“I’ve had the captain set course to return to the capital. However, on the way, you three will depart.” Thanric said, as he sat back in his chair, nursing some hot beverage Kai just assumed was tea.

  “Depart?” Alicia asked.

  “Yes. My notoriety causes too many problems.” Thanric shifted in his seat, a piece of paper appearing in his hand. “The cursory investigation shows that the people who ambushed you were hired by the shattered kingdoms to capture, and I quote, ‘a tall human with long dark hair, a beard, blue glowing eyes and accompanied by a blue wisp.'”

  Syl tsked as she realised there wouldn’t be much use of her wisp form for the foreseeable future.

  Probably would serve them better for her to go around in her full projection, as that could only confuse people looking for a guy with a wisp, not a beautiful woman. She just had to work on her own set of her glowing eyes; luckily, they had now discovered the trick to hiding them.

  It also gave Kai another reason to sort himself out and give her her soul ring so she could make her physical projection.

  Putting that aside for now, Kai asked, “Is there no mention of my name?” from where he stood looking out the small window, watching the land go by below them.

  “No… It appears that Caradin wasn’t paying that much attention during the system event. But the information we recovered indicates they had come to investigate me on the off chance I was the one Kai had left the event with. I have already received a communication from the house that they too have uncovered people searching for someone who fits your description.” Thanric paused for a bit before saying, “I should say your old description.”

  “What about the woman Kai captured?” Syl asked.

  “I am sorry, Lady Syl, but as soon as we started interrogating her, she expired. Some kind of suicide term either built into the job to take Kai captive or something with her organisation. My people are leaning towards her organisation having some kind of system contract on all of their operatives that will kill them off should they be taken captive… it’s hard to know for sure.”

  “Please, just Syl. I may technically be older than you, Thanric, but having you call me Lady makes me feel it.”

  “Master, none of that explains why you want us to depart.”

  “I believe he has a plan to draw attention away from us,” Syl explained.

  “That I do. I will continue on to the capital, stopping on the way to visit a series of low-level dungeons with the adventurers we just picked up. You three, however, will leave the ship and travel to a pickup point where our allies in the houses will collect you and take you to a meeting.”

  “Your hope is that word gets back to the shattered kingdoms that Kai travelled with you to see my mother.” Alicia said as she caught on.

  Kai was just listening as he tried to distract himself with the novelty of being on an airship.

  “Precisely the meeting with your mother has already been arranged. Sietra is looking forward to meeting her youngest daughter's new paramour.”

  There was a soft chuckle from Syl, and an extended groan from Alicia.

  “So it is a load of smoke and mirrors. But what is the meeting for?” Kai asked.

  “The world wonder. It is my assumption that you and anyone on Alea will need help with it. I have asked the house to move, as they were successful during the system event. Not only because it helps to hide your role but also because, no matter what happens at the meeting, they will be crucial. Whether that be in management or just building the infrastructure remains to be seen.”

  Kai turned away from the view; the endless sea of trees and distant mountains could only keep his attention for so long.

  He slumped into one of the empty seats and picked up the drink that was waiting for him. “I was actually thinking it might be best to honour your original agreement with the dwarves- sorry, the houses. I’m new to Alea, and I don’t think I want to get involved in politics as an outsider. And from what I remember, it was some kind of international agreement of those opposed to that Caradin guy.”

  Thanric nodded, “That may be for the best, but Kai. You may find it best to hold onto what control you can. But there is no point talking of this now. While I have an interest in what happens, I am still technically a neutral party, and I suggest you do your best to remain the same. It took a lot of work to arrange this meeting, and while I wish I could attend, there is much more I can do for the three of you by making myself known elsewhere. While there should be no means of outright confirming it was you who shrugged off a coordinated ambush, I believe it will be investigated further.”

  Kai took a sip of the tea to find it was a mix of some mint he couldn’t quite recognise and, if he was not mistaken, liquorice.

  It was pleasantly soothing, but he found himself wondering if this world had some equivalent to coffee and milk… Looking out of the window, he had seen nothing but trees; no farmland was in sight. Neither horticultural nor agricultural. Thinking of it, he had seen no signs of civilisation.

