As soon as the pirates realized the Guild ships were approaching the island, they broke off the fighting and retreated toward the edge of town to dig in. They weren’t stupid enough to attack the Guild but it seemed they wanted to ensure there wasn’t an accidental incident.

One of the Guild ships docked and the Captain stepped off to greet the three of us. I had been carried over by Barcos and Em’ah on the same chair she plopped me in the night before. My legs were looking less like mashed potatoes now and instead looked like mushed putty. It was hard to ignore the sensation of the bones moving around within my shattered legs but I was managing.

“Captain Paul, I hope this wasn’t a last-ditch attempt to hold off your enemy. I can assure you, we will leave for safer shores immediately if it was.”

I ignored the man’s condescending snark before replying. “You have the agreement from the Director?”

“I do,” he smiled. “Do you wish to review it?”

I nodded and he produced a stack of documents and a table from his ring. I also noticed a convenient pen placed next to the document.

“I will remain here while you peruse the document. I can assure you, that if you sign this agreement, the pirates will have no recourse but to leave. Although they have no means of escape. I would recommend forcing them to wait for a friendly ship out in the crater. Let that be a convenient reminder to them of what happened,” the Captain smiled.

“Why wouldn’t we just kill them?”

“You could… but the Guild ships can only interfere with this conflict if they attack you first… after you sign the document of course.”

“Of course,” I replied blandly.

“But, if you attack them first, they have all rights to defend themselves under Guild law.”

“Here I thought the Guild defended its own at all costs,” I stated as I started reading the long document.

“We do, but we have to give face to governments across the multiverse, even if it is only a token gesture.”

I simply nodded as I continued to read in silence.

***

Sarvis paced the area his remaining forces managed to secure. It had been two days since that damn Guild ship docked, and the other one hung overhead like a sword ready to proclaim judgment.

He didn’t know what those bastards had promised the Guild to get them to disregard their neutrality and he didn’t like it one bit.

“Boss!” One of the scouts ran up to Sarvis, breathing heavily. “A guild representative is approaching the barricade with three others.”

Sarvis hissed, “Finally, make sure everyone is ready once we learn what has been going on.”

Sarvis dismissed the scout as he hurried to the front line. When his eyes landed on that Blademaster bastard, he let out a low growl. The man smirked at him as his eyes landed on Sarvis.

He recognized the other two as well. The damnable face changer, she had killed a significant number of pirates among his crew, and their captain. He had thought the man was killed outright by those voidlings but somehow he survived. Although he was leaning heavily on an ornate staff.

Sarvis hadn’t run into a voidling in decades but they were not opponents you wanted to face. His estimation of this captain’s skill rose a notch. It didn’t make Sarvis like him anymore though. In fact, he growled in annoyance at seeing the man still here. That man and his infernal ship had cost him over two hundred lives and his entire remaining fleet. What he wouldn’t give to wrap his hands around the skinny human's neck. He pictured squeezing the life out of the man as he approached the four people who were stopped well clear of normal magic range. Not that Sarvis would attack the men with the Guild representative standing next to them.

“Captain Sarvis, I presume?” the Guild representative spoke first.

“Yes,” Sarvis growled out.

“Good, Good. I assume you have overall command of all of the forces on your side that remain on the island?”

“I do, what of it?”

“Excellent, that will make this transition easier. By Guild mandate, you and your forces have thirty minutes to vacate the city and two miles beyond. Failure to do so will be seen as aggression to-”

Sarvis cut the man off with a roar, “what is the meaning of this nonsense. The Guild has no claim over this city. This city belongs to the pirate kings”

“I am afraid you are mistaken, Mr. Sarvis. The city belongs to the civilians within.”

“So what if it does, they are not Guild citizens,” Sarvis argued but he felt something was off.

“Normally you would be correct. But the esteemed Captain Paul, here,” the Guild representative, motioned to the man that could barely stand upright, causing Sarvis to growl in annoyance and earn a glare from the same man. “…has just decided to become a fully pledged Guild member under good standing. As such he is protected by Guild mandate.”

“I fail to see your point,” Sarvis ground out, furious that his prize of killing this upstart captain was ripped from under him but refusing to relinquish the town.”

“If you would stop interrupting me, I would tell you,” the pompously dressed man replied. “All of the towns citizens were queried by the Guild and all have agreed that they work for Captain Paul. As such they are also protected members of the Guild as per mandate. Is that clear enough for you… Captain Sarvis?”

