Standing on the main deck below the floater, Rylan nervously eyed the dome of fog above him.

Most of the crew was on deck with him. He and the other Quinthar were there to defend from any curious Malequints attracted by the mana emitter, while Nazyr, Yuel, and Halloth were there to perform tasks related to steering the Soggy Shepherd.

Rylan had thought they might just try to go straight up before heading in any direction, but apparently that had been naïve. As Isai had explained on the way back, the cloudsea was not as stagnant under the surface as it might sometimes appear, and if they weren't careful, a powerful flow could easily catch them off-guard and smash them right into a cliff or ruin.

Either way, Halloth was at the wheel, which still stood right in front of the captain's cabin, with Yuel and Nazyr by his sides, each holding a couple of ropes that controlled one of the steering fins on the sides of the floater.

Isai was up in said floater, of course, preparing for their departure. The hatch leading down from the floater into the captain's cabin was sealed shut, however, as the floater needed to be as fogtight as possible.

Only Holly and Ezra were below deck.

Everyone was on board and everything was ready. Now it was just a matter of waiting until the dehumidifier shut down, which could really happen at any—

Somehow, Rylan was still shocked when the dome of fog collapsed inward.

A wall of mist rushed towards them, then spilled over and past them, the ship creaking and swaying in the sudden onslaught, but remaining upright. As the heavy fog enveloped Rylan, he could feel his body lighten and get pushed aside, so he tightened his grip on the thick rope he was holding.

There were a lot of ropes connecting the deck to the floater, and they were spread all over. They served both to prevent the floater from tearing free, and as handholds in case Dreadmaw showed up after all.

Nazyr, Yuel, and Halloth, were even secured to the deck at their respective posts. Rylan and the other Quinthar weren't, as they needed to be able to move freely. Though part of Rylan wished he was.

He breathed the moist air in slowly, trying to stay calm and vigilant as he acclimatised. He could still see the grassy field and the outhouse below the ship through the thick fog. The heavy vapour tingled a little in his lungs. It felt odd, but not unpleasant.

"Now, Isai!" the captain shouted.

A sharp hiss filled the air, like pressurised air escaping a container, quickly followed by the feeling of mana permeating the air.

Rylan grimaced. That was a lot of mana. It felt very noticeable. But that wasn't what was important right now.

He held his breath as the rope he was holding pulled taut, the floater pulling upward with building intensity. The ship creaked, wobbled... then started to rise.

A cheer went up among the crew, and Rylan found himself sharing an excited grin with Soren, knowing without a doubt in that moment that they were thinking the exact same thing.

It was official: they were sailing on an actual pirate ship. Former pirate ship, but still. It counted.

"All right, folks," the captain barked over the cheering. "We've achieved lift-off! From now on, I only wish to hear confirmations and warnings. We're on full alert until we've properly left the area and breached the driftline. Isai, where's that engine of yours?"

As if on cue, a sputtering, puffing sound started up. Rylan craned his neck to look up at the two pipes that exited the floater behind the captain's cabin, bent to point straight back. As he watched, puffs of steam started to come out in a rhythmic fashion, each little pulse noticeably pushing the ship forward a fraction, slowly speeding it up.

"Halloth, bring her about forty-five degrees to starboard," the captain commanded. "I don't want us anywhere near the city centre."

"Aye aye, cap'n," Halloth calmly replied, as he turned the wheel that controlled the rudder at the rear. "Nazyr, please deploy the starboard fin."

"Deploying the starboard fin," Nazyr said with a grunt as he started to haul in one of the ropes.

While Rylan was on the wrong side to see the fin extend out into the fog, he'd seen them test it, and could hear the bamboo creaking. Neither the rudder nor the fin seemed to have much of an effect at first, but as the putt-putt engine did its job and the ship accelerated, they slowly started to turn.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

[Ehm, Boss,] Arphin suddenly sent. [I know you told me to look out for predators, but... we're flying pretty low and I think we're going to hit that pile of rubble up ahead.]

Shocked, Rylan peered over the portside edge, finding that while the grass was becoming harder to make out, they indeed weren't up very high yet. "Captain," he called out. "I think we might not be gaining altitude fast enough; the ground is still awfully close!"

The captain glanced over with a frown, then strode over to the edge to look down as well. "Halloth," she barked after a second. "Drop some ballast."

"Aye aye cap'n," Halloth replied, as he pulled a lever.

Below the ship, a splashing sound could be heard, as a large quantity of water poured out of a hatch and down onto the grass below.

The Soggy Shepherd had previously used a device that incorporated Petrium—or 'deepmetal'—as a variable ballast. They'd decided to leave the whole system behind, however, as it was too heavy even in its deactivated state. Petrium, moreover, was the one material that resisted being lightened by Aetherium, so even up in the floater it would have weighed them down.

