Under the same stretch of night sky, just as the Wanderers returned and set foot on their homeland, a special fleet was riding the waves of the Misty Sea toward Chardo Port.
The fleet consisted of seven ships, three large and four small, all flying the same flag.
It bore a blood-red skull and scimitar, along with a bat-shaped emblem marking it as the battle standard of a vampire clan. Considering that only one vampire clan on the continent could make a living in the Misty Sea these days, this could only be the infamous Bloodfear Pirates.
The lead ship at the front of the fleet was the Marauder.
It was the flagship of the Bloodfear Pirates and the beloved vessel of Duke Bloodfear, Babro. Its hull was entirely black, which had earned it the name "Black Ship."
For more than a hundred years, the ship had been a symbol of ill omen and disaster on the Misty Sea. Merchants trembled whenever it appeared in their waters. Its most infamous exploit had taken place nearly a century ago. After the pirates raided the border of the elven kingdom, the sea elves dispatched their entire Amastacia Fleet to hunt them down.
It was said that the great hunt across the Misty Sea had also received assistance from the Great Reef Province of the Atlantean merfolk. The storm-commanding elven fleet broke up many pirate bands, but all four attempts to surround the Marauder failed. The Castian elves had spent three whole months on the effort, only to watch Babro and his flagship vanish into the depths of the Misty Sea, laden with elven treasures.
It was the most shameful defeat in the history of the Amastacia Fleet, which had ranked among the continent's finest since its founding. It had also forged the