New Unlocks:
'Charm' Charm - 150 Instigator Points
Flame Transformation Charm - 200 Instigator Points
...
I read the words floating in front of my eyes. There were two new charms I could buy now, each corresponding to Sequence 6 of the Hunter and Assassin pathway.
As for my balance, currently I only had 6.9 in IP. IP as in Instigator Points, not Intellectual Property. It would not be a bad idea though, to follow in Roselle's footsteps and plagiarise tales from my old world.
And unlike Roselle, if I didn't just completely plagiarise a story, and instead used contemporary elements from earth as science fiction, I could maybe just become the Jules Verne of this world! Would it not be exciting?
Hah... something to consider in leisure.
For now though, I needed to focus on digesting the potions and getting stronger. A war spanning the whole continent was not far, and being weak in that situation would not do.
And since Lorenzo's parents were in Stoen City, it would be upon me to go and safeguard them there, when the war comes. And for that, I will have to make sure I reach Sequence 4 and become an Iron Blooded Knight.
On top of all that though, getting stronger, on the side, would also help up my pitiful numbers of IP, and just add more to my arsenal. Time to grind more I guess.
Talking about grind, at least the charms were pretty interesting now, though I was sure 'Charm' as a weapon was available to Demonesses from Sequence 7 itself. It was strange that a 'Charm' charm only became available for Sequence 6 Pleasure instead of Witch.
"Hey, Mr System, why do I get these 'Charm' charms only now? Doesn't Witch sequence utilise Charm ability too?"
[Sigh. Think, boy, think. At what sequence do you think a Demoness' charm experiences a big qualitative change below Sequence 4?]
The fuck. In hindsight it makes sense.
"What do you mean "boy", eh? What are you, a boomer?" While the clanker was correct, it did not fit my ego to lose face like this, so I couldn't help but make a desperate attempt at protecting my aura farms.
[Your bird brain cannot comprehend what I am. It's so empty, yet so small. If you were to sell all that real estate, you'd still fail to afford a reader potion, and all your hopes to attain an average man's intelligence would be in vain.]
"Fuck you. Go to sleep uncle clanker, I'll talk to you when I need to buy shit."
I saw no more response from this dogshit inanimate object. Taking a breath, I looked down at my shirt and pants. Fixing a crease on the right side where my shirt was tucked into the pants, I pulled out my pocket watch to look at the time.
4:44, it read.
So there was still some time before my Ancient Hermes lessons.
To kill the remaining time, I walked out to the deck from my cabin, and saw a few guys working on the sails.
In a whole day, having left harbour, we'd sailed far enough into the free seas that the sails could be furled up, and rolled tight. The weather was clear and sunny, a tad rare happenstance. This was as good as any place to anchor for a while, before Captain decided what place next we were to go to. In the meanwhile, chores will be done, including bathing, washing, and fishing.
On the deck, a bunch of seamen were pulling the ropes, a few stood on the ropes going up the mast, and slowly the main sail was being rolled onto itself. Overlooking them was James, the self proclaimed 'second' third mate of Black Death. As I walked closer to them, and jumped down on the deck, I could hear them boys singing a strangely familiar song.
Surprisingly, the song wasn't familiar to me just from Lorenzo's memories, but from mine own too.
"...Enmat dock to the Bayam yard
And it's time for us to leave her.
Leave her, Johnny, leave her!
Oh, leave her, Johnny, leave her
For the voyage is long, and the winds don't blow
And it's time for us to leave her!"
It was a song I was vaguely familiar with. As my memories jogged, certain scenes of Lorenzo singing it along with other sailors, while performing chores flashed in my head. But besides those memories, were the memories of an olden life—of a certain woman of auburn hair, beating her hand on the table to a rhythm—and singing along with me.
I stood at a distance, and watched my crew mates getting done with the final sail. Once they were done, one of them went to fetch two buckets of water, and a several mops. They were going to swab the deck. From tomorrow onward, I would not be able to shirk these duties. At least today I had an off day.
