Chapter 131: Piracy and Familiars

–

Years continued to pass by. The great navigations continued to fuel the world and feed Europe with riches. The Spanish were currently ransacking the native people from Central and South Americas while in some cases causing mass genocides. The tribes that Erik and his wives had previously made contact with, he helped with protecting their cities, which was not the case for the Golden City. The city itself already had its own protections and could not be found by the 'invaders'. The sad thing, or not depending on your vision of things, is that because of their people being all murdered and/or dieing out, some of the various pantheons from Central and South Americas were disappearing fast. It was sad that so much culture would just disappear, but it was like the world worked. Years later, when he was sure that the pantheon who 'owned' that Golden City had disappeared, Erik put his own protections around it, conserving it for future generations or just as a way to have a huge gold reserve.

During the mid-sixteenth century, during one of Leona's birthday parties, she got too drunk and ended up throwing herself on Erik, managing to steal a kiss from the husband of her King. Erik's wives who were in the place at the time didn't have the reaction that was normally expected for the case. They cheered wildly at the reincarnated blond Devil's boldness. Of course that it was fuelled by the alcohol, but it would not have happened if Leona didn't have the inclination/desire to do it in the first place. The next day it was funny to see the reincarnated blond Devil stumbling over herself to ask forgiveness to Erik's wives, who only laughed at the situation. At the end of the day, Leona had already been accepted by them.

–

It was at the beginning of the sixteen hundreds, in England, that Erik met with one of the iconic characters of North American history. Coming directly from the 'colony', a woman that would later be known as Rebecca Rolfe disembarked in London with her husband, John Rolfe. The history of Pocahontas was nothing like the pretty animated cartoon that was aired to kids in Erik's past life. While in a social visit to one of the English forts in North America, the girl, which at the time was only seventeen years old, was imprisoned. She stayed at the place for one year, where she met her future husband, John Rolfe, an important tobacco merchant. During her stay at the fort, she was taught how to speak better English and about Christian morals. She was only released after agreeing to marry John Rolfe. She was then baptized and chose the name Rebecca as her Christian one. Soon after, she gave birth to her first son.

Erik had indicated Rebecca Rolfe to Serafall as a member of her peerage but after a talk with the young woman, Serafall ruled out the possibility of reincarnating the young woman. In accord with Serafall's analysis during their talk, Rebecca Rolfe would not manage to let go of her family in the human world even after her natural death. She had a very strong relationship with them. Sadly, the young native American passed away soon after due to a disease contracted in the ship, which was not one from Erik's group, while going back to North America.

Speaking about Ravens' Merchant Group, it continued as the strongest merchant group in the world, controlling about sixty percent of all revenue that traveled through the seas. It only didn't control more because Erik refused to participate in transporting slaves or any merchandise not obtained in legal ways. He knew very well that by denying the participation of the Ravens' Merchant Group in some of these 'ventures' he would not be making a lot of money, but he preferred to have his hands out of some things at the end of the day.

In this same time frame, another naval activity started to gain strength in the warm waters of Central America. Piracy was becoming one of the most lucrative 'businesses' for those who didn't botter with killing and pillaging. During this time, some names quickly rose in notoriety with, maybe, Black Beard being the most famous one. The man was very much feared by everyone, merchants, soldiers, and other pirates alike. Some people even tried to give the man the title of the King of Pirates but it was denied by the man himself. Black Beard had said that he would only accept the title of 'King of Pirates' when he managed to get one of the Ravens' ships. So, it would never gonna happen. Piracy had become such a problem with the merchant ships that fleets were launched by the kingdoms to especially hunt pirates.

And it was during one of these 'hunts' that Serafall managed to get two more members for her peerage. After being betrayed by their crew, Mary Read and Anne Bonny were captured and imprisoned by an armed squad from the Jamaican government. It was during their imprisonment that Serafall, aided by Erik, talked with both women and 'rescued' them, leaving two fake dead bodies behind. And it was a good thing that they accepted because Mary Read had contracted yellow fever while in jail. Fortunately, she was easily healed after her reincarnation as a Devil.

The two new pawns, that we're now back to their peak form thanks to the reincarnation process of the Evil Pieces, had a lot of new things to learn and after getting their revenge on the person who betrayed them, were sent back to the Underworld for some training and education on the Devil's ways. Their 'revenge' had been one of the things that both women had asked for as a condition for their agreement to serve Serafall. It was during these 'discussions' that they discovered why no pirate had ever managed to get close to one of the ships from the Ravens' Merchant Group. The faces that they had made when told the truth behind the group were a thing of legends. And how could one blame them? The ships were heavily protected by the husband of a Satan after all. In the end, both women had loved their new 'situation' and quickly adjusted to a Devil's life, discovering themselves anew and leaving behind their past life of crimes.

–

Forest of Familiars, Underworld

April 1730

–

It was a normal night like any other on the Forest of Familiars when a small clearing in the middle of the forest was illuminated by a soft blue light. The source of it was a big transportation magic circle. When the light faded away, it revealed a group of four people. They were Serafall, Erik, Mary Read, and Anne Bonny.

"Okay, girls. Like we discussed before, we are here to try and find a familiar for the both of you."

