Blood Shaper

At the end of the meeting, they reached the decision Kay was expecting them to, he would be going to the Seramist Isles. There were pros and cons for each side of the decision, but when boiled down, the chances of something cataclysmic happening were too high to risk. Additionally, the risks of Kay leaving were tolerable and the additional benefits on top of that, while not enough that Kay would go without the threat to the world, were a decent added benefit.

“This is a big jump for me,” Cindy told Kay as they watched the ship being loaded.

It had taken another week to finish the meetings and negotiations with the visitors to Avalon and in the background preparations for the trip went on at a breakneck pace. Decisions were made, orders were sent, and everything that needed Kay’s direct attention before leaving was brought to the front of the queue for him to deal with. Thankfully for the goal of leaving as soon as possible, there wasn’t much that Kay personally had to attended to. If you looked at Avalon’s government in depth, Kay was a benevolent dictator that allowed some forms of representation and self-governance, but his word was law. In an effort to avoid corruption and becoming an unaccountable menace he’d built a government structure that could operate without him, and this moment proved its usefulness. While he could spend every minute of every day making decisions and running things, he didn’t have to, which was the main goal of the smart rulers and leaders on Torotia. Within a system where the strong ruled, those in charge had to keep getting stronger in order to stay on top. Unless their particular build was incredibly heavy on being a micromanager and running bureaucracy, they wouldn’t be able to level their Skills or tier up their Classes very quickly, they just wouldn’t have the time while also keeping their country afloat, and builds like that wouldn’t be suited to fighting off challengers for their title either.

But while it was safe for Kay to leave Avalon running without him for a time, they still needed someone at the helm. Obviously the person actually in charge of running everything would be Amanda. As Prime Minister and also the person in charge of ninety percent of the day to day operations anyway, she was staying behind to continue working. However, in spite of her professionalism, skill, and incredible competence, there would be some fools that refused to listen to her because she wasn’t a noble. None of those people were employed by Avalon but merchants, visiting nobles, and official dignitaries still needed to be dealt with, so Avalon’s newest Duchess was also remaining behind to serve as Kay’s stand-in. She would be the public face of Avalon’s rule and the ominous Class Line Progenitor ready to come down on anyone who tried shit.

“I didn’t feel ready when I started doing this either,” Kay replied, “But I know you’ve got this. It’ll be good practice for you when you’ve got a duchy of your own to take care of.”

“Oh sure, getting thrown into the deep end of ruling the kingdom will be good practice for the shallower section of being in charge of a duchy. That makes sense.” She complained.

“You won’t have Amanda to lean on.” Kay pointed out, “This time you’re just being her mouthpiece basically, with some added spice of kicking ass if someone misbehaves. Once we set up your duchy and it’s capital and all that you’ll be completely in charge with no help.”

“You’re not going to help me if I need it? Some liege lord you are.”

“No immediate help then. Amanda and I won’t be in every meeting to feed you advice.”

“I get what you mean,” She said with a small sigh, “I’m jut working out nerves I guess. It’s easier to snark at you than to worry about what I’m going to fuck up.”

“You’re going to fuck up something, that’s just a fact of life, but you’ll have the most Machiavellian Prime Minister around to make sure you don’t ruin anything too important.”

“You know, Machiavelli wasn’t actually the kind of guy most people assume he was from reading The Prince. In the preface to the book he talks about reading it diligently and the whole thing is actually a disguised diss track about how much he hated the Medicis and trying to show everyone what kind of bullshit tyrants will pull so you can see through them.” She perked up a little, excited to share a fun historical fact, “I’m telling you this both because it’s true and because it means that it doesn’t all describe Amanda who is absolutely a scheming adviser who will do whatever necessary to destroy her enemies and see her plans come to fruition.”

“I am ever grateful that meeting Darten and Meten in the woods one day ended up with her being on my team.”

“You are one lucky man. Although I will backtrack one portion of that comment,” She paused to add, “Machiavelli really hated tyrants who ran roughshod over their people and Amanda definitely does too.”

Kay smirked at her. “Well, don’t be a tyrant while I’m gone and you’ll do fine.”

Cindy rolled her eyes and snorted a laugh at him.

Kay noticed someone moving in their direction from the ship and he turned to face them. It was a thin orcish woman that Kay didn’t recognize who stopped a few feet away from the two of them and looked at Kay expectantly.

“Yes?”

“Captain’s sends his greetings your majesty, we’re about to finish loading supplies and start boarding all passengers, so if you’d please head to docks.” She said in a hoarse voice.

“Of course. Thank you for the message and please convey my thanks to the captain as well.”

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“Certainly, your majesty.” She ran off back toward the ship.

“Alright.” Kay stepped forward and gave Cindy a quick hug. “You’ve got this.”

“Yeah, I do.” She replied after a deep breath. “Have a safe trip, deal with whatever’s out there, and come back quick, yeah?”

He paused for a second. “Have you had any dreams?”

Cindy squinted out at the ship. “Nothing that connects with your trip or the Isles yet. A few glimpses at events I’ll have to deal with while you’re gone but they’re minor things.” She turned to look him in the eye, “You’ve been great about not hounding me for predictions like you promised, but I just wanted to say, don’t rely on me for that kind of future sight forever. I’m trying to push my Class to be more of an in the moment seeing a few seconds ahead for combat type Class, so I can combine it into a future sight gunslinger type of archetype at tire five.”

