[[Somewhere on Grandu]]

*BAM!!*

“What do you mean you need more time!??! Do you know much money you are costing me!?! If you don’t do your job right, I run out of business!! You lost the Frigate I smuggled, I supply you with more ships and yet! You still fail to keep up with your payments! What am I hiring you to do? Just sit around and drink booze!?” (???)

“N-no sir! It’s just… just that…” (???)

“Speak up you blabbering imbecile!” (???)

“After we lost the frigate, we spotted it on its way to Grandu last week again, only it’s been painted all red and gold. At the speed they were travelling, I knew that their cargo would be almost empty and maybe even the cannons gone. So we decided to attack the frigate to get it back with the fleet you provided. No captain ever hires guards for an empty ship so I thought it would be an easy pillage.” (Pirate Captain)

“And? What happened? You get my ship back?” (???)

“Well… no sir… it’s that, the entire crew were mages! And they were skilled in swordfighting too. I lost most of the men I hired and they sent me back here on a small attack boat… They took command of the 6 ships you gave me…” (Pirate Captain)

“You FUCKWIT! Do you understand the dynamics of our relationship!?!? I run a support guard service for merchant travelling through these waters between the main continent and Grandu. If there are no Pirates, what merchant would spend money on hiring guards!?!? The word out there is that the waters are safer than ever now! Get your Shit together and start pillaging or I swear to god I will hang you by your intestines!” (???)

“Sir… but… We don’t have any ships left…” (Pirate Captain)

“FUCK! Do I have to do everything by myself?!!? Nevermind! Just follow my guard captain! He will give you a set of uniforms and you will join my guards services. Once someone hires you and your men, make sure, by any means necessary, kill the merchants in the sea and bring their boat back here! We’ll have to start over from scratch again.” (???)

“Th-thank you sir…” (Pirate Captain)

[[Out in the sea]]

“General Alwin! We have transported all the supplies from the 6 pirate brigs onto the Change sir. Our cargo bay is now almost 50% full, but we do not have enough men to commandeer all 7 ships at once. How shall we proceed sir?” (1st mate of The Change)

“Have 14 men stay on The Change with me, assign 10 men to 3 of the brigs, we will make headway for Grandu port first. The remaining 5 men will split 2, 2 and 1 on the last 3 brigs and remain here in sea, set the anchors down. We are only a week away from Grandu and this is a busy trade route. The mages on the 3 brigs will signal using an explosion spell high up in the air to attract the attention of passing merchants, then get their help to bring the brig into port, offering protection services and if need be, reward money when we dock. I will secure docking space for our fleet in Grandu before the last 3 brigs arrive.” (General Alwin)

Immediately, the high elves on board the frigate started scurrying around in their individual teams, assigning roles and positions while moving to their respective brigs. What started out as a lone frigate has now increased into a small fleet thanks to a sudden windfall when the pirates attacked. If not for Kiefer’s teachings, the high elves might not have made it through with zero casualties. New magic spells and understanding of their surroundings gave them the edge over the pirates.

“When we get to port, I will need to get these brigs painted in the same design too. Man, are pirates wealthy these days. They saved us quite a bit of money on living expenses and had quite the deep pocket too, increasing our funds by 2 fold. With these brigs, I should be able to haul more metals and materials back to Arigan.” (Alwin)

With the help of a constant tailwind thanks to the wind mages, General Alwin arrived at Grandu port with his frigate and 3 brigs within 5 days. The port was the biggest’s he’s seen soo far, at least 20 times as wide as the one they had left from. His fleet was not the only one, with some fleets going up to 15 vessels. However, though his ship count may be small, his ship sizes are definitely the biggest around, catching the attention of everyone in the docks.

He was given a shopping list by Kiefer beforehand, but that was only to serve as a guideline. He knew that Arigan needed not only resources, but talented individuals and craftsmen as well. Including the fact that his fleet had increased to 7 vessels, he would also need to hire sailors and carpenters for the journey home.

Walking around the port with his crew, leaving 2 men behind on each vessel as guards, Alwin soon began to realise that the port itself was almost as big as Arigan, but even without rulers or leadership, the port city seemed to be running smoothly. Everyone in the port had something to offer, be it food, products, entertainment or skills, everyone had a purpose and they knew how to accommodate for each other to make transactions and daily life proceed as smoothly as possible.

Delegating jobs to his men to spread out and search for the relevant goods, Alwin was now back alone, looking through a bookshop. He was trying to get a gauge on how much the world had changed since the high elves secluded themselves, as well as determine the level of magic that the world was standing on.

