“Cheers!” the group of friends cheerfully exclaimed as they clashed glass cups. Maria was the only one drinking alcohol, while everyone else preferred juices. It had been approximately five days since they both ran away from the navy.
Shortly after Fin had lost consciousness, Maria leapt out of the navy ship, swimming ashore as quickly as she could. The ship had taken off in the distance, making the navy follow behind. By the time the battleships caught up to the scout vessel, they were already near other islands, muddying their search.
“Mannn! I was worried about you for a second, Captain.”
Tan wrapped his arm around Fin, “you were out for five whole days, I thought you were going to die!”
“I wouldn’t die that easily. I had to keep my promise to Maria.” he said it so casually that it took Maria a split second before she comprehended what he had actually said. She turned away, trying to hide her blush.
“Well, we’re glad you’re safe, Finny.” Yuna cheerfully stated, taking another sip from her teacup.
“Yeah. Thanks, Yuna.”
Nanaki tapped him on the shoulder, “so, does that mean you’ll be leaving again soon?”
“I’m not sure.” he then turned to Maria, clearly asking her to answer for him.
“Hmmm,” she stared at the ceiling, “I don’t see a reason to hang out a bit more. I did a solo recon mission while Fin was out, and turns out, my crewmates and Fin’s crewmates ended up washing ashore on a random island.”
“Now that I know they’re safe, we can relax on Flarenorice a bit more.”
“Plus, we have such a big house here, it’d be a waste to let a drill monkey hog the place all alone.”
Yuna’s eye twitched, “Miss Lemonia. Surely you don’t mean who I think you mean.”
“Of course I mean what I mean. Now that you’re broke, you might as well rent these rooms out.”
The two ladies glared daggers at each other, ready to throw punches at any time. Nanaki approached the tensioning battlefield with a stack of paper in her hands. Chuckling nervously, she asked for their attention.
“Sorry to interrupt your fight, but I drew everyone here because I thought you’d leave.”
“It’d mean a lot to me if you guys kept it around for memories.”
In a blink of an eye, Maria snatched the drawing of Fin before Yuna could. But to her surprise, Yuna barely seemed upset.
Searching through the stack, she slipped out a drawing of someone else. Maria peeked over her shoulder, expecting someone as high in nobility and ego as Yuna to choose art of herself, but the drawing did not resemble her in the slightest.
It was the drawing of Tan J. Rene.
Blushing, Yuna pushed the piece of paper toward her chest, refusing any chance of anyone else taking even a peek at what she had chosen. Meanwhile, the person who arranged the stack of paper huffed in excitement as she smelled the brewing of a new romance.
“MISS YUZU!!!” Nanaki exploded, but before she could say anything else, Yuna clasped her hand against her mouth, preventing her from saying another word.
Glaring at her in embarrassment, the noble had one demand for the teenager, “Not. another. Word.”
Gulping, Nanaki nodded rapidly.
“Fu. fu. Fu.”
“Yer never honest with yer feelin’s Master.”
While normally Yuna tolerated the cat’s behavior, the sheer fact that it was the familiar’s fault that she had gotten shot in the first place upset her. Reaching out her arm, she gripped the paper cat as hard as she could.
“GAH!!! M-Mas… ter…”
“Can it. I don’t want to hear another word from you after what you’ve done.” From the palm of her hand, fire magic ignited the creature alive.
“GAAAHHH!! IM DYIN’! IM DYIN’ O’ER ‘ERE!!! GAAAAAAAAAAH!!! MASTERRR PLEASEEE!!!” before they knew it, black particles dusted down from Yuna’s hands.
“Good display as always, Yuna!” Tan gave her a thumbs up.
Maria sat back down in her chair, leaning it back as far as she could.
“Man, it sure does feel good to be out of trouble for now though.”
“I was really scared, Fin. I get you were trying to do all that make-sure-I-get-away-safely stuff, but you could have been executed, y’know?”
“That’s right, Finny. Even if you join this kelp-head’s crew, make sure not to make such reckless decisions like that ever again. Honestly, at first I thought you went mad when you approached me that night.”
Scratching the back of his head, Fin smiled innocently, “yeah. I’ll try not to do that from now on.”
“Wait, they were gonna execute you?!” Nanaki exclaimed in shock.
“Uh, I feel like execution is kind of a big deal. So probably not,” Fin replied.
Then, Maria shot back, “What are you talking about? They’ve executed lesser pirates than us before. Besides, you’ve been kind of a pain in the butt for them for the two years you’ve been a pirate. There’s no way they would have executed you.”
“Captain,” Tan called out next to him, “can you stop making such big life decisions on your own next time? I was about to be not only homeless, but also captainless. I kinda don’t want that.”
“No, guys, listen to me.” Fin held out his hand.
“I probably would have been thrown in jail, but I wouldn’t have gotten executed at all.”
“Hm?” Maria cocked her head, “what makes you so sure?”
She had known Fin long enough to know there was a reason he was being adamant. If he was actually just ignorant, he would have just nodded along and restructured his statement, but this time, he was firm on his answer.
“Well, I don’t think Auntie Veronica would have executed me. She said she’d give me the pass if I ever got caught.”
“Worst-case scenario, I was probably going to be in jail for a week or so.”
Everyone froze as they heard a familiar name slip out of Fin’s mouth. There was only one Veronica that they knew of who held even a modicum of authority in the Velion Empire. But surely, he couldn’t have meant…
“Finny,” Yuna was the first to speak up, “who is this Veronica person you’re talking about?”
Without hesitation, he replied, “Oh. She’s an old friend of my teacher. She used to stop by the academy sometimes and would talk to me about random political stuff. Ah, but she did have a nasty nickname for me.”
He pouted, “She used to call me a ‘mudbiter’ for some reason. Even as a kid, I thought it was pretty rude.”
That had all but confirmed it. The name Veronica was synonymous with a certain individual who called anyone ‘mudbiter,’ even the most powerful of generals and nobles. Everyone’s jaws, except Fin’s, dropped to the floor. They were too flabbergasted at what they had just heard.
“Hm? What’s wrong?” Fin cocked his head.
None of the people in the room knew why or how, but somehow, Fin was taught by not only the greatest mage in the world, but was also extremely well acquainted with the Empress of the Velion Empire.
After a momentary pause, the sheer absurdity of the situation caused everyone in the room to burst out in laughter, leaving Fin feeling a bit outcast.
For two days, the world around them seemed to be so doom and gloom, but now, the group could feel the sun’s vibrant smile upon the island of Flarenorice. This chapter of their lives might have ended, but the rest of their journey was just beginning.