Guy | HP: 712/886
He lost some, and looking at everybody else, he noticed that they all lost HP as well, except for Arn. Since he was normal, he had no HP bar, just a bruised forehead leaking droplets of blood.
“Everyone okay?” Guy asked.
Arn retook the navigational station now that the crash had flung Guy from it. He checked his flickering computer screen and typed commands across the terminal.
“Can we vote that Guy touches nothing on the bridge again?” Arn asked.
“What the fuck?” Guy said to him. “Why?”
Arn shrugged. “Seems whenever you’re in control, we end up crashing.”
“I wasn’t at the stick this time,” Guy said.
Arn ignored him and addressed everyone while raising his hand up. “So, all in favor?”
Ulysses retook his seat and checked his computer screens. “Arn, shut the fuck up and find us the nearest port . . .”
“Eh, wherever that is,” Arn said while reading his station’s data. “Computers are fried. This is why you don’t let Guy take my post. I leave for a few minutes, and look what happens.”
Guy shut his eyes and rubbed his face, sighing. “Bruh, I’m a pilot just like you . . .”
Arn stood up from his chair, wincing at the computers. “Navigation is out. I can’t do anything.”
“I can make the Seraphim sail,” Ulysses said. “But I need a destination.”
Guy walked toward the bridge’s exit. “I’ll get on top and see if I can spot any land.”
Chapter Two
The machina that powered the star-dweller ship ceased to function, surrounding everyone in darkness. It put a giant grin on Nijana Celestina’s face as she picked herself up from the floor following the crash. Not that anyone aboard the Seraphim knew of her actual name. They believed she was Princess Averyl Autumnfall for the past month because of her indiscernible appearance. Nijana played her role well.
She stood in the corridors, just outside the door leading to the Seraphim’s bridge, and listened closely to the sounds of the muffled chatter. She couldn’t make out a word of it, other than something Guy had said.
“I’ll get on top and see if I can spot any land.”
She retreated through the darkness and hid in a corner. Guy left the bridge and walked right past her, unable to see the fake fae princess hiding in the dark. Everyone else remained on the bridge, talking about why the machina lights, engines, and everything else she couldn’t pronounce stopped working.
The situation had everyone distracted.
Perfect.
Nijana sneaked through the darkened corridors, tiptoeing past the decorative plants. She entered the crew sleeping area, an expansive dorm-like room with bunk beds along the walls and two vacant desks with a machina device on them. She heard them call that device a laptop, but only Guy, Rachael, Arn, and Ulysses used it as they were the star-dwellers of the ship. Everyone else aboard were land-dwellers like Nijana and had no clue how to operate star-dweller machina, except for Henrietta, who knew how to use the PDA devices. Apparently, PDAs contained books on them. How star-dwellers put multiple books into such small, handheld devices were beyond her. Machina was another form of magic as far as Nijana was concerned.
And come to think of it, a PDA might fetch a reasonable price. Nijana thought as her thieving hands searched the beds and cabinets for valuables. Just don’t touch any weapons. That’s what gets you tainted by the affliction and given a class.
And having a class was an excellent way to get the Autumnfall Empire to target you for death.
She spent the next five minutes searching and had nothing to show for it. It seemed the crew kept their valuables stored in their magical Inventory screens, everyone except for that faun Kam, the one person on the Seraphim who knew of her real identity. Nijana ambled to Kam’s bunk, pulled off the blankets, and found the ocarina he invested a lot of time examining. It had to have been worth something. Why else would he keep it out? Even if it wasn’t, she knew there was a gullible elf on Alfheimr who would pay a handsome price for it—
Footsteps echoed in the halls outside. Someone was coming.
Nijana had to be quick and careful. Touching the ocarina would get her afflicted and give her a class. It was going to be something hard to plunder. She found and grabbed a sack, used it as a glove to pick up the enchanted ocarina, then carefully made it fall into the bottom of the bag. Her hands shook during the act. She paused and waited five seconds, but nothing happened. Her hands didn’t come in contact with the ocarina. Nijana was still a normal fae, unchanged by the affliction, and about to become a wealthy woman once the Seraphim made landfall.
