It had taken a good long while to load Asgrim's ship with silver, but as far as problems went the inconvenience of carrying one's own money several tons at a time probably ranked pretty highly on the list of ones you'd like to have. At first they'd been impossibly slow, needing to make their way down the whole tower's winding stairs for every trip. Emma had simplified that by blasting a hole at the base, right where they'd landed during their fight with the Demigod, and filling it with water. From there most of the trip was done by simply tossing coins out to land in the pool.

From there, Emma contributed further will sleds. She didn't power their travel herself—doing that would have exhausted her quickly—but within the hour most of the physical fighters had healed enough that they were able to move decently fast. Olympian speed, maybe, even while dragging all the weight behind them. So a few thousand coins at a time, they loaded everything towards the ship. Emma was with the last load, figuring she might as well provide a bit of thrust. All in all they were done before the afternoon was, and once everyone had clambered aboard the Storm-Eyes' vessel all the severity of their hard work, the fear that their haul might somehow be taken from them, vanished. Save for the painting, which Vari was now desperately clinging onto, everything had found a new home below decks.

They started cheering in celebration.

"We're rich!" Asgrim declared, for perhaps the twentieth time. "We're all rich!"

"You can give up piracy, eh?" Aexilica asked, surprising Emma somehow by being just as thrilled as everyone else. Perhaps it was silly to find the sight jarring, of course she was happy. Ridiculous, sudden wealth tended to have that effect.

"Ha!" Asgrim answered back. "I'm going to do piracy even harder actually, already have a bunch of ships in mind—with this haul I'm getting a dozen, maybe more, with the crews to run them. I'll be admiral Storm-Eye, and I'll be able to carry even more loot at once!"

Aexilica looked somewhat mortified, turning to Emma who, naturally, found herself agreeing.

"I just want to get our share hauled off and use it to buy out a castle." She promised, with a smile. "Then we can pay other people to do all our fighting for us, raid dungeons, kill monsters and fill a giant treasure room of our own. Twice the size of Groygar's—no, fifty!"

For some reason, Aexilica ended up turning away from her at that.

"I need a new yari." Haruki noted, idly, "Mine broke against that Demigod's muscles."

"And I need to find something that kills me!" Sade giggled with excitement.

Asgrim's eyes fell on Emma at that, thoughtful.

"You want a castle?" He asked, sounding genuinely interested. "You wouldn't consider…A career at sea?"

Emma laughed.

"No offence, but you get your money by fighting people on wooden ships right? My powers are basically ultra-specialised in making that as bad an idea as possible. Also fighting is…" She shivered, remembering a twelve-pack approaching her faster than a cheetah. "...Terrifying."

Asgrim sighed at that, seeming disappointed but not particularly surprised. He moved across the ship, pausing, and gesturing for everyone to follow him. They did, as he approached the fore.

"What about you two?" Asgrim pressed, eyes flitting between Aexilica and Vari.

Aexilica paused, and Emma found herself staring as the woman's face shifted. She saw something there that even she hadn't dared to worry about…Consideration.

***

Aexilica wasn't a woman of mixed blood, not on the Storm-Eye crew. There she was just…Aexilica, herself. With nothing attached to that save what she chose to make of it. It had taken her a while to figure out what it was that being around the pirates did for her, but now that she'd finally pinned it down she found it impossible not to think about.

The idea of wanting something without ever even knowing it was possible had seemed ridiculous, but it really shouldn't have. What better word was there to describe a dream? Aexilica was staring at her dream now, standing on it. Feeling it rock beneath her feet, hearing it creak around her, smelling the salty winds run over it as sails rustled and its other occupants stared at her expectantly. Never in her entire life had she felt such a burning want—such a searing need—as she did in that moment.

But she glanced at Emma, of course. And that glance turned into a stare. The girl's face was a portrait of pure fear. It was almost laughable, the same exact face Emma pulled when she stared at something big and powerful charging her way. Aexilica felt a stab of guilt at that, but it wasn't the guilt that moved her. Not in the end.

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It was something else, twisting in her gut. Something knotted and tight.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, sighed, then forced her voice back out with a great deal more strength and weight as she turned to Asgrim. "I'm sorry, but I can't."

Asgrim did look surprised this time, shoulders actually slumping somewhat as he frowned.

"Are you sure? You'd be a great asset, with your strength. We'd start you on a full twenty-share pay right away, and that's without counting whatever we end up arranging with the rest of our upcoming fleet."

"It's not about that." Aexilica told him, mustering every bit of her willpower not to glance back at Emma as she did. "Again, sorry."

Asgrim smiled.

"You don't need to apologise love, I get it." He grinned, though with a sad tint to it this time. Everyone, Aexilica realised, had a touch of sadness now. She'd be missed, here. A meagre few weeks aboard, and she'd be missed. The longing in her heart deepened, and she almost changed her mind but…

But she'd seen how scared Emma became when combat ran her way, and knew full well she was right about the feasibility of her powers on a ship.