  Thanric put his cup down. “Kai, though it is through no fault of your own, you need to realise the situation you find yourself in. You are crucial to my world's development. I have already been heavily criticised for letting you enter the trials dungeon. Many feared the possibility you would not return. My only defence was the agreement between Syl and my apprentice; many think I should have waited for you to flesh out your party or at least test you before I sent you off.”

  Thanric went quiet.

  “So, we are being dropped off as quietly as possible, attending a super-secret meeting to hopefully establish the world wonder, and then what? We go off adventuring, or do we hide? Hope that no one comes to kidnap me again.” Kai said, thinking about how much simpler his life had been before the system, before coming to Alea.

  He didn’t reminisce long until he recalled spending much of his time stuck in bed wishing he didn’t exist.

  “I have put out some feelers for additional party members with people I trust. Originally my goal was to find suitable team members for Alicia. I had hoped things would form organically for my apprentice, as time and time again I have seen people who are forced together by others rarely come together as a cohesive team.”

  Thanric studied the three of them for a moment and smiled. “The three of you and your accomplishments are proof that those who come together because of happenstance often form a stronger connection and achieve much more in their time together.”

  “You say that, but you’re also picking out team members for us?”

  “Not quite. You and Alicia will want to at least find another three people to flesh out your team. You need to broaden the range of situations and circumstances you can deal with as adventurers.”

  “Master, You mean me, Kai and Syl. She is an active team member; the dungeon even recognised her as such when we first entered.”

  “Ah, yes, you are correct. Syl, should we get the opportunity, I would love to get together and discuss your unique nature.”

  “It would be my pleasure, Thanric.”

  “Great, now. As I was saying, I have asked some old friends if they happen to have any promising candidates around your age and level that would benefit from forming a team with a support mage.”

  Alicia fidgeted, “I am more of a ranged expert now.”

  Gift chimed from where he was resting on Alicia’s hand and an intricate mesh glove.

  Kai guffawed, “You’re not just our ranged expert; I don’t even think I would be here without your support magic, Alicia. Fighting in the mist was such a slog, not to mention the defence against the kobolds.”

  Alicia’s ears twitched as she blushed, shrinking back in her seat.

  Thanric looked between the two of them and sighed, “That is not a problem. As I said, forcing people to form a team rarely has the desired results. I am merely facilitating the meeting between you and some young individuals; should you find common ground and choose to form a party, that is up to the three of you. If you don’t, things have been arranged so that the remainder can still benefit from the meeting.“

  Following along, Kai asked, “These potential team members, they’ll be at this super-secret meeting?” Still confused about what they would find themselves doing after that was sorted.

  “You may meet some who are associated with the figures attending the meeting; others should be introduced to you at the adventurers guild or the academy.”

  Alicia leant forward, “Where are we going, Lagranth, Torris, Cibiale? Please, Cibiale.”

  “Cibiale,” Thanric said.

  Alicia jumped from her seat, squealing as she danced around the room like a child who had just discovered they were going to a theme park.

  Alicia…” Thanric said as Alice continued to bounce around the room, before he said firmly, “Alicia, please!”

  Alicia froze the moment Thanric raised his voice; still, she couldn’t help but grin as she looked between Kai and Syl in her excitement.

  Kai watched Alicia slink back to her seat, and he asked, “What’s Cibiale?”

  “Only the-“ Realising she had jumped to answer, Alicia paused as she glanced at her master.

  He gave her a gentle nod.

  Adjusting her position to sit properly, Alicia continued calmly, “Cibiale is the adventuring capital of the world. It is packed with guilds, academies and everything else you could think of to support a would-be adventurer's career. It is the headquarters of the adventuring guild. The dungeons and rifts alone can support an adventurer right up to the level fifty range. There is even a dungeon there that has never been completed.”

  Thinking of how Atheos's dungeon had never actually been completed, Kai groaned.

  “It’s not quite the trails dungeon. That is to say, you won’t be losing weeks trying to complete it.” Thanric supplied, “It is a random dungeon that you can run once a day. No one has actually found how to officially complete it, or if they have, they haven’t reported the dungeon's completion to anyone. Most people kill everything and then gather and forage anything they can find. It is good for unique and rare materials. Though you have to be prepared for almost anything when you enter, you’ll find it’s exceptional training.”

  “You sound like you‘ve run it yourself.”

