Chapter 365: Sneaking Away

Chapter 365: Sneaking Away
Martha disappeared, as if she had never existed from the beginning.

Yet the warm touch still lingered on her temples, the slightly lemony scent still lingered in her nose – she never seemed to come, yet she never left either.

Lawrence felt his fingers shaking a little, and as he lowered his head, it took him several tries to recap the tiny bottle, and a long time to reposition it in his close pocket, and he felt his heart thumping – not even when he was caught in the middle of a big storm did his heart ever beat like this.

Sanity came late, like a long dream, and he realized that he had just had a brush with madness, and had even fallen into a persistent state of delusion, which, for a captain who had spent most of his life at sea, was impossible to regain, but he was neither glad to have survived, nor did he have any pangs of the madness he had faced.

He only felt a kind of indifferent sadness and regret.

And this kind of indifferent sadness and regret is a kind of warning sign – it means that from the bottom of his heart has been not too resistant to “madness” itself.

Lawrence drew a sharp breath and tried his best to shake off the thoughts that were cluttering his mind. He looked around him and saw that the White Oak was at his feet, and that there was a boatload of people waiting for him to take them back to Prand.

Now was not the time to descend into madness.

“It really is time for me to retire ……,” the old captain sighed, slowly stepping away and walking towards the staircase in front of him, but he suddenly stopped just a few steps out, a bit of gravity on his face.

He recalled the scene when “Martha” appeared just now – although he knew that this kind of “reminiscence” is very dangerous, and may cause the other party to reappear, he still could not help but recall, because he suddenly realized that just now, “Martha” appeared in the staircase. Because he suddenly realized that what “Martha” had just said to him was very disturbing:

“Lawrence, be careful, you’ve come to the middle of the sea ……”

“If I were you, I should not have any unnecessary questions at this time, but immediately set sail to leave this place …… Your vigilance has been lowered ……”

Lawrence subconsciously repeated these two sentences in his mind, despite knowing that just now it was a hallucination produced by his own faulty memory and faltering cognition, he could not help but take these two sentences as some kind of a warning sign – Martha might be nonexistent, but did he feel some kind of danger in the depths of his intuition? Were these two words …… a warning from his own subconscious?

The old captain looked around the ship, taking another good look at the White Oak, everything was normal, and then he looked up at the Frost City state next to him.

Everything was normal in Frost City, the neighboring harbor area looked calm and peaceful, not far away from the city area the lights had already started to come on, and farther away, the high cliffs overlooking the sea showed a hard and powerful silhouette in the dim light of day.

But a faint sense of dissonance rose up, as inexorable as a tide that gradually rises in the mind, and with the appearance of this dissonance Lawrence suddenly heard the soft sound of the waves in his ears-overlapping just above the sound of the waves around the White Oak, which at first he did not distinguish, but which he soon realized was sounding directly in his own mind.

The sound of the waves …… was a warning? It was the storm goddess Gemona’s blessing taking effect?

Lawrence’s eyes stared, immediately abandoning his intention to head for the shore and turning violently to rush in the direction of the bridge, the cold night wind whistling in his ears, stimulating his nerves like a blade.

“Captain?” The first mate, who was on duty on the bridge, looked startled to see Lawrence’s sudden appearance; he rose from his chair and came quickly to the captain, “You are not going ashore ……”

“There’s been a change in the situation,” said Lawrence quickly, “and I don’t think it’s quite right …… How long have we been anchored here? Has anyone sneaked ashore?”

“No,” said the first mate at once, “you’ve ordered everyone to stay on board, and everyone is still quite honest. Besides, we’ve been docked here for a couple hours now.”

“It’s good that no one has come ashore,” Lawrence nodded quickly, then glanced in the direction of the bridge, “Light the steam core and let’s get out of this harbor.”

“Ah …… huh?” The first mate didn’t react for a moment, “Leave this harbor? We just ……”

Lawrence interrupted without waiting for the other party to finish, “Something’s wrong with this place, I can’t say, but I feel very bad. Remember earlier when the stargazing room went wrong? As well as earlier, we couldn’t get in contact with Frost, and since then, everyone’s guard has been down, something …… is affecting us all.”