It looked like bit of a pain in the ass, I'd always hated doing chores. It seemed like Lorenzo did too, from this natural frustration I could feel just from the thought of doing these jobs.
For now, it seemed like we'd anchored. Now when we needed to move next, the sails would need to be unfurled again, and the anchor be dragged back up. That would be some hard work.
Good thing about anchoring is middle of the ocean though, you could stand on the crow's nest, and look far and wide. Before any barque could even think of approaching you, you'd be pulling the anchor and raising the sails.
I tried to jog through Lorenzo's memories, to figure out any other shanties that he may have known of, that I found familiar... and indeed he did. This particular one actually came from Feysac. Since Feysac empire had a big culture of whaling, it seemed this particular Earth song had fit well with them.
How did the people in this world get the shanties from my Earth? God only knows, maybe some transmigrator. Maybe both Earths actually had same culture, this universe and mine, and Roselle plagiarised more things than just stories?
"What is up, li'l bro? You wanna swab the deck?" James asked me as I approached the main mast where he stood, watching the boys swab.
"Ah, what timing! I would have helped, but I need to visit Captain to study some Ancient Hermes, I only have ten minutes..."
Before I could finish, James turned to me and put his hand on my shoulder with a wide smile.
"That is plenty time, isn't it? I see you're spending a lot of time studying, come do some physical work, it may help you feel good. What do they say? All study and no swabbing, makes Lorenzo a dull boy? Yeah? Get to it!"
I stared at the shit eating grin of this asshole. I could not, objectively speaking, disobey his order, since he was my senior in ranking.
But I was given the day off by cap'n...
I almost felt like crying... I hate chores...
Sigh.
Releasing a long breath, and swallowing my despair, I nodded.
My despair must have been quite apparent, as this man chuckled at my misery, and walked a few steps to grab two mops.
"Your face was worth watching. Don't feel so bad now, I shall also help with this. Since the weather is so calm, it just can't be helped. Some waves always do good, keep the deck wet. Now that water ain't rising that high, we gotta do the menial jobs."
The few seamen around us were a little shocked to see James also joining them. It's not everyday that they saw a senior officer who outranked them so greatly joining them for simple tasks.
Seeing him lead, I felt my despair disappear. It made sense in the hindsight. While he was an officer of Black Death right now, before Tracy took over Qilangos, he had lead his own ship in her fleet. Of course he'd be a good leader.
As for his present situation? To keep the likes of Mithor King out of her ship most times, Tracy gave him the captaincy of James' ship, and had James work here. In fact, that was also partly why James loved provoking Mithor King by calling himself "the 'second' third mate".
Of course, in the first place this happened because when Tracy's crew attacked the remaining of Qilangos' fleet, only Mithor King's and Allen Bower's ships were destroyed to the point they became beyond salvageable. So to compensate their losses at accepting her leadership, she gave Mithor King James' ship, and made Allen Bower the second mate.
...
With all hands working together, it took less than ten minutes to swab all of the deck. I took out my pocket out to look at the time.
It said 4:58.
As I handed my mop to one of the seamen, James spoke to me. "What did I say? It'll barely take any time. And you still have a few minutes to spare. Now then, go on, study well li'l bro."
I could see a more of a charismatic leader in this man now, indeed, he was more than just a shitty provoker. Hah, one really cannot judge people on first impressions.
"Thanks, sir James." I said with a nod, and headed towards captain's cabin.
It was time to learn some Ancient Hermes.
As I was walking by the deck, I saw a certain red haired lady standing at the prow, gazing towards the distant sun approaching the horizon in the West.
It seems like this lady's out for some chill time.
She stood at the prow like Rose from Titanic, but no Jack behind her. I wasn't too sure about her backstory, so I couldn't be certain if her Jack was killed by Tracy, or just made to run away and disappear.
Either way, she'd soon leave and meet a strange Faceless, so there was no need for me to worry about her.
Shaking my head, and I walked up to captain's door, and knocked.
"Captain, it's me, Lorenzo."