The Amber Sail Company I: The Bad Omens

Several hours later, at the Port of Cremonia, the evening bell began to toll, with its chimes nearly drowned out by the heavy rain.

Klarisa (29), president of the Amber Sail Company, stood by the window. She wore a simple dark-green dress that fell below her knees, with its sleeves rolled up to her elbows and a thin leather belt around her waist.

“It doesn’t look like this rain is stopping anytime soon,” she muttered, her expression concerned.

Klarisa returned to her desk and picked up a clipboard containing a cargo manifest.

“There’s still so much cargo waiting to be loaded,” she said with a sigh. “Will we finish everything in time for departure?”

Suddenly, the door to Klarisa’s office burst open as her husband, Alex (28), rushed in, soaked from the rain, a white towel wrapped around his neck.

“Don’t worry so much, Klarisa,” Alex said, approaching her, only to see her slump over the desk from exhaustion. “The moment the rain lets up, my crew will load everything immediately. We will make sure the ship still departs on schedule.”

“I’m worried about more than the schedule, Alex,” Klarisa muttered, slowly lifting her head and removing several files containing dozens of reports from her desk drawer. “The rainy season is always dangerous, but this year is worse, with ships being sunk.” 

“Wait... ships?” Alex asked. “Not just one, but multiple ships?”

“During the past five months, twenty-three ships have sunk while making the voyage to the Continent of Asteria,” Klarisa explained, spreading out a map marked with red dots. “Five of them sank within the past two weeks, and no one knows what attacked them.”

“What?” Alex asked. “How could no one see what attacked them? Were they drunk or something?”

“I doubt all those ships were filled with drunken sailors, Alex,” Klarisa said, handing him a testimony report. “Every survivor described calm seas and clear skies, with everything appearing normal until the ship suddenly stopped moving. While the crews investigated the cause, the vessels were blasted apart, launching everyone dozens of feet into the air. By the time anyone realized what was happening, they were already falling toward the sea only to be rescued by passing ships.”

“Now the vessels lost during the past two weeks included two merchant ships, a privately owned luxury ship, and two brand-new fishing vessels,” Klarisa continued. “Hundreds of other ships traveled along the same route without incident, so why were those five attacked?”

“One thing I’m sure of is that pirates weren’t responsible,” Alex said. “They wouldn’t sink the ships and leave all the cargo floating in the sea.”

“I can agree with you on that too,” Klarisa said. “Any ideas what might be causing it?” 

“There haven’t been any reports of unusual sea monsters either,” Alex said, examining the map and cross-referencing it with the Adventurer Guild’s monster sightings. “Do you want to know what I think is responsible?”

“What?” Klarisa hesitantly asked.

“It’s a G-G-G-Ghost Ship,” Alex teased, draped the white towel over his head, and began chasing Klarisa around the office before catching her in a warm embrace.

“S-S-Stop it!” Klarisa protested, shoving him away. “G-G-Ghosts aren’t r-r-real!”

“Hmm... sure they aren’t,” Alex said with a grin. “Maybe I should sail with the crew. After all, I was a founding member of the Order of Scarl—”

“I’M SORRY, MA’AM, BUT WITHOUT AN APPOINTMENT, I CAN’T LET YOU SEE THE PRESIDENT!” a clerk shouted, startling them. “I’M GOING TO HAVE TO ASK YOU BOTH TO LEAVE OR HAVE YOU ESCORTED OUT!”

“Sounds like trouble downstairs,” Alex said, grabbing his sword off of the wall mount. “Stay behind me, okay?” 

Alex carefully led the way downstairs, his right hand resting on the pommel of his sword as Klarisa followed closely behind.

“What seems to be the problem?” he shouted.

“Nothing, sir,” the clerk replied politely. “These two vagabonds refuse to leave and are demanding to speak with the President.”

The clerk gestured toward two drenched, hooded travelers standing before her, one in violet and the other in dark navy blue, as rainwater dripped from their robes and pooled on the polished marble floor.

“Alright, vagabonds. Time to go,” a shop guard said, stepping forward and reaching toward the traveler in the violet robe.

Before the guard could touch her, the traveler wearing the dark navy-blue robe caught his wrist.

