Chapter 296: Chapter 300: Days on Homeloss

Aiden returned to the bridge, where Tyrion was waiting for him.

“The unloading process is going smoothly, and in about an hour we should have everything transferred from the cargo hold to the port warehouse,” reported the bald first mate, his spirited demeanor tinged with a strong scent of tobacco from every crease of his clothing. “The sailors who stayed on the island are quite fond of those ‘local specialties’ you brought back.”

“There’ll be a gathering tonight, join us if you’re interested,” Tyrion casually mentioned, then couldn’t help but give Aiden an extra glance, frowning and shrugging his nose, “Did you almost set yourself on fire with your smoking?”

“… Maybe a bit too much,” Aiden admitted awkwardly, touching his nose tip, “Tobacco from Prand always seems so… hard to let go of.”

“Just be mindful, you smell almost like a piece of bacon right now,” Tyrion shook his head, giving a casual reminder before moving on from the topic, “Lately, I’ve been hearing sailors discussing Frost a lot.”

“The news has indeed spread,” hearing his captain’s words, Aiden’s expression became a bit more serious, “Resurrected from the dead, regardless of the rumors’ origin, the content alone is enough to spark discussions among sailors—after all, they are all Undead.”

“Undead, huh…” Tyrion softly echoed the word, “What, is everyone expecting to actually come back to life?”

“To be honest, anyone with a bit of sense knows it’s impossible,” Aiden shrugged, “Ordinary people might still entertain such thoughts, but the Undead know better that true resurrection is but a rumor—Death itself, Bartok exists, His gate is only one-way, and we, having our souls twisted and changed, can’t pass through that gate anymore and thus linger in the mortal world as ‘Undead.’ As for the boundary between life and death, we all understand it quite clearly, after all, we have all lingered before that gate at the brink of death.”

Tyrion nodded thoughtfully and then spoke again after a moment, “So why does this topic provoke so much discussion?”

“True resurrection won’t happen, so people speculate whether those so-called revived might actually be…’live dead,'” Aiden grinned, “As you know, most City-States dislike live dead, and Frost especially loathes them, even considering it a ‘Curse from the outer sea’. Although it’s not fair to hold a grudge that dates back half a century against the contemporary Frostfolk, people still enjoy seeing that City-State’s authorities in trouble.”

“Spectating? If this matter is truly related to the old Abyss Project, then this isn’t just a mere spectacle,” Tyrion raised his eyebrows.

“You’re right, I understand that, but currently, most ordinary sailors just want to have their fun, after all, it’s the Frostfolk who are unlucky first, we’ll worry about other matters if it gets too big,” Aiden said, shrugging his hands, “There’s no help for it, it’s the Undead mentality, especially since this matter is also related to Frost.”

Tyrion looked at Aiden silently, then helplessly waved his hand after a while.

“… True resurrection requires passing through Bartok’s gate and returning, and currently, the mainstream faith in Frost is the god of death, theoretically speaking, the rules of life and death in Frost should be even stricter and more stable. Now the rumors of dead returning from there are odd,” he didn’t continue to dwell on the issue of whether it was appropriate to enjoy the spectacle too much with his first mate but instead straightened his face, letting the seriousness return to the topic, “I’m more inclined to think this might be some other Transcendent force at play.”

“We’ll have to see how the local grand cathedral reacts,” Aiden said, “I heard that the current gatekeeper of the cathedral is a newcomer named Agatha, a young girl with not much experience. I wonder if she can handle such a troublesome matter.”

Tyrion didn’t say anything. For some reason, he suddenly thought of another equally young individual, showing fierce strength and able to negotiate with his formidable father multiple times with ease—the high priestess of Prand.

If it were that formidable and somewhat fearsome Judge, Fenna… Handling a few small troubles associated with death and resurrection should be no issue, right?

…

A salty sea breeze brushed against her face, carrying a chill not present in the central seas.

Fenna sat on a barrel near the ship’s rail, lifting her head to gaze at the endless sea horizon where a thin mist seemed to blur distant icebergs.

The Homeloss had entered the Chill Sea, far, far away from Prand.

The young Judge lowered her head, continuing to carve a piece of wood with a small knife.

She was crafting a new wave amulet from Sea Breath Wood.

Life on board the Homeloss was actually far better than she had initially imagined—none of the dreadful or sinister things happened. There was a regular routine, decent food, clean private spaces, and noisy but quite interesting fellow crew members._DISREGARD_FROM_TRANSLATION_

There wouldn’t be any deep shadows emerging—even if something did pop up, it would just become a regular diversion for the crew.

Or a bonus meal.

All in all, life on the Homeloss wasn’t bad.

But she still needed some time to adapt.

The small knife slid over the wood chip, carving deep grooves, and the wood shavings fell bit by bit, also calming her slightly agitated mind.

Footsteps approached from behind, and a lively voice suddenly erupted nearby, “Miss Fenna, what are you doing?”

Fenna looked up and saw Nina curiously examining the half-carved charm in her hand and a few other charms already carved on another barrel beside her.

“These are charms dedicated to the Storm Goddess Gomona,” Fenna smiled, aware of the ordinary-looking girl’s astonishing identity, but after a few days of interaction, she no longer found any crew member’s identity particularly surprising, “Casting the Sea Breath Wood charms into the sea is like making an offering to the Goddess.”

“Oh!” Nina nodded with a realization, her face full of surprise as she looked at the carved talismans on the barrel, “I think I heard about this in school, but this is my first time seeing it. You made a lot!”

“Actually…” Fenna hesitated, then paused, looking into Nina’s sparkling eyes before slowly opening the lid of the barrel, “There are more than just these few.”

Nina stared blankly, peeked inside the barrel, and continued to stare blankly.

After a moment, she looked up at the Judge.

“Miss Fenna… are you perhaps extremely bored on the ship?”

“Not really,” Fenna looked a bit embarrassed, feeling it was a bit exaggerated to have carved a whole barrel of charms in a few days, “it’s just… I might still need a little time to adapt.”

“Oh.”

Nina nodded, then moved back beside the barrel and squatted down, lost in thought.

Who knows what she was thinking about.

Fenna placed a new wave charm down and silently put away the small knife.

“Miss Fenna, you’re not carving anymore?”

“…I’ve run out of materials.”

“Should we ask Ai Yi to bring some more?”

“Let’s not…” Fenna said with an embarrassed wave of her hand, but just as she was about to say something else, a strange, deep rumbling sound coming from the direction of the sea interrupted her.

It sounded like something was moving under the water, carrying with it a mass of bubbles rising rapidly.

Almost simultaneously, a squeaking and creaking noise came from the direction of Homeloss’s mast, and the next second, Fenna saw the Spirit Sails above the Ghost Ship adjust their angles slightly, and the massive body of the ship adjusted its stance and course.

Nina then ran to the ship’s side, her eyes wide as she stared at the distant sea, suddenly pointing and shouting, “Look, look! Miss Fenna! Something is coming out!”

Fenna followed the direction of Nina’s pointing finger.

She saw a large swath of rising sea foam, irregular turbulent currents rising like small hills in the distance, and a huge shadow gradually emerging from the water among the currents and foam.

Tall masts, a rust-streaked bow and chimney, a scrubby damaged deck…

It was a ship.

(Shocked, another silver-tier appearance… But my brain is really too foggy right now, I’m all dizzy and confused, allow me a few days break before the double update this time…)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated on N𝘰vgo.co