Chapter 40 (2 of 2) Observations of a Strange New Colleague by Caspian Wharifin.
Infinityphoenix
Fantasizer
- Location
- Australia
They sat at a table as the innkeeper brought the drinks. Ross took a big sip of his tankard, before slamming it down on the table. It had begun. "The Commander is insane!" he suddenly exclaimed. "He's completely mad! You could try to bring me another man more mad than him to prove me wrong, but I swear, he is the craziest person in all the realms!"
"What did he do this time?" Caspian asked wearily.
"The Commander," Ross stressed, "decided today would be the day to discard a bunch of decommissioned warships by picking them up and using them as weapons to throw at the monster tide!" He took another draught of the tankard and slammed it onto the table again. "Then he put me in charge of wreckage collection duty, even though the wreckage was all his own damn fault!"
"…was it effective though?" Caspian questioned, taking a sip of his ale.
"No, it was not," Ross stated shortly. "We still had to spend the normal seven hours cleaning up the monsters, then spent an extra three mopping up all that drifting metal." He glared into the depths of his drink. "I thought I asked for the strongest. This is nowhere near strong enough for this."
"At least it's still better than last year," Caspian said placatingly.
Ross gave him a dour look. "Anything is better than last year, Caspian. We've all said that enough times that it's becoming the Navy's new catchphrase." He rubbed his temples. "I never should've taken that break. At the very least, I should've taken the entire month off if this was what I would return to."
"Has he done other things this month as well?" Caspian asked hesitantly.
Ross let out a short bark of laughter. "Has he done other things?" he repeated sarcastically.
"The very first day back from my break, he puts two hundred Officers under my command and tells me to get to work. The next day he gives me the command to deal with the monster tide, even as I'm still trying to organise my new subordinates. The week after he spontaneously chooses to challenge a nearby monster King who hasn't tried to attack a warship in years, then throws the carcass to two other monster Kings, so there's been no break from the mana storms all month, and then he does something like this today. Not to mention the mechanical issues we've been having this entire time," Ross finished, crossing his arms with a scowl.
"I guess the outfall of the penalisation of the engineers hasn't helped the workload," Caspian said with sympathy.
He blinked when Ross whipped his head to the side to glare at Adrianna. "Oh yes, I haven't forgotten that little detail, Riftmire."
"I agree, it's unfortunate that such important members of the Navy were found treating the mainframe level as a party-throwing location. I'm disappointed in them," Adrianna stated tonelessly.
…Caspian felt her phrasing was a little weird, but Ross's glare intensified.
"You're the reason this entire debacle with the magic engineers even occurred, Riftmire! Don't go throwing shade when you're no better yourself!"
Adrianna looked away, while Caspian glanced between the two in confusion.
"How is Adrianna related to this?" he asked.
Ross let out a scoff and gestured to her, and then leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed. "Well Caspian, It just so happens that little miss ice queen here," he said with a glare at the curly-haired woman, "fancied herself a quick trip down to the mainframe level the week before the training camp began. The Commander and I discovered this the second last week of October, which was how the troubles with the magic engineers started."
Caspian stared at Ross, then stared at Adrianna. "…but I thought going to the mainframe and knowing its passcodes when you weren't a magic engineer was a criminal offence?"
"My trip wasn't illegal," she stated calmly.
Ross threw his hands up. "The legality of your trip rested on minute technicalities! The technicalities being that you weren't yet an Officer and that you didn't need to know the passcode to get in!"
"My visit allowed the fortress to discover the severe case of insubordination going on within its depths, as well as a hidden route that compromised the fortress's safety standards."
"And you're proud of that?! The only reason you didn't face charges was because your trip was the lesser of two evils!"
"Yes, the Commander said I wouldn't face charges. We don't need to bring it up anymore."
"Of course, we need to bring it up! This all because of you!"
"No, this is because of the magic engineers."
"The magic engineers I wouldn't have needed to know about until you revealed the problem!"
"As you just said, I revealed a problem the fortress was facing, so why are you still mad?"
"Have you not been listening to me at all?!?"
Caspian glanced between Ross and Adrianna, feeling slightly bemused.
…is this how she normally interacts with Ross?
"So… Adrianna discovered the illegal entrance to the mainframe level?" he asked.
"Yes, she did," Ross muttered grumpily. He pointed a finger at Adrianna. "And just so you know, we've sent the code of regulations to the Main Navy Battalion for revision. Don't go thinking you can play that same trick twice."
"Do you know where I can find the revised edition of the code once the revision is finished?" she asked him.
Ross went to answer, then hesitated, and shot her a glare. "Yes, but I'm not telling you. I know full well you just want to see if there are any new loopholes in the rules."
She clicked her tongue, making Ross glare even more, but the dark-haired man just took another drink from his tankard and sighed. "Out of all the people the Commander could've put you under, why did it have to be me?"
"Because, Head Officer Stanhope, he wanted to annoy us both," Adrianna stated flatly.
The man just groaned and placed his head on the table. "Ugh. No, don't call me that. Just call me Ross. I don't want to hear another 'Head Officer' after work."
She went to open her mouth, but Ross raised a hand. "Nope, superior's orders. Objection denied."
Adrianna gazed at the man with an odd expression, making Caspian curious, but the woman just shrugged. Ross turned his head to look at Caspian. "So, has your day been any better than mine?"
He considered it and then narrowed his eyes at Adrianna. "Actually, no, not really, because I had to put up with her."
The dark-haired man raised an eyebrow and lifted his head from the table. "When did you start having issues with Riftmire?"
"It's a new development," Caspian muttered sourly. He glared at her. "She called me a sea animal."
"Technically I only likened his ears to an axolotl, and then asked if Atlanteans counted as amphibians," Adrianna replied emotionlessly.
Ross took a drink of his tankard. "An axo-what now?" He gestured to the innkeeper to refill his drink.
"An axolotl. It's an amphibious creature with external gills that live in still-water lakes. It remains aquatic its entire life," she informed them. Then she paused and held out her hand to them. "Maybe I should show you."
Caspian watched curiously as indigo-blue mana pooled on her palm, then began to coalesce into a rough form. The blob gained definition, and an illusion of a creature with white, slimy skin and pinkish feathery structures extending out from the sides of its head appeared.
Ross glanced between the illusion and Caspian's ears with a strange expression.
Caspian placed his hands over his ears with a frown. "I don't have weird feeler-looking things coming out of my head."
"No, but the fan pattern of your phosphorescent veins looks a bit like them," Adrianna said. She dematerialised her illusion. "And you said you don't use gills to breathe underwater, so the possibility that your ears are external gills is there."
