Master Of None

”How was your little swim there? Manage to find yourself a few good things to eat?” Scylla found it hysterical that Walker had just encountered a dangerous ocean parasite. She could see that he was still trying to put what he had seen together from the parasites to the giant island swallowing monster.

”I think I don’t like to swim at all anymore. I am more surprised that you had soldiers with traits that resist them.” Walker looked at Scylla was definitely amusing herself with his worry and sense of awe.

”I have many soldiers. You already see how well some of them battled. Now you are seeing more specific situations where they exceed. If you want to be surprised, look at your friend the tamer. She is directing aquatic monsters as if they are her own.”

Scylla was pointing out Elise. the tamers that had come with her were more or less aquatic or flight based when it came to their skills and monsters. This was because it worked out better for the situation. The water based monsters would be ankle to protect the ships and the flight based monsters would leave the ships with her to help explore the lands.

”With the rate that Elise is going, she might be the next tamer’s guild master. She keeps advancing and I don’t think she has realized it.” This was Walker’s honest opinion. Every single time he met Elise, she had been given more responsibility. She was also showing her growing maturity in her actions on a daily basis. It was truly a perfect example of someone growing in to where they truly belong.

”So you are saying I should be friendly with her because she will be able to mobilize the entire guild to help me in the future. I would not mind having more troops to rely on.” Scylla’s grin told Walker that he had just given her dangerous ideas. It was not what he had intended but what was done, was done.

”It seems pretty quiet up here. I thought more people would be worried about that island swallower we just saw. It was easily able to fight a dragon if it wanted. Maybe multiple.” The worry that Walker still had would be lingering for some time. Luckily, he remembered the all around appraisal and that the monster would not be surfacing that often.

”Not a big problem. We are no where near the bottom of the ocean and the sailors with experience have already said if they attacked us we would be dead and gone. No point in worrying over that. But I heard something more interesting. You had a small plan that made all the dragons return to seclusion?” It was easy for Walker to understand that this seemed to be a bigger achievement.

”Well, they all want affinity potions or mana gems that perfectly relate to their elemental affinity. I just gave them something to do in return. The rest of my party and a lot of the troops here need help learning things. Why would we avoid the chance to learn them? I was the one in the water doing a patrol so it had more free time where I was learning naturally.” Walker shrugged his shoulders. He believed he was doing the best with what time he had.

”The best with the time you have? I see, so what will you do now?” The look that Scylla had on her face told Walker that if he didn’t have a good enough answer then he would be caught up in something.

”If you need help, I can only do what I can…” Walker trailed off seeing that Scylla’s smile grew.

”The sun is going to set in a few hours. We need to be prepared for the night on the ocean. I have already gathered information on what the most important things are. We can make two decisions. No light at all and remain silent and dark, but our ripples from movement will attract predators. Or, we can have lights and be prepared to fight off the small feeding frenzy of nighttime monsters in the water, but absolutely no one can be in the water because we can easily lose them to an ocean of darkness.”

This was no small decision. It sounded like Leon had already said his part along with a few of the sailors. They all recognized the dangers of either side. However, Walker was certain that this choice was up for debate because of what dangers there were in these things.

The first choice was to stop moving altogether. They would have to remain on high alert all night. It would be stressful and dark, very dark. It would have a lasting effect on the entire crew for every single ship. Regardless of their fear of the darkness, Walker was sure that this would be many times worse due to the foreign environment.

The second option meant that they could keep traveling. They had some map makers that could read the stars. This was ideal for them because the stars could be recorded better when the ship was moving. It also saved them time on the journey. Threw could not be a hold up even though they would have to fight some monsters as they went.

The monsters were the main issue of the second option. The nighttime monsters could be dangerous to everyone. So much so that no one would be in the water. Even the golems might not do their best and may have to be cut down to a minimum patrol. There were also the predatory monsters that would come to feed on the weaker ones attracted. They were the ones that could cause issues to the ship as they attacked prey, or them.

”As much as I think we need to keep our food storage high, we have a lot. And the monsters that we just ran in to had parasites that would be harder to figure out at night. I don’t think we should try fighting things in the dark when people could fall in to the water.” The loss of people to the ocean was what Walker wanted to avoid the most.

”We could lose our soldiers in the night no matter what. Just because we sit idle does not mean we will avoid the dangers of predators that can travel on the ship, or on land.” It seemed like Scylla knew even more than she was letting on.

”What are you worried about?” Scylla didn’t even flinch when Walker asked. She was prepared to be open about what could attack them.

”The merfolk are a decent race. I like them and their battle spirit. But they are not a complete race. They used to live in the depths of the ocean with larger cities. Apparently, there were records of them doing so before they lost them to some unfortunate circumstances. You have also seen lizardmen, correct?” Scylla saw Walker nod.

He had not seen lizardmen much. They were instinctual monsters that formed tribes and did not learn much. But they were strong and lived in the swamp lands. ”There are similar lizardmen and merfolk monsters around here. They live in the ocean like a nomadic tribe of demi-humans. And they will attack at night no matter the situation. They also travel on to small islands at times.”

”What are they called?”

”Adaro. They are the same if not too similar to merfolk but they are what was left after their deep ocean cities collapsed many years ago. Instead of following the merfolk and refining their knowledge, they became more monstrous. They are tougher and have larger physiques to battle in the water and the land. But they are weaker mentally. Not that it will be an easy opponent for the merfolk.” Scylla was speaking about this for a reason. She knew it would be hard for the merfolk to fight another monster that resembled their ancestors.

”I understand. It’s just like some of the demi-humans and elves. Your ancestors are all over the world and might not be the same as you are now. Even the goblins were nearly a race before they fell back toward being monsters. It’s a tough thing. But I think that Leon will lead his soldiers well.” Walker’s faith in Leon and those around him was unshakable. He just had to support them when the hardships came.

”I agree, I am not going to stress myself about it until the battle is in front of me.” Scylla seemed to have finished what she wanted to say. She had her own plans to prepare for the night and it was clear that Walker needed to get himself ready now as well. It would be a long first night on the open ocean but hopefully a simple one.

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