The Devil In White: An AA Online Novel

They stopped on a beach, hours away from the capital, a place only really accessible from the sea or by moving through the dense forest, and Forsythe immediately started making a fire. He instructed Aidan and Raven to go onto the beach and kill some sort of mega crab creature that was lurking in the shallows nearby. It moved side to side with the waves, looking ridiculously conspicuous with its hard red shell and the height at which it stood above the rolling waves. Aidan and Raven left with enthusiasm to go kill the creature, and all Amelia could hear in between the strikes of the flint and stone that Fours was using to make the fire were shouted spells and abilities.

"[Electric - Lightning]!"

"[Sunder]!"

"[More Powerful Than Raven]!"

"T-that's… not a spell!"

They returned shortly dragging the creature, which looked more like a large if regular crab now that it was lifeless. Forsythe immediately went to work on it and started making it into pot sized portions as he waited for the water to boil. He added salt and threw in a cube of something that immediately dispersed through the water. Some sort of piece that had turned into oil? When she asked about it he informed her it was fat from the meat he had cooked previously and it would really improve the texture of the dish. His single-mindedness was really on another level.

"What's your Culinary skill at anyway?" Amelia wondered. He had pretty much cooked every second of every moment he wasn't swinging a sword. She wondered, not for the first time, if these people had to sleep or if they just spent the time she was sleeping doing crazy amounts of skill leveling.

"Intermediate Level 2," he casually replied.

"You got 12 job levels of cooking since the day before yesterday?" It didn't matter what they were doing. These people were abnormal. It wasn't just about the amount of time she imagined him hunched over a cutting board, preparing materials, or just flat out cooking them -- to get that level of experience in only one or two days would have required a huge variety of different ingredients as well as a horribly complex combination of said ingredients to keep the experience gain heavy.

"Yes. I have a long way to go." He lamented and unexpectedly continued. "I will prepare this with a little bit of salt and a lemon tasting extract from the Citrine Vine. I think I'll make a butter sauce too. The butter comes from a mid-level Wildehorn on the outskirts of Brack. It's an omnivore so please try some before you put it on the crab. The crab seems mostly carnivorous so I am sorry to admit that the pairing is not ideal. I shall find an herbivore for the butter in the future so please bear with it for now and just taste the butter before committing it to your plating of crab."

"That's the most I've ever heard you speak to me." Not the craziest thing she had heard out of him either, but his obsession with the smaller details of where each ingredient came from gave her pause.

"Me too," Raven admitted, mouth half full of crab.

"Didn't you say you heard him speak the most the other day?" Aidan asked, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"The most I've heard him speak to Amelia." Raven corrected, chewing with her mouth open.

"Stop eating that, it's half-cooked." Forsythe admonished without stopping his movements with a wooden spoon as the prepared water rolled in a slow boil.

"It's fine. You can eat crab raw." Raven replied.

"You can but it's unwise," Aidan argued.

"Why?" Raven asked, her chewing stopped.

"They might have marine parasites or high mercury content," Aidan said. He lifted up two pincer legs he was waiting to add to the pot and used them to make a little cl.i.c.k.i.n.g noise in front of Raven. "Eaten from inside by what you eat." He laughed evilly.

"I'm going to throw up," Raven complained, hurriedly throwing the half-cooked crab away into the treeline at the edge of the beach. It was somewhat amazing to see the crab-like fly at high speeds like an improvised spear. As it disappeared into the trees several animal noises raised in volume as if to protest.

"You know a lot about seafood?" Amelia asked, turning her gaze away from the commotion.

"I grew up on the coast," Aidan replied.

Amelia was waiting for more but an uncomfortable silence was stretching so she retreated by saying, "ah my bad, I know it's rude to ask about real life."

Aidan shrugged and then poked Forsythe with the crab leg.

"Grow up," was his immediate reply. Then he took the leg from Aidan and threw it into the pot. The pot was some sort of smaller cauldron she had seen alchemists in the city use. He had stuffed it into the magical side-bag they all had so he could bring it.

The crab was disgustingly good. It took satiation to maximum, though with Forsythe around her hunger stat never had a chance to drop very low. Amelia was again wondering why there was such a range of taste in this game. She supposed for the skill to exist there had to be differences in taste. No one wanted to pay for expensive food that tasted the same as the crap food you could buy.

They were all sitting around after the meal, casually enjoying the sudden beach environment when movement from the water caught Amelia's eye.

"A boat?" She squinted against the light reflecting off the beach. "It's a big boat."

"Brigantine type I would guess," Forsythe replied.

"You know boats?" Amelia blinked.

"No, you can just tell by the number of sails and their size." He replied honestly.

