Royal Princess of Blood

It was gonna take hours before we’d get to reach the next island. Even more so, considering that we were not going at full speed. Therefore, after getting the information I wanted, I proceeded to have some shut-eye. Velar, however, remained awake to keep guard on us, or rather, on me. This was a dangerous place, best to keep myself protected from any surprises. Furthermore, I asked him to wake me up once we reached Nishinoan waters.

In our room, or rather, just a compartment, there were improvised beds on the floor, made up of sheets. There was enough for each one of my group. It was not to my liking as a royal princess, but whatever. At least they looked clean.

It’s fine, it’s only temporary anyway. Not like I was not used to it already being stuck in this shitty ass archipelago. Can’t wait to get out of here…

I didn’t particularly have a nice sleep — with a somewhat hard surface to lay on, and the swaying of the ship, yeah, not much comfort there. It would have been better if I had a decent bed like on the slave ship we took over.

After some time of sleep, a hand gently swaying my shoulder roused me awake. It was Velar.

“Princess, I’ve heard we’re crossing Nishinoan territory.”

With a tiny moan, I slowly got up, using my sleeves to gently rub my eyes. “How long was I asleep?”

“Around a few hours.”

“Hm… Still dark out, huh?” Barely any light inside, and still dark outside. I got up and noticed that Miyako and Satomi were no longer on their beds. Hartwin, on the other hand, was still asleep. “You can take some shut-eye. I’ll be fine for now.”

“Very well.”

I patted my daggers and left the compartment. As I walked through the tight corridor, I stretched my joints and spine when I noticed Miyako and Satomi standing at a corner. They were staring at the floor, there was a small closed door. Just like the ship I was on last time, it was where they stored the slaves. Well, to be precise, it was Miyako intently staring and Satomi standing beside her.

“What’s up?” I walked up to them.

Miyako slowly turned towards me. “Oh, Estelia… it’s nothing. Just some things on my mind.”

“The slaves?”

“... I’m just…” she lowered her gaze. “Just wondering what’s going to happen to them once we make port. What am I going to do…?”

“What are you thinking of doing?”

“... I am the lord’s daughter… I must represent the laws set on the island… If we land, and I leave them be, what will that make me?”

That would make her a hypocrite or something. It surely was a conflict to just let these slaves be sold off somewhere on her island after we reach it. Still, it would be quite a breach of etiquette to raid and demolish the criminals’ slave operation right after landing there. At that point, no one would be willing to work with us.

Miyako might not care about that, but I sort of do. The organization back in my old world had criminal organizations it was friendly with. Having them as allies had benefits of its own. Connections were valuable, you’d never know when you’d need them. With the type of job we’re working on, having connections to the criminal underworld would be a great help.

I would rather not get dragged along with Miyako’s whims.

‘Oh but Estelia, they’re criminals and they’re evil, doing slavery and other evil stuff,’ like I give a fuck. If they could be useful in the future, I’d not cast away the opportunity so soon.

“I would prefer if you didn’t do anything just yet, at least until you get back home. Focus on your main goal.” And that was to get back to their capital city.

No fucking side quests, Miyako!

“I suppose…”

“You’ll get your time. Now then, I’m going to the upper deck. You coming? We’re pulling up to your waters.”

“Y-Yeah, I’ll go too.”

And thus, we went up on the upper deck. I noticed Taneva was casually leaning on the side as he gazed far away, looking bored.

“Oh great, you’re awake,” the criminal supervisor said with obvious sarcasm. “You all should have kept sleeping. You know, until we get there.”

Miyako despised them, so she just rolled her eyes and walked away.

I merely crossed my arms. “I don’t feel like sleeping anymore. Maybe if you provided decent bedding, I might have.”

“This is a smuggling ship, what did you expect?”

“Then I’d stay here until we reach our destination. How long before we get there?”

“... In a few hours. So just sit tight or something. Enough asking me questions.”

“I’ll do whatever I want.”

“What a spoiled lady you are. I can tell.”

I chuckled. “Good, then.” And with that, I walked away towards the head of the ship. I wonder how they were going to slip through Nishinoan waters.

***

Upon reaching the Nishinoan waters, I noticed that the criminals were much more wary. As we gradually moved further into the Nishinoan waters, they searched closely for ships. And whenever they saw one in the distance, they would change course ever so slightly. Keeping their distance and steering off the course of the Nishinoan ships.

I was starting to get the impression that the Nishinoan navy was not on their payroll. But it would seem that was not completely the case. Because as we kept going and changed course slightly, I noticed Miyako frowning in confusion as she looked around. And as time passed, she grew more concerned.

“Miyako, you okay?” I asked.

“Um… I just found this strange. Guessing I’m right about where we are, there should be at least one ship around this area. Even more so at night.” Security should be tighter at night, as there might be enemies who would attempt to sneak through. Like what we were doing now. “But… there is none.”

“... Well, guess it’s pretty obvious the reason for that is.”