She had no regrets about waking up in this alternate reality several months ago.
The echoing footsteps grew louder. Soon someone would ask why Nijana was snooping around the bunks while in the dark. Nijana tiptoed out and away from the crew area. She wandered through the Seraphim’s decks until she noticed a ray of light brighten the wall. It was natural sunlight. She walked closer to it and found the airlock door wide open.
Why is this open?
“I’ll get on top and see if I can spot any land.”
Right, Guy had forced it open and likely used it to access the Seraphim’s exterior. She slithered toward the airlock and looked outside and at the blue waving ocean on the horizon. Nijana shut her eyes as her mind took her back to the days when she sailed the seas of Faeheim, searching for plunder or a wild adventure or two. Those days were gone as with that version of Faeheim. The Faeheim the Seraphim had fled from differed from the Faeheim she knew.
There was a ladder on the exterior of the star-dweller ship, just beside the airlock door. Nijana used it to climb up to the top of the Seraphim and saw Guy sitting and watching the horizon. She grinned slyly at the Paladin wearing a trench coat, then sat down with him.
“Mind if I join you?” Nijana said.
“Your call,” Guy said. “But there’s not much going on.”
“Didn’t find land?”
“Not yet. Wish we had a telescope.”
Nijana looked to the side as the sea breeze rustled her short cherry-red hair. She saw birds in the distance. “We’re close.”
“How do you know?” Guy asked.
She pointed at the horizon that hooked her attention, at the birds flying above the blue waves. “Birds,” she said. “It’s the daytime, so they’re looking for food.” Nijana pointed to the sky. “And those clouds? Those are cumulus. They usually form over land. If we move in that direction, then we’ll find land and hopefully a place to dock.”
Guy studied the cumulus clouds and the birds she had pointed out, smiled, and made an approving, grunting sound. She faced him and returned the smile.
“Never took you as a princess who knew about this stuff,” he said.
That’s because I’m not really the princess. I spent my fair share of days at sea as a pirate, she thought to herself. “I’m smarter than you think,” she said aloud.
“And you don’t talk like the other land-dwellers.”
Nijana gasped. She thought she did; she thought she nailed impersonating princess Autumnfall to perfection. “What do you mean?” Nijana asked in a concerned tone of voice.
“You said, ‘I’m,’” Guy revealed. “That’s a contraction. Most land-dwellers don’t use contractions, especially those of high birth like you.”
“Sorry for being a naughty girl,” Nijana said. “Wanna spank me for it?”
Guy flushed instantly. “Okay, what the fuck . . .”
“Okay, huh?” She giggled. “So, you do?!”
He shook his head frantically. “No!”
His cheeks remained red; it was so cute. Nijana would ask him to come along if she weren’t stealing from him. Sitting together with Guy gave Nijana a better glance at Asteria’s Sword strapped to his back. From what she overheard, someone he fought with really wanted it and died trying to take it. Asteria’s Sword had to have been the most expensive item aboard the Sera
phim. She wondered what else he had in the pockets of his trench coat. Nijana sat closer to Guy, to the point their arms touched. He didn’t move. He liked it.
“Is it true that your sword turned you into the Paladin class?” she asked.
He grimaced and looked away from her. “Yeah . . .”
“And nobody else can use that class?”
“Not that I know of.”
I wonder if I can touch Asteria’s Sword without getting afflicted. If so, then that’s more coin coming my way when I sell it.
Guy left to pass the word down to Ulysses and Arn of what Nijana told him. Seconds later, the Seraphim sailed toward the clouds and birds, drifting across the ocean as if it were a boat. Guy returned to the top and sat beside her again, and the two watched the sea together. He was probably interested in her, and she was interested in his sword.
The star-dwellers aboard weren’t kidding about the Seraphim’s speed. It was faster than the boats Nijana used to command. And there was no need for sails. Despite the power loss, some of the Seraphim’s machina still worked. She’d steal the ship too if that were an option, but had to settle with the ocarina, and hopefully, Asteria’s Sword when she got the chance to take it from him. And maybe Guy’s heart too. He sat with Nijana for a reason, and she hoped it was because of her.
