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“Monster venom…I didn’t even think about that possibility. What did the members of the Allos caravan do to be bitten by such a monster?” Carlton said.
Luisen nodded and agreed with his companion’s speculations. That monster was found, at least two years later, in the Midwest region of the kingdom. It was surprising to encounter something like this in the South. “More than that, the oarsman have fallen ill with similar symptoms.”
If only the members of the caravan had collapsed, then it wasn’t such a big deal. One could presume that those people were bitten before they boarded the ship. However, the oarsmen were different. They would have stayed aboard the ship while it was docked in Mittil. That meant that the monster was also on this ship.
“There’s a monster on the ship, huh.” Carlton grimaced severely. Won’t that mean that the number of affected people will increase? As more fall, the ship will become more of a pandemonium. “That’s why you answered Morrison’s question so vaguely?”
Before they returned to the room, Morrison had asked the young lord if he had found anything. Luisen simply glossed over his response. Carlton had thought Luisen’s attitude was a bit strange, but unexpectedly the reason had come out before he needed to probe.
“Yeah. I thought it’d be better if people didn’t know about this.”
“You did well. In this sort of situation, the people probably won’t believe you. Since there are a lot of merchants on this ship, money is involved. They’ll probably need a scapegoat–they may even blame us wrongfully.” The best scenario would be to be outed as a liar. The two may be falsely accused of spreading this poison and pinpointing the blame on a nonexistent monster.
“It’d be best to let others know after capturing the monster. Though, we’ll have to find the monster alone.”
“If a lot of people find out and create a fuss, the monster may go into hiding instead. It’d be best to let the two of us handle this.” Carlton was confident; because of that, the young lord also felt reassured.
“Still, I’m glad it’s not an infectious disease. Once the monster is caught, this commotion will calm down,” The mercenary stated.
“If you catch the monster, an antidote can be created. If the sick can just hold out until then, they can be cured.”
Though Luisen couldn’t say much about the monster, he told Cullen how to take care of the caravan’s collapsed members. With fever reducers and commonly used antidotes, the death toll wouldn’t increase too quickly. Though, if they didn’t catch the monster, all of them would die anyway.
‘I wonder if it’s fortunate or unfortunate that the monster is aboard the ship.’
Anyway, it was clear that the two had to catch it.
Of course, this was easier said than done. The ship was large, and Luisen and Carlton would have to wander around searching for a snake the size of their forearm. Moreover, the sick didn’t have much time left; this venture required making the correct decisions and much focus.
Fortunately, Luisen’s experience with the one-armed pilgrim and knowledge of the research data, published later on, remained in his head. The one-armed pilgrim had done much work on this matter, so stories of the snake permeated his pilgrim’s tales.
“That thing doesn’t eat people. It just bites them. It’s bothered by people walking around what it believes to be its territory.” Luisen said.
“What a monster-like motive.”
“It must have bitten the oarsmen now–it must think the ship is his territory. The oarsmen row in a compartment under the deck; the snake must be around there.”
Right now, the oarsmen had collapsed first–not the passengers on the deck or in the cabins. There was a high possibility the snake resided where the oarsmen were located.
“Snakes love places like that, so it makes sense,” Carlton responded.
“That’s right.”
Normally, passengers could not enter the rowing compartment. However, now that the ship had stopped and all the oarsmen returned to their staff quarters, it wasn’t difficult to sneak in.
“The place will be completely empty, so, if we go and rummage around, the angered snake will definitely pop out.” Carlton nodded.
Using one’s own body as bait–that wasn’t so different from the way the one-armed pilgrim caught the monster. Though that seemed simple, not anyone could do it. The snake’s venom was deadly, and it was quick and nimble as it hid in the shadows of its territory. You had to aim for the moment the snake opened its mouth wide to bite your ankle; the attacker needed not only strength to not miss that moment but also the boldness to pull the plan off.
“I can do that much. After all, someone with only one arm pulled it off,” Carlton said.
“However, it’s dangerous so please think about it carefully. Though the saint lacked one arm, he was many times stronger than others.”
“Do I seem weaker than that person?”
“I don’t really have the perception to gauge something like that…” Luisen wouldn’t know; it was hard to tell who was inferior or superior between the two. He just knew that both Carlton and the one-armed pilgrim were amazing.
“I’ll defeat the monster in a blink of an eye. Then, my duke, you’ll have to admit that I’m better.” It seemed like the mercenary’s pride was injured. How cute–such pride made the mercenary look younger. “What is it? Why are you laughing?” he asked.
It wasn’t until the young lord heard Carlton’s words that Luisen realized he was laughing. ‘Good Lord, the day has come where I find Carlton cute. Am I insane?’
“Are you treating me like a child?” Carlton was incredibly perceptive.