  Thanric nodded, “When the city was young, and I still met the entry requirements. Now if you two would excuse us. I would like some time to debrief my apprentice. She has changed much, and I believe she has a lot to tell me. I also think it is only fair the two of you get some much-needed rest. I can only imagine how jarring it has been. Coming to a new world, finding yourself the focus of a system event, getting engaged and then completing the trials of a god would be a lot for anyone.”

  Knowing a dismissal when he heard one, Kai looked to Alicia and got up when he received a nod and a smile.

  Kai looked about as he stepped out into the long, curving corridor that circled from one side of the ship around to the other.

  “Where do we go?” he asked Syl as she floated at his side.

  She shrugged and drifted forward to look out one of the large inner windows. Joining her, he could see right across the ship to where the corridor looped round.

  From what he could see, the floor, or deck, they were on was the only one on the ship that had any real windows. The rest only having the occasional long narrow slit that he could just about see people moving about through.

  “It looks like an internal dock,” Syl said as she pointed out and down.

  Looking down through the gap in the ship, Kai agreed.

  With all its walkways, hitching points and absurd amount of rope, he could see how another smaller ship might be able to dock with the vessel they were in.

  He stepped closer to the glass, almost pressing against it to get a better look.

  “That is the berth for the T.S.S. Child of Adventure; imaginative name, I know.” A voice called out to him from down the corridor, “Our gold-rank adventuring team is currently using the ship to respond to an urgent request from the Adventures Guild.”

  Kai turned to the short young woman coming his way.

  When she got close, she slammed her fist to her chest and directed a slight bow to Kai. “Lord Kai, High-shipman Arnella, reporting for duty.”

  Kai just looked at the woman, not knowing how to reply or return the salute.

  She was clearly a part of the crew.

  She had a confident bearing and was wearing a form-fitting uniform that just screamed naval officer. Her dark brown hair was tied back in a perfect bun without a single hair out of place.

  As he gave her a quick assessing look, he couldn’t help but see similarities to Victorian-era British navy uniforms. At least what he knew from TV dramas.

  Her buckled, black leather boots came up just past the knee, where a pair of tight white high-waisted shorts with parallel sets of brass buttons took over. The buttons and their spacing carried up the length of her black short-tailed coat. The uniform was trimmed with thick bands of gold around the cuff of each sleeve, and the epaulettes on each shoulder were adorned with pristine white feathers that probably had something to do with the ship's nature of being an aircraft.

  Using his omniglot skill, he was actually able to read a series of gold metal studs that adorned her collar; they did in fact communicate her rank of high shipman.

  While it was useful to know his language skill would allow him to read rank from a military uniform, he still had no clue where a high shipman sat in the command structure. But if he had to guess, it was high.

  The whole thing had him wondering if the ship and its crew were navy or air force or some weird new world combination of both. The rank of shipman made him think navy, but the use of feathers said navy…

  His thoughtful look must have been plastered on his face.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Ah, the sage often has a lot on his mind and forgets things. I have been assigned to be your aide during your time on the exploration. You have access to all but the most secure sections of the ship. I have also been asked to answer any and all questions you may have. No matter how strange they may be.”

  It was then that Syl did something, and the woman took a step back and off to the side, slamming her fist into her chest again and giving Syl her own bow.

  “Forgive me, Lady Syl, I did not know you were present.”

  Syl’s eyes narrowed slightly as she was addressed as Lady again, but she must have decided to let this one slide. “Arnella, how much do you know?”

  “Regarding?”

  Syl made a gesture, signalling she meant herself and Kai.

  Arnella picked up Syl’s meaning quickly. “Yes, I understand. I have been informed that the two of you are not of this world and that you may have limited understanding of common concepts. That you, Lady Syl are what the sage called a system guide…" She paused. “However, that designation was deemed inaccurate by the sage and amended about a week ago to you being a non-corporal sapient being affixed to Lord Kai.”

  Syl tapped her lips.

  Arnella continued, “The crew as a whole has been informed on a need-to-know basis. Besides myself and the captain, the crew believes you both to be foreign dignitaries the Sage is escorting to the capital of the empire.”

  “What does the crew know about me specifically? How should I present myself?”