"You could have just said yes, I know boats." Amelia snapped.

"Pirates?" Raven said wistfully. A strange gleam began to appear in her eyes.

"Could be, I think they're going to stop here. There's a river outlet over there." He nodded toward a part of the beach where Aidan and Raven had gotten their crab monster.

"Weigh anchor! Arrggh." She closed her eyes and then they opened again slowly. "Hey. I want to be a pirate queen." Raven said, her last sentence turning into a whisper. She sat upright suddenly looking incredibly young.

"Pirate queen?" Aidan inquired. He was currently rubbing a cloth over a piece of driftwood he'd picked up, trying to see if he could generate any sort of skill with woodworking.

"Yeah. Let's go be pirates." Raven said. She was up and moving down the beach in a purposeful manner before anyone could think of a reply. Almost as if he were used to the sudden departures Forsythe was already dumping the cauldron and shoving it into his bag.

When they caught up to her she was already having an exchange with some longboat men. They had casks and a few barrels to fill with water and nets to bring aboard food or shellfish, Amelia wasn't sure what they were hoping to get. More astonishingly enough, their names were all glimmering red in a hostile manner with the lowest level one being 76. Raven didn't seem to care at all, and as Amelia got closer she heard the tail end of whatever Raven had been saying.

"...let me speak then." Raven finished.

"I don't know what yer askin' me," the Resident Pirate said. His nameplate simply read as 'pirate' so Amelia doubted there was much that could be done. Generic Residents had limited interaction and socialization options, even if Raven had proven earlier that you could profoundly affect monsters with a similar design. It was fairly amazing that they hadn't attacked her yet. She must have marched up to them with purpose and confidence and started talking before the AI could make the shift into a hostile encounter.

"Take me to the ship." She leaned in conspiratorially and winked. "What's the worst that happens, you get a couple of lovely ladies and long-oar men slaves? We have quite a bit of money too but your chances would be better to jump us on your boat rather than on the beach."

The pirate let out a laugh, his brown and grey beard jiggling on his face, and it wasn't comradely or nice. It was like someone laughing at a puppy that was about to fall into a kitchen appliance. "Lady, ye be a loon. I'll take ye to the Captain and he can decide what you be for, the slave quarters or the plank. And it be a ship, not a boat." He corrected sourly, obviously disgusted and offended.

Raven turned to Amelia and Aidan who had caught up quickly. "They have a plank," she practically oozed enthusiasm.

"Don't tell me. It'll all work out. Probably. Somehow. Maybe." Amelia said, disgusted.

"Ah. I don't want to own a fleet of pirate sh.i.p.s Raven. That sounds like managing." Aidan protested, for the first time. Ever, now that Amelia thought about it. He always just stood back and watched half-baked schemes with a faintly appreciative smile on his face.

"Oh, we'll just borrow it for a day." Raven swept the issue away with a hand and threw her head back and laughed in a similar manner to the pirate.

Aidan was looking out at the ship, a look of dread on his face. "I feel like I'm watching a kid pick up a stray kitten and she says 'oh we can take it to the shelter tomorrow' or something like that."

"I will sink the ship." Forsythe had finally caught up, having very admirably doused and stirred the fire further down the beach. He'd arrived in time to hear the end of the conversation and also looked rather grave at the prospect of Raven taking over a pirate ship.

"We could sink the boat!" Aidan punched his fist into his hand as if he hadn't thought of that and it was the solution to all his problems. His expression once again dipped into lazy contentment as if he'd found the answer to a future problem.

"You're not sinking my ship!" Raven said dangerously, and even Aidan and Forsythe looked thoughtful. She had already curbed her language from boat to ship after being chastised just once. Amelia was starting to get a bad feeling just like Aidan. Visions of riding around shooting cannons all day on a boat floated through her head. The ship, she corrected herself.

The pirates had stopped and had been watching this exchange with open amazement. The pirate who had said he'd take them to the ship looked like he was rethinking his offer. He was eyeing the small boat and Amelia could feel his thoughts as practically as if he spoke them.

"No, it's too late to run away, for all of us," Amelia said sadly, directing her comment to the pirate.

He startled visibly but then gave her a face like he'd never run away in a hundred years and she was crazy.

The ride out was unpleasant. The pirates smelled of weird things for one, and they made no attempt to use the oars in a fashion that didn't involve dousing them with water. Raven stood in the middle, ignoring the small spot that could have served as a sitting place and peered intently at the ship as they approached. "Ah, we'll name her the Scarlet Raven."

"It already has a name, the Dark Oar." The sour pirate objected loudly.

"It's not scarlet." Aidan reflected.

"Do ravens swim?" Amelia wondered.

