Now inside the ship, the three of them were working on fixing the leaks.
The place they started at was the lowest point in the ship — the bilge. A mix of strong, damp and sour smells.
Dark and cramped.
Thick rib-like frames supported the hull, long wooden boards linking them, with some support frames near the center.
At the absolute bottom sat a narrow groove filled with water mixed with tar, salt and wood dust.
Jack was crouching with a wooden mallet and a blunt iron chisel, working on a leak between the planks.
He picked up the rough cotton Bren had brought from the warehouse and copied what Aldric was doing not far from him.
He soaked it in the small bucket of tar each of them had, placed it over the crack, then set the chisel and struck the cotton deeper and deeper until the leak stopped.
The work continued this way for a few hours until it was done. During this time all of them made small talk about multiple things.
Jack learned that there were actually six taverns in town, two of which doubled as high-class inns in the opulent area where rich merchants and landless nobles had their homes.
And apparently one of the minor nobles in that area had the unfortunate event of their home turning into a warped space.
Their home and small garden had become a maze filled with dangerous mutated versions of the animals that had been living there.
Pigeons. Crows. Their two small dogs, apparently turned into terrible hounds that had multiplied. And the minor noble himself was not spared.
The exact details of his mutations were not explained, but apparently he looked like a stretched lump of flesh filled with eyes that could put you to sleep.
The only survivors — the now-widowed lady and her young daughter — were apparently moved out of the space by the minor noble himself before he lost himself and became what Aldric called a Devil.
The Lut family was apparently unable to conduct a military raid, the count himself being away at war and having taken most of the military with him. They had resorted to hiring small groups of talented mercenaries to scout and kill as many of the creatures inside as possible.
Since they were finished with the leaks, the three of them began removing water from the bilge while still talking.
"How horrible," Jack said, dragging a bucket through the water at the bottom. "For such a thing to happen out of nowhere."
Aldric picked up the bag that had held the cotton and moved toward the stairs. "They are actually planning on holding a funeral after they kill whatever the man had became."
Up at a higher level now, the smell was cleaner and no longer sour. Aldric continued.
"I can't even begin to think about the grief they are feeling right now."
He looked at Jack, who was opening a window to throw the water into the ocean.
"This one specifically was a very good husband and father."
Aldric is very focused on this subject. I wonder why..
Aldric set the bag down and bit his lip before speaking. "Him and his family actually visited my church. Not the one for nobles, at least twice a week."
"They were very friendly toward us commoners."
. . .
After the three of them finished draining the bilge they went up on deck, where they found Captain Varen sitting on a simple wooden chair dressed in a three-piece fancier suit, smoking a cigar with another burly man beside him.
Bren walked toward him. "Boss, we finished the work."
Varen coughed out a little smoke and looked west toward the town's clock tower, which showed three in the afternoon. "Just in time. I was just about to leave."
Bren looked at the suit. "Going to the Count's estate?"
Varen nodded, cigar in his left hand. "Someone has to convince them to stop this useless blockade."
He reached to his pouch on the table nearby and pulled out another bag of coins, handing it to Bren. "That should be 45 Flora for today's work."
Forty-five divided by three is fifteen. So this is how much I make each day.
Varen stood and began to leave. He looked toward the burly man. "I'll leave the ship in your care."
The burly man answered in a hoarse voice. "Aye, captain."
Aldric looked at Jack. "Jack, can you move the oakum back to the warehouse?"
Jack instinctively responded. "Sure thing."
Aldric handed him a key with a unique ship symbol on the head of it, then moved to count the coins with Bren.
Jack pocketed the key and walked down to grab the bag of cotton. Out of the ship and across the pier onto the cobbled street, he headed toward the warehouses.
Wait. I don't know which warehouse I should go to.
Jack looked around, confused, searching for a clue. He checked the signs on the warehouses and found the same symbol as the one on the key.
He tried the key. When it went in, strange symbols around the edges of the door lit up and it swung open.
"Magic..!" Jack said in a hushed but surprised voice.
Inside, he set the bag down and stretched a little.
Through the still-open door, a black cat walked in cautiously and began climbing up the stacked boxes.
It grabbed onto a black box near the top of one of the piles. The extra weight tilted the box making it fall.
THUD!
The box hit the floor and opened.
Jack was startled turning back he saw the black cat shot out of the warehouse.
He looked at the black box on the floor.
It was filled with cotton.
And sitting inside it was a multi-colored crystal.