He flipped through several books titled as advance magic, but had yet to see anything he did not already know. Secretly elated that the world could not progress in magic without the help of the high elves’ knowledge, Alwin returned the book to the shelf and left the store, only to see a creature he had no knowledge of.

She had dark black hair that rested on her shoulders. Skin comparably pale to the Elder titan Isana, and yet, with 8 red glowing eyes on her face, going up along her forehead. Upper body of a human and lower body of a grotesque insect with 8 long pointed legs and an enormous black shiny abdomen, the creature was tending to an armor and clothing’s stall opposite the street.

Catching him staring at her, the creature lifted herself up on her legs, rising to 3m tall and tiptoed her way to Alwin.

“You’re not from around here are you? But then again, who is, in this large a port city, almost everyone is from the main continent. Never seen an Arachne before?” (Arachne)

“As a matter of fact, I haven’t. I’m new in town, just arrived this morning. Name’s Alwin. I’m an elf.” Alwin introduced himself politely.

“Well dear me now. If you arrived this morning, you must have arrived with that big ass Frigate. And I’ve seen many elves around here, just never one with… hmmm… you physique and aura. What are you really now?” (Arachne)

“Aura? How can you see my aura Miss….???” Alwin trailed off, hinting for a name.

“Oh my, how rude of me, My name is Rina. Our 8 eyes aren’t just for show you now. They allow us to see the aura of things, and even thermal signatures, so we can hunt even at night. You won’t find my species anywhere else on Aioa. We originated here and because of our deathly fear of being out at sea, none of us have ever made it more than 100m out before jumping ship and swimming back.” (Rina)

“Ok, that’s interesting. You definitely aren’t afraid of drowning if you can swim your way back, so what are you afraid of? Getting lost in sea? Being shipwrecked?” (Alwin)

“No… it’s actually something very simple. We Arachne are sensitive to movement as we have a very keen sense of balance. The swaying of the boat throws us off and we feel like throwing up once the rocking starts.” (Rina)

“Hmm… I think there’s actually a simple solution for that. It should work as long as there aren’t any rough storms. Do you want to try it out? It will take maybe a day or 2 to construct the equipment, but it will help reduce the inertia from the boat by dampering the movement, thus reducing the movement.” (Alwin)

“Inersha? Dampering? I’ve never heard those terms before. Where are you from and where did you learn those?” (Rina)

“Our leader Lord Kiefer taught us these foreign techniques he’s learnt from his home. I’ll have one of my brigs outfitted with a special room and let’s see if you like it. Would like to be the first to try out our new methods? “ (Alwin)

“Sure why not? I’ve got nothing to lose as long as the ship doesn’t capsize. How many people do you have working for you right now?” (Rina)

“I’ve got 50 of my own, but I intend to hire more to head back to the main continent. Would you know where I can hire some carpenters and trustworthy sailors? Also, I need large amounts of red, gold and black paint for my brigs’ hulls.” (Alwin)

“If you need craftsmen, you’ll be best off hiring dwarves. I know dwarves and elves have a bad history, but there’s no one who can patch up a hole as quickly or completely as a dwarf. I wouldn’t know where you can find sailors, but you could ask around the inns they might know someone. As for paint, there’s a ship repair station down the eastern end of the docks. It’s a huge warehouse out in the sea connected by wooden bridges where ships can be held securely for repairs. They should have sufficient paints and also man power to help you paint them brigs. And also, if your device really works, I wouldn’t mind calling some of my sisters to help you out. We specialise in clothing, threads and ropes. We can repair any holes in your sails or replace any rigging that might be worn out, as long as we stay on the docks.” (Rina)

“That’s good to know. I’ll keep that in mind and come find you again once I have the room prepared. Well then I better get to loading my ships up. The other 3 brigs should be docking anytime now.” (Alwin)

With the conversation done, Alwin made his way towards the repair station and approached the owner. They soon struck up a deal for the paint job and in no time, the first brig was painted and leaving the warehouse. They would trade the cannons and munitions on one of the brigs for the paint job on all the brigs. Alwin had the intention of turning that brig into a merchant brig, changing the munitions bay into a cargo hold, similar to the frigate, while the other brigs will play the role of support guards.

