“Well, once you hit cap, you only have twenty-four hours to reach the mainland, or you’ll be ported to a fishing town and kept there until you board a boat to leave,” Lucas said, thinking about the rules. He looked over at Liu and asked, “We’re going to have to leave, aren’t we?”

“You could get a new crew,” Viola suggested. “I mean, you’ll have to replace me soon, too, but it makes sense. You’ll have no problem finding a new princess with those roguish good looks of yours and those beautiful hand-tailored outfits Bonnie made you.”

“Feels kinda wrong if the boss is using my gear to pick up other chicks for some reason,” Bonnie muttered with a frown.

“Either way, you should have it easy, Mr. Villain. You’re the greatest. People will be lining up to help you in your world conquest,” Viola asserted.

“You really like to suck up to the boss, don’t you?” Bonnie coldly snapped at Viola. Lucas didn’t know when the two had started their occasional bickering, but he knew one thing for sure: Viola was oblivious to Bonnie’s attempts to upset her.

“I do,” she replied with an ear-to-ear grin on her face. Then, in her theatrical manner, she added, “When he speaks, his divine voice makes heaven drowsy with its harmony.”

“Ms. Viola’s words are always so pretty,” the maid said from where she stood at the door. “It’s always a pleasure to hear such beautiful thoughts.”

“I prefer the sound of jingling coins,” Bonnie said.

“Nnn,” Katie agreed.

“Well, should we start recruiting new people?” Liu asked Lucas.

“Maybe. Or . . .” He tried to remember the few details he had picked up about what was happening in the mainland storyline. “Well, hmm . . .” He was stumped, not knowing the history. “Liu, what’s the Imperium like on the mainland?”

“On the mainland? It’s almost non-existent, at least territorially. Hesse is a big colony of a very tiny country. We have the capital, which is impressive, but for the most part, the Imperium is supposed to be just one of the noob island quest chains. It’s not really large on the mainland at all. Why?” Liu asked.

“Because I was thinking that perhaps we should fix that. The Imperium has served us well: we’ve consolidated our base already on the island.” Lucas though back to the very short amount of time, only a couple days, that it had taken to force every other noble and non-Human town to capitulate to his demands. Even the terms of surrender were better than they could have asked for even in regular negotiations. “I think it’s about time we go see if we can be the big fish in the big pond.”