Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 444

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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 214.
The Face of an Angel and
the Blood Flowing Through a Demon’s Heart (23)
10. The Ship in a Turquoise Glass Bottle
That ship was the most beautiful thing in the world.
Beneath the sea,
it lay sunken like a blue jewel.
A pearl without a shell.
Flowers of that impossible azure blue
existed there in abundance.
Silver fish nibbled at sea flowers aboard that ship,
though not a single sailor crewed it.
I wanted to become its captain
and set sail once more.
Into the ocean’s grave,
along the long voyage to a sailor’s homeland.
The heavy morning mist that hung like a curtain lifted away. Playing cards from the night before scattered like autumn leaves across one corner of the deck. In every shadowed corner, several sailors lay curled beneath blankets, sleeping soundly. When I knocked on the cabin door that had been closed, a voice answered.
“Ugh, what a racket. If you’re not our Young Duke, then get out and go scrub the deck until it gleams like glass while you’re at it, eh?”
“I’m not the Duke—just the Young Duke.”
The door flew open without a moment’s hesitation. The First Mate Mink, seeing Joshua step aside to avoid the swinging door, immediately bowed his head in greeting.
“Welcome back, sir.”
“Thank you. I had quite an interesting night.”
The First Mate studied Joshua’s face and tilted his head curiously.
“Yet you don’t seem tired at all? I thought you’d been up all night.”
“Does it look that way?”
“You look as though you’ve had a good long sleep and just woken up.”
Joshua smiled faintly.
“Well, I suppose you could say that’s accurate.”
The sun finally grew clear, warming various spots across the deck. Even as heads remained in shadow, the moment sailors’ backs were exposed to the sunlight, their drowsiness began to fade. They searched for shoes they’d removed, finding one had shrunk to fit perfectly; they spent the night extracting strands of hair caught between the wooden planks; and amid such ordinary morning troubles, they half-listened to the First Mate’s barking orders—a peaceful dawn indeed.
Among those who had visited the Hometown Tavern, neither Joshua nor any of the other sailors looked as though they needed to collapse into sleep now. Yet the First Mate only asked because Joshua was who he was; he showed no curiosity about why the others seemed so refreshed. Joshua offered no further explanation.
Soon the mist cleared entirely, and reefs jutting above the now-crystalline water became clearly visible. The First Mate recalculated the course, and under the Second Mate’s direction, the crew busily hauled ropes to raise the sails. A gentle breeze pushed the ship forward. They said it wouldn’t take even half a day. Captain Squire boasted that if he didn’t spot the beak-like cape of Sunset Island before lunch, he’d surrender his captain’s chair. Judging by the crew’s reaction, this seemed to be the captain’s habitual refrain. As the wind quickened, the foam trailing behind the ship began to lengthen.
Joshua answered the captain’s boast with a smile and climbed to the upper deck. Maximian, Riche, and the others who had visited the Hometown Tavern were already gathered there waiting. The Second Mate asked:
“Young Duke, did we dream all that?”
“When I came to my senses, it was morning, and I couldn’t make sense of what happened yesterday. Yet it feels as though I slept well.”
“We fell asleep on that ship we visited yesterday, didn’t we? But who brought us here?”
“Ah, I did.”
The Second Mate’s eyebrows twisted in bewilderment.
“You carried all of us by yourself, sir?”
“If I may speak frankly, sir, with your build, there’s no way you could have lifted even one of us, let alone all of us.”
“Not just lifted—you couldn’t have dragged us either.”
“Even if your friends helped, it doesn’t matter. Besides, one of them is a lady, isn’t she?”
“Please stop calling me ‘Your Majesty.'”
Joshua considered how to respond, then settled on a simpler alternative—he glanced at Maximian.
“Stop joking around. You all came back on your own two feet at dawn and rolled around in every corner of this place sleeping, and just because you drank a bit, surely none of you strapping sailors have come down with sleepwalking, have you?”
The sailors, rendered speechless by Maximian’s retort, exchanged glances with one another.
“W-well, that might be possible. After all, there’s no such thing as a sailor who walks around while sleeping.”
“When you drink a bit, you can get confused! Now that I think about it, I do seem to remember coming back.”
“Yeah, we were dozing in the boat… and had a rough time climbing back up. Right?”
One man alone continued tilting his head and muttering.
“I drank that much and didn’t sleep properly, so my head shouldn’t be this clear.”
“It must have been premium liquor with no hangover. Hey, I hear someone shouting about turning the sails—shouldn’t we go check it out?”
The sailors peeled themselves off one by one and hurried away as they had come. The way they didn’t even look back suggested they found the sleepwalking explanation deeply embarrassing. Maximian frowned sharply and looked at Joshua.
“I’ve sent them all away. Are you satisfied?”
Joshua merely chuckled. Riche, rubbing her cheeks dried by the sea breeze, spoke.
“It still feels unsettling.”
