With things looking a lot like they were going to turn out as the winners of the competition, there seemed to be very little worth to actually fishing for more. Still, with the fishing rod he managed to save out of the tangled mess they had turned into while trying to bring in what was supposed to be their prize-winning catch, Griswold did not exactly stop. Not after he had to use a knife to carve up the line of his other fishing rod just to free up the one he was using now, thus halving his chances of catching anything else. Luckily for him though, he had learned enough to know that these particular fish seemed more interested in organic bait over the plastic fish lure. Continuing with just that one, he would have no such luck as he had before with the big one, though that was most likely for the best too. After all, a single rod would have no chance at bringing in such a monster.

Staring down at the bobber while the sailors were doing their job, he heard the heavy footsteps of the captain coming down the creaky wooden staircase. Figuring the man might be quite impressed with the large fish they had managed to haul in through the use of three individual fishing rods, he wondered if it would be enough to actually win the contest or not. While he felt pretty confident about it, there was no telling whether any of the others might be able to get something bigger in what little time was left. One thing he noticed about all of this was the fact that while the contest was nearing its conclusion in terms of time, the ship had made no attempts at turning away from their current trajectory as they were still moving away from land. After a little while, the captain turned towards him and asked him as to whether he had a moment to spare or not.

As there was really no longer any point to fishing, he just put the rod in a fishing clamp so not every wave or every small fish could dislodge it and drag it down into the depths before turning his attention towards the captain of the ship. Following him up the wooden stairs, they spoke for a moment about how the contest was going rather smoothly, and how the contestants were still trying their damn best to catch up to their haul, but that Griswold was currently in the lead with the girl following in second place, the third place belonging to some old angler that had managed to bring in one decent fish after the other, racking up total weight simply by bringing in the numbers. That said, the captain claimed that even if he kept going at this rate, he was not going to be able to beat either of them for second place as all he could do was to keep going in a sure-fire attempt at maintaining his third place on the list.

So as they stood together at the top of the stairs, having their little conversation, Smack made it clear that there were other reasons as to why people had been invited to come on board of his ship. The contest, while in fact being an actual contest with a cash prize and the added renown of being a capable fisherman around Raque and the other ports, was in fact also a test to see which of the people taking part in it actually had any sea legs. Claiming he had some room on board the ship to take on some new sailors after some had retired from their life at sea or simply felt like their duties as magic knights extended to more than being almost permanently out on the open waters around the land of clover, those he felt were prepared for such a thing would be handed a formal invitation to join the crew once they returned to the port. As interesting as it was, Griswold near instantly declined the offer.

Making it clear that he was not the kind of person to be at sea all the time, and that his goal was to keep the forsaken region as safe as possible, it did not dissuade the captain from at least trying to give him a taste of what it was like to be a sailor. Sighing deeply as he really did not feel like actually making up his mind, he also did not want to deprive the captain of the challenge. Agreeing to the terms, they would wait until the fishing contest would end five minutes from now, at which point all would be let in on the information and be invited to try and work as sailors aboard the captain’s prestigious vessel.

805

For what it was worth, Griswold was never really one to shy away from a challenge, and seeing as how the captain seemed to be rather aware of this fact, both of the men waited for the remainder of the time to just run out. With the sound of a horn so loud it could rouse the dead from their eternal slumber and crack an iceberg, which might be useful if they were to actually encounter any along the way, the contest was put to an end. Claiming that all of the points would now be collected and counted for a ceremonial handout of the prizes, the announcement was made that those currently on board of the ship were to be made an offer that they could very much refuse if they felt so inclined. As it were, while they were still out on the ocean and not yet planning on returning to the port, all would be allowed to work on the ship.

Or rather, they would be able to learn how to work on the ship. Because of how many of the contestants seemed to have a background as fishermen, either on or off of a boat, they at the very least all knew how to swim and how the ocean could at times be a rather cruel mistress. That said, this did not exactly mean that they were the kind of people that were fit to be working on a ship, though time would tell. For as Smack was standing in an elevated position from which he could easily oversee the men and women on deck and shout in a way that made it easy for everyone to understand, he explained that those that wanted to work with him and his crew were allowed to do so right now. Pointing up at the distance, he made it quite clear that there was a storm coming their way, and that they would be able to use some aid once it hit.

