It’s the next morning and the ship is already sailing towards the militia base. Hillanter takes the napsack with the noble in it, and brings it in front of the whole crew.
“This is the guy.” Hillanter said, plopping the knapsack onto the ground. The noble inside the knapsack was squirming around, and screaming. His screams were muffled.
“What made you think that kidnapping a noble who is a worker for the militia and putting him on our boat!?” Yunga shouted.
“He might have some more information about them.”
“Didn’t you hear what the mayor said? If we make a single wrong move, they are gonna blow us up!”
“That’s only if they find out, if they don’t, then it’s no problem.”
“That’s the problem, if they find out! We’re fucked!”
“Yunga does bring up a good point.” Zunci said, kicking the napsack to get the noble inside to shut up.
“Let’s at least try to get some information out of him.” Shug chimed in. “Since he’s already here we might as well.”
“Shut up!” Yunga yelled.
“Fine then.” Shug said, walking away.
“Shug! Come on.” Zunci said, running towards Shug.
“You know what?” Yunga said, walking over to the knapsack. “Let’s take him out.” Yunga untied the knapsack and the noble came crawling out.
“Oh, god!” The noble gasped. “Where am I?” He looked up at Hillanter. “You! What the fuck do you want from me!?”
“Just tell us some information about your group and we’ll let you go.” Hillanter threatened him, picking him up by the collar of his shirt.
“Ok! Ok! I will, just don’t hurt me! Please!” The noble pleaded.
Hillanter put him down and he fell flat on his back. “Better start talking!”
“I will!” The noble was now frantically speaking.
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Shug is in the captain's cabin looking out the window at the ocean. Zunci opens the door and enters.
“Shug?” Zunci nervously asked.
“What do you want?” Shug asked, in an annoyed tone.
“Just wanted to check up on you. I wanna know how you’re doing.”
“Oh, me? I’m doing fine.” Shug sarcastically said.
“Now I know that’s a lie.”
“No shit.”
“Come on now, don’t give me that attitude.”
Shug just kept staring out the window and didn’t respond to Zunci.
“You're just gonna give me the cold shoulder now?”
“Just go away would ya?”
“Nope. I’m not gonna.”
“Welp if you’re gonna stay then just be quiet.”
Zunci pulled up a chair and sat right next to Shug. Zunci looks directly at Shug who isn’t looking at her, but still looking out at the ocean. Shug takes a glance at Zunci who is still staring at him.
“Fine, I'll talk.” Shug finally said, breaking the silence. “If that’ll get you to stop staring at me, then I’ll do it.”
“Yay!” Zunci cheered, throwing her arms in the air.
“What do you want to talk about?”
“I want to know more about you!”
“Me? Are you sure? I’m not really that interesting.”
“I don’t care, just tell me. If this mission is how it’s going now, then we’ll probably be together for more than a week. We should get to know each other.”
“Well, I grew up in the poor section of Grenk where I got sold to a pirate crew so my parents could buy their drugs.”
“That’s one way to prove yourself wrong.”
“What do you mean?”
``You just told me you're not interesting, yet you just started the story of a lifetime right there.”
Shug gave a good chuckle. “I guess so huh.”
“So, what’s the next chapter of this?”
“Not much after that, sure being part of a pirate crew is probably the most interesting thing to be right now. But, it wasn’t as fun as it sounds. We weren’t talking about a crew like the Elantra Pirates. No, this group was like the opposite of them, absolute monsters.”
“Damn, did they abuse you?”
“Yep, daily. Not like a smack on the cheek or whatever like that, it was full on getting punched and kicked.”
“Jeez, maybe this isn’t as fun as I thought it would be.”
“Everyone’s backstory is somewhat tragic, that’s why nobody really talks about it at all. They just want to forget. If only I could.”
“Well, I can talk about mine if that’ll make you feel better?”
“Sure, throw it at me.”
Zunci repositioned her chair and sat up straight. Shug was now facing Zunci.
“Unlike you, I actually grew up in a wealthy family. Ever heard of the Hermich market?”
“Nope, ever heard of them.”
“Well that was the company my dad owned, and he ran the streets of Dunt. But, when I turned fourteen, my dad’s market wasn’t really doing well financially. So, my dad got into some risky business and started dealing in the black market. Even though it was pretty messed up for him to do that, it was a great financial decision.”
“So this is how you got into the black market business right?”
