Chapter 337: Arrival |
Captain Harry shook his head repeatedly. “My lord, the Land Drifters don’t let us sell their merchandise. They don’t sell their goods to ordinary people.”
He pointed at the doll’s neck. “Look at the joint technique here—it’s actually an exclusive invention of the Byton Academy. All the detachable joints are cleverly concealed. When you walk down the street holding her hand, no one would suspect she’s a doll.”
“What functions does she have?”
Captain Harry immediately showed a knowing expression that all men understood, waggling his eyebrows at Saul. “Of course, she’s there to serve your every need.”
A vein throbbed on Saul’s forehead. “I don’t need that.”
If he really wanted that, wouldn’t a living person be better? As a Third Rank apprentice of the Wizard Tower, if he so much as desired a princess, someone would bring her to him.
But Captain Harry didn’t catch his meaning. He leaned closer and lowered his voice, saying, “If you prefer, we also have dolls of other genders and races.”
“They might not be as autonomous as the ones from the Land Drifters, but they’re obedient!”
Saul was not the least bit tempted and refused the offer.
A silver butterfly flitted into Saul’s vision.
“Brother Saul, why didn’t you buy that doll just now? Didn’t like it? Oh~ I get it, you like girls like Keli, Angela, and Penny, don’t you?”
In the hallway outside the captain’s quarters, Saul occasionally passed smiling crewmembers and well-dressed travelers, but all of them gave him a wide berth—clearly frightened by his pale gray-white skin.
He pulled up his wide hood to cover half of his face.
Only when he was alone did Saul lower his voice to respond to Penny, “That’s right, I like little girls the most. Penny, when you grow up, let Brother Saul eat you, okay?”
The little butterfly instantly went quiet. She had a hunch that “eat” here… was probably meant literally.
After shopping, Saul didn’t return to the deck but instead went back to the luxurious cabin that had been specially vacated for him.
One of the crewmembers who bumped into him had told him that the airship would begin its descent in two hours, and advised him to prepare.
Of course, the crewmember had been visibly terrified while speaking, like Saul might dismember him at any moment.
Back in his cabin, Saul removed the flesh-toned glove from his left hand, revealing a translucent palm.
The glove was originally black, enchanted so others wouldn’t notice he was wearing it.
Its true purpose was to conceal the anomaly on Saul’s left palm.
On the skin of his palm, a micro-scale magic formation was etched using golden potion.
It was a modified version of the formation he had once carved into his bones.
This formation could slow the dissipation of soul energy, and since Saul’s hands could store soul bodies, with Penny the Nightmare Butterfly’s help, he had reentered the mental realm and brought Herman’s soul out again.
Originally, Herman’s soul should have needed more time to recover from the previous incident. Other people had offered to be the master’s test subject, but Herman insisted he already had experience and knew how to minimize the risk, so he volunteered to continue.
After some consideration, Saul agreed.
To retrieve Herman, Saul returned to the lakeside cabin. With Penny’s help in stabilizing his mental fluctuations, he successfully entered the mental realm again and stored the now-recovered Herman, aided by the diary, into his left hand.
He also re-checked the hidden room in the lakeside cabin. There were no signs of anyone else having disturbed it. The clone of Little Algae left behind had also reported no suspicious people approaching.
Or rather, no living person had come close at all.
Saul suspected the cabin had been abandoned by its former master, though he didn’t understand why the unknown former owner hadn’t destroyed the formation inside the hidden room before leaving.
He instructed Little Algae’s clone to remain on watch in case anyone returned.
Two hours later, Saul disembarked with his light luggage, escorted eagerly by Captain Harry.
The airship dock was built in the outskirts of Bluewater Bay. To enter the city, one normally had to take a carriage from the station outside.
However, since airship passengers were usually wealthy or noble, most had private carriages waiting for them.
Ironically, Saul—easily the most distinctive passenger aboard—found himself dumped in the middle of nowhere after exiting the station.
He could see Bluewater Bay’s city walls from here, but walking there would likely take half a day.
Just then, a rotund man in a black tailcoat approached. He had a round face, a plump belly, and nearly every one of his thick fingers was adorned with gemstone rings.
He nervously rubbed his hands together—producing not the sound of skin-on-skin, but the clinking of metal.
“My lord, I’m Pound, a jeweler. Is this your first time here?”
Saul turned to face him.
Pound silently swallowed, clearly not used to Saul’s corpse-like pale face.
“If—if you don’t mind, may I offer you a carriage ride?”
Saul looked at the distant city walls and the desolate land ahead. He thought to himself, I’ve learned the flight spell, but now isn’t the best time to practice it.
“Very well. I’ll trouble you, then,” Saul nodded slightly to Pound.
Pound’s face lit up in both surprise and delight—he hadn’t expected Saul to be so courteous.
Several others watching from a distance immediately showed regretful expressions. It was clear that after witnessing the amicable exchange between Captain Harry and Saul, they had been hoping to befriend Saul as well.
But fear of wizards had held them back, and now Pound had beaten them to it.
Though disappointed, none of them dared step forward.
Now wasn’t the time to fight for attention. Doing so would only be improper and risk annoying the wizard.
A few minutes later, Saul was seated in the lavish carriage Pound had cleared for him.
It was obviously meant to pick up a wealthy merchant—luxurious in every aspect, with even gemstones embedded in its frame.
Before the carriage set off, Pound shrank into a seat by the door with a somewhat enthusiastic smile.
Saul knew he was trying to test whether he’d be allowed to stay.
Coincidentally, Saul had some questions he wanted to ask, so he tacitly approved of the fat man’s attempt to shrink himself into a ball.
As the carriage rolled out, the airship behind them rose again. At its speed, it soon overtook the carriages and vanished into the clouds.
All told, it had stayed at Bluewater Bay for less than thirty minutes.
“Is it heading back now, or does it have another destination?” Saul asked Pound.
“Captain Harry’s airship will next head to Morora Port, then pass through some small cities with scheduled passengers. The final destination is Kaorgli, where Byton Academy is located.”
“Kaorgli?” Saul frowned—his studies of wizarding geography hadn’t covered that name. “Is that a nation or a city?”
“It’s a massive city, my lord,” Pound said with longing in his eyes. “Completely controlled by Byton Academy, with its own currency and independent laws. You could call it a country, really.”
(End of Chapter)
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