“My name is Pegleg. I am the king of these guys,” said Pegleg as he pointed at the skeletons that were walking around collecting broken bones and trying to fix their broken and missing body parts.


    Akira looked at Pegleg''s twig-like leg bones and could see neither of them had a wooden peg.


    “That name is...Interesting. It would be a great name for a pirate,” said Akira.


    “What''s a pirate?”


    “They use ships to attack other ships and take the other ships'' items,” said Akira.


    “Sounds nice. So where is the scip? I don''t see it,” asked Pegleg looking at Akira''s hands as if he was hiding a ship in them.


    “I don''t have any with me right now. I''ll have to talk to someone about sending a ship that you can use,” said Akira.


    “Very well,” said Pegleg as he sat down on the ground to wait.


    Akira sought out Audun the shaman that had come with them on the trip.


    “Is there something you need, chief?” asked Audun.


    “Can you send a message to Grand elders? We have found the place we will create our village. But in order to gain ownership of the land, we need to trade a large ship. We also need more workers sent to us so we can work on building the village. Everything can be sent to us down the unfreezing river. Also, warn them not to mess with puffballs.”


    “I''ll do the best I can, but that''s a long message for the distance we are right now,” said Audun.


    Akira watched as Audun sat down and took out some water and food, placing it on his lap.


    A minute passed and Audun was visibly tired but still had his eyes still closed as he sent and waited for a reply.


    Five minutes passed, then ten. After 15 minutes Audun opened his eyes and spoke in a near whisper.


    “The Grand elders find it odd that you need a ship to gain the land but they will be sending it with another 100 warriors and extra supplies. The ship will leave in a few days when the warriors arrive at the ship.”


    “Thank you,” said Akira as he turned around and walked towards Pegleg.


    “The ship will be here in a little over a week,” said Akira.


    “One week is nothing, I have already waited hundreds of years. I would like you to tell me more about these pirates you were talking about before.”


    ***


    A week passed by already and it was now nearing the time for the ship with its reinforcements and supplies to arrive.


    Akira had gotten to know Pegleg more and more. Everything he learned about him made him shake his head in amazement at how oddly exotic his personality was.


    Over the week both he and Pegleg had spared several times in order to pass the time since Akira was not allowed to roam the island until the ship was handed over to Pegleg.


    Ding!


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Understanding of Pegleg''s skill [Harden] has reached 100%! Adding skill to list of active skills.


    Harden (Rare: lvl 0): Increases defense x5 for 1 minute. You are unable to move while the skill is active. It can only be used once a day. Upgrade the skill to increase active time and additional effects.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Pegleg was extremely hard to damage when he used the [Harden] skill and would not move one inch. So it always felt like he was just beating on a stone wall.


    Wanting to test out the new skill Akira used [Harden] and immediately became still with his shield up in front of him.


    Pegleg managed to land several attacks on his body. The quick attacks did no damage and Akira felt no pain. It only felt like someone was poking him with their finger.


    “Hey, you cheater! You stole my skill!” said Pegleg as he quickly figured out what had happened.


    “You are really a tricky person! This was your plan all along wasn''t it! I guess since you learned the skill from me that kinda makes me your teacher right?” asked Pegleg.


    “No,” Akira denied vehemently he did not want to be linked to the crazy skeleton king like that.


    Akira sat down after finishing the fight and was breathing hard from the workout.


    “Heh, you living beings are so weak to lose your energy after only fighting for a short time,” said Pegleg.


    “We were fighting for four hours! Plus I was also transformed so I use more energy.”


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    “Oh, that''s what that was? I was wondering what it was. I thought you had just put on a costume or something.”


    Akira let out a sigh not knowing how to respond to that.


    “So about those demigods, you were talking about are they really that bad?”


    “You should keep away from them unless you are strong enough to take them on as they are in a way like you. They can die but will be revived again sometime later and will come back to keep fighting. Their power can grow fast when they fight a lot.”


    “This world is getting really dangerous. First, you tell me about these damn people who control undead as their puppets and now these copycats that are trying to be like me. Hmm, I bet they are not as ugly as me, so at least I can beat them in that!”


    “Chief! The ship has just entered the lake! They will be here in minutes,” shouted a Warrior that was watching the lake.


    “Want to go check out the ship?” Akira asked Pegleg.


    “Yes, I want to see this slip with my own eyes,” said Pegleg as he laughed at his own joke.


    When they reached the shore where several other warriors were waiting for the large ship was already anchored and the rowboats with both men and supplies filling them were being lowered.


    “They will need an hour or two to take all that men and supplies of the ship but after that, we can start moving you and your men to the ship,” said Akira.