Luisen belatedly made excuses for himself, but nothing was effective. In the end, only praises for Carlton’s strength could assuage the man’s mood.
***
It was near midnight. The frenzied crowd grew exhausted from their panic and slept. When sounds of breathing grew louder than conversation–and the sounds of pacing footsteps disappeared–Carlton and Luisen decided it was time to start hunting a snake.
The two stealthily exited their room. They found their way downstairs without much difficulty. Carlton’s ability to memorize the ship’s structure made their pathfinding quite easy.
Sailors who should have been patrolling the hallway could not be found, and that absence made the situation more disturbing. It meant that this situation was so urgent that the staff had abandoned their posts. The night on this peaceful river was silent as death; the moonlight sparkled and scattered on the surface of the water.
The two reached the below-the-deck door without encountering anyone. The door was locked and needed a key, but Carlton managed to break it open by roughly shoving in an iron skewer into the keyhole a couple of times.
The mercenary took the lead, and the young lord followed him down the stairs. It seemed like there was nothing but a void of darkness at the bottom. Since the oarsmen had left the place, it seemed like all the lights had been extinguished as well. The lower they went, the more nervous the young lord felt.
The sway in the basement was incomparable to that in the deck and the cabins. Whenever he touched the wall, he could feel the vibrations of the current hitting the ship’s hull. The young lord was hit by the realization that, without this thin wall, the large body of water would simply swallow him up. Splish– Splash– the sound of water permeated into the room.
‘It’s too dark here.’
No matter how much better his life became, Luisen still hated dark places. When trapped without light, he remembered the long, painful days before the one-armed pilgrim had saved him. He could separate reality from those unpleasant memories now, but he could still vividly feel the fear. Moreover, the pressure exerted by the enclosed space was significant; he felt like his chest was tightening, unable to breathe properly.
Luisen inadvertently grabbed the hem of Carlton’s clothes in front of him. The mercenary turned around.
‘Ah, I don’t want to show him such a pathetic appearance,’ Luisen thought.
He tried hard all this while to hide the fact that he had a phobia of the dark. He thought the other would find him annoying and bothersome.
“Slowly…Let’s go down slowly.” The young lord released the mercenary’s hem and pretended to be fine. He had learned to bluff like this after wandering alone for a long while.
Carlton looked at the young lord silently for a while before pulling on the man’s arm. “Stand in front of me.”
“Wh-What?” Luisen let himself be dragged to the mercenary’s front. Beyond the narrow staircase lay a great darkness. The sound of water splashing filled his ears. “S-Sir Carlton. W-Wait.”
Ugh, it felt like something was there: a ghost, a black blade flying towards his head. Luisen tried to turn his head around, but the mercenary didn’t allow him. Carlton hugged the young lord’s back from behind and grasped the young lord’s chin with his hand. Luisen clamped his eyes shut.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of. I’ve been wondering about this for a long while…are you afraid of the dark?”
“No…”
“Try to keep your eyes open. If you keep looking, your eyes will adjust.”
“But–“
“You should at least try.” Carlton was determined.
Complaints like, ‘Are you really doing this now?’ and ‘Are you my father’ climbed up the young lord’s throat.
Still, the body temperature transferring from Carlton’s firm, supportive body to his back gave the young lord a strange sense of stability. He could hear the sound of the mercenary’s heart. The deafening sound of the flowing river was drowned out by those steady heart beats, giving him a little courage.
‘Should I open my eyes? Just a little?’ Luisen narrowly opened his eyes. ‘Ugh, It really feels like something’s there.’
It felt like there was a person standing in the dark.
“Is that–Is that a person?” the young lord asked.
”There’s nothing there. If there were people, I would have noticed.”
“Must be great to be you!” Luisen’s temper flared; he cried out. His voice cracked at the end of his sentence.
Carlton found it funny, “Now, watch your step.”
The mercenary led the young lord down the stairs. On the last few steps, Luisen’s eyes began to get used to the dark. Finally, he could see what he had mistakenly believed to be a person.
The basement level was just dirty; chairs, oars, wooden boxes…it was all just rolling around in this space. A slight scent of sweat–and something musty–permeated the area. They could see where the oarsmen haphazardly threw away their oars as they ran away; the place looked lived in.
“It’s not much, huh,” Luisen said.
“See? It’s not so scary once your eyes adjust. The more you try not to look around, the scarier it’ll be. However, well, you don’t have to push yourself. You can turn on a light.” With that said, Carlton lit the torch.
Luisen felt choked up yet again, “Honestly! You should have run down and turned on the light from the start!”
“Think of it as an experience–a learning experience.”
“Wow. Really. Wow.” Luisen was struck speechless by disbelief. The mercenary laughed as he saw how offended his companion was. Before long, Luisen began walking casually around the area, even though the few lit torches did not properly drive away all the darkness.