novelraw Chapter 248: Late-Night Communication
Chapter 248: Late-Night Communication
On the deck, Isabel, her face swollen, walked out openly and decisively bowed her head to apologize to the crew member she had conflicted with earlier.
Pakhz looked at Alajina beside her with some surprise, then glanced at Fisher, who had also come up from the cabin below with his arms crossed. After confirming the look in his eyes, she coldly shot a glance at the crew member standing behind her taking the scolding, signaling her to give a response.
In reality, Pakhz's gaze wasn't caught by that crew member. The crew member merely looked at Isabel's swollen cheek in front of her, gently reached up to touch her own short hair that just reached the back of her head, and then, with an equally unnatural expression, said, "I'm sorry."
That bashful and awkward demeanor displeased Pakhz, causing her to roar like a giant bear again.
"Why are you speaking so softly?! Are you a woman or not?! Speak louder for this old lady, keep saying it until I can hear you!"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
After Pakhz slapped her hard on the back, that force seemed to unlock some hidden shackles within the crew member's body, causing her to shut her eyes, straighten her posture, and shout several more "I'm sorry!"s at the top of her lungs.
In the distance, Fisher watched the atmosphere over there liven up again. Yet, he continued leaning against the mast, constantly recalling the words Isabel had spoken to him earlier. Her hollow golden eyes continuously spread a chilling coldness in his heart, so much so that he didn't even realize when Alajina had walked up beside him.
It wasn't until several seconds had passed that he realized after the fact that Alajina had been standing silently beside him, watching him. His pensive expression dissolved as a result, and he turned his head to look at her and asked.
"What's wrong?"Alajina shook her head, stepped a bit closer to Fisher, looked toward the distant Isabel, and said.
"Her face is injured, I had the ship's doctor apply an ice compress for her..."
"Sorry for the trouble. I'll carve a healing magic on her a bit later tonight, and she'll be fine by tomorrow."
"You know how to do so many things..."
"It's alright."
Then, the conversation between them, which was usually dry yet not awkward, paused once again. Alajina's gaze shifted from the distance back to him, secretly peeking at Fisher's hand resting by his side.
After this, she suddenly spoke up and asked.
"Fisher... are you unhappy?"
Fisher looked at the captain beside him, who was slightly taller than him, with some surprise. He thought Alajina misunderstood and felt displeased because he made Isabel apologize, so he shook his head and explained.
"No. I didn't force Isabel to apologize to your crew member; it was her own intention. She knows she made a mistake..."
Alajina, however, continued to stare at Fisher and followed up.
"Not about that... I sense that you are unhappy in your heart, because of another woman."
This time it was Fisher's turn to lose his composure. He hadn't expected Alajina's mind to be so delicate that she could actually sense he was thinking about Elizabeth.
He remembered a joke about the Sardin Matriarchy that frequently circulated in Naris in past years. It went like this: If a Naris gentleman decided to marry a lady from the Sardin Matriarchy, he might as well learn from the carefree Schwarians and find a male partner too; at least that way he wouldn't have to leave the country...
The punchline of this joke aimed to mock the incredibly strong "matriarchal chauvinism" tendency among the ladies of the Sardin Matriarchy, which was roughly no different from the traditional gentlemen of Naris—known for being straightforward and tactless in human relations. Yet, the legendary Sardin Matriarchy captain standing before him was not like that.
On the contrary, her mindset was actually very delicate.
Thinking of this, Fisher didn't directly answer her question, but rather brought up another matter instead.
"Right, I forgot to tell you earlier. Actually, Isabel is the youngest princess of the Gedrin Royal Family. And our departure from Saint-Nazareth this time did not receive the permission of her biological older sister, Elizabeth... I imagine we currently have a massive bounty on our heads from Naris."
"I know. We received the wanted posters for you and her earlier. A few days ago, Elizabeth announced her ascension to the throne in Saint-Nazareth, becoming the tenth emperor of Naris, and its first empress."
"That makes sense."
Alajina's gaze moved up from his fingers, stopping only when she saw the side profile of his face.
"...Fisher, are you unhappy because of Elizabeth?"
"..."
