"Land detected. We are 25 kilometers from the nearest shore," Yeti said while turning the steering wheel on the helm.

The night was quiet and nothing out of ordinary happened. Snake spent most of it under the deck, making sure the little girl was alright.

We haven't decided on what to name her and so left it to be decided later on. So far, Yeti had spotted several ships around these waters, half of which approached and hailed us. They were commissioned wooden battleships twice the size of the merchant ship we came across a few hours ago.

They shined a beam of light at us using a sort of tool we have classified as a "staff" it was the first magic tool we came across and we didn't expect it to be used as a searchlight in the middle of a sea of darkness.

Diplomat did the talking, smoothing his way through each captain that hailed us. The last military vessel wanted to board and inspect our cargo only to be dissuaded by his own subordinates for some reason.

All of these captains looked down on us from their seemingly impregnable floating fortresses. That was for the best, besides, underestimating your opponent was what we took advantage of.

Being drunk on your own power meant you will most likely start improving less or not at all. A flaw we have tried our best to stamp out.

Admittedly, however, we have been drunk on our own firepower since we got here. We needed to be alert or else we would not fair much against an equally competent force.

I asked Eva to call everyone in for a meeting, including the little girl. She might have knew a thing or two about the Hilridan Empire, being a slave and all.

We held our meeting with Eva being my spokesperson.

[Ghost wishes to ask the little girl if she knows anything about the Hilridan Empire or the port we are sailing to]

"I'll do the translating," Diplomat said.

He then conversed with the little girl who was sitting next to Snake and holding her right arm as if she was her daughter in a meeting with ugly-looking uncles.

Who am I kidding, Diplomat and Yeti by far had the most charming looks, my bald head would blind anyone if pointed correctly under the sun.

The little girl then answered.

"I.. I don't.. know.. I think.. that is where mama.. and papa are.." The little girl said.

"Mama and papa? Why aren't they with you?" Quite a bold question coming from Diplomat. But although she was a girl, we needed as much information as we could get from her.

"Uh.. they.. they told me.. I would go with.. uncle.. then.. uncle put this around me.." She said as she pointed at the collar around her neck. I saw Snake clench her fists before Yeti gestured her to calm down or else she risked scaring the little girl.

"I see, can you explain to us more?" Diplomat pressed on.

"Uhm.. uncle said it would.. protect me.. but he.. left me on a ship.. they were.. not nice.." She continued.

"You don't remember your name?" Diplomat asked.

"N-no.." She answered.

She really doesn't remember even her name huh.

It seemed like we won't really get much information from her but judging from what she told us thus far, she was sold into slavery by her parents and sailed to the port we destroyed. I wondered if she saw what happened when we unleashed hell.

[Ghost wishes to know if the little girl saw what transpired at the port]

"Ah yes, little miss, did you see what happened back there? Back at when you were on the ship with the bad guys?" Diplomat asked.

"Yiesh, bad guys," Yeti teased.

"Shut up," Diplomat said.

The little girl then looked down as if she was about to cry. But we noticed something different, she wasn't sad, she didn't fear what had happened.

Instead, she smiled.

"Holy shit.. she is smiling," Yeti was surprised.

"Does she.. does she like what we did?!" Diplomat was taken aback.

And while her reaction caused a fuss, she looked back at us with a confused expression. I had another good look of her facial features, not just fair skin but she had glistering green eyes, pointy nose, and an average forehead.

If we were lucky enough to see her grow into an adult, she'd be one hell of a beauty.

This scene.. her smile..

It looked awfully familiar.

It reminded me of something but I couldn't really make clear what it was. It was something in the past, something..

That was when I noticed Snake smiling as well.

My eyes then widened at the realization that the little girl who we found innocently floating around death itself was becoming one of us.

Another Snake.

But it was still too soon to assume for certain but she was at the first stages of transformation. The trauma had just entered her psyche but for all we knew, for the trauma to plant itself within someone's psych, one must experience personal tragedies that combine form a united and powerful form of PTSD.

Had this girl experienced such things?

It was a question whose answers would come at a later date.

Everyone parted and assumed their positions around the ship. I stood at the bow while Diplomat and Yeti manned the helm. Snake was using her magnification and sniper rifle to scout the port ahead.

"Time check," Diplomat said.

"0600" Snake replied.

"The sun is gonna rise soon, let's hope this port accepts us," Yeti said.

"I doubt we'd be able to kill them all even if we wanted to, the port is huge, fucking huge," Snake said.

"Ah, I'm looking at it as well, it is huge," Diplomat confirmed.

"There are a lot of ships docked.. big ass ships.. hell, is this Empire that powerful?" Snake said.

"If this is the same empire that launched attacks on Earth.. that would be enough justification for us to tear it down to the ground," Diplomat said. A smile breaking away from his face.

