Warlock Apprentice

After careful consideration, Angor came to the top level of the ship and entered Roman’s room.

He examined the room before when Roman was killed, and he found nothing other than common books used for passing time. It was obvious that Roman had taken away all valuables when escaping.

He came here again because he remembered there was a book about Devil’s Water left behind.

Soon, he found what he was looking for on a black wooden bookshelf, The Sea of Devils.

The book didn’t tell him who wrote it. But the back cover suggested that it was a public edition made by the White Clam Association.

He spent half a day to fully read it, which contained comprehensive intelligence regarding charted areas and routes in Devil’s Water, as well as limited info for the remaining regions such as Gearwheel Grave and Sirensong Sea where ships tended to disappear for no reason.

But the book didn’t mention anything related to what Lucas described.

“Is Lucas an actual liar then? But his ship did end up in Devil’s Water, and it doesn’t look natural…”

With nothing to go by, he called Helen to him.

“Helen, during all the years you spent at Devil’s Water, have you heard of a place full of flowers?”

“Um? Do you mean a flowerbed grown on an island, sir?”

“No, flowers on top of the sea.”

“Flowers on the sea…” Helen muttered. “I don’t think I know anything like that. However, Devil’s Water has many more areas that we’ve yet to explore. Perhaps there is such a wonderful sight somewhere I don’t know.”

“I see…” Angor nodded. “Thank you, you can return to work.”

After Helen left the room, Angor’s lips twitched as he stared at the logbook.

I must be mad, to think that the story was trustworthy…

But instead of burning the book up, he still decided to keep it in his bracelet for now. Even if not to consider Lucas’ stories, the “ghost ship” had many strange elements worth inspecting, which meant the logbook might be useful in the future.

Next, he took out his draft and continued to work on his “flying boots”.

…

After leaving Angor, Helen headed to the dining hall of the ship.

It wasn’t the right time for meals so there were only a few sailors with her. She took her share from the chef, found a random seat, and quickly dived in. Devil’s Water could surprise them with unexpected danger at any second, so there was no time to enjoy meals. Getting the food into her stomach was enough.

Two individuals—Erwin and his lieutenant—suddenly entered the hall and sat across from her.

“Haven’t had yours yet, Cap’t?” Helen asked as she swallowed her last bite. She was a bit confused since she saw Erwin heading here when she went to answer Angor’s call, which meant Erwin should have done eating by now.

“I went to check our water storage. We don’t have rain in this fog, and water is running low. Man… it wouldn’t have been such a big issue if we can find water from Silver Palm.”

The lieutenant chipped in, “We always trusted Mister Roman, and he actually wanted us dead for his own gain? What a loser! It serves him so right to get eaten by a monster.”

“Quiet, Tulu!” Erwin scolded. “Mister Roman might be ill-advised this time, but we can’t deny the fact that he saved The Limpet from danger many times before.”

Lieutenant Tulu was an 18-year-old young man with a keen sense when it came to predicting the weather. Erwin recruited him from a fishing village.

“You’re being way too faithful to him, captain.” Tulu made a duck face. “I mean, everybody on the ship would agree with me, that we’re still breathing all thanks to Mister Padt.”

Helen interrupted their talk before Erwin could say anything further. “He’s right, captain. Roman guarded The Limpet because it was his job in the association. And when he disregarded his job, he almost got us all killed. We have proof of it. We should not deny his crime now.”

Tulu threw his hands in the air and winked at Helen. “Nice one, Officer Helen!”

“Oh, stop it. Kids these days…” Helen complained.

“Alright alright, let’s not argue about that anymore.” Erwin chuckled. “Seriously now, we’ll have a serious problem if we can’t find water or rain soon.”

“Should we talk to Mister Padt?” said Tulu.

“Let’s… try not to bother him unless necessary, he’s not a member of the association after all. He’s not obliged to assist us. Hey, Helen, Mister Padt just called you, so what was that about?”

“He asked me a very weird question and sent me off.”

“A question?” Tulu’s eyes gleamed. “About that ghost ship? Hey hey, tell me!”

“So you can show off your smartass-ness to your buddies?” Helen thought about Angor again, who was of a similar age as Tulu but always displayed a completely different character.

“Yeah, heh heh…” Tulu scratched his head. “Chief Naki also wanted to know more. Well, we both do.”

“No, Mister Padt didn’t mention the ghost ship, it’s something else,” Helen said as she looked at Erwin. “Cap’t, have you heard of a place on the sea that grows flowers? Like, flowers directly on the water?”

“Mister Padt asked you that? And… no, I don’t think I have.”

“Neither have I.” Helen shrugged. “Maybe something to do with other mighty wizards. It’s just right that we don’t know.”

Helen waited for the others to finish their meals, collected their dishes, and walked toward the command room together.

“Tulu, something else on your mind?” Helen asked when she noticed that the boy was looking at the floor.

“I’m thinking about that question earlier…”

“Which question? The flowers on the sea? Wait, don’t tell me you know something?”

“No.” Tulu shook his head. “But there was this story passed around by the fishers in my village…”

…

Angor, who was believed to be a “disciplined gentleman” by Helen, just finished a glass of milk and was fiddling with a quill out of boredom.

When he heard someone knocking on his door, he quickly put away the glass of milk, dropped his quill, and pretended that he was working.

Helen and Tulu entered the room.

“What is it?” Angor feigned a cold look.

“Apologize for the intrusion, Mister Padt. Just now, Tulu told me about a story about flowers. I don’t know if it has something to do with what you asked, but I still brought him here, just in case.”

Angor looked at the young man beside Helen who looked very nervous. “You… knew about this flowerbed?”

Tulu shook his head. “It’s only a rumor told by my grandmother. I’m not sure if it’s what you’re looking for, sir.”

Angor crossed his arms. “Let’s hear it.”

“Um, during my childhood, my granny often told me bedside stories before I slept. But she can’t read well, and she didn’t know many stories. One of them was called ‘Nayah the Charmer’.

“It’s a pretty brief story. That there was this viscountess called Nayah, who came from the Age of Silver. She’s beautiful, she’s kind, and she had a perfect husband who loved her. But her twin sister set up a plot and ruined her face, then sold her to a slave ship. Then that evil sister took on her looks and enjoyed everything she had.

“From that day, Nayah the Charmer became Nayah the Stinky. One day, she couldn’t bear the misfortune anymore and decided to give up her life. Standing on the prow of the ship, she told her sad story to the other slaves. Her tears fell into the ocean and caused flowers to suddenly grow. Then she jumped into the water and disappeared, along with the flowers.”