I didn’t sleep well that night, with the anger at the others for berating us for doing the best we could clouding my mind, so by the time my alarm went off, I’d probably only gotten three or four hours of sleep, despite having gone to sleep early.

Well, had I been able to sleep until the normal time, I’d have gotten another three hours, but we had a ship to board. The ship needed to set sail with the turning of the tide, and we needed to be there well before that so as not to get in the way, so my alarm had been set to three AM. I don’t know when we’d need to leave the lodging house, so I’d set it early.

Grumbling, I climbed out of bed, dragging Fran with me. Like me she really didn’t want to get up, only doing so when I made it an order. That didn’t mean she was fully awake. Hopefully…

I made sure I had everything we needed from the villa. This included a bunch of food Alfred made for us. Since we were setting sail, I didn’t think we’d be able to come back here until after we reached land again.

The villa’s portal reopened from the inside at the same place as when it was entered from the outside. But I didn’t know if that meant that it was at the specific geographic coordinates, or if it would take a vehicle into account and open in the same room if said vehicle was on the move.

Had I thought of this earlier, we might have been able to test it with the wagons on the way here, but I hadn’t considered it till it was too late. There was also the possibility that it might work, but the transport needed to be of sufficient size, and a wagon was unlikely to be so if that was the case.

Shaking my head to clear it of such thoughts, I finished collecting the food from Alfred, who would be staying in the villa to take care of the gardens and, bidding him farewell, opened the exit. I stepped through, followed by Fran, who was like a zombie, shuffling and barely conscious.

However, as soon as we reached the other side, we were snatched up into the arms of two waiting women.

I wasn’t surprised. Fran was. However, she was awake enough to realize who it was before she started to defend herself, so she just latched onto the person who picked her up and went back to sleep.

“Please don’t scare us like that again.”

Looking up at the pleading voice, I saw it was Ierva who’d grabbed me, and her face was a mess. Her eyes were puffy and red from crying, and she had bags under her eyes. I doubt she’d gotten any sleep, instead waiting here for us to return.

Well, you can’t blame me for getting angry.

“I can’t promise that.” She froze. “You all promised to treat me as an adult capable of making my own decisions and looking out for myself, but then the moment there was any trouble, you reverted to treating me like I wasn’t.”

She didn’t speak for a moment.

“I know. We were wrong, but we were so worried.”

“Worrying is fine, had you just checked us over to make sure we weren’t injured, we’d have endured it, but lecturing us like that is a no go.” I paused for a moment, thinking, then continued. “At least lecturing us in this particular circumstances. I’d understand if you did it when we made an actual error. Like knowing that that particular area was prone to kidnappings and then playing bait intentionally without close backup. We’d have avoided the area without you if we’d known. Or would have dragged you along ready to help us have some ‘fun’ taking them down.”

My voice may have gone a little dark at the end. I might just have decided to plot to take the slavers down had I known they were there. Though as I’d said, I wouldn’t have done so alone, not when I didn’t know the strength of their forces. We’d been lucky they were weak and taken by surprise.

“NOT HAPPENING!”

Her voice was loud, and woke the others in the room, who had been sleeping as the two women kept watch for us. The other watcher was Qevru, who’d basically adopted Fran, since they had similar fighting styles. Realizing that we’d returned, the women surrounded us.

I had to go through it all again with the others, including what I’d ‘joked’ about being bait. I’d meant it, but there was no way they’d have let us be bait for that kind of dangerous scheme.

When they’d all calmed down, I moved the discussion along.

“I didn’t know when we’d have to be up to board the ship, so we came nice and early. We’d planned to just crawl into the closest beds and let you guys get us up when it was time to do so.”

Ierva looked a little awkward.

“Umm, because of yesterday, the departure got pushed back. We were asked to remain in the city for another few days in case the knights needed to talk to us. We were only informed of this after you’d disappeared, so we couldn’t tell you.”

“Ah, then we should go back to sleep. It’s too early to be awake if we don’t have to be.”

Fran had already done so, since she’d been barely awake to begin with, so she was carried to the bed by Qevru, who she’d been clinging to. Ierva had me, so I wound up sleeping with her.

When we next awoke it was morning. It was also earlier than I’d expected. Given that Ierva had very little sleep last night due to her vigil, I’d expected her to sleep till nearly midday, but she got up with the others, which also woke me up. She had tried to get out of bed without doing so, but I’m usually a light sleeper, so she failed.

