"I told you you were going to get hurt!" Lucas exclaimed.

"Well, I haven't yet!" Aurelia shouted back.

Lucas rolled his eyes, his attention still primarily focused on Robert. "Tell that to the cut on your hand!"

Captain Robert tried to add extra force to his blade to cause Lucas to crumble but the prince held his ground. In one swift move Lucas moved his sword with the force of Robert's smoothly dodged. Captain Robert's attention momentarily diverted, by this action.

His grip on the sword was looser. Lucas gulped. He steadied his hands. He took a deep breath and conjured his strength quickly, before Captain Robert found himself prepared once more. Lucas swung his sword.

CLANG!

Their swords met for a split second. Captain Robert tried to regain the hold on his weapon but it was too late.

The pirate's sword went flying through the air, coming quite close to taking Aurelia's head off. Luckily it missed.

PLUNK!

The sword was lost to the sea. Robert's face scrunched up in an uncomfortable position. His glared would have made other men tremble, but Lucas simply glared back. Inside though Lucas was

"Rothsbart, your sword!" Robert snarled to a fellow pirate, one with a yellow teeth, curly black hair, and a huge scar down his face.

"That won't be happening." Captain Iric had gotten up from off the ground. He was holding a sword against the scar faced Rothsbart. "Get off my ship." He hissed.

"I suppose we should know when a battle isn't worth fighting." Robert snarled. "Men, back to the Astrid."

It was an odd sight to see Pirates retreating. They glared at all the crew mates and scurried over to their own boat before fishing their more superstitious or gullible crew from the ocean.

"Aurelia..." Lucas now turned to his friend, sighing. Aurelia beamed and shrugged, sheepishly.

"I'm okay, aren't I?"

"I suppose you are, but you could have died. Do you understand how horrible that would have been?" Lucas questioned, scolding.

"Yeah but it would have been way worse if you or one of the crew had been killed. I'm a nobody, so I wouldn't have done too much damage." Aurelia said all too causally.

Lucas shook his head. "Aurelia, you aren't a nobody anymore. I don't really think you ever really were."

"With all due respect, Miss," Captain Iric began. "It is our job to protect you and the Prince. Not the other way around. But thank you for what you did. It was quite intelligent thinking and it gave us the upper hand."

"I-I s-suppose it did." Lucas averted the captain's gaze. "But, Aurelia, please don't try anything like that again!"

The miller's daughter rolled her eyes. "I can't make any promises." Lucas raised an eyebrow. "Fine, I won't!"

"You both are quite thinkers. You did what you had to. You're nothing like your stepfather, Prince Lucas. Quite the opposite in fact." Captain Iric stated.

Most of the men returned to sleeping at this point and a few heading to their posts. They ignored the conversation their captain was having.

"T-thank you, sir, but w-why do you say that? I mean, I'm his stepson, aren't I?" Lucas seemed to continue struggle with talking to the captain.

Captain Iric shook his head. "You don't know how wrong you are. I'm always captain whenever King Letholdus must voyage. Let me tell you, you're nothing like him. You'll make a good king someday."

It was difficult to tell, with only the light of the moonlight, but a light pink crossed Lucas' face.

"Er... I don't know about that. But thank you, Captain Iric."

"I suggest the two of you return to your respective sleeping quarters. We've had enough excitement for one night, haven't we?" Captain Iric barked with laughter.

Aurelia nodded, resisting the urge to yawn. She was quite exhausted. Perhaps sleep wasn't too bad of an idea.