Sarvis clenched his jaw tightly as the other three people smirked at him. He took a step forward before the Guild representative tutted. “If you assault any member of the Guild, your actions will have consequences, up to and including your boss. Think very carefully before you act Mr. Sarvis.”

Sarvis did the only thing he could, he turned around and began to walk away. He only stopped when he heard the unknown man speak.

“Tell your boss, this isn’t over.” That simple phrase sent a chill down Sarvis’s spine. Not because he feared this upstart captain, but because of what his boss would do to him after he relayed the message. He was thoroughly tempted to turn around and maul the prick to death here and now but he sucked down his pride and stomped off, yelling orders to his remaining men.

***

Captain Paul, you shouldn’t shamefully provoke people. Especially powerful people like the Pirate King,” the Guild Representative chided him.

“Don’t you mean pirate kings?” I corrected.

“No, there is only one Pirate King. He likes to use the smokescreen that there are warring factions of pirates to take over areas. We have known for some time about his proclivities but he has vast resources to draw from and we have been unable to curtail his activities through non-violent means.”

“Why not just kill him!” I replied in anger.

The man shook his head, “if we killed everyone that angered the Guild, there wouldn’t be anyone left. Sometimes diplomacy is required, even if it leaves a bad taste in our mouth.”

I ground my teeth in frustration. “What about those two that attacked me?”

“The voidlings. My recommendation to you is to drop that matter. Even if you managed to get to their level. And nobody not born of their homeworld has ever survived the journey to their homeworld. You may think of attacking them when they are off-planet but they only ever venture out from there to hunt others such as yourself that have Void-related classes.” One of the stipulations of my contract was to show my true level and classes.

I gripped my staff in frustration and turned around. “Gather the survivors, it's time to bury the dead and clean up here.”

***

After a week, another ship picked up the remaining pirate forces. They stayed well clear of the town since it was flying the Guild flag from every building.

My legs were mostly recovered by this point and I could hobble around with a bit of help from my staff. I was a lucky one though. Over half the civilians had lost their lives in the fighting. This along with Khikall’s death hit me hard.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to direct anyone to work. Those that weren’t fixing houses or cleaning up the debris were helping me lay out the new keel for a ship.

The Guild ships stuck around and more came and went but it wasn’t just to provide a defense. They were watching as I built the ship. Fat lot of good that would do them. I was making it as bare-bones as possible to get home. The contract said I had to provide any ships I sold to the merchant house for the next decade. It didn’t specify anything about building my own fleet or giving away ships. Although, it did require a minimum of ships I had to sell in that timeframe. It also specified that the ships had to be the same configuration as the Retribution.

I took that to mean the original configuration. There was no way I was selling the new weapon or the upgraded mana lasers or mana cannons. Still, it was frightening to think of having twenty such ships terrorizing people across the multiverse.

The Guild provided the materials I needed to build the ship and I left the work to the few dockworkers that survived. Being some of the higher leveled civilians on the island, they were in the thick of the fighting. Most did not survive but their sacrifices saved many more.

I erected an obelisk in the center of the town, immortalizing the name of each individual that died on our side during the fighting. It was a somber reminder that life was fleeting and while I lived for battle, I was not immortal.

The remaining workers gave me an estimate of six months to build the ship, I just nodded at them and told them to take their time. I had a lot to think about and process after the events of the last year.

Losing my skills hurt but I didn’t really care all things considered. I had enough money that I could replace them with similar skills, it wasn’t like most of them were all that unique. The few that were, were impossible to replace, according to the Guild rep. I had asked him about it after signing the paperwork. I figured if anyone would know it would be a merchant that worked for the largest organization in the known universe. According to him, even if I did find a certain missing skill, they would be bound to a specific class or the skill simply couldn’t be copied which is how most skills came to be available on the market.

He did warn me not to go searching for another void skill, or I would just bring retribution again and even the Guild couldn’t stop the voidlings before they struck. From what he was able to tell me, the voidlings were one of the primal races of the multiverse. They were also known as a keystone race or one of the founder races. Ancient and powerful but reclusive. They only roused themselves from their world when the multiverse was threatened.

I had no idea what sort of threat I posed on the multiverse but it made me shiver nonetheless.