Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 351

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 121.
Ninety-Eight Souls (34)
By now, I could only conclude that even my initial approach had been wrong. When I desperately tried to change course, the ship was moving so fast that the flight control lever stopped responding. And absurdly, Joshua said he had no idea how to reduce speed.
“What if we reduce the amount of gold we put in slightly?”
Maximian’s offhand suggestion brought about the current tragedy. The moment we reduced the amount of gold we regularly placed in the crucible, the ship plummeted in an instant. We had only reduced it slightly—just a couple of gold rings!
None of the three wanted to climb the mast using rigging or ropes, so it took a bit longer before they spotted the Highsaebaramho. Soon after, as Joshua desperately tried to prevent the worst situation from becoming something even worse by driving a torch into the deck, a strange sound reached his ears.
“Ahoy!”
I hurried to the opposite rail and saw a small boat rowing toward us in the distance. Of course, it had been sent from the Highsaebaramho. Seeing people aboard a ship so much smaller than ours, Joshua—who had been thinking we were in the middle of nowhere—widened his eyes in astonishment.
“H-how are you traveling in such a small boat?”
The moment the words left his mouth, a new thought struck him like lightning.
“Could it be… that a port is very close by?”
The sailors paid no attention to the boy’s words as he stood holding a torch at the rail. To them, Joshua wasn’t even an apprentice sailor. As they drew closer, one of them spoke.
“Boy, where is your captain?”
Joshua blinked in confusion before responding.
“We haven’t decided yet…”
Of course, he meant that among Maximian, Riche, and himself, they hadn’t decided who the captain was. Not that they’d ever even considered deciding.
The sailors exchanged confused glances. One suddenly frowned and shouted.
“There’s been a mutiny! That explains it!”
As Joshua stood blinking, unsure how to respond, the sailors whispered among themselves and concluded that there was no way such a dimwitted-looking boy would be standing alone on deck holding a torch unless a mutiny had actually occurred.
“How many survivors are there?”
“Three of us.”
The sailors were shocked once again.
“What? So everyone else is dead?”
“Well, not exactly…”
“Then you abandoned them on an uninhabited island?”
“That’s not…”
The short-tempered Deck Master suddenly lost his patience.
“Listen, instead of talking to this idiot, get whoever is commanding the ship right now! Hurry!”
The Deck Master had no way of knowing how little resistance Joshua had to being called stupid. Bewildered that someone other than Maximian had said such a thing, Joshua paid it no mind as the sailors threw a grappling hook and rope over the rail, quickly climbing aboard. At that moment, the elevator shaft door suddenly opened and Maximian poked his head out.
“Huh?”
For a moment, Maximian wondered if pirates had appeared. The Highsaebaramho’s sailors had brought weapons, suspecting this might be a pirate trick disguised as a distress call. The moment their eyes met, both sides immediately reconsidered their suspicions. To the sailors, Maximian looked just as incapable of being a sailor as Joshua, and to Maximian, the sailors seemed bewildered with no trace of murderous intent, and worst of all, their numbers were far too few.
“And who are you?”
That was a question Maximian should have asked, having encountered strangers aboard his own ship. But Maximian glanced at Joshua, who stood among the unfamiliar sailors like a sack of grain placed in the wrong spot, and immediately grasped the situation.
“Ah, thank you so much! You saw our distress signal and came! We’re saved now!”
The sailors huddled together briefly to discuss yet another boy who had appeared. What on earth had happened to this ship? As they each voiced their opinions, one suddenly shouted.
“Stop poking your head out and get up here! What terrible thing have you done to have only children aboard? You said there were three survivors—so the fourth must be in charge? Where is he? We need to speak with him.”
“Right here.”
The moment Riche jumped down from the lowest rigging—the third survivor, whose expression was unexpectedly shy—the sailors were finally rendered speechless. But Riche, as if to say “so what,” smiled this time.
“As you can see, I’m responsible for feeding and caring for these children. You gentlemen must surely be guardian angels who traverse the seas and rescue ships in distress, yes? But first, could you tell us where we are?”
It was true that Riche was responsible for meals. In reality, it was more about rationing the food we had, but that had come about simply because her work schedule always kept meal times precise.
The Deck Master saw his chance, threw the torch into the sea, and observed Joshua wearing an expression that seemed to say “while you’re here, could you also stop this ship’s swaying?” Then he saw Maximian, now fully visible, putting on glasses he’d retrieved from his pocket, and glanced once more at Riche before nodding as if to say there was no helping it.
