Gun of Ashes

After the naval battle with the Black Tooth Pirates, the voyage of the Morning Glow Advance entered a time of tranquility. The scarred Iron Armor ship advanced triumphantly, leaving a murky white stream on the sea, followed closely by cargo ships, moving straight ahead, laden with supplies and hope.

How many days had it been since leaving Reindona Port? Lorenzo couldn’t quite remember either. The monotonous life at sea not only felt dull, but with the mechanical repetition, even the senses had blurred.

Lorenzo no longer cared how many days had passed; he just wanted to reach land quickly, to feel solid ground beneath his feet, as the swaying deck made it hard to feel at ease.

”Blue Jade, do you find it boring too?”

Lorenzo turned his head, looking at Blue Jade who was kneeling on the deck. She held a brush in one hand and a bucket in the other, continuously scrubbing the cabin wall, cleaning the rust.

Blue Jade ignored him—or to be precise, she ignored everyone. She scrubbed forcefully at the rust to find something to do.

”What about you, Selyu, how do you find the sea?”

Lorenzo turned to the other side. Selyu moved a small chair and sat in the shade, the sea breeze caressing her face. It felt gentle, but over time, it also became somewhat uncomfortable. Yet she squinted stubbornly as she sat on the chair.

Selyu said she wanted to see the sea, then just sat there. At first, she was quite enthusiastic, but after a few minutes, even Selyu seemed listless.

The sea was a monotonous canvas. If not for the rolling clouds, sometimes you’d suspect you were still stuck in the same place.

But it wasn’t too bad; even with such monotony, Selyu still enjoyed sitting there, feeling a sense of freedom.

Ever since becoming Duke Stuart, she rarely had free time. Either learning new things or attending various meetings, though many in the group had the power to make decisions, ultimately Selyu still had to sign off.

For Selyu, this could be considered a rare vacation, though admittedly, it felt somewhat extraordinarily exciting.

In the distance, shadows scurried around the gun deck, continuing the maintenance of the Morning Glow Advance. Before reaching the Viking nations, they’re repairing as much as they can.

Continuous firing had caused problems for the Ascalon, mainly with the base becoming slightly unstable. You could see the supportive framework propping the gun barrel had slightly bent, and the tracks below used to adjust direction had completely broken.

Here was a resting vacation, a few steps away from the fierce battlefield. Selyu had long grown accustomed to such a somewhat fragmented life.

”It’s not bad, like a desert made of water, boundless—if you’re not careful, you might die here,”

Selyu said slowly, the afternoon sun falling, somewhat scorching, making one drowsy.

The crew members, unlike her, as logistics staff, quickened their pace in maintenance, working from dawn until dusk, quite busy, but everyone liked this busy life. For them, this long and dull journey finally had something that could pass the time, with everyone immersed in it.

”A desert made of water? Sounds quite romantic,”

Lorenzo said, feeling a chill from the coldness of the sea breeze.

He looked in the direction the Morning Glow Advance was heading. An endless chill swept over, mostly offset by the scorching sun, but Lorenzo still keenly sensed it.

”Looks like Viking nations aren’t far away.”

”How do you know?” Selyu asked.

”Just a feeling,”

Lorenzo muttered, appearing casual, but he was constantly watching Selyu.

She’s a smart little girl, and Lorenzo is wary of her finding out the secrets he’s deliberately hiding, like he once said, Selyu must not know the intelligence about the World’s End.

Two worlds overlapped on this ship—one was the world of mortals, and the other was the Demon’s Hell. They were so close that if you reached out, you could touch the other, yet you couldn’t see their existence. One towering figure after another formed a human wall, blocking them out.

Lorenzo took off his shirt, picked up his specially-made harpoon, and climbed onto the railing.

Once they reached Viking nations, Lorenzo had no interest in continuing to fish; he wasn’t keen on jumping into cold water to catch fish.

”Indeed, we’re almost there,”

Lorenzo looked down at the sea surface. Fragments of floating ice drifted over with the ocean current, melting quickly, leaving only small pieces.

...

”Is this... a battle of wits?”

Bola came over with a bucket and a mop; he couldn’t stay idle either, so he’d find himself something to do.

”What do you mean?”

Blue Jade stopped her work and looked up at Bola, who approached.

With the sunlight against him, his face was in shadow, wearing loose clothing. Normally, Blue Jade couldn’t recognize him, but she saw at a glance the silver revolver tucked in his pocket.

”She and him—one side racking their brains to dig out some secret, the other hiding again and again...”

Bola shook his head helplessly, ”This seems like a pitiful predicament.”

”We’ve always been in such a predicament, doing things that... can barely be called righteous, but these things cannot be told to anyone.”

Blue Jade and Bola were quite familiar, probably due to sharing life-and-death experiences; Blue Jade spoke somewhat freely with Bola.