Am I dead

So. One little problem. We were going to go to where Joe said he had a fleet of ships.

But there was no way to get there. We didn't have any boats other than the merchant ship. And it would be to far for them to go and not lose a lot on trade. So we were kinda stuck.

At the moment me and Joe stood at the shore of the island. We looked out at the water in resignation.

"Maybe we can make a raft?" I asked him.

He just sighed.

"Why is it that a fishing town has no boats. Like do these people just swim?"

I sighed.

"They probaly just swim. Back to the raft. WE SHOULD MAKE ONE!" I slapped joe i the back of the head.

"LISTEN WHEN I SPEAK BITCH!"

He held his bruisned skull letting a pouty expression grace his face. Small tears welled up in his eyes.

"Okay. Sorry. Let's make a raft." He said

And so we tried to make a raft.

Or I mean joe tried to make a raft. I just laid there limply.

Joe chopped down a bunch of trees and tied them together.

But the moment whe put them in the water they would drift apart. Turns out he have no idea how to make a raft. I didn't have a clue either.

I bit my thumb. While I was laying on the shore.

"Shit. What are we gonna do now?" I asked Joe.

He could only look out at the ocean mournfully in response.

"I have no idea."

I had no idea either. But I had to do something. I couldn't let myself stagnate. I needed to do something to aid my conquest.

"Hey. Has the merchant ship left yet?" I asked joe.

A smile graced his face for a fraction of an instant only to vanish.

"No."

I grinned.

"So we'll hitch a ride there."

🐐🐖🐐🐖🐐🐖

I walked straight onto the merchant ship as his crew was organzing goods and talking with my troops.

"Merchant!" I yelled

The merchant turned and scowled at me.

"Do you still not known my name?" He asked.

I shook me head.

"NO I don't and I don't intend to ever learn it."

He glowered at me.

"Anyways merchant. It's a waste of time for me to be at this island. So I want to hitch a ride with you." I said.

"Haaaaaaaa. Okay." He said.

He could not refuse me. After all I was the boss.

And so me and joe hitched a ride. I had told the merchant to take us to the biggest nearby nation he could find. I would add it to my repertoire of land.

The merchant showed us to our rooms and by the end of the day we were on our way.

🐐🐖🐐🐖🐐🐖

There was nobody useful to talk to so I spent most of the day in my room going through the financial records of the merchant. If one was willing to stay motivated and pay attention to the flow of goods then it was quite a riveting experience.

I would only leave my room to eat and go to the bathroom.

After about two days of travel we reached. The largest island nation.

Well according to the merchant it was the close to a nation but a bit different. But after interviewining him I found that insitutionally and legesativly is was very much a nation so I was not too concerned.

If the legislation and stuff wasn't nation like then it would be hard to convert them.

The nation known was pirate cove. It was a nation of outlaws.

And it would be the next place that I would come to rule.

🐐🐖🐐🐖🐐🐖

I stood at the dock with Joe. We had just been dropped off at pirate cove.

The ships at this dock were torn and weathered. So too was the dock itself. There were boards missing in the dock and off into the distance I even saw that a part of it was collapsed.

The rest of the city didn't look much better.

The buildings had collapsing roofs and a few of the buildings were missing doors.

even from here I could smell the acrid scent of booze that the city wafted off.

I looked at Joe.

"What a strage land." I said.

He quietly nodded back.

"Yes. It's quite strage indeed." He told me.

There was a hint of fear in his eyes.

I cracked my knuckles and had joe carry me down the dock.

"Well let's get to asking around. Only when we find out about the state of this nation will we be able to conquer it."

I had joe take me to the first person I saw. Which was a small beggar boy sitting outside the dock.

I grinned as I walked up to him.

"BEGGER! TELL ME ABOUT THE STATE OF THIS NATION!" I yelled.

He looked at me in confusion.

"What does nation mean?" He asked me.

I face palmed.

How could I have been so stupid.

"Never mind. See you later." I told him.

And with that I rode joe away.

~Okay. Based off the smell of booze I can assume that people are mostly cogregated at the tavern. Maybe I'll go ask around there to find out the state of the nation. Drunk peole have losser lips so getting info would be easier.~

I turned and looked to joe.

"We're off to the tavern!" I yelled.

I couldn't see it. But a moment after I said those words Joe's face began to pale.

🐐🐖🐐🐖🐐

I followed the smell of booze until It bit into my nostrils and made my eyes water.

I eventually found a rundown building with a modly wooden roof and thin wooden boards for walls. Their were many gaps in the wall and I could see splintered pieces of wood on the ground around those gaps.

~Well no sense in waiting.~

I walked towards the building and opened the door.

Corpses. The ground was littered with thousands of decapetated corpses.

A misty blue light emanted from the necks of these corpses. This light flowed like an aurora borealis towards a man's cup.

He held a mug in his right hand and held a saber in his left.

He was an stick skinny man. His cheeks were sunken and his bones were visible from every part of his body. He almost seemed like a skeleton wearing human skin.

"Ah. Two more souls." His cold dead eyes gazed into me.

I shivered slightly with fear.