Luckily for all those involved, this aid was strictly on a voluntary basis, though it could earn people a permanent job aboard Smack’s vessel and earn them the good graces of the Crimson Lion squad. So as the terms were made clear by the captain, Griswold thought long and hard as to what it was that he wanted to do with all of this, but eventually decided that it was going to be best to help out. After all, if they were going to be heading into a storm and someone ended up falling overboard, it would be good to have at least one or two people that could stand in while others would fish the guy out of the water. So, somewhat begrudgingly, he raised his hand to let it be known that he was willing to learn how everything worked on board, whether it had anything to do with the sails, firing a cannon or knowing which lines to cut if they needed to build more speed.

“Alright kid, if you want to head on into the ship and wait out the storm, I can’t say that I blame you. Truth be told, I wouldn’t have minded doing so myself as I’m not a big fan of salt water showers, but I guess it can’t be helped.”

With that, he followed one of the sailors into the hold where he was told that there were a lot of literal powder kegs that needed to be tied down so they would not start rolling about or begin bouncing if they got hit by some serious waves. After all, the last thing they could use was a keg full of gunpowder blowing up in the hold, causing a chain reaction that would blow the entire ship along with everyone on and in it to kingdom come. Around that same time, those that did not head into the ship were also being picked up one by one by other sailors and taken to parts of the ship where work needed to be done and lessons were to be learned. Claiming that there were a lot of ropes that needed to be tied down with extra strong knots, objects that needed to be carried into the hold or tied down on deck, fishing equipment that needed to be cleared out so they had free reign once the storm hit and a plethora of other stuff.

Knowing better than to underestimate a force of nature such as a storm, especially one at sea, which was already a place where he was not exactly fully equipped when it came to his particular skillset, he did believe that they would be quite safe aboard this particular vessel. After all, Captain Smack had been sailing and fighting pirates for many years now and had likely braved many a storm already. That said, he did not want to be the reason why this particular storm would mean the end of the vessel just because he had done a lousy job at tying stuff down. Such an outcome was clearly unacceptable.

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For what it was worth, Griswold felt like he was doing a pretty decent job at not making too many mistakes here, or rather, not making any mistakes of the “blowing up a ship full of people” variety. During his farm days, he had learned plenty about knots and how to tie things down whenever there was something like a twister or just generally bad weather with strong winds. The main difference between this and that was that at the farm, the worst that could happen was a bag of feed taking to the skies and ending up in a farmland some distance away, rather than blowing up a barn full of animals and sending cows flying all over the forsaken realm. With all of the vats and barrels tightly secured, he did a quick check to make sure there wouldn’t be any he forgot before making his way out of the hold and back onto the deck.

From there, he watched how everyone was busy doing the tasks that had been assigned to them, including the girl who seemed rather eager to prove herself here. Not really sure what the deal with that was, he imagined there were other people like him who just loved a challenge. That said, he couldn’t really be sure on account of how she never spoke and how he could not really understand sign language, that was, if she actually spoke sign language or if it was just making gestures. Regardless of whether that was the case or not, there wasn’t a whole lot of time left before they would be sailing straight into the storm, that much was clear to see for even the most uninitiated on the ship. And so, more and more people who were not essential on the deck slowly started making their way off and into the hold or the sailors’ quarters.

While he was quite certain that no mere storm would just blow him off of this ship, there was something about being drenched in salt water that he was simply not looking forward to. So as he stood at the edge of the ship and looked out into the distance, the dark clouds seemed like they were pitch-black from where he was standing. To him, the ocean had always been fairly scary, so as he looked out into the distance, it was as if he could see all sorts of strange things moving along the surface of the water. Strange forms, long and strange looking appendages, unnatural looking things that frightened even him. Whether it was just his eyes playing tricks on him with the impending storm, he was so focused on what he might or might not be seeing that he had never even heard Captain Smack approaching him from behind.

