“So I can’t really tell if she thinks of me as a son or a lover. Considering that she’s still willing to suck my dick and wants me to impregnate her, I figure that it’s pretty weird either way, right?” As I said that, the old man that I was talking to seemed really uncomfortable.

He was wearing white and crimson priest-like vestments, but that obnoxious bishop’s hat wasn’t on his head anymore. There was a silver staff in his hands and his long white beard was blowing in the wind. That guy was at least two-meters tall and extremely muscular. His face did have some similarities to Di, but he wasn’t bald and his ponytail was whipping around behind his enormous back. The two of us were casually standing at the very front of the ship, as it sailed away from the port-city.

I asked “Umm, yeah, so Padre, do you think that I should just go for it and try having sex for real or not? I figured that a mysterious Expert like yourself, who travels the world and all that jazz, probably has a lot of experience with this kinda stuff, right?”

Raphael muttered “The Lunar Scriptures state that virginity is sacred and should be protected as long as possible… However, as followers of Luna, we shall not judge others for their ‘odd’ and unorthodox mating rituals.”

“Okay, that’s totally unhelpful, but thanks anyway I guess? I’m sure that you know some secrets of the universe or something… Can you give me a little hint or something? What normally happens during sex?” He was sweating profusely, trying to avoid my eyes.

Eventually, he murmured “Perhaps you should ask someone else, Child… I’ve never participated in any, uh, um, of those things. Is there any other problem you would like to speak to me about? Preferably one that doesn’t involve pedophilia, sodomy or evil Spirits? Are you not concerned with the upcoming trials and tribulations we shall face? This war will not be an easy one to survive… even for me.”

I was by far the youngest person on that boat and a Shaman, so Raphael didn’t turn me away when I started randomly confiding in him about some stuff. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t tell him anything weird like I was a ‘reincarnated Eternal Deity’, or that my Innate Talent was Dark-Violet. All I did was give him a brief explanation of my relationship issues. I would have asked the Captain instead, but I figured that the Expert High-Priest would be a bit more knowledgeable than a peak-level Adept Beast Tamer.

Oh, by the way, although there were thousands of people scrambling around the ship when we were docked, that number thinned out significantly once we departed. Between the crew and passengers, the total onboard was only about fifteen-hundred.

However, I quickly realized that the most significant military might that the Titanic Fury possessed, wasn’t cannons or even the captain. Trailing behind the boat was a fleet of aquatic monsters. Rank-G Archer Fish that could shoot beams of pressurized water out of the ocean which would pierce the flesh of Novices rather easily. Rank-F Ironshell Horseshoe Crabs, which were able to ram into regular wood and punch holes in the bottom of a normal warship. Rank-E Flying Demon Skates that could literally jump out of the water and attack from the sky, before diving back into the ocean.

The most powerful of all was the Rank-D Colossal Mantaray that was Captain Hua Li’s Beast Companion. It had a wingspan of over a hundred meters and its tail was longer than the fucking Titanic Fury. That thing was powerful enough to sink our ship on its own.

There were also three other, much smaller galleons following in our wake. It’s not like we would be sent off alone after all. Those boats didn’t seem quite as impressive though. They gave me the feeling that they were only made out of ordinary materials. Unsurprisingly, the Hua Jiang Navy’s sails were bright-blue, with a giant silver octopus on each of them.

Anyway, the whole reason I left the room in the first place had nothing to do with talking to that old dude. On a ship with fifteen-hundred people on board, I figured that there had to be some sort of bathrooms… It took a while for me to find, but on the same level as the galley, at the very back were some public stalls. There were only a dozen or so holes in the floor, which you would squat over to shit. No walls or anything for privacy.

When I got there, like twenty or thirty people were just standing in line to take a dump. Fortunately, I didn’t actually need to go, but it still deeply disturbed me. At least there was a flushing mechanism which somehow or another could pull in a bit of water from outside, before using it to wash the excrement out of the boat.

After getting bummed out about that, I went back up to the deck. That’s when I noticed that a decent amount of the men and women who were moving around were carrying buckets of shit. They would casually toss the feces off the side of the ship and take it back down next to the latrines.

Of course, when it came to pissing, most guys just pulled out their dick and girls lifted up their skirts right on the goddamn deck. I noticed that there were a lot of really embarrassed and upset women, who didn’t seem to want to accept the harsh reality they were faced with. They were essentially royalty or nobility before being conscripted into the Navy. Hell, even a decent amount of the ‘commoners’ weren’t used to such a raunchy environment. I’ve certainly never had to deal with that before.

Then there were the crew and soldier quarters. I went into the two buildings just to check things out and yeah, it was really fucking cramped. Honestly, if I didn’t have my own room, then I wouldn’t have agreed to get on that damn boat.

Males and females were somewhat segregated. The ratio of men to women was about ten to one. Thus, the majority of hammocks belonged to guys. For whatever reason, the areas closest to the doors were reserved for the girls.

If you can’t figure out why it would be a bad idea to place a few dozen females in a confined space with hundreds of males, then I guess I’ll try to explain this for you. Humans produce pheromones, whether they want to or not. Especially in relatively unsanitary conditions like on a boat with no way to take a shower or wash your hands.

A lot of your sexuality comes from scents. Sight is only a small portion of what turns us on. Our most instinctual horniness is derived from our sense of smell. Sometimes we don’t even realize it, but a single whiff of sweat, piss or cum, will force us into a state of arousal. Of course, it all depends on the person and some people don’t react at all, while others overreact.

Even with all the porthole windows open, that cramped space would force the various types of musky stenches together. It might make you gag or want to vomit at first, but once you get used to it… Well, our voyage had just begun and I totally saw a super-beefy two-meter tall woman getting gangbanged by at least thirty guys.

They all seemed like experienced sailors though. Unlike all of those conscripted recruits or the soldiers who had never actually fought in a war, that group of sailors understood what was about to happen. Those guys and that girl knew that they might die tomorrow, so there’s no point in worrying about social stigmas.

Plus, on a ship, the Captain’s orders are absolute. The Captain decides what is legal or illegal. Even if public orgies were disdained and considered crimes on land, Hua Li gave absolutely zero fucks about any of that. I believe her exact words were “If you want to have sex, then do it. If you don’t, then don’t. Just don’t rape or murder each other and I won’t execute you for treason.”

As I turned away from Raphael and faced towards the deck, I briefly glanced over the hundreds of people who were scurrying around and let out a long sigh. Raphael did the same, before reciting a short poem… At least I think it was a poem?

“Life is precious, yet we must kill to survive. Life is sacred, yet we must die so that others may thrive. Though I shall not live forever, my immortal soul will always go on… Into the Chaotic Void and onto a new journey. Life is a dream and death is an awakening.”

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