Chapter 41

“Arthur? Arthur?”

Kai grabbed both of Arthur’s arms and moved him like a madman to see if he answered, but Arthur stood there motionless. It happened out of a sudden, and Kai did not know how to act in such a situation.

Arthur woke up after a few minutes, and it took him some time to figure out what had happened.

“I’m good.” said Arthur.

“What happened?”

“I’m not sure, to be honest. Visions? Memories? Who knows? Let’s get back to what we need to do.”

“Okay!”

It was not a good thing to keep asking Arthur about that, so Kai let it go and focused on the task in hand, and that was to find a fishing rod and bait.

They needed food to leave the island and get to the next big island, where Arthur planned on hiring a crew and change his ship. Fish was the easiest food to get, and that’s what they aimed for.

A sturdy stick, vines, and a stone to make the hook. It was all it took to make them fish rods, and Arthur had to do the worst part.

“Seriously? I have to use my claws to shape this stone into a hook? This is no fun at all.”

“Someone has to do it…”

.

In no time, two fishing rods were in their hands. The baits? Worms, and it was Kai who had to get them. After getting a bag filled with them, they both got back to the ship, who looked the same as when they left.

“We still need water, so I’ll get that while you fish.” said Arthur.

“Right, I almost forgot about that. Good job!” Kai gave a thumbs up and fished.

Arthur grabbed a few barrels made of wood and left the ship. He planned on filling them with drinkable water.

For people to be living on that island, it had to have some kind of water source, or else everyone there would die. Arthur found one after looking for a few minutes. A crystal clear river which cut through half of the island.

“Let’s go then.”

Arthur had six barrels. Each one of these barrels had a magical rune carved into it. It was a rune created to purify water instantly, and also keep it at a pleasant temperature. He filled all the barrels without a problem, and then left.

A head came out of the water right after he left and stared in his direction. It was a person, but this person had fishlike features.

“I’m back! How’s the fishing going?”

The water barrels went to the same place they were before, and Arthur got a fishing rod as well to help Kai.

“It’s good. Look at how many we’ve got.” Kai showed the box, and it had at least 20 fish in it. It was a good amount, considering he started not too long ago.

“Nice. Everything is going in the right direction. The only problem is how we get information to reach a decent island from here?” said Arthur.

“I don’t know, a map, maybe? Haha.”

A map. Arthur wanted to punch himself so hard. They stole Claridge’s ship but never explored the insides of it. Claridge absolutely had a map and other tools to help with his navigation, like a compass.

Arthur left the fishing and went to the captain’s room. It was a mess, with many things scattered everywhere. Claridge was not the type of person to organize his stuff, it seemed.

After a long and arduous search, Arthur found what he was looking for. A map and a compass.

The map was not fully complete. It was understandable as there were a lot of places they did not explore, so how could there be a map to it? But the important thing was that the island they were currently on was on the map.

“Hm, so if we go in this direction, we can reach a big city in about 5 days. It is not as far as I thought. Perhaps we can leave tomorrow?”

Arthur returned and gave the good news to Kai, who jumped in joy. The city was not that far, so there was no need for them to get tons of food. But they still needed some, so both Arthur and Kai prepared the things for the trip, and left the small island the next day.

~~~~

Now, with a compass, it was easy to go in the right direction, and not only go around guessing. Arthur and Kai sailed towards Athegas, one of the most known cities for pirates.

During five days, all they did was eat fish, and talk about nonsense. It was not a pleasant trip, and as they got closer to Athegas, they had to worry about other ships trying to steal from them.

Arthur did not know if it was his luck, or perhaps people did not attack others near Athegas, but it everything went well, and no one attacked them.

“That’s a relief, because we have such a scary crew to defend the ship.” Arthur looked around and saw the empty deck…

“Look, that’s the island, and that’s the c- damn. This city is enormous!” said Kai as he pointed toward the island.

It differed completely from all the other cities Arthur saw on these islands. It looked immense, with tall buildings, walls, towers. There weren’t many buildings made of wood in the city. Most were more well-designed and stone-made.

There was a constant stream of ships getting in and out of Athegas. It showed the commerce was vivid, and it was a good place to spend money and buy things you couldn’t find in other places.

Arthur went to the port area and left his ship there. There were some people responsible for taking care of the ships, and you did not even have to pay them, as the rulers of Athegas did.

A group of guards waited at the port’s entrance. It was the place where they checked if you had anything illegal, or were a criminal on the run. Everything was fine with both Arthur and Kai, so they went in without problems.

“Look at this place.”

They crowded the streets of Athegas had all kinds of people, but mostly pirates. As always, the first thing they had to do was find a place to stay, and that was easy considering the tons of inns Athegas had at its disposal.

Arthur chose one, and the next thing he needed to do was start his announcement. They needed a crew, and Athegas was the best place to build one.

“I’ll go in the pirates’ guild to register our ship, and me and you as leader and vice-leader. I heard they can also promote your recruiting announcement, so that’s good.” said Arthur.

“Okay. I’ll go search for a place to change our ship and stuff. And also a place to buy us new clothes.”

Arthur gave Kai some gold coins, and they parted ways.

The pirates’ guild was the most famous guild in these areas. It worked just like the mercenaries guild back on the land. Anyone who had a crew or wanted to get one had to register in this guild. It was how they could get tasks, and completing them would grant them monetary rewards and also fame.

“Welcome to the pirates’ guild. How can I help you?”

“I want to register a ship and crew. I’m still building the crew, so maybe you can also announce we are hiring?”

“Of course. Fill this form, and you’re good to go.”

The form asked a few informations, but nothing personal that would harm Arthur. The most important part of the form was the name. Arthur went with Frostpeak to draw attention from his friends, and make it easier for him to find them.

“Here’s the form.”

“Okay, and about the announcement. We can help with that. You can come here in three days, as we will announce today.”

“Thank you!”

Arthur got himself a silver badge. The lowest badge from the guild was bronze, and that was what most newly registered pirates got. Arthur had a different one just because of his strength.

He left and returned to the inn, just to find Kai with a new set of clothes for him. It looked like the standard pirate clothes, but there was also an expensive cloak, which made them look more important.

“Damn, Kai. With your white hair, you’re looking like a vampire.”

“A vampire? What’s that?”

“It’s a monster.”

“Wow, thank you. Here I was thinking it was a good thing.”

“Did you find someone willing to customize our ship?”

“Not only that, but they are doing it as we speak. They said it will take them three to four days.”

“Good job. I knew I could count on you.”

Arthur was tired after sailing for so long, but there was still a place he wanted to explore in Athegas.

“It’s been a long time since I leveled up. Tonight Athegas will know my wraith. Athegas night-club, prepare because I’m coming.”