"Well, even if that was the case, at least my ears would serve a purpose," he retorted. He gestured to her. "What does your hair do, besides make you uselessly sparkly? It's like someone dumped toxic glowing alchemy substances all over your head."
Her expression cooled. "The hair is a side effect."
Caspian raised an eyebrow sceptically. "A side effect of what?"
"Ha. I can answer that one," Ross spoke up. He smirked. "Our Navy's new Astrologer planar atlas in human form has a Superior illusion affinity."
Caspian blinked in surprise, and glanced at Adrianna again, whose expression had twitched at the 'Astrologer planar atlas in human form' descriptor. "Superior? Isn't that kind of talent enough to become one of the highest-ranking illusion Archmages though?"
"Unfortunately, exploring the mysteries of magic by borrowing the power of aging old men hidden in lofty towers often comes with getting unwillingly married off to either arrogant young nobility with a penchant for suicide or other aging old men," Adrianna stated icily.
Ross and Caspian stared at her for a while. Caspian coughed as Ross decided to just sip his drink. "Er… right. Not planning on going to All-Aeon Athenaeum anytime soon then."
"Not until I gain enough mana to manifest my kraken larger than their towers at least," she muttered.
Ross spat out his drink and went into a coughing fit as Caspian gave her a confused look. "Kraken?"
"Riftmire…" Ross began wearily after he had stopped coughing, "Don't tell me your construct's size scales off of your INT?"
She went silent for a couple of seconds as she gazed wordlessly at him, then spoke, "More mana, bigger spell. Bigger spell, bigger kaboom. That's the only fundamental principle of mana anybody needs to know."
Ross ran a hand down his face. "Just who have we accepted into the Navy?"
Caspian was still confused. "What's this about a kraken?"
They looked at him, and then Ross sighed. "I'll let you find out another day. Let me just say this." He leant near Caspian and pointed at Adrianna. "This new Officer who has the looks of an imperial princess, a voice that sounds like the auditory version of watching paint dry, and the expressiveness of a rock, is an abyssal demon in disguise, I tell you." He pulled away from Caspian and took another draught of his tankard.
Adrianna did not seem amused as Ross continued, "A psychopath. Someone reaching the Commander's level of insanity. On another level of demented."
"If you'd like, I could compile a list of all the names I heard you called last month," she replied with a cold voice. "Some were quite unique."
Ross opened his mouth to refuse, but then blinked and leaned forward with a curious look. "Actually, I'm a little interested now. You must've heard this with your perception field, I'm guessing."
"The first of your descriptors I heard was 'grump'," she said, making Caspian cough as he struggled to prevent himself from laughing. Ross scowled, while she continued, "Later I heard some call you 'meanie', 'heartless', and 'the dragon instructor'. That last one was from Sherwood."
"Of course it was," he muttered.
Adrianna continued, "Then several others described you as the 'man trying to be the stereotypical idea of a gruff military guy', the 'Commander's spy', the 'party pooper' and 'the one who doth complaineth about all things within his heart'."
Ross stared incredulously at her while Caspian burst into laughter. His laughter grew louder when Ross shot him a glare, and then the dark-haired man held up a hand to her and rubbed his head. "Let me guess. The first and second was Deirvetch, the third was Baxtimer, and the last was obviously Arventiel."
"The second was actually Liao Tengfei," she informed him calmly. "And he said it without any sarcasm."
Ross buried his head in his hands as Caspian tried to stop laughing. "Were… there any others?" he asked, still chuckling.
"There was another," Adrianna replied. "This was from Zhang Mingxia."
Ross sighed. "All right then. Let's hear it."
"She said you were more stubborn than the inauspicious readings of her Sect's 5th Heavenly Ancestor Profound Blue Swallow's divinations every time he divines his future."
The Vast Longevity Flowing Glacier Sect's 5th Heavenly Ancestor was famous for having incredibly bad luck. They stared silently at Adrianna, who showed no emotion, like always.
"I'm not drunk enough for this," Ross muttered.
"…it seems you had an interesting group this year," Caspian finally said. Ross scoffed and took a draught of his tankard, while Adrianna didn't comment.
"Do you know which ones will be staying at White Squall Fortress?" Caspian asked them.
The dark-haired man and Adrianna traded eye contact, and then Ross shook his head. "Nope. That's still yet to be decided. There are still more than three months until they return, after all, so the instructors of the different camps aren't overly hasty to sort them."
Caspian raised an eyebrow. "But all Officers will be busy once December begins, as the ice-storm period begins, with the monster tides picking up. Shouldn't they have sorted that out by now?"
"Look, ask Commander Arkenast, and not me," Ross said, placing down his drink. "Maybe they've sorted them out already, but I don't know. If I had a say," he said with a scowl, "I would never be seeing any of those new Officers again, but look who I'm stuck with." He gestured to Adrianna.
"I suddenly recall that one of your other nicknames was 'White Squall Fortress's worst possible role model for new cadets'," she replied.
Ross narrowed his eyes at her. "Which cadet said this?"
She shook her head. "It wasn't a cadet. It was an instructor."
He stared silently at her and then facepalmed. "Great, so I'm getting called names by my colleagues as well."
"To be perfectly honest," Caspian spoke up, "When we heard the Commander was giving you the position of head instructor this year, we all placed bets on whether you would finally enact your claims of quitting or not. And not one of us thought you would last the entire month as head instructor."
Ross turned to stare at Caspian. "Did you bet on me quitting?"
"No," Caspian said with a smirk. "In the six years I've known you, you must've threatened to quit thousands of times, but not once have you ever tried to. I knew we'd be stuck with you for a while yet."
The man glowered at him, then downed the rest of his drink. He turned to face the innkeeper with his tankard held up. "Hey, are you sure this is the strongest?"
"Positive, sir!" the innkeeper called back.
He glared into his empty drink. "Not even alcohol can provide me relief anymore."
"It would be bad to get too drunk, as all three of us have to board the Commander's warship tomorrow and deal with him again," Adrianna spoke up.
Ross and Caspian stared at her, then glanced at each other. "You know what, what time is it?" Ross said, checking his wristwatch with a frown. "Why are we still here? I may be Rank-3, but even I want a full night's rest. We shouldn't be here, discussing our problems when we have a harsh day ahead of us. Why did you bring me here?" He got up from the table and walked over to the bar to pay for his drinks, then headed for the inn's door, pointing to Adrianna and Caspian. "If Commander Arkenast notices my hangover tomorrow, I'm telling him it's you two's fault!"
Caspian and Adrianna just gazed flatly at the man as he left, and then both sighed. Caspian got up from the table and nodded to Adrianna. "See you tomorrow."
She nodded in return, and then they went their separate ways.
