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Even on the southern sea, where warm current flows, it could be quite cold after the sun had set. The midnight hours, as it was now, weren’t an exception. Sailors were fearful of the darkness when the benevolent heart would be unable to care for them, as the mother of all things slept during the night. Southerners travelled the sea long before the empire did, so their superstition was far more severe than that of the mainland. Even now, the red-eyed duty worker is probably keeping an eye on deck.

Lil huddled under the blanket, feeling the chill of dusk. On land, they would create heat by starting a fire, but on a ship, that’s equivalent to suicide. But it was nothing new.

‘I can’t sleep. This has been going on for a day or two.’

Lil opened her eyes. The captain’s room was dark, except for the space near the windows. Her sight captured the invisible, creaking darkness. After her eyes became accustomed to the dark, Lil squinted to find the outline of her desk. Slowly, blurred borders differentiated from the black background. Lil waited patiently. The view of the cabin was finally completed when the grey lines of the captain’s seat and wardrobe were visible.

‘I don’t know how much time has passed.’

Her ears picked up some ambient noise.

•  Slap –

•  Shoot Clap Shoot –

Foaming seawater hit the Bell Rock. The white foam rose and fell against the surface of the ship. The hull swayed slightly. However, she had been on board for quite some time, so she didn’t feel her body moving up and down unless she was conscious of it. The hull moved with the waves, which shook, swayed, and rattled. Because of that, decorations hanging somewhere made a distinct sound. Her sensitive ears twitched in response to the sharp noise.

Suddenly, all of her senses were directed to the captain’s room’s entrance, Lil remained motionless. 

‘Cesar has been standing outside the door for a while now. I know why he isn’t coming in. It’s because he’s afraid he’d wake me up. But he’s always…’

There was a gentle voice.

“Are you asleep?”

Lil wondered whether to answer or not.

“No.”

The door opened and Cesar walked to the front of the bed. As she was extremely sensitive these days, he’s been coming to the captain’s room to comfort her. Lil squirmed around the bed, making room for Cesar. When he sat down, he removed her necklace first.

“You don’t seem to be getting much sleep these days.”

“I know.”

Her blurred eyes stayed on the red necklace held by Cesar before turning to him. As he leaned forward and kissed her forehead, Lil was blinded by his shadow. When his arms approached her, the smell of his clean clothes drifted out. Cesar then hugged her and laid down, his legs still dangling off the edge of the bed.

“You don’t have to worry so much. The Admiral is more likely to be occupied with something else than thinking about wiping out the League.” 

“What if you’re wrong and he does attack the League? I like to be prepared for the worst.”

“When he dismantled the Anatole Sea pirates, he wasn’t particularly interested in the pirates themselves; he was only concerned with bringing back artefacts.”

“Just because the Admiral is a geek doesn’t mean his subordinates are too, right? They could be faithful to their mission.”

“There’s nothing on the Bell Rock that would attract his attention. At the very least we won’t be his first target…”

Because Cesar’s voice faltered, Lil spoke up.

“It’s not like there’s a Captain who owns rare animals, and people from the South aren’t from a unique race. Even less the art that he admires.”

“Right, it’s very likely that you won’t be targeted in the first place.”

“And there’s the problem with that guy.”

“I’ll watch him so he doesn’t do anything stupid.”

“Okay.”

Her eyelids became heavier. A brief moment of silence followed. Cesar’s breath touched her cheek. Lil leaned back on his shoulder, attempting to lull herself to sleep. She wasn’t sleepy at all, but it didn’t matter. She only needed to make Cesar believe that she wishes to sleep. The day was over and she didn’t want to go through that suffering right now. 

But Cesar moved closer, hugging her with her back to him. Lil felt helpless at the sensation of his faint breath.

Her shoulders reacted on their own, flinching when Cesar’s lips touched her nape. His tongue left a wet trail when he licked her auricle. At the same time, his hand slipped up her stomach and grabbed her chest. 

Lil, who was holding her breath, carefully lifted his hand.

“…I feel tired…”

Cesar rested his forehead on the back of her neck. Lil, feeling a bit sorry for him, turned towards him and eventually went to sleep.

***

A voice overshadowed by evil, screamed.

“Don’t come!”

A woman with untied dark hair dashed down the corridor. The sound of her feet slamming on the marble was deafening. Her broken toes and flesh bounced with every step. The woman slipped on her own blood and fell to the floor. She didn’t notice that her brow had ripped and started bleeding, as she was already covered in blood.