If she were saying that, then these criminals had connections within the Nishinoan navy.

She weakly nodded. “But it’s interesting that they’re still trying to evade the other ships.”

“Indeed.”

Their connection must not be that wide. That could mean they found it a bit difficult to find someone they could trust. Or they were just extra wary. This was not their home island of operations after all. They didn’t have the court advantage.

“But it is still frustrating to know that some thugs could just sneak in like this,” Miyako added. “Traitors in our midst.” Her disdain couldn’t be more obvious.

“... Before acting on Hokunoa, you’d really need some cleaning up to do.”

“Yes.” She clenched her fists. “If I can’t even fix my own island, then I don’t deserve to fix the entire archipelago.”

The thing about this archipelago was that most people just did whatever the fuck they wanted, at the expense of the land they were living in. This kind of place, those kinds of people, you couldn’t hold them through words or through peaceful means. This was the kind of thing where you’d need to get a tight grip on them. Control them by whatever means. There was no taking it easy on these guys.

She had a lot of things to go through. She also had to deal with the demons on her island. But good thing she was working on her blood art. So she should be fine on exposing them.

***

Hours passed, and our ship went through without any trouble. I reckoned it was almost sunrise. And from the far distance, I could see faint points of light. It must be some sort of town or city. Now that the land was in sight, I was expecting that we would head straight for shore and dock.

However, suddenly they closed the sails, and the ship gradually slowed down. As I turned towards the criminal supervisor with a puzzled expression, they started lowering the anchor.

“We’re stopping here?” I asked the supervisor with a wary expression.

“Yeah. Our ship’s destination is not exactly that city. It’s different entirely.”

I smiled. “I understand.” Of course they’d pull something like this. They wouldn’t expose their base of operations here that easily, even more so to the lord’s daughter. I must say, I was quite disappointed. But they were actually being smart about this.

With that, as if he got the upper hand on me, the criminal supervisor grinned. “You’ll be using the small boat.” He pointed back with his thumb towards the small boat they were slowly lowering down to the water.

A fucking longboat.

At least it was big enough. Velar being on there should be fine.

“Don’t worry, there will be people rowing for you. Is that good enough for ya?”

“Hm, that’s fine. We’ll prepare for our departure.” I signaled to Miyako.

“Just don’t take too long.”

And thus, we woke up the rest of the gang and prepared our things. Well, I was not carrying any bag anyway. So I was mostly taking it easy. Anyhow, it didn’t take long for us to be ready to move.

I received the bag of coins from Velar and threw it at the criminal supervisor. “Here.”

He caught it. “Heh, thanks for the payment.” He weighs it and checks the contents.

“Send my thanks to your boss.” With that, I jumped down to the longboat, landing softly.

Miyako sent a glare at the criminals before jumping down onto the boat. One by one, the crew sat down. I was a bit worried because Velar was a big man, but he sat down in the middle and the boat was stable.

Now that everyone of the crew was here, the pair of criminals on the boat started rowing towards the shore.

Hartwin stared at the distant land with a wide grin. “Wow, so exciting! A place where I haven’t been before. This is what makes an adventure. Venturing into the unknown! This is what I live for.”

“You must have seen a lot of amazing things, Mr. Hartwin,” Miyako said.

“For a traveling bard, you must see lots of new things. In every new thing come new stories and inspirations. I might even get to tell your tales, Miss Miyako.”

Miyako giggled. “I wonder what sort of tale that would be.”

“If you complete what you seek to do, it will be an epic one. And it shall be a tale told all over the continent.”

Miyako chuckled.

Eventually, we arrived at the shore. However, we were on the outskirts of the city. And everything was pretty quiet and empty out here on the beach. I leaped toward the dry sand, avoiding the seawater.

I let out a sigh. “Finally… we are here.” I turned towards Miyako. “Congrats on finally returning to your home island alive.”

She smiled. “It’s good to be back.”

“Now then, we should head straight to the city. Your army would need to hear from you. Perhaps they’d even escort us.”

“Yes.”

And perhaps we’d get the special treatment. Perhaps I would finally get some nice experience, a nice place to rest, or some good food. I hated shitty food.

The sun’s light had touched the sky, and a single black fog landed before me. It gradually turned into a little girl.

With a smile, I patted the little girl’s head. “Nira. How are you?”

All of a sudden, she stepped forward and gave me a hug. “Goddess…”

Woah, woah. Chill.

I was flabbergasted. I didn’t expect she would just hug me like this. I was not accustomed to this kind of thing. A bit stiff, I gently patted her head.

“T-There, there…” This was kind of weird for me. But whatever. She was a kid. And we had not talked in a while. I was aware that Nira was particularly closely attached to me. But it was surprising it would be to this extent. Like she dearly missed me.

“Hey there, kid. Missed us?” Hartwin casually said to her.

Nira stepped back and smiled widely, a blush on her cheeks. “Yes…”

Hartwin rubbed her head. “We missed you too.”