A calm sea

----- Adrien mc Pov-----

It was morning. The sun was shining in the sky, and soft white clouds decorated the sky.

"Is everything alright, captain?"

"Yeah, Jean"

A crewmate approached while I was staring at the deep blue sea. He wasn't very tall; he only reached my shoulder. He had two light brown eyes like his short hair. His most prominent characteristic was the freckles that decorated his cheeks.

"Monique asked if you could come to see her. She is in the captain's cabin."

"Thanks…"

Jean had a bright smile on his face to cheer me up.

As I walked to the cabin, I looked around the ship. Everything was relatively calm. A couple of men were running around to keep the ship on course while the rest were still sleeping.

When I reached the door, I knocked on it and then entered. What greeted me inside was Monique wiping her hands on a towel. Her face looked tired.

I walked up to her and looked toward the only bed in my room

"How did it go?"

"You could say well apart for one thing."

As soon as I heard that, I felt relief for the first time since last night.

Erika wasn't lying in it but Otto. She had already recovered and was looking around the ship.

"What is it?"

"Well, you see, it seems that he used a part of his vitality insisted of mana to use magic, which damaged his mana circuits."

"So … that caused a fall in his current rank. He isn't a swordmaster anymore but just an advanced swordsman."

A heavy sigh escaped my lips.

"Is that all?"

"Yes, of course. Who do you think …Ah no… Well, he now also has a cool-looking scar."

After saying that, she gave me a smug look as if she was proud of her job

That joke relieved some of my stress. At the same time, a grumpy voice reached my ears.

"A damn scar, woman. You are a fake doctor!"

I turned around and saw Otto trying to push himself up from the bed while looking slightly angry.

"Ah! You don't like it! Well, next time, I will leave you in your own pool of blood then!"

The two of them started arguing. He didn't like the scar, while Monique was irritated that her work had been criticized.

I looked at them, and finally, a huge smile made its way to my face.

"Damn, old man, you made me worry!"

Otto turned his sight toward me, stunned, and then grinned.

"Of course, brat, who do you think I am! … Or should I call you to captain instead of young master now."

"I have a boat right now, don't you see? So, you must use the right title."

"Okay, Captain …. "

As soon as he said that, he started coughing and Monique pushed him back into the bed

"This doctor says that you should still lie down for two days at least. It's true that I healed you, but rest is still necessary."

"WHAT! I can …"

As the old man was about to complain, a cold gaze immediately formed on her face. He immediately understood that arguing with her was probably wrong and decided to look away with a sullen face.

"Well, if everything is done, you can go back to rest, Monique. I think you need it."

Even if Otto had given her a brief shot of energy thanks to his whining, she still looked exhausted.

"Sure, I will…."

She went to the door and, before leaving, said

"I did my best to help you. Get well."

"I will"

After I heard the door close, I turned and stared at him.

"What!"

"Ehm … nothing "

I knew he would be embarrassed if I said that they were good friends. So, I evaded his question and escaped.

"I will also leave. Stay in bed for now. Someone will send you your food."

I left the room and went outside. Almost all the crew had woken up and was doing miscellaneous jobs on the ship apart from our healer. You could see the whole ship from the entryway to the captain's room.

Three masts stood tall, and each one had three sails. On top of the ship's bow stood a small, elevated deck called a forecastle with a couple of smaller cannons. The quarterdeck was at the end of the ship on the stern where I was standing. It served as an elevated deck for defense, but it also had three cabins in it.

The bigger one was the captain's room. The other two were smaller; in one of them rested Erika and Eloise. Meanwhile, Monique and Erhan had occupied the other.

I hoped the wooden boards were thick enough to block loud sounds because they looked like a fiery couple.

The ship also had a gun deck where the artillery pieces stood. We had 30 cannons, 15 on each side.

After looking around, I got a bit bored and remembered that I still hadn't checked my system since it had already been upgraded.

Two bright boxes showed up in my vision.

[User: Adrien Holmes]

[Race: Human]

[Occupation Captain LVL 2]

[Skills: intermediate swordsmanship mastery]

[Current main mission: Build a fleet made up of 10 rated ships]

[Reward: ???]