Assigning one of the royal mages to oversee the painting process for the remaining 5 brigs, making sure the workers did not steal anything from the ships, General Alwin gathered all the high elf carpenters on the Frigate to start a major remodelling session. After acquiring sufficient lumber, the crafters began to work through the night under General Alwin’s supervision. Taking turns to rest, there were at least 5 carpenters on the job at any time while General Alwin himself did not rest.

Finally, by evening the next day, as the 4th Brig was leaving the warehouse with her new paint job, General Alwin finally took a break, after finishing the contraption he designed to stop the swaying of the ship. Being the number 1 student of Kiefer, General Alwin picked up some of Kiefer’s ingenuity in designing and problem solving.

On the deck, in the middle of the ship was a gyroscopic circle about 3m wide. The wooden circle plate had a rune carved on it, and was surrounded by a wooden circular frame. The circle plate was joined to the next ring at the front and back, while that ring is joined to the main deck floor at the sides, allowing the circle plate to rotate freely in any direction.

The rune carved onto the wooden circular plate made it so that the plate is in a perfect horizontal position regardless of the position or tilt of the ship. Finally, around the gyroscope were 6 more rune circles of the same size carved directly onto the deck floor. The purpose of these 6 connected runes was to make the deck floor, along with the entire frigate, re-align with the center piece in a controlled and slow speed in case it was tilted drastically by waves.

There was a similar set of 6 runes carves directly below each other on all 6 levels of the frigate, each linked to the one above it. This made sure the suspension system did not have the force acting on only one point of the ship (the deck) but instead was throughout the ship, minimizing torque damage which risks the deck being torn off violently by the rune in cases of drastic tilts.

Finally, was one more row of suspension runes running from the front to the back of the lower most level, acting as the vertical suspension instead of angular suspension like the others. This prevented the ship from rising or falling too fast while in the sea.

Having taken a short break, Alwin entered a local tavern with 6 other mages while the carpenters took a long well deserved rest in the ships. Seeing the lively mood in the tavern with lots of drinking and merry making going on, Alwin seated himself and ordered a decent meal while the others ordered some drinks and kept watch for any trouble. And as if anticipating it, trouble really did come entering the door mere minutes after they sat down.

Nudging his side discreetly, one of the mages signaled for Alwin to look up at the door. With his hood still on and head down, Alwin spied the person that just entered through the corner of his eye. Surprised, Alwin smiled. It was the pirate captain, only this time dressed in a smart and crisp uniform of one of the companies providing security escort services for merchant.

As if noticing the cloaks of the high elves from his nightmare, the pirate captain immediately yelled and kicked up a fuss within the tavern, calling all attention to him.

“OI! You bloody elves! Return my brigs at once you thieves! And that Frig was once stolen from me too, no doubt by one of your kind! Everyone! That group over there are pirates and thieves! They stole my fleet and left me to die in sea!” (Pirate Captain)

Standing up abruptly and banging his palms on the table, the chair General Alwin was sitting on tumbled and fell backwards onto the stone floor. Turning to face the man, General Alwin removed his hood to reveal his long ears, blonde hair and handsome face, causing all the females in the room to skip a heartbeat.

“And what proof do you have for these slanderous accusations you are throwing at me? How can you show that the brigs and the Frigate belong to you? Do you hold the deeds of entitlement to them? Can you show me the crew you used to commandeer the fleet?” (General Alwin)

“Y- you took the deed from me when you attacked us with that Frigate. You attacked my fleet with no warning and killed off my crew, leaving only me!” (Pirate Captain)

“Your excuses are just so convenient aren’t they? If I were to kill your entire crew, why would I leave just you alive so you can cause trouble for me later? And you are free to inspect my Frigate. If we went according to your claims, my Frigate attacked your fleet first. But I can assure you that my Frigate has no weapons of any sort on it, and I have an alibi to prove that I did not sell the weapons to somebody else.” (General Alwin)

“Grrr. Y-you used Magic to attack us first!” (Pirate captain)

By now the pirate was yelling at the top of his lungs to attract the attentions of everyone. However, most people have seen through this farce and stopped being interested, just assuming that the security escort that came in was drunk and unhappy and made a misunderstanding.

“Magic you say. How many of you here have ever seen an elf use destructive magic? We can only use nature and healing magic which would be less than useless out at sea.” It was Alwin’s turn to yell and at his statement, majority of the customers in the tavern were nodding their heads, some even laughing. Just as the pirate was about to retaliate, 2 burly men came out from the kitchen in aprons, presumably cooks, and lifted the man up and threw the pirate out of the tavern.

