The Forgotten Faithful: A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Book 2) by Cajiao, Jez (little red riding hood ebook TXT) 📕

‘Grace’ in right over there…!” I frowned, my gaze following where he pointed, and he growled at me in annoyance. “The Grace were ma ship! Th’ one ye butchered!”

“Ah, sorry, mate… but thanks to her, we survived, and you got this nice, new, shiny warship, didn’t you?” I replied, giving him an apologetic clap on the shoulder.

“Aye, but she be slow, laddie; oh, so slow! She needs the repairs ye promised!”

“How slow is she in comparison?” I asked, and he spat on the floor, getting a glare from me that turned his face white.

“Sorry! Ah… sorry, Jax,” he mumbled, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, and wiping it up quickly before going on in a much more respectful tone. “Well, ye see, the issue be that she were built as a heavy scout. She be neither something, nor nothin’, iff’n ye understand? A scout should be fast, nimble; but a ‘heavy’ is the opposite of whut a scout should be. She be great fer missions away on her own, but she be one o’ the first o’ a new breed, an’ they always be a bit… weird. A tester, iff’n ye will.”

“A prototype, we’d have called her. Okay, I get that. So does Barabarattas have more like her?”

“Aye, laddie; Himnel has a full twenty o’ her, along wit’ two cruisers and one big bastard tha’ be in dock, still bein’ built.”

“Okay, and what about Narkolt?” I asked, wondering at the ‘big bastard’.

“About th’ same; they only got four scouts, but eight cruisers. It’s less ‘n numbers, but more ‘n firepower, Barabarattas has better defenses around Himnel, so it be a standoff. Both sides send out raidin’ parties, fight it out, and flee back,” Oren said with a shrug.

“Okay, but if she’s built off a scout’s design, why do you say she’s slow?” I asked.

“Her top speed do be about eighty to a hun’red miles a day. Tha’s it, and she be nowhere near that now. She be able to do barely half that; her engines need to be properly fixed, not jus’ a swap out o’ some parts, an’ even then she be beat hands down by the ‘Grace’ or the ‘Freedom’. They both be makin’ a hun’red to a hun’red and thirty a day!” Oren shook his head in exasperation as he looked the warship over, watching the way the engineers were already poking and prodding at her. “I do be needin’ to tell them whut to do, an’ where to start. How long do we have?” I considered it and shrugged. I’d been keeping watch all the way back and had only seen a few ships in the far distance, so I knew we had at least two days before even a ‘fast’ ship like Decin’s could reach us.

“You’ve got four days,” I said firmly, “That’s the maximum, though; you need to post a watch and make sure nobody is coming. If they are, I want the ships able to fly at least twelve hours before anyone can reach us. If nobody comes by the four-day mark, we’ll reevaluate it. Is that enough to get much done?”

“Four days? Aye, laddie! We can do a lot wi’ tha’!” He grinned widely. “Now, do ye need anythin’, or can I…?” He gestured towards the engineers and Decin, who’d just come down his own gangplank.

“You can play with the engineers afterward!” I told him, trying not to laugh. “We need to get everyone together to have a ‘swearing in’ first. Gather Decin and his people together for me, okay?”

“I’ve already started gathering our people, as well, Jax.” Cai nodded over to over a dozen people who were waiting patiently, Isabella amongst them as she spoke to Ame and the other Mer.

Even at this distance, I could see her brilliant smile and the way people seemed to congregate around her. I shifted my gaze between Cai and the group as Oren stomped toward Decin, shouting random abuse at him.

“So, how are things with Isabella, then?” I asked him quietly, feeling Oracle as she flew over to sit lightly on my shoulder. Cai started, as he realized he’d been staring, and looked around, making sure Oren was out of hearing before he responded quietly, shooting us a quick smile.

“They are…surprisingly good, Jax, thank you. We are enjoying each other’s company. I don’t know how things are done where you came from, but here, especially with my kind, we are very cautious with matters of the heart. We have enjoyed meals together, and she assists me with my work. I am…content, and I believe she feels the same way.”

“Have you told her how you feel?” I asked him, and he shook his head.

“At this stage, it is too early. We are interested in each other and have both made that clear. Now we wait, we spend time together, and we see what grows from those seeds. It is our way.”

“Okay, I get that’s your way. Is that her way, though?” I asked bluntly.

“I…”

“I don’t want you to lose her because this isn’t the way things are done for her, mate. She’s from a small village that was recently raided by an airship who took her as a slave. Some of them were taken and…used…by the assholes on board. She’s very beautiful, so you need to be careful. I can’t imagine they’d have missed her.” I observed the way his ears flattened, and he glared at me.  “Whoa, dude. I hope I’m wrong. I’m just saying you need to be aware; she might have issues that…”

“I don’t care if she was taken by them! That’s not all she is!” he snapped at me, and I shook my head in response.

“No,” I said gently. “No, I don’t mean like that. If she was assaulted, all I care about is making sure that she’s okay, those that hurt her already got what was coming to them. What I meant was…”

“What Jax meant is that she will need you to understand her, to be patient, but also to