"Check the right pipeline, Riftmire. I'm about to activate the secondary main engine."
She nodded. "Yes sir." She rushed over to the other side of the engine level of the warship and checked to make sure the valves were tight and in position, before running back up a short series of metal stairs to the head magic engineer in charge of the warship's engines. She saluted. "All in position."
The head magic engineer, a brown-haired man in his late thirties who appeared stern and serious, nodded and then pulled down a massive lever the length of his arm. The ship rumbled as rainbow-coloured steam gushed through pipes, lights and dials flashing. The ship picked up speed, the brass pipes and cogs around the engineers below deck all trembling with power. Adrianna paused when she noticed something occurring on one of the pipes.
"Sir, I think there's an issue."
The head engineer frowned. "Riftmire, I have checked the engine layer a multitude of times this week, and haven't seen any issue of any sort occurring in that section," he stated curtly. "I don't believe you can make a judgement on whether the engine is facing an 'issue' or not."
"My apologies sir," she said with a slight dip of her head. "I didn't mean to insult your abilities. But I don't know what a glowing sub-pipe is supposed to mean in this part of the ship."
He frowned and came over to the side of his platform. He scowled when he saw the sub-pipe in question. Dashing down the stairs, he came and checked the dials and switches, then turned to the rest of the ship's layer. "Hey!" he shouted. "Who was in charge of the pressurising mana-circle in this section of the ship this week!?"
"It was originally supposed to be a senior craftsman but it was changed to an advanced craftsman because of the mainframe level issues!" another magic engineer replied.
The head engineer's expression darkened further. "Of course it was," he muttered, withdrawing a strange metallic tool from his belt to unlatch a metal plate on the floor underneath the glowing pipe, revealing a mana-circle slowly rotating within. He stuck his hands in and mana started getting released from his fingers. "The whole mainframe event cost me years of my life. I hope those twits fall into an activated poisonous volcano phenomenon and get their skin melted from their flesh. That, or get caught in the centre of a lich's blight spell."
He turned to Adrianna. "Well spotted, Riftmire."
He removed his hands from the mana-circle, which was now rotating faster, and then replated the metal panel. Then he got up and headed back over to his raised metal platform next to the main engine, where he could see the rest of the layer. Behind him, a tall battle-scarred man walked down some steps and then stuck his head through the doorway.
"Is Riftmire free, Diselon?"
The head engineer paused, turned around, and saluted. "Commander." He nodded and gestured to Adrianna, who came up the steps. "She is."
"Good. I need to speak with you," the Commander said to Adrianna, "But first…" He turned to the head engineer, Diselon. "How has she done?"
"Excellent, sir," Diselon replied. The Commander blinked in surprise as the man continued, "I can only say she's done well on all accounts. She never forgets a detail, can work swiftly without error, and listens to all orders perfectly. I've been wondering if I could request for her to be permanently transferred to the mana-engine layer."
Commander Arkenast smirked. "Unfortunately, no can do. She's set to be one of our new Squad Leaders for next year's new Officers."
"I see," Diselon said with a regretful sigh. Then he paused and gave Adrianna an odd look. "Wait, Squad Leader?"
"Yes." The Commander gave her a pat on the shoulder and turned to Diselon with a strange smile. "Officer Riftmire here isn't a magic engineer. She's an illusion mage. I thought she would've informed you of this fact but…" He turned back to Adrianna. "It seems she didn't need to."
"I could've sworn she had an engineer or crafting class of some kind," Diselon responded, surprised. "She even knows mechanical principles. I thought that was why you temporarily placed her with me in the first place."
The blonde-haired man shook his head, smiling. "Not at all. However, the magic engineer shortages will soon be over, so Riftmire here will be transferred soon," he informed the engineer.
Diselon nodded as the Commander gestured to Adrianna. "Let's go above deck for a bit, Riftmire."
They began climbing the stairs even as another engineer called out to Diselon.
"Sir, the temperature of the third element vessel is rising!"
Adrianna saw Diselon go over in her perception field, and then whack the back of the head of the young engineer. "Of course the temperature of the vessel is rising, you imbecile, it's filled with high-density fire mana!"
When she and the Commander were above deck, blue skies speckled with light clouds overhead, he turned to face her with a grin.
"Even magic engineering? Riftmire, what are you doing in the Navy? You should be the genius heir of some big noble clan, not a commoner mage in our little fortress."
"It was useful, so I learnt it," she replied calmly.
"It was useful," he repeated, shaking his head. "If you wanted to be a magic engineer, sure. But you're developing some new illusion magic in a backward realm with a ship full of people who fight monsters for a living."
"No, I mean it was literally useful for me," she explained. "Any improvement to my knowledge of how the fundamental forces of the realms work improves the abilities of my Origin Skill. Even knowledge of engineering rune theory exponentially increases the power of my constructs."
He studied her with a strange expression and tilted his head. "Riftmire, why are you okay with telling me this? I could spread this knowledge to everybody, and then they'd all know how your Origin Skill works."
"It's fine," she replied indifferently. "What could they do if they knew, stop me from learning? I'm not sure how that works when we have an incomprehensible entity connected to our minds that injects information into us in the form of classes."
Commander Arkenast shook his head again. "Whatever you say, Riftmire. Anyway," he continued, walking onwards across the warship deck. Hundreds of Officers were rushing about on the deck, going to and from their jobs. "I brought you up here to discuss how you've gone over the month."
She walked beside him as he glanced at her and raised an eyebrow. "And I'm sure that by now, I haven't been giving you all these random positions because I think you're incapable. No, I've been giving you these positions because you're too capable." He let out a chuckle. "I'm a bit disappointed to hear that you've succeeded at all your jobs. I thought I could finally find something you're terrible at."
She gave him an unamused look, which he seemed to pick up on because he smirked, however, he didn't address it. "I've received requests for your permanent transfer by almost all of the Officers I've placed you under. I'm sure most of them have been heavily disappointed to know you're another combatant. Officers who choose to do their lines of work are rare."
He turned to her. "Do you know why I haven't let you use your magic yet?"
There were two reasons that she knew of, but she gave him the answer he probably wanted from her. "Because as a member of a ship's crew, I need to be able to operate the entire ship, regardless of my normal job."
He nodded. "Yes. As people who fight monsters, our crewmates can get injured or incapacitated often, and there needs to be someone who can take over their jobs, even in the absence of someone with the class type for it. Even a Squad Leader, Captain or Commander needs to do this." He gestured to her. "Especially as the leader of the M.W.S. Dawnlight's crew. You will have fewer numbers in your crew, which means fewer people who can replace you if you're hurt. And if a crewmate can't replace you, and your job is vitally important to the ship, such as being able to fire the mana engines below deck to escape monsters…" He shrugged. "You and your crew are doomed."