I caught a look at her face as we greeted each other, and while she looked better, the consequences of last night remained evident on her face. I felt a little guilty, but only a little. They’d made bad choices, so I felt it was mostly on them. She could have swapped out with others like Qevru had, like doing a watch while on the road, but she chose to remain.

After preparing for the day, we headed down to the cafeteria where the men were waiting. Nothing was said about my basically running away. One of the women had left the room earlier, so I assumed she’d informed them of our return. I just got greeted as usual.

After we ate, I got more details about our updated schedule. We’d been asked to remain in the city for at least two more days, so the ship we were going to take had been informed we weren’t coming and had set sail without us.

To help preserve the secret that the island was home to Dragonkin, the only ships allowed to visit Dreqai Island were those owned by residents of the island or who had their utmost trust. Nearly all of them belonged to Gydrin’s company. Visitors to the island were also restricted to limited areas in the port city that was its capital.

Only rare exceptions were made, and only for those who were the most trusted, but they were still made to make vows to the gods to keep the secret.

However, nothing was perfect, so with the upper levels of the surrounding countries it was known who the true owners of the island state were. In the past, some had thought to annex the island, taking it for themselves and making the dragonkin slaves, but they were destroyed. Completely. No survivors.

Dragons, and their kin, take threats to what is theirs very seriously.

Anyway….

Since we’d missed this ship, we’d have to wait for the next one, which wouldn’t be here for another three days, if everything was on schedule. There were usually ships from the island every three days, which then stayed for two to three days, depending on how long business took.

Because of this, we were expecting to leave in about five days.

HOWEVER!

That did not mean I was free to run around the city like I had yesterday. While they generally treated me as capable of taking care of myself, these were special circumstances.

We’d taken out a good chunk of a dark guild, the slavers, but there were plenty who had escaped, and our group was the reason we’d damaged their organization. They were very likely to want revenge.

Therefore, until we left the city, I was to always stay with at least two of the adults, and we’d be mostly staying at the company’s HQ. I made no objection, since I’d already considered the possibility of them attempting to get revenge.

I was sad not to be able to further explore the city, but it’s not like I didn’t have plenty to do.

I returned to the villa. I wasn’t alone. Since there wasn’t enough room for a training ground at the place we were staying at, and we didn’t want to reveal our true selves, the villa was the perfect place to train at.

No one could enter it without my permission. No one could watch us, except the gods, and I just tried to ignore the dirtier thoughts that brought to mind.

And so, we trained. It’d been a while since the others were able to relax their vigilance and assume their true forms and work out their frustrations.

Qevru stole Fran, as per usual, while I worked with the others. I was slowly getting better at transformation. I’d been practicing it whenever I had free time in a safe place, mostly here, since I was really wanting to be able to turn into a dragon.

We spent the next four days in the villa, only coming out as night approached, since if we’d stayed there the employees of the company might suspect something. Right now only fourteen people knew about my skill, Jadd’s and Gydrin’s groups, and they’d all sworn secrecy, both about the villa as well as my other secrets. I had no intention of increasing that number without good reason.

We slept in our borrowed rooms at night, though not without interruptions.

The reason we spent all that time in the villa was because we wanted to avoid trouble from the dark guild by not wandering town. Unfortunately, they brought the trouble to us.

Two nights after we’d destroyed their businesses, we were attacked.

It was around midnight, when Fran suddenly woke us up. Shortly thereafter, my own alarm went off. My minimap had become more opaque, displaying a large number of red dots closing in on our location. They’d brought fifty people.

Had we had no warning, it would have been dangerous, but we did.

We moved quickly, getting geared up and warning the others in the complex of the danger. The locals who could fight joined us, while the noncombatants were evacuated to safe places.

Outwardly, there was no change, but inside the gates and walls we stood ready.

When they came, it started with subtlety. They had enough people that I’d thought they were going to assault us all at once. They didn’t. Instead a quarter of their number snuck in.

They didn’t get very far.

We let them get far enough that they were not visible to those outside, then we took them out. It was easy with how many people we had. Especially since most of the men and women guarding this place were at least as powerful as a C-rank adventurer.

One of the benefits of being employed by this company was access to the Dreqai dungeon. It was not as busy as most, so it allowed for faster leveling, especially when groups were always accompanied by those far more powerful, so they could fight higher level enemies without a high risk of death. There’s always a risk, even when being guarded.

So, with all these forces, the rogues were swiftly subdued. It was done nearly silently, so none of the rest waiting outside noticed it. Swiftly interrogating them, aided by magic, we learned their plan for infiltration and followed it.

