With their escort gone, and the weather much better than the apocalyptic mess they had been through the night before, Dan and the crew relaxed, finally able to release a breath of relief.

  Dan thought that after leaving the stormy zone behind them, they wouldn't need to worry about the weather and that it would return to what they were used to on the Empire's waters, but that wasn't the case. Even after leaving that area behind them and moving for hours, the waters were still rough and the weather was still gloomy. Belatedly, Dan remembered that while the Empire was going through the Calm, a period where the weather was gentle and big storms were almost nonexistent, the Dynasty had no such a thing and its weather was quite hard to predict and handle.

  That didn't mean that Voyager was struggling though, even her old self from Earth would have been able to handle that kind of weather quite easily. As she was now, with all her upgrades and her Aura Appendages, such weather meant almost nothing to her.

  Once they had decided that the weather and swaying weren't that bad anymore, Dan permitted everyone to move around. Of course, the deck was closed off for most people as he didn't want to risk a man-over-board situation.

  Leaving the bridge under the control of Robert, Dan went searching for Arnold, Nulara or the young man, he was dying to find out if any of them knew about what, or who, the Blue Avenger was.

  Dan's first destination was of course the Skyline, being the place where the crew gathered the most. As expected, it was packed, which wasn't that surprising considering how they had only given out cold meals the day before; the weather was too bad and Voyager's swaying and heaving were too strong for them to go to the restaurants and have their meals.

  Unfortunately, Dan didn't spot any of his targets, he turned around to leave but didn't make it far before he heard someone call for him from behind.

  "Captain! Please wait a second."

  Looking back, Dan was met by Annie who was waving at him as she made her way through the crowd.

  "Hello Annie, how are you and Tracy doing?" he asked, wondering if something was wrong.

  "We've been good." She smiled. "The one who suffered the most was Tracy, I think the strengthening we have been through due to the level-ups had a hand in making us more resilient than we would have been, but the poor girl has nothing like that. Fortunately, we've left all that behind us now, she's doing much better, and even yesterday, just a bit of healing from Fleta did wonders."

  "Poor girl, I'm glad that she's alright," Dan said, before asking, "What is it though? Why did you call me?"

  "I just had something to talk to you about," she said, a smile tugging at her lips, "With nothing to do on Voyager, I've had a lot of free time, and I've been mostly using it to take care of the girls and think about what I might do to be of help and to level up faster. With the natives we have on Voyager, I think I finally found a way to do that!"

  Listening to her, the lawyer's Class flashed through Dan's mind, Oath Mistress. She dealt with oaths, contracts and the like, the first skill she took was called Soul Oath, and it was used to establish an almost unbreakable oath if the other party was in a lower tier than her.

  "Oh, what is it?" Dan asked, already having an inkling of an idea about what it might be.

  "I want to put all of them under Oaths!" Annie said excitedly, "Even if most of them are higher-tiered and levelled than me, just having them swear an Oath to me would most likely give me a lot of experience to help me level up. Plus, they don't know my level, just having them swear the oath would be a good deterrent and would make them think twice before trying anything."

  "That's a great idea," Dan said. He honestly felt that they should have thought of that much sooner, but they were in that world for less than a month, they still weren't in the mindset of doing their all to play the system and push for experience in ways other than killing monsters. "I will talk to Robert and Old Raily about setting something up, we can have you wait for them at the restaurants they are using for their meals, and have them swear their oaths."

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  "I'm sure that it's going to be great," Annie said, clearly a bit excited, "I will go and prepare myself for what's coming then."

  After wishing her the best, Dan continued with his search as he brought up his walkie-talkie and contacted both Robert and Old Raily to update them on what he had just talked with Annie about. With things moving smoothly on that matter, he focused on locating one of the three he needed.

  He had an idea where he could find two of those at least, the young blacksmith must be at the forge, if not there then at the workshop with William and the others. As for Arnold, he should be in his room which he was using almost as a study for his research and whatever else he was into.

