Chapter 6
"My name is Adriana," she said confidently.
"Why were you imprisoned in the first place?" she asked.
"I was a miner in my village, and the best one, to say the least. The inner depths of the cave contains Halez, a mineral that can boost cultivation for martial artists and mages alike, as was rumoured. To get this mineral however, the person dies, because of the initial wave of its release. And when I was asked to mine it, I refused, and as a result, was thrown down there."
"Seems pretty absurd why anyone would throw someone else in the dungeon for rejecting a suicide mission that's as obvious as the sky is blue" she expressed.
"It's the fault of that failure of a patriarch. He was only an heir because his siblings rejected the position and went overseas to look for greener pastures. Tsk tsk tsk" I replied.
"Also, don't you feel any resentment towards us, because we raided your village?" she questioned.
"You let me out of prison anyways. I would've died of thirst or hunger if I stayed there one more day. Additionally, everyone was a thorn, all the gazes were unbearable" I answered.
"Yes, presumably because of your cough color," she said nervously.
"So, are you joining us? Muna?" she regained her faint smile.
"Well alright, I guess."
She sprung up from her seat and made for the stairs.
"The others should be back. Lets go welcome you, our official 33rd member" she said as she paused, looked back and smiled at me. It might be just a hunch, but that was a real smile.
I continued my normal countenance and walked a normal pace, ironic to my fast paced heartbeat. She got me.
We walked up to the cabin, where I noticed even more people than before. On the left side of the deck, I could see gold, silver and other precious minerals and currencies in bags, which could barely contain the massive loot.
"Everyone, meet our new member, Muna! He will join our combat squad from today onward. What do you say to our new member?!"
"Welcome on board, comrade!" they all yelled in unison.
"Why don't you say something, Muna?" she whispered in my ear.
"Good evening. My name is Muna, and I will be in your care. Thank you for having me!" I nervously said. I was so embarrassed that I still had my head bowed. Just then I felt a nudge on my shoulder.
"Well, let's celebrate our newest member!" Adriana said with a mug of beer in her hand. I could not make out where she got that from in such a short time.
We sat on the ground, in a large circle and spent hours deep in gist about our experiences, each of us fired up by the booze. They probably stole that too. Only one of them, which I got to know was Jamie, who didn't drink, went up to steer the ship. I had tried to start a conversation with her, but to no avail. I was told by Oliver, the infamous player, that he had long tried and long dreamed to even talk to her, but nothing succeeded. It was as if she was mute.
We talked for such a long while that I got to know their names.
Oliver the player, Josiah the thick-muscled man who rescued me from prison, Kainan who was a swordsman and noticeably drank the hardest, Kyle the one with the staff I saw earlier, who also wore something like goggles which supposedly helps with his vision. Jerome a dagger and poison user, Albert the tactician, Shane who fights with a spear and supposedly is the 'serious' one. He drank the least. Vince, a big man who stood with Josiah in terms of muscle, and prefers to use his fist. Sasha and Sam, siblings, who trained with sword and shield, Ash, a trained assassin. Stacy and Ella who are cousins, Jaden, Stephen, Jennie, Becky, Hanna, Omar, Sulai the Indian and Jenna who are all mages, with Jenna and Jennie being cousins, Ava, Mia, Zoe, Lily, Lucas, Mason, Noah and Liam being assassins and archers. Then finally Jamie the mute and Adriana's other guard, a swordsman, Lola. Her and Lily are half-sisters.
In particular, I really liked Shane, Kyle, Vince, Ash, Sulai and Jaden. They were the ones I could start talking informally to, besides Adriana, probably.
"That's enough drinking guys. We set sail tonight, and we're going to the continent south of here. We're headed for Africa. You would help us when we get there eh? Muna?" Adriana said.
Just as I was going to tell her that I don't know much about there, as I was here for as long as I can remember, Venus decided it was time to bother me again. Whenever I would listen to what she has to say to me telepathically, I would often distract myself from what was happening on the outside.
This time was different, since our souls merged in a more uniform manner, due to passing of time, she could now partially manifest as a miniature form that only me could see, which looked absolutely ridiculous. At least to me.
"You were from there and you can't remember what happened there. Hehe you're a fa–"
I could feel myself pushing her away. Did she not have anything to do?
"If you don't want to answer you can say that" she said, in a disappointed tone.
"N-no not you I was just, yeah don't worry about that. I don't recall much from when I was there as I moved away when I was young, and I didn't have much time to recall anything in that cave." I replied in a nervously assuring manner.
"Alright then, we'll have to manage though. If you're wondering why Africa, it's because other places are chaos-driven, and that's the last place anyone would want to cause trouble." She said, as if giving a lesson.
"Why would anyone NOT want to cause trouble in Africa?" Kainan said, still ridden with booze.
"Because they are well equipped and fresh to go. They, the stronghold of the Eze faction that can rival the murim alliance and demonic faction at their peaks, did not take part in the war. They also have the Yulo academy, which is sponsored by all kinds of families, merchants and nobilities. The academy is so huge that it has an entire army for each campus. Starting trouble in Africa right now is just asking to die like a chicken." Josiah explained.
"That hit the nail in the head. He even got to my next topic of discussion– We're going to enroll in the Yulo academy."