She nodded as he continued walking to the front of the ship, where Officers were combatting flying monsters of all kinds, several giant creatures on the horizon releasing foul waves of monster mana. "But so far, you seem to be able to replace nearly anybody on a warship, except this warship's main combatants, who have more than fifty times your fighting ability. And except one other person when they join your crew."
He stopped, looking at one particular person on the ship. Caspian Wharifin was a distance away, holding his hands out as expansive aqua ripples were expelled from them, distorting the air around him to appear like the movement of a pool when a drop of water landed on it. The cyan wave pattern running down his right side's face and neck was also releasing aqua light, mirrored reflections of the patterns projected into the air near them. They wavered slightly with the movement of the air.
His sea-green hair and eyes, as well as his eartips, were all glowing with the same light. The aqua ripples Caspian was releasing covered almost half the warship, a titanic structure cast out of solid metal, and he was directing Officers to the location of different monsters.
Then suddenly, one of the giant monsters on the horizon let out a horrific screech, and the flying monsters attacking the ship did the same. Caspian stumbled, his ripple aura dimming and wavering, shrinking to half its size.
The Commander scowled. "He's doing it again."
Before Adrianna could even blink, the man appeared next to Caspian and roughly yanked him upright, then dragged him away from the battlefield to walk back over to Adrianna. He let go of Caspian, who was wincing from the Commander's strong grip on his arm. Caspian was extremely pale, and his limbs were trembling.
Adrianna watched silently as Commander Arkenast threw out an arm to gesture to the closest door. "Get below deck," he growled.
Caspian opened his mouth to reply, "Sir, the sensation's not that bad yet, I can still-"
"I said get below deck," the Commander interrupted, looking very angry. "Wharifin, don't make me repeat myself."
"But sir-"
"Do as I say."
Caspian grimaced, and then nodded, beginning to walk over to the door. But then his face went a sickly green, and he dashed over to the edge of the warship to retch over its side.
The Commander, who was frowning, gave him one last look and then sighed, walking away. He crossed his arms and glanced at Adrianna who had remained silent the entire time, her brows slightly furrowed. "I've noticed you make that expression whenever you see him on this ship. You don't react that way to anyone else."
Adrianna stopped watching Caspian and turned to the Commander. "I know the characteristics of the Atlantean bloodline."
Commander Arkenast paused and gave her another look. He was silent for a while, before speaking up, "Wharifin's only part Atlantean though."
She shook her head. "The man I met who told me this was half-Atlantean." She glanced back at Caspian and frowned. "He shouldn't be here."
The Commander sighed. "I see." He turned away and gestured for her to follow him.
"Caspian Wharifin came to White Squall Fortress at sixteen," the battle-scarred man began, heading towards the quarterdeck. "Normally, due to the dangerous nature of our work, we try our hardest to reject the applications of individuals so young, even if they're legally adults, however when it comes to nobility, things aren't dealt with so easily."
"His father is a Marquess in Atlantea." The Commander continued, "That man's not Atlantean, however, the boy's mother was a half-blood. I met the Marquis when he and I were young, both in the Distorted Depths Navy. We were the crew of the Dawnlight at the time."
He kept walking, Adrianna keeping pace beside him. "Both of us were there for different reasons, and he left early. But anyway, the crew of the Dawnlight got caught in a particularly tough situation, and events progressed until a situation arose where I ended up saving his life. As reckless, young, low-ranked Ascendants, we had already used all our available resurrections at the time, so I truly did save him from eternal oblivion."
Then he let out a dark chuckle. "The funny thing was, I hated the guy. He was the most stuck-up, snobbish, disgusting, and despicable person I have ever met. However, because I had a duty to do, and his continued existence would keep the crew alive for longer, I saved him." He shrugged.
Then Commander Arkenast scowled. "But 423 years later, he suddenly decides he wants to fulfil his sense of 'noblesse oblige' and repay his debts, by sending his sixteen-year-old son in his place, to work under me. His Atlantean son."
He went over to the side of the warship and leaned against it as Adrianna came up to him. "And I couldn't refuse. Main Navy orders came down, to let him stay. A Marquess from one of the lesser empires is almost the equivalent of the Duke of a Major Kingdom, after all, so politics and all that. I reluctantly agreed to let him work for me, and then tried, and still try, to get him to leave of his own will." He jerked his head in Caspian's direction. "As you can see, I still haven't succeeded. Kid's more stubborn than a dragon, I tell you."
The Commander gestured to the choppy water tens of metres below them. "Maybe I could've given him a smaller role on land, away from the ocean and battles, but I am still the Commander of White Squall Fortress." He sighed. "I have a duty, and regardless of the harm it causes to that boy, it's an unfortunate truth that his ability to detect all and any monsters has saved the lives of my subordinates time and time again. So, even with the effects of his bloodline…" He turned to look at Adrianna. "I still need to use him. And you will need to use him too."
He moved away from the side of the ship to walk up the quarterdeck's stairs. "Because with the method of leadership, you've chosen, you will not be able to be the bridge between the crew members. The one who can talk to the crew as their friend, and equal." He shook his head. "The boy's soft. The entire reason why he's still in the Navy is because he knows his presence saves lives, and he wants to prove to me that I can treat him like all the other Officers. That softness is why he can't be a leader. He can't make the orders that could leave even the slightest chance of getting someone killed."
He glanced at her. "And now I'm giving that position to someone even younger than him." Then he let out a short, harsh laugh. "Although, at least you were a mercenary beforehand if it makes it any better."
On top of the quarterdeck, near the steering wheel of the warship, Commander Arkenast placed his hands on his hips, looking at the view of the chaotic warship for a while, before gesturing to her. "Today's the 22nd of November, eight days until the end of the month. You've already proven to be good enough to be placed on my ship for the next three months, but starting from the 24th onward, for those six days we'll be out at sea before returning one last time until December…" He turned to her. "You'll be placed in combat. I need to see how you'll do as a combatant, if not a main one."
"Riftmire. If you know the characteristics of the Atlantean bloodline…" He continued, "Then I'm sure you're aware of how your magic might affect him. But I'm sure you're also aware of how beneficial this could be to you too. I'm not going to accept any requests for him to be transferred out from under you," he stated firmly.
She nodded in acknowledgement, but his gaze was stern. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Riftmire. The rest of your crew may only be here temporarily, so I'm willing to let you deal with them how you want, but Caspian is different." He squeezed her shoulder. "Do not treat him the same."
"…yes sir," she replied.
The Commander nodded and then walked back down the stairs. He gave her a wave. "Tell Diselon I apologise for holding you up for so long. You can return to your work."
