Chapter 481: The Ship

"So, are we going?" Eve asks before Lucien starts flirting with Kayla.

Kayla really wants to get to her grandmother as quickly as possible, but she knows there are a few points to be discussed before they can steer one of the biggest and most complex ships in the Seven Stars.

"First, we have to set positions." She explains. "Well-defined positions and order of command are essential to controlling a ship like this."

"Hmm..." Lucien makes a thoughtful expression. "Can you help us with that?"

"Have you guys never sailed a ship before?" She asks.

He remembers when he sailed on a ship in Argerim. That big ship was made by the best craftsmen of Portgreen, and Lucien really liked that, but he had to left his ships in the Cat Clan and then switched to Angela and the other mage women's floating ships.

"Well, I had servants who knew what they were doing when I was on a regular ship, and then my wives made floating ships of magic." He relates.

"Floating ships..." Kayla shakes her head. "Even if you have several powerful mages to keep such ships in the air for a long time, you would be an easy target for pirates here. Also, your mages would always be with low mana and wouldn't even be able to maintain barriers..."

"Also, only Immortal Realm mages could make a ship faster than this one. And good ships can also fly if you need to; it will just consume more magic resources." She explains.

Lucien's wives don't have a problem with mana as he can help them get it back quickly with a few kisses and caresses. That allows them to boost the Sea Devil without consuming magic resources, which makes the ship even more useful.

"Anyway, let's organize your crew." Kayla smiles as she looks at the girls. "Your girls look strong and smart enough to do all the essential functions, but for the order's sake, we need leaders."

The girls pay close attention to what Kayla is saying, so she continues. "First, we need a Master, or most known as the Captain."

Despite thinking that Lucien is the group leader, Kayla can feel the powerful aura of leadership that Eve and Pride have, which leaves her in doubt. So she tries not to make her thoughts so obvious.

Lucien's wives immediately look at him, finding it odd that such a question is being done. However, he doesn't seem so sure about that and instead looks at Pride and Eve, seeking their opinion.

Eve and Pride smile in the same way as they are happy he wants their opinions. And while Eve certainly wants to support her brother, Pride isn't sure she wants to give up a leadership title, especially when they are about to meet the other Sins.

While everyone seems to wonder about that, Sophia caresses Lucien's shoulders as she floats on her magic pillow behind him. "We already have a Captain, don't we?"

All the girls nod, including Wrath, who is already seeing Lucien as something other than just a boy. Eve, on the other hand, looks at Pride, not wanting to offend her.

Everyone is tense as they think Pride is about to make trouble, but then she smiles and looks at Lucien, still seeming arrogant, naturally. "Yeah, we do..."

Lucien smiles back at her while slightly nods. Having Pride's approval seems more and more enjoyable. Of course, that doesn't mean he doesn't care for the approval from the other women of his life, but the most arrogant Sin has a special influence on him.

"Good." Kayla smiles. "Having only one captain is essential as at crucial times the crew cannot be in doubt which orders to follow."

So she continues. "As important as the Captain is the First Mate. That person must be responsible for the Captain's well-being, and if he cannot lead the crew for any reason, the First Mate must take that responsibility until the Captain is in charge again."

Lucien and the girls look instinctively at Eve, not only because she's the major Queen alongside him but also because she's the person who's cared for him so far as a mother.

Eve feels rewarded by Lucien's kind and grateful expression, but she again looks at Pride, seeking her advice. She has been supporting Lucien many times and fears that Pride could make trouble because jealous.

"Don't look at me." Pride quickly comments. "He's your responsibility. Also, I have more to worry about than the crew of this ship..."

"Then it's resolved," Lucien speaks while everyone agrees.

Kayla nods and continues. "Third, we need to choose a Quartermaster. That person normally takes care of the crew's duties following the Captain's orders and takes care of the ship when the Captain and First Mate cannot."

"That sounds like a Captain's assistant or servant..." Amelia comments.

"That's the intention," Kayla responds.

Although any of Lucien's wives are willing to be his Quartermaster, he doesn't feel comfortable treating them like assistants or servants. Kara only has a 'title' of Principal Maid because she wants to, but that's is kind of a play and not a real obligation.

And then, as he looks at the girls, he sees Genevieve beside Helena. The sad Fallen Angel already has his affection, but he has no problem treating Genevieve like his servant. In fact, that's exactly what she is to him and Alexa.

"Genevieve will be the Quartermaster." He speaks in a determined tone. Lucien doesn't even need her to pass his orders on to the other girls as they have the mental communication for that, so he's basically going to work hard.

"Yes, Captain." She responds in a respectful tone. Genevieve doesn't even wonder about disobeying any of Lucien's orders. Not only because Alexa ordered her so, but also because he spared her in battle when no one else would.

