With eyes perplexed, Cetas directly gazed at Elishia, "Five days?"

He massaged his temples, squinting his eyes as his head spun.

"Yes! Don’t you remember? You were talking about a weird lady.. Or something? I don’t know!"

Elishia sighed.

"Don’t mind that anymore! Hurry downstairs, Captain is gathering all of us."

Although suspicions rose in Cetas’ mind, he paid it no heed and shook his head.

Standing up, he followed Elishia downstairs and within a couple of moments, the crew of Skadi pirates came into view.

"Theres the lad! Come, sit down here boy, I saved ye’ a seat!" Galkan turned around, letting his energetic voice resound in the lobby.

Cetas, still in a daze, followed through and sat beside the burly man.

He looked around for a little bit, noticing that there were no people other than them inside.

Weird.

Before further suspicions could arise, Skadi’s voice enveloped Cetas’ ears.

"Alright, men! Here’s the plan. Galkan and I have just been to the Harbor and they’ve told us that the sails I requested have finally been finished. Therefore, we can sail right away this afternoon."

Using the winds around her, Skadi brought out a compass as well as a map of known charted courses, oceans, and the continents of the world.

After laying it down on the table, she pointed at the continent of Helios—located at the west part of the map next to another continent..

Based on the knowledge that the Historian has imparted to Cetas, there were two continents close to each other on the west part of the map.

Reverie which is on the westernmost portion and Helios, only separated by the Sunset Sea, sitting east of it.

Then, on the South West part of the map lay Verdigris, a large continent with almost no islands around it.

On the North West part of the map is the Continent of Nero, mostly composed of islands and seas. As far as Cetas could think, Nero is commonly called as the Nero Archipelago but is still considered as a continent due to its large covering land mass.

Then, North East of Nero is Sylis, another continent composed of islands and seas but still encompassing a large amount of land in its Northern part.

The entirety of the 5 continents lay on the Western side of the Map.

Looking to the right side, Cetas noticed a blank gap called the Empty Ocean. Here, almost no sailors nor travelers dare to enter its borders. It is known that pirates never return upon sailing in the treacherous waters of the Empty Ocean.

Some say that there are Isles located in the heart of its emptiness while others say that there is nothing but storms and Dreadspawns hidden beneath.

Still, no one but high-ranking Zealots would dare to venture beyond.

With that, Cetas noticed Skadi focusing her finger on the west part of Helios, "This is where we are—the Port City Flag."

"..and our next destination is this."

Skadi made her finger traverse through the north of Helios—to an island between Nero and Helios called Southern Nero Sea.

"We will make our way to the Sunset Sea, then thread north towards Lumene Island.. The reason for this is that-"

As Skadi continued to speak, Cetas’ eyes widened.

The way Skadi moved her fingers.. Straight to the left, then straight up.

It seemed casual to do especially since Skadi is someone who was always calm and composed.

But was she always this sharp?

Perhaps so, but Cetas didn’t know this.

He only knew her for a couple of weeks, after all..

So, he dismissed the thought and continued to listen.

"..And thus, we will camp at the mountain right here-" Skadi pointed at the southernmost part of Lumene Island, "-and get our bounty."

She looked around for a second, "Sound good?"

Unified, the crew nodded their heads.

"Aye!"

All of them, except for Cetas.

Noticing this, Skadi asked, "What’s wrong, Cetas?"

The crew shifted their gaze towards Cetas.

Cetas noticed their stares and snapped back to reality, he shrugged his head and rubbed his forehead.

"Nothing.. I’m just a little dizzy."

Skadi stood up and rolled the map with her winds, storing it and the compass away.

"Alright, make sure to eat before we leave. We still have about.."

She brought out a pocket watch and within a second, hid it again.

Cold winds permeated Cetas’ skin as Skadi spoke.

"Exactly 3 hours before noon."

*

Half an hour after their meeting, Cetas walked alongside with Elishia, following through the rest of the crew as they made their way to the docks.

Along the way, Elishia noticed Cetas’ unusual behavior. She glanced at him from the side and asked, "Hey is everything alright? You seem off since this morning.."

