Dragon Quest XI: Partners Until the End

[ Chapter 21]

It was an absolutely stunning day. The sky was completely clear; there wasn't a single puffy cloud in sight to shield the vibrant blue hue above. The bright sun cascaded gently and warmly on the glittering ocean below and made the sight all the more prettier. Added onto that, there was a soft breeze that pleasantly blew with a hint of salt in the air. All in all, it was a wonderful day that would bring joy to anyone's heart to just bask in the relaxing day.

Which would be the case if Erik didn't find himself all alone on the deck.

At that thought, the spiky haired thief furrowed his eyebrows in distaste and he had to refrain himself from clicking his tongue out loud. He sunk his head further into his crossed arms on the taffrail, effectively burying the bottom portion of his face and leaving only his disappointed, blank stare out in the open.

And the reason for said boredom stemmed a few days back. After Sylvando had shown the party the grand library he accumulated over his travels, the three girls had been hyper focused on reading nearly every single tome that was available to them. Not that Erik was against his friends from learning any potential spell that might save their asses in the future, if anything he was glad that they wanted to better their magical might and mending. But did that really require almost 100% of their time?

Since that day, all three girls would wake up, quickly eat breakfast, go into Sylvando's library to look at a book for the day, and disappear for several hours until the next meal. It would've been fine if Erik had something to fill his time, but, alas, it wasn't fun to play poker by yourself and there was only so much training a thief can do without somebody else to spar with. Of course there's Sylvando, but he's been busy with Dave navigating to Zwaardsrust and lending a helping hand to one of the girls when they were stumped on what spell to work on next.

There was only so much the boy could handle being alone on a massive ship—and it did not help that a certain someone had gotten him so used to her presence that it was putting him into a sour mood.

Erik paused for a second as he sucked on his teeth. He began to decide on two options in his mind, trying to weigh out the pros and cons of his decision before inevitably picking on the one that would ease the irritation flowing through his veins.

With a single goal in mind, Erik pushed himself upright and began traversing across the upper deck to head below. It didn't take long to get to his destination, seeing as he had quickly memorized the layout of the Salty Stallion far quicker due to his frequent stops to pull the girls out of their dens to eat cause he knows they forgot amidst their exciting pursuit of knowledge.

Though the sight of this specific wooden door already had a frown threatening to curl at the corners of Erik's lips, the boy forced himself to push down the growing ire. Not wanting to stare at the offending sight any longer, the blue haired thief reached out and pushed open the door with a creak. With just a few steps, Erik was met with a familiar sight that momentarily eased the annoyance for a moment.

In the middle of the mini library sat Freya, crossed legged on the hard floor with a tome sitting in her lap. Her brown locks were pulled back into a ponytail and allowed the boy to see her concentrated blue hues darting across the pages in front of her. Her index finger and thumb played with the corner of the paper as her lips parted, silently mouthing the words she was reading.