The infiltrators were supposed to take down the guards and then let the rest in. There were supposed to be three points of entry. The front and back gates, as well as over one of the walls with ropes being dropped, should it not be feasible to get through the gates.

Our own forces, dressed like the rogues, ‘killed’ our forces on the walls, which were visible to those waiting, then opened the gates, letting our enemies in. Those waiting to see if they would have to scale the walls were waved towards the gates.

Swiftly and quietly they entered the compound, but as soon as they were all inside, the gates slammed shut behind them. Not at all silently.

That was also when we attacked them.

Caught flat-footed, they tried to fight back, and while some of our people were injured, they were mostly superficial, and those that weren’t were healed swiftly by Riloth and I. Yes, I was playing support in this fight. A few of the others could heal, but us two were by far the best, so we were relegated to the back. Fran was with us as a guard. Alfred was a combat butler, with ninja skills, so he’d been one of those who’d helped take out the rogues and played at being them. He’d started the fight as one of those by the gates.

It was over in five minutes.

We could have caught most of them alive, but there was a chance they’d be freed from prison… again. Among the group were several of the people who had been arrested after trying to capture us. They should have been imprisoned, but since they were here it spoke volumes as to the lack of trustworthiness in the local law enforcement.

Only three survived the end of battle. Only one was left when the guards finally showed up. After wringing information from the other two, they were killed. The third was left alive for one reason. So he could spill the beans to the guards. Under our supervision.

Considering the circumstances, there was no way we were trusting the guards, since there were definitely those among them who were our enemies… Oh! And I knew who a bunch of them were.

Among the guards who arrived were several who showed up on the minimap as red dots. I’d had to zoom in quite a bit to make sure of who it was, since the guards had arrived all grouped together.

I passed this information onto the adults, who took precautions against these traitors. With the arrival of the guards, my involvement in things ended. Fran and I were escorted back to bed by two of local women. They were fighters, but among the least powerful. The others had stayed in case there was a problem.

With our escorts guarding the door, Fran and I returned to bed. It took a while to fall asleep, but when we did so, it was still just the two of us in the room.

The next morning we were also still alone. It seemed that the others were unable to return to bed after the fight. We found most of them in the dining room. They had gotten cleaned up, since the fight had left them blood spattered, but they still didn’t look their best. Getting only a few hours of sleep followed by a fight will do that to you.

The place had been cleaned up, the dead bodies removed, and the surviving attacker hauled off. The missing members of the party were Jadd and Ierva, the leaders, since they’d accompanied the guards to ensure the survivor wasn’t silenced before giving testimony. Also so they could try and lay a trap for the traitorous guards.

Sadly, they reported that they failed when they returned just after noon. There must be more traitors amongst the knights, since they had taken custody from the guards, and the prisoner had still ended up dead.

While there was a promise to find out who had done so, as well as who had released the others, we had no expectations. The guards on the compound were increased, since there was a good chance that there would be another attack.

There wasn’t, but not for lack of trying.

Seeing that the guards and knights were not to be trusted, we took matters into our own hands… I say we, but I was permitted no involvement. Qevru had used her contacts to track down information, then she and the others, aided by the local friendly rogues, had cleaned up.

The organization had been planning another attack on us, though they hadn’t gotten very far before they were interrupted.

My friends destroyed every trace they could find of those who’d attacked us. Including the corrupt guards and knights. The did so during the night, left no evidence, and even obtained some good loot.

While I was stuck back at the compound, I’d loaned them several things. The most important was Alfred. He had the same minimap as me, so could tell enemy from friend. He also had an item box, so he could clean up pretty easily. However, so as to ensure that nothing was left behind, I’d loaned them the magic bag I’d found a while ago. It had 50 m³ of storage space, so it came in handy.

I’d also let them use my night-vision goggles, my chameleon armor, and the burning lariat. The first two were for obvious reasons. Vision as well as stealth. The third was for something...less savory. The lariat burns at the temperature willed by the user. So it can be ramped up and down. I was told later it helped with interrogations… a lot. I did not ask for details, and spent a while cleaning the thing, even though just setting it aflame should have sanitized it.

While there were sure to be survivors, the operation was still a massive success, removing a whole lot of scum from the city, and preventing them from attacking us again, or hopefully the company after we’d left.