Asgrim turned from Aexilica to Vari, seeming suddenly a lot less hopeful.

"And you?" He asked the Sculd. "Raider, right? Sea raider? We all saw how you dived into the ocean, even in the storm. Even in ringmail. Not many could pull that off, even in this crew. And we've seen you fight too, you're more than welcome here."

Vari considered that, frowning with thought. Then he surprised Aexilica with his answer.

"No, I want to stay with the witch-girl and warrior woman." He replied at last.

"Why?" Asgrim and Emma asked at once.

"My reasons are my own." Vari told them, face remaining admirably still despite the concentrated power glaring at him in confusion.

Asgrim accepted it, even though Aexilica knew he must have been just as confused as her.

"Alright then." He said, sighed, smiled. Nodded. "Alright."

Aexilica noticed it then, the way everyone was moving back. Stepping away from the same patch of deck, near the side of the ship. Everyone, except for those who were not regulars in the crew. She'd almost put the pieces together, almost finished slotting clues into place, when Asgrim grinned and pulled the lever. The section of deck upon which she, Emma and Vari stood dislodged, tipped back and deposited all three of them overboard at once.

"Take care!" Asgrim laughed as they fell into the water and swam, Emma and Vari barely holding themselves above the surface due to a lack of ability and a presence of giant painting respectively. "Good luck!"

"May we meet again!" Sade beamed after, while Haruki merely smiled apologetically and waved. Emma screamed until she almost swallowed enough seawater to sink.

***

Emma, Aexilica and Vari the Idiot were able to find Milton's ship quickly. It was good fortune that Noelani and Thyra left the vessels easily found, better fortune still that he had, for some reason, chosen to purchase three where he could have easily gotten by with only one, and even better fortune that the Beast Tamer remained thoroughly dead. Apparently the Battle Bitches planned on leaving his corpse on the island, which Emma thought was quite funny and regrettable only because it would involve her not seeing the stupid thing decompose.

A lot of good luck, all in all. Almost enough to balance that for the second time, Emma had lost all of her fucking money.

It shouldn't have been surprising, really. They were pirates. They'd spent the entire time eye-fucking the piles of silver, and Emma had personally watched Asgrim himself risk horrible death rather than part with any of it. They also had the numerical advantage, which never hurt in helping bad people do bad shit.

Still, even knowing all that, she found herself trembling with rage at the memory. All of it, so much that she'd found herself staring at how deeply the ship dipped on every bobbing wave while desperately hoping the fucking thing would sink. It didn't, of course. It was full of bad people, which meant the cosmos was very particular about keeping anything nasty from happening to it.

Emma was not happy, but she liked to think she did a good job of hiding the fact. It was, after all, a mark of maturity to master one's emotions, and after a very reasonable four energy lances fired through trees, and few dozen volleys of bullets sent thudding into sand, she was calmed enough for conversation. Which hurt a bit, given that she'd also screamed herself hoarse. But considering the amount of stolen silver was, she thought, enough to register in a modern-day billionaire's wallet, Emma considered that much the bare minimum she was entitled to express.

"There are three ships." Thyra had explained, redundantly, "And each has their own crew, we're taking them all but other than that…Where do you want us to drop you both off? We owe you that much for helping to take out Milton, even if it wasn't exactly a part of some grander plan."

Emma considered her odds of just beating the shit out of them both and taking the ships to sell when they arrived wherever they were heading, but…no. She was still exhausted in terms of mana, and by the time she'd regained enough for that to be tenable they'd already be at sea. A fight there, with her powers, would have every chance of drowning them all together regardless of who won.

"Take us to the nearest country." She sighed at last. "I want to be on dry land as soon as possible." Maybe there she'd be able to take what she was owed.

The journey was not long, by sea-voyage standards. Another two weeks or so. Emma used them to practice her magic, and examine those few pieces of loot she'd been fortunate enough to have on her before being tipped overboard.

Not so fortunate, really. In her case it'd been a total piece of shit, some rusty ring she'd been holding only as part of the stuff to throw overboard for fear of sinking. Aexilica had gotten a sword and suit of chainmail—actual chainmail, not ringmail—while Vari, of course, had an axe.

The weapons seemed magical, to Emma. Humming with power, and Larry had confirmed this suspicion. They were probably very useful, an upgrade over mundane steel and, certainly, mundane iron. Emma wouldn't have been surprised to learn that there were people the world over willing to pay entire salaries just to procure a single one, surely common adventurers and pirates, mercenaries and gladiators, dreamed of obtaining such treasures.

But none of them, not a single one, was a giant fucking pile of silver. Not a chestful, and certainly not an entire room full. Emma thought about her coins as the ship moved across the ocean. She thought about them, and she screamed. And she fired off energy lances one after another into the waves, venting her fury as best she could.

No matter how much mana she poured out to the ocean, though, the rage inside remained hot as ever.

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