136 Chapter 136: Ching Shih

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China's Sea

July 1820

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As Helena's Revenge sailed through the made-up boats, their quality kept increasing to the point that when they reached the center of it, there were half of dozen of very nice ships. And for the looks of it, these well-maintained ships were the 'elite' force of Ching Shih's fleet since the people manning them all looked like seasoned sailors that knew what they were doing. In the middle of the group of the well-maintained ship was a single ship that had a different flag from the rest. It was the captain's ship.

Erik sailed Helena's revenge to the captain's ship side, keeping the same speed of it. Since it was already getting dark because of the night, they opted for just following beside's the ship and wait for the night to come since Serafall preferred to talk to the woman without her crew around. At night, when Erik sensed that the captain was retiring herself to her room, Erik warned Serafall, who was already ready, and she, together with Mary and Anne, took flight on the night after casting over themselves a mild notice-me-not charm. While that was happening, Erik decided to get started with tonight's dinner.

Half an hour later, Erik sensed Serafall, Mary, and Anne, arriving back to Helena's Revenge with someone in tow. The three Devils walked into the dining area that Erik had prepared for them to eat over the night's sky with a black-haired woman garbed in black leather armor walking behind them. The woman's complexion was one of a person who was obviously shaken. Shaken by the revelation that the supernatural was indeed real, something that sailors usually already believed due to everything that they met on Sea, but curious at the same time to what more was there to be seen.

"Husband, I am back and brought a visit."

Serafall announced in her ever cheery tone. Erik turned and smiled at his Satan wife while continuing to give the final touches to the table.

"Welcome back, Sera. You and the girls go clean yourselves. Dinner will be served in a minute."

Erik said and walked to the internal part of the yacht, where the kitchen could be found, not staying to see Ching Shih's reaction to him or Serafall pulling the pirate Queen by hand to the nearest bathroom while explaining some of the things that she knew about Helena's Revenge.

Two hours later, Ching Shih was back inside her room inside her flagship. Her last two hours and a half had been an experience for her. First, she met three Devils, one of which was, apparently, Satan Leviathan, who was named after the mythical sea beast. Or was it the inverse, the mythical sea beast that was named after the Satan? She didn't ask about that since her head was occupied with other things at the moment but noted on her mind to ask in the next opportunity. Then, after the presentations, the four of them got to talk with her and the other two women, who she learned used to be pirates too before becoming Devils, had clicked due to the thing that they had in common. Ching Shih was then invited to join them to dinner, back at their ship. Apparently, Seraffal's husband was going to cook and that was something that no one could miss. She accepted the invitation for dinner at the same imagining that the Satan's husband was one of those afeminated men that she had got word that was common in redlight districts.

Soon after, she was flown to a white ship that was calmly sailing together with her flagship without sails or being noticed by anyone. To her shock, the strange ship was entirely made of metal, something that she thought to be impossible to happen. Noticing her interest in the ship, Serafall started to explain everything that she knew about Helena's Revenge, which was the ship's name. No. Not ship. Yacht. The yacht was built almost six hundred years ago by Serafall's Husband, Erik Ravenclaw, so the family could travel the world in the same comfort that they would have at a land home, and was entirely enchanted. The man, Erik Ravenclaw, was the yacht's captain too and manned the entire ship with the use of his magic. And what a man! Ching Shih couldn't be more wrong about how the Satan's husband looked like. He was big. But not the fat-big type that she was used to seeing. No. Erik Ravenclaw was the strong and tall type of big, something that caught her eye very easily.

It was then that Ching Shih realized something. She had been smitten by Erik Ravenclaw. Ching Shih then put one of her hands over the pendant that Serafall had given her for when she was 'ready' to reincarnate and smiled. Erik Ravenclaw already had five wives, maybe he wouldn't mind having a sixth one. And with that thought in her mind, Ching Shih drifted to the dream's land, where a tall and hunky man would hold her tight under his body and ravage her entirely.

Back at Helena's Revenge, Serafall and the other women were having a conversation on their own about Ching Shih while having beverages of their choice.

"So have anyone noticed the way that Ching Shih was throwing looks all time during dinner at Erik?"

