27 Vol 1. pt. 27 Ramen and Bourbon (1/2)
The party officially consists of Fenrir, Oleander, Bonekraka, Serra, Rock, and Cassiel. Together, they have hunted, fished, laughed, and destroyed a village while stealing a ship.
”How can you steer this thing so well already?” Cassiel asks, hanging out near the back of the ship with Oleander.
She can only handle so much of Fenrir's stubborn indifference at once.
”Compared to a galleon or supercarrier, this is super easy. We've played lots of other games before. Pirate games, sci-fi games – you name it. I've steered pretty much every kind of ship and vehicle in general that you can think of,” Oleander explains.
Up near the front of the ship, Serra is gently tracing her fingers over where Rock had chips of her body broken off. She whines when touched there, so Serra quickly retracts her hand. ”Will she grow it back?” she asks Fenrir.
”Not sure,” he says, sitting down on the other side of Rock. ”I'm sure she'll be fine. Just needs rest and food.”
As for Bonekraka, he's gone below deck to get some shuteye. He really doesn't like being on open water. His last words to the group were to message him on Fiscord once they are docked at land or a city.
”Bone doesn't get to play that much, does he?” Serra asks.
”Not really. He's really busy between his wife and work,” Fenrir answers.
”Is it okay if I ask what he does?”
”No idea. He won't tell us. Olly likes to joke that he's in the mafia, and honestly… I wouldn't be surprised. I know that he works for his wife's dad, but that's it. Also, don't worry. He wouldn't care about me telling you this since he tells random people that all the time. None of us have enough information to know what he really does.”
”Mafias are cool.”
”Pirates and now mafias. You must be the type to chase after bad boys. Let me guess, your dream guy is somebody driving a motorcycle and wearing a leather jacket?”
Serra blushes and looks away. ”Shut up.”
”I think Cass is rubbing off on you.”
Serra looks up at Fenrir and pouts. ”I'll beat you up, punk.”
”So scary.” Something about his voice makes it clear he's the opposite of scared.
Tall, mossy sea stacks pop up from the water as the ship heads farther south. The coast begins turning in to the east, and Oleander makes sure that they never lose sight of land.
The strait comes into view after a couple of hours.
”This is Indra's Strait. I wasn't here for it, but the legend is that Indra herself split the continent in two by extreme erosion which created this strait,” Cassiel explains to the rest of the party.
”Indra?” Fenrir asks.
”Indra is the leader of the Goddess' Own. Their city, Sumeru, is to the west of here on an island. It's like a chunk of desert floating in the ocean, and her city is built right on top of it,” Cassiel pauses to make sure everybody is following along before continuing. Even Rock is looking up at her and waiting for her to go on. ”Her navy is second only to Blackstache's, and her followers treat her like a goddess. It doesn't help that she calls herself a goddess in the first place.”
”What's she like?”
”Arrogant and stuck-up, but for good reason. She's the strongest known magic user in the world, and she claims to be the goddess of storms, oceans, and commerce. She's supposedly taken down entire fleets before by summoning storms to wipe them out. It's a good thing she cares more about protecting her city and amassing wealth than waging war.”
”I thought the Augus Empire was the most powerful?”
”Only on land. Indra rules the seas.”
”What about the pirates?”
”They have more ships and better sailors, but none of that matters if a storm with fifty-foot waves wipes them out.”
”You sound like a history teacher, Cassy,” Oleander says.
”Shut up! I'm just answering questions,” she shouts at him.
Oleander giggles and goes back to steering the ship.
”How long did it take her to get that powerful?” Fenrir asks.
Cassiel looks hesitant to answer now. ”I don't know, but I've heard that she's been playing since the closed alpha. She's apparently one of the first hundred people to actually play. Most of the early players are powerful, but she's something else.”
Serra is clearly the least interested in the conversation. As soon as she realized that nothing ”cool” was involved, she went back to petting Rock.
The ship continues on.
Fenrir, at one point, decides to try fishing with his fancy new rod. Alas, there is a problem.
He has no bait.
With no bait nor lures, all he can do is practice casting the line a bunch of times. He gets that sort of satisfaction pinging within him after a while of practice. Every cast after that goes farther, if he tries to cast farther, and splashes down closer to where he aims.
The fishing rod itself seems more advanced than most of what he has seen within the game world as far as technology goes. It looks to be made of bamboo or some other light, flexible wood; has a spinning reel made out of brass; and the line itself looks to be made from some sort of hair, such as a horse's.
It may not be too impressive, but it just feels right in his hands. This is his very own fishing rod. Well, it might not legally be his, but who's going to take it back?
The ship comes across a small cove on the other side of the strait. No other ships are parked there, so Oleander and Fenrir decide that it will be a good spot for them to stop in. Oleander has things to do in reality still.
Given how long travel can take in this game, Fenrir is realizing that they're going to need more than one helmsman.
”Don't forget about tomorrow, Fenny!” Oleander says before heading below deck to wake.
It reminds Serra and Cassiel of what the two men talked about earlier.
Cassiel is next to log out. With nothing else to do, she tells them that she's going to get some extra relaxation in before her next shift at work.