Who Stole The Empress

[Screaming]

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The ship shook with an uproarious scream.

Arsene kept a firm grip on his iron cane and squeezed it over the mouth of the rising nausea.

It was not a good time to be throwing up.

“What the hell is going on?”

Arsene had already spent a few days trapped in the iron gut.

Fortunately, he didn’t get severe motion sickness, so he was able to tolerate the shaking of the ship.

The cloth over the cage somehow folded up and left in place, allowing him to distinguish day and night.

There were several small open windows in the ceiling of the ship and he could see the outside.

Through them, he could see a small amount of sunlight and hear the voices of the sailors, albeit faintly.

There was a row of cages of children locked up like Arsene in a huge shipping compartment stacked with goods. 

Some of them were so sick that it already smelled like vomit.

If they rebelled, they would be anesthetized so all the children shriveled up.

Arsene stopped himself from rebelling any further.

Now was not the time to run away.

By the time they were off the ship, he was going to take his chances and escape.

The days on the ship had passed, but he did not know when he would reach his destination. This made the boy very anxious.

“I have to get there as soon as possible……..”

Then all of a sudden, the atmosphere became strange since last night.

[Fog. D*mn. It’s foggy. Oh, my God.]

[Everyone, speed up! We’ve gotta get through fast before the fog gets too thick!]

 [Hurry up!]

There was a sense of urgency in the voices of the sailors who had been making noise outside.

It felt as if the ship’s speed had increased.

At some point, however, it slowed down completely, but with extreme caution.

As night fell, the ranting and raving of the sailors all died down.

Even the children in the cages, who had been listening to the sounds outside, scarily held their breaths. 

Rumble.

It was Arsene’s stomach, of all people, that broke the silence. He gasped and clutched his stomach tightly.

He didn’t even know he was hungry because of the tension, but come to think of it, he hadn’t eaten anything since last night.

He was hungry, and so were the other kids. Especially the one who had been throwing up for a long time, who had run out of energy and collapsed and was short of breath all the time.

But that didn’t stop him from screaming for food.

The children knew that the air outside was unusual. It was then. Something rolled under Arsene’s feet. 

“..bread?”

It was a round piece of bread the size of a baby’s fist.

It looked like a piece of bread from the last meal they had served.

Arsene raised his head to look where the bread had rolled.

Arsene’s cage was located at the very end.

One side was a wall and the other side was bordered by other cages.

In the other cage, there was a girl, smaller than Arsene, but with an unusual hair color.

It was a unique color that looked gray with chapped ends. Arsene couldn’t see the girl’s eyes because of her long bangs.

With cracked white lips, the girl spoke in a whisper.

“Eat.”

Then she quietly raised her finger and brought it in front of her lips.

As if to say, ‘Eat without making a sound.’

Arsene held the bread and stared blankly at the girl.

He remembered the size of this wheat bread they gave them last night. It was exactly twice the size of the one he was holding now.

The girl ate only half of it and gave him the leftovers from last night.

…Why?

He wanted to ask, but the girl shook her head and indicated that he should eat it.

Hesitantly, Arsene finally took a bite of the bread.

To his surprise, the bread didn’t get any harder than yesterday, even though it had been outside all night.

In fact, it felt softer than when he ate it yesterday.

But when he shoved the bread into his dry mouth, he felt thirsty.

However, even wishing for water seemed to be a shameful wish.

In the midst of all this, there was something strange about him eating the bread and the girl who had given it to him. But before Arsene could wrap his head around it, something happened.

“Monster!”

The ship shook with a tearing scream.

There was a thud, and then the ship rocked violently as if it were going to tip over.

“Monster …….”

Arsene closed his eyes tightly.

It’s the monster, Herpes.

It appeared.

‘It’s over. It’s over.’

He had assumed that this would be the case, since the ship had sailed perilously close to the end of the trade month.

But he was hoping that those kidnappers had some brains and would take a path to avoid it to some extent…

“Empress.”

Arsene burst into tears as he touched the bracelet around his wrist.

He couldn’t do anything.

The task she had entrusted him with was not complicated, but he was ridiculously kidnapped, and now he was about to be bitten to death by a monster on the sea.