Having quickly chosen the Quartermaster, Kayla passes to the next topic. "Another important position is the Helmsman… Sailing Master sounds better in this case."

"This position can be occupied by more than one person as the ship always needs to have someone at the helm, ready for any necessary move. Anyway, we have to choose one now to start sailing." She explains.

Lucien looks at the girls. "Volunteers?"

Some girls find the idea of steering a giant ship exciting, but Scarlett is the first one to step forward. "I've steered smaller ships in Portgreen, and I'd like to try to steer this one as well."

"I'm sure you'll be an excellent Sailing Master, my dear." Lucien smiles at her.

Every second, Kayla becomes more concerned about her grandmother, so she doesn't waste time before finishing the main crew positions. "Another essential person for any crew is the Scout; this position is usually occupied by someone with vision abilities as they always have to be aware of the sea, and also activate the navigation mechanism."

"It's Maggie, of course." Lucien smiles at the cute fire mage, and she steps forward with a happy and proud expression.

"Great!" Kayla comments. "With that, we can already sail."

Then she starts to explain how the ship works. "Almost all mechanisms are magic and automatic, but the helm is not. The Sailing Master needs to be in her position, and then we can put down the sails."

As Scarlett quickly steps in front of the helm, which is in the center of the deck, Kayla continues. "The sails are magical and can propel the ship either with the sea wind or generate Its own wind waves at the cost of wind crystals in mechanisms placed at the base of the masts."

"We found a lot of wind crystals in the storage treasures of the dead pirates." Envy reports.

Kayla nods. "Yes, it's normal for every crew to carry a few of them for unforeseen events, but most of them should be kept in the ship's treasury. These crystals are rare in the Blue Star, but I believe this ship is stocked with hundreds of them."

"But we could also use wind mages to create wind waves or even activate these magic sails, right?" Sloth comments.

"Yes, but I don't see how wind mages can keep the high mana consumption as the crystals can," Kayla explains and then looks at Lucien. "At other times, we can do something like that, but now I need to get back to my grandma as soon as possible, so please don't spare any resources. My Clan will pay you that tenfold when we get back to my house."

"Alright." Lucien has no doubt that with Madelyn, Cassidy, Mia, he can generate more wind mana than hundreds of wind crystals, but he nods to Kayla, agreeing to do as she wants. He also doesn't want her grandmother, the person who might know more about Phoenix, to fall into a trap.

Kayla wastes no time calling Lucien and Maggie back to the Captain's cabin. There she shows them a table with a glass top. He had found that table interesting as there was nothing on top of it, and Lust said it was a magical exploration tool.

"This is called Map of the Seas and is a rare tool that only elite ships have," Kayla explains as she points to the table. "It can only be activated by special mana from someone with vision abilities; that's why these people are so crucial for navigation."

Maggie really feels a connection to that table. She instinctively moves her hand towards it, and when touching Its top, the glass turns blue with a watery texture.

"Exactly this way." Kayla comments. "This blue part represents the water around the ship, and as the Scout puts more vision mana on it, the further away this map shows us."

Maggie feels a sucking force draining her special mana, but she is able to control what force and the amount of mana she wants to put on the table.

Then she starts to infuse more mana on the table until all the glass turns blue. After that, her mana makes the map zoom out, still expanding Its detection radius.

Kayla continues to explain. "Not only water appears on this map but islands as well. The problem is that there aren't many islands in these areas, and they are hundreds of miles distant, so it would take a very high amount of mana to..."

A small brown dot appears in the corner of the table, shocking Kayla. Then she looks at Maggie with a confused expression. "How did you... I thought you were in the Mortal Realm Peak..."

Maggie smiles at Lucien. "Yes, I'm in the Mortal Realm."

Kayla is even more confused. "But to make the map show us an area that far away, it would need an amount of mana that only Sky Realm people would have."

"Don't think too much about it," Lucien vaguely comments as he doesn't want to give too much information about his wives to someone he just meets.

Maggie takes her hand off the table when she feels her mana is running out quickly. Then she looks at Lucien with a pleading expression, clearly asking for help to recover that mana.

As the top of the table turned blue before, it starts to turn transparent again when it loses the mana source. But then Lucien thinks of something and puts his hand on top of the table, making it turn blue again.

"Wait! Do you also have vision abilities?" Kayla quickly asks.

"Something like that..." Lucien again doesn't have an easy way to explain that he shares some of his wives' energies.

He hugs Maggie's waist with his other arm, and she also puts her hand on the table. Now together, they give that map two sources of mana, and at the same time, he uses his demonic energy to generate special mana for himself and Maggie.

Kayla's eyes go wide open as she sees several dots appear on the watery texture of the table. Those are islands separated by thousands of miles, something that only several Sky Realm people with vision abilities together could do.

[Who are they?!?!] She can't help but wonder again.

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