Everyone Deserves Happiness

Standing over the corpse of a man I had killed should have carried some weight, yet I felt nothing. Had I grown cold? Was I desensitised, or was it simply that I could rationalise my decisions because of the evil he committed?

Either way, it didn’t change the fact that I felt nothing looking at him. What terrified me most was how easy it was. I needed to stop dwelling on it before I spiralled into madness.

“Let’s find the keys to the cells,” I called.

We went through the pockets of all the merchants, including Tassarion’s. Whilst we found several items of worth, the cell keys remained elusive.

“Any idea where they would be?” I asked Elora.

“The only time I saw them was when they came down to the cells to take someone,” she replied.

It dawned on me. There was one other person we didn’t check.

The four of us wandered back down to the cells. The captives were cowering, not looking towards us as we entered. I saw the nervousness on Elora’s face. I smiled and patted her on the back, which caused her to stumble forward.

“Everyone... you don’t have to worry anymore,” Elora commented, fidgeting with her hands. I found it somewhat cute how she was more nervous talking to her fellow captives than she was slaying the slave traders.

While she was doing this, I went through the pockets of Thallan. I managed to retrieve the keys to the cells.

“Elora, catch.”

I chucked the keys to her.

If the captives were to trust anybody, it would likely be one of their own.

Elora unlocked the cells, and one by one and the captives, without a word, approached to have their cuffs unlocked. Once the last of the prisoners had been freed, I approached Elora.

“Alright, time to remove yours as well.”

She nodded, her gaze pinned to the ground. Despite her fierceness in battle, it seemed she was quite a sweet girl overall. I put my hand on her head.

“Thank you for helping us.”

I smiled at her, and she blushed as I leaned in. I could smell the slightly sweet scent of her sweat as I unlocked the cuffs. The already broken shackles fell to the ground with a clang.

“Well, I guess it’s time to go,” I called out.

I turned to return to the deck but felt a tug on my sleeve. I looked down to see the scrawny-looking girl with the torn-up bunny plushie clinging gently to my jacket. Now that she was much closer, I could make out the extent of the bruises all over her face.

“Mister, what do you plan to do with us now?” Her question broke my heart. “I’m not particularly good at many things, but I am sure I can learn how to cook or clean.”

I looked around at the other freed slaves. They equally looked nervous, avoiding eye contact and shuffling about.

I got down to her eye level.

“I suppose we will have to take you to a wonderful place where you can be happy and do whatever you want.”

“You aren’t going to enslave us?” She asked with the most earnest eyes. A blue that sparkled with the tiniest flicker of hope.

I reached forward, and the kid flinched. Slowly, I rested it on her head and gently patted her.

“Don’t worry. The bad guys are gone now. I won’t let anyone else hurt you.”

She smiled, which showed that one of her front teeth was missing.

“Can we really trust you?” one of the women asked.

I looked at her and shrugged.

“Of course not, we are pirates. But pirates are the freest in the world, and so you should be free too.”

I waved them to follow, and hesitantly, they did so. Slowly, they filed onto our ship. Although the slave traders' one was larger than our own, the dead bodies and the general trauma clinging to the ship meant we wanted nothing to do with it.

“Pippa, can you handle destroying the ship?”

“Of course, it’s but a simple feat for the great and powerful Pippa. Once I unlock the first seal on my abilities, I will have more than enough power to destroy it in a single attack.”

“Great, then can you please do that?”

“Aye, Captain!” she responded with a salute.

A magic sigil appeared in front of her, and a large stream of fire shot out from it. The flames completely engulfed the ship, leaving only the smallest fragments of charred wood floating on the waves.

I turned to look at the freed slaves. They all looked ghastly.

“Túta, can you check on everyone and make sure they are all healthy?”

“I don't have much in the way of medicine, but I can check on them. What are we going to do about helming the ship?”

“Does anyone know how to helm a ship?” I asked them.

They looked amongst themselves, shaking their heads. After a few minutes, Elora raised her hand.

“I know how to.”

“Could you please do that?”

“What are you planning on doing?” Túta asked.

“I was going to make some food for everyone.”

“You know how to cook?” Túta looked dubiously at me.

“Well, back where I came from, my family never made me meals. So I had to learn to survive somehow.”

She turned to Pippa.

“Can you go and help him with that? I don’t trust his cooking in the slightest.”

“Aye!” Pippa saluted.

Pippa and I wandered to the kitchen and began scouring all the ingredients aboard, along with what we stole from the slave traders. All we had to work with was some cheese, some salted beef and something that was more similar to a biscuit than bread. At least there was some butter we could use.

Fortunately, the kitchen had a miniature oven we could use. I turned to Pippa, who was sitting on the kitchen prep table, kicking her legs.

“Chef Pippa, I could do with a hand.”

“Aye Captain.”

“It’s yes chef.”

“Yes chef!”

Pippa and I used up all the remaining ingredients to create toasted cheese and beef sandwiches. We brought out the food to the prisoners who were drooling at the smell of the food we cooked up. After they had all received food, I handed one of the toasties to Túta.

She reluctantly took a bite, and then another. Her eyes began to sparkle as she dug into the food.

“This is the tastiest food I have ever had,” she said through mouthfuls of food.

“It’s nothing special,” I responded, feeling a little embarrassed.

“No, seriously, this is amazing. I’m sorry for doubting you.”

“It’s relatively plain compared to the standards of my world. But all the tasty parts are because of chef Pippa.”

We continued to eat, having made plenty of extras for everyone. While we ate, I decided to get a status report from Túta.

“Did anyone have any serious injuries?”

“Nope, they should all heal with time,” she replied.

I let out a sigh of relief.

“That’s good to hear.”

Elora wandered over and took up a seat next to Túta.

“You’re not sitting with the others?” I asked her.

“I feel much more at home over here. Unlike the rest of them, I am a warrior, covered in blood. I do not deserve to join them. I do not deserve the happiness they are experiencing.”

“Everybody deserves to be happy.” I extended my hand out to her. “If you don’t feel comfortable with them, do you want to come with us?”

“I… Um… What do you mean?” She looked flustered.

“Join my crew.”

▪──── X ────▪

End of chapter 17