Chapter 12

"Hah, hah, hah..."

I lay down on the sand while taking the air back into my lungs.

I felt like I was alive again, breathing in the water felt very strange.

After subduing the four monsters, I told them to take me back to the east coast.

I wasn't sure if they could really bring me here, but it seemed like they could understand my thoughts, even if I didn't say them.

I don't know if it's some kind of telepathy, but either way, it's something favourable.

I had told them to leave and wait for my next call.

I actually doubt if they'll really come if I call later, but there's no way I'm bringing them back home, right?

I'll go back to the sea tomorrow morning.

For now, I should get ready for Sarah's nagging.

Considering it's late at night now, I hope she's already asleep.

-----

Arriving at my base or home, calling it base feels really weird now, I could see the lights in the house were off, which meant the girls were already asleep.

I opened my door quietly, hoping I wouldn't wake Sarah and the others.

But I just remembered that my house can only be unlocked from the inside.

"I should've brought the key."

I made a knife with my flame and tried to pry the lock secretly.

But the door opened before I could do that, with Sarah's beautiful face looking rather sinister as she wrinkled her forehead.

"Can you explain what you're doing, Master?"

Because of the rather dim atmosphere, somehow Sarah's face looked both scary and beautiful at the same time.

"I just... Wanted to check if the door was locked properly or not..."

Hearing my words, Sarah's gaze became even more intense.

"Okay, sorry. I can't keep my promise, again."

I must have made them worried and scared again.

Especially Amy, I could see her behind Sarah, sleeping while hugging Adela on the bed.

It looked like she was crying again.

Whenever I didn't come home before she went to bed, she was always like this.

"I'm really sorry, Sarah. I couldn't come back on time because some things didn't go according to my plan, but what can I do, circumstances forced me, you know?"

I glanced at Sarah because I thought she would scold me, but she didn't do that.

Instead of getting angry, Sarah smiled gently.

"I know, Master. I'm just glad you came back safely."

"Ah..."

Man, she really is beautiful.

"Have you eaten, Master?"

"Ah... Not yet."

"Come with me, Master..."

Sarah grabbed her slippers and pulled me away to the dining room that was near the warehouse.

I call it the dining room, but it's just an open space with a tent covering it.

We usually use this place for eating and cooking, as it's quite cramped inside our house.

"Sit here, Master. I'll heat up the soup I made earlier."

"You don't need to do that, I can eat it as it is."

Sarah just shook her head, she then began to take something out of our food bin and placed it on our clay stove.

She heated it up for a while, put the soup in a bowl, and placed it in front of me.

"Here you go."

"Thanks, Sarah."

I ate Sarah's homemade meat soup as she sat across the table, staring at me.

She seemed to want to talk about something, so I waited for her to speak.

When I finished about half of my soup, Sarah opened her mouth.

"So what's going on, Master? This is the first time I've seen you so tired. You've come home late before, but you never looked this tired."

She noticed that, huh? What a considerate girl.

I wasn't sure if I should tell Sarah or not, but I thought it would be a good time to talk to her about it.

I told her everything that happened, except for the part where I lost my limbs because it was too embarrassing and inappropriate to talk about over the dinner table.

I also told her that soon, we would be able to sail off this island.

"Hmm... I see."

Sarah nodded while placing a hand on her chin.

I don't know what she was thinking, hopefully it wasn't what I had in mind.

I open my mouth carefully.

"So... Are you leaving?"

"Hmm? What do you mean, Master?"

Sarah tilted her head, clearly not understanding my question, or maybe she is just pretending?

"I mean, we can already get off this island. So... If you want to leave, I can't stop you, it was our agreement from the beginning."

This is why I didn't want to discuss this, I was afraid that Sarah would decide to leave.

If she does that, I can't stop her. It was our deal from the start.

I don't want her to leave, but what can I do, you know? I don't want to force her to stay here.

If she really insists on leaving, I can only smile and let her go.

Perhaps because she realised my inner conflict, Sarah smiled mischievously.