Fisher didn't answer immediately. Seeing this, a bizarre sense of bitterness slowly spread in Alajina's heart, but she still didn't press him further. She merely gently reached out with her left hand and grasped Fisher's fingers hanging in mid-air.
At this moment, Fisher suddenly felt a touch of icy cool fingers slowly intertwining with his palm. Alajina's palm wasn't soft; you could even feel the calluses on it produced from gripping a sword. Yet her movements were gentle, proactively wrapping around his hand, thus generating a bit of warmth out of thin air from that icy skin.
Once she had completely enveloped Fisher's hand, she lightly exhaled a breath of cold air. Beneath her white hair tied up in a ponytail, her earlobes were once again dyed a cherry blossom pink as she asked.
"Is this... a little better?"
Sitting on Fisher's shoulder, Eimhart had at some point rolled his eyes and run off toward Karma and the others. With no one supervising him, Fisher subconsciously glanced at her fair neck. As his eyes shifted, he didn't let go of Alajina's hand; instead, he squeezed it even tighter proactively.
"Mhm, much better."
"Mmph..."
His sudden force made Alajina a bit unaccustomed. In fact, because of the force he used, the cherry pink that was originally just on her earlobes began to spread toward her cheeks.
Right at this moment, her eyes suddenly shifted a bit toward her injured right hand. She suddenly thought: if it was her injured right hand that Fisher touched, it would definitely hurt very much, and it would definitely be very...
Actually, as early as when she met Fisher in Naris, she had suddenly realized that deep in her heart, she harbored a somewhat strange fetish. She seemed, probably, perhaps to gain a bit of enjoyment from the sensation of pain brought by a lover.
Of course, it wasn't that her brain was broken and she deliberately sought out pain. She just liked the sensation of pain caused by someone she deeply loved.
Back at the Snake Head Tavern in Naris, when she saw Fisher use the magic [Maggot on the Bone] to punish that artificial witch from the Witch Research Society, she had actually fantasized about him using that same magic to punish her. Even after parting ways with him, she frequently reminisced about that feeling in her dreams.
This little fetish was somewhat strange to speak of, but after using the Ice Prince for a long period, the freezing sensation generated by the relic had made her senses rather dull. Even a lover's gentle caresses and touches were naturally insufficient to stimulate her. Only the most intense touch could melt the solid ice; only pain could successfully transmit emotions to her heart, allowing her to genuinely feel his existence...
So, was that why she so deeply craved the pain brought by him?
That was what Alajina thought.
Thinking up to here, Alajina's lips parted slightly, and the usually slightly cold expression was melted away somewhat by the heat dissipating from her heart.
I want him to forcefully touch my right hand.
Just as Alajina was uncontrollably about to extend her bandage-wrapped right hand toward Fisher, the entire ship suddenly trembled slightly. As a result, Aoxi, who was at the very top of the mast, stood up, shifting her gaze away from Alajina and Fisher.
"Rumble!"
"The steam engine is fixed!"
"Finally, I thought we would have to dismantle the darn thing and reinstall it from scratch..."
Accompanied by the trembling of the hull, a thick column of black smoke violently erupted from the chimney above the engine room, symbolizing that the Iceberg Queen's heart had begun to beat once again. Many crew members cheered, shouting happily from the deck toward the crew working in the engine room below.
"It looks like the steam engine has been fixed. We can set off again today."
This sudden noise interrupted Alajina's thoughts. She gently lowered her right hand, and Fisher also let go of her left hand that was linked with his, because Pakhz was already running toward them very excitedly.
"Captain, I thought it would take a few more days to fix it. If we set off tonight, this little bit of food will be completely enough to reach the next supply point. This way we can also return to the Pirate Port earlier."
Meeting Pakhz's gaze, Alajina took one last look at Fisher's fingers. The shyness on her ears gradually faded as she reverted back to her usual demeanor.
Just as she had promised Fisher previously, Alajina didn't want to rush the process of pursuing him, let alone compel him. But somehow, when she recalled how Fisher was just thinking about Elizabeth, she found it somewhat difficult to endure.
A glint of unclear meaning flashed through her blue eyes, but she merely nodded and issued an order to First Mate Pakhz.
"I understand. We will depart immediately and head for the supply point at the junction between the Eastern Ocean and the Southern Ocean."