With terrified eyes, she looked back and saw the dark and promiscuous void getting closer and closer. She crawled desperately. It wasn’t easy, as one of her elbows was missing. Her nails scratched on the smooth marble when she put strength in her fingers. Regardless, she moved her limbs and finally reached a pillar and crouched behind it. As she tensed her body, her arm and legs were deformedly bent and folded.

She trembled, while her chapped lips mumbled an unfamiliar sound.

“…Ha, ha, don’t! You have to give it to me and I’ll give it to you again! No, I’ll pretend I gave it to you… I have nothing to give… But pretending that you did, when you have nothing, is to owe a debt to the devil…”

The woman opened her eyes again and checked her surroundings, afraid that someone might have heard her.

“Lord, I borrowed it from the god of death!”

The woman felt the thrill of finally revealing her darkest secrets.

“The god of death said, ‘Ah, my regular customer is here. Give me your arm today.’ So, I took off my arm and gave it to him. Then the god of death said, ‘Oh, this is too much. Just leave your elbow and take the rest back.’ I greedily took the part of the arm he threw. Then the god of death spoke again, ‘What are you going to give me next time? I’m hoping it’s one of your knees or maybe your toes.’ Ha…haha…HAHAHA…”

She smiled like a child whispering an intriguing story, not long after she felt a cold presence and immediately stopped laughing. The woman knew something was wrong and listened intently. 

‘Do I still have ears?’ she pondered, using her fingertips to inspect her earlobe.

Suddenly, a large hand emerged from the darkness.

The woman’s scream was reflexively torn.

“Kyaaaaah!”

The hand held something covered in blood. Seeing this, the woman wanted to shout, but her mouth was bubbling with an iron-tasting liquid.

“Stop!”

Lil opened her eyes when she felt a cold gaze on her. It was a piercing stare as if it had split her head in half and was drawn in. She exhaled heavily and turned to face Cesar. 

‘Did Cesar stare at me?’

Cesar, who had slept peacefully, opened his eyes and closed them again. As he exhaled, a rough voice emerged. 

“Why… did you wake up…”

Her fear-fed eyes carefully observed his peaceful face. The shock, however, didn’t go away. Lil squeezed her eyes shut.

‘It was real…’

With quivering fingers, she massaged her hurting throat, feeling rough as if she had been shouting.

*** 

Ed looked around the sailors gathering in front of his cabin. The trusting and envious gazes were all directed at him. He carefully moistened his lips.

“What do you want to know?”

“Didn’t you say you cured the Count?”

“…Ah, yeah. His thing!..”

“Where did you hear that?”

“…It didn’t jump up anymore, did it? Huh? How did you do that?..”

At the same time, they were huddling more closely. Ed shook his arms as if he were getting rid of something bothersome.

“It’s just as when you get sick, it doesn’t matter to you guys.”

“No way! You treated that kind of disease?”

“… John! Come here, watch! What did I say? A very honourable man boarded the ship!…”

“… Everyone back down! If any of us needs to get the drug first, it has to be John!…”

“… John! John!…” they cried in unison, the momentum was like a voice in triumph. One sailor came to Ed and whispered solemnly.

“You see what happened was, John lost his pair during a battle last year.”

The sailor sadly nodded his head, patted Ed on the shoulder, and walked away. Meanwhile, Ed pictured an uprising if he declared that a cure for that was non-existent ********.

“… John! John! John! John!…”

“No, wait. That’s not…”

He tried waving his hand and getting back into the cabin, but it was all in vain. Ed was dragged into the centre of the cabin deck, which was used as a square. 

‘Where the hell did they hear about this?’

The place was already full of sailors with high expectations.

“Ed! Hey there!”

“Oh. The doctor has come!”

Everyone joyfully waved their hands. Ed tried hard to mask his glum expression as they spoke to him. 

He could count the times he had done something he had really regretted on one hand. 

‘But this is definitely one of them.’

 Every day, the crew of the Bell Rock annoyed him. 

‘They dared to touch my Surihe¹. And now they’re even consulting me about some incurable illness.’

He had already wondered how far it would go, but it ended up like this. 

‘A medicine that can trigger an erection? Fine!’

Ed grounded his teeth and carefully thought about the worst seafood he had ever heard of. 

He has always been very picky. Unless it was a situation such as being in the middle of a jungle, there was a clear distinction between what would and wouldn’t enter his mouth. Even if a hearty dinner was in front of him, the food that was placed on his plate was fixed. He didn’t eat or look at anything else. When he was told to consider other foods, he ignored them. He even felt irritated when he was advised to eat something else. 

‘How can I combine them so that it feels like they’re swallowing hellfire and make it burn in their stomach?’

As Ed was thinking it over, Alain suddenly came down from the upper deck as his saviour.

1. Guitar-like Instrument.