"Shut up! First, that's a terrible name. Second, when I'm Captain you two landlubbers had better toe the line or I'll make you walk the plank." Raven said. "Keep your chin up and your mouth shut and I'll make you rigboy 1 and 2 and serving wench."

"Rigboy?" Aidan asked incredulously, his mouth slightly open as if he thought that incredibly untasteful. "That's a reward?"

"Shut up Aidan, listen to Captain Raven," Amelia said, smiling.

"What?" Shock rode through his face. "You're going along with this?"

"I can't wait for her to make you serving wench. I can live as rigboy 1." She answered mischievously. It felt good to be on the giving end of the witty banter for once.

"Can I be cook 1?" Forsythe interjected finally.

"Cookie!" Raven replied.

The pirates were once again silent.

The Captain of the 'Scarlet Raven' was unsurprisingly dubious about giving up his Captainship and renaming his boat, err, ship. He was a tall Resident named Captain Barnabil Huntington. An impressive name for a man running a crew of ten. He had a beard, an eyepatch, and an impressive hat that had a skull and crossbones that was gripping an oar in its teeth.

"Oh, I see lass. Let me be straight with you and try to be understan'n what you be tellin' me here." He said, after listening to Raven tell him that he would give her his hat and then they would set sail for plunder.

"Ye've got some stones and sand to come out here and tell me to give you MY ship, and MY crew, and," Amelia sympathized to some degree as he continued. She would have sympathized more if his breath didn't smell awful and his teeth had been whiter and he hadn't been vulgar right off the bat. "...ye want my hat. I suppose you be wantin' my eyepatch too? N' me boots? How about me soft pillow that me mother stitched for me before she died." He took off his hat and put it over his heart. "Gods bless her soul and curse the blighter wot offed her."

"Your mom got offed?" Forsythe asked gaze flickering over to him for the first time.

"Oy, it's a sad tale, my friend." Captain Barnabil. "She were cleaning out the local constabularies home, moppin' and dustin' and the like for'em like she 'ad for many a year, and that bastard finally caught her taking the good silver. I told 'er I did…" he started to continue.

"I lost interest," Forsythe admitted, returning his gaze to the ocean.

"Ew, don't you need that eyepatch? Didn't you lose an eye? Your boots won't fit and I don't care about your pillow. I challenge you to a duel for the right of this ship." Raven demanded, obviously irritated that the mood had swung toward the Captain.

"Ah ha ha ha ha." The Captain started laughing and moments later his crew joined him. It was almost unbelievably on cue like they were in a pirate movie. "A duel is it? Well, firstly I decline. Secondly, I am a pirate, and I've no real business to do with ye now that I've had me laugh than to cut you from navel to throat and take your baubles. Pirates take what they want missy, an' if someone gets hurt it's just another day at sea." He unsheathed his cutlass, a surprisingly good looking blade. Amelia thought she might have seen Forsythe perk up in interest. The rest of his crew were starting to produce knives and clubs, with the occasional strange weapon. One of them had a net with large hooks in it.

"Oh. That's good advice. I'll beat your ship out of you." Raven had obviously had enough of the talk. Aidan was the one who really spoke for her a lot of the time, and the prospect of resolution through violence seemed to be just fine by her. In fact, Amelia admitted to herself quietly, she kind of already was a pirate.

"[Aura - Forceful Awakening]." Amelia dutifully cast the spell on everyone.

"[Mass Electric Manipulation - Field]." Aidan just as dutifully put down his spell. "I've been thinking about what to cast for a while. I knew this was going to go this way." Aidan admitted. He looked over and Amelia shared a rare look of complete understanding with him.

"You too?" Amelia said, turning toward him. A rare moment where both of them had the same thought the moment they had stepped foot on the boat.

"Ah. Can I loot them?" Forsythe was bent over one writhing pirate and was already looking through their pouches. It seemed that the question he'd asked had been mostly rhetorical.

"They're not dead you know," Aidan said off-handedly. "Show some restraint."

"Right." He made no motion to stop, and if anything, hurried as he realized that the spell wouldn't last forever.

The field that Aidan had cast was still active, arcing and racing from the sides of the boat to the water. Amelia was pretty sure there would be some stunned marine monsters floating to the surface soon. Still and all, they were all pretty high-level pirates and the most it did was paralyze them and keep them pinned to the deck. Amelia was pretty sure that Aidan could just keep casting it indefinitely. If not indefinitely the small amount of damage that the pirates took would eventually acc.u.mulate into fatal damage before his mana ran dry. The pirates had no magic in their arsenal to counteract it apparently and simply writhed and g.r.o.a.n.e.d on the deck, helplessly watching their Captain get thrashed by Raven. Which of course is what happened. Just because she hadn't been watching from the start didn't mean Amelia had any doubts on what was about to happen. Raven was 125+ and the Captain, in spite of boasting an impressive title and a name, was essentially a small fry.

