Mythran's Master Of All

Princess, being the ham that she was, made the difficulty of trying to pull the ship so convincing that Ren almost thought she was actually struggling with the weight. He could feel her emotions and knew she was just playing around; but, he could also hear the comments from the crew about cruelty to animals.

Ren almost laughed at that, and then Princess started to walk. The crew of the ship cheered for her, and she let those feelings bolster her, even though she knew they were gained under a false pretense because she pretended to struggle. She started to walk faster, and then trot, and Ren could barely hear himself think over the roars from the crew. Princess eventually got up to a full trot and they travelled at a significant speed, and Ren felt the disbelief from the crewmen.

“How in the world are we moving so fast?” One of the crew asked of no one in particular, because he didn't know that Ren could hear him. “I don't think we've ever gone this fast in the ship before.”

“We were close once.” The captain said. “When we were on the edge of that hurricane.”

“Ha!” The crewman barked a laugh. “We lost the mainsail from that!”

“Aye, and we still went nearly this fast.” The captain said. “Now imagine if the sail had held.”

The crew grew silent as their gazes fell upon Princess once more.

Princess had been right in her estimation for how long it would take to bring the ship at that speed to Aurora, and Ren had her slow down as they approached the dock. He didn't want to alarm the dock workers with what looked like a runaway ship, and he used the All-Seeing Mirror to direct Princess to an appropriate docking berth for the ship.

“Get ready, men!” The captain said as Princess pulled them up to the dock. She came to a stop at just the right spot, and a bunch of crewmen jumped across to the dock and secured a dozen tow lines to the braces there. The men pulled the ropes tight using winches and pulleys, then tied them off when they had all of the slack out of them.

The crew waved to the captain, and he nodded to Ren, who hopped off of Princess and unhooked the cart, then dismissed both Water Walking and Air Walking spells from it. It dropped several inches into the water and he stored the cart, now that it was free of its burden. The ropes secured to the dock held the ship upright, and the crew cheered when the ropes only creaked once and didn't move. Ren and Princess went up to the dock while Artemis and the 4 succubi flew overhead.

“Thank you very much for helping us finish our journey.” The captain said and shook Ren's hand. “I fully expected to stay out there until our supplies ran out.”

“I hope you've realized you should adjust your course to avoid that area.” Ren said and let his hand go. “If you don't, this is going to happen again.”

The captain sighed. “We'll have to reduce our carrying capacity by almost 20% in order to carry the supplies needed for the crew to be at sea for the extra time.”

“It's better than losing 100% of your cargo... and your ship.” Ren said.

The captain nodded. “I'll send for one of the mages and see if they can remove the spell from the hull.”

“You did great!” One of the crew said to Princess and pat her armored side. “I can't believe you hauled that whole thing all by yourself!”

Princess huffed and rolled her eyes, which indicated that she just did haul it by herself, and the crew gathered around her laughed.

“Ha! She told you!” His friend said and slapped him on the shoulder.

“Gentlemen, we have to go.” Ren said and took Princess' reins.

“Thanks a lot for saving us, sir.” One of them said.

“Thank you.” Another said and saluted.

“For a Sea Dweller, you're not so bad.” One man said and grinned at Ren.

Ren and Princess walked down the dock to the main area and found the woman who had given him the quest as she sat in front of the fish stand. “Ma'am? I found your husband, Galen.”

She stared at him blankly for a few minutes, then what he said registered. “You WHAT?!?”

Ren pointed to the ship that was currently unloading it's cargo farther down the dock. “I went to where it happened, and got him back from the Sea Dwellers.” He said. “Since I was there, I couldn't just leave them there.”

The woman dropped her sword and stood up, then she bent over slightly to give him a hug. “Th-thank you.” She said as she started to cry. “You don't know what this means to me.”

“I do, ma'am.” Ren said, and she let him go. “He needs you just as much as you need him.”

The woman nodded and wiped at her tears. “For a Sea Dweller, you're not so bad.”

Ren smiled because one of the crewmen had just said that to him. They might not have had this kind of situation in mind when writing the dialogue. He thought as she pat his shoulder, then he watched her walk away down the dock. I wonder if anyone else will bring the whole ship back.

“I doubt it.” Teepo said as Artemis and the succubi landed beside Ren and Princess. “Who else do you know that could manage to bring the whole ship back, and not just the crew?”

Ren opened his mouth to reply, then he had to think about it. “Huh.” He said. “No one.”