“That sounds badass.” Kay watched the wooden crane attached to the docks lower the last crate onto the deck of the ship. “I’m happy to hear that you think I’ve been keeping my promise, but to be honest with you you seeing the future when it came to that eldritch being under the mesa really saved out asses and I’m sure it could come in clutch in the future. Do me a favor and work with Isla and Amanda while I’m gone and see if you guys can find anyone that doesn’t mind being an oracle for us and see if we can lure then to Avalon with promises of great pay and such.”

The faint, uncomfortable look in her eyes faded as Kay made his request and she nodded along. “I can do that no problem. Hell, maybe you’ll find one to bring back from the Isles.”

“I don’t think I’m that lucky.” He glanced at the ship again and started moving toward it. “Eleniah’s going to be pissed if I make the ship late, so I’ll see you when I get back.”

“Be safe!” Cindy called after him, “And don’t go getting married in her home town, we need you to have a state wedding in Avalon City!”

Kay shook his fist at her over his shoulder as his guard detail pulled in around him. He turned to Lauren as they moved down the stretch of beach along the bay toward the docks. “Last check, the Blood Guard all set without you?”

“They’ll be fine.” She assured him. “Tyuah’s not happy about being the one left behind, but we can’t have me and her both going and there’s no chance you’re leaving my sight, not after you flying off on your own during the battle and almost getting sucked into some other realm.” She held up a hand to stop him from replying, “Don’t try to apologize again, because we both know if something like that happened again you’d do the same thing. Just try and let me do my job, even when there’s a fight, okay?” 𝐟reew𝗲b𝐧𝚘𝐯𝐞l.c𝚘m

“Alright. We’ll take some time and work on your Skills so you can follow me in the air.”

“I’d appreciate that, thank you.”

The rear elements of Kay’s detail moved around to the front as they approached the ship and boarded via the gangplank to do a quick reconnaissance of the deck. The odds of there being an assassin there were low, but they weren’t going to skimp on their duties. Kay quickly boarded so that everyone else that was coming with wouldn’t be held up. As he stepped onto the deck and moved off to the side to clear the gangplank, he took a good look around the ship.

It was tall multi-masted and multi-decked sailing ship that he, in his inexpert ruling, would call a galleon, although it was probably quite different in the eyes of an expert. The ship was one of the ones they’d captured when they’d wiped out the pirate port and had been in the process of being repaired and updated when the decision to visit the Isles had been made. A fast courier had been sent with orders to move all workers from the multiple ships they’d been repairing to finish the largest ship as Kay’s transport. While Prince Carlile had offered to carry Kay and his people on his ship, it was better on multiple levels for Kay to travel on a ship under his control.

Eleniah sidled up to him as he watched the hustle and bustle of the last bits of cargo being taken below. “Quite a sight, isn’t she?”

“It is. I’ve never actually been on a ship before, this is all new to me, but she’s definitely pretty to look at.” Kay said, watching a barrel get rolled down a flight of stairs and out of sight. He turned to look over at her, “You were already on board?”

“I’ve been warming up the old sailing muscles, making sure that Expert Sailor Class of mine hasn’t gone rusty.” She told him with a grin. “By the way,” She said, her expression growing temporarily serious, “Don’t be too hard on the captain for not being here to greet you right as you boarded, please? I know that it’s the standard thing, but he’s got a lot to deal with right now.”

“You actually think I’d come down on him?” He asked, a little taken aback.

Eleniah grimaced, “Bad choice of words. No I don’t think that. What I meant was… He’s already stressed about all of this and his position and everything so he’s automatically going to feel bad about it. If you could avoid saying anything that will make him think you care…”

“Oh, I understand. Of course I can do that. Why are you concerned over this captain you just met though? You care about people but usually not personally enough to specifically ask me to watch out for their feelings.”

“Honestly? Part of it’s my instincts as a teacher. The kid’s got a ton of potential, but he needs a little seasoning and a little more self confidence before he really hits his stride. And…” She trailed off as a small group of people hurried up from below decks. “He reminds me of me when I was younger, and maybe a hint of you, too.” She whispered, before pulling slightly away from Kay.

An average sized human man was at the front of the group, wearing moderately fancier clothes than the rest of the crew and with an actual tricorn hat in one hand. He glanced around the deck until he spotted Kay and straightened his posture before walking over. As he approached Kay noticed that he was very pale, paler than Kay was as a vampire, with had perfectly white hair. It was easy to think he was albino until Kay noticed his eyes were a bright piercing blue. Kay wondered how he wasn’t lobster red in the bright sunlight as he stopped a foot away and held out one hand to shake.

“Your majesty, I’m Captain Vinik Rogers. We’ve met once before when you rescued us all from those blasted pirates.” He shook Kay’s hand firmly and slowly let out a breath. “It’s my pleasure to welcome you aboard the Royal Avalon, flagship of the Royal Navy of Avalon. Of course she’s the only ship in the Royal Navy of Avalon which makes her the flagship by default,” Captain Rogers continued as he dropped Kay’s hand. “And to be honest it sounds a bit repetitive when I say ‘Royal Avalon of the Royal Navy of Avalon’ but now that we’ve got her done the yards can get back to finishing the other ships, and it isn’t like we can call.” He stopped, looking a little awkward as he processed what he’d just said and how it might come across. “That is…”

“No worries captain,” Kay said while suppressing a smile, “You’re correct on all points. How about you let me know where to take myself and my guards so we’re not in the way of boarding and setting sail, and then you can give me a tour of the ship.”

“Of course your majesty! I’ll have someone direct you to your quarters and I’ll come down once we’re out on open water.”

“That sounds lovely, thank you captain.”