Chapter 357. A Visit
Weister struggled to find words to respond to his mother. His eyes darted around until his gaze landed on the Narwhale's Cook, Planck, waving at him from afar. Weister sighed in relief and said, "Mother, my friend is calling me, so I'll..."
"Go ahead, you're an adult, so it's great that you have a circle of friends. Just remember to come back home early," Elena said.
"Okay! I'll definitely be back by ten tonight!" Weister replied and ran toward Planck.
"Thanks for bailing me out, Planck," Weister said.
"Bail you out? I'm here to tell you that the guys are drinking at Anchor Bar; wanna go with me there?" Planck asked.
"Of course, I'll go," Weister replied almost immediately.
Weister followed Planck to the bustling Anchor Bar, and he soon found himself sitting on a wooden stool with ice-cold beer going down his throat. He let out a groan of satisfaction, feeling extremely comfortable.
The old and new crew of Narwhale sat alongside Weister and Planck before the round wooden table.
The sailor named Buck sitting next to Weister leaned closer to the wooden table and said in a low voice, "Have you guys heard of it yet?"
"Heard of what? The news about how the Captain is blind?"
"Is that even considered news? I'm talking about how the Second Engineer will replace our late Chief Engineer. The Second Engineer's promotion means that there's going to be a vacancy in the engine room team.
"I overheard the First Mate and the Second Mate, and they said that they're planning on picking someone from among us to join the turbine room team!"
"Is that so? I think the Captain will just recruit a newcomer outside," Weister said.
"The turbine room is the heart of an entire ship, so the Captain will definitely promote from the inside first rather than hire from outside. If the Captain opens up the recruitment once more, I'm sure it's only for the O.S. and A.B. positions.
"Anyway, I don't think I've told you yet, but the salary of the turbine room team is twice our salary!" Bucker exclaimed.
Weister could no longer remain indifferent. His eyes lit up, but at the same time, he couldn't help but admit that technical jobs were truly different from jobs that mostly required nothing but hard, manual labor.
Another sailor slapped the table and belched before saying, "Don't even think about it! I'm convinced our ship is about to retire, and it's all because of what the Captain said. He has already discovered the exit to the Land of Light."
"Do you really believe that there's another Land of Light out there?" A bearded sailor retorted. "Well, good for you, but I don't believe it. After four voyages at most, I'm going to retire. I'll use my savings to buy two apartments; I'll live in one and rent the other out.
"I'm planning on enjoying a peaceful life," the bearded sailor said. He raised his mug and took a swig of his liquor.
Weister's thoughts started wandering, and he mused out loud, "Haaa, what do you guys think? Had Captain not lied to us when he told us about that? Does that place really exist?
"He talked about an island bigger than the ocean itself. Wouldn't that mean that the people living deep inland might never get to eat fish in their entire life?"
"When Lily was playing with that black mirror-like thingy, I secretly peeked at it and saw the Land of Light that the Captain had told us about. Those pictures looked real, and the Captain isn't really the type to mindlessly brag.
"And didn't the Captain say it himself? That he's from the Land of Light?"
"If I were the Captain, I wouldn't even bother going out to sea. Is there even a better life than the life of a Governor?"
Time passed slowly amidst the idle chatter of the crew. The holes in the canopy that were being used to illuminate the greenhouses were blocked, allowing night to descend on Hope Island.
Charles was sleeping in his bed inside the Governor's Mansion when his eyes shot wide open. His sixth sense was tingling; something was watching him. The gaze was getting closer and closer.
Charles' muscles contracted fiercely before letting loose, allowing him to rush toward his prey in the blink of an eye akin to a leopard.
Shwik!
The Dark Blade pierced the other party, while Charles' tentacles instantly bound the other party. Charles didn't dare to let his guard down, but he realized that something was off the moment his tentacles wrapped around the other party.
The other party was very petite with a height of a three-year-old child.
Regardless, Charles did not dare to let his guard down. There was no way a three-year-old child could get past the heavy security of the Governor's Mansion and reach his bedroom undetected.
Charles' face distorted fiercely as he pushed the Dark Blade another inch into the intruder's body and screamed, "Speak! Who are you?! Who sent you here?!"
"Sp-sparkle..." A young girl's voice echoed in response to Charles' roar.
Charles reached out a trembling hand toward the little girl's head.
"Sparkle? Is it really you, Sparkle? Why do you look like this?" Charles asked.
"Of course, she's Sparkle. She's my daughter, so changing forms is as easy as breathing for her. I had her transform into this form. What do you think? Our daughter looks pretty cute, right? Ah, I forgot that you went blind."
Charles turned to the voice and shouted with apparent anxiety, "So you're here?! Why did you not say anything? I ended up hurting Sparkle!"
"Relax, scumbag. Your tiny broken dagger can't possibly harm our daughter. As I told you, she's pretty strong," Anna said and walked up to Sparkle. She pulled out the dagger sticking out of Sparkle and shoved it back into Charles' hand.
Charles patted the wound on Sparkle's abdomen and let out a huge sigh of relief upon realizing that the wound had disappeared in an instant. Charles then started stroking Sparkle's head with one hand and turned to the side before asking, "Why are you here?"
"You went blind, and you're asking me why I'm here? I really don't know what to say," Anna said, sounding displeased and annoyed.
Anna had always been like that, so Charles didn't mind her tone of voice at all. In fact, he was eager to share with her the fruits of his adventures. He grabbed his coat nearby and took out the nautical chart from one of the coat's pockets.
"Look!" Charles said excitedly, "I found the exit to the surface world!"
A soft and slender arm reached out from behind Charles and gently pinched the piece of paper.
"Are you sure it won't be similar to the rift above us? It's not another fake, is it?" Anna said, sounding doubtful.
"No, there's an extremely high chance that the exit to the surface world is here. It also makes sense that the Foundation has passageways like this that are connected to the surface," Charles replied.
Anna regarded the man before her with a complicated gaze before patting his shoulder. "Call me once you're about to go up. I'll go up with you."
"Of course, you'll go up with me. We used to live there, after all!" Charles replied. His excitement had seeped out of his voice and had suffused his face into a thrilled grin.
Anna kneaded her temples; she sounded helpless as she said, "I'm just worried that you might go crazy again if the surface isn't what you expect it to be."
Charles' grin froze and eventually faded away. He stroked his daughter's head gently and muttered, "Never—it's never going to happen again. I'm not going to go crazy even if the surface world is no more.
"If that were the case, I'd just go back to Hope Island and enjoy my days here as a Governor with you and Sparkle. There'd be no more running around."
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