The Starbell Lily of the Valley did not remain long at the dock. Once Vieya and the other ticket-holders boarded, the crystalline stairway was quickly withdrawn.
Only after the ship vanished down the frozen track in a flash of light did the silence of the dock burst into a tide of uproar.
As the magic ark sped forward, the dockside anomalies slowly dissipated.
At this mont, Vieya’s heart was a ss. She ought to have been resting, regaining her strength, but she could not sleep at all—her thoughts were flying tens of thousands of miles away.
Perhaps... soon she would see her daughter.
But alongside her anticipation, Vieya also felt anxiety and fear. She worried her daughter would refuse to acknowledge her. And worse, she feared the questions her daughter might ask:
“Papa, why is your hair so long?
Why is your body soft and fragrant?
Why is your face just as cute as mine?
Wow, even your body looks the sa as mine!
...Papa, are you really my papa?”
Gods, just imagining such a scene made Vieya’s face pale!
But what she feared even more was—she did not know how to explain Flaviel’s death to her daughter.
So things could never be escaped, never run away from... no matter how fast you ran, faster than sound, faster than anything, you could never outrun the past that was already set in stone.
Twining a lock of her hair around her fingers, Vieya imagined her daughter standing before her, and herself speaking sternly:
“Sorry, to protect world peace, I killed your mother.”
Smack!
If she explained it like that, surely father and daughter would turn against each other?
Even if not... she would likely never be forgiven for the rest of her life.
“Sigh...”
Vieya slumped onto the floor, her erald-like eyes dim, staring blankly at the drifting magical ice crystals outside the cabin window, as if they were fragnts of her dwindling steel resolve.
No matter how she thought about it, a daughter raised among demons would always feel a stronger sense of belonging to the demon side, wouldn’t she?
This was too hard.
Suddenly.
Knock knock.
“Child, child,” Aislin’s voice ca from outside the door, “this ship actually bans instrunts—even flutes! So boring, nothing to do... I ca to chat.”
“Co in.” Vieya gave the invitation.
“Phew. The deck is freezing, much warr in here!”
Aislin rubbed her pale arms as she slipped in through the door, sighing as she complained:
“That flat-chested Hero is so fierce! I was happily recording my first voyage, so many passengers on deck waiting for my performance,
and ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) she suddenly ordered her knights to drive us back to our cabins. She even warned this ship forbids all entertainnt—otherwise she’d confiscate my accordion and bone flute to burn them...”
“She reminded you, not threatened.”
Vieya knew the Reversal Hero. Rotisha was not a bad person. Though overly fixated in so areas, she could be called a competent Hero.
“And this is a warship. Giving a concert on a warship leaves a poor impression.”
“Not a concert. It was just my first ti on one of the Four Magic Arks—the Starbell Lily of the Valley—so I was excited. I wanted to play a piece to vent my emotions and record my journey.”
Aislin ca to sit beside Vieya on the floor, pulling a bundle of food from her pocket and gesturing with her mouth:
“Here, you looked troubled ever since boarding, shutting yourself away instead of freezing on deck with the rest. You did not even fetch the free snacks the ark offers, so I brought you so. Eat, they’re still warm...”
“Thank you.”
Vieya was not hungry, but still took the pastries and swallowed them one by one. A sli-girl’s stomach was like a bottomless pit, able to contain anything.
In no ti, several boxes of snacks were gone.
In her Hero days, she often camped rough outdoors, so Vieya was never picky. She could eat anything, and aside from needing large quantities, she was easy to sustain.
“Sigh. Looks like the Lord Mayor of Deerhorn City has earned that Hero’s hatred. She did not seem eager to reinforce this side.”
Aislin was ever talkative. “But I heard two Heroes are already in the southern lands. By reason, the strength of two Heroes should be enough to suppress this monster tide that isn’t so severe.”
“Even if the Violet Hero is still young and inexperienced, it should still be enough.”
Seeing Vieya had nearly finished, Aislin pulled more food from her travel bag as if by magic, piling it beside her like a small mountain.
“Ah, you’re the hungriest child I’ve ever seen.” Aislin smiled. “Plenty of adults don’t eat like this. Doesn’t your stomach hurt? Eating moderately is healthier.”
“No problem.” Vieya paused, then calmly popped another piece into her mouth. “Children’s bodies need energy to grow. Eating more helps developnt.”
“Oh?”
Aislin shifted into a more comfortable position on the floor. Once she was sure this human child was fine, she continued her topic. “But in this conflict between humans and demons, the Violet Hero seems to have gone missing. Who knows where. Maybe on so special mission?”
If lying unconscious in a hospital counted as a mission, then sure, you’re right. Vieya thought, then looked at Aislin and asked:
“Did the Lord Mayor of Deerhorn City board?”
“No.” Aislin shook her head. “That Hero did not wait for him. Maybe she was just venting at the ti?”
“I see...”
Vieya kept eating. But suddenly the ship shook violently!
Boom!
Boom-boom!!
The imnse sound of stone and steel colliding rang from outside, followed by wave after wave of violent jolts! In an instant, the ship tilted over forty-five degrees!
If not for the many arrays carved into the bulkheads, the sealed cabin would have been nothing but a tumbling drum.
“Careful!”
Quick as lightning, Aislin grabbed Vieya, pulling her clear of a falling cabinet. “This would not happen if we had reached our destination. I must go out to check. You stay here. Wrap yourself in blankets and nothing will happen!”
“I will go with you.” Vieya hesitated, then added: “I am an adult. I am strong. I can do anything.”
Aislin ant to refuse, but when she t Vieya’s calm green eyes, the words stuck in her throat.
On deck, a thin layer of blue ice crystal had ford.
Rotisha had stripped off her white officer’s coat, revealing silver-white Hero’s armor beneath. Her pale blue hair stread in the wind, and in her hand appeared a black lance shaped like the second hand of a clock.
The frozen channel had shattered, and a massive reef had lifted the prow of the ship.
“The route’s been intercepted...”
Rotisha’s dark-red eyes carried shadowed emotion. She knew—a magic ark traveling at 4000 ters per second, precisely cut off on its path.
There was only one possibility—
Their movents had been leaked.
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