He was right, if this country was revealed to be the ones behind the portal and the attack, judging how close the portal was to its territory, we'd have justification to burn it all down to the ground in retaliation.

Because, in all respects, we are at war.

There are no rules in war.

-

The port authorities were.. lenient to say the least. We docked at the nearest vacant pier and we were immediately greeted by a scummy looking man wearing a grey cloak with a red shirt underneath. He had a sword in his scabbard which was attached to his belt around his waist. We were quite suspicious of everyone who approached us.

The people at the port looked at us weird, I couldn't really blame them, seeing strangers like us for the first time. We were taller then average, about a feet taller. We were wearing suits that they have never seen before and our faces were quite unique.

The people we encountered had ragged appearances, wrinkled and sometimes deformed. Seeing us must have been like seeing demigods walk among them.

The scummy looking man actually talked to us in a polite manner, this is why we must never judge a person by their looks.. for now.

He inspected the ship along with two other armed men and told us he'll just take half of our cargo. Diplomat, surprisingly, told him that he'd give everything if he gave us some currency in which the man gladly accepted.

And now we are all standing in the middle of the port market wearing only our shrunken suits and only the little girl looking normal. We were quite the center of attention, every passerby glancing at us, a few solicitors had their eyes on our pockets, well, as if we had any pockets.

A few armed men which we heard are called "knights" have been keeping a close eye on us. We were THAT suspicious.

"I don't like this one bit," Snake said.

"Let's just use our radars to navigate. As far as I could tell, we can see everyone inside and out," Diplomat said.

"Bloody hell, we're like hated celebrities" Yeti remarked.

"Aren't we though?" Snake replied.

First, we needed to find our more about this town and the surrounding regions by interacting with the locals.

[Diplomat, Ghost orders you to converse with the locals and acquire relevant information]

It wasn't really an order but, that would do.

"Aye, we need to go and find a place like a tavern, or an inn and ask the staff or the people there," Diplomat said.

"You sure know the ways of even this shithole," Snake said.

"Well, I seek out the shittiest of holes," Diplomat said.

We all slowly turned towards him with an awkward facial expression.

"The fuck?" Snake said.

"Don't ask," Diplomat said.

And so, our 'adventure' as the little girl called it, began.

Speaking of the little girl, when we first got here, she was actually pretty happy.

"I have never been to a port before!" She gleefully said.

But.. wasn't she sold to a slave trader, forced onto a ship and shipped out?

We doubted that she was lying, it was just we haven't really understood the story.

We spent a few good minutes walking through the crowded streets, there was a plethora of odors that filled the air that made our noses quite irritated.

Along the way, we saw people sitting in the streets, ragged and frail. We must have been nearing the slums.

Eva had taken upon herself to translate the words on the signs. After walking through a few streets, we found an inn.

"Uhh.. Fedora Kapora? What kind of name is that?" Diplomat said as he looked at the sign attached to the big wooden door.

"There are a lot of voices inside, seems grumpy, are you sure about this?" Yeti asked.

"I'm using my thermal scanning.. there is quite number of bulky individuals and some women I think.. shall we go in?" Snake said.

"In a rowdy place like this, we need the toughest looking one among all of us to go inside first, you know, to make a good impression," Diplomat said.

And then they all looked at me.

You gotta be kidding me, I said. I didn't look that scary, did I?

They all smiled at me.

I sighed as I turned around and walked towards the door.

"You're bald head and scarred face makes you look like a warrior who has seen his fair share of battles, go get them!" Yeti was suspiciously happy with all of this. I could tell he was making fun of me, again.

After another sigh, I reached for the doorknob but before I could push it open, somebody pulled it from the inside.

The small man ran face first into my chest. He bounced back and fell to the floor, the scene was enough to silence everyone.

As the golden rays of the sun shined behind me, I appeared as a gigantic silhouette with a face that was stoic and probably frightening.

"Psst, try to tighten your muscles," Yeti whispered.

Without a second thought, I tightened my muscles.

Many gasped after I did, which was strange for me. The man picked himself up from the floor and stared at me. He reeked of bad alchohol.

"Hey you! You got some nerve running into me!" The man said. He was obviously very drunk. He was angry. He took out his sword and pointed it at me.

"I've taken down foes your size! Don't get cocky,"

First, he was the one who ran into me.

Second, my size? I doubted it.

[Permission to murder him and the witnesses] Snake said through the communicator.

I shook my head in response, this had the intended effect of offending the little man.

"Why you!" He swung his sword, aiming for my neck. I grabbed it mid swing, surprising him.

I then shattered the sword with my bare hands. That surprised me as much as it surprised him.

After losing his weapon, he quivered and stepped aside. Everyone else had their eyes on us.

Well, I hoped I did a good first impression.