Chapter 317. Lucky
A little boy carefully ran over to Laesto, interrupting his train of thought. The child was holding two grilled squid skewers, one in each hand.
The little boy's dark brown hair looked like a pot lid covering his head. "Mister, are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?"
Laesto's lips parted to a terrifying smile. He shook his head gently and said, "No need. You can go ahead and eat it."
The little boy smiled shyly as he held out the snack in his hand. "If you're hungry, you can have this. I know what it feels like to be hungry, and don't worry about me; Mom has prepared dinner for us at home."
Laesto was about to say something when he caught sight of the faint scars on the back of the little boy's hand. He felt inexplicably angry, and he asked, "What happened to your hand? Who did that?"
The little boy retracted his hand. He smiled shyly and explained, "This is from an accident while I was helping Mom weave fishing nets. It's been a long time, and I haven't done anything of that sort for a while now."
Laesto's fury was assuaged by the explanation. So, he's from a poor family.
"It's all in the past. Now, I get to eat my fill every day and learn a lot of things at school. I really feel like my luck has turned for the better," the little boy said.
Just then, a little girl approached them and grabbed the little boy's hand.
"Goodbye, mister. I'm going home with my sister," the little boy said. He gave a skewer of grilled squid to his sister, and the two headed home while holding each other's hand.
Laesto stared at the siblings with a hint of envy in his eyes. It was an emotion that he hadn't felt for quite a while now, and he couldn't help but wonder how nice it would be to become a child again and attend school with them.
All of a sudden, a bald woman with a triangular tattoo on her forehead brushed past the siblings.
Laesto's smile vanished upon seeing her.
"You're back? Did anyone die?" Laesto asked the bald woman.
"Teacher, there's a bit of a problem with the Captain's mental state. His symptoms are a bit similar to the Soul-burning Disease rampant in the Southern Seas."
"Hmph. That brat always knows how to make others worry for him. Wheel me over to take a look," Laesto said. He sounded like he was chiding Charles, but the news seemed to have invigorated him.
Laesto soon arrived at the underground prison of the Governor's Mansion, and he finally learned what had transpired in the recent voyage from Charles, who was in shackles.
"How's Bandages? Is he not exhibiting the same symptoms as yours? Where is he?"
"He's perfectly fine. He's not suffering any side effects. As soon as we docked the Narwhale, he got on a passenger ship heading for the Divinity's Land in the Southern Seas. He's headed there to lift the Divinity's Curse on him."
Laesto frowned upon seeing the dark red spots all over Charles. He skimmed through the documents in the latter's hand and started talking, "I don't think this is the Soul-burning Disease. Your symptoms are similar to the plague that wreaked havoc on the Western Seas many years ago."
"What? Plague?!" Charles went pale in fright.
"Don't panic, it's just similar. Unfortunately, there aren't that many medical records about that plague. Anyway, lend me a few death row prisoners. I need to research these things," Laesto said. He then turned around to leave with the documents in his hand.
"Those documents are extremely important for Hope Island. Remember not to divulge anything to someone else."
"Hmph. I'm three times your age. Do I look like you have to tell me what to do?"
In the days following, Charles felt quite comfortable with his life in a cell. He didn't dislike it as much as he initially thought. Of course, he had probably acclimatized faster than he thought because of his years of experience with isolation at sea.
Aside from painting portraits of his family members every day, all he did was rest.
Before long, Charles was surprised to find that his condition was improving. He felt like he was gradually adapting to his circumstances, and his illness didn't seem to be as difficult to manage as he thought.
Laesto also produced results faster than he thought.
A month later, in the late afternoon, Laesto came wheeling over holding a vial of medicine. Charles seemed repulsed by the black bubbles rising and popping inside the vial, but he remained steadfast and drank it in one go.
An extremely pungent metallic taste exploded in his mouth. Charles felt like he had consumed a lump of iron. The medicine tasted awful, but its effect was immediate.
The dark red spots all over Charles rapidly vanished, and his skin regained its true color.
"Give me the keys, Linda."
The keys floated over and were swiftly inserted into the keyholes.
Charles was finally free.
"Have you figured out what the root cause of the red spots was?" Charles asked.
"It's not exactly an illness... it's more like mental pollution. I don't think there's anything wrong with your method. I suspect that there was something wrong with the relics you used, and you absorbed that flaw in them at the same time. I saw something pretty similar when I was young.
"Anyway, you and Bandages were pretty lucky."
Charles was taken aback. "Lucky? What do you mean?"
"Come with me. I'll show you something," Laesto said as Linda wheeled him out.
They soon arrived at the gates of Hope Island's prison. Hope Island's population was increasing every day, but this part of the island remained desolate and deserted. It wasn't strange, as everyone knew that this part of the island housed criminals toiling away and doing manual labor to atone for their crimes.
They entered the prison while walking next to each other, and one of the guards shuddered upon seeing Charles' face. He quickly composed himself and saluted.
The underground prison had an extremely gloomy and cold air, but the group remained undeterred as they continued on their journey to its depths.
"Are the prosthetic makers still around? I need to replace my prosthetic. I had to sacrifice my left arm during the previous fight," Charles said.
Laesto glanced at Charles' empty left sleeve and said, "You probably have to wait for a while. Their boss was living on the Albion Isles, and he is dead. Their representatives across the major islands are in disarray, and none of them is accepting commissions at the moment."
Charles sighed. He felt uncomfortable having only one limb.
The group continued on their journey while talking about a variety of topics. Soon, they arrived before a row of cells made out of steel plates.
Charles was shocked upon peeking into one of the cells. There was a deformed monster covered in black fur rolling around the cell in its excretion. It seemed incapable of getting exhausted, but it couldn't stand up as its limbs had fused with its skull.
"W-what is that thing?" Charles asked.
"What else? We've used your method, and that thing is one of the results."
"Did every test subject end up like this?"
"Not exactly. Out of the thirty-two death row prisoners, only six of them had successfully obtained extraordinary abilities. Two died in the middle of further experimentation of the medicine, so there are only four of them left. James had these cells custom-made for the sake of containing them."
"How come the success rate is so low?"
"That's exactly why I said that you and Bandages were pretty lucky."
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