Megumi set up shop in the captain's cabin, which to her surprise was actually pretty nice and well kept considering this was a pirate vessel. The crew may have been a stinky bunch, but clearly the captain had considered cleanliness next to godliness in his own cabin. Megumi was thankful for that. She had gotten some good rest on the ship and was satisfied that the larger ship had been better for her sea sickness like she had thought. Megumi decided that it would be a good idea to allocate the TP they had earned before they got into any more trouble out here on the ocean, which with her luck, felt as though it would be a certainty at some point.

After a little deliberation, she placed Poro-kun's TP into Sword Mastery, and then both of her points into Sanguine Infusion since she felt she had enough power at the moment to deal with more threats and that skill could eventually pay huge dividends. It was now time to find out where the pirate had put her inventory bag. It hadn't been on him or any of his soldiers, so it had to be hidden wherever these thugs kept their loot.

If I were a captain on a ship full of thieves, where would I hide the treasure?

She searched the room thoroughly and found that there was a hollow compartment behind a wall hanging that held a small treasure chest. Mentally she sent out a call to the undead former-captain of the ship and had it come to her. Upon searching its clothes she found a brass key that fit the lock.

"You're just so generous. First you give Megu your ship, and now this? It's just too much, really." she laughed to herself at the dumb joke and dismissed the undead back to its tasks on the deck.

Megumi couldn't help but feel excited about getting to open up a genuine box of pirate treasure. The key clicked into place and she opened it up. The interior of the box didn't disappoint her at all. There were bags full of coins and tucked in there with them was her bag and two curious items that she couldn't identify. She tucked the items away into the bag and would have them appraised at an item shop once they reached the mainland. Now that she had her things and all was right in the world Megumi headed onto the deck to see how her crew of undead pirates was faring.

Poro-kun manned the helm and was keeping the ship pointed toward the sun, which would lead them to land eventually. She was happy to see that Poro-tan was a competent sailor. He hadn't let her down in the slightest. Undead crew members bustled about on deck performing all the tasks they would have were they alive.

Poro-kun is really good at delegating responsibility. Megu will have to remember this in the future.

"Everything going smoothly?" she asked.

"It took me a minute to get them all assigned to tasks, but once I did they have been basically running on autopilot. How long will these minions keep going? Are we going to get stuck out here in the middle of the ocean with no crew on this giant boat soon?"

"I can keep them going indefinitely so long as I keep feeding MP into them about once a day." Megumi surveyed her surroundings and still felt a little queasy when paying too much attention to the roiling waves of the water. At least it was a calm day and the sea was peaceful. She couldn't wait to see land again and never step foot on another boat if she could help it. "Megu is starving. She's going to look for something to eat. Keep up the good work, Poro-tan."

Her pet nodded and went back to concentrating on steering the ship while she walked down to the lower deck and into the crew's cabin. It took a while of wandering around but she found a larder that had some rotting fruit and vegetables. There was flour that was full of weevils crawling around in it. "Fucking disgusting! Don't they have anything that's actually edible on this damned ship?"

She continued to dig around and eventually found some salted dried meat. There was some fish and some beef. Megu has had enough of fish for a long time if she can help it! She grabbed a few sticks of the tough meat and gnawed on one as she made her way back to the deck. In the distance towards the horizon she spotted a ship and its sails had the crest of the king of Windlemire. "Poro-tan, do you think that looks like a warship?" she called up to the helm.

"I'm not a freaking sailor, how the fuck would I know?" was his insolent reply.

Megumi gritted her teeth and went up the stairs to the helm for a better view. The king might have heard about Megu's handiwork at Bridgeport and sent a warship to track us down, that is if they found out we left the city. She pondered this possibility for a few moments and decided that even though the king surely would have heard of what went down in Bridgeport, she would not likely be a big target. The nobles were the ones who would've been seen to start that mess, after all. She just killed a couple dozen soldiers. Megumi felt that she would be considered small potatoes unless they had done some digging and came up with a theory that she had taken the dungeon core.

The ship was directly in the direction they needed to go, and she did not intend to get lost at sea. "Poro-tan, keep on course. Let Megu know if we gain ground on them, or if they turn and come back towards us. Megu is going to go inside out of this blasted summer heat."

Poro-tan gave a mocking salute. "Aye-aye, captain!"

She ignored him and went inside. When will this heat wave end?! Megu can't take much more of this. At least Oleander is a mountain country, where it's cool!" Megu flopped onto the bed and considered her plan of attack. She could ram the enemy vessel, this pirate ship was designed for that, actually, and it would be pretty fun. She could simply pass the vessel and sail past it, hoping to out run them as it seemed that this ship was fast.

After a good half hour Poro-tan came in. "From what I can see through the spyglass there are only a few armed people on board and it appears that it might be one of the king's merchant ships."

