The "Guilty Crown"

A/N: BIG SPECIAL THANKS to @DDose and @DarthBane ... You guys are awesome. Here, some cult robes and masks.

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The meal was over and everyone was sleepy. Alina was overwhelmed by the dragon prophecy I told her and had an interesting reaction. According to Hilda, Alina can tell lies from truth due to her unique mystic talent. Me and her playing 'Truth or Dare' would be a disaster so let's just not try to imagine it.

Due to that, it seems that she knew I am not lying but had a hard time believing it.

Anyway, everyone was too bloated to think about anything now. The Heavenly Mammoth Kabab and the Heaven Defying Earth Shattering Shawarma were just so good. Even the lady-like Alina ate without holding back.

I don't get how she can eat without removing her face veil but after she finished eating, she turned around and changed it to a new one.Impressive!

Still, It left me disappointed as part of the reason I kept recommending food to her was to see what is under the veil.

Laaneth told me that Alina is so beautiful to the point that she can ruin a nation! I am not really believing that a beauty can ruin a nation, even though it happened many times in history, but I really wanted to see.

Never mind that! I will get a chance later.

After the meal, Wulfur brought a wooden box and put it in front of me.

"I managed to finish those!" He said.

I opened the box and couldn't help but nod in approval.

"Bro, your talent is getting scarier day by day."

"Haha! Your ideas are getting weirder day by day too."

I took out the first item in the box and carried it in my hand.

"A crossbow?" Hilda looked at the strange design and recognized what its.

"Not just any crossbow! It is a lever-action crossbow." I started explaining how fast and powerful a lever-action crossbow can be compared to a bow or a normal crossbow.

It has a bolt chamber and with every shot and a revolving mechanism, the user can reload it by the lever in a faster and an easier way to reload than the normal crossbow.

"This is for you Jullanar! I am not sure if there is an enchantment that can make the bolts fly faster or have a better accuracy but I will apply it once I know any." I said.

"Thank you!"Jull took it and was all smiles

"I know such an enchantment!" Alina said.

"I'll be counting on you then!" I said.

I noticed that this junior of mine is trying to be helpful whenever the opportunity arises.

Well! I don't mind helpful people at all.

I looked at the wooden box and took the second item.

A pair of full metal gauntlets made of a heavy metal. They have three short spikes on the knuckles area which is good for punching and the bracer area is big and wide which is good for defending.

"A pair of fighting gauntlets made of Orichalcum. I am not really good with the Orcish metal so it took me over a month to finish that with the help of Morbagog from the Creation Club. I must say I am proud of what it turned out to be." Wulfur said.

Hehe! This is so good.

Lately, I was fighting more unarmed than using weapons. Of course, weapons are essential but this will make my life easier. I have an enchantment in mind but it will take time to make it so let's do it when I arrive at the Firemane Clan.

Anyway, the day ended and everyone went to pack their things.

Tomorrow, we will meet Hilda at her ship!

***

Tomorrow is today.

Let's see.

Clothes, check.

Gear, check.

Potion bag, check.

Jullanar, check.

Reading material, check.

Money, check.

Nefertiti, check.

Nefertiti's food, check.

Experiments materials, check.

Research paper, check.

Hmmm! I forgot nothing.

I took everything and closed the house.

After I walked outside the main gate. I looked back and sighed.

"I built that House to pass time and laze around in! It has been built for half a year now and I didn't get to stay in it more than ten days all together!" I said in a remorseful tone. I really love staying at that place as much as how much Nefertiti loves staying in wooden boxes.

Trudvar was waiting for me with some men to carry my stuff over to the Firemane ship. I left him with a series of orders for the town defense projects and how to deal with any situation when the time comes.

I will be in contact with the Augur to check on the place from time to time.

Now, let's head to the ship.

Wulfur seemed to have been waiting at the docks, Alina and Nurina came right after me. Hilda was crashing at Nurina's place so she came with them.

"Good! Everyone is here." Hilda said then looked at her ship and shouted "The ramp!"

The large ship that was silent all the time became lively all of a sudden.

"Captain! You are back?" Someone shouted.

