Chapter 29

The atmosphere between Serenia and Lucien was so pleasant that he desperately wanted to just ignore everything and go to a nice restaurant. But, unlike Lucien who was ready to toss away his conscience, Serenia seemed likely to keep worrying about the shop, so it was hard for him to just brush it off.

“…Then, could you go to the nearest guard post and bring someone?”

“Alone?”

“Yes. The owner might come while you’re gone, so it’s better if one of us stays here.”

Serenia looked around worriedly at Lucien’s suggestion, but eventually nodded. With the festival going on, there were plenty of people around and, with Lucien there, it didn’t seem too risky.

“Be careful.”

“Derkan should be nearby anyway. It’s fine, just go quickly.”

Lucien waved with a smile as Serenia looked back at him several times before disappearing into the crowd. Watching her go with a gentle smile, Lucien’s expression hardened as soon as her figure vanished. He leaned against the empty shop door, looking for all the world like the owner.

“But where did Derkan go?”

He’d told Serenia that Derkan was nearby, but he hadn’t seen him for a while, and that bothered him. Derkan wasn’t the type to lose track of someone just because there were crowds… Lucien slowly scanned the area around the shop and the narrow alleys radiating from it, his gaze sharp. Then, faintly, he heard a scream near his ear.

“Agh!”

The brief, dying cry was so short Lucien almost thought he’d imagined it, but he immediately focused on one alley. Straightening up from where he’d been leaning, Lucien rolled his wrist and moved slowly toward the alley. The scream was short, but it sounded familiar enough that he had to check.

“Derkan?”

Sure enough, at the end of the alley was Derkan, collapsed on the ground. Lucien rushed over to check if he was alive—thankfully, he was just unconscious, and Lucien breathed a sigh of relief.

“What, there’s another one?”

Suddenly, a voice came from the dark corner of the alley. Lucien instinctively dodged backward as something unfamiliar flashed by. A club slammed down hard where Lucien had just been.

He regretted coming empty-handed for a moment, but Lucien wasn’t scared. He didn’t know how Derkan had been caught off guard, but Lucien was confident he could take on several men even barehanded. He thought he’d better clean up the mess before Serenia came back, and started to rise—

“Grab that woman first!”

At the man’s shout and pointing finger behind Lucien, his heart dropped. Before he could even think, his head snapped around. He saw nothing but the empty alley, and as he realized he’d been tricked, a heavy blow struck him and the world spun.

‘Can’t believe I fell for such a cheap trick.’

Annoyance flared up, but he was also relieved that Serenia wasn’t there. Through his dizzy vision, he saw men gathering around.

“D*mn it.”

Lucien cursed under his breath and tried to open his eyes, but soon a ringing in his ears overwhelmed him and he lost consciousness.

The moment he’d seen Derkan collapsed, he’d thought, “He’s just embarrassed the whole army,” but now he was in no position to talk.

* * *

“…Are you alright?”

“Ugh.”

His eyes ached as if they’d pop out, and the back of his head throbbed. As Lucien twisted his body, he realized his hands and feet were tightly bound. Still, he was alive, and that was the best possible outcome. Focusing his blurry vision, Lucien looked around. The air was damp and musty—it seemed like a basement.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah. It’s funny, isn’t it, that we both got caught?”

Derkan grimaced miserably, clearly embarrassed to have been captured like this. He’d reached a respectable rank in the military, but now he’d been knocked out by street thugs. Lucien understood his feelings perfectly.

“Where are we?”

“I don’t know. But doesn’t it feel like it’s shaking a lot?”

Lucien thought his head was spinning from the blow, but it was actually the ground itself. Following the light leaking through the wooden planks, Lucien and Derkan found a gap, pressed against the wall, and peered outside.

There was a long hallway with several rooms locked with wooden doors, similar to the one they were trapped in. At the end of the corridor, two men guarded the stairs, but otherwise there seemed to be no other guards.

“They don’t know who we are, do they?”

“Right. If they did, they wouldn’t have locked us up together.”

Exchanging glances, the two sat back-to-back and easily untied the ropes around their wrists after a few tries. They’d learned how to escape restraints so well they could do it with their eyes closed. If they’d been alone it would have taken longer, but the idiots had locked them up together, making it much easier.

Lucien finished untying the ropes around his ankles, rubbed the back of his head, and stretched. Luckily, there wasn’t much blood on his hand.

“I can move around fine. How about you?”

“I’m okay too.”

First, the two checked outside through the small window in the room, making sure not to be seen by the guards.

“…Look at this.”

“What is it?”

“Doesn’t that coastline look familiar?”

Lucien stepped back with a wry smile, and Derkan peered out the window, puzzled.

“Oh, don’t tell me this is…”

“Yeah. Looks like we’re near the sea we guard, right? If my eyes aren’t mistaken, that building over there is our headquarters.”

Amazingly, the huge structure they were trapped in wasn’t a building—it was a ship. They were on the water. Not far out at sea, but close enough to the shore to see the buildings with the n*ked eye.

“What do you think about an illegal ship floating this close to the navy headquarters, Major?”

“Please remember I’m officially on vacation.”

Derkan quickly tried to dodge responsibility. Well, it’s not like these guys have been competent for years anyway. Everything is always the higher-ups’ fault. Lucien estimated the distance and position by the coastline, clicking his tongue as he massaged his neck.

“So this is the ghost ship people have been talking about?”

“Then it’s only appeared recently. The rumors haven’t been around long.”

“That shop must have opened when I was busy with my brother’s wedding, so this ship probably appeared then or even later.”

As Lucien mentally sorted out the incident, he remembered leaving Serenia in front of the shop and gritted his teeth. He’d planned to finally confess to Serenia today, but these bastards had ruined everything.

“My date…”

“Oh, Serenia must be worried.”

“Exactly. I’ll make sure they pay for ruining my date.”

Grinding his teeth, Lucien first hung a lit stick of incense in the narrow window. It wasn’t a real cigarette, but a special signal incense used to communicate with the birds they raised in the military. With the commander missing, the army would mobilize, and with this distance and wind, the birds at headquarters could easily locate them.

“How about we charge upstairs now?”

“…No, tie me up again.”