With that, he returned to ordering his subordinates above deck. She took one last glance at where Caspian had been, before descending the stairs to head back down into the bowels of the ship, helping ensure that the mana engines took them to their next destination.
"What did he do this time?" Caspian asked wearily.
"The Commander," Ross stressed, "decided today would be the day to discard a bunch of decommissioned warships by picking them up and using them as weapons to throw at the monster tide!" He took another draught of the tankard and slammed it onto the table again. "Then he put me in charge of wreckage collection duty, even though the wreckage was all his own damn fault!"
"…was it effective though?" Caspian questioned, taking a sip of his ale.
"No, it was not," Ross stated shortly. "We still had to spend the normal seven hours cleaning up the monsters, then spent an extra three mopping up all that drifting metal." He glared into the depths of his drink. "I thought I asked for the strongest. This is nowhere near strong enough for this."
"At least it's still better than last year," Caspian said placatingly.
Ross gave him a dour look. "Anything is better than last year, Caspian. We've all said that enough times that it's becoming the Navy's new catchphrase." He rubbed his temples. "I never should've taken that break. At the very least, I should've taken the entire month off if this was what I would return to."
"Has he done other things this month as well?" Caspian asked hesitantly.
Ross let out a short bark of laughter. "Has he done other things?" he repeated sarcastically.
"The very first day back from my break, he puts two hundred Officers under my command and tells me to get to work. The next day he gives me the command to deal with the monster tide, even as I'm still trying to organise my new subordinates. The week after he spontaneously chooses to challenge a nearby monster King who hasn't tried to attack a warship in years, then throws the carcass to two other monster Kings, so there's been no break from the mana storms all month, and then he does something like this today. Not to mention the mechanical issues we've been having this entire time," Ross finished, crossing his arms with a scowl.
"I guess the outfall of the penalisation of the engineers hasn't helped the workload," Caspian said with sympathy.
He blinked when Ross whipped his head to the side to glare at Adrianna. "Oh yes, I haven't forgotten that little detail, Riftmire."
"I agree, it's unfortunate that such important members of the Navy were found treating the mainframe level as a party-throwing location. I'm disappointed in them," Adrianna stated tonelessly.
…Caspian felt her phrasing was a little weird, but Ross's glare intensified.
"You're the reason this entire debacle with the magic engineers even occurred, Riftmire! Don't go throwing shade when you're no better yourself!"
Adrianna looked away, while Caspian glanced between the two in confusion.
"How is Adrianna related to this?" he asked.
Ross let out a scoff and gestured to her, and then leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed. "Well Caspian, It just so happens that little miss ice queen here," he said with a glare at the curly-haired woman, "fancied herself a quick trip down to the mainframe level the week before the training camp began. The Commander and I discovered this the second last week of October, which was how the troubles with the magic engineers started."
Caspian stared at Ross, then stared at Adrianna. "…but I thought going to the mainframe and knowing its passcodes when you weren't a magic engineer was a criminal offence?"
"My trip wasn't illegal," she stated calmly.
Ross threw his hands up. "The legality of your trip rested on minute technicalities! The technicalities being that you weren't yet an Officer and that you didn't need to know the passcode to get in!"
"My visit allowed the fortress to discover the severe case of insubordination going on within its depths, as well as a hidden route that compromised the fortress's safety standards."
"And you're proud of that?! The only reason you didn't face charges was because your trip was the lesser of two evils!"
"Yes, the Commander said I wouldn't face charges. We don't need to bring it up anymore."
"Of course, we need to bring it up! This all because of you!"
"No, this is because of the magic engineers."
"The magic engineers I wouldn't have needed to know about until you revealed the problem!"
"As you just said, I revealed a problem the fortress was facing, so why are you still mad?"
"Have you not been listening to me at all?!?"
Caspian glanced between Ross and Adrianna, feeling slightly bemused.
…is this how she normally interacts with Ross?
"So… Adrianna discovered the illegal entrance to the mainframe level?" he asked.
"Yes, she did," Ross muttered grumpily. He pointed a finger at Adrianna. "And just so you know, we've sent the code of regulations to the Main Navy Battalion for revision. Don't go thinking you can play that same trick twice."
"Do you know where I can find the revised edition of the code once the revision is finished?" she asked him.
Ross went to answer, then hesitated, and shot her a glare. "Yes, but I'm not telling you. I know full well you just want to see if there are any new loopholes in the rules."
She clicked her tongue, making Ross glare even more, but the dark-haired man just took another drink from his tankard and sighed. "Out of all the people the Commander could've put you under, why did it have to be me?"
"Because, Head Officer Stanhope, he wanted to annoy us both," Adrianna stated flatly.
The man just groaned and placed his head on the table. "Ugh. No, don't call me that. Just call me Ross. I don't want to hear another 'Head Officer' after work."
She went to open her mouth, but Ross raised a hand. "Nope, superior's orders. Objection denied."
Adrianna gazed at the man with an odd expression, making Caspian curious, but the woman just shrugged. Ross turned his head to look at Caspian. "So, has your day been any better than mine?"
He considered it and then narrowed his eyes at Adrianna. "Actually, no, not really, because I had to put up with her."
The dark-haired man raised an eyebrow and lifted his head from the table. "When did you start having issues with Riftmire?"
"It's a new development," Caspian muttered sourly. He glared at her. "She called me a sea animal."
"Technically I only likened his ears to an axolotl, and then asked if Atlanteans counted as amphibians," Adrianna replied emotionlessly.
Ross took a drink of his tankard. "An axo-what now?" He gestured to the innkeeper to refill his drink.
"An axolotl. It's an amphibious creature with external gills that live in still-water lakes. It remains aquatic its entire life," she informed them. Then she paused and held out her hand to them. "Maybe I should show you."
Caspian watched curiously as indigo-blue mana pooled on her palm, then began to coalesce into a rough form. The blob gained definition, and an illusion of a creature with white, slimy skin and pinkish feathery structures extending out from the sides of its head appeared.
Ross glanced between the illusion and Caspian's ears with a strange expression.
Caspian placed his hands over his ears with a frown. "I don't have weird feeler-looking things coming out of my head."
"No, but the fan pattern of your phosphorescent veins looks a bit like them," Adrianna said. She dematerialised her illusion. "And you said you don't use gills to breathe underwater, so the possibility that your ears are external gills is there."
"Well, even if that was the case, at least my ears would serve a purpose," he retorted. He gestured to her. "What does your hair do, besides make you uselessly sparkly? It's like someone dumped toxic glowing alchemy substances all over your head."
Her expression cooled. "The hair is a side effect."
