The Heir Who Wouldn’t Drown
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 5: The Most Dangerous Job
According to the [Logbook], Julian, the Last of the Ravenshaws, had a Legend of [12]. That put him at the level of someone known throughout a region.
His name must already have circulated among the upper ranks of the Kingdom of Hastings, particularly within House Ashcombe, his mortal enemies. They might even have issued a wanted notice.
Yet Julian had no fear that his given name alone would expose him.
About a thousand years ago, the Church, whose authority was supreme across the Old Continent, had issued a peculiar religious edict. All believers were required to choose their children’s names from the sixty-five male names and forty-eight female names in the Gospel of Creation. No other names were permitted. Even royal houses were granted no exceptions.
The edict had only been abolished eighteen years ago, in 1453 of the Silver Era, and its influence persisted to this day. Among the many countries in the eastern Old Continent that worshipped [the Creator], the repetition of personal names was simply staggering.
Commoners distinguished themselves with nicknames such as Fatty, Shorty, or Crooked Mouth. Nobles had the names of their estates attached to their given names. Even kings shared names so often that numerals were needed to tell them apart.
Julian’s uncle, Alaric VI, the Riven King and previous ruler of Hastings, had been the sixth king of his dynasty named Alaric. The king before him, Julian’s grandfather Alaric V, had been the fifth. His great-grandfather Alaric IV had been the fourth.
So, even while fleeing for his life, Julian only needed to change his surname.
Valemont had come from his mother in this life.
The young pirate leading him was another example of the same naming custom. With a few carefully chosen questions, Julian learned that he was called Young Peter, while his father was Old Peter. Both served as ship’s carpenters aboard the pirate vessel.
Like Julian, they had been seized as “spoils” during a raid. Father and son had been much luckier than the Pelican’s crew, however. Instead of being fed to the sharks, their fine woodworking skills had earned them a respectable position aboard the pirate vessel.
A respectable position? And still so young?
Recognizing a good opportunity to gather intelligence, Julian deliberately slowed his pace.
They climbed the wooden stairs one behind the other, leaving the lower deck beside the lowest compartment, crossing the continuous gun deck, then taking the stairs toward the weather deck.
Young Peter had no idea that, over this short walk, the Logbook had already used [Echoes of History] to uncover the vessel’s past.
Deep blue ink raced across its pages.
“Pirate Vessel: Maneater Shark. A small galleon developed from the carrack.
Length: 22 meters; Beam: 6 meters; Draft: 2.75 meters; Displacement: 200 tonnes. Armament: seven 6-pounder cannons on each side of the weather deck, with two 2-pounder cannons at the bow and two at the stern.
The hull and decks are built from white oak native to Hastings’ Channel Islands. The masts are snow cedar grown on the Evernight Peninsula.
Originally built as an armed merchantman for the Kingdom of Hastings’ Bantaan Oceanic Trading Company.
Later extensively refitted by the shipwright Old Peter.
The forecastle and sterncastle were lowered to improve speed and handling, and the gun deck was converted into sailors’ quarters. At considerable expense, the original 4-pounder cannons were replaced with 6-pounders.
Its speed, firepower, and manpower are more than sufficient to overpower other merchant vessels of the same type.
Estimated Value: approximately 10,350 pounds. Slightly more expensive than a sixth-rate cruising warship built by the Admiralty, but worth far less than a fifth-rate warship. The gap in fighting strength is greater still.
For a novice captain’s first command, however, it could hardly be more suitable.”
Anything Julian focused on within three meters of him generated an exhaustive entry under Stores in the Logbook. It was like carrying an experienced appraiser around with him.
For mundane objects with no supernatural properties, a glance was enough to reveal most of their secrets. Investigating supernatural phenomena or events, however, required him to expend his own [spirituality] in exchange for a few clues of varying depth.
After that, he had to work like a detective, using ordinary methods to unravel the mystery piece by piece before he could uncover the underlying secret.
Reassured by the Logbook’s information, Julian patted the smoothly polished stair rail beside him and offered what sounded like an offhand compliment.
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