"Hmm..... I see."

"What?"

Sarah's smile widened even more, she placed both hands on the table, and leaned her chin.

"Do you want me to leave, Master?"

This girl, she already knew the answer, but she asked anyway.

"Of course not."

I replied while averting my gaze from her.

For some reason, I can't look Sarah directly in the eyes.

Seriously, why do I feel so embarrassed? She's just Sarah.

Seeing my reaction, Sarah giggled.

I glanced at her, and I could see she was trying to hold back her laughter.

She then looked back at me with a teasing look while resting her chin in her hands.

"I didn't know you had a cute side, Master."

"Oh, shut up."

I rolled my eyes.

"Can I take that as a yes?"

Sarah smiled.

"Who will take care of you if I'm gone, Master? Plus, I don't have anyone waiting for me at home, In fact, I don't even have a home. Not to mention Amy has also decided to stay here. So, yeah.... Staying here with you, Amy, and Adela sounds more fun than going back to my boring old life."

I nodded and resumed my meal.

I may have acted as if I had already guessed the answer, but that was just my attempt to cover up my embarrassment.

To be honest, I'm not completely sure that Sarah will stay, but after hearing the answer directly from her mouth, I feel really grateful.

I didn't want to admit it, but I guess I had become dependent on her as well.

Just like she had also depended on me.

Realising my thoughts, Sarah smiled mischievously.

I could feel her gaze, but I ignored it and continued with my dinner.

I felt totally lost to Sarah tonight, but I could see her mischievous side so it didn't really matter.

-----

Morning came, and I had to pamper the sulking Amy.

It took a while, but she finally calmed down after Sarah and Adela helped me calm her down.

We ate our breakfast together, as usual.

As soon as I was done with breakfast, I immediately went to the Magnoras village, to explain the situation to Chief Harald.

I could see him fleshing animal skins with some of his tribesmen, it looked like he had just returned from hunting.

"Chief Harald."

Noticing my arrival, Chief Harald immediately stopped his activities.

"Do you need anything, Lord Abel?"

Not wanting to waste time, I got straight to the point.

"Can you teach me how to steer a ship?"

Chief Harald looked puzzled, probably because he didn't expect me to ask this soon.

"Of course, my Lord. But the problem with the Trench Keeper is still-"

"I'll take care of it right away, just gather your lad and wait for me at the ship..... 2 hours from now."

"Sorry if I'm rude, my Lord. But how will you do that?"

"You'll know when you see it, two hours from now, understand?"

Realising my seriousness, Chief Harald nodded.

"Yes, my Lord."

"Good, see you in two hours."

I left Chief Harald who still looked confused.

I wanted to explain to him, but I thought it would be better if he saw for himself later.

Sometimes, words are not enough.

I also don't want to waste time on explanations, I'd better get to the beach and execute my plan.

My plan is very simple, it's just like usual.

I just needed to watch from a distance, find their leader, approach it, then burn it with my blue flame.

It was that simple. Or at least, I hope it were that simple.

But well, if this doesn't work, I can still try another day.

Although I had to endure the embarrassment of having told the others that I would finish it today.

While walking along the outskirts of the island, I returned to the place where I had the four fish monsters I had subdued last night to wait.

When I got there, the four monsters instantly emerged from the sea and stood before me.

I only needed one of them for my plan, so I killed the other three and left the one that looked strong.

Of course, I fed their corpses to my new flame to eat.

I then told the one remaining monster to go call its leader, and led it into a place where I will ambush them.

Once it was gone, I summoned all my shadows.

"Alright, lads. We'll be fighting underwater this time, so.... I hope you're all water-resistant."

After saying that, I led all my shadows into the sea, by walking.

I didn't know how to swim, so I had to walk on the seabed. And since I didn't know how to swim, my shadows didn't know either.

It felt a bit strange and heavy walking on the seabed, and this would obviously lower the fighting ability of me and my shadows.

But after a while, I got used to it.

So with that, I marched to the bottom of the sea.