Caspian raised an eyebrow sceptically. "A side effect of what?"
"Ha. I can answer that one," Ross spoke up. He smirked. "Our Navy's new Astrologer planar atlas in human form has a Superior illusion affinity."
Caspian blinked in surprise, and glanced at Adrianna again, whose expression had twitched at the 'Astrologer planar atlas in human form' descriptor. "Superior? Isn't that kind of talent enough to become one of the highest-ranking illusion Archmages though?"
"Unfortunately, exploring the mysteries of magic by borrowing the power of aging old men hidden in lofty towers often comes with getting unwillingly married off to either arrogant young nobility with a penchant for suicide or other aging old men," Adrianna stated icily.
Ross and Caspian stared at her for a while. Caspian coughed as Ross decided to just sip his drink. "Er… right. Not planning on going to All-Aeon Athenaeum anytime soon then."
"Not until I gain enough mana to manifest my kraken larger than their towers at least," she muttered.
Ross spat out his drink and went into a coughing fit as Caspian gave her a confused look. "Kraken?"
"Riftmire…" Ross began wearily after he had stopped coughing, "Don't tell me your construct's size scales off of your INT?"
She went silent for a couple of seconds as she gazed wordlessly at him, then spoke, "More mana, bigger spell. Bigger spell, bigger kaboom. That's the only fundamental principle of mana anybody needs to know."
Ross ran a hand down his face. "Just who have we accepted into the Navy?"
Caspian was still confused. "What's this about a kraken?"
They looked at him, and then Ross sighed. "I'll let you find out another day. Let me just say this." He leant near Caspian and pointed at Adrianna. "This new Officer who has the looks of an imperial princess, a voice that sounds like the auditory version of watching paint dry, and the expressiveness of a rock, is an abyssal demon in disguise, I tell you." He pulled away from Caspian and took another draught of his tankard.
Adrianna did not seem amused as Ross continued, "A psychopath. Someone reaching the Commander's level of insanity. On another level of demented."
"If you'd like, I could compile a list of all the names I heard you called last month," she replied with a cold voice. "Some were quite unique."
Ross opened his mouth to refuse, but then blinked and leaned forward with a curious look. "Actually, I'm a little interested now. You must've heard this with your perception field, I'm guessing."
"The first of your descriptors I heard was 'grump'," she said, making Caspian cough as he struggled to prevent himself from laughing. Ross scowled, while she continued, "Later I heard some call you 'meanie', 'heartless', and 'the dragon instructor'. That last one was from Sherwood."
"Of course it was," he muttered.
Adrianna continued, "Then several others described you as the 'man trying to be the stereotypical idea of a gruff military guy', the 'Commander's spy', the 'party pooper' and 'the one who doth complaineth about all things within his heart'."
Ross stared incredulously at her while Caspian burst into laughter. His laughter grew louder when Ross shot him a glare, and then the dark-haired man held up a hand to her and rubbed his head. "Let me guess. The first and second was Deirvetch, the third was Baxtimer, and the last was obviously Arventiel."
"The second was actually Liao Tengfei," she informed him calmly. "And he said it without any sarcasm."
Ross buried his head in his hands as Caspian tried to stop laughing. "Were… there any others?" he asked, still chuckling.
"There was another," Adrianna replied. "This was from Zhang Mingxia."
Ross sighed. "All right then. Let's hear it."
"She said you were more stubborn than the inauspicious readings of her Sect's 5th Heavenly Ancestor Profound Blue Swallow's divinations every time he divines his future."
The Vast Longevity Flowing Glacier Sect's 5th Heavenly Ancestor was famous for having incredibly bad luck. They stared silently at Adrianna, who showed no emotion, like always.
"I'm not drunk enough for this," Ross muttered.
"…it seems you had an interesting group this year," Caspian finally said. Ross scoffed and took a draught of his tankard, while Adrianna didn't comment.
"Do you know which ones will be staying at White Squall Fortress?" Caspian asked them.
The dark-haired man and Adrianna traded eye contact, and then Ross shook his head. "Nope. That's still yet to be decided. There are still more than three months until they return, after all, so the instructors of the different camps aren't overly hasty to sort them."
Caspian raised an eyebrow. "But all Officers will be busy once December begins, as the ice-storm period begins, with the monster tides picking up. Shouldn't they have sorted that out by now?"
"Look, ask Commander Arkenast, and not me," Ross said, placing down his drink. "Maybe they've sorted them out already, but I don't know. If I had a say," he said with a scowl, "I would never be seeing any of those new Officers again, but look who I'm stuck with." He gestured to Adrianna.
"I suddenly recall that one of your other nicknames was 'White Squall Fortress's worst possible role model for new cadets'," she replied.
Ross narrowed his eyes at her. "Which cadet said this?"
She shook her head. "It wasn't a cadet. It was an instructor."
He stared silently at her and then facepalmed. "Great, so I'm getting called names by my colleagues as well."
"To be perfectly honest," Caspian spoke up, "When we heard the Commander was giving you the position of head instructor this year, we all placed bets on whether you would finally enact your claims of quitting or not. And not one of us thought you would last the entire month as head instructor."
Ross turned to stare at Caspian. "Did you bet on me quitting?"
"No," Caspian said with a smirk. "In the six years I've known you, you must've threatened to quit thousands of times, but not once have you ever tried to. I knew we'd be stuck with you for a while yet."
The man glowered at him, then downed the rest of his drink. He turned to face the innkeeper with his tankard held up. "Hey, are you sure this is the strongest?"
"Positive, sir!" the innkeeper called back.
He glared into his empty drink. "Not even alcohol can provide me relief anymore."
"It would be bad to get too drunk, as all three of us have to board the Commander's warship tomorrow and deal with him again," Adrianna spoke up.
Ross and Caspian stared at her, then glanced at each other. "You know what, what time is it?" Ross said, checking his wristwatch with a frown. "Why are we still here? I may be Rank-3, but even I want a full night's rest. We shouldn't be here, discussing our problems when we have a harsh day ahead of us. Why did you bring me here?" He got up from the table and walked over to the bar to pay for his drinks, then headed for the inn's door, pointing to Adrianna and Caspian. "If Commander Arkenast notices my hangover tomorrow, I'm telling him it's you two's fault!"
Caspian and Adrianna just gazed flatly at the man as he left, and then both sighed. Caspian got up from the table and nodded to Adrianna. "See you tomorrow."
She nodded in return, and then they went their separate ways.
"Check the right pipeline, Riftmire. I'm about to activate the secondary main engine."
She nodded. "Yes sir." She rushed over to the other side of the engine level of the warship and checked to make sure the valves were tight and in position, before running back up a short series of metal stairs to the head magic engineer in charge of the warship's engines. She saluted. "All in position."
