An endless blue horizon stretched out before me, beautiful and breathtaking. Perfect, fluffy white clouds akin to enormous balls of cotton lazily drifted overhead while the light of Vereden’s star shone down through them. The calls of hungry, hunting sea birds resounded in the air, accompanied by the crashing of waves and the soft, whispering sound of sails slicing through the sea air.

  The combination of everything reached me, and I felt a soul-deep contentment settle upon my shoulders as I stood at the wheel of my new ship.

  The Astray.

  After our meetings with Emperor Seimei in the heart of Kawamaran power, my companions and I had not lingered long in the capital of Hinaga. The very next day, we’d begun our preparations to set off from the shores of the island nation and venture back to the mainland that contained Herztal. We’d settled accounts with the inn we’d been staying in for nearly a third of a year, packing up all our accumulated wealth and knick-knacks to be stored in the hull of my new ship.

  It was everything I’d wanted and more. Jinshin hadn’t been lying when he’d told me this might just be the current peak of Veredenese shipbuilding, much less Kawamaran. Actually, from what Masayuki had told me in a side-whisper before we’d left, the ship had been partially inspired from…“acquired” documents belonging to prominent Herztalian shipwrights. The result was a fantastically beautiful vessel combining strengths from both nations.

  The ship I had named the Astray was primarily built from a strangely colored dark wood that was found only in the Kawamaran Isles, and only then in areas of particularly dense Aether. It resulted in something that was nearly black when cut and polished, and when the light hit it just right, it gleamed in a faint, iridescent mix of soft blue and pale green.

  From what I understood, what the Kawamarans had been calling a Shinsei class vessel had been meant as a fast attack and reconnaissance ship. From bow to stern, she was just barely over one hundred feet in length, and constructed in a manner almost reminiscent of a drawn blade. Thinner than the other ships I’d been on, the Astray had three main masts arranged down the middle of the deck. However, there was something different about the actual make of the sails those masts held.

  They were triangular.

  I’d found that curious when I first set eyes on the ship in a hidden dock underneath the Imperial Palace. By this point, I was so used to the sight of the traditionally rectangular sails I’d encounter during my time on Vereden that they had struck me as odd. However…I had received a standard education back on Earth. I very faintly remembered pictures that had a clear before and after point, where triangular sails first began to overtake the standard rectangular ones.

  I just…didn’t know what the benefit was, for now. I’d find out, though, since the shipwright who had gifted me the then-unnamed ship had been particularly enthusiastic about them. Woven from a deep, dark navy colored silk-canvas blend, they were certainly striking enough, even beyond the enchantments I could feel in the cloth.

  Honestly, the entire ship bore the markings of Enchantment. It was to the point that I had no idea just what everything did on this cutting-edge vessel. I’d received a scroll from the shipwright that supposedly detailed everything I’d have to check in case the Astray came to be damaged, but I hadn’t had time to research it, enamored with my new ship as I was.

  From the moment we’d set sail from the docks in Hinaga, I’d been standing at this intricately carved wheel, luxuriating in the contentment I felt from directing my own ship.

  Still, I always made time for others. One, in particular.

  I cut my eyes over to Aveline, the little girl I had rescued from the haunted bunker that had once belonged to the ancient, long-dead Netherim people. I had made the firm commitment to care for Aveline Montblanc for as long as I lived, and not just because her undead, ghostly Mother had threatened me into doing so.

  We were so…similar, in some ways.

  I needed to do this. I don’t think I would be able to forgive myself if I abandoned Aveline to this strange, dangerous world she knew so little about.

  The little blonde-headed girl was lying on her stomach, not far from where I was at the helm. Her feet kicked in the air above her, visible through the hem of the butter yellow, Kawamaran-style dress I’d bought for her before we’d left. I’d bought a lot of stuff just before we set sail, in fact. Including the small child’s puzzle she was frowning and playing with, totally uncaring about the faint sprinkles of sea spray that occasionally leapt from the ocean. Besides, she was soon dried out just from the heat her other minder was generating, lying not far from her.

  Sena, oldest daughter of Shurenga, herself the literal daughter of Vereden’s star, Tarus.

  Well, the Great Spirit of it, at least.

  As Shurenga had told us before we had left, Sena had been assigned to act as the companion and advisor of my oldest friend here on Vereden, Azarus. Down in the Netherim bunker, Azarus had been inflicted with the same curse that a number of us had struggled through. However, he had been saved by an interested third party instead of breaking out himself. That being Tarus, who had offered him both the position of being his Envoy here on Vereden to act in his stead, as well as a not insignificant amount of power. Her maternal nature didn’t surprise me much, honestly. It had been implied that she was a mother herself, having helped birth a handful of other Shurengans in her time. The large, crimson and black furred saber-tooth tiger had taken it upon herself to keep an eye on both her charge, and Aveline as well.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  The other eye, of course, rested on Azarus himself.

  The dwarf was currently up in the crow's nest, where he had been spending most of the last day since we’d departed from Hinaga. While he was more than burly enough to be a help down on the deck, seeing to the myriad of tasks that needed to be seen to on a ship, there was a practical reason for him being up there.

  He was visibly communing with his new patron.

  I think the height helped or something.

  I didn’t often see Azarus meditating, but now that he was, the former member of House Savoy was glowing an ever-so-faint golden orange. Every so often, I could see the red-haired dwarf crack open an equally glowing eye and glower upwards, but he always returned to his communion. I had no idea why he was so urgent that he had to spend over a dozen hours up there, but if I needed to know, then I’m sure he would tell me.

