On the sea, the black ship surged forward with the wind, causing unstoppable tossing and turning that tormented the young boys in the same room.
“Ugh!”
“Ugh!”
Two noble youths, Finkel and Glen, were seasick, one vomiting followed by the other, creating a chaotic mess that filled the room with a strange stench, affecting everyone else inside.
This was unexpected for everyone, since they were from around Flying Fish Port, raised by the sea, and all were trained as knight’s pages from a young age. Yet, some were getting seasick.
As a girl, Charlene couldn’t stand the smell and suggested, “Why don’t you go outside and vomit, directly into the sea would be good.”
Both shook their heads. Out here was the wide sea, and if a sea beast appeared, their heads would be gone.
Charlene turned to Laurie, “Laurie, go and get someone to clean up, those should be the ship’s attendants.”
Laurie replied, “Won’t go, you give out some silver coins and let the commoners go.”
Commoners like Thomson and Feyen weren’t fools to listen to orders for mere silver coins, and Ivan wouldn’t run errands for others either, so the matter was dropped.
Now, Ivan felt fortunate to have chosen a spot by the door. The door had a crack, so the air wasn’t as foul.
“Why did you come here?”
“If you can come, why can’t I?”
Seeing Justine speak rather bluntly, Ivan couldn’t be bothered to engage further, though he inwardly grumbled about her unreasonable temper despite her being the one sticking around.
Both had taken off their boots and sat at one corner of the bed, just like everyone else, gathering in small groups, excluding the two who clung to the table, vomiting.
After a while, Justine initiated a conversation, “Do you know why I want to become a pharmacist?” She leaned in closer and lowered her voice.
Ivan had no idea about her motives and gestured with his eyes for her to continue.
“Because I have a sick mother.” Read new adventures at мѵʟ
“Then you could seek someone to cure her.”
“I tried, it’s a strange disease. Only Old Orio’s potion can relieve the symptoms, no other pharmacist has a solution, so I wonder if sorcerers have a way out.”
Ivan looked at her skeptically, knowing Justine wasn’t a person without scheming; she had a suspicion of exploiting Old Orio’s sympathy before.
Justine noticed his odd look and was infuriated, glared at him, “What’s with that look, huh! You really lack compassion, I’m done talking with you.”
“No, I didn’t say anything.”
“But you thought it.”
Ivan realized arguing with a woman was futile, knowing the saying ‘judge by action, not by thoughts’.
At lunchtime, attendants came to deliver meals and clean the room, informing them of some guidelines about where they could and couldn’t go on the ship, which eased everyone’s worries a bit.
After dinner, the ship suddenly swayed sharply, causing the boys sitting against the wall to lose their balance, with one hurtling across to crash into a table on the opposite side and others rolling on top of bedding, creating a total mess in the room.
Ivan was quick to react, grabbing a wooden beam on the wall and kicking against the opposite side to stabilize himself.
Justine was also quick, grabbing his arm in panic and not letting go.
The ship shook again, tilting from left high to right low, the opposite of before.
Another sway, left low to right high, with even more amplitude than before.
Ivan noticed seawater seeping through the door crack and couldn’t help but think, it must be a sea beast attacking the ship.
He had guessed right, the ship indeed experienced some trouble.
“Awoooo.”
On the ocean, a giant turtle displayed its fierce side, slapping two troublesome sharks away with a claw on each side.
The giant turtle surged forward and bit the intruders to shreds with its sharp teeth.
“Jo, don’t linger.”
At the sound of the little green winged snake, the giant turtle continued on its way.
The black ship returned to calm, and for most people in the room, it was just a scare.
Ivan looked speechlessly at Justine, who was holding his arm and stepping on his foot, treating him completely like a handrail.
“Let go.”
“Hmph! As if I wanted to hold it.”
Justine quickly let go, sat up against the wall, and turned her head away, her lips unsparing but her ears somewhat red.
Inside the room, Finkel and Glen finally adjusted to their surroundings, but then their throats churned again, and they hurriedly ran to support themselves against the long table, met with disdain from everyone else.
The night gradually deepened.
The sea was calm, and after the day’s commotion, everyone slept especially well, including Ivan.
At one moment, Ivan suddenly opened his eyes, the room pitch black.
Someone was actually stealing things; had his ears not been so keen, he wouldn’t have noticed at all.
To steal from anyone, and to choose me, truly blind!
He lay there and casually reached out, indeed grabbing an arm, his hand touching the other’s skin, feeling oddly smooth.
“Get down.”
Ivan gripped the arm tightly, his foot kicking out hard from under the covers.
However, he kicked at nothing; his aimed kick hit empty air, as if there was no one there, no sound of dodging either.
The arm took the opportunity to slip away from his clamp.
Ivan swiftly sat up, and the door opened a larger crack, moonlight streaming in, a white figure slipping out through the gap.
What he clearly saw was not any person, but a lone severed arm.
It was severed from the shoulder, with both the palm and arm complete, and the arm seemed to bear some sort of blue pattern, but the moonlight was too dim to see clearly.
He patted his face to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating, his scalp tingling and sweat forming on his back.
“Right, the thief.”
Ivan remembered he had been catching a thief; he searched all his pockets, and sure enough, something was missing. If he remembered correctly, all of his Ocean Blue Potions had been stolen, and no other potions had been touched.
He instantly felt very uneasy.
The six Ocean Blue Potions were worth one hundred and eighty Gold Coins, the most valuable items he had, prepared to be used as money, but now they had been stolen all at once.
Shameless dog thief!
He muttered resentfully in his heart, hoping it was not someone’s spell, otherwise this incident won’t be over easily.
A night without words.
The next day, Justine noticed that Ivan had been sulking.
“Hey, I didn’t do anything last night, did I?”
Looking at the girl who asked in a soft voice, Ivan was baffled but honestly replied, “No, you slept soundly.”
Justine breathed a sigh of relief, realizing it wasn’t because of her. Could he be sad about leaving home?
The black ship continued sailing under the bright sun.
At noon, the black ship passed through a thick fog, and suddenly an island appeared ahead.
The man in the gray robe and the little green winged snake occupied the prow, and all others were called to the deck because they had reached their destination.
Among another group of people, Rosyth looked exhausted. They needed to work in the lower deck, and after a day and a half of labor, they were sore and filthy. Seeing the pristine Ivan, he felt deeply disgruntled.
‘This can’t go on, I have to try hard, I want to get ahead.’
He constantly thought about the previous day’s events, the magic pet had called out Ivan’s name, but it was actually his own name; clearly, Ivan had given his name to the magic pet, wanting him to take the blame, a deceitful betrayal without a doubt.
He also remembered another thing, how Ivan used to frequent a certain clinic. After being defeated, he paid attention to Ivan’s movements and found that the man still visited that clinic just as before.
Ivan’s association with that clinic was definitely not normal.
Linking it to a recent news at Flying Fish Port, a sorcerer had killed a fugitive, who was the lame Pharmacist of that clinic.
He had discovered a major secret.
At that moment, the black ship slowed down and gently approached the shore.
Rosyth finally made up his mind, stepping forward through the crowd, “My lord, I have something important to report.”