He spoke quickly, all the while aware of how unorthodox the orders he had given were – he had no evidence to justify his orders other than a little intuitive defiance, and the White Oak had just come off a long voyage, and both men and machines needed to be recuperated at this point, and under the circumstances his order to leave port was as good as nonsense.

What’s more, the departure was to be coordinated with the port authorities, and relighting the steam core without reporting was a serious violation, and he had to take responsibility for his decision.

But the warning signs were pounding in his heart, the sound of the waves echoing in his mind, and Gemona’s blessing warning him not to continue to contact the Port, not even to say one more word.

The first mate gazed steadily at the captain in front of him, and after almost half a minute, he suddenly stood up straight and exclaimed, “Aye, Captain!”

On the ship, the captain’s word was law. An unhinged captain could cause the entire ship to be buried with him – but in higher probability, an experienced captain could save a ship full of people from a crisis.

Orders were quickly given throughout the ship, and the bewildered sailors were urged into action, and were soon ready to set sail again with reflexive proficiency.

New boiling gold catalysts were inserted into the steam core, and the low sound of mechanical vibrations awakened in the depths of the White Oak as the sailors quietly disengaged the securing cables on the side of the ship and retracted the diving boards to the deck, and Laurence stood on the bridge and watched the movement on the docks intently through the wide glass ship –

A number of figures moved about the docks, the figures blurring and appearing indistinct in the dim gaslight, and a number of loading and unloading vehicles drove by a little farther away, leaving long, thick projections on the pavement.

They seemed completely unaware of a ship relighting its steam core in the night, and even less of the “something” that had suddenly appeared to intercept the White Oak as it was preparing to sneak away.

The situation was better than expected, and in Lawrence’s worst case scenario, he feared that the moment the steam core was rekindled, hundreds of sea monster tentacles would suddenly appear in the surrounding waters, dragging the White Oak straight into the water.

“Keep the lights in check, and don’t sound the siren,” said Lawrence quickly to the first mate beside him, and then striding over to the bridge, took the wheel in his own hand, “I’ll take the helm myself-boilers maintained at high pressure, and be ready at all times to be ready for overload.”

“Aye, Captain.”

Although there were still doubts in his mind, everyone on this ship carried out the old captain’s orders without hesitation, and Lawrence could feel that the steel beast under his feet was slowly moving.

The lights were maintained throughout the ship, the propellers beneath the water began to turn, the White Oak was drifting away from the harbor, the clatter of the water being churned up, everyone tensed up, all eyes looking over the side to the city-state that was being shrouded in the night.

Lawrence felt his hands sweat.

But there was still little unusual reaction from the city-state – even though the White Oak’s movement could no longer be concealed, no one could be seen coming to check on the situation.

He looked again to the nearby radio communications station, where the telegraph was as silent as death.

Theoretically, the Port Authority should have sent an emergency contact by now, and the port officials on duty would have questioned the White Oak about the reason for her sudden departure – but nothing had happened.

Instead, it strengthened Lawrence’s confidence that he was right.

Something really wasn’t right about this place!

The power of the steam core was increased by one level, and the propellers gradually increased in speed as the White Oak moved faster and faster out of the dock area, and the open sea began to appear directly in front of the bridge, the water sparkling.

Lawrence took a deep breath and gripped the rudder wheel hard, “Increase to full speed!”

……

A gray wind rolled across the courtyard and coalesced in the vestibule of the cathedral, Agatha’s figure stepped out from the gray wind, she flew through the doorway and hall, and came to the “Meditation Hall” where Ivan, the bishop of the city state, was located.

The icon of Bartok, the god of death, stood quietly at the end of the sanctuary, and the black coffin was placed horizontally on the platform at the foot of the icon, and the lid of the coffin was open, and Bishop Ivan, who usually rested in the coffin, stood at the side and looked up at Agatha’s direction.

This mummy-like bishop whose entire body was wrapped in bandages, with only one eye exposed, was today draped in a robe with a black background and gold edges, holding a tin staff in his hand, and after Agatha approached, he took the initiative to open his mouth, “I’ve already heard of what happened on Dagger Island.”

“I can see that you’re going to preside over the meeting yourself,” Agatha nodded, but was a little worried, “Will your body hold up?”

Bishop Ivan raised his hand, and between the gaps in the bandages, there seemed to be a grayish-white mist slowly drifting out.

“One of the body and the will will hold up just fine.”

(End of chapter)