  “They have been informed you possess a rare talent and, as such, astral project. Your… forgive me. Your ghostly nature should not alarm the crew, but I cannot vouch for our other guests, the new adventurers. However, they are not housed on this floor and have limited access to the ship, so you should not encounter them often.”

  Syl tilted her head to Kai, “It’s good to know I won’t have to hide my nature while I am aboard, and as far as ghostly goes,” she smirked at Kai, “we actually prefer spectral soul mates.”

  “Understood.” Arnella nodded. “Now if you follow me, I will lead you to your quarters.” She said as she stepped back, giving the two of them a chance to walk with her as she gestured down the corridor.

  Syl nodded and drifted to her side, Kai following on their heels.

  “This deck of the ship is considered the sages deck. Besides his office, lab, library and personal quarters, there are quarters reserved for his personal guests and other guests of significant importance.”

  They passed a door. “This is the personal quarters of Lady Alicia, though she can be found anywhere on the ship when she is avoiding her duties as the sage's apprentice.”

  They continued on, passing several more doors and an area where the corridor split before passing a double door. “This is the private dining room. If you have any dietary requirements, I will inform the sage's chef. Otherwise, we can arrange a meal schedule, or you may also dine with the crew. Unfortunately, you may not dine at your leisure while aboard.” They then passed another split. “I believe the captain will also open the officers table to you; I recommend you dine with her at some point, as it is customary.”

  Kai just nodded along, doing his best not to drool at the mention of meals prepared by a chef after so many shoddy meals made by them in the dungeon.

  “You will find the main mess is just below. The decks above and below both house the crew and the ship's complement of adventures. You will find the sound wards are quite effective, though if you prefer the sound of an active ship, they can be adjusted to your liking.”

  “Adventurers?” Kai asked as they were nearing the opposite side of the ship they had started from.

  “Yes, the exploration is an active ship; he has an active compliment-“

  “He? I thought all ships were women.” Kai interrupted.

  Arnella gave him a strange look. “No, ships are male; they need constant care and attention, and if you don’t look after them just right, they tend to act up. male. Though some of the sturdier ships may be considered female. But it is rare.”

  Kai’s jaw fell open as he looked to Syl for backup; she just smiled at him.

  “As I was saying. Our good boy, the exploration, has an active complement of four adventuring teams at any one time. It was the two silver teams waiting to assist you in the ambush, though it turned out they weren’t needed. You will find one team is stationed near the top deck and the other at the bottom. Should the ship come under attack, they are positioned to respond.”

  Arnella came to a stop outside a set of double doors.

  “Now, the bronze team serve as members of the crew, learning all they can about life on an active ship so that, should something unfortunate happen, they can fulfil the needed roles at a moment's notice. This is a common practice, as they gain opportunities to explore dungeons and rifts that might otherwise be beyond their means.”

  “And the gold team?” Syl asked.

  “The exploration is one of the few ships to have an active gold-ranked team. Adventurers usually commission their own ship once reaching gold. More commonly, they will be part of some large guild and use the guild's ships for excursions away from their host city.”

  Following the conversation, Kai was beginning to feel like airships were incredibly common on Alea. He was about to ask, but Arnella spoke up again.

  “This is your quarters. You may come and go as you like.” She looked at Syl, “The captain, however, asks that I accompany you at all times. Both for your safety and that of the crew. And Lady Syl, he requests that you not phase through any floors or walls. The privacy of the crew is to be respected at all times, especially in their personal quarters and bunk rooms.”

  Syl nodded her understanding.

  “That said”, she pointed at a door they had passed earlier, “I have been relieved of my other duties and have been quartered two doors up, for your convenience. Should you need me, please feel free to come right in; I am not a private woman.” She winked at them both.

  That confused Kai.

  Syl however chuckled, “Careful Arnella, I’m still training this one, and I might need some help.”

  For her part, Arnella just laughed as she pulled out a key, opened the door and stepped into the room.

  Following her into the room, Kai was surprised to see a four-poster bed with plush white sheets. Two elaborate wardrobes and a writing desk with a mirror.

  Despite the luxury of the sage's rooms, he had been expected to be put somewhere more spartan. Though he did remember Alicia mentioning something about private quarters. This just seemed a bit much.

  “This room is commonly known as the empress room,” Arnella said as she passed Kai the key, “it’s commonly reserved for the empress herself and other royal guests. I hope you understand the limitations of luxury whilst one is aboard a working… There have been complaints.”