The head magic engineer, a brown-haired man in his late thirties who appeared stern and serious, nodded and then pulled down a massive lever the length of his arm. The ship rumbled as rainbow-coloured steam gushed through pipes, lights and dials flashing. The ship picked up speed, the brass pipes and cogs around the engineers below deck all trembling with power. Adrianna paused when she noticed something occurring on one of the pipes.
"Sir, I think there's an issue."
The head engineer frowned. "Riftmire, I have checked the engine layer a multitude of times this week, and haven't seen any issue of any sort occurring in that section," he stated curtly. "I don't believe you can make a judgement on whether the engine is facing an 'issue' or not."
"My apologies sir," she said with a slight dip of her head. "I didn't mean to insult your abilities. But I don't know what a glowing sub-pipe is supposed to mean in this part of the ship."
He frowned and came over to the side of his platform. He scowled when he saw the sub-pipe in question. Dashing down the stairs, he came and checked the dials and switches, then turned to the rest of the ship's layer. "Hey!" he shouted. "Who was in charge of the pressurising mana-circle in this section of the ship this week!?"
"It was originally supposed to be a senior craftsman but it was changed to an advanced craftsman because of the mainframe level issues!" another magic engineer replied.
The head engineer's expression darkened further. "Of course it was," he muttered, withdrawing a strange metallic tool from his belt to unlatch a metal plate on the floor underneath the glowing pipe, revealing a mana-circle slowly rotating within. He stuck his hands in and mana started getting released from his fingers. "The whole mainframe event cost me years of my life. I hope those twits fall into an activated poisonous volcano phenomenon and get their skin melted from their flesh. That, or get caught in the centre of a lich's blight spell."
He turned to Adrianna. "Well spotted, Riftmire."
He removed his hands from the mana-circle, which was now rotating faster, and then replated the metal panel. Then he got up and headed back over to his raised metal platform next to the main engine, where he could see the rest of the layer. Behind him, a tall battle-scarred man walked down some steps and then stuck his head through the doorway.
"Is Riftmire free, Diselon?"
The head engineer paused, turned around, and saluted. "Commander." He nodded and gestured to Adrianna, who came up the steps. "She is."
"Good. I need to speak with you," the Commander said to Adrianna, "But first…" He turned to the head engineer, Diselon. "How has she done?"
"Excellent, sir," Diselon replied. The Commander blinked in surprise as the man continued, "I can only say she's done well on all accounts. She never forgets a detail, can work swiftly without error, and listens to all orders perfectly. I've been wondering if I could request for her to be permanently transferred to the mana-engine layer."
Commander Arkenast smirked. "Unfortunately, no can do. She's set to be one of our new Squad Leaders for next year's new Officers."
"I see," Diselon said with a regretful sigh. Then he paused and gave Adrianna an odd look. "Wait, Squad Leader?"
"Yes." The Commander gave her a pat on the shoulder and turned to Diselon with a strange smile. "Officer Riftmire here isn't a magic engineer. She's an illusion mage. I thought she would've informed you of this fact but…" He turned back to Adrianna. "It seems she didn't need to."
"I could've sworn she had an engineer or crafting class of some kind," Diselon responded, surprised. "She even knows mechanical principles. I thought that was why you temporarily placed her with me in the first place."
The blonde-haired man shook his head, smiling. "Not at all. However, the magic engineer shortages will soon be over, so Riftmire here will be transferred soon," he informed the engineer.
Diselon nodded as the Commander gestured to Adrianna. "Let's go above deck for a bit, Riftmire."
They began climbing the stairs even as another engineer called out to Diselon.
"Sir, the temperature of the third element vessel is rising!"
Adrianna saw Diselon go over in her perception field, and then whack the back of the head of the young engineer. "Of course the temperature of the vessel is rising, you imbecile, it's filled with high-density fire mana!"
When she and the Commander were above deck, blue skies speckled with light clouds overhead, he turned to face her with a grin.
"Even magic engineering? Riftmire, what are you doing in the Navy? You should be the genius heir of some big noble clan, not a commoner mage in our little fortress."
"It was useful, so I learnt it," she replied calmly.
"It was useful," he repeated, shaking his head. "If you wanted to be a magic engineer, sure. But you're developing some new illusion magic in a backward realm with a ship full of people who fight monsters for a living."
"No, I mean it was literally useful for me," she explained. "Any improvement to my knowledge of how the fundamental forces of the realms work improves the abilities of my Origin Skill. Even knowledge of engineering rune theory exponentially increases the power of my constructs."
He studied her with a strange expression and tilted his head. "Riftmire, why are you okay with telling me this? I could spread this knowledge to everybody, and then they'd all know how your Origin Skill works."
"It's fine," she replied indifferently. "What could they do if they knew, stop me from learning? I'm not sure how that works when we have an incomprehensible entity connected to our minds that injects information into us in the form of classes."
Commander Arkenast shook his head again. "Whatever you say, Riftmire. Anyway," he continued, walking onwards across the warship deck. Hundreds of Officers were rushing about on the deck, going to and from their jobs. "I brought you up here to discuss how you've gone over the month."
She walked beside him as he glanced at her and raised an eyebrow. "And I'm sure that by now, I haven't been giving you all these random positions because I think you're incapable. No, I've been giving you these positions because you're too capable." He let out a chuckle. "I'm a bit disappointed to hear that you've succeeded at all your jobs. I thought I could finally find something you're terrible at."
She gave him an unamused look, which he seemed to pick up on because he smirked, however, he didn't address it. "I've received requests for your permanent transfer by almost all of the Officers I've placed you under. I'm sure most of them have been heavily disappointed to know you're another combatant. Officers who choose to do their lines of work are rare."
He turned to her. "Do you know why I haven't let you use your magic yet?"
There were two reasons that she knew of, but she gave him the answer he probably wanted from her. "Because as a member of a ship's crew, I need to be able to operate the entire ship, regardless of my normal job."
He nodded. "Yes. As people who fight monsters, our crewmates can get injured or incapacitated often, and there needs to be someone who can take over their jobs, even in the absence of someone with the class type for it. Even a Squad Leader, Captain or Commander needs to do this." He gestured to her. "Especially as the leader of the M.W.S. Dawnlight's crew. You will have fewer numbers in your crew, which means fewer people who can replace you if you're hurt. And if a crewmate can't replace you, and your job is vitally important to the ship, such as being able to fire the mana engines below deck to escape monsters…" He shrugged. "You and your crew are doomed."
