A cleared ship

After excusing him for a while, Jay left the captains cabin again, locked it and went back to the main deck. There were quite some weapons still lying around there he had to pick up, as well as some corpses to plunder.

Done with searching though them, Jay once again thought about the profit that had been quite good.

Dismissing his inventory for the moment, Jay looked to the part of the ship he still had to search. He had no idea if there were any enemies left, but he had to make sure of it not to get stabbed in the back once he took some rest.

As the fight had taken place only in the first half of the main deck, there were no traces on the second part. Jay climbed the left stairs to the second deck that couldn't be looked at from below.

Lots of crates and wooden boxes had been placed close to the railing between the stairs that explained why none of the people he saw there had come down to help their boss.

Jay counted at least six more buccaneers and five craftsmen, of whom three were Goblins, on the deck. It seemed like latter had occupied this deck and were working on the railings and rigging.

From behind the crate where he had hidden, Jay watched them for a short while until the two buccaneers on patrol walked past his position.

Grabbing the first men's head he yanked it to both sides and broke his neck. The moment Jay let go of him the man slumped down, so he gabbed the other man's head who had by then turned around.

Jumping back over the crate he had been hiding behind, Jay pulled then men with him and the moment the man's neck was over the crates edge, Jay brought his elbow down on it.

After this, he made short work of the craftsmen, using fire magic on those sanding the railings and slashing those working on the sails not to inflame latter.

Seeing Jay slaughtering their workers and sailors, the four guards at the end of this deck came rushing over.

Without even using a weapon himself, Jay got rid of the four and then walked on to the end of this deck.

It narrowed down a good bit there and as Jay stood in front of a finely chiseled double door with glassed windows, he again had to think about where to go next. Once again two sets of stairs on both sides led up to the stern deck.

Ignoring the room behind the glassed doors after he peeked through them, because he had only spotted maps on the wide table inside and not a single enemy, Jay went towards the stairs.

Going up to the poop deck, he looked around there. But other than the crested stern and the big steering wheel, Jay found nothing up there.

After thoroughly checking the deck, even looking down to the sides, Jay went back down to the main deck. On his way he checked most of the crates there, but none held anything other than work materials or tools.

The only part of the Juggernaut he hadn't inspected was the one van Claven had come out of. Striding over the deck towards the double door, Jay opened it and peeked in.

A relatively long hallway was all he found there, dimly lit and with wide doors to both sides at about the half.

Slipping in and activating (Hide), he made his way to the first one of them. It was the door on the right he chose to enter through as he heard more noises from the other side.

The moment he entered, Jay got a little surprised.

What he found himself in was the caboose of this ship and it was equally gigantic. It was at least six yards long, about five wide and equipped with everything a good Inn's kitchen would need.

But Jay had no time to look around when a knife came flying and he had to duck down. Of course the four men working in the caboose had noticed Jay the second he entered and, even though they weren't combat ready, all of them had kitchen knifes on them.

He pulled the knife out of the wall it was sticking in and hurled it back towards the man that had thrown it. The second died to a hot pan at his face and for the last two, Jay had grabbed a rolling pin that lay around and broken their skulls with it.

Just as he pulled the by then red wooden tool back from the second man, Jay noticed another presence behind him.

He instantly turned around as the steps he heard sounded not quite human and asked himself the next second where this thing had come from.

The creature he was looking at was nothing other than an ugly and massive Murloc.

As it entered the caboose from an adjoining room, the creature dropped the vegetables it was carrying the moment it saw what had happened around Jay.

This gave him just enough time to use (Analyze) on the Murloc until it gurgled loud and rushed for him.

__________

Cookie (Chef LVL9 elite)

Base LVL20

*Murloc*

HP 2904/2904 * Mana 0/0

[Cooking LVL 3]

[Hammer LVL 2]

[Common]

__________

Situated in the caboose that had to be mostly fire resistant, Jay didn't think twice and simply fried the creature with a (Pyroblast), a (Fireball) and (Conflagrate). Latter spell nearly exploded Cookie as well, and even if it was made to resist heat and even fire, Jay still had to empty two pots full of water in the kitchen to erase spreading flames.

Jay didn't even need to check on the crispy leftovers for anything of worth and just went into the room Cookie came from, only to find it was nothing but a food storage.

Leaving the kitchen as the smell of roasted fish made him even more hungry than he already was, Jay went towards the room opposite to the caboose.

This time he opened the door more carefully, not to again barge into a room with armed men.

They still had been waiting for him and the moment he had slipped in, five more buccaneers came rushing for Jay. All of them seemed a bit tipsy though and the fight ended in mere seconds.

It wasn't like it had taken any longer if the men hadn't been drunk, but it still made it easier for Jay.

The biggest part in the short work was the weapon he used though:

It was the saber he had taken from van Claven.

Jay had analyzed it after the first use and already registered it to his quick access button as it was more than enough for a replacement of his beloved Wingblade.

__________

Cruel Barb (rare)

Sword

Requires Level 20

Damage 30-57 Speed 2,3

Weight 3

[Strength +3]

__________

Looking through the possessions of the five dead men, Jay took the change money as well as a decent looking knife one of them had. The room they had been in was more than double the size of the caboose and had two long tables placed inside.

At the far end, where another door led inside, one more table was placed diagonally and the wall opposite to the one with doors had multiple windows.

The deceased men had sat on one table and have been drinking what seemed to be rum, so Jay took their bottle and stored it away.

Leaving the room through the other door he exited to the same hallway he had been on before, just that he was at the other end where a double door was placed. Next to the door was a small corridor with a set of stairs at the end, leading down to the cannon deck how Jay guessed.