“Very well, you do seem to be in charge. I bring word from Captain Kalaimon of the Highsaebaramho, registered at Callaisso Port. The captain says he will help transfer the crew from the distressed vessel to our ship and assist in towing that vessel to port.”
Captain Callaimon, as was his habit, swung his legs back and forth across the deck before coming to an abrupt stop. Before him stood the three rescued sailors, grinning as though they had never been in dire straits at all. This was thanks to one of them who, before boarding, had suggested “why spit on a smiling face?”
The captain swallowed a sigh, then addressed one of them whose smile, upon closer inspection, somehow irritated him.
“You. Explain to me exactly what situation this is.”
The captain had chosen his man well. Maximian opened his mouth as if he had been waiting for this.
“A captain of your broad experience surely knows of Blue Coral Island in Hyacan? That beautiful resort where the nobility keeps numerous villas. Well, the Countess Silabria, who owns a villa there, made a wager with her friend Delamine. When the Countess declared that Captain Juspian, who serves her, is the greatest captain on the Continent, Delamine insisted that the true greatest captain was some unknown captain in Durnensa. The two argued, and they agreed that if Captain Juspian successfully navigated these waters in this ship through the pirate-infested coast of Durnensa and returned, the Countess would win the bet. So they set sail, but as you can see, Captain Juspian and all the crew have become mere dewdrops beneath the pirates’ blades…”
At that point, Joshua and Riche barely managed to maintain their composure as they looked at Maximian. Riche was astounded at how Maximian had suddenly made Juspian a captain only to kill him off just as quickly, while Joshua was surprised that such poetic language could come from Maximian’s mouth. Of course, Maximian felt he had achieved some small revenge against Juspian for the broken plate he’d sent.
“Hmph.”
Captain Callaimon’s expression was skeptical of Maximian’s account, but upon hearing that the captain was dead, he let out a sorrowful groan. At least there was someone to mourn for Juspian, who had been dragged to these distant seas only to perish. That was some consolation.
“But why did the three of you survive? And besides, you don’t look like sailors at all?”
“Of course we are not sailors. We know nothing of seamanship whatsoever.”
Maximian knew well that insisting on being apprentice sailors before a seasoned captain would only expose the lie.
“We are attendants who accompanied the voyage to verify the terms of the wager. Our duty was to ensure that the captain truly sailed to Durnensa and returned. I am an attendant of the Countess Silabria, and that friend there is an attendant of Delamine.”
The captain glanced at Riche and asked.
“Then, who is this one in charge?”
The captain remembered the Deck Master’s words that Riche was in charge. Maximian glanced at Riche once before continuing.
“Ah, if only the two of us attendants went, we might return later and argue about different stories, wouldn’t we? So the Countess Armeridia, a friend of both ladies, agreed to help, and her attendant also came along. We survived because we told the pirates that if they killed us, the three noble ladies would be greatly angered, and if they let us go, we would say that the pirate had fairly defeated the captain in a duel. They let us go, but the problem was they sent us off alone in the middle of the vast sea, knowing nothing of navigation. They laughed quite mockingly as they sent us away.”
Though there were some—or rather, many—suspicious parts to the story, Captain Callaimon knew that idle nobles of Hyacan were prone to making strange wagers, and he could think of no other reason why two boys and a girl, completely ignorant of seamanship, would be adrift in the middle of the ocean. He was gradually becoming convinced.
“Such a thing they did. It’s well within what pirates would do. But one strange point remains—why did they give you this ship instead of taking it? A ship is worth money.”
“Ah, that was…”
Just as Maximian was trailing off, Riche interjected from beside him.
“The pirate said that a ship that carried a girl like me is cursed with misfortune. So they wouldn’t take it.”
It was the moment Maximian couldn’t bring himself to say “then what about this ship you’re riding now?” and could only glare with wide eyes. Suddenly the captain burst into hearty laughter.
“Hahahaha… Pirates believe in superstitions well. They’ve committed so many sins that they’re always afraid of being cursed, always worried that ghosts might follow them. We honest merchants who conduct only legitimate trade have no need to believe in such superstitions.”
Maximian, like someone who had seen—or rather, heard of—plenty of ghosts regardless of guilt or innocence, offered a serene smile.
“That is how it came to be.”
Children of Rune – Winterer
Author: Jeon Min-hee
Published by: 14 Months Publishing
The copyright to this book belongs to the author and 14 Months Publishing.
To reuse all or part of the contents of this book, written consent from both parties is required.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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