowess, you should be able to pick that up from beyond the horizon," Wiv shakes her head.
"Hey Tyson, get over here!" Ashe shouts into the ship. At this point, some of the crew members have seen this strange sight on the horizon. They stare at it and discuss what it could be in hushed voices.
"What do you wan- That better not be what I think that is," Tyson says while climbing up the stairs from beneath the ship. He changes his words mid-sentence as he sees the smoke on the horizon.
"I think we might be outmatch here…" Ashe sighs.
"What do you mean? The Waverider can defeat any ship in single combat, even if we're boarded," Captain Wiv asks in a defensive tone.
"That's probably a Destroyer if it's moving at that speed. Seeing as it's billowing smoke, I'm guessing 1920's or 30's technology. Do you think it has radar?" Tyson thinks out loud as he scratches his chin, completely ignoring Wiv.
"Even if it doesn't, if it has a single mage onboard they will notice the massive amounts of magical energy that the Waverider is putting out. I don't think whether or not having radar is going to make a difference at this range," Ashe shakes her head.
"Hey, listen to me!" Wiv shouts at Ashe and Tyson, who had completely ignored her question.
"Wiv. That ship most likely has metal armor. The Waverider's cannons are going to be useless against it," Tyson shakes his head at Wiv.
"Actually. Tyson, can you check out what the ship looks like? You have much better sight than I do," Ashe suggests while passing a pair of binoculars from a satchel that appeared from thin air. Tyson takes the binoculars and stares off into the distance where the cloud of smoke is heading towards the ship at an ever-increasing rate. Many of the crew are starting to panic and the gun crews have started preparing for combat.
"Well… I have bad, worse, and terrible news. What do you want to hear first?" Tyson sighs after some time staring at the cloud of smoke which was slowly becoming more and more ship-shaped as time passed on.
"Just go in order," Wiv stares at Tyson.
"Let's see… I'd say that it's a 1920's style destroyer, three smokestacks, 8 double turrets, fore and aft towers. That's the bad news. The worse news is that all of its guns are trained on us. The terrible news is that it's flying the four four-point star banner of the Dalycon Union,"
"And why is that…destroyer, is it? What's the problem with it flying the Dalycon Union's flag?"
"You know what Ganbast did?"
"I heard about it during the debriefing. Idiot went into the Union and got his ass handed to him, we lost some forts, and then they left,"
"The Union declared war. We're in their nautrical terriotory. We're also flying Alterya's naval banner. Put two and two together, Wiv," Wiv stares at Tyson for a bit after he says this. Suddenly, her eyes go wide.
"Oh no… We're going to get shot at…" Her instincts as a captain start to kick in.
"Do you think we can win against that?" Ashe sighs after looking at the enemy ship again.
"No way…" Tyson shakes his head. The ship suddenly turns hard to port, the wooden ship groaning in protest. "Great choice Wiv. Now, how are we supposed to get to Acnoc?"
"What's going on…?" A half-sleeping voice floats over the yelling and thumping of the crew as they prepare for battle. Lucya appears from within the ship, half-dressed and with her hair in a mess. Flowing her is Moricant, similarly awoken quite rudely and without much clothing. Then again, Moricant doesn't dress much in the first place.
"Ah, perfect. Wiv, can we get one of the speedboats from the side and try to sneak pass the destroyer?" Tyson asks.
"We still have those onboard?" She asks back. A loud roar interrupts whatever Tyson was going to reply. Pillars of water appear from the starboard side, about 150 meters out.
'How are they so good are firing?" Tyson hisses out after dropping to the deck after hearing the explosion. "Aren't they a couple of kilometers out?"
"We can return fire, you know?" Wiv shouts to the cannon crew. As the ship continues to turn to port, the cannon crews shift to their right to track onto the target now to their rear. A louder boom followed by a glowing cloud of smoke announces the Waverider's starboard salvo. 54 streaks of smoke sprout from the side of the ship, racing towards the ever-expanding silhouette of the enemy ship. Clunks and bangs, the screech of iron upon steel ring out in the air, even making its way to the Waverider, kilometers from the source.
"No damage…" Tyson sighs. "What did I say? I know we have magically enhanced cannonballs that can track a target so we can hit them from this range, but what are some iron balls going to do to a steel destroyer at this range?"
"Steel? That ship's made of steel?" Wiv turns to look at Tyson. "How did they make so much steel?"
"Bessemer process," Ashe mutters under her breath.
"Anyhow. I think that's they're return salvo…" Tyson sighs as the enemy ship suddenly lights up with an echoing boom drifting its way to the Waverider. The ship suddenly lifts up, the groaning of wood making evident of the damage.
"That damaged the hull!" Wiv shouts.
"Is it not supposed to?" Tyson asks, but Wiv is nowhere to be found. She has gone to help out with the rest of the crew in assessing the damage. Tyson shakes his head.
"Let's get on that speedboat and just make a run for it.." Ashe sighs. "Hey Moricant, Lucya! Get your stuff, we're taking a different ship!"
"What-?"
"Just get your stuff…"
Lucya shakes her head and turns to go back into the ship as Moricant turns to look at Ashe, a biscuit still in his mouth.
"Probably a good idea. I'll go get the speedboat ready," Tyson
The sun sinks down upon a small boat, not even 15 meters in length. Its sails are folded up, yet it's moving with incredible speed. Onboard the small little sailboat is a small parrot. Nothing else, just a parrot. The boat floats along until the last wisps of twilight sun are fully beneath the horizon. Suddenly, figures appear out of the parrot.
"I can't believe we managed to get through…" A gasping Ashe manages out. She chokes a couple of times, her lungs desperately reaching for a breath.
"Just… Keep going. Don't stop…" A equally out of breath Tyson appears from the parrot.
"I don't think I can keep the invisibility up for much longer…" Ashe finally says after a long silence. "Pushing the boat is fine though…"
"I'm guessing Lucya and Moricant are out cold? I didn't know they had such small mana pools," Tyson slides down onto the boat's wooden railing, his arms on top of the railing and his head over it.
"Yeah… They'll stay in the parrot for some time…"
"Why'd you choose a parrot as your persona?"
"I didn't choose it, ok! It just appeared when I used {Hidden Seal} for the first time,"
"Well, let's just keep it at that then. What are the specifications for a personal in the first place?"
"I dunno. Lost the book during the Weltkrama Fiasco. I already learned everything from the book. Didn't bother to read the lore,"
"You are going to get a massive scolding from Daniel, you know that?"
"Already have… He was so mad that I'd never read any of the specifics of the books…"
"You really need to pay attention to things. Lucya does a much better job at being a secretary…"
"I'm not trying to become a secretary! I'm trying to become a mage!"
"Mhmm, and what do you do in the Magio Admistratum anyhow?"
"That… right…" Ashe slumps down against the railing as well. The boat sails off into the night.