The ship had arrived four days after the ship had left. It was a day late, but with having to rely primarily on the weather and deal with monsters, it was reasonable. Plans called for it to depart again in two days to allow the unloading of its current cargo and passengers and loading of the new ones.

Unlike last time, we boarded the ship the night before departure. The previous captain didn’t want passengers to get in the way, so we’d been expected to show up just before departure. This captain wanted his passengers to be there the night before so as not to risk missing the preferred departure time. Some passengers, us, were considered VIPs, so they’d have had to wait for us had we been late.

From everything I’d read, ship food tends towards the bland or gross in one way or another. Too salty, too hard, possibly having weevils, and so on. It was only a few days journey between the two places, so I did not experience this. Plus even if such food had been offered to us, there was no way we’d have eaten it. My trio all had timestopped Item Boxes packed with delicious food, both hot and cold.

Fortunately there was no need to worry about such things. Since we had such a short voyage ahead of us, we’d always have access to fresh food. Cooking said food was one of the hazards that leads to relying on dry or salted food, but this was solved with magic.

This captain was a woman, and she LOVED good food. It was part of why she was a sailor, so she could travel and try food all over the place. As such, when she got her own ship, she’d had the galley renovated and installed a bunch of magical cooking equipment, stoves, ovens, even an air fryer!

The cost of it was really high, nearly the cost of the ship itself, but she hadn’t let that stop her. This led her to being considered one of the best passenger transport ships based on Dreqai Island.

After we’d gotten our gear stowed, Jadd and Ierva went to greet the captain, who happened to be friends with Ierva. Of course Fran and I were brought along. Alfred was in the villa tending his beloved gardens. I might own the villa, but the gardens were his, not mine.

Ierva led the way to the captain’s cabin, with me right behind her. She was holding my hand, which I admit helped a bit. While we were moored, the ship was still rocking a little, and I wasn’t used to it yet, so holding onto her helped steady me.

In addition to not being perfectly steady, I was growing aware that I was unlikely to enjoy this voyage, if the slight tingling in my stomach was anything to go by. Fran had already surrendered and turned into a cat. She’d started turning green as soon as she boarded the ship. Currently she was laying across my shoulders. Unlike when I was a man, My shoulders were too big for her to perch on.

Reaching the end of the corridor, Ierva knocked on the door.

“Come in!” Called out a voice from inside.

Opening the door, Ierva entered the room, pulling me behind her, with Jadd pulling up the rear, shutting the door once he was inside.

The room was lit by the fading light of the setting sun, though there were magic lamps to provide better illumination. In front of us was a desk and some chairs. All of them were nailed to the floor. A bed was stuck in an alcove to one side and there were some cupboards with latches to ensure they did not open accidentally.

The desk was littered with papers, books, and a few other items. There was even a teacup, made of metal, and a plate with a half eaten sandwich abandoned on one side. Behind the desk was a large women wearing… very little. She wore what appeared to be a sports bra, leaving her shoulders and stomach visible. I couldn’t see what she wore below her waist, as she was seated and the desk blocked the view.

She had the ears of an elf, but she was far larger in girth than any other elf I’d seen. They tended to be slender, while this woman was built like a tank, with thick muscles all over her body, and a six.. no, eight?… pack of abs.

She didn’t look up to acknowledge our presence or greet us, just continued to work as she brusquely asked, “What do you need? I’ve got a shit ton of work to do before we set sail, and not enough time to do it.”

“Well, if you’re so busy, I guess we’ll talk to you later.”

Ierva answered her, and started to turn around, but not really.

The woman’s head shot up, sending a piercing gaze our way.

“IERVA!!!!”

Screaming the name in excitement, she stood up and vaulted over the desk, throwing her arms around my ‘mother,’ who responded by hugging back, letting go of my hand to do so. I backed away a little to stand with Jadd.

“Hello Helen. How have you been?”

“Busy! I love being the captain of my own ship, but all the paperwork and management is hell. Especially during short stops like this one. Speaking of, what brings you guys through? Hi Jadd. Oh? And who’s this?” She had finally noticed me. “Did you have another child? I didn’t think it’d been that long since we’d seen each other.”

Ierva laughed.

“No, it’s only been a decade or so since we last met. I’d have told you in one of the letters I wrote had I been blessed with another child. This is Rynn. She’s a Lost One who we’re taking under our wings. She was raised human, so she’s much more mature than most of our children, even the ones who’ve reached adulthood. She doesn’t like being treated like a child, and is not afraid to fight back if she hates something. Though she does let us baby her a little.”