Slapping him on the back, he broke Griswold out of his intense staring session with the ocean. Asking him whether there was something he saw out there, the Captain made it clear to him that this was not entirely uncommon. Claiming that this was where the phrase “If you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you” likely came from a philosophical sailor, it was often best not to stare down and ponder on what all might be down there. Making it quite clear that if there was actually anything down there that could pose a threat to them and had half the mind to attack them, he had well over twenty cannons ready to blow the bastard to smithereens before it would get the chance to kill a single one of his sailors. Finding solace in those words, he imagined someone who had been sailing this long would be able to back up his bold claims.

Since everyone had ventured down into the crew quarters, Smack told Griswold to come with him to his private chambers for a chat. Believing his people were more than capable enough to handle the problems ahead, he stated that he had a good bottle of rum stashed away in his room, not to mention having a cook that made some seriously good turkey legs. Looking around for a moment to see how the last few people were finishing up their work before heading into the ship, Griswold imagined that it wouldn’t be the worst thing to take Smack up on his offer. After he had left the Crimson Lions, he felt like he had let quite a few people down, even though it was the best decision he could have made in his opinion. It was his life after all, and given how even people like Hania could sense that while he was content there, he wasn’t truly happy, he imagined he had made the best choice in that moment.

Still, giving the man what he wanted seemed like a fair enough deal in his eyes, just to make sure there were really no underlying issues with him leaving or any animosity that had been tucked away. Besides, the girl could handle herself for a while, of that he had no doubt. That, and he was rather looking forward to these turkey legs the Captain had been hyping up, wondering if they were actually even half as good as he claimed. Imagining everything tasted great when out at sea for a prolonged period of time, the two made their way across the deck, up a couple of stairs and into the captain’s quarters. There, Smack quickly popped open the bottle of rum, claiming they would only have a single round as he did not want to “waste it all on a landlubber”. But that worked out for him, considering how Griswold wasn’t even a heavy drinker to begin with.

As the storm raged, Smack and Griswold told one another tall tales that had happened at sea or during their jobs on land, finding that they had a fair amount of things in common. For instance, neither of them was really about the whole nobility thing or how “uniform” people had to behave when under the guise of a magic knight. They were fairly outspoken people that preferred being to the point over having an entire chat about nothing before gradually easing into the subject at hand. Believing it was best to just be straight forward about their business, it would save the country a lot of time if everyone was like that, rather than being so caught up in pleasantries and honorifics. Another thing he came to find out was that while rum was really not his kind of drink, the turkey legs were really good, just as the man had promised.

Some time went by, but just as the two were about to run out of tall tales and stories, it seemed that the storm had finally passed them by. Opening the door back up, the two wandered out to see a fairly sunny horizon in front of them as the storm started moving out to sea. As soon as the door opened, Griswold was met with the strong scent of sea salt, which was not and never would be something he really cared a whole lot for. That said, it had grown on him a bit as he no longer hated it nearly as much as he had when he first set foot aboard the vessel. Walking around for a moment to see if there had been any actual damage, it seemed one of the sails had been torn and was in the process of being brought down and replaced with a new one from the cargo hold. Figuring they would probably be heading back soon, it was then that a loud voice came from above.

“Pirates”.

Raising his brow as he looked up to the crows nest at the top of the main mast, it seemed that the sailor tasked with scouting the waters had noticed another vessel up in the distance. Sending up a second sailor to bring back the information from the scout, he claimed that the pirates had likely used the storm as cover and had begun assailing another ship up in the distance. Turning around to look at Captain Smack, it seemed that his facial expression had changed entirely from the seemingly happy guy to a very stern one. Ordering those that could not fight to head into the crew’s quarters, those that could were to stay on deck and wait as they made their way over to the two ships. Hoping they would arrive on time to save a few more lives, Griswold was amazed at how quickly the situation could change out here. But it couldn’t be helped.

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End of thread, moving into part 3 of the mission