“Get the ropes,” Isla said coldly as she stared at the ship. Her mind had already kicked into action to stop it as it was clearly going to pass the port if they didn’t rope it down quickly.
“Huh?”
“I said, get the ropes. The ship won’t stop on its own.” After saying that, she stepped forward leaped in the air, and landed on top of the deck with ease.
“Wha- Hey wait a second, Miss! What do you mean-“
“Just get the ropes! We can talk later!”
The group then scattered to quickly get the ship to stop. They only had a few minutes before the entire thing passed the port and it became impossible to stop it again. Meanwhile, Isla ignored their panicked voices and looked around with a deep, dark frown on her face.
She had already felt it before she even landed on the ship and now she can confirm it with her own eyes.
“No one is on the ship.” She muttered. “At least no one alive is.”
The entire deck was dark and empty with no visible traces of any living human beings around. There were no mana traces or any presence that her aura could detect. Slowly, a coldness filled Isla’s heart.
But, she still inhaled and exhaled before she stepped forward and started exploring the ship’s deck. It didn’t take her long to discover a few key details.
To begin with, the condition of the ship was completely intact. There was no major damage to any part and the wood was still quite resilient. That made Isla even more confused as if something wrong had happened, she expected to notice traces of it.
That’s what brought her to the second detail she noticed and that is the footsteps all around the ship’s deck. With her sharp eyes and keen senses, she could easily map all the footsteps and she realized that all of them with no exception seemed quite normal and slow… There were no footsteps that seemed to be in a hurry or panic indicating a fight or any form of resistance.
Then, the third and final detail and arguably the most chilling one. Isla estimated that the footsteps were a few hours to a day old and there were no fresh footsteps anywhere on the deck.
That meant one of two things…
‘It’s either this ship has some sort of automatic system that controls it or… It had been sailing completely unattended for several hours at least.’ When she thought of that idea, a chilling coldness filled her heart.
“No, no, there is simply no way a ship can sail with no sailor for such a long time. It would’ve eventually crashed into the shores.” She spoke to herself. “There is no way… There is no way it could’ve been moving on its own.”
It was confusing… No, it was terrifying. Isla couldn’t wrap her head around what she was seeing. There were too many inconsistencies in everything that she could not understand what was happening. However, even through all of that, she was only thinking of one thing.
“Where is Arthur?” She muttered. ‘His health bar is intact but… I can’t see him on the map… What happened?’
Putting her finger against her lips, she bit her nail once trying to search for clues. That was when she heard some noise. Looking up, she noticed the last place she didn’t check yet.
*CREAK*
The door to the storage room creaked as it moved with the air current. It was completely dark inside so she couldn’t see much.
“…” The girl kept staring at it for a few seconds. “Could it be?”
A weird suspicion filled her mind as she decided to check that place. Walking slowly, she approached the door.
She then grabbed the door and looked at it. Its condition was also quite good with no clear damage. So, she pushed it to the side and walked inside.
“Fuuuh! We got it! Wrap the ropes around the iron pole and make sure it’s tight!”
“Done!”
“The ship stopped!”
Meanwhile, outside, the mercenaries finally tied the ship to the port and stopped its movement.
“Is Miss still up there?” A mercenary asked as he wiped the sweat off his face.
“Apparently… We need to go check. The others must be on the ship and didn’t hear us!”
With that, the group climbed on top of the deck and looked around. They couldn’t immediately see Isla or anyone else.
“Miss! Where are you?!”
“Look! She’s inside the storage area!” One woman pointed out with her finger. There, inside the storage room, they could see Isla’s silhouette, standing still.
“Miss! Are you ok there?!”
“Hm?”
“Why isn’t she moving?”
“Let’s go check.” Explore hidden tales at My Virtual Library Empire
The group slowly walked to the storage room and peeked inside with their torches. “Man, this place is really da-“
Before they could even take in the scene, their noses picked up a horrible smell that made their expressions change.
“What the hell is that smell?!”
“Blood… It’s… Blood!”
The familiar scent confused a bunch of mercenaries and yet the ones who knew it well immediately recognized it.
“Blood?! Why the hell is there blood in here?!”
That was when their eyes fell on Isla. The girl was standing in the way of their vision so they couldn’t see the full room. So, they stepped forward and peeked over her shoulder. Immediately, they all went completely silent.
There, on the opposite side of the storage room, were the corpses of 5 dead people. Their blood was splashed against the wall and the floor in a hideous manner. Some had their heads decapitated while others had gruesome bloody slashes all over their bodies. They all rested with their backs against the wall in an eerie order.
“No…” One mercenary woman put her shaking hand against her face. “No… NO!!!!”
They all recognized their faces. They were their friends, Deka, Sergi, and the others… All there, and dead.
Nobody could speak, nobody could breathe or exhale. They were all shell-shocked beyond words.
“How… How could this be?”
“Oi, Deka! Wake up! This is a sick joke!!”
Some denied it, while others sobbed silently as they looked down. They couldn’t believe that all their hope and excitement disappeared so quickly. Meanwhile, the only silent one was Isla.
She stared at the bloody crime scene with a cold, terrifying face. No emotion could be seen in those beautiful eyes. Just endless apathy.
Her eyes examined the group, one by one. She saw the injuries that killed them and they all shared one single detail.
‘They’re all… killed by a sharp weapon… Likely a sword.’ She noted in her head. “A sword? How could that be?”
Stepping forward, she crouched near one of the corpses and touched them. Their skin was still rather pale and their muscles weren’t fully stiffened yet which meant that they didn’t die that long ago.
‘A few hours at most. The blood is also still somewhat wet…. Hm?’
As she was examining the corpse, Isla noticed another detail that was hidden from her eyes this entire time. One of the corpses, the one that belonged to the mercenary named Deka had a peculiar detail.
Her right index finger was dipped in blood and rested on the floor next to her. Isla followed the finger and she saw written letters there, in a gruesome, messy manner. However, a single peek allowed her to read them clearly.
‘Arthur… Killed… Us…’
A//N: Thank you all for the gifts, golden tickets, and PS. Let’s keep it up!