The morning after the celebration was one filled with groans as sailors lamented the last night's drinking. Some gave me dirty looks as if it was somehow my fault that they drank so much.... sure I maybe require everyone to join in the festivities but that's tradition hardly my fualt and I told Leos as much.
"What tradition?" He asked, looking a little bit like tarturus had taken his soul and then spit it back out like an untasty morsel.
"The one I made up. very important, I tell you." I replied warmly. Tradition was Tradition, after all.
"If you use this as an excuse to use me as mural again, I will mutiny." He responded much to the approval of the sailors and warriors who were packing boxes and jars and other important things into the decks below.
some even shivered, remembering a time when their skin had been dyed pink. spoil sports.
"You know what helps with migrains?" I casually responded and was about to wrap my arm around his shoulder when he gave me a falt look.
"If you say more wine, or pancreas training, or man training, or any other thing that ultimately leads to excuse to force me to drink, I will mutiny and use your hidden clothes as the new flag."
I turned bright red at the mention of my "hidden" clothes. That was..... that was..... ummmm
.....
pretty effective as a threat, actually. So I stopped trying to force him into a one-armed hug so I could force more wine into him. Instead, I pouted and sulked in the corner.
"So another 2 or 3 days at Thalassa. It's probably best if we have the girl sleep in my quarters."
Leos gave me the flatest of stares.
"So you can treat the poor girl like she's half her age? no, I'll set up separate quarters for her in the hull."
Tarturus's pearl, he saw right through me. Well, at least that was part of the reason. Still, I had that awful feeling. Something felt like it didn't add up. Like I had all but one length of string to lead me through a maze, I didn't even realize I was traversing.
"Leos, in seriousness, I feel like something off. Like we're missing something here." He turned around, appearing to be about to say something sarcastic. However, when he looked at my face, he froze.
Looking at his face, something just clicked. If the girl could summon dragon warriors and throw fireballs at me. How in the hell did I beat her so easily.
That was when the fates decided to play their cruel joke. As echoing cries sounded the of alarm.
Looking over the sternum, I saw that over 100 dragon warriors with their black scales and skeltelel forms had taken over the hull of the ship and with them.... hostages. Zuezes balls, thin was going to be tricky.
" I am leaving this ship! if anyone of your Malàka's try to stop me. I will kill each of these men." a small voice said.
Leos paled. "Gah! This is going to mess up my hard laid plans.
This wasn't the kind of situation that I could easily handle. Dragon warriors were tough opponents. While I could easily destroy 1 or 2 with a non blood field strike that was 1 or 2 of them. I counted nearly 200 of the basterds.
I could do it if I tapped into my blood for a prolonged period of time. The issue is that I'd only be able to do so for 2 minutes. Any longer than that, and I'd start damaging my body.
Still, I couldn't just let the girl go. She was too important. The fact that an Upper king had sent me a request proved that fact. I was going to let a war start over this or for me to lose my chance at a hydra. The species had almost gone extinct. So, finding one on my own was going to be impossible.
I felt bad, but I had my own things to worry about. At least I would make it fair. She put everything on the line, so would I. With a moment of thought, I started to Channel the blood. I felt the power strengthen and enhance my muscles.
But right before I could do anything, Leos grabbed my shoulder.
"I have a plan. It's just one I wanted to use later. It would have worked a lot better if the girl didn't know about it. Well, I just have to hope she has good acting skills."
I gave him a blank stare as I stopped channeling the blood.
"Just trust me." he sighed before jumping down to the deck of the ship. His eyes glowed green and held a parchment of paper as he dodged and weaved.
"Here. Read 6. You still want to leave, well give you a week's supply and a days headscart."
Gah! Leos, what are you doing? theirs no way she's gonna take anything we have to offer. I prepared to half to jump down and save Leos from what would be certain death even for me.
I kept expecting the skeltel dragon warriors to make a move, pounce on him, well anything, but to my surprise, none of that happens. The younger witch simply took on a sour expression as she read the docs, and with a glance at me, she sighed.
The skeletal warriors turned to ash, and the girl slumped, looking defeated. Somehow, Leos had beat her completely with nothing but words and paper. A witch powerful enough to beat me without even lifting an arm to attack.
what magic was this? This must be that fabled diplomacy. No wonder I hated it. This was boring! weres the bloodshed and violence?
gah! young people have no respect for tradition.
Leos eventually made his way back up to the captains quarters overlooking the deck with a smug smirk that I wanted to slap off. But you don't slap your Advisors, otherwise you have to do all the paperwork and politics stuff.
"So, what was that?" I asked, and he just gave me a flat look.
"I'm not telling you. you are about as a subtle as a hammer to the face that then lights said face on fire."
Yeah... that was true.