  That left Nulara, and the only guess he had for her was that she might be with the natives, helping them as best as she could.

  Deciding that Arnold might as well be his best bet, Dan turned around just to stop as his eyes fell on a pair walking his way, it was Nulara and Ricky. The Magic Enthusiast was talking excitedly while Nulara was just walking and nodding from time to time.

  Dan stopped in his place as he raised an eyebrow, he didn't know when the two got that close, he never saw them together nor did he hear anything about it. Not that he cared that much really, he was happy that Nulara was getting close to the people on Voyager.

  "Oh, hi, Captain Dan," Nulara was the first to notice him as she greeted.

  Dan first returned her greeting, and Ricky's once the young man noticed him before asking the young native:

  "Nulara, I had something to ask you, do you know the Blue Avenger?"

  "Yes?" Nulara answered hesitantly, "It's one of the oldest and most well-known ocean legends out there."

  "Oh, what is it about," Dan pushed in interest, he didn't expect to get an answer this easy, "Can you tell me?"

  "Well of course." Nulara stopped for a bit, as if gathering her thoughts, while Ricky just stood next to her watching with interest, then she started. "It's said that hundreds of years ago, when the Empire's Cornerstones were still new and the memories of what had happened with the Alliance and how their fleet turned on them still fresh, few were willing to take the risk and head into the ocean on a ship with a Cornerstone on it. The captain of a certain sail ship didn't feel that though, he was one of the first who took to the ocean alongside his ship.

  "It was said that the Captain was a true man of the ocean, where others feared it and treated it as a forbidden zone, he saw it as a place full of opportunities. It was also said that the man loved his ship more than anything else, he spent all his time atop his ship, treating her as a partner rather than a tool, and the same was said about his crew, they loved that ship just as much. Legends said that they were one of the best crews of their time, sailing along the shores of the Empire, hauling cargo and exploring the nearby islands."

  Dan listened in fascination as a possibility started developing in his mind. He also could feel Voyager's aura focused on the place they were in, listening to what Nulara was saying.

  "The captain and his crew's love for their ship was known by all," Nulara continued, "But the weird part is, people said that she loved them just as much. The crew's adventures and expeditions are many and quite well known, but I'm sure that many of them are nothing more than tales created by drunk sailors. I'm not that sure about the ending of the crew's story, as it's something all versions and people agree on.

  "It's said that one time, while returning to the capital carrying some very important cargo, the ship was attacked by pirates. Some say there were as many as 10 ships among those pirates, and that the crew and the ship fought valiantly, even taking more than half the other side's ships down. Unfortunately, they couldn't hold on, and the ship was eventually boarded and what was left of its crew was killed, soaking the deck in blood.

  "That was supposed to be the end of that crew and their ship, but that isn't how the story ends. It's said that the ship's captain was the last to be slain, and as the last drop of his blood fell on deck, the ship came alive. The ropes and sails attacked the pirates on deck, hanging and suffocating them before she threw herself at the remaining pirate ships, she moved as if a ghost, disappearing and reappearing. At the end, only one ship was able to escape, surviving to tell the tale."

  "And the Blue Avenger is..?" Dan pushed when Nulara stopped speaking.

  "Yes." She nodded. "It's said that ever since, there has been a Ghost Ship patrolling the waters of the Empire, attacking pirates and slavers alike. When the Western Continent was discovered, she disappeared from the Empire's waters and it was said that she could now be found in the open ocean between continents, attacking pirates and slavers. The ship's real name isn't known by anyone, but due to a few glimpses of her blue sails, she was given that name, the Blue Avenger, the most well-known Ghost Ship in the ocean.

  "Not that I actually believe such a thing," Nulara eventually said as she chuckled, "The ocean is a big place indeed, and many impossibilities are known to happen on it. But a Ghost ship? A ship moving on her own through the ocean? That's just impossible."

  Nulara's light laugh got fainter and fainter till she eventually stopped as she saw both Ricky and Dan looking quite grave.

  "It is impossible, right?"