Helen crouched down in front of me and offered her hand.

“Hello Rynn, I’m Helen. I’ve been a friend of your mom’s for ages. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you as well.”

We shook hands, then she stood up.

“Well, I’d love to be able to chat with you guys, but I got a ton of stuff to do before we sail. I’m guessing your group are our guards for the trip?”

She looked at Jadd when asking that question, and he nodded back to her.

“Yeah, there’s us four, and four more from the clan.”

“Hmm? Four? There’s only four of us here, unless you have someone lurking. Or are you counting me?”

“Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed the cat. Fran’s a cat-kin, but gets horribly motion sick in her humanoid form, so she’s stuck like this unless she wants to get sick.”

Helen looked back at me, or more specifically the cat draped around my neck.

“Well if that’s the case, I’m sorry for not greeting you Miss Fran. It’s nice to meet you.”

She held out her hand to Fran who met it with her paw while giving a happy meow.

“So cute! I want to cuddle you two, but I can’t right now. Can I when we set sail? Please?”

Fran loved being cuddled and petted so gave another happy meow. I gave an answer with conditions.

“I’ll allow it, to a point. But please remember that I consider myself to be an adult, even if I’m only a child physically. I have my limits and will ask you to stop if you go to far.”

“Okay! Will do!”

She seemed really happy, like she was really looking forward to it. Then she looked at her desk and her face fell.

“We’ll get out of your hair so you can finish working. Remember, the sooner you finish working, the sooner you can cuddle.”

Ierva’s words lit a fire in Helen, and she quickly seated herself behind her desk. She seemed to be working faster than when we’d entered. Just how much did she want to cuddle us? I was a little scared now.

She waved at us, especially looking at me and Fran as we exited the room. We returned to the dark corridor with only the light of a single lamp. It took a moment for our eyes to adjust to the dimness after the light of the captain’s cabin.

We made our way through the corridor and to our cabin. As we were going to be acting as guards for the trip we had the two closest to the door leading to the deck. Each one held two bunk beds, so four people could relatively comfortably use the room. While I was assigned my own bed, I doubted that I’d use it due to being the pass-around hug pillow. I wouldn’t be surprised if I wound up sleeping with Captain Helen at least one night…

Everyone was crowded into our cabin for a quick discussion. As we’d be acting as the guards for this trip, we had to work out shifts and make plans. None of these could be done until we’d checked the ship and situation, since each ship tended to be at least a little, and sometimes very, different.

It was only us eight as guards this trip, and none of the passengers were adventurers who’d be able to back us up. Incidentally, Fran, Alfred and I had been registered as part of the Crimson Blood, though Alfred had not taken the protection request for this trip since he’d be tending his garden, and we didn’t know if we’d be able to get him out of the villa safely. For all we knew opening the portal on the ship might make it stay in place and rip a hole in the hull as the ship continued to move.

After a brief discussion, the plans were set. There’d be three sets of watches, eight hours each. The other sixteen hours would be free, unless there was an emergency. Due to the lack of clocks, the timing would be approximate, plus even when ‘off duty’ the others would likely hang out and help.

Which watch was I on? None.

Fran and I were told we didn’t have to join a watch. We’d back them up in case of a fight, but for the most part we’d be able to just do what we wanted. While we had taken the escort request with the rest of them, it was up to the group to determine the best way to do so. Plus it wasn’t like we’d sit out of a fight. They already knew we liked fighting, though not to the extreme.

Add in the fact that we had an automatic alert system for enemies entering our area, and there was no need for us to actually be on a watch to keep watch.

The first group started their watch, while the rest of us stayed in the cabin. The sun might be basically gone past the horizon, but that didn’t mean the ships crew was done working. Due to the short stopover, they were still at work loading the last of the cargo they’d be carrying.

Much of the cargo was contracted to be carried by Gydrin’s company. I actually had most of the loot from the dungeon stored away in my item box, and could have fit far more, including the entire ship, but the shipments had been prepared by those not in the know, so I didn’t get involved.

While I didn’t sleep with Captain Helen, and even with a bunk assigned me, I was still cuddled with one of the others when I went to bed.

Yeah, since I didn’t object from the beginning, I think I’m pretty much stuck being a hug pillow for the foreseeable future. Well, it is comfortable, so whatever.

---

I was woken up as the ship was preparing to depart, so I slipped out of the room, only to be scooped up as I emerged onto the deck.

“Morning, luv. How’d you sleep?”