    Pegleg was quiet as he stared at the ship for over five minutes.


    “Is there something wrong with the ship?” asked Akira, worried that the deal might be canceled.


    “It''s...too clean and too new.”


    Akira let out a sigh, “That can be easily fixed.”


    “It is a lot bigger than I expected,” said Pegleg as he watched the smaller rowboats ferry supplies and people back and forth from the ship.


    Akira was not paying attention to the rowboats and was talking with Pegleg to pass the time.


    An hour passed before a werewolf warrior walked up to Akira and saluted him.


    “The ship is empty and ready to be handed over.”


    “King Pegleg would...”


    “I am no longer King Pegleg. You said that the leader of pirates has the title of Captain. So I will now go by the name of Captain Pegleg!”


    “Alright... we can now bring you and your men to your new ship. Just hop into the rowboats.”


    Pegleg stood still not moving.


    “Is there something wrong?” asked Akira.


    “Can you bring them in closer to shore?” asked Pegleg.


    The rowboats were only a few feet out in the ankle-deep water.


    Upon Akira''s gesture, the werewolf warriors pulled the ships even closer to the land.


    “Any closer than that and we won''t be able to push it off easily,” said Akira.


    Pegleg inched forward slowly and then quickly jumped the rest of the way into the rowboat. After checking that all his bones were still in one piece he let out a shout.


    “Ha! Take that you damn lake! I will finally escape this damn place!”


    The skeletons started to move as one after a silent order was given and they started to cram as many onto the rowboats as they could making it so that the werewolves that were in charge of rowing had little room to move.


    A few of the unlucky undead fell into the water and dumbly flounder around in pain as they tried to get out of the lake or back into the boat but the other skeletons kicked them back into the lake not wanting any of the water to be brought into the boat.


    Akira joined Pegleg''s rowboat which only had the two of them and the warrior that was in charge of rowing.


    “Take me to the ship!” ordered Pegleg.


    When they reached the ship Akira followed Pegleg up the net that was on the side of the ship and hopped over the railing.


    “If you need someone to teach you how to use the ship I can have someone help you with that,” said Akira.


    “Yes, I may need help with that,” said Pegleg as he pulled a large piece of red cloth out from under his metal armor.


    “This should be perfect!” said Pegleg as he looked at the cloth and started climbing up the main mast where he tied it.


    A red flag with a crudely drawn skeleton head that resembled Pegleg was now flapping in the wind.


    Pegleg hopped down next to Akira and looked at his handiwork while nodding his head.


    “Why the flag?” asked Akira.


    “How else will others know that this ship belongs to me? This way I don''t have to do any talking and all the ladies will come running to play with me.”


    Akira spent a few more minutes discussing some of the finer details of ships and was repeatedly asked to explain the job of pirates so that Pegleg would not forget.


    When Akira returned to shore he saw a large red face that he had not seen in several months.


    “Varbu? Klyn? Why are you guys here?”


    “Akira!” said Varbu, embracing him in a bear hug and slapping him on the back.


    “What are you doing all the way out here? Aren''t you supposed to be back with the other orcs on Halrverold?” asked Akira after he escaped Varbus hug.


    “My father and the other chiefs decided to stay and fight...I and several other young warrior chiefs brought the younger generation with us to join you werewolves.”


    “Shouldn''t you be with them right now then?”


    “No need, they are safe right now. They are camping right next to the other werewolves at the trade city, so I only brought a few people to help out with clearing and building stuff for the new settlement,” said Varbu.


    “You really didn''t need to,” said Akira.


    “Oh, right the Grand elders gave me this letter to give you,” said Klyn.


    Akira opened the letter and read the few sentences that were written in the letter.


    [The Dark moon clan and other coalition clans have accepted the allied Orc and goblins into the coalition. This means they will also be staying at the settlement until they decide otherwise. Use them to help build up the settlement. Send word to us when we can start migrating to the new homes.]


    Akira looked up at the smiling Varbu.


    “I guess I''m stuck with you from now on aren''t I,” said Akira.


    “Don''t make it sound like a bad thing!”


    “What''s this part about goblins?”


    Varbu just turned and pointed behind him where the short princess Gobalina stood.


    “I''m sorry I didn''t greet you earlier. I didn''t see you because of this big guy blocking my view,” said Akira.


    She just stared at Akira and didn''t say anything only nodding to him while keeping a blank cold expression on her face.


    “Have you explored this island yet it looks huge! I bet there are lots of resources that we could use to help with creating the settlement,” said Varbu.


    “No. I was unable to do any exploring yet. We should check it out after Captain Pegleg leaves,” said Akira.