Kelda caught them before they could actually get to digging.

"Pirates," she said, "are on my mind today. They've been getting more aggressive, as you saw. I talked to Floater yesterday, and he told me exactly how easy your last battle with them was, which means they've gotten entirely too confident."

"I wondered about that." Marco sat down across the table from Kelda after she waved for some people to bring them food. "What is your idea here?"

"Well, to be clear, I wasn't thinking of this at all before I saw your new ship. There's no telling what you'd run into out there, and pirates aren't the only threat."

"And now?" Marco appreciated that the woman had his safety in mind, even if it seemed she hadn't dropped the other shoe on her plan. "I agree that the ship's fast. What would we be running from?"

"I want you to hunt up some pirates. Not all of them are pushovers, but a lot of them are. Even if we can't clear the waters of the worst of them, opening up more space to dodge them by sinking the riff-raff would be helpful. Right now, our transports can't even steer clear of trouble because of how many pirates are in these waters. You could change that."

"Maybe. I have a couple of questions first, if you don't mind."

"No problem. Shoot."

Marco moved a couple pieces of silverware laid out on the table closer to him and pointed a knife at a fork.

"Say the fork is me. You say I should sail up on some pirate ship, a weak-looking one, and sink it. Say I go around and find someone who looks like someone I can beat. I and the team attack them. What do you think happens?"

Kelda looked amused. Marco suspected she knew the answer to his question already. Either way, she played along.

"I don't know. What?"

"I don't know either. Because there's no way to tell. Most people let threats come to them most of the time or only start fights when they know what they are starting a fight with. A couple of pirates already messed around with us and found out it wasn't a good idea. I want to learn from their mistakes, not repeat them,” Marco said.

"Smart. Well, I can help with that problem, at least." Kelda rooted around her bag for a few moments and withdrew a small cylindrical metal case from her bag. "I had this made a while back. Floater has one too, for all the help it's given him. It's a crafted item, so you should be able to see the description yourself."

"Value? That's an odd thing to want to know. Not for pirates, but for me. As much as I might look like one, I don’t think we’re pirates,” Marco commented.

"You'll be acting as a bit of a pirate here." Kelda saw Marco wince and waved her hand. "A protective one. What you are going to be doing isn't that different from what a guard ship does, except for the looting. You'd be a fool not to loot them."

"Let’s talk about that later.” Marco pursed his lips. “Let's focus on how this helps me."

"Well, a lot of things can be enchanted into a spyglass like that. You could ask it to assess the strength of a ship or its crew. But those enchantments tend to be pretty expensive in terms of what a spyglass like that can contain. They take up a lot of space."

"But value?" Marco turned the item over in his hands. "How does that help?"

"Because value is focused at the whole-ship level. It's looking at the quality of the ship, the quality of the goods on board, and the quality of lootable equipment. If the value comes out to be worth an absolute fortune, the ship you are looking to attack probably either had a way to get that fortune, or it’s all packed up in equipment value. Either way, you might not want to tussle with that one.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Marco raised the spyglass to his eye. Nothing triggered the enchantment, but it worked fine in the normal way.

"How do I know what the values mean when it triggers on something?"

"It's all relative to your ship. A negative ten is probably something like a waterlogged plank. A positive ten is a ship that has enough value to purchase a whole island.”

"And zero is us?" Marco asked.

"Yup. It's keyed into the ship it's on. That's why it won't work here."

"Okay, good enough,” Marco said with a nod. “Assuming my ship is as fast as it looks, that probably takes care of that part of it. The next part is Frisk."

"I thought of that. And it's a hard one." Kelda rubbed her chin. "Tell me what your plan is for dealing with him, first."

"Originally, we were just going to get the hell out of here." Marco pointed at Elisa and Aethe, who were chatting at another table. "Those two thought they could find some place he couldn't reach. Elf territory."

“Not a bad idea. It would make things sticky for him, for sure. But it wouldn't stop him completely. And while you're hiding, he’s looking. Fighting pirates, anything that gets in his way. He's getting stronger, not that he needs it. You might get away, but you might find yourself running for a long time without any way to turn the table.”