Serafall said after turning in place to face the newest members of her peerage. It had been ten years since their reincarnation as Devil and one had to say, the life suited both of them very well. Mary Read had continued with the habit that she developed as a pirate of wearing man's clothes and adopted a short haircut that went very well with her face. Anne Bonny had gone back to wearing the ladies' dresses while keeping her long and wavy fiery red hair free of any constraints beyond the occasional hat together with showcasing her modest-sized chest. Each woman had found in the other a lover too and often jested with Erik by inviting him and Serafall to spend the night on their beds. Everyone took the invitations as the women playing around, but Erik and Serafall could see the looks that both women would give to them from time to time. They could see the desire in their eyes.

"Now, we are supposed to have a guide for this trip on the Forest, but since he choose not to come out of his hiding spot, we will continue on our own."

Serafall said again while poking at their guide's 'guts' to not do his job. And behold, from behind a tree, a young man appeared.

*sigh*

"Lady Leviathan's senses are as sharp as ever."

The man said after letting out a sigh while scratching his head. Serafall was smiling smugly at that because the development of her sensing abilities had been one of the focal points in her training with Erik. The man then walked to the group and gave them a bow.

"Welcome to the Forest of Familiars. My name is Zatouji and I will be your guide through this hunting and capture trip."

The man, Zatouji, said to the group. Zatouji was a very… quirk man. He was really passionate about his job but that was not what made him quirky. It was his choice of clothes for the job. This time, the man was wearing a beige African Explorer uniform, complete with a hard hat and all. The last time that Erik and Serafall were here, bringing Musashi to pick a familiar, he was wearing a complete Spanish Explorer outfit that included a metal hat and a deactivated black powder rifle that was strapped to his back. This time he had a rifle too, but it was a more 'modern' looking one and it was too strapped to his back.

"Lady Leviathan, Lord Ravenclaw, welcome again. This two must be the 'customers' for the night?"

Zatouji spoke again, addressing Serafall and Erik first and then looking at Mary and Anne.

"That's right, Zatouji. These are Mary Read and Anne Bonny, my pawns. We came to look for familiars for both of them."

Serafall said to the man, who nodded his head in understanding, almost making his hat comically drop from his head. The man smiled sheepishly at his blunter while adjusting the hat again.

"And does the ladies already have an idea of what they want?"

Zatouji spoke again, directing the question to Mary and Anne, who shook their head together.

"No. We decided to let fate make the choice."

Anne said, replying to Zatouji's question. The guide sagely nodded his head at that, this time taking caution to not dislodge his hat.

"Wise choice, my lady. Occasional encounters with familiar often generate a stronger bond between master and familiar."

Zatouji said in a sagely way. And it was true. The compatibility of the master with the familiar was crucial to the development of the relationship of both and the growth of the familiar. He more than often had young masters come to the forest in search of a specific familiar that they had read about in some book, just to go back home frustrated when they didn't find it or got rejected by it when they did find it.

"Now, to starts, choose a direction and I will guide you both through the forest to find your familiar!"

Zatouji said again, asking Mary and Anne to choose a direction. And they did. After having Anne point in a random direction, Zatouji started to guide the group through the trails of the Forest of Familiars with Erik and Serafall following closely behind, letting Mary and Anne 'command' today's show. To help with the process, Erik and Serafall were wearing their hidden snake rings to hide their auras from leaking naturally. Erik had made Mary and Anne take theirs rings out before coming to the Forest of Familiars. Not having their auras and nature hidden helped immensely in the searching process of familiars.

It hadn't taken long for the girls to find their matches. Anne Bonny had made a contract with a cat-like familiar that had hair of a fiery-red, just like her new master. In accord with Zatouji's knowledge, the fire-red cat was a magical race of cats that had some affinity with fire magic and loved to be lazy and sleep in sunny places. Mary Read had made a contract with a pure black-haired cat that had an extra-long tail. The little creature, in accord to Zatouji's knowledge, was very rare to be found since they were very good at hiding themselves and seemed to melt away and disappear completely when in a shady or dark place and, just like his habits, it was a creature that had a very rare affinity to shadows.

With their familiars contracted and lazily resting with their new masters, the group was preparing themselves to go back when Erik and Serafall sensed a strong presence fast closing on them. Husband and wife looked at each other and sighed in an annoyed manner.

*sigh*

They knew exactly who was the owner of said strong presence.

"We are going to have company, Zatouji."

Erik said to their guide, who looked at him in a confused manner. Zatouji then closed his eyes and after some good ten seconds of sensing the surroundings, opened his eyes again. The man had a look of resignation on his face. He too identified easily the owner of the presence that was fast approaching at their position. After all, he was doing this work as a guide to the Forest of Familiar for centuries now, just like his father before him.

Ten seconds later, a boom was heard near the group when a figure landed on the ground forcefully, making a cloud of dust cover the surroundings.

*boom*

"Finally found you again, Erik~"

Said a seductive and sultry voice that was coming from the center of the dust cloud. When the cloud of dust cleared out, the figure of a buxom and wild-looking woman that had some wild long blue hair appeared. She was looking in Erik's direction with a hungry and crazed look on her face. Erik let out another sigh at that and greeted the unexpected/expected arrival.

*sigh*

"Hello, Tiamat."

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a/n: Pocahontas, a.k.a. Rebecca Rolfe, was twenty-one years old when she died in the year 1617.

a/n2: Mary Read and Anne Bonny were pirate women who 'terrorized' Caribean waters. They were betrayed and captured in the year 1720. Mary Read suposedly died in prison due to yellow fever (her death records were never found), while Anne Bonny was freed suposedly by her rich father, who paid for her release. She then suposedly went back home and died of old age in the year 1782. I say 'suposedly' here because there are no certain proofs taht this really occured.