Amelia had to respect Raven sometimes. Raven was loud, obnoxious, hopelessly energetic and a dozen other things that Amelia found to be disadvantageous to living as a normal human being. One thing that Raven had in spades though, was the d.e.s.i.r.e and willpower to go after what she wanted. Unfortunately for Captain Barnabil, she wanted his boat - err, ship.

"[Throat Cutter]," growled the Captain, and the cutlass in his hand swept toward Raven's face. She stepped back out of range almost instantly and then stepped back in. She punched him repeatedly, not activating any special skill from what Amelia saw. It was somewhat startling to see a punch parade with only one arm.

"Arrggh." At first surprised that she hadn't drawn her sword, as the blows landed on him there were a series of cracks and pops all over the Captain's body. He was a level 97 so it was impressive that he was being handled so neatly. He swept his blade at her again and again, faster and faster, and started moving forward. He was almost immediately stopped as Raven didn't even bother retreating. She stepped closer and closer to him with a smile and just kept pummeling him.

"How long is this going to take?" Forsythe asked, watching the exchange silently for a while. "I could go look at the galley."

"Are you a cat?" Aidan mumbled.

"Give up Captain Barny!" Raven cried, and from what Amelia saw she had taken nothing but the glance of only a few blows, and even those because she hadn't bothered to fully turn them or avoid them.

"B-barny! The plank be too good for ye!" He cried, and a small speed buff appeared over his bar. His footwork started to move side to side and forward and back and his sword really turned into a blur.

"Ah. As expected of Captain Barny." Aidan said aloud with a grin, after recasting [Mass Electric Manipulation - Field] on the crew again.

"Shaddup you peanuts!" The Captain cried out.

"I don't have all day." Raven said, punching him right in the face when he had turned away to yell at Aidan. "Give up and make me Captain. You're way too weak to be leader."

At last, on the verge of zero HP, the Captain fell to his knees and glowered at Raven. He still had some fight in his eyes, and Amelia began to wonder if the Captain would ever acquiesce.

"My name… is Barnabil Huntington, and I'd be a thrice-cursed fool ta let my crew get taken by a bunch of landlubbing, panty-swagging, freshwater chu-" His speech was cut short and Amelia's jaw dropped as he hit the water with a splash.

"No! Captain!"

"Captain Barny!"

"She threw him overboard…"

"She didn' even let him give his speech!"

There were quiet sobs among the crewman even as they writhed under the effects of the electricity on the deck. Even when Aidan released the spell they continued to sob plaintively on the deck. This was really starting to make Amelia feel like the villain somehow. The thought lasted for a moment before she finally noticed that one of the crewmen had even started referring to him as Barny.

"Ah," Forsythe said, the first to react after Raven had just picked Captain Barny up and threw him overboard. "You didn't get the hat."

"Son of a…" Raven started then stopped. "Oy you sea legs get a rope in the water and bring up… Former-Captain Barny." She snapped coldly. "If any of you calls me anything other than Captain Raven you'll all learn what Mast-Kiting on the Scarlet Raven is before the end of the day."

It turns out that they learned anyway. The demoralized pirates hoisted their former and almost dead captain out of the water and on Raven's orders strung him up in a harness from one of the masts. He came out of unconsciousness as his health points regenerated only to find that he couldn't reach anything and was swinging helplessly about ten feet above the deck. He was swearing up a storm until Raven had him dropped, gagged, and re-hoisted.

"She's the worst." Aidan shook his head.

"Ah. Nice hat though." Forsythe replied.

Raven stood in the middle of the boat, giving orders just to give orders, and the pirates having accepted their fate as her henchmen were scurrying about. The hat sat awkwardly on her head, a touch big, and several times as she was giving orders she had to push it up so she could see.

"What course be ye settin' Captain Raven?" cried out the wheelman despondently.

"Set a course to the west. There's a port there, and if there's a port there we're going to drink or my name isn't Captain Raven. After that, I have the most amazing idea about how to make money." She started laughing and the most amazing thing happened. Slowly, the crew started laughing with her.

---------------------------

Ding: Raven has gained a new title "Acting Captain."

Cruel and cutthroat pirates have temporarily sworn their allegiance to Raven's party. Pirates respect strength, crave adventure, and will often follow those with strong leadership if there is an outlook of profit.

Notoriety increased: 100

Reputation increased: 100

Captain Barnabil Huntington has become non-hostile.

---------------------------

"The worst," Aidan repeated again.