She looked at the black trench coat he wore with a puzzled glance. “Why do you keep the coat on?”
Guy tapped one of his coat’s pockets. “It has lots of pockets,” he said. “It’s faster and easier to grab items from the pocket than to fumble around with my Inventory screen.”
“I see, so you keep things in them?”
“Yeah, HP hyposprays that I might need to use quickly in an emergency, and stuff I don’t want in my limited inventory space like this. . .”
He reached into his side pocket, then pulled out a dark gray crystal. It must be worth a lot too.
“What is that?” she asked, holding back an opportunist’s smile.
“Wylume’s soul crystal,” Guy said as he studied the crystal in his grips. “Been studying it the past week in my spare time. Got sick of having to put it into my inventory, then out, then back in.”
She watched as he slipped the soul crystal back into his pocket and made a mental note which one it was.
Nijana’s guidance was correct; land appeared on the horizon, a tiny fishing village sitting at the edge of a vast forest, its tree leaves a bright emerald color. The Seraphim pulling into the village’s dock drew the shocked gazes of various elves at the town, racing back as the machina ship came to a stop. Guy and Nijana had remained seated on top of the Seraphim the entire time. The awe of watching the ship find land and move to dock at the village had distracted Guy from Nijana’s sleight of hand. She pickpocketed him, touched something that felt large, heavy, and smooth as glass. Nijana pulled out the object and quickly glanced at it, confirming that it was the soul crystal he showed her. She slipped it into her bag.
Nijana stood up and placed her hands on her hips as she gave the village and its tiny wooden houses a stare. “Let’s explore!”
Guy stood with her. “Shouldn’t we?—”
She grabbed his arm and pulled him to the side ladder. “Oh, they’ll be fine. I want to see this world, and I need your sword for protection.”
Rachael and Ulysses climbed to the top of the Seraphim right as Nijana dragged Guy to the ladder. Rachael reached for Guy like a child who realized someone snatched their candy.
“Guy, wait!” Rachael cried out to him.
But Nijana kept yanking Guy away from her. You snooze; you lose.
The two climbed down to the wooden dock. Then Nijana held Guy’s hand and dashed toward the village. Rachael rushed to the edge of the Seraphim, looking down as Nijana ran away with her man to go on an adventure within the elven settlement. Nijana laughed and giggled as they set foot on the village’s dirt paths. That’s what a young fairy princess would do, right?
She looked at Guy and saw that he was smiling. And behind, she saw Rachael standing on top the Seraphim with a frown and crossed arms. Nijana gave her a wink and a wave goodbye. She had no plans of seeing that star-fae again.
The elves in the village glared at the two and whispered among each other.
“Is that a star-dweller?”
“Father, how come his ears are so small and smooth?”
“He is a human, son; they do not have pointed ears like us.”
“Look at her wings . . .”
“I believe she is a fairy.”
“It has been ages since a star-dweller ship landed here from the heavens!”
“Indeed, Asteria has not forgotten about us.”
Nijana and Guy approached one of the village’s establishments, a sparsely populated tavern, its occupants creeping toward the windows to watch the trench coated swordsman and the fake fae princess holding hands and exploring the town.
Guy stopped and looked at the tavern. “I’ll ask for directions inside.”
She released his hand, spun to face him while placing her hands behind her back. “I’ll be right with you,” she said. Nijana glanced at the two-story building behind Guy with the words “Trade Broker” written in the elven language above its door.
Guy pushed open the tavern’s doors and vanished within. Nijana didn’t join him. She trotted off to the trade broker. She noticed a long queue inside the building to get service from the elven men and women behind the desk. From what Nijana could tell, all the elves had some sort of class. They used their Inventory screens to pull items out and hand them to the clerks. Even the clerks had classes and operated special screens related to the usage of the broker. Most elves in the queue, Nijana overheard, were there to sell items they found in fields or dungeons. On the opposite wall were clerks selling items elves had put up for sale to adventurers looking to upgrade their equipment. One person’s junk was another person’s treasure.