Megumi couldn't help but thank the gods again for her luck. She would now get to literally live the life of a pirate, as she had every intention of robbing that ship blind. At best it might have a lot of money on it, at worst it would be full of good cargo. "How soon until we catch them?"

"Again, I'm not a fucking sailor. I have no idea, but I know that we've been gaining on them steadily. So... soon. That's the best I can give you."

"Fine. Megu is going to go to the fore of the boat and have a better look." She stalked off towards the front of the boat and looked out at her prey. The merchant ship was large, but it was definitely slower than her vessel. It would be only a couple minutes until they were on top of them. She turned and went back to Poro-kun. "Ram them."

He didn't respond but steered the ship so that they would be able to ram into the side of the enemy vessel. She braced herself as the reinforced front of the ships collided. She was thrown forward a little despite her preparations, as were half of her crew, but they had successfully attached their ship to the enemy one. She ordered her minions to charge and took up the rear with Poro-tan.

The merchant's and the royal guards of the ship were shocked to say the least when they saw that they were being attacked by undead pirates. She grinned at the shocked looks on their faces as several of them were run through. Dozens of soldiers bearing the royal crest poured out of the cabin and the two forces were joined in combat. The soldiers who fought against her undead were far more skilled than what she had, but she still held the advantage. Every time one of their enemies went down, she summoned them to join her forces and continuously replenished her forces.

Even so, it seemed that she was losing more soldiers than she was gaining. Megu needs to do something or she won't have a crew to sail her boat! It was time to explode some shit. She started exploding corpses around the enemy combatants and although the green flames set the enemy ship on fire, it wouldn't sink the vessel immediately. Her intervention quickly tipped the scales back in her favor and in the end she ended up with just as many undead as she had started with.

With a mental command she sent the pawns down into the boat to gather anything and everything and move it back onto their ship. Crates of spices, food, and even a chest that looked as though it would have a load of money in it were brought aboard her ship. The fires were growing and it was time to be away. She called her minions back to the ship and had them shove themselves off of the royal vessel. Once they had backed away a little she performed some target practice, firing Eldritch Blasts indiscriminately at the hull of the ship. The massive holes along with the burning deck helped it to sink below the depths of the sea all the faster.

Megumi hummed a old pirate tune she had heard from stories in her childhood and went off to look over her loot. All in all, they had gained 2000 GP as well as some fresher food and various supplies that she wasn't at all interested in such as expensive silks and tapestries. She had everything brought down into the hold of the ship and went back to her cabin. Just four more days or so of sailing and they would be on land again. Megumi couldn't wait.

Spoiler: Hideki's Stats Name Hideki (Poro-kun) Level 016 (10,668/10,752 EXP to next Level) Class Warrior HP 738/750 MP 50/50 TP 0 Adventurer Rank C Attributes Vitality 28 Magic 2 Endurance 22 Magic Resistance 5 Strength 20 Luck 5 Agility 13 Dexterity 14 Passive Skills • Warrior's Essence - Level 3 (+30 HP regeneration/min)

• Sword Mastery - Level 5 (+50% proficiency with swords)

• Tiger Style - Level 1

• Turtle Style - Level 2

• Stalwart - Level 1 (+5% natural defense)

• Fortify Health - Level 1 (+50 HP) Active Skills • Holy Blade - Level 1 (Envelope blade in holy aura for 15 seconds)

• Shockwave - Level 2 (Release shockwave from blade) Spoiler: Megumi's Stats Name Megumi Level 019 (16,460/17,528 EXP to next Level) Class Necromancer HP 375/375 MP 800/850 TP 0 Villain Rank C Attributes Vitality 15 Magic 60 Endurance 9 Magic Resistance 42 Strength 5 Luck 14 Agility 6 Dexterity 9 Passive Skills • Mage's Essence - Level 4 (+120 MP regeneration/min) Active Skills • None Necromancer Magic

• Sanguine Infusion (50 MP) - Level 9 (Absorb life essence of recently deceased, 9% chance to gain +1 TP from human victims)

• Corpse Explosion (30 MP) - Level 6 - (+60% damage from explosion)

• Corpse Absorption (10 MP) - Level 1 (Absorb a corpse's essence. Recover 80 MP)

• Raise Undead (20 MP) - Level 10 (Raise weak undead to fight for you. Max: 50)

• Soul Trap (350 MP) - Level 1 (Trap soul of a recently defeated foe. Max: 1)

• Spirit Barrier (100 MP) - Level 1 (Erect a barrier using souls of the dead for fuel. Blocks spells and projectiles)

• Eldritch Blast (75 MP) - Level 11 (Unleashes a roiling ball of Eldritch energy that burns its subject on contact for 5 seconds)

[spoiler]