  Kai just shrugged, “This looks good to me. I’ve been sleeping in a dungeon for the last couple of weeks. But are you sure this is right? I’m not exactly royalty. I’m common as muck where I come from.”

  Arnella smiled, “I thought you would have no problems. Now, space is limited, but you have a side room to take care of any business you might have.”

  “Business?” Kai asked as he tried to get himself out of his constant state of confusion.

  “It’s the bathroom, dear.” Syl said with a sigh.

  “Oh,” Kai said, interested to see how royalty did their business; he couldn’t help but walk over to the side door and take a look.

  He was hoping for some kind of flushing toilet.

  Instead he found himself looking at a cushioned shelf with a hole in it with a chamber pot fixed to the floor just below it. By the pot's fixed position, he assumed it was magical.

  The real issue was he couldn't see any rolls of toilet paper. Just a pile of clean white cloths sitting on a stool to the side, which he hoped were self-cleaning. He was really beginning to miss the simplicity of disposable toilet paper.

  “You look disappointed.” Arnella said.

  He sighed.

  “Not having magic to clean the pots and store the waste in a linked space for later disposal, his world had moderately more developed plumbing. He used to spend so long on the loo he would get up with a dead leg and have to waddle back to his room.” Syl said absently as she drifted around the room after pulling her head back out of one of the wardrobes.

  “Who doesn’t like a good minute to themselves?” Arnella said, “But really, no magic? Where does all the waste go?”

  “Flushed away down pipes with water.” Syl explained.

  “What a waste of water; you won’t find anything like that on Alea, I’m afraid.”

  Thinking of all the sewage that was ending up in rivers back on Earth, there was probably a point to using magical chamber pots.

  “Breakfast is served in the mess between six and seven, though if you wish, food can be brought to either your quarters or the private dining room. Following that, the adventurers meet for two hours of daily training up on the deck. I mention it because Lady Alicia rarely missed a day training with the other adventures.” She said as she made for the door. “Now, any questions or immediate needs I can attend to?”

  Kai had a million questions, but mostly he thought about asking for something to eat, but he didn’t want to burden Arnella so soon with demands. That and he didn’t know if he could actually stomach anything so soon.

  He just shook his head.

  Syl however possessed more foresight than him and asked, “How long will we be aboard?”

  Arnella’s eyes narrowed slightly. “It will take about a month to reach the capital at the exploration's typical cruising speed. But beyond that, I do not know when exactly you will be departing.”

  “So four weeks; I’m sure we can keep ourselves busy, right, Syl?”

  “Yes, I have something to sort out. But Kai, you're forgetting a month on Alea is six weeks, each week being six days.” Syl said, correcting him.

  “Lady Syl is correct. May I advise you not to get too comfortable? You should be ready to depart at any time should something go wrong.”

  “Ah yes… I understand.” Kai said, “Still adjusting.”

  “I will try and get you a better time frame, but think weeks, not days.” She looked Kai up and down. “Your attire may be viable in a dungeon or out slaying monsters. But if you check the wardrobes, you will find a collection of the latest fashion suitable for one of your new stations. Should help you fit in.”

  Kai looked down at himself. He was still in his armour. Having used his raiment to perfectly tailor its fit, he was more than comfortable. But he could see why walking around in armour on the ship might be a bit odd.

  He focused, doing his best to keep his trousers in place; he let his armour absorb back into his raiment and his top shift into a loose, comfortable shirt like the one he had been given by the sage when he first arrived on the planet.

  Arnella whistled, “Impressive, especially for someone nearing level twenty. I am assuming it is a growth item or something soulbound...” She clicked her tongue a couple of times as she seemed to think something over.

  Coming to a silent conclusion, she said, “While the crew should be of no real concern, I wouldn’t go showing that ability off in mixed company. Word could get around, and someone might try and take it from your corpse. A lot of nobles would kill for an item like that, and adventurers too. There are already whispers about the blue sword you used in the ambush.”

  Seeing her point, Kai coughed as he again ignored the buzz of unanswered notifications.

  “I’m actually only level ten; I was level eight this morning, before things kicked off,” he said, ignoring the tightening in his stomach as he remembered how he got those two levels today. He definitely wasn’t going to ask for something to eat now.

