Chapter 441

I rolled the ship's wheel back and forth.

Sometimes, I just need to take a moment to enjoy how weird and fun my life is. I mean, I had a pirate ship – a Magical Flying Pirate ship. The little kid in me was wanting to shout in joy at the mere idea.

So, I was humming to myself as I just moved the ship's wheel back and forth. It did absolutely nothing but move the rudder and stuff since it was still sitting in my backyard but I was enjoying myself

Shit, if I had any less self-control I would probably be making sound effects as I played around more.

I had a smidge of free time at the moment, and realistically I should be doing some training, mostly Bankai training and learning my new spell. But…. I just wanted a moment to relax and enjoy myself.

{It's alright, we will train plenty soon. You need not force yourself when your will points in another direction.} My Zanpakutō sounded in my ear. {Half-hearted training can do more harm than good sometimes.}

I didn't argue with him, he was right, my heart wouldn't be into any training I did at the moment.

But who cared about that!

I had a ship!

It truthfully made me really giddy. It was fairly…..average in size, I want to say for the kind of vessel that it was. But to be honest, I didn't actually know what type of ship it was classified as. My knowledge of maritime vessels hundreds of years ago is minimal at best.

I can name all the parts of the ship fluidly, but that's about it.

Obviously, I'll need to educate myself on various things, but I wasn't completely ignorant about the various responsibilities that came with operating something of this size.

And I'm cheating. I can actually operate everything by myself.

"Ahoy, permission to come aboard, captain!" I heard a shout from the side.

Why did the idea of being called Captain make me feel all excited?

I curiously went to the railing and peeked over to see a cast of familiar faces. "Odin?" I was surprised, mildly, to see him here. I was going to contact him either later today or the following day to invite him over so we could prepare in advance.

It wasn't just him either, Scáthach and Jinn both were standing next to him.

"Are you gonna invite us up or not?" Odin grunted.

"…..permission denied."

He shouted some things in a very old language, and they were most certainly not polite words.

"But the girls can come up."

He returned with a certain finger fully visible and pointed up in my direction.

With a chuckle, I walked to the deck and kicked the center railing where it parts for docking. There was a sort of shifting of an underbelly mechanism, and a wooden ramp was pushed out, sliding until it hit the ground, creating a perfect ramp up.

Immediately, I held my arms out and Jinn happily threw herself into them.

"Are you still pleased with your choice, student?" Scáthach asked, walking around us and giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. "Do you still fancy this boat?"

"It's a ship!" I corrected. "And yes, I'm very happy with it."

She just smiled, lightly patting my cheek where she kissed me.

"Hmm, so you got this thing from Nuwa's place" Odin grunted, taking it in.

I shrugged. "I got other things too, but compared to what I could get equivalently to the ship in particular, this seemed like the best choice."

Well, even if there was something a little better on that floor of her treasure house, I probably would have still picked the boat.

"It ain't much compared to the Skíðblaðnir."

"I'm sorry that my boat doesn't compare to something made by Godly hands." I snorted.

"You're forgiven."

"Get off my boat."

He apparently ignored me and kept looking around. "Wood isn't very good."

I dropped the faux offense I was holding against him. "Yeah the wood is pretty mundane." I couldn't deny that. "Can't really change that, but wood isn't the worst material for enchantments. Besides, the creator did do something rather clever."

"Hmm?"

"Look at the nails."

Curiously, Odin crouched down and looked at the nearest nail, barely noticeable inside the wooden board. "Brass? No, that's something else."

"No idea what it is, but it's a very good conductor for Magical Energy and each one of them is heavily enchanting to basically keep the ship together." Some kind of composite metal.

But they reinforced the entire ship acting as the magical anchor. While the Wood was somewhat common material, the Nails themselves turned them into something that could withstand cannon fire without any damage. And they sort of created an array network that acted as a Magic Circle that reinforced the entire vessel. 

Of course, we strengthened it a bit up to our standards.

"Even Medea was surprised at their quality." Jinn pointed out. "Everything else is mediocre, but that facet is enough to work off of."

Odin nodded slowly. "Touched up the Magic?"

"All of us did." I answered. "Jinn and Medea though, they probably did the brunt of the work." I smiled at my Genie, seeing her happy for the acknowledgement. "The previous Enchants weren't bad, per say, but they weren't really good either. Enough to get by, probably done by some average Magicians in the past." Hell, it was used by Pirates, it's unlikely anyone of stature had a hand in this thing.

"Weapons?" He asked.

"28 Cannons, 13 on either side and two on the front. They originally fired explosive fireballs, but they were now modified a tad."

"Seems awfully big without people to help."

"I can control nearly everything as the Captain." Well, being the 'captain' didn't really matter. I just had to take control of the Magics inside for it to recognize my input as the highest authority.

To emphasize my point, I held my hand up to a rope nearby and it shot over, wrapping up Jinn and pulling her up the mast.

"Weeeeee." She didn't fight it one bit.

I also glanced at Scáthach who gave me a 'I dare you' look.

….I was tempted.

