20. The return
Grandfather, Mr. Dragan and Mr. Roldan were standing in the middle of the camp, they were all elated, seeing them return raised the morale of the entire crew.
Happiness flooded my heart, I ran with emotion as tears began to flow from my eyes, a strange feeling arose from my chest, Marcus also cried.
When he saw us running, he stepped away from the group and approached us while he smiled.
When we were in front of him he bent down and spread his arms, we sank into them and we cried hard, all the sadness of the last days disappeared in an instant, now I felt safe.
As we cried and trembled in Grandpa's arms Mr. Ignite spoke.
"Captain, it took him a while to return, the brats already gave him up for dead"
All the men laughed after Mr. Ignite's joke, I had never seen these men so happy, it seems that my grandfather is very loved by his crew.
All the men laughed after Mr. Ignite's joke, I had never seen these men so happy, it seems that my grandfather is very loved by his crew.
The grandfather laughed loudly, and with a haughty attitude, he replied.
"If a beast like this could kill me, no one would believe that I am the captain of the Shark Queen, I was just a little stronger than normal, on the way back we stopped to rest"
Grandfather's voice was indifferent, it seemed that the beast was just a stone in his shoe, my perspective of Grandfather changed, I knew that he was very powerful, but I did not know the true extent of his strength.
"HAHAHAHA, the captain is so strong, he treats a beast like something - a little stronger - if I were in front of that beast, death would be the only way" said Mr. Ignite with a thunderous laugh.
"In reality, it was much stronger than we thought, it almost cost us our lives, we were very badly injured and we had to rest on the nearby islands" said Mr. Roldan with a very serious face.
The jovial atmosphere stopped after Mr. Roldan's words, the grandfather's face suddenly changed, his gaze became very serious, to ease the atmosphere Mr. Ignite changed the conversation.
"Captain, what happened to the body of the beast?"
"Sure, the important parts are in the ring of Roldan" said the grandfather while pointing to Mr. Roldan.
Mr. Roldan nodded to confirm what Grandpa said.
Without waiting for Ignite to say more, Mr. Roldan spoke.
"I heard from Rishi that there is an extreme grade beast on the island."
"Samir and Garald are looking for the possible exits of the beast, we think it is a land lizard" quickly replied Mr. Ignite.
"Well, can you guys take care of the beast without our help?" asked the grandfather.
"It is an extreme beast but it is not that strong, I think that with Galard, Samir and Vedmid it is enough to defeat it"
Grandpa nodded in approval and said.
"I'll be in my tent resting, we swim for days at high speed, rest well tonight, tomorrow morning we will attack the lair of the beast, when Samir returns tell him to come and see me, we will leave in three days to Verf Blauw"
"I understand Captain, I'll tell Samir" replied Mr. Ignite.
After talking to us, Grandpa turned around and headed towards one of the tents we had set up, but he turned around and looked at Marcus and me.
"I see that they have become strong, when we return to Verf Blauw we will go to the adventurer's guild to take an aptitude test and I will introduce them to some people, after this trip, they will not have a single minute to hang around"
After saying these words he turned around and continued on his way.
I was very excited, all the accumulated stress these days had disappeared, we were finally in the final stretch of the trip, while I was talking with Marcus about how we fight with the beasts, I remembered something and I was paralyzed in that place.
"Keira's gift"
Marcus looked at me confused, but then he seemed to remember something and laughed out loud, I had told him about the promise I made to Keira and now the trip was about to end and I had nothing prepared.
"It's not funny, this is very important to me" a little irritated by his mocking laugh I yelled at Marcus, apparently my words only provoked more laughter, angrily I threw myself on top of him to hit him.
After exchanging blows with Marcus, the two of us ended up tired, we were walking on the beach and I was still thinking about what to give Keira.
"A shell"
"Not"
"The bone of an animal"
"Not"
"A cannonball"
"If you're going to keep saying stupid things I'll hit you again"
Marcus laughed and I really wanted to hit him again but I remembered that his physical strength is greater than mine and I didn't want to suffer a loss.
Marcus saw my fury and said.
"Dan, we have already lost a lot of time, look at the sun is beginning to set, we must return to the camp"
I looked towards the sea and there where the world ended the sun began to set, after a while, we headed towards the camp.
When we got to the camp we sat on one of the logs that the crew had placed around the fire and after a while Sergei came over to us and sat next to me.
"What's up dan? You should be happy after the captain's return, why are you worried?"
