15 A Macabre Show

It was better to leave some things unspoken.

Lia could really do math. Bastian was not so terrible at it himself, but this girl went at it full force with no calculator…and when she hiked up her legs under the table with an uncharacteristic lack of self-consciousness, Bastian almost thought that he had also spied a lack of panties, but he could not be sure about it at all.

No, it was not a good idea to say anything about that, and neither was it a good idea to ask her about the current thing she was doing. Bastian was relieved to have someone like her taking care of everything concerning numbers, but he was also a bit unnerved by her prowess.

Sammy seemed to be watching everything like a silent observer. She crossed her arms across her chest, pushing her cleavage up with the movement. She was still pretty much firm and perky everywhere. Only her clothes had taken some damage from the work she had completed on the ship earlier.

Bastian paid special attention to avoiding looking like he paid special attention to anything. It was important to divide his eyeing of different body parts so that it did not seem like he was actively averting his gaze, either, since that was what a covert pervert would have done. And that would have been a bad look. Cleavage. Wrist. The curve of a neck, then cleavage again. Eyes. Nose. Collarbone. Waist, fingers. And then another randomized pattern that was shared with the ladies in a way that ensured their continuous interest in him.

Captain Bastian Black was no wizard, but neither was he a fool, not yet.

"So…we multiply every time by 1.4, right? And that is all they need to know. That they will be able to beat up 40 men or less," Lia explained.

Sammy frowned. She was not so easily satisfied.

"But that number does not match the amount of sailors on an average merchant ship," Sammy commented.

"It doesn't need to match that number," said Lia, with an unnecessarily heavy emphasis on the word number. "It is a challenge. It is already an outrageously huge number, but it is still small enough that the girls will grab it and go to town with it, fighting to prove that they are better than that. Captain Bastian is right about the significance of mathematical psychology."

"Psycho math, but it might work," Sammy agreed. "So, do we have any trade routes nearby? I myself have been around here."

"The summer storms are about to strike the mainland and the last merchants are in a hurry," Amanda replied quickly. "I happen to know that busy merchants are quite often poorly equipped to handle surprises like us. I think we have a chance of scaring them into submission, because I am pretty much certain that we shall find a ship or two before the week is over."

"Splendid," Bastian said. "But what do you mean, scare them? Paint our faces to look like skulls and pretend to be performing a human sacrifice on the deck?"

The women stared at him and their smiles turned to grins.

"I love our captain," Amanda said.

They had some time to prepare for the show, as they had not yet sighted a ship. It was easier to explain the matter than Bastian had expected. In every woman, a stupid, fun-loving side existed, whether that side manifested as a Halloween-costumed goth or a horseback-riding cowgirl. A macabre show that would be especially designed to look like they were about to take the captain's heart - still beating, of course, as they would butcher one of the sick cows of the ship for it - out of his chest and then make him walk as a living dead man again, well, that stuff really got their juices flowing and they cackled madly while painting their faces with white chalk in order to seem even crazier than they were.

Near sunset they discovered that the trade route was indeed plentiful. A fat merchant was sailing their way, not caring about the presence of the Maiden's Mercy since the latter was not a particularly impressive ship. Just a little thing with brig-style rigging. The merchant was in a hurry, but the girl were already painting the deck with cow blood and making sure that no one caught a glimpse of them before night would fall.

"You made it into a game, Captain," Amanda, the beautiful first mate, said as she drew a criss-cross pattern on her whitened face with the blood of the cow that would have been slaughtered soon in any case. "I admire you. People do love games, women are not exceptions to that."

"Well. I cracked a joke and my little council decided that it was a good time to take my words seriously. I cannot hog all honor derived from this decision to myself," Captain Bastian Black said, honestly and without any attempt to sound humble when he clearly was not. He had merely been unable to guess that the outcome would be this profitable. "And we still have a merchant to catch. I think you will be better off postponing your praise until we are done with it."

"Well spoken," Amanda said and patted him on the shoulder with a friendly air of affection.

Gods, it felt so good to have a woman actively touch him. He would have to have a go at her, no matter what - but this seduction needed a sturdy base so that everything would be perfect once Amanda became his first proper wife.

Bastian smiled to himself and observed the last fading sunlight painting the world and the waves below with red and warm colors. There was a cry of some unrecognizable seabird, and then the sun went down and as there were no lanterns lit, the Maiden's Mercy bathed in darkness while the merchant shone brightly through the night, furiously signaling to the pirate ship that they should immediately turn away and leave them alone. The merchant ship, along with its captain, was probably suspecting foul play by now.