"Uncle Yuan, what are you doing out at sea?"
Wei’en stood on the ship’s rail, looking down upon the surrounding pirates. The storm stirred up by the Dawn blessing ritual whipped his short black hair into a frenzy, but his crimson eyes remained placid, even cold.
In his left hand, he held the silver harmonica. His red shirt was stained with the flesh and blood of those Holy Professionals. The stains had dried and caked, and under the golden radiance shining from behind him, they reflected specks of dark-green fluorescence.
Even as the pirates stared, scanned him with their Spirit perception, and some even locked on with killing intent, the explosive power coursing through his body gave him the confidence to fight another round.
However—
[You have been targeted by the killing intent of Luris Brook. Evaluation: A pirate with a head full of filth. Negligible. Reward: Survival Points +3.]
[...]
[You have been scanned by the Spirit perception of Jack Kim Adros. Evaluation: Sir, kindly retract your ignorance, especially when you’re only borrowing a sliver of power from a garbage Taboo Item. Reward: Survival Points +50.]
’Ignorance... and a reward of fifty Survival Points?’
’Black Jack... is he that strong?’
’Doesn’t that make him even stronger than Huberto, the Judgment Knight I just killed?’
Yuan studied Wei’en, his golden pupils reflecting the light of the Dawn blessing ritual. "The Holy Favored’s ritual won’t be over for a while. Why not come down and talk first?"
"Okay."
Wei’en nodded, leaped lightly off the ship’s rail, and landed beside Marco. Compared to the others, he clearly trusted his former colleague more. "I never expected you to leave Caster. Why didn’t you stay with the Secret Investigation Department?"
"If I were still in Caster, I probably still wouldn’t know that a certain someone impersonated me and caused such a huge incident." Marco pursed his lips, not holding back with his words despite the power gap between them.
A flash of embarrassment crossed Wei’en’s eyes. "...That, uh, was just an accident."
When he was using the name "Red Hair," he never thought he would run into the real "Red Hair" at sea.
"I think you did it on purpose. And after I was nice enough to take you to Nocturnal City..."
"Are you sure that was out of kindness?"
While the two were chatting, Black Jack waved to the others, signaling for them to disperse and remain on alert. He then looked at Waleed and made a hand gesture, telling him to be ready for battle at a moment’s notice.
Waleed nodded imperceptibly and moved with the others to a concealed position.
Black Jack glanced at Yuan, then took the lead and sat in a nearby chair. "Sit and talk."
Yuan beckoned to Wei’en, then followed Black Jack and sat down as well.
"We’ll talk later."
Seeing this, Wei’en stopped his conversation with Marco, walked over, pulled out a chair, and sat to the side of the two, making it easier to observe the blessing ritual. There wasn’t a trace of fear on his face.
Marco hesitated but didn’t follow. Instead, he walked over to the other side and stood with Moskra and the others.
He was well aware that he could talk to Wei’en because they had worked together for a time and were familiar with each other. But to use that connection to sit as an equal with Black Jack’s group and participate in their conversation—he was far from qualified.
"I didn’t expect that after that night, we would meet again like this." Yuan looked at Wei’en, his gaze falling on the harmonica in his hand. "A Taboo Item?"
"Mhm." Wei’en nodded, unconsciously fiddling with the harmonica.
"The power of a Taboo Item is indeed great, but remember not to use it too frequently. It will do you no good."
"Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind."
Just then, Wei’en finally noticed a prompt on his panel. ’Don’t exceed ten seconds?’
’Whoops, a minute has already passed. My Resilience level has been docked 120 points...’
He carefully checked his body for any changes but didn’t notice anything abnormal, so he set his worries aside for the time being. He would only stop using the Taboo Item after he was out of this crisis.
With this in mind, Wei’en calmly asked, "Kali, has something happened to her?"
Based on his understanding of Yuan, the fact that he hadn’t accompanied Kali to the Holy Sanctuary was, in itself, a sign of trouble.
"She’s fine. She has already gone to the Dawn Church’s Holy Sanctuary for training," Yuan’s expression stiffened, and he added a harsh jab, "If you’re referring to the fact that she wants to kill you, I believe she was being quite sincere."
"Plague Doctor, there’s no reason this can’t be said, right?" Black Jack said nonchalantly. "Kali is the Inheritor of the Desecration Authority. And the Plague Doctor here, Yuan, has a deep connection to Kali, so he was affected by the Desecration Authority and had his memories tampered with... He came out to sea this time to find a solution."
Yuan glared at him. "Shut up!"
Black Jack made a zipper motion across his lips with his large hand, then waved his other hand, signaling for them to continue their chat.
"Is that so?"
Wei’en looked at Yuan. ’No wonder he’s out at sea. It was for Kali...’
At that moment, he recalled a time when Kali had been acting strangely, a huge change from the gentle and kind image in his predecessor’s memories.
"You should be more worried about yourself," Yuan said, pointing at the sphere of light in mid-air. "This one’s blessing ritual is clearly different. It’s very likely she’s also a Favorer of a Dawn Authority."
Wei’en nodded nonchalantly, not bothering to hide the information he’d gotten from his panel. "She, like Kali, is a Candidacy Saintess of the Dawn Church. And, hmm, she should be the Favorer of the Kindness Authority."
"Oh? She..."
Before Yuan could speak, Black Jack, who was sitting beside him, suddenly stared at the sphere of light, his eyes wide. "She has the Kindness Authority? As in, the Dawn Church’s Kind Saintess, the one they claim can never be harmed?!"
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