Looking up, I saw that that it was Captain Helen who’d captured me.

“Morning Captain. I slept pretty well. I am feeling pretty good, but I don’t know if it will last when we get to underway. I’ll try to let you know if I am going to need to make a run for the rails.”

She laughed at me. She’d been heading to the upper deck as she carried me, and set me down when we got there.

“Well, plenty of people get sick from all the rocking. Just be careful until you get your sea legs. Don’t go falling overboard.”

“I’ll be careful. I’d rather not go for a swim right now. It’s a bit colder than I prefer.”

Helen was watching over the activity of her crew, but turned to me when I mentioned swimming.

“Oh? You know how to swim? Most land dwellers don’t. Even a good number of human sailors don’t know how. They seem to think it’s unnatural, since they weren’t born with fins.”

I shook my head at that.

“Those people are idiots. We are essentially born after swimming in our mother’s bellies for nine months. There’s a reason giving birth starts with their water breaking. Swimming is a fun and useful activity. I’ve been doing it for years, even have the skill.”

I did not mention that I’d only just got the skill.

“Good for you. HEY KIRAK, BE CAREFUL WITH THAT ROPE. YOU’RE GETTING IT TANGLED!”

She caught someone messing shit up and had to yell at him, then someone else. There were also others of the crew up here with us, so I moved out of the way to be by the railing.

I looked over at the city. It was waking up, with fishing ships coming in with the morning catch. Streams of white filled the air as chimneys were lit, sending smoke into the air. The streets began to be filled as the residents started going about their day.

“LOOSE LINES! SHOVE OFF! LOOSE THE SAILS! IT’S TIME TO RIDE THE WINDS!”

I turned back towards the ship as with a yell, Captain Helen got us under way. We separated from the dock and the sails were unfurled enough to catch the breeze coming off the shore, pulling us away from the city. Once we were out of the harbor, more of the sails were let loose, filling with the wind as it pushed out out to sea and towards our destination.

After we were underway, Helen left the helm to her pilot and came over to join me at the rails to watch the city shrink as we left it behind us.

“Beautiful sight isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

We just stood there for a bit, then she led me back down to the lower deck.

“Now that we’re underway, I’m mostly free, other than checking to make sure these scalawags aren’t faffing around every so often.”

One of the nearby crewmen gave her a silly salute at the comment, earning a grunt from her and a giggle from me.

The upper deck hadn’t been very large, so only the crew were usually up there. I was allowed, since Helen had brought me there. Down on the main deck was where most of the action was.

Only a few of the other passengers were there, most having elected to stay in their cabins. This included most of my party. Other than me, only the two on watch were on the deck. Currently it was Riloth and Qevru’s turn. Whoever was on watch duty last night was probably sleeping right now. Since I hadn’t seen Fran since waking, I’m sure one of the others had taken her to the other room as I slept.

Helen roamed the deck, checking on things and occasionally issuing orders, me at her side. She hadn’t let go of my hand, and I went along willingly as I was interested in the ship. I’d seen plenty in games or movies, but actually being on one was a first. Very few were still around on my old world, and I’d lived inland, so I had never taken the chance to go and see one.

The crew I passed gave me warm smiles and greeting me and giving pats on the head. I don’t think most of them were dragonkin, and thus in the know about my age, so they treated me like the child I appeared to be… the child I was, especially considering how it was so much harder to control my emotions.

Fortunately, right now I was really happy and curious. I may have been decades old, but I couldn’t restrain myself and acted how I appeared, asking a bunch of questions about the ship and how it worked. My questions were answered, and I could see the joy my interest brought to Helen.

However, the tour wasn’t too long. While the ship was good sized, it was still tiny compared to the gigantic cruise or cargo ships from my past life, so it was over in less than an hour, and that was with plenty of stops for Helen to do her job as Captain.

Once she’d completed her inspection, she left her first mate in charge and headed to her cabin. Of course I followed, since she still hadn’t let go of my hand once during the tour.

In the cabin, she sat down in her chair behind the desk and pulled me on her lap.

“Sorry.”

I looked up at her, tilting me head.

“For what?”

“Treating you like a child, without really asking, even though I said I would.”

“It’s fine. I’d have said something if it really bothered me. Plus I found the ship interesting. It’s the first time being on one.”

“That’s good.” She said, caressing my head. “I love sharing my ship with others, but I wouldn’t have wanted to bore you.” She pulled me into her chest, my head being cushioned by her breasts. “Do you mind staying like this for a while? It’s really relaxing for me.”