  As for the others, I had been…a bit surprised that Venix had chosen to come along with us to Herztal. The Antium samurai had been nearly inseparable from the side of Kazuma Higanashi, the other samurai we had met and fought alongside on the isle of Goryuen. Obviously, the other human man couldn’t come with us, seeing as how he was now being charged to found a new Kawamaran Sect from the remnants of his ancestor’s old Herztalian Order. He was much too busy for such a thing, even with the help of said living ancestor. To the best of my knowledge, Shacklock hadn’t actually kicked up much of a fuss about being essentially informed that his days of leading his life’s work were over. He was apparently taking on the role of advisor in the still-unnamed Sect.

  Which had all the more confused me about why Venix had chosen to come back with us.

  I had long been expecting the Antium to choose to stay at the side of Kazuma as the last link he had to his long-dead master. Still, I’d been wrong. Right now, Venix was working hard enough for three different men at tasks around the Astray. There was a frown on his face, though, and I could guess as to why.

  I hadn’t missed the short, sharp conversation Venix’d had with Kazuma after I’d said my own goodbyes to the newly instated Kawamaran Lord. It had gotten a bit…heated.

  Meanwhile, Renauld and Liora were assisting with the duties about the ship. The Astray may be a small vessel, but that didn’t mean I could run it all by myself. I was grateful that the two Gnolls were pitching in, even though I knew sailing made them a bit uncomfortable. Not because they were afraid of the ocean or something.

  No, I’d just been informed before that the salty air was just hell on fur.

  Unfortunately, they’d just have to get used to it. It was going to be a long trip down to Blutstein, even with the magically enhanced prototype that the Astray had turned out to be. There was quite a large distance separating Herztal and Kawamara. Technically, with our travel plans, we would be within the territorial waters of the Principality when we hit the coast. In normal times, I’d been informed that this wouldn’t be an issue. But these weren’t normal times at all for the Dwarven nation.

  They were currently in the midst of a full-on slave revolt. The Kawamaran port authorities had told me the conflict had bubbled over from the slow boil it had been building up to. This time, it was being driven mostly by a mysterious figure who snuck into plantations and farms and, surprise surprise, broke the bonds of slavery to rally them around him. And I think I knew just who was the driving force of the conflict.

  I couldn’t even describe how tempted I was to join up with my old friend Bleddyn’s hell raising in the Principality. However, I had responsibilities now.

  I couldn’t exactly bring a child like Aveline into a near-on warzone. Cutting close to the Velancian coast was as far as I was willing to go, and that was only because I’d been informed the Astray was built for hugging coastline. Not only that, but because the Astray had its own Ward Stone-

  (And hadn’t that been a shocker to find out.)

  -it was equipped with monster-repelling wards, which should do the work of keeping them away in the normally hazardous coastal waters. As it was, I’d been told by the Kawamaran port officials that the most danger I had to look out for were the Venier Marines likely to stop us on our journey through Dwarven waters, since they were the Princely House who saw to the Velancian Navy.

  We’d either have to submit to their inspection or risk a very dicey situation if we ran into them.

  And even that could potentially turn wrong, given who we had on board. I’d just have to wing it if the time came.

  Once we were out of Velanican waters, though, it was down to T?r Gronn to check in on Fade. I’d really missed my young Spirit Wolf companion, and I couldn’t wait to introduce the nearly teenage canine to Aveline.

  I think he would be good for her in the same way he was for me.

  There was one annoying problem, though.

  All of this sailing? First to the coast, then T?r Gronn, and then finally down to Blutstein? Hell, we’d even pass alongside Elderwyck on the journey, although I planned to sail right on past that damned place.

  The entire journey was going to take the better part of a month. It wasn’t exactly going to be a short trip, traveling along thousands of miles of coastline. That was with favorable winds, mind. The sails might be enchanted, but they couldn’t magic wind up from nowhere.

  At least…I didn’t think so.

  Hmm.

  Maybe I should take the time to examine that scroll. But that was for later tonight, after we’d stopped for the day.

  As it was, we were looking at about another three days of sailing until we reached the continental coastline and then maybe a week or so to reach T?r Gronn.

  It was a good thing that Aveline didn’t seem to be the type to get seasick. Despite this being her first time out on the drink, the little girl had surprisingly good sea legs. She was the only one I’d been a little worried about.

  As much as I cared about the others, they could suck it up.

  I, for one, was going to enjoy this entire voyage to the fullest.

  I didn’t bother to suppress the grin growing on my face nor the whistled tune that rose to my lips. I had no idea where I’d heard it from back on Earth.

  But it sure was catchy.

  “Leave her, Johnny, leave her,” I sang softly to the accompaniment of the wind and waves. “Oh, leave her, Johnny, leave her.”

  I don’t know if it was my singing voice that caught her attention or not, but I saw one of Sena’s crimson-furred ears twitch before she raised her huge head to fix me with a half-lidded stare. A moment later, she rolled her eyes, and I heard her sigh a word. “Bipeds.”

  My grin only grew, as did the sound of my singing. Naturally, this drew more attention from my ‘crew’. Just for the hell of it, I was deliberately singing in English with Language Adaptation turned off. I probably sounded like I was seeing in gibberish right now, to my amusement. At the raised heads and confused stares, I couldn’t help but sing even louder, making sure they could hear me.

  “For the voyage is done, and the winds don’t blow, and it’s time for us to leave her!”