| Pirate Crew...? (1)

I was lying half awake in my bed, reading through various books. In the end, no matter how much I waited, that pirate lady never came by. In fact, a day or two had already passed and it was Monday by now.

'I honestly don't know where to go anymore. I don't even know if I have money...' I slumped on my bed. 'Even that scoundrel hasn't shown up at all, neither did any memory cores.'

I almost teared up. Since when did such a great god become so unfortunate?!

Fwap- I stood from my bed. I couldn't go on forever like this. If they weren't gonna come for me, I was gonna come for them.

I walked out the room and headed out into the pub like lounge. Strangely enough, no one was around. I glanced around and found the Manager's brother sleeping idly on the couch.

I slapped his arm lightly.

"Ouch!" He jolted awake from the sudden motion. He looked at me, eyes narrowed, brows furrowed as if I had unjustifiably wronged him.

"You, young man," he said in a serious tone. "Don't slap me." He caressed his arm which now had a horrible mark. I stared at him, rather guilty. I mean, I really did slap him 'lightly'.

I faked a cough, "Do you know where everyone is? I've never seen the pub being this empty."

"Oh, you don't know?" The man walked over to the counter and poured himself a glass of boose.

"Today's Fête Incendsuel." I tilted my head. "What? Ya' don't even know what that is?"

I gave the man the look and he sighed. "Alright, fine, I'll explain it to ya'. Basically, Incendsuel is like a fiesta, happens every month." The man took a sip of boose before continuing, "The celebration serves as a commemoration of our town's heroes, the Incendio."

His usual plain spoken face was filled with awe and wonder as he spoke of 'Incendio'. I wanted to ask who this 'Incendio' even was, but knowing my knowledge would only be questioned, I shut up.

"Anyways, the towns people usually gather at the Central Lake, where the floating parade takes place."

Now that was pretty interesting. First, there was a monthly festival and now there was a parade? Makes me wonder why Kasther would decide to deprive his soul of this. "Then why aren't you there?" I couldn't help myself but ask.

The man chuckled, "Because I'm a bastard."

"Don't you mean a crazed alcoholic?" I jested, and in turn, the man laughed hardily, his mood now uplifted.

"No, I'm serious. I have far too many enemies to count. This pub's the only safe place I can stay in."

"That doesn't sound like the case..."

The man shrugged. "What? Just cause the pub's full everytime and I'm a loudmouth? Even if my haters did come here, they're smart enough to know to not start a fight. This is my--" the man abruptly shifted his words, "I mean, my sister's property after all, ha ha."

I smiled. "That's right, Mister, I never got your name."

"Callahan Malégria. Though most people mostly just call me 'Cal'." With that, both Callahan and I continued to talk for about a full on hour.

Just before I left to town, he asked me, "How long ya' plannin' on staying here?"

His words reminded me of my debt. '...how long has it been? Three, no, six days?' "I have a debt of sixty-six pecks, right?"

If I remembered correctly, Pecks were the currency of this land. Still, Callahan only looked at me weirdly. "Don't you mean Pelcks?"

"...." My ears became red from the embarrassment.

. . .

I wandered the crowded streets as I looked around. The town spoke a lively atmosphere as it bustled with stalls, carriages and people merrying about.

Brightly colored pennants hung on the streets posts as houses lined up along where their facades were adorned in cascading garlands. Not too far from sight, I could see Central Lake. It held clear blue waters and was surrounded by lights.

Grabbing a shoulder, I asked, "Hey, when's the parade gonna start?"

"Just in a few minutes," said a woman in a calm manner. Fwip- A sudden electric motion run through my fingers. I let go of the lady's shoulder as my eyes lingered on her for a moment.

"...you're--" She smiled oddly. She placed a finger on her lips; the sudden crowd drowned her and I lost sight of her.

Aesril I believed was her name. She was no other than 'The Queen of Mischief', an enigma known to gods.

'Why was she here though?' The thought bothered me for a bit, but as I heard a loud howl, my attention completely focused on the brightly lit, lively parade.

It wasn't long after, but a bunch of hooligans- Who called themselves pirates, crashed the parade. I heard someone say in the crowd, "Oh, here they go again."

Jestful, was what I could call the situation as both pirates swung their swords carelessly. They pirated themselves on a boat, looted not much and simply went on to ruin the day for everyone.

I felt the sword by my side. 'Should I stop them?' Then again, I was also a pirate, it would only do me more harm than-

One of the pirates suddenly looked at me. He seemed surprised but then his face lit up. "Captain!" he yelled. He paused from what he was doing and waved at me. 'Crazy...' I felt chills run down my spine.

Before I knew it, the crowd was exchanging weird looks with me, whispering. I covered my face as I tried to blend in the crowd. Okay... that scoundrel totally wasn't calling for me, I'm sure of it...

Then, he added, "Kas-ther!" with his hands encasing his mouth to make his voice clearer. "..."

The crowd distanced themselves from me, and before I could do anything about it, somebody was handcuffing me. "Hey, w-wait, don't believe that scoundrel! I'm no terrorist!"

"Then tell that to your face." The guard showed me a picture. It wasn't just any ordinary picture, it was a wanted picture, and Kasther's face was there, along with the pair of idiotic pirates. '...I was doomed from the start.'

It suddenly all made sense to me. The reason why Kasther was so willing to let go of this life and why he never told me about a crew.

'He...had a ruined life to begin with!'

. . .

END