Angor looked through the window, puzzled. It was the first time that he heard such a loud horn ever since he came to Moonwater City. Emergency maybe?
The shopkeeper went to the window as well. He stroked his tidy, handlebar mustache, and looked towards the Vichy Harbor with squinted eyes, “Ah, the merchant ship from the foreign continent has arrived. Ha, so the route on the Whalebone Sea finally unfroze. It’ll become busy once they unloaded all the stuff from that ship.”
He immediately asked his assistants to go to the harbor. This was not the only bookstore in the city, so they got to try hard if they wanted to get better merchandise.
“The Whalebone Sea is open? So… the ship from Fey Continent will come soon? Or did it already come?” Angor looked towards the distance in silence. He felt expectation, as well as some sadness.
He took a moment to regain his smile, collect his thoughts, and check the collections in the boxes.
Angor raised an eyebrow when he saw that most books there were leather books. The papers were obviously of bad quality, but since most leather books were collected in noble families, it was natural for common folks to make poor ones.
The shopkeeper had wrapped up every book tightly. As he said, the mold and wetness never got inside. Since the evening was still far, Angor simply sat down and began reading the book one by one.
The sand in the hourglass flowed. The clouds on the sea carried the color of sunset, gray and white seagulls returned to their reefs and dusk covered the entire city. Angor finally stood up, wiped his trousers of dust and pointed at a box nearby. “I’ll take the books in this box. Please bring them to the Glorious Crown Inn in the Bounty Guild.”
The Glorious Crown Inn was the most luxurious one along the entire north shoreline. Of course, the shopkeeper knew about it. He quickly asked his assistant to carry the box and follow Angor.
The books were expensive. All these books cost Angor 30 gold coins, which were nearly the total income of a family of four over ten years. Angor felt his heart bleed too, but when he thought that all the books would become knowledge, which in turn would bring him money, the feeling was not painful anymore. Of course, he knew that was just his excuse trying to comfort himself.
Angor felt joy from everyone along the way. The thawed Whalebone Sea meant that a good year had officially begun.
When he was back at the inn, the sun had just disappeared under the horizon on the sea. A small trace of bright red still lingered along the shoreline, but the Moonwater City had fallen under the cover of nightfall.
Before Angor could open his door, he saw the door across from his room opening. Mara and his grandchildren walked out and came to him.
“I’ve received the message that the merchant ship from Fey Continent has reached the Moonwater Pass, and will arrive at Vichy Harbor tomorrow morning. Pack your things tonight, we’ll board the ship tomorrow noon,” said Mara. He looked at the assistant from the bookstore beside Angor and the big box of books he was carrying, “Hoho, looks like you’re prepared. Good. We’ll stay on the ship for about half a year. The books will help you kill time.”
Then Mara turned to his grandchildren. “Get your luggage too. Starting from tomorrow, you won’t be living your relaxed lives.”
The gentle moonlight soothed Moonwater City into silence. Angor stood on the balcony and looked towards the south, with various thoughts whirling inside his mind. He could only shake his head in the end and bid farewell to his peaceful past.
Night ravens flew past the sky. The Vichy Harbor finally welcomed absolute quietness after midnight, after a day’s busy work.
The quiet harbor was covered in darkness. Only three oil lamps that were almost burnt out were giving out light on several wooden pillars.
A figure suddenly moved past the faint light from a small, far-off ship. Someone covered in black.
The man in black ran quickly and left the Vichy Harbor. He never went towards anywhere with light. The moonlight reflected from his bright, green pupils. Apart from that, nothing special could be seen of him.
The man was like a lone wolf traveling in the night, silent, not entangled in anything in the world, and swift as a cheetah.
When the man ran past the central street of Moonwater City, he suddenly halted and let out a single word.
“Um?”
It was a high, pleasant tune. A woman.
“Strange. I felt a trace of a phantom. Maybe the Goman King made a pact with the people from Brute Cavern?” Fear appeared in the woman’s eyes. If it really was a phantom, she would die the moment she ran into it. “Shit. It’s only a freaking headwear, and they’re after me for two years! Don’t tell me the crown isn’t only a sign of authority but also holds something else?”
She did not dare to linger. She only glanced towards where she felt the phantom, shivered, and ran away without looking back.
She was looking towards the Bounty Guild.
Angor dreamed under the gentle moonlight. His hands uncontrollably scratched his back, and his face showed great pain.
No one could see that some jade-green lines began to stretch out starting from the bladebones on his back. Bit by bit, like creeper vines…
Angor was woken up by Mara’s knock on the door.
He opened the door with sleepy eyes and saw Mara in his black robe, as well as the grandchildren, already dressed up.
Um, why were they up so early?
Aleen’s answer solved his confusion. “Brother Padt, we already finished lunch. Why are you still in bed?”
Lunch? Angor was more confused. If he remembered correctly, Mara said they would board the ship at noon.
Angor showed some embarrassment. He thought about an idea and cleared his throat. “Sorry, I packed my things late into the night. So… wait a minute, I’ll be ready soon.”
Angor closed the door before waiting for an answer.
Mara did not say anything against the shut door. He only led a confused Aleen and an indifferent Alan downstairs.
Looking at the busy scenes outside the window, Angor finally realized how late it was. He could only go and wash up quickly without figuring out what happened.
When he got dressed and asked the inn servant to carry his luggage, Angor finally began pondering what he just went through.
He laid down at a fine time yesterday, so why was he woken up by noon? Angor was always on time about everything, now this was new for him.
Angor considered for quite a while, and the only thing he could remember was that his sleep last night was not really smooth. He felt itchy on his back as if there were ants crawling in the veins under his skin which caused terrible itchiness and indescribable pain.
Did that have something to do with his sleep-in?
He scratched his back unconsciously. Everything was fine.
Just an illusion in the dream?
Angor did not get an answer even after joining Mara and everyone else, so he simply gave up. Maybe he was just mentally tired.