Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 435

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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 196.
The Face of an Angel and
the Blood Flowing Through a Demon’s Heart (14)
“Ah, right—now that I think about it, how did that even….”
Neville began to speak but suddenly stopped, as if he’d grasped the situation. The Old Sailor beside him gave him a knowing look. Joshua chuckled softly and continued.
“Ah, too bad. Since no one was frightened, I suppose I’ll have to tell a different story. What would be good? Yes, well. There was this man, you see, chasing children to kill them, but his right hand was enormous, and with that hand….”
“Close your mouth.”
Maximian spoke abruptly, and Joshua lowered his head, suppressing his laughter. Yet he showed no intention of stopping.
“Or perhaps there was someone with so much to do that he wanted to run away for a while. Years passed, and he thought he should finally return home, but then someone came and told him that a creature had appeared at his house—one that looked exactly like him and behaved exactly like him….”
Maximian stood up abruptly and walked toward where Riche had gone. Joshua shrugged.
“He just leaves when he hears a story he knows. No patience whatsoever.”
Joshua then rose and smiled broadly at the sailors before heading to the rail where Maximian had gone. The remaining sailors smacked their lips, their expressions suggesting they were turning Joshua’s tale over in their minds. When someone began to voice an opinion, the Old Sailor raised his hand again and quieted them.
Maximian stood beside Riche, but he said nothing, only gazing out toward the sea. As Joshua approached, his voice came.
“Can you really borrow a spirit’s voice so easily?”
“Ah, well, it’s just….”
Joshua smiled slightly and spoke lightly.
“I’m sorry.”
“Why apologize to me?”
Joshua fell silent. After a long pause, Maximian spoke.
“Do you think your own life is a frightening story?”
Joshua did not answer. After the sound of waves crashed about ten times, he said this:
“It’s not a fairy tale, at least.”
Maximian folded his arms and let out a snort. After another ten waves had passed, a response came.
“Then I suppose I’m the victim in a horror story.”
“I won’t let that happen.”
“How will you manage that?”
“Somehow.”
Joshua waited for the sound of the waves again before speaking.
“If all else fails, there’s always this method: once the protagonist dies, any story ends. And once a story ends, those who remain can never die, can they?”
Maximian, contrary to his usual nature, did not grow angry. Instead, he said this:
“You jest so readily in such a tone.”
“You knew it was a jest?”
“Had it not been a jest, I would have thrown you into the sea that instant and ended this frightening tale myself.”
“I’m grateful you understood.”
“I’m the one who should be grateful—that it wasn’t earnest, as it once would have been.”
“Yes. I just want to think that anything can become a jest. The more people who listen, the more it truly becomes one. That’s how my performances work.”
Perhaps that was why. To sailors unaccustomed to theater, it would have seemed a rather grotesque monologue, yet Joshua himself seemed to grow lighter about such things once he’d expressed them through performance.
After a moment, Maximian spoke.
“Having you around has brought some improvements. Since becoming your friend, this is the first time I’ve felt a sense of purpose.”
His tone remained sharp nonetheless. Joshua, rather than answering, smiled faintly and turned his head toward Riche.
“What are you looking at, Riche?”
She had been standing motionless, staring out at the sea for some time now, so I asked. Riche gestured for me to come closer. Once I stood beside her, she pointed her finger beyond the ship’s rail.
“Look over there.”
All I could see were a few lights—whether they were flames or starlight, I couldn’t tell. I squinted, trying to focus.
“Is something strange about them?”
“Are they stars? Below that largest star, there are three yellowish dots. Look at them carefully.”
After a moment, I spoke.
“They’re moving?”
“Aren’t they?”
As I watched longer, the yellow points drifted leftward and gradually grew larger. They were undoubtedly drawing closer to us, even if not directly ahead.
“Could it be a ship?”
“It’s possible.”
Spotting a passing vessel hardly constituted an extraordinary event. Yet Riche rested her elbows on the rail and furrowed her brow.
“If we were moving, we would have lost sight of it long ago. But since we’re anchored, it keeps appearing. And you said this is a reef-infested area, didn’t you? Why is that ship moving at night?”
“Perhaps they’re confident in night sailing?”
“So you’re saying the crew aboard this ship lacks skill?”
I tilted my head uncertainly.
“That can’t be it. Hmm… then perhaps they don’t know what kind of place this is? They lost their course and wandered in by mistake?”
“Isn’t that unlikely?”
The dots grew larger at an accelerating pace. We exchanged tense glances. I spoke.
“They might collide with the reefs. We should call the crew and warn them.”
Maximian, who had been silent until now, opened his mouth.
“If it were daylight, we’d be preparing for battle, not issuing warnings.”
“You think that ship is crewed by pirates? Out here?”
I questioned him, but Riche agreed with Maximian.
“Maximian is right. They’re encroaching on our course without any signal.”
I shook my head.
“This sea is a place where you rarely encounter passing vessels. If they intended piracy, they wouldn’t venture out here deliberately.”
“Then why are they approaching?”
“Could there be a pirate den in these waters?”
It was at that moment my keen ears caught a sound. A melodic one—music.
“Music? In the middle of the night?”
