The lanterns were cut off and besides the stifled snoring, there were no sounds heard in the dark cabin.
Caelum managed to sleep comfortably amongst the slaves, finding a nice spot. Sleeping so soundly, he indulged in snoring.
[Cast: Ignite]
A man stuck his finger out, a single jet of fire illuminating a small corner of the room in orange and red colors.
The man illuminating the room had thin light green hair and a frail build. Heavy eyebags with green eyes to match his hair.
"We have a new recruit," the ginger said.
There were seven of them, including Yezekael, sitting around the man illuminating the room.
Excluding Yezekael, three of them were boys, and the other three were girls.
"So these are all the competent slaves…" Yezekael noted aloud. He cleared his throat, speaking in a whisper.
"My name is Yezekael. I'll be working with you all."
he followed up with a smile.
"It's nice to meet you, Yezekael. You can call me William. These six are Rosie, Ian, Liluth, Abigail, and Myn."
All the girls were demi-humans, while Ian was a human, and Nym was an elf.
Everybody but Nym welcomed Yezekael with open arms. Myn sat at the very corner, keeping to himself, his head tilted down.
— Is this what they call 'edgelord syndrome'?
Yezekael thought to himself, his eyes glancing at the short elven boy. His ears stuck out his white hair.
"Ah, don't worry about Myn over there. I'm not even sure if he's a part of the team. He just so happens to be here, and William includes him."
Rosie spoke through a grin, noticing Yezekael's focus.
"Right. So, what's the plan?" Yezekael asked.
"It's really simple. This small part of the cabin is where the people are stored."
William slapped a crumpled map onto the ground. From the looks of it, it was a map of the boat from a Birds Eye view.
His finger slammed onto the paper.
"These walls are made out of oak wood tiles. Based on this paper, one of the tiles can be removed. Into there, we'll find the stolen weaponry."
— Weaponry… so that's where the AHMC is. Caelum will thank me for recovering it. Then, he'll say something along the lines of, 'Ah, you were right all along. We should've stuck with your plan.'
Yezekael grinned, the thought replaying in his head.
"Then after we find the weaponry, we'll silently kill the slavers, and rally up the slaves. Give them weapons, and riot!" Liluth exclaimed, her fist pumping into the air. Though, after realizing she was a bit too loud, she covered her mouth, shyly.
"Right. It's a very smart plan. Took me a few days to come up with it. Aren't I clever?" Ian smirked.
"You didn't think of that. It was a team effort!" Abigail knocked the back of Ian's head with her knuckles.
The group laughed.
Yezekael laughed, awkwardly.
— These guys have known each other for some time, huh?
His eyes couldn't stop lingering on the boy called Myn.
— That kid… when is he going to stop the act?
He analyzed the boy even further.
— Ah, well he is an elf. He could be my elder. Can an old man be an edge lord?
"Edge lords can be of any age."
"Huh?"
The group stopped laughing, looking at Yezekael. He turned his head to the side, a red tint covering his face.
"It's nothing."
— How embarrassing…
. .
.
The next morning came.
A slaver came down the ladder, a bell in one hand, and a stick in the other.
Clang!
He smacked the larger side of the stick against the side of the bell, a loud ringing sound filling the room. Instantly waking up everybody.
"Everybody get up! It's time to clean the deck!"
The slaver hit the bell a few more times, repeating that same phrase before kicking some people awake.
He climbed up the ladder, leaving the hatch open, another source of light entering the dark cabin.
Caelum rubbed his eyes. When he woke up, Yezekael was next to him, already awake. He stared at the ceiling, counting the number of nails drilled into it.
"Get up, Yezekael. We have to clean."
"I heard him the first few times."
"So this is the lower class experience. First, I was forced to go fishing for food. Now I'm cleaning."
"You sound arrogant. And you didn't even fish, you were just watching me."
"Same thing, no?"
Caelum got up with a yawn, stretching. His movement was restricted, thanks to the chain and shackle.
Above the deck, the true size of the boat could be seen. It was much larger than Caelum had expected, bigger than the ship they had departed with.
The base of the ship was made of dark spruce wood, while the flooring was made out of lighter oak wood planks, secured by nails.
There were short walls to prevent anybody from falling off the ship. Several mana cannons were placed on different sides of the ships, each being manned.
— Primitive technology.
Caelum thought of Ailmer's Hand Mana Cannon. Holding in a laugh.
On one of the ships numerous sails, the Association of Rogues emblem was drawn onto it. A square-shaped emblem, with a black background and a red eye inside. The sclera of the eye was colored black, to match with the background.
Chatter filled the deck. Chairs and tables were set, allowing the pirates to chat. They all wore a similar outfit, the emblem plastered somewhere on their usually black apparel.
"Their accents are so… oceanic. Thick. Are they even speaking (---)?" Caelum groaned, reaching to cup his hands at his ears.
"You're showing more and more of your snobbish character traits every day. But you're right. These are the type of guys that live by the coast. Maybe even on scattered islands across this body of water."
Caelum and Yezekael got to cleaning.
He had to readjust Caelum's posture.
"This is how you hold it?" Caelum asked.
Yezekael stood behind him, moving his arms so that he held the mop correctly. Then, he pushed. Sweeping.
"Just like that."
"It's so… firm."
"It's your first time holding it, so I guess you'll think that."
Splsh!
"Ah! It's wet!"
"You've really never done this before, huh?"
"Take it slow…"
"Oi! Ain't no slaves of mine should be formin' homoerotic relationships!"
A third voice entered the conversation.