“Okay. I’ll just read. I’ll let you know if I want down.”

She smiled gently at me, cradling me in her arms, continuing to run her hand through my hair. After a while her eyes closed and her breathing softened as she fell asleep. She had small bags under her eyes that made me think that she must have been up all night to finish the paperwork she’d had on her desk so the ship could depart on time.

I sat there reading for at least a couple hours. Since she wasn’t in the know, I was reading a normal book, rather than using the interface. I’d thought about using it, with an excuse ready if questioned, but decided against it. It’d be a weird skill to be able to read whatever was in my inventory without taking it out. I might use it later though.

Eventually, though, I had to get down. I’d eaten something during the tour, since the galley had sandwiches ready for those who wanted food to take with them, so I wasn’t hungry, but I had yet to use the privy this morning.

Trying to move very carefully to slip away without waking her was a failure. As I’d tried to slip down, her reflexes pulled me back up, but doing so caused her to awaken.

“Yawn. Hmm? Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“It’s fine. You looked tired, and I was just reading. Though I need to use the privy, so can you please let me go?”

She did so, allowing me to get my feet on the floor. As the captain, she had her own bathroom, so I didn’t have to go far. After taking care of business, I opened the door back into the cabin to find her still sitting in the chair, nodding off.

“If you need to sleep, you should go to bed. You’ll get better rest that way.”

“I’m… yawn… fine.”

I sent a disbelieving look at her.

“Well if that’s the case, I guess I’ll be on my way.”

“NO!” She cried, before covering her mouth with her hands for yelling.

I smirked.

“You’re not fully awake. You were up all night finishing business, right?” She nodded. “Then if you can, take a few hours and rest.”

“But, I want to play with you.”

She gave me a pleading look, looking more like a child than a being who probably had at least a couple centuries on me.

“You’ll end up falling asleep if I let you hold me again, so either climb in the bed and I’ll let you, or I’ll find something else to do.”

She jumped up, grabbing me and climbed into her bunk. The speed at which she did so made me laugh. She got comfortable, pulling the blankets over us. With how she was clinging to me, I couldn’t really pull out a book, so I might have to use my excuse sooner rather than later.

Or not…

Her breathing evened back out and she was back off to the land of nod within a minute. Yeah...she was really tired. I moved slightly to get more comfortable and resumed reading, but on the interface this time.

We didn’t get back up until noon. Looking at her face, I could see the bags clearly diminished, so the sleep must have really helped her. After she got cleaned up, we headed down to the galley for a meal. As we ate, I had to ask.

“I know people find me cute and like holding me, but I feel like your reactions were a little different than most?”

She sighed.

“Long ago, I was married. After decades of trying, I was able to conceive, but the baby came out wrong and died soon thereafter. To make things worse, it damaged me so I couldn’t get pregnant again. Other than sailing, the other thing I wanted was a family. I was orphaned young and had to take care of myself, but I wanted what little I could remember of the happy times before that happened.
      I was really depressed, my husband left me since he needed an heir that I was no longer able to provide, and I just really thought of ending things. Fortunately, I met some good people who stopped me. Your new parents. They took me in and helped me. I also got to spend time with their children, who treated me like another family member. It hurt, since I knew I’d never have one of my own, but it helped.
      After I got better, I resumed sailing. I saved up and got my own ship. I made this tub the best passenger ship I could so I could share my love of the sea with others while keeping them comfortable. I couldn’t have done it without your family. They are my family.”

I hugged her. Yeah, I’ve been getting really touchy-feely lately. Probably an effect of being subjected to it nearly constantly.

“Thank you for telling me,” I hope this didn’t backfire on me, “Aunt Helen.”

She froze for a second, then scooped me up and held me close. Silent tears fell from her face as she clung to me.

However, we were in the galley, so there were people around. A fact Aunt Helen had forgotten until a collective ‘awww’ filled the room.

Eyes widening, she looked around, remembering our location before blushing so red I thought she’d explode, then running away. Out of the galley and up the stairs to the main deck, then through the hatch into the hallway under the bridge and into her cabin. It took only seconds.

How do I know this? Because even though I was responsible for her extreme embarrassment, she never let me go, having taken me with her.

The rest of the voyage, she almost always kept me with her. I let her do so, except for things like using the bathroom. Even if we’re both female, I still have some things I won’t allow without very good reason.

We were fortunate that the trip went smoothly. Fair weather the entire time, no monster or pirate attacks, nothing important breaking.