The queue shrank as the elves offered their unwanted items to the clerks, exchanging them for elven francs, the currency used on this world. Finally, Nijana’s turn came next.
“I’d like to put these up for sale,” Nijana said. She emptied the contents of her bag onto the desk, the crystal she stole from Guy, and the ocarina.
The elven woman, wearing thick glasses and sporting short blonde hair, picked up the crystal first and examined it. A tiny screen appeared above the crystal. The woman glanced at it, then did the same for the ocarina, which turned out to be called Dianna’s Ocarina.
“Where did you get such strange items?” The woman asked her.
Nijana grinned. “Is it worth a lot?”
The woman nodded. “Oh yeah, it is—” The ocarina slipped from her hands. “Oh, no!”
She dropped it.
Nijana watched in horror as the wind instrument fell from the elven woman’s hands and tumbled to the floor. She panicked as every sense in her mind told her if the ocarina hit the floor, then it’d break. Then, nobody at the trade broker would want money for it and Nijana’s efforts would have been for nothing.
Nijana swooped down to grab the falling ocarina with her fast reflexes. It was an inch away from the ground when she clenched it in her grip, saving it from shattering.
And it was at that moment Nijana realized she fucked up. She touched the ocarina.
“Fuck.”
Nijana collapsed. Her arms, legs, and fae wings spread across the floor as she blacked out.
Astral circuit wiring commencing . . .
No, no, no! This wasn’t supposed to happen!
You have selected the Bard class. Please standby until astral circuit wiring completes.
Chapter Three
The spin of the Sirocco’s propellers slowed, allowing the airship to land at a clearing near the edge of a vibrant forest. Tempeste L’Aignelet recognized the woodland from her childhood, the Verte Woods, located outside the fishing village of René’s Cove. As the Sirocco finished its landing procedure, Tempeste double-checked the quest Captai
n Bordeaux gave her.
Objective: Find where the star-dweller ship landed, speak with its crew, and ask them to help save the Lumière Kingdom from the dark elves.
Somewhere beyond the Verte Woods was the village the star-dweller ship most likely sailed to. It had to have been René’s Cove. There were no other ports in the area, and the ship was too big to land anywhere else close by, not with the mountains, large hills, and forests decorating the terrain.
The Sirocco landed, and its propellers had grown silent. The only sound in the air now were the winds rustling the tree leaves and the footsteps of the aeronauts, racing to repair the airship’s battle damage as the Clerics continued to cast Resurrection on the deceased. Well, the dead who were fortunate enough to have LP and not become soul crystals. She verified her loadout and gear.
Spellsword Saber [Short Sword]
Rank: B
Attack: 50
MP: +20 Magic Attack: +3
Asteriarite Slot: [Asteriarite: Intelligence +3]
Asteriarite Slot: [Asteriarite: Intelligence +3]
Asteriarite Slot: [Asteriarite: Intelligence +3]
Requires: 110 Strength 60 Intelligence
Spellsword Maiden’s Dress Tabard [Plate Armor]
Rank: B
Defense: 48 Magic Defense: 3
Vitality: +3 MP: +30 Defense Bonus: +3 Attack Bonus: +3
Sigil Space: 8
Requires: 110 Strength 60 Intelligence
Spellsword Maiden’s Cross Pendant [Accessory]
Rank: B
Magic Defense: 37
MP: +60 Attack Bonus: +3 Magic Attack Bonus: +3
Asteriarite Slot: [Asteriarite: MP +30]
Asteriarite Slot: [Asteriarite: MP +30]
Asteriarite Slot: [Asteriarite: MP +30]
Requires: 110 Strength 60 Intelligence
Meanwhile, the sigils, Gladiator, Blade, Safety, Wide, Target, Magus, Heart, and Ice, gave her the power to use a mixture of Berserker AP skills and Mage spells. It was the optimal setup for her class, Berserker using Mage as a subclass. It made her a Spellsword and was ideal for undertaking a solo quest. Captain Bordeaux stood to see Tempeste off as she neared a rope ladder overhanging on the side of the ship’s exterior.
Mirror Princess: A LitRPG Space Fantasy (Sword of Asteria Book 2) Page 3