As Alwin sat down to resume his dinner, a short figure came up to him, half-drunk with a mug of frothing cold beer still in his hands. It was a dwarf, but with a clean shaven look unlike his messy dirty counterparts that spent their entire lives in a dingy workshop. He was even dressed neatly, except for the spilled alcohol on his shirt.

“So, was what he said really true? You took the ships from him?” (Dwarf)

General Alwin just kept quiet, eating his dinner while the 6 mages stared at the dwarf. However, the dwarf was either too intoxicated to notice, or was unafraid of the 6 elves staring at him.

“It’s alright, I know that guy. He's a no good crook that tried to rob me too. I’m a merchant see, unlike my brothers who are all craftsmen; I specialize in money so I travel these waters quite a bit. So, did you really take those ships from him?” (Dwarf)

Looking down on the dwarf who would not leave him alone, Alwin finally turned around and spoke.

“Yes those were his ships, but it was he who attacked first. We just retaliated and commandeered his fleet as a reward for removing pirates. I chose to leave him with his life out of pity but now it seems that was a wrong decision.” (Alwin)

“Ohoho. Wonderful indeed. There’s actually a request I would like for you to do. If it’s alright, do you mind if I tagged along with your fleet? The way I’ve seen you stocking up your ships with metals and wood and provisions, it can only mean that you are heading back to the main continent. That’s where I’m headed too. If you could fend off that guy’s fleet with a single frigate with no weapons, I’d say I will feel pretty safe around you. What do you say? I will pay a nice sum on completion.” (Dwarf)

“Actually, rather than paying us, I would prefer if you could refer me to some trustworthy sailors and craftsmen willing to work in another country. I come from a small city that is still growing and we sorely need talented individuals.” (Alwin)

“Oh that’s even better for me! I can probably round up a group of my brothers and old buddies from around this area within the next few days. They are all dwarves but they are excellent craftsmen. Unfortunately though, I do not know of any sailors and dwarves are unable to fit that role because of our height. So you’ll have to find someone else on your own.” (Dwarf)

“Ok then, at least that’s one problem off my back. I guess we’ll be seeing a lot of each other from now on. Glad to do business with you. I am General Alwin, Captain of The Change.” (Alwin)

“Oh nice doing business with you too. My name is Buffon, just a simple merchant. I’ll meet you at your Frig when I’ve found all the people I can.” (Buffon)

After the meal, Alwin retired for the night back at his Frigate’s quarters, then went back to the clothes shop in the morning after a light breakfast. Inviting Rina on board the frigate, Alwin issued the order for the frigate to depart for a test run around the cove.

“Oh wow… This is truly astonishing. It’s almost as if I was walking on land itself. I can feel the occasional swing, but it’s not enough to throw us off our senses. This is really revolutionary. Do you mind if you take me out on the tour again in the evening? I would like to gather my sisters and show this to them. We’ve all been craving to explore new lands but this problem has kept us on Grandu for centuries.” (Rina)

As evening came around and the sun began to set, everyone’s eyes were on the docks as an entire string of Arachne boarded the Red and Gold Frigate, expecting them to come swimming back within minutes. However, the frigate stayed out in the cove and dropped its anchor for the night, only returning to the docks in the morning with a group of gleaming Arachne slowly making their way back on the port.

“We’ve discussed it at length last night on your ship and was wondering if we could come with you. Some of us have spent our entire lives not seeing other lands and we really want to grab this opportunity. Like I’ve told you on our first meeting, we can handle any rope, thread or fabric. We can spin threads that are stronger than steel and some of us have even extensively studied sailing from books to because we never thought we would ever be leaving Grandu. So what do you say? We can provide maintenance services for free if you will help get us off this continent.” (Rina)

General Alwin just smiled and nodded, having acquired sailors. With the last brig repainted, Alwin gave the order to remodel all the brigs with a similar suspension system, while still loading the Frigate up with the materials and provisions.

[[ 10 days later ]]

Assembled early in the morning on the docks was an impressive sight. There were elves, dwarves and Arachne all lined up and boarding various red and Gold vessels. In total, as General Alwin counted, he had his original 50 high elves, 40 dwarves and 60 Arachne ladies. The Frigate had 20 high elves, 4 dwarves and 18 Arachne. The brigs each had 5, 6, and 7 of each race respectively. General Alwin had made it clear that aside from the captain and 1st mate of each vessel, all other members on board were of equal standing.

As midday came around, the entire fleet left the port city, the Frigate leading the way and a small merchant boat following amongst the giants. The high elves had begun their journey back home.