She nodded as he continued walking to the front of the ship, where Officers were combatting flying monsters of all kinds, several giant creatures on the horizon releasing foul waves of monster mana. "But so far, you seem to be able to replace nearly anybody on a warship, except this warship's main combatants, who have more than fifty times your fighting ability. And except one other person when they join your crew."
He stopped, looking at one particular person on the ship. Caspian Wharifin was a distance away, holding his hands out as expansive aqua ripples were expelled from them, distorting the air around him to appear like the movement of a pool when a drop of water landed on it. The cyan wave pattern running down his right side's face and neck was also releasing aqua light, mirrored reflections of the patterns projected into the air near them. They wavered slightly with the movement of the air.
His sea-green hair and eyes, as well as his eartips, were all glowing with the same light. The aqua ripples Caspian was releasing covered almost half the warship, a titanic structure cast out of solid metal, and he was directing Officers to the location of different monsters.
Then suddenly, one of the giant monsters on the horizon let out a horrific screech, and the flying monsters attacking the ship did the same. Caspian stumbled, his ripple aura dimming and wavering, shrinking to half its size.
The Commander scowled. "He's doing it again."
Before Adrianna could even blink, the man appeared next to Caspian and roughly yanked him upright, then dragged him away from the battlefield to walk back over to Adrianna. He let go of Caspian, who was wincing from the Commander's strong grip on his arm. Caspian was extremely pale, and his limbs were trembling.
Adrianna watched silently as Commander Arkenast threw out an arm to gesture to the closest door. "Get below deck," he growled.
Caspian opened his mouth to reply, "Sir, the sensation's not that bad yet, I can still-"
"I said get below deck," the Commander interrupted, looking very angry. "Wharifin, don't make me repeat myself."
"But sir-"
"Do as I say."
Caspian grimaced, and then nodded, beginning to walk over to the door. But then his face went a sickly green, and he dashed over to the edge of the warship to retch over its side.
The Commander, who was frowning, gave him one last look and then sighed, walking away. He crossed his arms and glanced at Adrianna who had remained silent the entire time, her brows slightly furrowed. "I've noticed you make that expression whenever you see him on this ship. You don't react that way to anyone else."
Adrianna stopped watching Caspian and turned to the Commander. "I know the characteristics of the Atlantean bloodline."
Commander Arkenast paused and gave her another look. He was silent for a while, before speaking up, "Wharifin's only part Atlantean though."
She shook her head. "The man I met who told me this was half-Atlantean." She glanced back at Caspian and frowned. "He shouldn't be here."
The Commander sighed. "I see." He turned away and gestured for her to follow him.
"Caspian Wharifin came to White Squall Fortress at sixteen," the battle-scarred man began, heading towards the quarterdeck. "Normally, due to the dangerous nature of our work, we try our hardest to reject the applications of individuals so young, even if they're legally adults, however when it comes to nobility, things aren't dealt with so easily."
"His father is a Marquess in Atlantea." The Commander continued, "That man's not Atlantean, however, the boy's mother was a half-blood. I met the Marquis when he and I were young, both in the Distorted Depths Navy. We were the crew of the Dawnlight at the time."
He kept walking, Adrianna keeping pace beside him. "Both of us were there for different reasons, and he left early. But anyway, the crew of the Dawnlight got caught in a particularly tough situation, and events progressed until a situation arose where I ended up saving his life. As reckless, young, low-ranked Ascendants, we had already used all our available resurrections at the time, so I truly did save him from eternal oblivion."
Then he let out a dark chuckle. "The funny thing was, I hated the guy. He was the most stuck-up, snobbish, disgusting, and despicable person I have ever met. However, because I had a duty to do, and his continued existence would keep the crew alive for longer, I saved him." He shrugged.
Then Commander Arkenast scowled. "But 423 years later, he suddenly decides he wants to fulfil his sense of 'noblesse oblige' and repay his debts, by sending his sixteen-year-old son in his place, to work under me. His Atlantean son."
He went over to the side of the warship and leaned against it as Adrianna came up to him. "And I couldn't refuse. Main Navy orders came down, to let him stay. A Marquess from one of the lesser empires is almost the equivalent of the Duke of a Major Kingdom, after all, so politics and all that. I reluctantly agreed to let him work for me, and then tried, and still try, to get him to leave of his own will." He jerked his head in Caspian's direction. "As you can see, I still haven't succeeded. Kid's more stubborn than a dragon, I tell you."
The Commander gestured to the choppy water tens of metres below them. "Maybe I could've given him a smaller role on land, away from the ocean and battles, but I am still the Commander of White Squall Fortress." He sighed. "I have a duty, and regardless of the harm it causes to that boy, it's an unfortunate truth that his ability to detect all and any monsters has saved the lives of my subordinates time and time again. So, even with the effects of his bloodline…" He turned to look at Adrianna. "I still need to use him. And you will need to use him too."
He moved away from the side of the ship to walk up the quarterdeck's stairs. "Because with the method of leadership, you've chosen, you will not be able to be the bridge between the crew members. The one who can talk to the crew as their friend, and equal." He shook his head. "The boy's soft. The entire reason why he's still in the Navy is because he knows his presence saves lives, and he wants to prove to me that I can treat him like all the other Officers. That softness is why he can't be a leader. He can't make the orders that could leave even the slightest chance of getting someone killed."
He glanced at her. "And now I'm giving that position to someone even younger than him." Then he let out a short, harsh laugh. "Although, at least you were a mercenary beforehand if it makes it any better."
On top of the quarterdeck, near the steering wheel of the warship, Commander Arkenast placed his hands on his hips, looking at the view of the chaotic warship for a while, before gesturing to her. "Today's the 22nd of November, eight days until the end of the month. You've already proven to be good enough to be placed on my ship for the next three months, but starting from the 24th onward, for those six days we'll be out at sea before returning one last time until December…" He turned to her. "You'll be placed in combat. I need to see how you'll do as a combatant, if not a main one."
"Riftmire. If you know the characteristics of the Atlantean bloodline…" He continued, "Then I'm sure you're aware of how your magic might affect him. But I'm sure you're also aware of how beneficial this could be to you too. I'm not going to accept any requests for him to be transferred out from under you," he stated firmly.
She nodded in acknowledgement, but his gaze was stern. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Riftmire. The rest of your crew may only be here temporarily, so I'm willing to let you deal with them how you want, but Caspian is different." He squeezed her shoulder. "Do not treat him the same."
"…yes sir," she replied.
The Commander nodded and then walked back down the stairs. He gave her a wave. "Tell Diselon I apologise for holding you up for so long. You can return to your work."
With that, he returned to ordering his subordinates above deck. She took one last glance at where Caspian had been, before descending the stairs to head back down into the bowels of the ship, helping ensure that the mana engines took them to their next destination.
