Chapter 25 "Home Sweet Home"

Hello there! I couldn't resist sharing a story today, despite my throbbing headache. But don't worry too much; this old man can still deliver a strong punch. Now, let's get started.

The difficulty of the Islands just got worse. The armor factory was ours, and we were producing armor at a good rate – just enough that we could retake the island and establish a proper government afterward, with guards and soldiers. But we needed some more help. With our brigs filling up, even with them being upgraded, we had to collect the bounties we had the rights to. Not to mention our overflowing spoils from retaking two outposts and one of the three parts of another outpost. We had to return to the mainland and drop off our plunder. We also had to make an appearance in the royal courtroom, something about another medal.

Anyway, I simply couldn't leave the island unattended, so Lilliana, Nori, Jo, Hana, Joy, Max, and Fenroth had to stay. We gave the role of commander to Joy and Lilliana, since they had the most sense out of the group. Nori was appointed as their second in command. They had a total of 2000 men at their disposal. If the outpost were attacked during our absence, I gathered them together to issue orders before our departure. It went a little like this, "Lilliana, you'll take 1000 men and guard our main outpost, that being this very harbor to the south. But you already know that. Joy, you'll take 1000 and guard our second outpost in the west, the lumber mill. You'll have 500 of those men check on the factory in the east from time to time to fill in for the 500 men you send to the east. You'll have Fenroth and the Monks to take their steed; trust me, their power equates to about 1500 men combined. I'm trusting both of you, please don't fail me. I'll bring you all gifts, and I'm sure they'll have a medal for you guys as well. I'll make sure it stays polished for you guys. Oh, and as for Hana, you'll send her to scout the east before sending your 500, Joy. She's been practicing to disarm traps; she's got a 90% success rate, so trust her with that. Orders are given, do you two copy?" They stiffened up and nodded in affirmation. I patted them both on their backs. "I'll share my macarons with you two if you're still alive when we get back. That's an honor on its own, you would know Lilliana." That seemed to get them riled up. What is it with macarons? I swear, they're so good. Ahem, back to the story.

As I made my way to the ship, I felt queasy. I fell to my knees and asked Zeth to take me to my quarters. It's the same feeling I get whenever a deity tries to contact me, but this was different. Your aunt was always the sharp one. She handed me the orb of heavenly connections, and I passed out. When I came to, I was in front of Tenemir, the god of the seas. I lowered my head instantly, not wanting to show any disrespect to an astral being, ya know, a god. He laughed; his voice was deep. His laugh made me shake from the vibration, but I managed to not fall over. Then he spoke, "Captain Rei Ishikawa, Themis and Gant have told me much about you. The other deities here have also told me much about your crew – a band of misfit soldiers serving under one flag, sailing across the seven seas. You lot sound like pirates to me. That was my initial thought when the others told me of your crew, but then I checked on you for real. I looked down and watched you fight to protect people and to save that island, and I've decided that someone of your standing deserves another blessing. And so does that sister of yours. Tell her I said she's cute. Oh, and your first mate is a genius. I'll have a god I know contact him to give him another blessing. With my blessing, you will be granted the ability to place a seal on a boat that makes it go faster and protects it from storms. That seal acts as a sign to the heavens that you and your people are watched over by the god of the seas, Tenemir himself. When you wake up, your sister and that first mate of yours will be out cold as well. They'll come to soon after you do. I just need to have a chat with them as well." I smile, looking up at him. "Thank you, Tenemir. Your blessing is much appreciated. It will be put to good use, I promise you that. But one thing you mentioned has me curious – why don't you just tell my sister you think she's cute?" He laughs nervously, "Man, you're really putting me in a situation here, jeez. Look, your sister is really scary. I heard that the god of war himself wants to bless her; she's that strong. Do you know how many blessings he's given, like ever? The answer is five, all of those decades apart. He's that conservative with his blessings. So yeah, I don't really wanna get my face beat." I laugh pretty hard before regaining my composure. "My apologies, Tenemir, but that's just very funny. Since you think me saying she's cute will save you, after she finds out, she will visit you and slap you very hard. So, I'll just say one of the gods said she's cute, increase your chances of not being slapped. After all, I wouldn't wanna find one of the gods crying under my sister's doing." He laughs once more before dropping a set of armor in front of me. "Take this armor; I believe you'll enjoy having it around. Now go back to your realm; any longer and I'll have to pay a fine for keeping you here for too long." And just like that, I woke up with the armor neatly set on an armor stand beside me. Zeth had just come to when I did. She laughed and told me another deity had blessed her. I smile as I told her I knew, since I was blessed as well.

Anyway, after talking about it for a while, we called your Uncle Mil and asked him to apply a seal on our boat. With us, of course – that's three times the speed. Getting home won't take long now. We also placed a seal on our follower boat so that it too could be blessed by Tenemir and be protected as we made our way back to the mainland. With the seals, that didn't take long. We were back home in a matter of hours, a trip that would've taken a day at least.

I alerted the rest of the crew that stayed to guard Yenchei that we arrived safely and that we'd rest before going to the royal courtroom. And that we did. We had three days before the royal summons, so the crew explored the city once more. I stayed back, fixing our treasures. I had Zeth helping me too; she's the best sister a man could ever have. She kept a record of everything we had and how much it probably costs. We had the treasure room made, and it was six floors, but not up – it was six floors underground. Each floor had five rooms: one center room, two beside that center room, and another two above the two rooms on the side. That way, we'd never run out of space. And if we ever needed to expand, we'd get Jey to expand for us.

Each floor kept a different type of treasure. We had a floor for Weapons, Armor, Gems and Precious Metals, Artifacts, and a few other miscellaneous things we had on us. It took us under an hour to sort everything. We were really good with this, especially me with my hyper fixation as a result of my ADHD. That's why I was so good at mastering occupations.

After we fixed everything up, we decided to go on a sibling date since it's been awhile since I've taken her out on anything. She's still my sister, in fact, the best sister in the world, and she was my sister, so I had to treat her right. We had some good food – aka we ordered two burger meals with two fries, four drinks so we didn't run out, three boxes of pizza, and a full dozen donuts. All this while we were eating, we were watching cartoons on my wall-mounted television in my room. I swear we had the most fun of our lives there. We did take a break for a while, went out, bought some trinkets and macarons for us to snack on before bed since we had that adult money now.

I also got her a beautiful blue topaz ring, and I got myself one, of course, since blue was a color that represented family. I got us matching blue topaz rings – one of the best financial decisions I ever made. She looked so happy after receiving it; that smile she had on her face is a hard one to forget. But after that, we went home and hit the bed. We slept like a baby that night. The bed at mainland HQ has always been comfortable. I snuck an ice gem into my room so that it's always cold inside my room. The great thing about elemental gems is that they're so easy to get – they're not even expensive. I got the ice gem for two silver pieces.

When we woke up, the crew looked wasted as hell. Apparently, everybody drank their faces off last night. Luckily, my dear sister and I have a shared brain cell that tells us both not to drink too much. That's sibling powers at work, I say, and I know you kids have that as well. You two are the most well-bonded siblings I know, after me and my own, of course. But that's gotta end today's story. Your auntie is calling me right now; she's taking us to a nearby pub to get a couple of drinks for tonight's sibling date, so Dad won't be home today. He'll be at Auntie's. Good night, my dears.