  Arnella took a step toward him in surprise. “You were level eight when you took out those three assassins? Shit… mind if I examine you and confirm… No one could actually examine you or Alicia; there’s actually a betting pool on what level you reached in the dungeon.”

  His stomach tightened even more at the mention of his kills. Trying not to let it get to him again, he put on a smile. “Only if there is a way I can get in on the action.”

  Arnella tsked, “I suppose I can give you half of the prize for getting a successful examination on you. But you’ll have to pretend I didn’t ask, and you didn’t notice my examination. Oh, and keep your guard up for the next week or so. People will try to confirm.”

  Syl floated over, “I’m guessing the prize decreases if we notice or you have to ask?”

  Arnella nodded, “I’ll already lose out as your aide, but if we wait a few days and you can block any attempts over the next week or so, I should be able to split the full prize with you. That is assuming it wasn’t because of your cloaks, and you can still suppress exams.”

  “The cloaks helped, but you’ll find Kai has an unnaturally high guard for his level. Examine him. It’s like he has the combined mental defence of two people, both of them older than the sage.”

  Arnella looked at him, and he felt a light pressure; after a moment, she squinted, the pressure increasing as her eyes narrowed before eventually she let out a weary breath, “Nothing. No… not nothing; as I tried harder, it was as if I shouldn’t be looking. It was weird, my attention trying to shift to other things.”

  “Ah, Kai, take off your shroud, and think about letting her know you.”

  He nodded and subtracted the mana from his spectre’s shroud, his vision going black as the cloth rematerialised on his face.

  “Again, don’t do that in mixed company,” Arnella said.

  “Believe me, you’re not the first one to tell me not to reveal my secrets,” Kai said as he removed the blindfold and saw the short woman squinting at him again.

  She shook her head. “It no longer feels weird, but I still just get question marks; it’s like trying to examine the sage. Possibly harder, like that time we crossed one of the dragon’s territories and we got a visit.”

  “You know he isn’t even trying to stop the examination.”

  Arnella’s eyes went wide as she clicked her tongue again, “We’re going to make so much gold. The longer it takes for someone to get a successful examine on you, the more the pot will grow.”

  “So Kai, don’t let anyone know about your level until we know we are going to depart.”

  He nodded.

  “Now for the love of the spirit's lower that guard so I can examine you.” Arnella beamed at him, her brown eyes glistening.

  Not knowing exactly how to lower his guard, he thought about how nice and friendly Arnella was, how approachable she had been.

  It must have worked, as the little woman grinned at him and nodded, “Level ten and i can't even get your race and age… Now, how did you do it?”

  “Do what?”

  “Get the three stealthed attackers; they were twice your level, and no one even detected them despite being on alert for them.”

  “Is there another pot I can get in on?”

  “No, people are curious. But the scuttlebutt is you have an item that lets you see stealthed people… the silver rankers put a stop to that betting pool. Adventurers don’t like people snooping on gear, especially dungeon items.”

  “Well, I think we should keep this one a secret then, Arnella,” he said as he put the shroud back on, pulsing some mana into his eyes, letting them flash blue for a moment just after the shroud hooked to his mana and disappeared.

  She pouted, “Fine, keep your secrets… It's not the cloth, is it? No, that’s new; your eyes glowed before the dungeon…”

  “Tell you what, let me examine you, and I'll give you a hint.”

  She gave him a confused look but recovered quickly; looking to Syl she said, “He’s a polite one.”

  Syl shook her head. “That’s not it; his exam is so rough anyone can detect it. Had to ask him not to use it in the dungeon, as it would give use away. I took over scouting and marking targets for him, so it kind of stuck.”

  “Well if that’s the case, please practise. I will let the crew know you're working on improving your abilities so they can expect to be examined by you.” She grinned, “In fact, I’ll tell the crew to feel free to examine you; in return, I should help with the betting pool.”

  Kai shrugged and said, “Works for me,” as he tried to examine Arnella with all the subtlety he could muster.

  She winced, “You do need practice; no offence, but you're like a toddler who just discovered the ability.”