However, on docking there was some trouble. Aunt Helen didn’t want to let me go. She even tried to get Ierva to let her be the one to adopt me. That idea was firmly, but gently, crushed. I am sorry to say that even trying to be gentle, I still made her cry, since I told her I liked spending time with her, but I didn’t want to be a sailor. Oh well.

We quickly vacated the dock, since they needed to offload the cargo and we didn’t want to get in the way.

I thought we’d be heading straight out of the city, since we’d arrived mid-morning, but I was mistaken. We had business in the city, and not ones that would be pleasurable.

We had to deal with bureaucrats.

If you couldn’t hear the disdain and disgust from my tone, let me spell it out for you. I HATE paperwork. Legal shit can go right to where it belongs, hell. Being subjected to fire and brimstone is torturous physically, but if you were to add the mental torture of having to read, analyze, understand, and process documents all written in the devilish dialect of legalese, that would just be icing on the cake. Which is a lie, by the way.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to do too much of it. I’m still a child, legally speaking, at least in Dragonkin eyes, so most of the work was placed solidly on Jadd and Ierva. I still had to do my part, but it only took me a few hours or so. Those two? Three days.

That is not to say they were actually buried in paperwork. They had to fill out forms, wait, meet with people, wait, fill out more forms, wait, run from one office to another a few times, and do even more waiting!

And not only for myself, but also for Fran and Alfred. Alfred had to be there with them most of the time, while Fran was like me and only had to deal with a bit. To make things easier, Fran was going to be adopted with me and be my sister, though she was closer to Qevru.

Yeah… I felt both sorry for and grateful to Jadd and Ierva’s troubles.

My part was helping fill out some of the forms with details and meeting with a few people, including shrinks. I kid you not. It’s a whole other world, but psychologists are still a thing. Or is it psychiatrists? Whichever one doesn’t dispense drugs is the one I saw.

They had a hard time with me. I’d bargained for immunity to slavery and mind control when I had the gacha nerfed, but it turned out to be far better than I expected. My mind was impenetrable. At least as far as mortals go.

It doesn’t show that much detail when I appraise the Mental Immunity unique skill, since my level is too low, but it keeps everyone out of my mind. It’s unique since it’s a special version of the skill that includes the stuff about not being negatively impacted by stuff like skill, XP, and stat stones.

Anyway, since they couldn’t get in my mind, they had to rely on their observation and thinking skills. I had to see two of these guys since the first relied entirely on his mind reading skills for gaining info. He got in sooo much trouble when he exploded over not being able to assess me.

The second one was a nice lady. She acted like a kind grandma, despite looking young as long-lived species tend to. It was kind of fun talking to her, but I still had to hide a bunch of stuff. She knew I was doing so, since I flat out told her I was. I hate beating around the bush.

I did receive a lot of attention when I had to reveal my dragonkin features, Silverbloods used to run the nation after all. We had to rebuff several attempts to have others be my adoptive parents.

Fucking politics.

Anyway, after three days of trouble I was finally made an official resident of Dreqai Island. This meant we could finally get out of the trade district and enter the rest of the city and beyond.

While this was touched on earlier, some clarification may be in order. Only those trusted by the nation were permitted to sail to this island, but visitors could enter the port town on those ships. However, to prevent these individuals entering the island proper, the city was built with two sections.

The seaward side included the entirety of the harbor, as well as plenty of facilities to accommodate visitors, such as markets, inns, taverns, and brothels. Many trade companies had warehouses in this section of the city.

The inland side of the city was restricted to only those who were citizens of the nation or were trusted enough to be given a permit. Nearly all governmental facilities, residential areas, and production facilities were located in this part of the city. The Capital District was far larger than the Harbor District.

Between the two districts was a wall. Anyone trying to cross the wall without a valid permit was turned away or arrested. Possession of a forged permit was harshly punished, while providing a forgery was considered treason and usually ended in execution.

Even with these restrictions, the place was bustling. I’d had most of the three days to explore the Harbor District, accompanied by Fran and some of our other party members.

The port we’d come from was the closest, and so ships arrived there frequently. It was rare that more than four or five days went without one bound for the island visiting, but there were plenty of other ports for ships to visit and bring stuff back from.

While it was nowhere near as large as where we’d come from, there was still plenty to look at.

We enjoyed several days of sightseeing while my adoptive parents took care of the legal BS, and when that was done, we passed through the city and headed to Crimston, the city-state of my new family’s clan.