"But I'm sure you didn't come here to talk about my awesome boat?" I walked up the stairs to the wheel, leaning on it. "What can Captain Wilhelm Schweinorg do for you, All-Father?"

"You finished your matters?" He cut straight to the chase.

"More or less. I do have some free time." The next date would be Kunou's birthday, which was only a little bit before we dropped her off at Hogwarts, but that was still some distance away. More than enough time to settle what he needed.

Odin stroked his beard in contemplation. "Interested in taking look at my side of the fence?"

"I already said I'd help out, didn't I?" I responded.

"Mmm." He acknowledged it with a hum. "It might be dangerous."

"We're hunting a Titan, that's to be expected." I said, while Scáthach perked up, with Jinn floating back down besides me.

"Do you require help?" Scáthach asked.

I tilted my head, frankly, I didn't know. "Do we?"

Odin frowned a bit, not at the question itself, but more so at the circumstances if I had to guess. "Things have become chaotic. The voices that side with Loki have become louder. It's becoming more difficult for Vidar to suppress that side."

"Simply kicking them out won't work either." I spoke mostly in rhetoric.

I hate politics. Most of the time that is. In true conflicts, I would take it all day over something like a war. But I really hated being involved in this kind of thing.

If they just kicked out Loki's people, well, they'd just resort to less words and more action at that point. It was better to have dissidents within arms reach so you could monitor them. Especially when they were godly in nature.

"I also tried to convince everyone to send the kids to Asgard for a field trip." He cracked a grin.

"Wouldn't that draw unwanted attention?" I furrowed my brow.

He shook his head. "We're already going to get unwanted attention, brat. I stay the hell away from that crap, and you're right in the spotlight for a lot of people right now. No matter what we did, they were going to be watching us. But having those kids show up? That's a nice little smokescreen we can use."

"….are you using them as bait?"

Odin scoffed. "What do you take me for?"

"The wise and ruthless War God, Odin." I shot back.

He paused, turning around to look off the bow of the ship. "Alright, I'll give you that one." He said with a soft tone. There was a lot of age underlining what he said, like he was almost nostalgic. "I promise I'm not using them as bait or any other plans other than just to distract everyone else while they prance around Asgard."

Alright, I'll take that.

"Just know, if you're lying…" I pointed at Scáthach.

Scáthach had her spear out, holding it aloft.

Odin looked at her and snorted in mild amusement.

I was joking, I would take him at his word.

"If you bring a lot of people of her caliber –" He pointed at Scáthach. "They may just hide in some hole and we won't be able to smoke them out."

That's certainly a concern. With both me and Odin rolling up, it would either make them hide, or they would want to take a swing if they had the chance. The latter is probably what Odin is hoping for.

"What about people who aren't….known?" I tried.

"You got some heavy hitters you're hiding?" Odin raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe?" I wouldn't speak for them, but… "I know a few people."

"I'm coming too." Jinn stepped in.

"You wanna come?"

"Yup!"

I actually haven't gone on an adventure or anything with Jinn yet…, but at the same time, I was hesitant. "It's going to be dangerous."

Jinn, technically didn't hit the same marks as my other girls. Perhaps Artoria could be grabbed too, but even that was iffy due to whispers of her sword. Jinn though, Jinn while 'known', wasn't anyone of renown.

"It's fine, I can handle it." She reassured me.

"Jinn, we're hunting Godly beings, we –"

"Will." She cut me off, her tone shifting a bit away from her playfulness. "I'm not made of glass. And I know what I'll be getting into. I can take care of myself."

"Take the lass." Scáthach agreed. "Remember what we spoke about coddling." She reminded me.

Right, we had a talk a long time ago about not being over protective and hovering, that sort of thing. It was more a prefatory talk, and it was focused on herself, but it still applies.

"….alright." I relented. I can't tell her she's not allowed to.

"Good, I'll make some preparations before we go. I'll also might be able to test a spell I created. I think it should be able to kill Gods." Jinn said proudly.

That sort of got a double take from all of us. Because Jinn wasn't someone that would boast without something to back it up.

"If she wants to come, let her come." Odin snorted. "She can handle herself. But let me take a look at the others you want to bring. If they aren't up to it, don't blame me for rejecting them."

I could give him the finer details, but, why not just have him meet them.

"Say, Odin."

"Hmm?"

"Have you ever flown on a magical pirate ship to another world before?"

"Yes." He answered me with what felt like complete honesty.

I felt myself deflated at his answer.

[***]

I think I had the biggest grin on my face ever as the wind blew through my hair.

I turned the wheel of the ship, and the whole vessel jerked, changing course.

Flying in a pirate ship was amazing.

Sure, it wasn't completely up to the level I wanted it at, but with Medea's help and everyone else, it was at a point where it was usable. Hell, it was technically usable as soon as I got it.

It could go pretty darn fast too. I'll need to see about stealing the designs for Chaldea's Mana Reactor and see if I can't install a smaller version inside though. At the moment, there was a primitive sort of Magical Energy Gathering effect throughout the ship that slowly siphoned the occupants' Magical Energy and stored it.

