Civilization Chronicles: Rise of the Divine Creator

Christina stood at the gunwale for a while longer, perhaps it was just a few minutes, or perhaps it was a couple hours, but eventually, her thoughts somehow simultaneously churning yet blank.

Eventually, however, she forced herself up back to the ship’s ’shower’ room, which was really just a curtained space with a bucket and drain.

Stripping, then wiping herself down with a cloth, some soap, and a bucket of cold water drawn straight from the river, Christina retired back to her room where she relieved her subordinate and crawled into bed together with Elly, gently hugging the little girl as she tried to sleep.

It wasn’t easy.

Having dozed off earlier for a bit, and with so many stray thoughts still filling her head, Christina was having a hard time resting despite feeling quite drained.

At some point, though, she did manage to nod off, only to be awakened suddenly to the sound of ringing bells.

Her eyes shooting open, Christina was initially worried that they were under attack, but although she could tell that her fellow soldiers were scrambling about, she didn’t hear the tell-tale sounds of weapons clashing, at least not yet.

Checking the tiny window nearby, Christina noted that there was a faint trace of sunlight peaking through. Clearly, the night had passed at some point and morning had arrived.

”W-What’s happening?” A small, trembling voice suddenly asked.

Looking down, Christina saw a shivering Elly clinging tightly to her, looking absolutely terrified.

Obviously, the little girl was still heavily traumatized by what had happened to her village, and that trauma was now being stimulated by the ship’s alarms.

Christina wanted to offer some reassuring words, but she too was in the dark about what was happening.

Fortunately, that would soon change.

From up above, on the ship’s deck, a loud voice called out, ”Darr Kingdom ships approaching! Repeat, ships approaching!”

Yesterday, once they were finished burying the dead from the village, Captain Gage could have ordered her ship to set sail for Misty City, but with her crew mentally and physically exhausted, and thinking it would be better to inform their ’allies’ about the situation here first so as to avoid any further misunderstandings, she instead decided to remain anchored in the shallow cove and wait.

Currently, the Rockwell and Darr Kingdoms were participating in a joint military operation to try to stop the ongoing village raids along their shared border, but that didn’t mean the two sides trusted one another.

Lana didn’t regret investigating the destroyed Darr Kingdom village, especially considering they had found Elly nearby, but she also understood that their ship sailing away from what was essentially the scene of a massacre in an enemy nation would likely not go over well.

Christina and all the other Captains were also aware of their Battalion Captain’s intent, so none of them had raised any objections, but that didn’t mean they would lower their guard completely even when the ships approaching them were flying the Darr Kingdom’s flag.

For all they knew, this could be a ruse by the unseen enemy, an attempt by the criminals responsible for the massacre to get them to lower their guard before... ’erasing’ any evidence.

Even if it was an official force from the Darr Kingdom, under the current circumstances, expecting anything other than suspicion and thinly veiled hostility would be supremely naïve.

Understanding all this, Christina tried to get up and get dressed, but Elly seemed to have other ideas, calling out in a near panic, ”A-Are you going to l-l-leave too?”

Biting her lip, Christina looked down at the little girl and was about to comfort her, to say that she would be back, but seeing the look of fear and desperation on Elly’s face, she changed her mind and declared, ”No, we’ll go together. But first, we need to get changed, okay?”

It probably wasn’t a good idea to bring Elly out and expose her to potential danger, but Christina didn’t think leaving her here in this room, locked away, not knowing what was happening, was a good idea either.

If the ships really were from the Darr Kingdom, which was the most likely scenario, Christina doubted a fight would break out, especially considering the ’gift’ she had received for her birthday, but if one did, nowhere on the ship would be safe regardless, so bringing Elly along wouldn’t make much of a difference.

At least, that’s what Christina told herself as she slipped out of bed and began throwing on her armour.

Perhaps thanks to this new design being easier to put on, or perhaps because she was just getting used to doing so, Christina managed to don her armour in less than 2 minutes flat.

After strapping her great sword to her back, and her daggers to her waist, Christina grabbed Elly’s hand and walked with her to the door.

Elly’s old clothes had probably been falling apart before the chase through the forest yesterday, and they had only gotten worse after it, so Christina had folded them and put them to the side, dressing her in one of her shirts and a pair of pants. It was all quite oversized, but it would have to do for now as there was no one smaller than Christina aboard the ship.

Although the bells were still ringing, calling for the Raging River Legion’s Third and Fourth Battalions to muster themselves, no one was in too much of a rush as the frequency of the tolls indicated that the Darr Kingdom ships were still a fair distance away.

Making their way down the hallway, Christina and Elly arrived at the nearest set of stairs leading to the deck and ran into an unexpected individual, a pot-bellied man wearing a dirty apron and carrying a large kitchen knife.

It was Old Uri, the ship’s cook.

”Ah, Princess, and... Smaller Princess!” The cheerful old man smiled at Christina, addressing her by title, yet in as informal a way as possible.

Had it been a year ago, Christina might have found fault with this kind of breach of decorum, but now such things didn’t bother her and she just smiled back, ”Hey, Old Man. Planning on joining the fight?”

”Hahaha,” Uri laughed, his belly jiggling slightly as he shook his head, ”Nah, fighting if for you young’uns. An old fart like me is only good for cooking up food.”

”On, then what’s the knife for?” Christina joked.

”This old girl?” Uri held up the blade, which even by kitchen standards looked rather dull, ”I figure if things go bad, she’s better than nothing.”

Christina patted the old man on the shoulder, ”There won’t be any trouble. You just focus on keeping the kitchen running.”

”If you say so, Your Highness,” Old Uri grinned before sauntering off. His words alone might make you think he was worried, but it couldn’t be more obvious from his attitude that he wasn’t the least bit concerned.