[Objective: defy fate and live a happy life]

-

[Fleet subsystem]

[Sixth-rated ships: 1]

After seeing all the new things, a new prompt came up

[Do you want to redeem the main mission reward?]

[Yes/No]

I responded no in my mind since I didn't know what it was and wanted to open it when I was alone.

I gazed at the fleet subsystem, which showed a rating next to my vessel.

I could vaguely recollect what this was. The various large military powers had reached an implicit agreement that applied only to warships. It was based on the number of cannons a vessel had. The more of them, the higher a warship was rated.

It went from the highest first-rated ships with at least a hundred cannons to the lowest sixth-rated boats with at least 20.

As I was deep in my thoughts, Erhan came up to me.

"Hey, captain, we have a problem."

I recollected myself and looked at him.

"What is it"

"Well, you see, when we escaped with the frigate, we didn't bring any food and water with us, and the ones that were already on board would last us only about four days."

He said that statement smiling while scratching his furry round ears with his arm as if the problem was only mine.

"That sounds troublesome … Do you know of any nearby island where we could stop to replenish?"

"… I do …"

He said in a hesitant voice. I shot him a sharp gaze since I was getting annoyed at the new problems cropping out.

"AH! Don't worry, it's indeed a troublesome place, but it's the ideal one in our condition."

"Oh?"

"We should be able to reach it in 2 days if we travel at our current speed of 10 knots, and even if our velocity decreases, we will be there in 3. "

"The place's name it's Exval Island."

"Exval !!"

I would have never remembered that place if he hadn't mentioned it. It's a peculiar Island that is formally still owned by the Woflen Empire but, in reality, isn't.

Exval is ruled by the cult of Meugar that uses the place as one of its money sources to fund its operations. Their belief system is based on revering a monstrous deity called Ezeq.

The reason that I am interested in this place is that in the novel, they hold something very valuable and useful. I don't mind robbing a cruel cult.

A smirk formed on my face

"Good idea! Erhan set our course to that place."

He looked suspiciously at me and asked.

"We are going there just to replenish our supplies, right?"

"Maybe"

As he was about to continue asking questions, I shushed him away by using my authority as a captain.

Our ship started changing route, and since I was getting bored of looking around, I decided to return to the captain's room to rest for a bit.

As I passed the entrance, I noticed Eloise exiting her room. I nodded my head to greet her, to which she responded with a snort.

When I got inside, I looked at the bed where Otto was resting and saw him sleeping. So, while walking slowly, I sat behind the captain's desk. I chose to receive my reward since I wasn't busy.

[Do you want to redeem the main mission reward?]

[Yes/No]

I accepted it, and two windows popped up.

[World map unlocked!]

[unlocking assassin skills and profession]

[updating status! Shadow steps and beginner dagger mastery unlocked]

As soon as I saw the rewards, I was delighted, but that didn't last long. A painful headache hit my head like a sledgehammer. It didn't last long but was an experience I didn't want to have many times.

I firstly looked at the world map that showed all the continents and islands. I saw many places I knew from the novel but also some I had never heard of. Four large seas encircled five large continents, including Urone, the one we had just left.

The map showed my current position in the Caledar Sea. This large expanse of deep blue water stretched from the Urone continent to another called Itios. Between these two was the Leolora archipelago, where the demi-humans were from.

This made me think. I had asked Jean what the current date was, and he said today was April 20th, 1789, on the Imperial calendar. Six years before the start of the plot.

And I knew something that would help us depending on our actions.

It had been 20 years since mercenaries and pirates started raiding the demi-humans' towns and villages along the coast and then selling the ones they could capture to the three large empires that dominated the Urone continent.

An event in about a year would cause a large-scale war to break out.

The kidnapping of the seventh prince of the Tiger tribe. He would then be sold at a high price to the second prince of the Woflen empire at an auction. This was the last straw that caused the formation of a demi-humans alliance that would crush the hegemony of the human empires.

I knew the main events of this conflict, and if I played my cards right, I should be able to get a lot of human resources and money.