Trusting him, I told him about the situation he was in, after he finished speaking he looked at me and said.
"You should ask Ignite, even if he looks like a muscle brute, he is an excellent craftsman, he can make very fine weapons, he did this" he said while pointing to his chest.
On his chest rested a beautiful pendant, it was a gold coin the size of a walnut, on one side was the moon and on the other a group of little lycanthropes playing, I could not understand how so many details could fit in that piece of gold.
At that point, make the decision to speak to Mr. Ignite for help.
Marcus, Sergei and some crew members stayed around the campfire telling stories and gambling, night quickly came and with its arrival tiredness from the activities of the day.
Tired I went to my tent, I fell asleep instantly and did not get up until the next morning when Grandpa's screams woke me up.
With regret I walked towards the center of the camp where most of the crew were waiting, Grandfather, Mr. Samir, Mr. Garald and old Vedmid were in the center, when all were in the place, Grandfather spoke.
"Today we will hunt the beast that hides in the depths of this island and the one who will direct the operation will be Samir, Samir will tell them the plan of attack" after a few words, the grandfather stood aside and gave the word to Samir
"Thank you captain" said Mr. Samir "Listen carefully, I will not repeat a single word, the situation is this, a beast of extreme rank is hidden in the bowels of the island, we know that it is a beast that evolved recently, the beast is an earth lizard, it has a shell made of crystals, these can absorb magic and reduce the damage it receives, however strong blows can break them, its skin is very hard but nothing we can overcome..."
After giving some minor details, Mr. Samir began to explain the plan of attack, while we all listened carefully.
"Now I will say the names of those who will participate in the operation the rest will help to collect minerals and process the beast when we defeat it, Rufus, Nat, Berk, Miguel..."
Mr. Samir began to say the names of various members of the crew until they formed a group of 30 men, after that each member of the crew was free.
I stayed for a while on the coast talking with some of the crew, after a while I said goodbye to them and together with Marcus we walked towards Mr. Ignite's tent.
We rang the bell that hung in his tent and he immediately invited us to come in. When we entered we saw that on a table there were many minerals, crystals, bones and metals, in addition there were many tools similar to knives and tweezers.
"Mr. Ignite if you're busy we can come back another time" I said when I saw that Mr. Ignite was working.
"It's not necessary, I'm not doing anything important, just wait a second" after that he brought two chairs and we sat on them.
"What brings you guys here? It's not normal for you to look for me" he said with a smile.
Without wasting time I told him why I was looking for him.
"I heard from Sergei that you can make amazing crafts and I wanted to ask you if you could help me with one to give to a friend"
"Do you want me to give you a gift for your girlfriend?" she said with a mocking smile.
"N-not my girlfriend is just a very important friend" answered nervously.
"Since it is very important, why don't you do something yourself?"
"You must be joking, I don't know how to do it"
"I'm actually looking for an apprentice, I can teach you some things, blacksmithing, carpentry, goldsmithing, pottery, stonework and other arts are necessary to create the best weapons, make medals and other artistic pieces is related to the trade of gunsmith," he answered cheerfully Mr. Ignite.
"Does he really mean it? That would be great "I answered without hesitation.
"Well then I must tell you that carving is very important in the armory, there are materials that cannot be easily melted and that the way to get their maximum potential is with carving, also with this art you can give details to the weapons created"
Mr. Ignite began to speak excitedly, word after word listening to him attentively.
"You should know is that there are many types of materials, each one with its different qualities, which makes you need different tools to work them, how can you see on the table I have several materials, these in particular I still can't find a way to use them Now I will proceed to teach you everything I have learned throughout my life..."
Mr. Ignite began with the most extensive talk I have ever had, only stopping when the group that entered the forest returned many hours later.
At that time I already knew about minerals, metals, crystals and all kinds of materials used to make weapons and armor but I had not touched anything yet, nor had I started preparing my gift for Keira.
The arrival of Mr. Samir's group caused a stir in the camp and everyone prepared to go to that place to start mining the parts of the beast and bring them to the camp.
Marcus and I are included in this group and we helped separate the parts that could be used, we worked all night and did not stop until the first rays of sun appeared.
When we finished Mr. Roldan spoke with a voice that we all hear.
"Well done, rest for today tomorrow we will set sail before the sun rises, Sleep and save your energy, once we are at sea there will not be a single minute of rest!!!"
All the crew cheered and laughed out loud, after a long and hard journey we would return home.