I was powering it basically by myself, but it would be annoying if this was stuck this way. Sure, it wasn't much to me to keep up, but there was a degree of fail there if I was never present or I was forced away.

But I ignore that for now, because this was one of the best experiences of my life.

Even if Skyrim's cold air was a bit snippy, it was more refreshing in this moment.

Odin was…..he was taking in the sights. When I offered to bring him to another world, another true world, not just a secondary Realm like one of the Norse Realms, he was honestly shocked at my offer.

I don't think the idea crossed his mind for one reason or another. Hell, even Izzy wasn't really clamoring for it before I offered. For Gods, I think there's just something instinctive about staying in your 'home', so to speak.

And I may or may not have intentionally entered Skyrim a fair distance away just so I could have an excuse to fly the ship.

No, I fully admit it, there's no point in playing coy.

Everyone here also knew I did that.

"Alright, Old Man. Time to walk the plank." I walked up to Odin as he was peering over the edge.

"What? What did I do!?"

"Remember that comment about Jeanne?"

"I stand by what I said." He harumphed.

Considering I saw her in one of the most skimpy string-like bikinis I've ever seen, I'm going to reject your rejection!

"Ooh, Dragons." Jinn commented from the bow of the ship.

I gave him a stay of execution for now, and joined Jinn up front. We saw them as we got closer to White Run.

Specifically, I could see someone fighting them a bit out into the fields away from the city. And Three guesses who that would be.

I glanced and saw Scáthach looking at them very intently.

The desire was basically radiating off her.

Or atleast the bloodlust was. Which was the same thing in her book.

She noticed my gaze, locking eyes with me for a long while. With a small sigh, her bloodlust dissipated. "Very well, they are yours, my student."

She knew what I wanted.

"You can fire the cannons if you want."

She perked up, the corners of her lips curled. "Acceptable." She made her way down below.

"This is nostalgic." Odin mused, watching the scene. "Everything about this place that I've seen so far, it seems so familiar. Even the architecture is the same."

Yeah, it's not surprising that he could see the city from this distance. Even with One Eye, he can see better than even the vast majority of Gods.

Two Dragons in Total. Thorum looked like he had it well in hand. Shit, I could feel his aura from here, he's even stronger than last time.

What a big cheat.

If he wasn't such a lovable guy, I'd want to beat him up.

Regardless, we got close enough that they noticed us.

The Ship turned Starboard; the cannon doors opened with thump.

"Can I call it?" Jinn asked.

…..Dammit I really wanted to, but the look she gave me killed any attempt at rejection.

"Fi –"

"Wait." I stopped her.

"What's wrong?" Jinn asked.

I immediately called upon the mightiest of Wiggles to my side. My Familiar answered happily, appearing on my shoulder.

And I did what any self-respecting Pirate Captain would do.

I put a tiny little pirate hat on his head.

"Okay, you can do it now."

Jinn shrugged. "Fire the Cannons!!" She shouted.

There was the tiniest of delays, presumably because Scáthach was figuring out how to fire them. But the Ship shook as a red-like beam of fire shot out of the first cannon, colliding with one of the Dragons.

That immediately got his attention. Thorum was fighting the other one in a closer combat. This second Dragon, though, turned to face us. That's when the second cannon fired, and the third, and so on.

The line of Fire Lasers collided with the massive beast.

The Damage would be minimal in this circumstance, but a couple lucky hits got the wings, sending it falling to the ground in a sudden frenzy.

What a beautiful scene.

Good first test.

Cannons need a bigger oomph. And Fire-based weaponry has obvious setbacks, but we just hadn't had time to tweak that too much.

"Mine!" Odin shouted excitedly, the walking stick in his had flashed, transforming into a Golden Spear. I didn't even have time to take a good look before it was thrown by him, zigzagging through the air before it found the chest of the fallen dragon, both pinning it into the ground, and wiping the life out of hits eyes. "Ah, it's been so long since I've killed a Dragon. Always a good feeling!"

[Dick.] Ddraig huffed within my soul.

I let out a sigh.

The whole point of Scáthach not killing it herself was so we could thoroughly test the ship's abilities!

Thorum, seeing what happened, quickly finished off the Dragon he was fighting as well. His trust Gram cleaved off one of its wings before he drove it into the neck of the beast.

Thorum waited there with that signature big goofy smile of his, he could presumably see me peeking over the edge as the Ship started to descend.

And that same phenomenon occurred as the dragon corpse he was next to began to dissolve and swirl with a golden light, shooting into his body.

With the ramp to the ship coming down, I quickly debarked with a harpy Nord greeting me.

"My friend!" He didn't even ask about anything else, rather, he was just happy to see me and grabbed me into a big hug.

"Hey Thorum." I found myself smiling to match him, accepting that he was now hugging me and I wasn't going anywhere.

"Dear Norns, boy! Did you just eat that Dragon's soul?" Odin asked in astonishment.

"Uh…..yes?" Thorum answered the abrupt questions in both an affirmative, but with a healthy amount of confusion at it.

"….was it tasty?" He asked with full sincerity.

Thorum looked at me, and we both started cracking up.

[***]

A/N

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