I needed a safe port to rest in if I wanted to build a fleet. I also had to establish a good relationship with the demi-humans since they would be the definite winners of this war.

As I looked around the map, I saw a small group of isles at the edge of the Leolora archipelago. The Oni isles where ogres lived in small villages. What was peculiar about his place was its geography and situation.

These islands had been subjugated by a merchant guild called Golden owls' company and their mercenary squad. They had enslaved most of the population to make them build small merchant ships from the dense forests that were on the islands.

And that was a perfect location to establish a base. As I was thinking about my future plans, a knock sounded on the door.

"Please enter!"

I gave my permission, and a fair hand opened the door. It was Erika, she was still pale, and you could see that she still had bandages wrapped around her shoulder and torso. Right behind her was Eloise.

"Hey, young mast… captain, we wanted to ask if you would mind having a spar with us."

Erika spoke up but what she said surprised me. Who are you going to challenge in your condition? An idea popped up in my head.

She clearly wasn't in shape to fight, so I looked at Eloise and immediately understood who wanted to spar with me.

She wasn't looking at me with cold eyes through her mask this time but with a spark of excitement.

I was puzzled about why she was eager to fight me, but I agreed. I still had to test out the new skills the system rewarded me with.

"Sure, I will, but I will spar only with Eloise. You still need some rest."

"Fine, that will also do."

The pale look on her face disappeared almost right away as if her worries had been swept away. Hey, hey, this smells too much like some trap.

As I was debating If I had made the correct choice, a grumpy voice sounded in the room.

"You better get out because if you want to have a fight on this bed, I'll have to tell you that it's occupied."

Damn old man, I swear that when you get up on your feet, I will make you work like a donkey. Erika's face had a blush on, so I decided to push them out before Otto could make some other comments.

----- ----- -----

I was standing in the center of the deck with Eloise. Around us stood almost all of our companions besides Monique, Otto, and Erika. Erhan was walking around with a big rack of dried meat on his shoulders.

I looked at our spectators. Everyone was munching on some beef jerky and drinking alcohol. I was a bit irked by their behavior, but I decided not to mind it.

My opponent was standing about 35 feet away from me. She had already pulled out her knife, and I could see that she was smiling through her eyes. She looked very confident.

Jean was standing by the side with an old flintlock and a hat full of coins in one hand.

They were even gambling; I could guess that there wasn't much entertainment on this ship.

He looked at us and spoke

"Are both of you ready?!"

We both nodded, and he started counting down.

"Well, then, let's start! 3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"BANG!"

The shot went off, and Eloise immediately used shadow steps and almost instantly reached me. I unsheathed my sword and dodged her attack.

Both of us came to an implicit agreement to not reinforce with mana only our weapons to not cause some significant damage to the ship we were on.

I counterattacked by taking a step back and using the longer range of my sword to my advantage. But it didn't go as I expected.

Thanks to her superior agility, she kept repeatedly dodging my slashes and thrusts. Until she managed to get me in a tough spot.

She jumped toward me and tried to stab my shoulder. As I blocked the blow, she let go of the weapon in her hand and pulled out another dagger.

She thought that she had me since she understood my way of fighting. But she didn't know that I had just learned two new skills. I immediately used shadow steps.

Instead of distancing myself, I decided to get even closer, and I also pulled out a knife. I caught her unprepared and used my dagger to block hers.

With my other hand, I went to grab her by the throat. She tried to stop my arm but didn't manage to do it in time.

After grasping her, I reinforced my body with mana and threw her hard onto the floor.

She landed on her back, and the pain made her let go of her knife. I immediately went forward and put my dagger in front of her chest.

I looked at her and said

"Looks like this is my win."

The crew immediately cheered, and beverages spilled around. Meanwhile, this chaos was going on, something unexpected happened.

Eloise unwillingly accepted her loss, and while she was getting up from the deck, something fell to the ground and hit the floor.

Silence descended around us. The sting keeping the mask on her face had come loose, and her mask had fallen to the floor.

Everything felt as if a cold breeze had passed through.

I looked at her with wide-open eyes, and with a strained smile, I said to her.

"Would you believe it if I said it was an accident"