  Temm Arnella Lv. 43

  Gnomel Age: 105

  High-Shipman of the T.S.S. Spirit of Exploitation

  Kai had thought he was getting better; apparently not. But putting her comment aside, he was surprised and mumbled, ”A hundred and five…”

  “Yes, I am a hundred and five,” she gave him a look, “old enough to settle down and think about having toddlers of my own…”

  “Sorry, to me you don’t look a day over thirty.” Kai tried to explain.

  Arnella smiled and looked at Syl, “polite and a flirt, but also a little oblivious. Be careful with this one; I like them tall.” She gave Kai another look. “But I see he already has braids, two of them… Such a shame to see one so young already trying to settle down. Good way to keep all but the most determined women away.”

  Something seemed to pass between the two women that he couldn’t quite read, which was frustrating because his language skills should have helped him understand.

  “Does he actually know the significance of those braids? And out of curiosity… who actually did them?”

  Syl chuckled, “Alicia was the one who wanted to do them; I made the suggestion, and she agreed.” Syl then winked, “I asked her to add one for me. Kai seemed to like them and asked for her to keep doing them.”

  Kai realised Syl had dodged the question of whether or not he knew the significance of the braids.

  Arnella sighed, “Alicia is too stiff a competition for me.” Then she grinned, giving him a devious look. “You know the rumour mill’s going to go insane.”

  Thinking about it, he remembered he had actually asked for a haircut.

  But he had asked Alicia to redo the braids from time to time. While she experimented with the braids, she never actually deviated from the two braids. One down each side to keep his hair out of his face when he got into a fight during their dungeon dive.

  Alarm bells now going off in the back of his head and not liking where this conversation could go, he shelved it for private discussion later and asked something that had been nagging at him since he first heard it, “What does the T.S.S. stand for?”

  He knew the H.M.S. was his or her majesty's ship, and U.S.S. was a United States ship or a United Space Ship if you were a bit of a nerd.

  He was interested to see a naming convention on a completely different world and wanted to know if it meant anything.

  “The sage's ship.” Arnella replied, “Only five ships have ever had the prefix, and only two are currently in service.” She stood puffing out her chest. "It is considered a high honour to serve aboard such a vessel. The crew selected by the sage himself… But Lord Kai, aren't you forgetting something?”

  Assuming it was a military thing, he ignored Lord Kai again and rubbed his chin. He actually had so many questions, but what was he forgetting?

  “She means how you single-handedly dealt with three stealthed opponents twice your level.” Syl said, giving him the context he had lost.

  His stomach tightened thinking of the fear he had seen, but he smirked, “Well, it wasn’t single-handedly for a start. The main thing was I could see them; they lost the element of surprise and were caught off guard. They were sloppy.”

  Arnella nodded, “That would do it; people like that often get complacent when they can just vanish; they don’t react well unless they have had decent training. Now if you have no immediate needs, I have a report to make.”

  She pointed to a cord by the door and then to another cord by the bed. “Those will summon me, day or night… no matter where I am on the ship.” She paused in the doorway and looked at the two of them, waiting. “This is where you dismiss me.”

  “Dismissed,” Syl said with a smile. “And thank you; it’s been enlightening, and next time, don’t call me Lady.”

  “No can do, Lady Syl,” Arnella said as she gave a quick bow of her head and then left, closing the doors behind her with a click.

  Kai turned to Syl; it was actually quite late, and he was tempted to get some sleep, but that might be difficult; he needed something to clear his mind.

  “Syl, do you think you can either teach me mana sense, pass the knowledge on with that ability of yours or run me through the basics?”

  Syl gave a long, “You know she was d.t.f… probably still is. No strings attached by the sounds of it. Though I think there is the chance she wouldn’t be against some kind of contract for a child…”

  “Wait, she was?” He paused as he tried to recall the conversation, “I mean, I got that she was being a little flirtatious… But down to fuck? I don’t think so.” He said as he went to sit down on the end of the bed and started fidgeting with his ring, “Syl, she looked younger than me, well, younger than I was, but she is a hundred and five.”

  Sighing, Syl said, “Would it help if she were a vampire? That always seemed like a perfect excuse for age gaps in Earth's media.”

  Kai fidgeted with his ring, trying to decide what Syl was getting at as he again ignored the buzz in the back of his head.

  “You know you are going to need to check those notifications eventually.”

  While he was pleased she changed the subject, he wished she had chosen to bring up something else.