The very top of all these ships was reserved for the elite of the elite. Rooms in this place could not be bought with money or silver, and a person needed to have a significant backing to even enter, let alone stay there.

Normal people didn't even know something like this existed in the ship as it was always covered high-level magical spells and techniques. It was almost like a world of its own and every being residing there belonged to an old power.

This was true for Ceni as well.

Her father, Dai Luoyang, was the current King of Edda, a Grade-1 kingdom about to reach the level of an Empire. He was strong, ruthless, and a doting father to his children. Ceni being the youngest out of all her siblings was, of course, her father's favorite and in turn spoiled to no end. She could have anything she wanted and no one was able to say anything, well no one other than her mother the Queen, and Alte, her caretaker, and older brother.

Unlike the Kingdom of Mei which was on the very edge of the continent, Edda was much further in and 'advanced' in both technology and ideology. Especially the ruling Clan of the Kingdom, the 'Dai' Clan.

The Dai clan had businesses all over the continent and they were even a majority shareholder in the company that owned these ships. So suffice to say, Ceni was the most important person on the ship right now.

The door to the biggest room in the top floor opened and out walked a group of youngsters. Four of them were dressed the same in black suits, surrounding three beautiful girls.

Two of the girls were in the exact same outfit, a one-piece black dress, while the one in the middle was in casualwear with shorts and a crop top. Their appearance and nonchalant mannerisms just made it look like they were going to a party. Only the four surrounding them had somber expressions decorating their faces.

The group passed through several hallways and entered a lift that took them even higher up, straight to the control room. Under normal circumstances, such a place would be off-limits to all passengers but Ceni's special status allowed her to bypass most of these restrictions.

With each tremor the lights flickered several times, threatening to turn off forever but always coming back in the nick of time. The girls completely ignored all the commotion around them and instead gossiped amongst themselves, as if it had nothing to do with them at all.

A few seconds later the lift came to a halt and the doors opened, revealing a very chaotic room.

It looked similar to a control room of a ship back from earth, only much more advanced.

The room was divided into two sections. The first section was to the front with about 50 people scurrying around from one panel to another, shouting at one another.

The second section was towards the back and was separated from the first one through a barrier. This was also where the lift had opened into. In this section, there were only about 7 people dressed in white naval-like uniforms decorated with medals of all kinds.

Of these seven individuals, five were male and two female, with the youngest person being in her late thirties. All of them had a few white hairs adorning their heads, making them look quite respectable.

They were all seated around a table with a hologram in the middle that was showing the same details as Hao Xuan saw of the battle taking place outside, only in much more detail.

The hologram showed each pirate ship, what type of weapons it had, and how many were onboard each vessel. The oldest of the seven individuals and their leader was seated in the middle and silently stared at the hologram while a black coin moved in between his fingers on its own.

This person was not a human being. His head was that of a beast, a dead one. There was no skin or flesh on it, only a white beast skull with blue fire for eyes. His body was 2-3 times the size of a normal person and covered in thick hair. His hands had sharp claws that could rip an elephant in two. (It's not supposed to be literal btw. Pic in authors notes)

When the elevator doors opened, everyone in the second section stopped and looked towards it in surprise, and became even more shocked when they saw Ceni walking out with her entourage.

Only the beast-skulled leader didn't move.

One of the women walked forward with a smile. She seemed to be in her late thirties and had a scar going diagonally across her entire face from left to right. If not for that she would have been quite pretty even now.

"Princess, what brings you up here?

" she asked with a forced smile. It was obvious she wasn't used to talking to formally like that.

Ceni returned a natural smile.

"Nothing much. I was bored so came to see what was happening. Please don't mind me,

" she said quickly and before anyone could stop her, she skipped over to the leader like a little kid.

"Uncle Ignác, come play with me, I'm bored!

" she said while grabbing the beastman's arm, making the coin fall through his fingers.

As soon as the coin touched the ground, the entire room fell silent. Everyone stared at her with wide eyes full of shock and disbelief.

****

Authors notes:

https:

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