“It’s better than telling them it was all a dream. Drinkers forgetting what happened the night before after a few drinks is commonplace.”
“But they shouldn’t have forgotten completely, should they?”
“Would they prefer if I explained that spirits carried them here?”
「That much is certainly true.」
Maximian suddenly turned his head, his expression becoming something between a smile and a grimace, and spoke.
“Now they appear without even signaling.”
「It’s hardly surprising between us.」
The fact that it seemed “hardly surprising” was itself rather strange. Yet somehow, merely being able to picture the other’s face brought a subtle sense of relief. Riche smiled and spoke.
“I don’t think I’ll be so startled anymore. But it is a bit lonely. I suppose we truly cannot see you again?”
「We can still hear each other’s voices, so it’s manageable.」
Maximian said.
“Think of it differently. Those who saw you as clearly yesterday as you saw Kelce—they’re actually all…”
“No need to spell it out?”
While the two exchanged sidelong glances, Joshua pressed his lips together, stole a quick look at Kelsniti, and asked.
“Did I ramble on about things? Did any of it sound similar?”
There was no answer, but by now the other two could guess what expression Kelsniti wore. Riche spoke.
“You’re smiling, aren’t you?”
「I’m pleased to be understood. As for whether it was similar to Icabon… well…」
“What about me?”
When Riche interjected, a relatively quick answer came.
「You did well. Everyone would have believed it completely.」
“Look here, why don’t you say things like that to me?”
When Joshua complained, Maximian spoke.
“That’s because the person you had to act as was Icabon, so the standards must be quite high, wouldn’t you say?”
“Now that you mention it, that’s a fair point. I shouldn’t expect any praise.”
Maximian turned to look at Riche as well.
“You just needed to be a red-haired woman. It wasn’t like you had any lines anyway.”
“I’ve said it before, but do you always have to put it that way?”
“It’s obvious I was the worst. Just gloss over the small stuff.”
“Why were you the worst, Maximian?”
Maximian cried out as if he’d been waiting for this.
“People didn’t even realize what role I was playing!”
This time, instead of a smile, laughter could be heard.
「Ha ha ha… Rifkne, that’s a misunderstanding. It wasn’t that your acting was poor—it’s simply that Schouan Oblivion’s name wasn’t as well-known back then.」
“In other words, you gave me a role that didn’t matter?”
「No. To be honest, you were the most similar. I was rather surprised. Especially your manner of speech….」
“My manner of speech?”
「Schouan also… enjoyed being sarcastic.」
The laughter faded at the end of the sentence. Perhaps because I had seen his face once, my feelings grew far more sensitive. Joshua, glancing to the side, deliberately pouted as he responded.
“Hmph, so everyone did well and only I failed? I can’t exactly save face as an actor, and it’s not like I can meet the Icabon in Kelce’s head either. I’m truly sorry for ruining it unintentionally.”
「If I had to say something, your singing was good.」
“Do you think that’s supposed to be comforting?”
Riche suddenly recalled something and asked.
“But Kelce, what were those gold dust books and silver dust curtains? Were they just illusions? Did you already know about those people?”
「I did know them beforehand, but the books and curtains are secrets.」
“Tch, that’s too much.”
「A Priest ought to have at least that much mystery.」
Joshua spoke with his lip jutting out.
“That’s how people start to exploit you and such. You should understand, Riche.”
The ship, which had been running swiftly, slowed down slightly. It was navigating against the current to avoid reefs. When Joshua said nothing more, Riche asked.
“Hey Kelce, did you leave?”
“Yes.”
“Huh… does he always just disappear like that?”
“Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn’t. Maybe because I’m used to it, he doesn’t always say goodbye when he comes and goes. And sometimes he has no choice but to leave.」
“Where does he go?”
“Who knows. Probably somewhere only Spirits can go. It seems like old Spirits like Kelce can’t always stay by people’s sides.”
Riche spoke after a brief pause.
“You know, I just realized for the first time that Kelce might be a far more delicate person than I thought.”
Joshua didn’t answer and rose from his seat. Following his gaze, I spotted something elongated rising from the distant sea. It appeared black due to the backlighting, but it was swaying slowly with the waves—a mast.
“Huh?”
Riche soon noticed something odd. Ships floating on the sea tend to list, but that mast ahead was tilted excessively. And despite the favorable wind blowing now, it was a bare mast with no sail raised. Most of all, the ship hardly seemed to be moving at all.
“Is it wrecked?”
Maximian sprang up and headed down to the deck as he spoke.
“The odds of meeting another ship in a sea with only uninhabited islands seem quite low. And this is the second time, right after yesterday.”
Joshua spoke.
“Fetch the Captain for me.”
Shortly after, the Captain arrived with the First Mate in tow. Whether they had already spotted it before Joshua and finished their discussion, the Captain spoke with certainty the moment he approached Joshua.
“That is a dead ship. It would be wise not to draw near.”
Children of Rune – Winterer
Author: Jeon Min-hee
Publisher: 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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