"I’m-"

Before Cetas could finish, a crazed man dressed in rags whilst covered in dirt screamed.

The man ran towards Cetas.

"Six!"

In a few seconds, the man was a few meters away from Cetas, however, Skadi’s winds stopped him from advancing further.

She brought out her Windslinger and pointed it at the crazed man.

"Scram!"

However, the man paid her no heed and continued to scream, "Twenty Eight!"

The man then fell to his knees—pushed by Skadi’s winds.

Skadi turned around and looked at Cetas, "Come on, pay him no mind. He’s lost his mind."

As the crew made their way towards the docks, Cetas could hear the man scream once more, although faint."

"Four-hundred ninety six!"

Soon, the crew made their way to the docks and what faced them was a 24-Sail Schooner. Its size could be compared to large galleons due to the vast amount of its sails.

It looked like a peacock fanning its wings to make itself more intimidating.

Cetas would be amazed by this but alas, his mind is occupied.

What could those numbers mean?

He still thought about the crazed man screaming random numbers out of the top of his lungs.

Suspicions arose in his head.

He could be wrong though, perhaps it truly is a man that has lost his mind due to years of torment and poverty.

But Cetas’ gut feeling told him otherwise.

His heart beat wildly, overwhelming his mind while making him feel uneasy.

Cetas felt anxiety for the very first time in his life.

His eyes became frantic, looking around straight in the northern direction.

And after a few seconds, he looked directly east.

He then jolted up upon hearing Galkan’s loud voice thundering through the entire docks.

"WHAT IS THIS HUH?! ARE YOU TRYING TO SABOTAGE US?! LOOK AT THE SAILS!"

Every person—shopkeepers, customers, pirates, and such—looked at Galkan’s direction.

Cetas, too, shifted his head towards the big man.

He noticed Galkan pointing towards the 24-Sail Schooner. The man criticized the design of the sails.

"HOW STUPID ARE YOUR SAILMAKERS?! THIS COULD PUT US IN GRAVE DANGER!"

Skadi and Jones were trying to keep Galkan’s voice down, however, they could not calm the anger of a Perfectionist like Galkan.

"I-I’m sorry sir, but they tried their b-best to-"

"BEST?! IF THIS IS YOUR BEST THEN OUR 528 HAS GONE TO WASTE."

With such a scene occurring, people naturally flocked towards the crew. Many wanted to see what was going on.

Already, whispers erupted from the surrounding crowd.

"Who is that man and why is he so loud? It’s already loud enough in the docks and the market."

"What is even wrong? Why is he criticizing our fine shipwrights."

"Hey! I know him! That’s Blaze Fists Galkan! He’s part of the Zephyr’s crew!"

"Who’s the Zephyr?"

"They really made it out of the Poseidon Depths!"

"So it’s true that they survived a Great Leviathan!"

Numerous gossip and whispers ensued, making Cetas’ already dizzy head spin tremendously more.

With the crowd slowly gathering even more people, a refined man wearing fine clothing emerged and supported the ship broker talking with Galkan.

"If I may.. I will handle it from here.."

The ship broker, looking terrified and dejected, retreated in the shadow of the refined man.

"Goodmorning, Mr. Galkan, Madam Skadi, and fellow crewmembers. I am the Harbormaster of this humble place. May I inquire what the issue may be with the.. adjustments that we made?

Letting out a heated sigh, Galkan looked at Skadi.

Skadi understood what he meant and stepped up to greet the Harbor Master.

"A fine day to you as well.. You see, we are quite dissatisfied with the work that you’ve made. We paid a hefty sum for this ship, even going as far as overpricing."

The winds grew somber.

"After all.. How are we meant to survive in the most treacherous depths when the sails are all.. symmetrical."

Cetas looked at the Schooner, directly at the 24 sails. Slowly as he studied the ship, his eyes widened and his heart beat even faster.

The 24 sails, side by side, were all perfectly uniform. No sail was larger than the other, they were all large-sized as if meant to harness strong winds.

However what bothered Cetas the most was their placement.

If one were to look at the ship from the front, then it would look something akin to a butterfly.

One with perfect wings, ready to fly off into the winds.