At night, Charles, holding a square glass wine glass, stood on the balcony of the Governor's Palace, looking at the approaching sea water.
He couldn't sleep, and his mind was full of thoughts about the mother and son he met today. Charles turned sideways and glanced, and saw his daughter reading a book on the bed.
Shanshan seems to not need to sleep. She reads all night every day.
At this time, vines with black leaves climbed up to the balcony from below, and Bandage stepped on the vines and walked up. "Captain... are you hesitating?"
Charles glanced at him, poured a glass of wine from the table next to him and handed it to him. "How do you know?"
The bandage took it. "Rest. For too long. This is not right."
Charles lowered his head and smiled, "You really know me. In fact, when Lily was taken away by the Pope again, I was thinking that I had done something wrong."
"I don't have a home anymore. You are my family to me, but I always put my family in danger. This is too selfish."
Bandage shook his head. "We boarded the ship not because of your order, nor for me... myself... but for our families. The rising sea water threatens everyone."
"Everyone... wants to save... their... family... Their... family... is in the Earthsea..."
Charles squeezed the wine glass in his hand and continued with some emotion. "Anna has asked me more than once not to explore anymore. Our relationship has been strained recently because of the exploration. My daughter, Shanshan, is also asking me to stay."
"Although I didn't say it, I was really a little shaken in my heart. But what happened today made me realize that since I asked others to abandon their wives and children and rush to the surface to save the Earth Sea, then I have no right to hide behind."
"This is very important because I am the leader. Only if I go up, they will be heroes who work together to save Earthsea. If I don't go up, then they will just be cannon fodder sent to die!"
At this point, Charles' eyes became firm again, "Since saving Earthsea requires the sacrifice of everyone, then this also includes me!"
Bandage raised the wine glass in his hand towards Charles, and a stiff smile appeared on his wooden face. "Cheers to Governor Charles of Hope Island."
"To the Admiral of the Hope Island Navy, West!"
The two wine glasses tapped lightly in the air, and then were poured into the mouth at the same time.
Bandage walked to the table, picked up the bottle and continued to pour wine, "Linda said you are inhuman. I don't agree with that. I know you. Your humanity will not change easily because of a simple change in appearance."
"I don't care whether it's human nature or not. I just want this to end quickly."
The conversation between the two also reached Shanshan's ears in the room, and a trace of grievance appeared on her small and delicate face. She closed the book in her hand and slammed it heavily on the pillow next to her.
Bandage and Charles stood on the balcony and continued to drink one cup after another. The two of them rarely had free time to chat casually, and both of them were having a great time chatting.
After a while, the bottle was empty. Charles, who was a little tipsy, felt unsatisfied. He stuck his head into the room and shouted, "Shanshan, go to the wine cellar and get me a bottle of strong liquor!!"
"No! Why drink so much at night? Aren't you afraid of tooth decay?!"
"My dear daughter, your bandage uncle is here too, don't embarrass me, it's just one bottle! Be good!"
Before Shanshan could bring the wine over, a dirty hand suddenly lay on the balcony, causing the two men to immediately reach for their weapons.
"Don't just stand there, pull me for a moment!"
The man with messy white hair, white beard and wrinkled face is Tuba, the navigator of the Narwhal who retired due to madness.
"Tuba, after all this time, you finally found it from another angle?"
Hearing Charles' words, Tuba, with a sad face, put his hands in his pockets and dug hard, and took out a lot of wrinkled rabbits made of newspapers. "There are so many, all of them are broken, I am so tired."
Looking at the crazy Tuba in front of him, Charles couldn't help laughing. It had been all bad news for such a long time, but finally there was some good news.
It is a rare thing for the old crew members of the Narwhal to return.
"Okay, now that you've regained your sanity, let's get back on the boat. I hope your ability to predict the future, which is sometimes effective and sometimes not, can come in handy on that surface that's even stranger than Earthsea." Charles reached out and pulled the bread crumbs off his face.
Charles was about to take his hand back, but was grabbed by Tuba. He said nervously, "Quick! Go to the deck! You are the captain, and you must be the captain! The old captain is dead, and you are the new captain!!"
"Hmm?" Charles frowned and looked at Tuba. "You mean you want me to go back and continue exploring? What did you see in the future?"
Tuba suddenly let go of his hand and walked into the room. He became crazy again.
Charles knew that what Tuba said was probably not the literal meaning. His words became such crazy talk after being refracted from different angles. Judging from the previous situation, his prediction must have a special meaning.
Charles reached out and caught Tuba, who was thrown out by the tentacle. "I will continue even if you don't say it, but no matter what, can you explain it in more detail? Is the deck you mentioned a literal deck? Or is it some other metaphor!!"
Tuba ignored Charles' question and turned to look at him pitifully, "Do you have anything to eat? I'm a little hungry."
Charles sighed slightly. This guy's predictions are always so incoherent. Even if you know what important information is contained in them, you can't figure it out.
It would be great if we could find someone who could understand Tuba. 068 seemed to be able to do it before, but the mobile city had been completely polluted on the surface.
Just as Charles and the Bandage were watching Tuba wolfing down the food in front of them, he saw a group of people standing on the balcony, led by Julio.
Judging from their aura, none of them are easy to mess with.
"You're finally here!" Charles stood up.
"You asked me to come here to deal with the Pope and save your crew?" Julio looked at him with a strange expression.
"That's right."
"But your crew has returned. She is now in the Giant Pit Fortress."
"What?! Lily is resurrected!? I haven't seen her for a long time!" Tuba said excitedly with bread in his mouth.
124-1=123
(End of this chapter)