"We should be faster now."

“Maybe. Ships like Frisk’s are monsters in more ways than one, usually. Even if you can outrun him, a ship that big is outfitted for long journeys. The fact that he got anywhere near this island means he's outfitted for long journeys. One day, you might just stop to resupply and find him there waiting for you at the docks when you return.”

"And you have a better idea?" Marco raised his eyebrows. "I'd like to hear it if you do."

“It's a gamble. I won't pretend it's not. But this island has crafters and resources. We've already started pouring cannon. By the end of the week, we'll have a battery up and running. Not enough to truly beat that ship, but enough that it would cost them something they’d have to explain back home if they tried to take this island.”

“I think Frisk would pay that cost.”

“If it were just lives and damage to his ship, maybe. But to everyone else on that ship, it would be a battle with a friendly colony. They’d remember that. Word would get around. I don't think he'd risk that.”

“Do you really think he'd attack you in the first place?" Maro asked. "Why?”

"To get to you if we offer you protection. Which, if you go after the pirates, we would."

Marco blanked for a moment.

"That's suicide."

"Not quite. Believe me, I wouldn't do it if I didn't think it was a good gamble. I can bring in more people onto the island, for one. You are probably underestimating just what kind of people we can draw in with the riches we've accumulated. That spyglass you’re holding? It would buy a house on a lot of islands. And it's nothing compared to our budget."

"You think that would be enough to fight off that ship?" Marco asked. He had seen the fortress twice at this point. Both times, it didn’t seem like there was anything in the world that could possibly stop it.

Kelda wobbled her hand. “There are a lot of considerations here. The point is, and don't be offended, I know my job. You don't. I'm willing to make the bet.”

Marco was glad Kelda was a direct sort of person. If she was any less than that or tried to hide her thoughts at all, he would have long since gotten lost in the details. The simple matter of her betting on him meant he could piggyback off her confidence, so long as he could trust that she was betting on him at all.

“I'll have to talk to the team about it,” Marco said. “They have a say in this too.”

"Good. I wouldn't expect any less. I'll come back in about an hour to see what you come up with."

Marco nodded and went back to the team to update them. Aethe took the telescope from him and played with it as he let them in on the proposal. It wasn't really a lot to go over, and they were able to sweep through the details pretty quickly.

Riv was the first to respond. “I like it. Beats just waiting for Frisk to get lucky and find us out there. Having a home base would be nice."

Elisa nodded along.

“It solves a few problems. We have a way to get stronger and a place to run home to if we get in trouble,” she said. “Plus, this changes our entire situation. We won’t have to keep going from place to place in search of some temporary rest.”

“And you get to see what that temple is about,” Aethe added when she was satisifed with the telescope. “So we don't have to keep wondering about what that temple is. Marco, do you think this plan keeps us alive and keeps you safe?”

“Probably,” Marco said. “Unless we pick the wrong fight with some pirate.”

“Then let’s pick the right ones,” Riv said. “No shame in backing off if it's not going the way we think it should. We might get unlucky, but that's always true.”

Marco leaned back and looked at the three of them. and rapped his knuckles on the table.

"Alright then. I’ll let her know we’re in.”

"And tell her about the temple," Elisa said. "See what she can do to get it uncovered."

"You sure?" Riv put his hand on his borrowed shovel. "I really can dig it out. It will just take time."

“Time we don't have,” Elisa said. "I'll tell the scholars what's going on. They'll get it. We were never going to have real, full ownership of it anyway, even if we wanted to."

Kelda was waiting near the docks for Marco when he got there, leaning on a tree and looking out at the waves. As he drew closer, she bounced her back against the tree to push herself back to her feet and nodded.

"Decided?" she asked.

"Yup."

"Good." She sighed. "I think it will be good for you, for what it's worth. I had to pry it out of Floater, but he said you seemed to get a bit more out of taking out a pirate ship than most might."

"A bit more, yeah. My class likes me taking out strong monsters and other ship captains, I guess."

"Ah," Kelda said with a knowing nod. "Evil class. Good."

Marco nodded for a moment before his brain caught up with what she had said.

"What? I mean... what?"