Chapter 37: Not a Single Decent Bone in My Body
Chapter 37: Not a Single Decent Bone in My Body
The storm raged on, but those at sea feared it not.
Sag left half of his crew on the ship, including Reneetia.
Not because the ability users were hindered by the storm, in fact, as long as they weren't submerged halfway or more, their abilities would be unaffected.
However, someone had to stay behind with the ship, and Reneetia, being a young girl, was ill-suited for venturing out in such weather. Additionally, her familiarity with the vessel and ability to manipulate it with her powers made her an ideal guardian.
Otherwise, with his meager crew, even hoisting the sails would be a challenge.
Braving the wind and rain, Sag approached the unconscious fisherman. "Ajin."
Ajin emerged and yanked the fisherman's collar, slapping him across the face twice.
Stimulated, the fisherman slowly came to, his eyes opening to the sight of a devilish face under the gloomy sky.
"Ghost!"
Slap!
Ajin drew out the cane hanging at his waist, and as the iron ball at the end swung about, he pressed the cane against the fisherman's throat, pinning him heavily to the sandy beach.
The weight of the iron ball pulled the cane downwards, pressing against the fisherman's windpipe and causing his eyes to bulge as he struggled to breathe. His hands flailed instinctively, trying to grasp the cane and free himself from its hold.
"Are you awake now?" Ajin asked nonchalantly.
The fisherman nodded frantically.
Ajin retracted his cane and eyed the gasping, coughing fisherman. "We are not ghosts, we are pirates."
"P-pirates?"
The fisherman paused, his initial reaction not one of fear, but instead, he turned and shouted back towards the shore, "It's pirates! Don't run, it's pirates! Hurry and gather your things from the sand castles!"
Sag's curiosity piqued, "Hey, I'm a pirate, aren't you scared of me?"
The fisherman waved dismissively, "What's there to be scared of? I thought you were a ghost ship."
"I'm a pirate, and I'm here to rob you!" Sag emphasized.
"Oh, I know. What else would pirates do?"
The fisherman gave Sag a strange look, "Your getup tells me you're here to rob, but there's nothing here."
Whoosh!
The sound of a massive wave crashing behind them echoed, and at that sound, the fisherman's face twisted with fear.
"It's high tide!"
From within the sand castles on the beach, terrified cries erupted.
"Waa—"
Then, a dull, peculiar sound emanated from a bone horn, and with that signal, a large number of people rushed out from the sand castles, fleeing towards the inner lands.
"Sag."
Lily's expression turned solemn as she called out.
From behind them, the sea waves resembled a pack of rampaging wolves, surging forward to engulf them.
To be caught in that would be no different from experiencing a maritime disaster.
"Why are you standing there? Do you want to drink seawater? Run!"
Sag merely turned his head to glance back before lifting his feet and dashing forward.
A storm of this magnitude was certainly not something to face head-on.
Especially for Sag himself.
Although not an ability user, he was as good as one. If he were to be submerged halfway in the seawater, he wouldn't lose his abilities, but something far worse would occur.
It would summon sea beasts, even sea kings!
Indeed, when it came to bad luck, he was always exceedingly confident!
The group began to run, dodging the pursuing waves behind them. The surging tide swallowed the shallow shore, quickly reaching the sand castles on the inner beach. It took only one sweep to topple the sand structures, exposing the stone beds and shells within.
A woman carrying a child stumbled and fell as she ran, her terrified eyes fixed on the approaching waves. Instinctively, she clutched the child in her arms tighter.
Whoosh!
A gust of wind blew, and the fallen woman suddenly took flight, bouncing in the air before being placed on the highest part of the beach.
Only then did the woman look up and see a man adorned with many jewels bouncing in the air before landing back on the ground.
"Thank you... Thank you so much!" The woman knelt before Sag, her eyes brimming with tears as she held her child close.
The waves continued to surge, but just as they were about to reach the top of the slope, they stopped. What was once a fairly large stretch of beach now became a small shallow pool, with two to three hundred people gathered on it.
At first glance, they were mostly the elderly, women, and children, with only a few men, all of whom looked frail and weak.
In their hands, they carried stone and shell tools, along with a few pieces of flint. Their clothes were patched and tattered, with not a single decent garment among them.
"You lot are really poor," Sag clicked his tongue, sighing in dismay.
Even at his unluckiest, he had never been so destitute that he had to resort to using stone pots and shell bowls.
He turned to look at the beach that had now turned into seawater and asked, "What's going on here?"
"The Kingdom of Shallow Sands was built on the tidelands. Every once in a while, we experience high tides that wash away our sandcastles," a woman from the crowd explained as she stepped forward. "Thank you for saving Siludi and her child."
This woman stood tall, at least two meters in height, towering over the group of pirates. However, she lacked a formidable build and instead exuded a gentle and soft demeanor. She wore a white robe adorned with a few shell accessories, and her long, silky black hair flowed freely down her back, straight and lustrous.
And her face, despite appearing young, shone with an exceptionally soft and maternal aura. She was a true black-haired beauty.
"That's not a problem," Sag waved his hand dismissively. "I'm not interested in poor people. As long as your king is wealthy, that's fine by me. Since I saved you, show me the way. Tell me where the king is so I can go and rob him."
The black-haired beauty, Maryka, was taken aback. "You want to rob the king? I thought you were good people."
Sag bared his teeth in a grimace and stepped closer to her, raising his hand as he said, "First of all, do good people have to make sacrifices without compensation? Secondly, look at me. Do I look like a good person at all?"
He wore an open-collared pirate shirt, loose-fitting pants, and black boots. A bejeweled pistol hung at his waist, a red jade necklace adorned his neck, and his fingers sparkled with rings and jewels. He also wore a large cape, and his companions brandished their weapons, looking every bit the part of vicious pirates.
There was nothing about him that resembled a good person.
Instead, he looked exactly like a standard pirate.
"Maryka, they're pirates!" The fisherman they had encountered earlier cried out.
Maryka, the black-haired beauty, offered a helpless smile. She bowed slightly to Sag and said, "So you're pirates. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but as you can see, we are very poor. As for the king you mentioned, allow me to introduce myself. I am Maryka, the king of this Kingdom of Shallow Sands."
"You're the king?" Sag raised an eyebrow, scrutinizing Maryka doubtfully. "Don't joke around. How can you be a king? You barely have anything of value on you."
(End of Chapter)
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