Chapter 428: Losses
"Sniff!" Dipp sniffled while standing at the helm of the bridge. He threw his head back slightly and sniffled loudly, but he didn't feel much better at all.
The Narwhale's bridge had neither ceiling nor glass windows. Dipp was a Deep Dweller, but even he found it a bit of a struggle to stand at the helm for several hours while being buffeted by the cold sea breeze.
It was so cold that Dipp could barely feel his fingers.
Footsteps echoed just then. Dipp turned and found Bandages walking up to him with the spare nautical chart that he had taken from the Captain's Cabin. The bandages wrapped around Bandages were dyed red.
"How far have we gone?"
"Heading is unchanged; we've traveled exactly sixty nautical miles since then."
Bandages nodded quietly and began comparing the nautical chart in his hands to the simplified nautical chart next to Dipp, cross-referencing the two to find their precise location.
"How's it going down there?" Dipp asked without turning around.
Bandages' hand paused briefly before resuming his etching along the ruler.
"Tommy's right hand couldn't be saved," Bandages replied.
Dipp sighed. The crisis had passed, but the crew members had sustained severe injuries in the process. The sea otters' fangs had torn apart the muscles in Tommy's hand, exposing the bones to the elements.
Even Linda couldn't treat such a heavy injury, and she had no choice but to amputate Tommy's right hand.
"It's fine. The Captain will pay for everyone's prosthetics. I also think that kid Tommy got off lightly. Tommy is going to receive a handsome pay as well," Dipp remarked.
Bandages rarely took the initiative to talk with others, but he broke character and said, "The others are doing fine but Feuerbach is in critical condition. He might not make it."
"What? Why?!" Dipp was stupefied by the news.
"The Captain had cut his belly open a huge chunk of his intestines was pulled out by the sea otters during the fight," Bandages replied.
Dipp sighed and muttered, "Feuerbach he's been through thick and thin, but to think he'd end up stumbling on mere sea otters.
"Of course, it's not like we could have done something about it. Who could have known that we would encounter so many sea otters? If Hope Island's navy had been with us, we wouldn't have had such difficulty dealing with them.
"We could have made quick work of them."
Three decks below the rambling Dipp stood Charles with his arms crossed; he was waiting outside the infirmary.
Soon, the door was pushed open from the inside, and Linda walked out of the infirmary. Charles rushed toward Linda with a solemn expression and asked, "How's our Second Mate?"
"I managed to put his intestines back in, but the delay has allowed bacteria to propagate and invade his blood vessels, which means he's currently recovering from a blood infection.
"In addition to his other injuries, I reckon that his chance of survival is less than forty percent. Once he's on the verge of death, I suggest we gamble on an Origin Essence ritual."
Charles' expression turned grim. He truly didn't expect that he would end up losing crew members on the retreat, even though they had managed to survive an incredibly dangerous ordeal.
And Feuerbach's condition wasn't the only bad news
Charles turned to the paralyzed and nonverbal Tobba. Tobba seemed to have lost his soul upon letting loose that piercing wail.
"Let's talk about Feuerbach's condition later. Go ahead and treat Tobba first," Charles said.
Linda walked over and helped Tobba up. "Captain, I'm sure you know it, but mere medical treatment isn't very useful when it comes to his condition. Regardless, I will try my best."
An audible click echoed as Linda closed the doors to the infirmary.
Charles sat down on a nearby stool and waited for the grim result.
Just then, a fair and soft hand reached out and gave Charles' right hand a gentle squeeze. "This isn't your fault. I just realized the reason that we didn't get attacked by that invisible entity.
"That entity is one of the gatekeepers of the many different perspectives. It's a hound that chases after and hunts down stowaways. The colossal worm and that Tobba we had encountered had left their own perspectives."
Charles turned to Anna next to him and said, "That doesn't make me feel better at all. If your assumption is correct, it means that the Tobba we had encountered will cease to exist while our Tobba here is dead.
Anna rested her head on Charles' shoulder, and her eyes emitted a peculiar light as she recalled everything they had encountered on this voyage.
"There wasn't anything we could have done. Even monsters like us would be in great peril if we had fought that entity, so do you really expect a group of mere humans to remain intact after such an encounter?"
A slightly oppressive atmosphere hung about the corridor, and a deafening silence descended upon Anna and Charles.
Just then, Charles shattered the ice and said, "There's nothing left for you to do here. You should head back first with Sparkle."
"It's fine. I can stay here just a bit longer. I can also help you deal with a sea creature if one were to climb up the deck," Anna replied.
"Just go back. I can easily handle such sea creatures," Charles replied.
Anna looked up, but she didn't say anything upon seeing Charles' determined expression and merely patted his back.
A flash of white light erupted, and Sparkle in a sky-blue dress appeared before the two.
Anna reached out and picked up the little girl. "Sparkle, say goodbye to Daddy."
"Bye, bye, Daddy~" Sparkle said, and the two vanished into thin air.
Left all alone in the dim corridor, Charles stared intently at the infirmary with an indescribable expression that prevented anyone from deducing his thoughts.
Time passed slowly, and the crew's morale recovered as they approached Hope Island. Everyone still couldn't quite get over the deaths of their fellow crew members, but the fact was no longer that painful.
"Ah~" Tobba moved at a tortoise's pace as he shoved an iron spoon containing rye porridge into his mouth. A bib made out of a shirt was wrapped around his neck, and it caught the saliva dripping from the corners of Tobba's lips.
"He's recovering pretty well. At least, he can finally take care of himself," Linda said to Charles as she sat across from Tobba.
Charles waved his hand in front of Tobba's eyes, but the latter ignored him completely and was solely focused on eating.
"That's not good news at all. He doesn't recognize me anymore, and he has become a lunatic, spouting words no one can understand."
"Hadn't he always been a lunatic? What's the difference? I guess the only difference is that his lunacy has gotten severe," Linda replied.
Linda then fell into deep contemplation, but she soon emerged from it and said, "I'm actually not sure whether my treatment is affecting him or his improvement is all by himself. From what you told me, this is really beyond me."
Tobba ate slowly, ignoring the two people sitting next to him. Just then, a brown mouse ran up to Tobba's feet and bit his pant leg. However, the brown mouse didn't get the response it was expecting to receive.
Charles knew that he had to set aside this matter for the meantime. After all, Tobba would still have to retire from the Narwhale, regardless of his outlook.
Staring at his navigator, Charles was reminded of Feuerbach.
"How's Feuerbach doing?"
"The outlook is grim, but his will to survive is tenacious; he's still clinging to life as we speak."
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