Upon hearing my words, Riche’s expression darkened with an unpleasant imagination. It wasn’t long before Maximian and Riche heard it too—a lively tune blending flutes and stringed instruments.
“Are they having a party?”
Unlike what I had unconsciously imagined when I first heard ‘music coming from the darkness,’ this was quite different. It wasn’t an eerie, enchanting pipe melody but simply boisterous music. Yet Maximian’s frown remained.
“Why are they approaching at all?”
“Regardless, we should tell them to warn that ship. They can’t discover the reefs while they’re carousing.”
“That ship isn’t the Beauty’s Pinnacle being piloted by those three useless fools.”
Despite his retort, Maximian hurried off toward the deck. Whether for that ship’s sake or ours, the crew’s judgment was necessary.
After Maximian left, Riche continued gazing at the lights. The music grew louder, and the sound of water striking the hull drew nearer. By the time the ship’s silhouette became visible, the three lights I had thought I saw had multiplied into dozens. The entire vessel blazed with illumination.
“Why on earth would they light so many lamps? What if someone accidentally falls onto the deck?”
Riche muttered. Joshua leaned his body over the ship’s rail as if to hear better. His posture was precarious enough to inspire a touch of fear that he might fall. The wind swept his hair across his forehead countless times. After gazing into the darkness for a long while, Joshua spoke.
“Someone is singing.”
“What song?”
Riche couldn’t hear it yet. Joshua listened for a moment longer before responding.
“A remarkably skilled one.”
Knowing how difficult it was for such words to come from Joshua’s lips, Riche’s eyes widened.
The harbor maiden’s cup I did not take,
But offered that drink to the ship’s beauty instead,
And kissed her wooden cheek with care,
Then cast the empty bottle to the sea.
The remaining drink the fish did share,
So if tomorrow’s catch seems drunk and merry,
Know it drank my spirits, and you should carry
That fish to the maiden who spurns the drink with flair.
It was a song she’d never heard before, and the lyrics seemed strange—as if improvised on the spot. And while drinking, no less. Yet an immediate response came from nearby.
The harbor maiden ate a bite of fish,
Then rose and lifted her skirts to dance, and wished
That this fish held a rare and precious cure,
For those who eat it laugh forevermore, I’m sure.
Though the singing was excellent, the lyrics seemed to match the other’s level, and Riche struggled to suppress her laughter. Joshua, having finished his verse, tapped his raised foot sharply and even offered a bow toward the opposite ship. Riche asked.
“What are you doing?”
“I’ve paid homage to their song, so naturally I must offer a greeting as well.”
“Homage? What in the world is that supposed to mean?”
Joshua didn’t answer and instead listened intently. Soon he rubbed his hands together, then clenched and unclenched his fists several times.
“I’d like to visit that ship.”
“They’re hardly likely to let you aboard.”
Even if they invited him, Riche had no intention whatsoever of crossing to an unfamiliar vessel, so she answered dismissively. But Joshua was serious.
“Even if it’s not possible, I can at least ask.”
Around that time, Maximian returned with the sailors, carrying a large signal lamp. The other ship had already stopped, but they sent a halt signal nonetheless. Riche immediately became fascinated by the curiously designed signal lamp. Joshua rested his chin on the rail, contemplating something.
Had they been seen? Shortly after, a signal lamp rose from the other ship. For a while, incomprehensible signals passed between the two vessels—signals that the “three useless people” could not understand.
“What are they saying?”
When Joshua asked, the Old Sailor, who had been watching the signaling sailor, answered.
“Well, the ship was already stopped anyway, so that’s done… but… that ship isn’t from our Island, you see. If they were from Periwinkle, they couldn’t possibly be unfamiliar with these waters. Right. But that ship’s home port is… Lemnoscode? Isn’t that somewhere on the Shell Peninsula?”
One of the signaling sailors answered.
“Yes. It’s a port in Guanja Bay on the western side of the Shell Peninsula—Anomarad Territory. Though it’s more of a small village than a proper harbor.”
“What in the world brings them all the way out here?”
“That’s what we’re about to ask.”
The sailor turned his attention back to the signal lamp. Joshua asked the Old Sailor.
“Can you exchange such detailed information with lamp signals?”
“Well then, I could send a message like ‘Go sniff your own backside,’ couldn’t I?”
The Old Sailor delivered this example with such obvious pride that the three of them found themselves unable to laugh. The signal lamp had a cover that could be opened and closed to convey meaning—held open for extended periods or snapped shut in quick succession, creating quite a diverse array of combinations. But as one of the sailors continued exchanging signals, he turned to the Old Sailor and Joshua with a peculiar expression.
“Unless I’m mistaken, they call themselves the ‘Wandering Theater Troupe of the Sea.'”
The Old Sailor asked.
“The Wandering what? What is that?”
“Well, you know how there are those groups that wander from village to village on land? I just saw one doing the same thing on the sea.”
Children of Rune – Winterer
Author: Jeon Min-hee
Publisher: 14 Months Publishing
The copyright of this book belongs to the author and 14 Months Publishing.
To reuse all or part of the contents of this book, you must obtain written consent from both parties.

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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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