"No, that's my ghost you are seeing!"

"Oh! We'll go back to sleep then!"

"THE RAMP YOU DOGS!"

"Yes! Right away! The ramp! Move! Move! The captain will kill us!"

The situation is lively up there.

The ramp came down and some men came down running.

"Captain! We're ready!"

"We are very awake!"

"No one was sleeping!"

Hilda was glaring at them and they were all shivering. That's how scary Hilda is when she glares.

The men took all the luggage and carried it to the ship.

We followed silently.

The 'Guilty Crown' was indeed a big ship, something that needs a lot of men to sail. This is not a ship anyone can mess with. Even my small ship was not a thing to compare.

We were shown to the quarters and the place was amazing. I was very interested in how these big ships sail.

The relationship here is much more strict than a normal ship and all the sailors were armed and looked like professional fighters.

As the sun rose, the ship set sail to the open sea.

***

I really was amazed by how organized Hilda's sailors are.

They seemed to be your friendly sailors in the beginning but they were all powerful and able.

Even compared to the pirates from the Bloodsail clan that I met. The ones here reminded me of the group of warriors that accompanied Alina back on Mount Anthor.

I was observing all that while enjoying the sea breeze on the deck.

"Jonhild! Come, there is someone I want you to meet!" Hilda called for me.

"Who?"

"Just come! It's an old friend of mine."

I followed Hilda to the stairs under the deck and arrived at a certain quarter with a large door.

Hilda pushed the door open and looked in.

"Ylva! You are awake?" She entered and signaled for me to follow.

Just as I went in, I lost half of my brain cells.

"Holy bananas! Hilda, what in the world..."

"Haha! That's my girl, Ylva! Come, she won't bite..."

What I saw was a bit hard to describe. Let's just say this is a snow-white wolf that has grown a little bit too much. It has two long canines coming from its mouth and its blue eyes were similar to Hilda's. It stood up and was a little bit taller than Hilda.

"She is a Direwolf! Her kind has gone extinct a long time ago outside our clan but there are some of them that live with our clan."

I was not listening to Hilda at all.

The wolf... or the Direwolf in front of me has taken all my attention.

"Direwolves are different from wolves just like how the Tigers are different from cats. Those who have an affinity with a certain Guardian Beast will have an affinity with the other variants of the beast."

Just as I thought! If I remember correctly, there is no Guardian Beast from the spices of cats.

"Sigh! What a letdown!"

"Haha! You are still thinking about cats, aren't ya?"

"... Yeah!"

"I heard you gave Bjorna a big scare that day!"

Yeah! I was mentally tired that day.

"Then, What about those whose Guardian Beasts are Dragons, Whales, Moth? These ones can't be possibly raised."

"We have a moth cave! They live there around a certain kind of trees. The ones with an affinity to Whales are good sailors, they are the reason why our clan is so good at sailing. The ones with an affinity to Dragons are good with magic but they are rare, only one of them exists."

"Dragons! Interesting! Who might that be?"

"You old man!"

"... figures!"

This mysterious father of mine is becoming more and more interesting by the time.

"How does my father look like?"

"Tall, red hair!"

"Other than that?"

Hilda smiled but I didn't understand what that smile meant.

"You will meet him soon enough!" She said and turned to the direwolf.

"You can rest now Ylva, sleep if you can!" Hilda patted the direwolf and talked to her.

Ylva sat down whining to Hilda about something.

"Yeah, I know! Don't worry, we will reach ground soon! You can play as much as you want." Hilda said.

They seem to have a good understanding of each other.

Anyway, after a short while, their conversation ended. From that conversation, I learned how foolish do I look when I speak to Nefertiti in front of people like that.

We went up to the deck again and the quartermaster of Hilda told her that we arrived at a certain place, then Hilda sent him to invite Nurina and the rest.

"What is going on?" I asked.

"Hehe! I have been waiting for this since last year." Hilda was excited for some reason.

Don't tell me!

"You guys are having a rematch, aren't you!"

Hilda only smiled and went into her Captain Quarters.

Good grief!

This will turn into a serious headache.