The Heir Who Wouldn’t Drown
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 19: A Toast to Obedience
When Julian emerged from the captain’s cabin, he carried several silver plates so clean they might have been licked, along with one additional item: Agnes the Crimson’s Gourmet Cookbook.
As a reward for saving the pirate vessel, Captain Oswald had publicly promised him his choice of anything in his collection.
Julian had first ruled out the [Tempest Signet], which remained firmly on the captain’s finger. Then, quietly using [Echoes of History], he had surveyed the collection in the captain’s cabin. He found no second wondrous item that resisted immediate identification.
Apparently, this [Gourmand] was probably broke, too. The Golden Coin Sequence was a bottomless pit.
The instant the well-fed Oswald asked him to make his choice, Julian snatched up the ancient-looking cookbook with an almost rude eagerness, as though unable to restrain an instinctive craving.
“I want this book!”
Oswald made a show of considering it before agreeing with an air of profound reluctance.
In truth, this had been his intention all along. The previous cooks had all taken the cookbook. If Julian had failed to do the same, that would have been a real headache.
Each man had his own hidden agenda, and each was determined to outact the other.
Unfortunately for Oswald, he could never have imagined that Julian was a prodigy whose spiritual awakening had come before adulthood. His supernatural knowledge and hidden resources also far exceeded anything the captain suspected.
Julian, however, was unsure whether his spirituality, quantified at a mere “1,” would be enough to actively use [Echoes of History] to uncover the wondrous item’s secrets. He decided to take it back and try later that night, when he was alone.
“Mr. Julian, over here! You’ve been working all this time. You haven’t had dinner yet, have you? I saved you a portion. And the captain’s given us permission to drink all the fresh light beer we want tonight!”
Julian had intended to return straight to the kitchen rather than mingle with the groups of pirates enjoying their food and drink on deck. But Young Peter, who had been watching the captain’s cabin, waved from a distance, then ran over and enthusiastically pulled him toward his little group.
“Have a seat, Mr. Julian.”
“Let me pour you a drink.”
Before long, several young pirates had ushered him to a table made from planks laid across barrels and eagerly brought him meat and beer.
Julian looked around. Most of those seated here were skilled sailors whose expertise gave them a respectable standing aboard the ship. At their head were the two ship’s carpenters, Old Peter and his son, both already warmly disposed toward him.
The apprentice pilots, Nicholas and Laurence, had not yet learned to guide a vessel independently. Until now, they had studied under the former navigator. Julian’s astonishing navigation that day had won them over completely, and they looked every bit as enthusiastic as Young Peter.
Their duties would now place them under Julian, the acting navigator, learning as they worked until they could manage on their own. Both already considered themselves his men and took pride in the connection.
Apart from several veteran gunners, the others were young pirates driven aboard by poverty, arriving through various channels only a few days earlier. They still possessed the innocence, or stupidity, peculiar to their age. Surely the captain, a powerful supernatural practitioner, could not be petty enough to deliberately hold newcomers down.
One young man in a corner was particularly noticeable. Two of his fingers were missing, and the wounds had been hastily bandaged.
Julian knew his name was Hugh. An ordinary sailor who also served as the cook’s assistant, he had helped prepare the ingredients and hand out dinner.
He was also the unfortunate fellow whose fingers [Redgaze] Oswald had bitten off at noon.
The little group included men from every department, more than a dozen altogether. Between them, they could just about have handled a single-masted fore-and-aft vessel.
Not one of the marines, the pirates’ strongest fighting men, sat among them. Most had gathered with the ordinary crew who formed the ship’s backbone under First Mate Bram, known as [Marrowcrack], occupying another corner of the deck.
Listening to the racket from that direction, these most decent members of the Maneater Shark’s crew continued to take Julian’s side.
“Ungrateful bastards. Don’t they know who kept them alive? The Creator will make the ungrateful pay their debts!”
“Commandment Two: Equal Treatment; Let the Able Rise and the Inept Step Down. Nothing short of deputy captain would be a proper reward for what you did. You should argue your case with the captain, Mr. Julian. If an honest man like you gives in this easily, people aboard will start walking all over you.”
“Exactly. Pirates are the freest men on the sea. If we can’t reward and punish fairly, why would other good pirates join us?”
Their kindness brought a rare warmth to Julian’s heart. After the upheaval he had just endured, he had become deeply wary of outsiders.
He gave a carefree smile.
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