Leona asked the group, who was alone on the yacht at the moment. Erik had been called back at home by Selena to do something urgently for her. The call had been a plot of Calypso so the girls could talk alone, and for it, she employed the help of Selena. They had a time alone talking while Selena had a time alone with Erik. It was an 'everybody wins' situation. The women all giggled at Leona's saying.

"Noticed? It was very obvious to all us that Chin Shih had been smitten by Erik."

Anne said while resting her body on Mary's one, enjoying the presence of her lover's heat and the flavor of the red wine that she had just drunk. All other women nodded at that, agreeing with Anne's words.

"Yeah, she was just a little less obvious than our Musashi here~"

Calypso said while smirking and eyeing Musashi, who got beet-red when the conversation's subject suddenly changed to her.

"I-I don't know what you are talking about, Cali."

Musashi replied while taking a sip from her cup of sake and trying to disguise her embarrassment, failing miserably at the second. All other women giggle at that.

"Come on, Musashi. Although you are a Devil, one thing that you are absolutely worthless at is at lying."

Leona said after taking a sip from her glass of red wine.

"You know Musashi, I don't think that the girls would botter in sharing Erik with you too."

Mary said after taking a sip from her glass of whiskey. That comment made Musashi look with wide eyes to Mary, and then look at Erik's wives who were present in the 'talking'. When no women said anything against it, a small flame of hope lighted itself inside Musashi's heart. It had been years since she noticed that she was falling for Erik, but she had kept her distance due to various reasons. One of them was that Erik was already married to other women with one of them being her King, Serafall Leviathan.

"And how about you two, Mary and Anne? You two are always teasing him."

Musashi asked back, trying to diverge the attention from her person.

"Hmm… I wouldn't mind sharing a bed with Erik provided that Serafall join us too."

Anne said lazily while still resting on Mary, who, incredible enough, nodded her head in agreement with her lover. The two of them were kink like that. That words made everyone quiet down. Serafall showed no reaction at the outside about Anne's words, but a seed had been planted inside her mind.

"So, do you think that Ching Shih will join you, Serafall?"

Joan asked the Satan while rolling the red wine glass in her hands, effectively changing the topic of the conversation.

"Hmm… Probably. I say there is about ninety percent of chance of her joining me. But it will take some time until she calls. What she is trying to accomplish here is too big for her to leave it all behind immediately."

Serafall said thoughtfully. She could sympathize with the reason and motives, but not with the way that they are trying to accomplish their goals. Even so, it was the best option available for them at the moment.

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It was ten years later that Serafall received the 'call' from Ching Shih. After talking again with the pirate Queen, who had become even more famous during these ten years, Serafall, with a little help from Erik, arranged everything for her to step down from piracy. Ching Shih would be going to 'die' in an unfortunate accident while handling black powder. Nothing serious that would put other people's lives in danger, but enough to be fatal individually. And just like that, Chin Shih, the pirate Queen, left the normal world and joined the supernatural one as one of Serafall Leviathan's pawns. What no one expected was that, as soon as Ching Shih reincarnated, a Sacred Gear manifested itself inside her soul and it was not one that anyone recognized. In accord to the information that Ching Shih got when he awakened the Sacred Gear, its name was Compass of Desire. Like the name suggested, the Sacred Gear took the shape of a compass and it would point itself to the direction where the 'thing' that its owner desired was located. It had not any use in battles but it was an amazing tool in the same way. It strongly reminded Erik of an old movie that he had watched when he was a kid in his past life where a pirate captain had a compass that worked much like Ching Shih's Sacred Gear. Maybe it was a leak or influence from another world? Who knows.

During these ten years, Musashi finally dared to grab Erik by the balls. Not literally, of course. After managing to land a hit on Joan during a spar, Musashi dared to invite Erik to a spring festival that would be happening in her hometown, in Japan. The man accepted the invitation since his wives had already talked with him about Musashi. In truth, Erik would be lying if he said that he was not attracted to Musashi. At the end of the day, Musashi joined the family again, this time not only as Serafall's Knight but as one of Erik's lovers too.

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a/n: and with that, Erik met his final wife.