Instead, the professor had designed an ingenious system based on the crew's fog condenser. A lever at the helm would power it up with mana, causing it to condense fog into liquid water to weigh the ship down, and another would dump water to lighten the load. It was a lot slower at increasing the weight than the deepmetal device, but that's not what they needed right now anyway.

As the water spilled out, the ship lurched upward.

"All right, that's enough. Keep it steady," the captain said, prompting Halloth to push back the lever. She turned to smile at Rylan. "Well-spotted. Now please keep an eye out for Malequints. I'm counting on you, as I hear you're a sensitive boy."

Rylan heard Soren snicker up ahead, and swore vengeance as he felt the blood rise to his cheeks.

The ship was rising steadily upwards now, and the grass was soon out of sight. Staring into the thick fog, Rylan swallowed, nervously fingering Arphin's hilt. His belt of kitchen knives was strapped to his chest as usual, but he preferred not to throw them if at all possible, as it didn't seem likely that he'd be able to retrieve any.

Those kitchen tools had seen him through a lot, and the thought of being forced to toss them away at this stage was a painful one. He just hoped he'd have enough mana to reliably use Arphin if anything happened.

For now, at least, everything seemed to be going smoothly. Rylan spotted the occasional pile of rubble passing by below as they puttered onwards, but those were far down enough to be little more than grey shadows.

As they rose, however, the damp and cool airflow started to pick up, causing him to shiver—and it wasn't just that they were accelerating, because the breeze came primarily from the side.

This must be one of those flows the professor was talking about...

"Captain," Halloth called out, his deep voice easily carrying over the gentle susurrus of the flowing fog and the creaking ship. "Crosswinds're coming in starboard, shall I steer into them?"

"No, keep her steady," the captain replied. "I want to make sure we're clear before—"

Rylan didn't hear what came after that, as Arphin suddenly called out inside his head, a sense of urgency in his voice.

[Boss, there's something approaching the front of the ship! I-I can't quite make it out, but it's big and free-floating!]

Rylan snapped his head around to the front, but saw nothing. Yet. He deliberately took a slow breath, to see if he felt any kind of—

His eyes widened as his breath hitched. It was mild, but it was there, a subtle pressure weighing down on his chest. The pressure of a nearby Malequint.

"Captain!" he cried, drawing Arphin as he interrupted her mid-sentence. "We've got a Malequint incoming at the prow! A big one!"

As one, every head on deck turned to the front. For a moment, there was nothing to see, but then a huge, faint shadow appeared, with in the middle a large ring of light. Aquamarine light.

"Halloth," the captain started calmly even as she strode forward, pulling out her hammer. "Be ready to turn hard to port."

"Aye aye, captain!"

Before Halloth had even finished answering, Captain Hammermore sped up her stride, the soles of her feet lighting up with a white glow as she veered to portside. Thus, Rylan got a perfect view as she did the most pirate thing he could've ever imagined.

She used her movement Skill to suddenly accelerate up to the edge of the ship where she grabbed hold of a rope with one hand—her massive hammer in the other—and leapt off the railing.

This was, of course, not simply one of the ropes connecting the floater to the deck. Instead, it was a rope that extended down from the top of the floater, running all the way down its side. Its lower end lay coiled up beneath the railing, and as the captain kicked off, it slipped over the edge and unfurled, trailing after her as she swung out.

Rylan's heart clenched as the captain's manoeuvre saw her arcing out along the front of the ship, right into Dreadmaw's path.

[Boss, what is she doing?! She's going to get eaten!]

It definitely looked that way as Dreadmaw somehow opened his gaping jaws even wider, and started sucking in fog like a juiced-up condenser.

But as the captain approached the apex of her swing, she lifted her hammer, and the dense runes covering its head lit up.

Rylan stumbled half a step, his knees threatening to buckle as the force of gravity pulling him down suddenly seemed to increase. The wave that had swept over him disappeared as soon as it had arrived, but not before Dreadmaw dropped down through the fog like a bag of bricks.

That must be her hammer's first Runework, Pin!

Soren had explained what her hammer was capable of a few nights ago. This runework created a field of enhanced gravity that pushed everything down.

Ostensibly, it was meant to be used to pin a foe down before you caved their skull in, but it was certainly effective like this too!

Dreadmaw lunged for the captain at the last second, actually snapping its jaws at her as he did. However, the runework pulled it down and out of reach before it even came close to Captain Hammermore, who continued her one-handed swing around the bow and stepped back onto the starboard railing.

"What are you clodpolls standing around for, all slack-jawed?!" she shouted after a split second. "This is far from over; prepare for battle!"

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