His life was blessed, but he felt frustrated with his first and last mission, which he failed to fulfill.

[Argh! Save me]

The children cried out and shook the cage in horror at the horrible screams coming from outside, their whole bodies shaking on their own.

The seawater flowing in through the small windows of the cabin made a sound as insidious as the children’s fear.

“Hold on tight.”

“What?”

At that moment, the girl who had given Arsene the bread whispered.

“Don’t miss it.”

Unlike the other children who screamed, the girl’s voice was calm.

And this was the very moment.

Boom!

The ship tipped over.

Arsene squeezed his eyes shut in surprise, but he didn’t notice that his whole body was shaking like crazy.

Arsene unconsciously gave strength to the hand holding the bars.

A tremendous amount of seawater came in flooding.

He had no idea what was going on. The iron grate, which had been rolling around, distorted at one moment and the door opened wide.

“Now.”

The girl said, as if she had been waiting. Arsene could not remember in what spirit he had escaped the cage.

But before he knew it, a cold hand clutched his, and he was dragged out of the water-filled shipping room.

It wasn’t a better situation out there, but there was a little more hope than sinking with the ship.

“My breath. I’m choking. I’m dying.’

The ship had already sunk and the corridors were full of seawater. Nonetheless, Arsene did not faint.

It was because the cold hands holding on to him kept pulling him closer. He opened his eyes, which were not easy to open, and looked at the girl.

And as soon as he made eye contact with the girl, Arsene realized.

‘I need to get my head straight.’

‘I can survive.’

-swoosh 

It was then.

A faint light flowed from the bracelet on Arsene’s wrist, enveloping him and the girl.

It was the very bracelet he received from the Empress.

“This thing can protect you or put you in danger. Still… Are you okay with it?”

It was a wonder.

From the moment he was enveloped in the light, he wasn’t choking at all, and the churning of the water that shook the bodies of the two children didn’t seem as great as it had earlier.

Arsene looked at the girl who held his hand tightly.

The girl’s white hair shone mysteriously in the light.

The bracelet protected not only Arsene but also the girl.

The girl looked at the light curiously flowing along her body and Arsene’s and suddenly turned her head away.

The girl, who was staring at the opposite corridor, tugged on Arsene’s hand.

“This way, quickly.”

In response to the impending urging, Arsene held the girl’s hand and swam madly. The pressure of the water and the current were frightening.

When he managed to get through it and finally got out, Arsene despaired once more.

“Monsters….”

Not one, but three were swimming around.

In the shape of snakes, long tentacles grew on their heads.

They had wings, and their sharp teeth were as large and insidious as those of mountain beasts.

With Arsene’s education, it was said that Herpes would wrap its long body around the object and bite it off with those huge teeth.

Herpes’ venom was much more deadly than the monsters on the ground.

“We need to escape.”

Arsene grabbed the girl’s hand and hid behind the slowly sinking ship.

The monsters were hovering around and swallowing sailors floundering in the sea one by one. He couldn’t see the way. He couldn’t just go down to the bottom of the ocean with the ship. 

Even if they did manage to get up there, it was a matter of survival, and now the monsters were there…. Arsene’s hope was fading. As if noticing this, the girl grabbed his hand once more.

Arsene looked back at the girl with painful eyes. The girl’s eyes had a mysterious golden color that never lost its light even in the sea.

“It’ll be fine.”

Arsene crumbled and asked back.

“…How?”

Then the girl raised her finger and pointed somewhere. Arsene’s eyes opened wide as he turned his head along the girl’s finger.

There was a man.

A huge man was unbelievably tearing the Herpes apart with his bare hands. (*my gosh Tamon is a monster himself)

The black blood of the herpes was turbulent in the water like a shimmer. The rest of the Herpes hesitated, realizing that the man’s momentum was unusual.

The man slowly turned his head to where Arsene was.

The man’s red eyes blazed bright red under his wavering black hair. The man stretched his hand towards Arsene.

The girl encouraged Arsene who hesitated. It was the moment Arsene tried to move his body towards the man.

“…!”

Two Herpes puffed up their gills and bit the man at the same time.

“No!”

Instead of the black blood of the Herpes, bright red human blood splashed into the seawater.