"Was I pretty before?"
"pretty."
"Then do you still remember our agreement?" Lily's eyes lit up.
Hearing this, Charles didn't say anything. Of course he remembered it, but he didn't want to discuss this topic.
Lily frowned when she didn't get a response. "Mr. Charles, you are not going to treat me like a child and trick me all the time."
"No, of course not." Charles' eyes subconsciously shifted away.
"That's good!" Lily shrank back in his arms with a smile. Suddenly she thought of something and raised her head and said, "It will be troublesome if you forget. How about we write a written agreement?"
Just as Charles was about to say something, Dipper rolled in from the nearby window, staggering, drunkenly holding a glass of wine in his hand.
"Captain! Lily!! You are all here! That's great, I don't have to look for you anymore, let's go! Let's go to Fatty's house for a drink! Everyone is here!!" After saying that, the big-tongued Dipper rushed over, holding Charles' hand and walked towards the balcony.
Lily seemed very unhappy when she was suddenly interrupted. She glared at Dipper angrily, but the other party pretended not to see it.
When Charles followed him to Chef Planck's home, he found that almost all the new and old crew members of Hope Island had arrived, even the former chef Frey and Grace were there.
The girl with half of her face torn sat quietly aside, sipping coconut juice with a straw.
Somehow a bonfire appeared on the ground at this moment, and the scorched sea fish was roasting with a crackling sound.
Seeing Charles coming, the crew members raised their bottles and glasses at the same time and greeted him enthusiastically.
The lively atmosphere infected Charles. He put everything in his mind aside, took the liquor that James handed over and drank it all in one gulp.
A man in black leather jacket hooked Charles' shoulders enthusiastically, and a smell of blood rushed into Charles' nostrils.
There were only a few vampires on the Narwhal, and Charles didn't care who he was and took him to the table full of food.
The sounds of laughter, fires burning, glasses clinking, and humans swallowing food filled the clearing.
The crew members were all very happy. They hadn't been so happy for a long time, including Charles.
The small backyard was bustling until late at night when it finally quieted down. Charles woke up in the extinguished bonfire.
He rubbed his dry eye with his hand and looked around. The ground was full of people lying everywhere, and Norden's green centipede body was the most conspicuous.
Seeing his companion in such a miserable state, Charles smiled knowingly, pulled his legs out of Dipper's embrace, and turned to walk towards the Governor's Mansion.
Just as he walked out of the small courtyard, he saw West sitting outside with a burnt cigarette in his hand.
Charles grabbed Lily and sat down next to him, "Wait for me?"
West shook his head. "What about the Foundation?"
"To be honest, I don't know either." Charles followed his first mate and looked at the gray wall in front of him.
"This persistence won't last long. The Foundation will take action soon. They are very powerful, even more powerful than ordinary gods. I really don't know how to defeat them. This is a difficult problem that has almost no answer."
West nodded silently, "Well, they are too strong. If there is anything you need us to do, just ask."
Charles patted his shoulder and said, "Don't worry, I won't let them completely destroy Earthsea. We have gone through so many hardships, we can't let this happen to us."
"Think about the people who drank with us yesterday. They are so good. They must not be ruthlessly killed by the Foundation."
Charles shook his head, "It's better for you to help me keep an eye on Hope Island than anything else."
West thought for a moment and then slowly said, "Anna is a hidden danger."
Hearing this, Charles's faint smile slowly disappeared, "Don't worry, I know what's going on."
When he heard the other crew members waking up, Charles stood up and left.
As soon as he arrived at the Governor's Mansion, he unexpectedly saw Margaret sitting on his sofa with 134, seemingly waiting for him.
"Why are you here? Is there something wrong?" Charles asked her.
"Charles, I am very important to you now, right? It shouldn't be excessive to increase my salary appropriately?" 134, who was wearing a princess dress, said with a mouth full of sharp fangs.
"What do you want?" Charles asked as he came and sat down in front of them.
"177! I want 177!" 134 made a special request.
"Tuba? Why?" Charles asked confusedly.
"Don't worry about that. Just give him to me. There's no point in keeping a lunatic, right?" 134 said, pretending not to care at all.
"Tell me your purpose, otherwise I can't give you Tuba."
When 134 heard Charles say this, he immediately became anxious, "If you don't return Tuba to me, don't blame me for turning to the Foundation!"
Charles laughed sarcastically, "You will cooperate with the Foundation? Really?"
If we were to ask who hates the Foundation the most in Earthsea, 134 would probably be at the top of the list. As a human relic who was tortured by the Foundation for thirty years, she has an irreconcilable hatred for the Foundation.
134 The snow-white little hands grasped the hem of the skirt tightly, and the teeth bit it tightly, as if she was enduring something.
Margaret held her hand and explained to Charles, "She just missed Tuba and thought he would be bullied here, so she took him back."
"She didn't tell you because she didn't want you to think she was childish."
Charles turned his head and looked at the corner of the sofa next to him and said, "Go and get Tuba." With a "whoosh", several mice rushed out in an instant.
Not long after, Tuba, with a scallop shell in his mouth and an empty wine bottle in his right hand, was brought over by a group of rats. He had been there last night as well.
Seeing 177, whom he hadn't seen for a long time, 134 stood up from the sofa instantly. When he saw that the other party was not injured at all, the tension on his face instantly turned into disgust.
As 134 raised his hand slightly, Tuba floated into the air and fell heavily onto the glass coffee table in front of him.
"Ah! My nose!!" Tuba woke up in pain, his nose bent like a shrimp.
"Get up! Follow me!" 134 yelled at him in a very bad tone, then turned and walked towards the door.
Tuba, who didn't understand what was going on, stood up from the coffee table. Just as he was about to ask Charles what was going on, his body suddenly floated up and flew behind 134.
As soon as they left, Margaret and Charles were the only ones left in the room, and they looked at each other.
(End of this chapter)