“Exactly, I was basically the middle man for all of the deals my dad made. The buyers would come to me and they would give me the money, and I would give them the thing they were buying. It was a good two years before my dad was caught doing that, and he was arrested. The whole company then soon died out and I was left all alone out there. Thankfully, due to my connections in the black market, I was able to live off of the streets, and I even got myself a shack.”
“Did you ever see your father again?”
“No, he got executed for earning money through illegal ways.”
“Damn, what about your mom?”
“She died when giving birth to me.”
“Oh. At least your story wasn’t as depressing. Or it didn’t sound like it since you were talking about it all happily-like.”
“It’s fun to talk like that, and at the same time it doesn’t make anything I say boring!”
“Am I boring then?”
“No! That’s what I’m sayingat all! I was just explaining how I talk, I wasn't trying to set a standard.”
“It’s fine, I’m just messing around.”
Zunci laughs. “You got me with that one!” Shug also laughs and puts his hand on his head. Once the laughs died down and they were done talking. They could still hear the argueing of Hillanter and Yunga through the walls of the captain's cabin.
“Looks like they're still arguing.” Shug said.
“It also looks like it’s not going to stop.” Zunci added on. “Thankfully I’m not out there.”
“Me too.”
“Now, don’t tell anyone else this but.” Zunci leaned in close to Shug’s ear. “I think you’re the best person I’ve talked to on this boat.”
Shug blushed and leaned back in his chair, and looked away from Zunci. “Thanks.” Is all he could muster. It was very obvious he was flustered. Zunci gave a little giggle, and looked out the window of the captain’s cabin. Shug also did as well, and they sat there in peaceful silence.
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“Tell us again!” Hillanter demanded, slamming down on the ground.
“All I know is that they only deal with sex trafficking, but that’s it.” The noble trembled.
“We already know that! Tell us something different!”
“I don’t know anything else! I swear!”
Hillanter sighed and tried to calm himself down. “You’re telling us that you’re one of the best noble’s in the militia, and you don’t know anything!”
“Yes! Us noble’s only serve the leader and don’t question!”
“God!” Hillanter just couldn’t calm himself down.
“Let me take care of this Hillanter.” Yunga said, making sure Hillanter walked away from the noble. She then turned and kicked the noble in the stomach, took him by the neck, and held him over the boat.
“What are you doing!” The noble cried.
“Tell us more or I’ll drop you!” Yunga threatened.
“I’ve already told you everything I know!”
“Just tell us something different!”
“Anything!?”
“Yes.”
“Alright, the commander of the militia’s name is Uff Antrant!”
“Good, anymore!?”
“They have over a thousand soldiers!”
“See, that wasn’t so hard now, was it?” Yunga takes the noble and throws him back onto the boat.
“Thank you!” The noble said, breathing heavily. Yunga looked over at Hillanter who is standing still near the edge of the boat. Shanta comes up behind Yunga and puts her hand on her shoulder.
“Let me help out.” Shanta said, walking past Yunga and to the noble. She kneeled down and looked directly into his eyes and her eyes started to glow. “Tell us everything about Uff Antrant.” The noble was hypnotized by Shanta’s spell, then he started telling everything he knew.
“He is a forty year old man who started his militia five years ago after stealing from the king of Grenk. He built it up by raiding small villages on the small island the base is on and forced them to join the militia or die. He has been staying on that island ever since.” The noble said almost robotically, like he was reading off of a script. Very to the point and deadpan.
“What the hell was that?” Yunga asked.
“I used a truth spell.” Shanta explained. “It allows me to make the person who is under the spell tell me everything they know about a certain topic that I ask about, without any resistance.”
“Why didn’t you use that earlier!?”
“You never asked to involve myself in any way.”
“Whatever, it worked and now we know more about the place than before. It’s better than nothing.”
“Captain!” One of the deckhands yelled from the crow’s nest.
“Yeah!”
“We’re nearing the militia base!”
“Alright. Now, there’s a deckhand that can actually do his job.” Yunga looks at Hillanter and the noble. “Hillanter!”
Hillanter turns around. “What?”
“Put the noble back in the knapsack and put him in the sleeping quarters.”
“On it.”
The noble starts freaking out and tries to run away but Hillanter grabs him and puts him in the knapsack. Hillanter goes down into the living quarters.
“Shanta, get Shug and Zunci to come out on deck. Tell them we’re nearing the base.”
“Ok.” Shanta went inside the captain’s cabin. Yunga looks out at the base.
“Hopefully this will go well. Let Brenta be safe, please!236Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAEaKS4Jj8W