“L-LET GO!” the guard shouted, struggling in vain as the hooded traveler tightened her grip.

“You want me to let go?” the traveler repeated as a smile spread across her face. “Alright, I’ll let you go!”

In a single motion, she hurled the massive guard over her shoulder and he slammed onto the marble floor with a thunderous CRASH, knocking dozens of items from the nearby shelves.

The traveler’s hood slipped back, revealing her long scarlet hair.

“I’m warning everyone here!” Lina shouted, cracking her knuckles. “Anyone who dares lay a finger on Skayla is going to regret it!”

“LINA!!!” Klarisa and Alex shouted in unison. 

Alex rushed toward Lina, dropped to his knees, and prostrated himself before her.

“I sincerely apologize for how my staff treated you, Captain Lina!” he shouted, and the entire lobby instantly erupted into whispers.

“Did he just say Captain Lina?”
“Eos, one of the Twin Goddesses, is here?”
“I’ve always wanted to meet her.”
“Wait... that clerk and guard called them vagabonds, didn’t they?”

As the situation began to get out of control, Klarisa stepped forward and forced a composed smile as she addressed the customers.

“Everyone, I sincerely apologize for disrupting your shopping today,” she said, lowering her head before holding up a small, luxurious black box wrapped in a crimson ribbon. “As compensation, every customer currently inside the store will receive one complimentary box of chocolates, regardless of whether they made a purchase.”

The concerned whispers immediately shifted into excited chatter, and everyone rushed toward the counter, worried they might run out. 

The store manager rushed over to Klarisa.

“M-Ma’am... are you sure?” she whispered. “Each box costs twelve silver coins!”

“Please do as I asked,” Klarisa whispered back through a strained smile. “There are only twelve customers here, which means only twelve boxes are to be given out. Understood?”

Klarisa glared at her.

“Y-Yes, Ma’am!” the store manager said, bowing before rushing behind the counter to count out exactly twelve boxes.

Klarisa let out a heavy sigh before approaching her husband, who was still prostrate on the floor.

“So?” Klarisa nudged Alex’s left side with the tip of her heel. “How much longer are you planning to stay like that?”

“As long as it takes for Captain Lina to calm down,” Alex answered, keeping his head against the floor.

“Alex, they’re not standing there anymore,” Klarisa informed him.

“In that case, I’m in the clear,” Alex said. He stood up, dusted off his clothes, and fixed his hair.

“No, you’re absolutely not,” Lina shouted from the counter, startling the other customers in line.

Alex froze as Lina slowly walked toward him.

“I noticed how sloppy your stance was when you reached for your sword,” Lina said, handing the chocolate box to Skayla, who casually tucked it into her magic bag. “How do you expect to protect your wife when you’ve neglected your basic training since you left three years ago?”

Alex tensed, knowing his former Captain had caught him red-handed.

“While I’m here, why don’t I retrain you in the basics?” Lina suggested, pulling her robe aside to reveal the sword hanging from her left hip. “I have a new sword to get used to, too.”

“Lina, please stop tormenting my husband,” Klarisa requested, chuckling at the familiar sight.

“You call this tormenting him?” Lina asked. “I call it good old-fashioned discipline.”

“What am I going to do with you?” Klarisa sighed and extended her right hand. “It’s nice to see you.”

“It’s nice to see you too,” Lina said with a smile, accepting her handshake as the two began to laugh.

Klarisa then noticed that Lina’s and Skayla’s white shirts had become nearly transparent from the rain, revealing their undergarments.

“You two should take a bath and change into dry clothes as soon as possible,” Klarisa suggested, gesturing toward their chests.

Lina and Skayla looked down where Klarisa was pointing, finally noticing Lina’s purple bra and Skayla’s light-blue one showing through their soaked shirts.

“I agree,” Lina said, embarrassed, pulling her robe tighter.

“Let me escort you to my private bathroom,” Klarisa offered, leading Lina and Skayla up the staircase. “Darling, could you prepare some tea?”

“Alex can brew tea now?” Lina asked with a laugh. “The last time he was put on kitchen duty, he nearly set the entire kitchen ablaze and singed off his eyebrows.”

The women’s laughter echoed down the stairs, leaving Alex standing alone in the lobby with an embarrassed look on his face.