Deep Sea Embers

Of the ones to stay behind, First Mate Aiden had been left in charge since he’s the most experienced of the crew.

“Those city-state policemen sure look nervous,” muttered a sailor, “are they expecting us to go ashore and plunder? I thought the officials of Pland would be better than the countrybumpkins in the north.”

Aiden didn’t look back at his companion: “If they don’t come forward and maintain order, you will start blabbing about them not daring to come block the road next. Seriously, if they bring out the tanks, will you dare fight them?”

“…… I’m not going. I don’t want to be carried back to the deck in a bucket,” the sailor hurriedly shook his head, then glanced up toward where the spiderwalkers had left. “The captain left with them… will he be okay? That tall woman doesn’t look easy to mess with. I don’t think the captain can beat her…”

“We’re not here to fight. We were invited to come here, do you understand?” Aiden finally shot a glance at the sailor, “And you, can you adjust your mentality. Have you forgotten the captain’s usual teachings? We are now the Sea Mist Venture Capital Company – pirating is not long-lasting, and doing business brings in more money.”

“So when are we going to pirate again?”

Aiden thought for a while as a ray of sunlight reflected on his shiny bald head: “That’s obvious, when the opposite side is unwilling to do business…”

Several undead sailors nodded to that one after the other, indicating that the first mate was well-regarded among his peers. Then after several seconds of calm, another sailor with the entire half of his head sunken in muttered: “Can we go ashore and take a look? I heard in Pland you can…”

“Don’t even think about it,” Aiden interrupted the subordinate directly, “Captain ordered that none is to leave the ship without permission. Crooked dates like you lot will definitely frighten the locals to death if you go ashore. Pland is not the north; few here are acquainted with the living dead and its culture.”

“I get it now. So that’s the reason Captain only picked a few guys who looked the most normal. He needed to fit in without causing a commotion,” the sailor with half his head missing said resentfully at himself for missing a piece of the body. “Actually, I think I will look okay too if I cover my head with a turtle shell and a hat…”

“Shut up. No one is allowed to go ashore without the captain’s order!” Aiden glared viciously at the stupid sailor because he could already imagine the mess of disobeying the order, “If you really have nothing to do, go to the cabin to see if the few unlucky bastards who were blasted apart are still moving. If they aren’t, put them back together…”

A slight clicking sound suddenly came from nearby, interrupting Aiden’s orders.

Everyone on the bridge also heard this slight clicking noise, drawing their attention to search for the sound. Eventually, it was the half-missing head sailor who discovered the source.

Next to the captain’s seat, a strange machine made up of gears, connecting rods, and compass pointers, had quieted down again. However, the slightly shaky pointers were still moving, indicating it was running just moments before.

“Did this thing just move?” One of the nearest sailors cautiously approached the elaborate machine and stared at its few compass pointers.

Aiden also walked over, his gaze falling on the small hemispherical bowl in the center of the machine—where a little bit of dried-up blood remained. The captain last used it to know where the Vanished was heading.

The bald first mate’s brow furrowed a little.

As the captain’s most trusted confidant, Aiden knows the device well.

Anomaly 203, the Blood Compass, was a brass machine with a complex structure and unknown principles. Once in possession of the Frost Queen, but now the property of Captain Tyrian.

This machine should be regarded as an anomaly with a more “positive” effect. By using the small bowl at the center, the user could fill it with some of the user’s blood to activate its homing powers. Of course, the effects only work between the next of kin.

Compared to most anomalies that are directly malicious and could be fatal just by improper storage, the Blood Compass was relatively safe in terms of “safekeeping”. It does not require any special sealing conditions – but in contrast, this device would show a sinister side once activated.

First of all, once injected with blood, the user would be constantly tempted by the compass, generating the urge to continuously inject blood until the user’s mental health fractures or they die of blood loss. Secondly, although the blood compass could indeed help the user find their “blood relatives”, it would often “carry bad luck” in the process, constantly leading to things of unfortunate nature for those involved.

As far as Aiden knows, Anomaly 203 once guided a father to find his long-lost son, but the ultimate result was the parent and son murdering each other in the encounter.

However, these negative effects have always been of little importance to Captain Tyrian – the captain’s will was strong enough to resist the “blood donation lure” of the Blood Compass, and as for the bad luck tendency incurred during the process…

First of all, the captain and Miss Lucretia would never meet during the effective period of Anomaly 203. Second of all, the father and son of the Abnomar family have always been “filial and good” towards each other.

That’s right, no matter how cursed and bad luck the Blood Compass was, it could not create a more disastrous first encounter of blasting each other with firepower from their respective ships.

Therefore, Captain Tyrian had often used the Blood Compass as a sort of “warning device” to determine whether the Vanished had returned to the real world for the past half-century.

Aiden and the other sailors gathered around Anomaly 203, their eyes fixed on the brass device’s numerous pointers and intricate gears – they’ve all quieted down now.

“…… Maybe it just wanted to move,” a sailor with a hole in his head said carefully as if to ease the atmosphere. “After all, this thing is usually motionless…”

Aiden glared at the sailor: “Quit joking!”

“If not… we can wipe off the remaining blood in the middle?” Another shriveled sailor began, “Otherwise, I can’t keep calm knowing it might wake up at random.”

“No,” Aiden shook his head, “Captain told me beforehand the blood cannot be removed manually and must be absorbed by the bowl on its own for seventy-two hours.”

“…… What happens if you wipe it in advance?”

“No one knows. It’s hard enough to summarize the correct use of an Anomaly. Who will dare test what happens when you operate it improperly?” Aiden shrugs, “Or do you want to try? I can consider it your contribution to humanity.”

“No, no, forget what I just said.”

Aiden snorted coldly at the idiot.

“ClickClick—” At this moment, the gears in the Blood Compass suddenly started to run again, interrupting the conversation between the sailors.

Aiden, the most alarmed, immediately shuddered and stumbled back a step. Nevertheless, the first mate never took his eyes off the compass pointers. He saw it clearly this time. All the arrows pointed at Pland for a few seconds before it spun again and went dead…

Sharing looks among themselves after the brief silence.

“I still say this thing just want to move a bit…”

“Shut up,” Aiden interrupted the sailor, recalling what exactly happened just now.

Although all the pointers had turned away to other spots before dying off completely, they did, for a brief moment, point directly at Pland. He’s sure of it.

It’s just that the moment was so short that people might suspect it to be a mere coincidence. But in Aiden’s view, it was as if the compass’s “eyes” had just looked at their target and diverted their gaze in a panic to “cover-up”.

So why would he think this way? Simple, Aiden had spoken with Tyrian about this Blood Compass. According to what the captain mentioned, the thing would occasionally portray characteristics of a living creature, just like how a human does.

This thing can be scared…

“Something is wrong… There is something wrong with this city-state!” Aiden snapped to attention, “We’re going to tell the captain about the situation here.”

“But didn’t the captain order that we are forbidden to go ashore?”

“We will pass a message first,” Aiden said quickly, “go bring Perley over!”

The sailor sped away and returned from the bridge area shortly after. The guy had brought over a huge parrot with a colorful tail on his shoulder – the blasted thing was repeatedly grinding its beak shell against the poor man’s exposed skull.

“Perley, I need you to send a message,” Aiden said loudly.

The parrot stopped bullying the sailor, raised his head, and stared at the first mate: “Perley can send message.”

“Go to the city-state cathedral. Look for the captain, and tell him – the blood compass points to Pland. The city-state is not safe!”