n

n

nThe youth couldn’t believe Arthur offered that. Only a few could become pirates one day, and he was sure he wasn’t one of these people.

n“Are you serious? I’m not that good at fighting.”

n“I’m serious. What do you say? I’m Captain Arthur from the Frostpeak crew.” Arthur said it proudly.

n“Whoa! That’s some cool names. You saved my life, so I owe you. I promise to work hard for the crew.”

n“That’s the spirit. What’s your name, anyway?”

n“I’m Joshua, Captain Arthur.”

n“It is a pleasure to meet you.” Arthur smiled and shook hands with Joshua.

nWith that, the Frostpeak crew got a new member. The reason for Arthur recruiting Joshua was not only because he saved him, and looked like someone who need help. No, there was more to it. Arthur scanned Joshua and knew he could become someone great in the stealth art. Joshua was a thief, after all.

n“Come on,” Arthur waved for Joshua to follow him, “we will go to our inn room. The vice-captain will be there and he can explain a lot to you.”

n“Okay!” Joshua couldn’t hold his happiness, even more after Arthur tossed him a new pair of clothes and said it was a gift for entering the crew.

nAfter that encounter, the days passed peacefully. Arthur and Kai waited for their ship to come out of the maintenance. It was a ship from Claridge, so it was a must. They changed a little to look more authentic to their crew.

nEveryone from the Frostpeak crew, including Joshua, were at dawn in the port, amazed by their new ship.

n.

nIt was an enormous wooden ship. Most parts of it were enhanced with magic, and sturdier than most materials out there. The thing that got the attention was the gigantic statue of a dragon at the ship’s edge.

nKai was the one who had the idea of putting that type of statue there. There were a lot of options, but he couldn’t find another one that fit more in their style than the dragon.

n“What do you guys think?”

n“Extraordinary!”

n“The most beautiful thing I have ever seen!”

n“Is this even a ship? It looks like a vehicle from the Gods!”

nAll the crew members were happy with their new ship, and they all went inside to see the interior. Arthur did the same, but couldn’t stay there for too long.

n“Hey, Kai. Take care of them while I’m off. I’ll get us our first mission!”

n“Really? Woooohoo!” Kai yelled, and all the others did the same even without knowing what the reason behind it was…

nArthur thought if he had formed a crew of madmen…

n~~~~

n

nThe pirates’ guild mission board had many tasks, ranging from various types of difficulties. Arthur was of silver rank, so there were a lot of tasks he could accept.

n“Hmm, which one should I pick?” he read most tasks, and a few caught his attention.

n“Let’s go with this one.”

nIt was a task about investigating a village on an island a little far from Athegas. Arthur chose that one because it had the hardest difficult, which meant more rewards. He also got that one because it looked a lot like stuff the Doom Order would do, and he wanted to wipe those bastards.

nWith that, Arthur returned to the ship and showed his crew the task he got. All of them liked it. To be fair, all of them wanted to go out on their first adventure, so any task Arthur showed up with would be awesome to them.

n“We can leave now if everyone is willing.” said Arthur, looking to all crew members. Kai had already stocked the food for them the day before, so they could indeed leave at that moment. It was still early in the morning, so it was, in fact, the best time to leave.

n“Fuck, let’s do it.” They yelled in excitement.

n“Let’s move then!”

n~~~~

nEven though it was their first mission, all of them knew how to sail, and Arthur could now stay in his captain’s cabin without having to worry about these things.

nTheir destination was a place called The Island of Death. People disappeared from this island, and trees lost life, looking like a lifeless island. Most of the people who lived there left after these strange events.

nArthur’s task was to investigate and see what caused that to the island, and capture whoever was behind it. He was sure the Doom Order had something to do with it.

nA few knocks on the door. Someone was knocking at the captain’s cabin.

n“Come in.” said Arthur as he stopped looking at the map and focused on whoever was coming.

nIt was a beautiful red-haired woman. She wore the same pirate most people were wearing, but it gave her a unique sexy feeling.

n“Hayla! What brings you here?”

n“I- I just wanted to see if you needed anything…” Hayla had her hands behind her back, and the red-color in her cheeks was clear to anyone who looked at her.

nIt happened so out of a sudden that it shocked Arthur, too.

n“I’m doing all right, thank you.” said Arthur.

n“Oh, okay…” Hayla looked down after hearing that.

n“You know what? I bought a brewing kit before leaving and wanted to test out some potions. Would you like to help me?”

n“Really?” Hayla jumped and smiled.

nIt wasn’t Arthur who bought the brewing kit, but Kai.

n“Well, I asked him so I’m not lying.” thought Arthur.

nArthur could barely remember the last time he brew a potion. It felt like ages ago. As he was out of practice, he brewed a few easy healing potions. They would probably use it in the task to come.

n“Hayla, cut this into pieces for me.” He gave her a Drowsy Bush, a common ingredient used in healing potions. It was one of the cheapest, so that’s why Arthur bought it.

nArthur controlled the heat while Hayla cut that into pieces. Now that he had a proper brewing kit, he didn’t actually need to use his mana to create a flame. There was a mana crystal embedded in the brewing kit, and that acted just the same.

nThere was only one more ingredient for the basic healing potion, and that was Serpent’s Feather. It was also common, but it cost a little more than the Drowsy Bush, but not that much more.

nHe tossed everything inside the cauldron, and in 5 minutes, the liquid was ready. It was dark-red and smelled like flowers. Arthur grabbed his empty flasks and filled each one of them with the liquid.

n“Thank you Hayla, for your help.”

n“It- it was nothing. I had fun.” Hayla smiled.

nRight after Arthur finished filling the flasks, Kai rushed in inside the cabin.

n“Captain, there is a ship coming in our direction, and it doesn’t seem friendly.”

n“Is that so?”

nIt was a normal occurrence for pirates to attack each other. Arthur knew it would happen. Usually what made others think if they should try something or not was the fame of the crew or ship. Arthur was unknown to most people, so there was nothing that stopped them.

nThe ship was smaller than Arthur’s ship, and with his outstanding dragon vision, he saw from afar the captain of said ship, and he had a bronze plate on his chest.

n“A mere bronze pirate wants to take on me? Ha, that’s funny.”

n“Everyone, get ready.” Arthur yelled, and his crew got their weapons and prepare for a fight. Hayla, who was next to Arthur, clasped to her magical scepter.

nThe unknown ship didn’t throw spells, which was weird considering the spells were like the ship’s cannons. Perhaps it was a crew without a single mage? No, that couldn’t be the case. Even the worst crew had one.

nIt got closer and stopped a few meters from Arthur’s ship. The captain was the only one who stepped forward to talk, as everyone else from the crew stood still.

n“Hello there. I’m Captain Jack. What brings you to these parts?”

nThis Captain Jack was young, really young. It was rare for someone that young to become captain of a ship. Arthur was the exception because he was just too strong when compared to normal people.

n“We are currently on our way to a task. It would be the best if there isn’t any problems in the way, as I hate wasting time.” Arthur said and let his silver badge exposed.

n“A silver badge pirate around here, that’s rare. All right. Captain Jack will not mingle in your business because I’m a nice guy. It is a pleas-”

nBefore Captain Jack could finish, an unknown sea monster attacked his ship, making it moved because of the impact.

n“A sea beast is attacking. Hey, I know we aren’t friends yet, but could you help Captain Jack? Pleaseee!!!”

nArthur looked at his crew, and in the end, helped the stranger.

n“All right. But you owe me a favor.”

n