Leaving that one be for a moment, Jay went to the other two doors on the hallway he hadn't already checked.

Behind the first one he found a small cabin that had nothing else than a dirty looking bed, a small wardrobe and a shelve with cooking books inside. After taking a peek inside some of the books and storing two that looked promising in his storage, Jay left and went to the next door.

That second door led to the storage next to the kitchen. Jay had completely overlooked the door in the dark room before, so this time he looked around properly.

It still held nothing of interest for him, so he fetched some fruits, a fresh looking and some dried fish, then left again.

This time he went to check the double door but got surprised as they had been locked. Even the key he took from the boss of this place wouldn't fit, but Jay already had a hunch as to what that one was for.

As he couldn't help it and would later question van Claven anyway, Jay decided to go down the stairs to the next deck.

Like he had guessed, this staircase connected to the first cannon deck and before he turned towards the stairs leading further down he glanced once again at the big cannon that was still holding the crazy woman.

Even though he couldn't see her, Jay still could hear her throwing a tantrum inside the cannon.

Leaving her be, Jay went down the stairs right to the bottom of the ship. He wanted to ascertain if the key he found on van Claven was really the one he had been wanting to find.

In not even minutes he had made his way to the ship and again stood in front of the vault.

With a bit of hesitation, Jay placed the key inside the lock. A clicking noise after he turned the key signaled him he had been right and was now free to loot all the riches the bandits possessed.

And just that he did.

After he was done with the gold bars, Jay went on with the bags full of coins.

All together it had been 2789 gold bars and more than eighteen thousand gold coins he found in there. Because of the sheer amounts it took him some time to loot it all, even though the bars that took most of the space had been looted together in one go.

What was left in the vault after this, was only a couple of bags on the ground, so Jay took a peek into some of them and found precious ores and Jewels. Latter surprised Jay as some of them glowed and analyzing those showed they had attributes on them.

This was the first time Jay had seen gems like that and all of them had at lest uncommon, but most of them rare or even higher quality.

Uncertain what those were for or how they could be used, he decided to show them to Mia or Haggard later and inquire about them.

The moment he stored all the bags inside his

inventory he turned around and left the vault.

Jay didn't leave the lowest deck without checking the weapon stands in the passage before the vault and found a nice claymore and a set of throwing knives he took with him.

Other than that he had found nothing of too much worth, so Jay went up to the forecastle cabins.

He looked at every deck once again to see if he had missed someone down there and then took the stairs at the bow.

The first he wanted to question was the little Miss Arya that really looked to him like she had been abducted and held captive.

As even his system had yet to give him a quest that didn't benefit him, Jay was pretty positive it was true. It had tasked him to free her and even to guide her to the surface, so if it was true he wanted to release her first.

As Jay entered the cabin he found her in pretty much the same position like when he left her, only she had calmed down a good bit. Her tears had mostly dried and after he had closed the door behind him she mustered him with a mixture of curiosity and fear.

After Jay had closed in on her and she shrunk back a bit on the sofa, he soothed her and told he would only need to ask her some questions.

Jay further explained that there were too many inconsistencies in this whole constellation that he needed more information.

"Can you help me fill some gaps in all this?" J.

"Heh… Not the best wording in this situation, huh? But yes, of course, what do you need me to tell you?" A.

"Oh, sorry for the wording…." J.

Both of them had a small grin on their face after his statement and her expression changed for the better.

She has had a cramped one as he explained that he needed to ask her questions about all of this for clarification. Though he had intended to loosen up the atmosphere with his slip of tongue, he hadn't thought she's ease up this much from it.

"Well, first of all, how in the world did you end down here? Your Mother told me you got abducted to press her for…" J.

"She did WHAT? That bitch of a mother…." A.

Arya had been really shocked when Jay mentioned what Lady Brittany had told him and started to curse, to what he got a little startled.

As the young woman's mood had soured considerably, Jay carefully placed a hand on her shoulder. At first she shrunk away a bit but then after a short while she calmed down again.

Jay looked at her and when she nodded he went on with his questions.

"So I take it you didn't get abducted?" J.

"Yes and no. I did get held captive here, but the story is a bit more complicated, like you had guessed initially." A.

"Just to clarify this: Was it your mother had send you here?" J.

"..." A.

"How did it come to this situation? I mean, you're still her flesh and blood, so how could she doom you to this fate?" J.

"Oh, I guess she placed her position and kinks higher than my life, so she could continue to whore around and keep her face. Well, it's not like I'm completely innocent in all of this" A.

"How comes?" J.

"At first I supported my mother when she told me she found new investors for the city and the mines. It was some time after the first raises in taxes and delivery quotes for supplies to the capital, when Millshire had quite some trouble sustaining itself.

I didn't know the truth behind the exorbitant expenses back then, or I would have never supported them.

As the situation got worse over time and more shady people went in an out of our town, I had started to ask questions and that didn't sit well with her. It was about the taxes that she kept on rising without offering the slightest compensation or even required protection for the farmers. I couldn't believe she willingly steered the whole region towards ruin just to satisfy her own needs.

And then…" A.

While she briefly narrated the beginning of how she got send down into the mines, Arya had touched her neck and slid her delicate fingers along the black collar she had been made to wear. Even though it didn't get displayed when he analyzed her, Jay had a hunch she somehow got enslaved before she got mistreated like he had seen.

There was no way someone that strong willed wouldn't retaliate in a situation like that, even more a sorcerer of her level.

She didn't continue for a minute and got stuck in her thoughts and memories, so Jay excused himself to give her some time sorting out her mind.