Upon awakening the following day, Crystal quickly finished her search of the ship"s cabin.It however, provided little of interest, a few dozen books she couldn"t read due to the language barrier, various clothing that didn"t suit her, an ornate yet empty chest, an a.s.sortment of legal doc.u.ments, and a plethora of gaudy sea related decorations.
Overall, it was not a very pirate-like room, in Crystal"s humble opinion at least.
The only thing she found of interest in the entire room, was ironically, the only thing obviously missing from it.
On the captain"s desk which existed in the rooms centre, was a rectangular outline in the dust which lay upon it, a clear indication of something having been removed from it... very recently.
Before she could hypothesis about the missing item however, the lich came bursting through the door, immediately informing Crystal of something rather unexpected.
"Mistress," she addressed Crystal loudly, "we are currently being attacked by monkeys."
A moment of silence followed, one in which the two people simply stared at each other.
"...Monkeys... is it?" Replied Crystal a moment later, utter disbelief in her voice.
"Yes mistress," responded the lich seriously, "they are currently pelting your dungeon with fruit."
"So what?" Crystal thought to herself immediately.
"...Dangerous fruit?" she questioned.
That however, as it turns out, was not the case.
"No mistress," said the lich, "it appears to be some sort of plum."
Another even longer silence followed.
Elsewhere...
On a different ship, one of three which existed a relatively short distance from Crystal"s current location, two people with animal like features were currently having a serious chat.
"... Is everything ready?" The woman steering the ship asked her male subordinate.
Both people had ears and tail resembling those of black cats.
"Yes ma"am," he replied as he gave a salute, "we"re ready to attack the moment you give the order."
"Good, we should be arriving at the location within a day or two," the woman said as she stared in the direction that they were currently sailing towards.
Hearing that, the subordinate made a complicated expression.
"...With all due respect, Captain Tina," he began hesitantly, "are you sure the report you received is truly accurate?"
At those words, the one known as Tina gave the man a small glare.
"Your suggesting my sister would lie about such an important thing?" She questioned in reply.
The man could only smile bitterly in response. He truly believed that the answer to that question to be "yes, of course she would."
Perhaps sensing his answer, Tina turned back towards the ocean, unable to refute his thoughts with absolute certainty.
Her sister was well known for her pranks after all.
"...Do you know how much it costs to prepare three ships for two months travel?" She said a moment later, "The pay for the soldiers, the crew, the supplies, the food?"
The crew member, knowing her question to be rhetorical, remained silent.
"She knows that if she were to waste this many resources, in a time as dire as this... even I wouldn"t defend her actions," Tina spoke quietly, " I told her such in person before leaving on this mission."
The man looked genuinely surprised at that remark.
"Someone as sister obsessed as you said that!?" The man yelled in shock, accidentally speaking his true thoughts.
Tina"s elbow then directly impacted his nose a moment later, causing him to drop to the ground like a sack of unwanted potatoes.
He received a pitying gaze from the crew as they dragged him away.
Tina on the other hand, merely returned to watching the ocean.
""A glorious pink beam which parted both the sea and the heavens," huh" She said quietly, recounting her sisters words.
She then drooped not only her head, but her ears and tail as well.
"There"s no way that could be true is there," she said to herself dejectedly.
On a much larger ship, one which followed Tina"s ship at a distance of only a few hundered metres, yet remained unnoticed due to being cloaked by powerful magic.
"Master," began a female elf wearing a metal collar around her neck, "We have pin pointed the source of the energy discharge."
"It appears the beastmen really are responsible for it after all," she declared.
The one she was speaking to was a black haired human man with a twirly mustache and a pointed goatee, both were far too small for his face.
He also was at least thrice the weight that any healthy human should be.
The man sat proudly atop an overly high chair, wearing elegant purple clothes as he dined using his hands alone, grease ruining down his many chins.
"Hmph," he grunted, not bothering to look in the elf"s directing.
"About time," he grumbled, "you lot can expect your punishment for the time you"ve wasted after the completion of this mission."
"You are too kind... master" the elf said plainly as she glared at the man, careful to not let her hostility for him show in her words.
"We"ll see how those filthy demihumans react when we crush their little attempt to mimic the weapons of our great empire," he said with a horrible grin, one which suited him perfectly.
Meanwhile aboard the ashen maiden...
Crystal sat at the captains desk staring at a small dark purple plum which now lay in her hand.
She was tempted to simply try eating it, but wisely chose to appraise it using her DP menu instead.
[Weeping blight plum: A plum so bitter, and of such poor taste and texture, that many choose starvation rather than consuming it.
Those that do dare to consume it are said to forever remember the experience... despite their best efforts.
DP value = 1DP/500 Units]
Crystal immediately hurled it away, not wanting anything to do with it.
"Permission to slay the monkeys mistress?" The lich asked hopefully.
"She really dislikes these monkeys, huh?" Thought Crystal.
"Could it be that this isn"t the first time this has happened?" She questioned.
"Twice a day, Every day, for the last twenty eight days," the lich replied coldly, "we couldn"t abandon your core or summon more allies to pursue them previously, but now... hehehehe... I can destroy them without hesitation."
Crystal gave a slightly nervous smile in response to the lich"s unusually enthusiastic demeanor.
"The monkeys are probably just mad "cause that beam bisected their homes though," Crystal thought to herself, feeling she probably deserved worse than having mere plums thrown at her.
She then looked at the plum which now lay on the floor a few feet from the room"s door.
"I think... I have a better idea," she said as she stared at it.
"But first thing"s first," she thought to herself as she remembered the lich"s previous complaint about a lack of troops.
"Hmm... I"ll explain later, first, what do you think is a good number of skeletons for this ship to have?" Crystal asked the lich.
Said lich pondered a moment before answering.
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"Fifty, perhaps," She eventually concluded.
"Hmm, alright," replied Crystal, who immediately summoned said minions, "Summon forty pirate skeletons, same set up as last time."
[Purchased: Skeleton Pirate(5DP) Equipped with: high quality steel cutla.s.s(40DP) * 40
Total DP cost: 1,800
"The crab"s blessing(Minor)" has taken effect!
3 "Pirate skeletons" have been summoned as crab minions instead!
Large copper legged crab * 2
Large bullet crab * 1
"Gambler" t.i.tle has taken effect!
4 "Pirate skeletons" have evolved in an unusual direction!
Brittle pirate skeleton * 2
Pirate ghost * 1
Skeletal swordfish * 1]
The a.s.sorted creatures all appeared from thin air as pink mist converged into their various forms.
"Ugh," she grunted, upon seeing her simple command go completely sideways, "these effects of mine are gonna be a ha.s.sle."
"Mistress?" Questioned the lich while looking at the summoned group.
"Ah, well, I have this crab"s curse to deal with, along with a gambler t.i.tle, so..." Crystal explained before trailing off.
"No, that"s not it," the lich quickly retorted, not wanting to sound as if she were complaining, "it"s just that I was wondering why you tried to summoned forty skeletons rather than thirty nine."
"Is there some sort of benefit in doing so?" She questioned.
Crystal tilted her head in confusion before answering, "no, you said fifty, right? Not counting you there"s only ten correct?"
"There is actually technically eleven at the moment," The lich replied, "the one that got beheaded after you stol-... um, I mean, borrowed his limbs, is actually still alive... on a desk in the map room"