Meanwhile, at the mast above the deck, as the roar of the steam engine echoed, Aoxi, who had been startled by the vibration, saw that nothing else was happening. She adjusted her cloak again and subconsciously reached out to touch the spot beside her, only to find the parrot Steel Knife, which usually stayed there, missing.
Her expression hidden beneath the cloak froze slightly. Scanning the area, she finally spotted Steel Knife playing with Eimhart and the others near the captain's cabin on the deck.
"..."
Looking at the parrot messing around with several squirrel-kin girls, Aoxi gently brought her hand, hidden under the cloak, to her mouth, preparing to whistle. Yet, the whistle calling it back up never sounded.
After waiting for a long time, Aoxi silently lowered her hand and sat back down in her usual spot, becoming once again the unchanging scenery atop the Iceberg Queen's mast.
Only this time, she couldn't help but continuously cast her gaze toward the direction where Alajina and Fisher had held hands moments ago.
Aoxi's figure remained motionless, which paradoxically made her solitary silhouette appear somewhat lonely.
Resuming its voyage, the Iceberg Queen quickly left the island that served as a reference point behind and sailed into the identical, boundless, broad ocean.
The weather tonight was poor, with fierce winds and huge waves. The ship was very quiet; apart from the crew members on duty, most of the others had returned to their rooms to rest.
As the night deepened and shadows completely engulfed everyone's line of sight, Fisher ran to the kitchen alone, staring at the magic material powder on the table with a massive headache.
After dinner, Isabel, whose face was still swollen like a pig's head despite the ice compress, truly felt too embarrassed to stay on the deck. She retreated to her room early to hide, casting a pitiful glance at Fisher before entering, clearly waiting for him to engrave the healing magic for her.
He had agreed so readily, but now that it was time to get to work, Fisher realized a somewhat serious problem: there were no engraving knives for engraving magic aboard the Iceberg Queen.
He had gone to ask Alajina if there were any similar tools on the ship. They originally had items like daggers, but they had fallen into the sea. If he had to use something, there were only terrifyingly long scimitars available.
Alajina originally wanted to use the Ice Prince to create an ice blade for his engraving, but the ice blade would melt while he carved, which would turn his magic material powder into a sticky mess, failing entirely...
Then, left with no other options, Fisher could only ask their ship's cook for a kitchen knife.
The kitchen knives of the Sardin Matriarchy were very peculiar. They were a type of square blade; a single knife could handle all sorts of ingredients in the Northern Border, from deboning to mincing meat, handling every step perfectly... but it was simply a bit strange to use for engraving magic.
Pinching the kitchen knife in his hand, Fisher looked at the iron plate on the table intended for engraving magic, finding it hard to start for a moment. He shifted through several engraving postures, but no matter what, it felt incredibly off.
"Whoosh..."
The kitchen was located on the deck right below the main one, but the location was rather remote, placed further past the dining hall near the stern of the ship. Once night fell, basically no crew members would come here; they were either at their posts or down in the dormitories further below.
Tonight, a gale was blowing over the sea. Even separated by a layer of windows, Fisher could hear the fierce howling of the wind outside, which caused the entire hull to sway slightly, adding quite a bit of difficulty to Fisher's magic engraving.
"Hello..."
"Hello... Hello."
Just as he was staring at the iron plate before him in distress, from the quiet dining hall next door, at some unknown point in time, a faint, soft voice could be heard. Following the first sentence, another familiar voice of that punchable parrot chimed in.
Hearing that voice, Fisher, holding the kitchen knife, raised an eyebrow and looked toward the direction of the dining hall next to the kitchen.
He gently set down the kitchen knife and walked to the wall in the corner of the kitchen. Amidst the howling wind outside, the faint female voice next door became increasingly distinct.
"Hello... My name is Aoxi."
"Aoxi... Aoxi."
"No, you should say... nice to meet you."
"Coo coo... coo coo."
"I'm sorry, I forgot you are just a parrot. Let's try again, okay... just say it like I said."
Aoxi?
The voices conversing next door were recognizable enough; he could immediately tell it was Aoxi and her pet Steel Knife. Strangely, however, the content of their conversation seemed somewhat peculiar.
"Hello... My name is Aoxi."
"Nice to meet you... Nice to meet you."