The Undead Captain Takes No Living - Chapter 15

Chapter 15

My father stood beneath the bell, holding a fish-drying pole.
The same one from the backyard of our shop.
He used to chase cats with it, and chase Leon to beat him too.
Now he held that pole and struck the Sunken Bell.
Dong.
The Red-clad Woman’s scream faltered for a moment.
I clung to the railing, tears gushing out.
“Dad!”

He looked at me.
His expression was the same as always.
A bit stern.
A bit exasperated.
“Why are you crying?”
“You drew the Salt Line crooked.”
I: “…”

Leon, eyes red, cursed, “You’re already dead, and you’re still nitpicking that?”
My father looked at him.
“You haven’t even finished cleaning the chains off your shoulders.”
Leon shut up.

Cedric stood at the helm and said softly, “Mr. Melowen.”
My father glanced at him.
“At least you remember to address people properly.”
Cedric lowered his gaze.
“I do.”
My father snorted.
“Good. Then don’t always be thinking about sinking the ship.”
Cedric said nothing.
I almost wanted to laugh, but couldn’t stop crying.

My father raised the fish-drying pole and pointed behind Sunken Bell Reef.
A white waterway appeared there.
“Ghost Port shouldn’t be blocked.”
“The more you block it, the hungrier it gets.”
“Send it back to the Sea of No Return.”
I shouted, “How do we send it?”
My father looked at me.
“House Melowen ferries souls, not by death.”
“But by remembering the path.”
He raised his hand.
Countless salt grains flew from the hold, the deck, Leon’s wounds, my blade’s hilt.
They lined up in the air, forming a line.
That line passed through Sunken Bell Reef, leading to a deeper sea.
“Lia, remember this path.”
I was stunned.
“If I remember it, I can return?”
“You can.”
My father paused.
“But someone must do the Calling the Souls at the bow, someone must do the Port Severance at the stern, someone must steer, and someone must guard the sails.”
I immediately said, “I’ll do the Calling the Souls.”
Leon said, “I’ll do the Port Severance.”
Victor propped himself up and stood.
“I’ll guard the sails.”
Gloria, holding the copper bell, said,
“I’ll guard the sails too.”
Cedric looked ahead.
“I’ll steer.”

My father looked at us, and his expression finally softened a little.
“Not too stupid after all.”

The Red-clad Woman crawled halfway out of the black water.
She glared venomously at my father.
“Edwin, you sent me into the Sea of No Return back then. Are you going to do it again?”
My father said, “You eat people.”
“They skinned me first!”
the Red-clad Woman shrieked.
“I was only learning from them!”
I froze for a moment.
She hadn’t been a ghost from the beginning.
My father sighed.
“That’s why back then I only sent you away, I didn’t kill you.”
The Red-clad Woman laughed a piercing, bitter laugh.
“But I still came back.”
“This time is different.”
My father looked toward Gloria.
“She has a name now.”
The Red-clad Woman’s face changed.

Gloria stood at the stern, the copper bell jingling in her hand.
Her voice trembled but was very clear.
“My name is Gloria.”
“You flayed my face, but you didn’t flay away my name.”
The Red-clad Woman howled and lunged at her.
Leon threw a handful of salt.
“Lia!”

I went to the bow.
Cedric turned the helm.
The wind transformed from the Bone Navy filled the Shroud Sail once more.
Victor stood beneath the sail, his longbow drawn.
Gloria tied the copper bell to the mast.
The moment the bell rang, all the lost souls in Ghost Port lifted their heads.
I raised the Soul-Crossing Blade.
The Salt Line on the blade lit up.
I didn’t know what to say when calling the souls.
My father had never taught me.
But I remembered when I was little, every day at dusk he would stand at the shop door and call Leon and me home.
No matter how far we ran or how wild we played, the moment we heard his voice, we knew it was time to go back.
So I took a deep breath.
And shouted toward the whole Ghost Port: “Go home!”

The instant the words left my mouth, I felt so stupid.
But Leon laughed out loud from the stern.
“That’s it! Just shout like that!”
I shouted again: “Debtors, debt collectors, you who can’t find your way-stop crowding this wretched place!”
“There’s a path ahead.”
“Follow the ship!”

Ghost Port fell silent for a moment.
Then, those faceless people, the eyes in the lanterns, the headless guests beneath the tavern signs, the hands under the stalls-all slowly turned toward the Ghost Ship.
They began to follow.
Not lunging.
But walking.
Like a crowd lost in the fog for a long, long time, finally hearing someone call them home.

The Red-clad Woman was still struggling.
She refused to go.
She clutched the wooden piles of Ghost Port, her nails breaking, her crimson silhouette dragged bit by bit by the waterway.
Gloria closed her eyes for a moment.
Then she jumped off the stern.
I cried out, “Gloria!”
She did not fall into the water.
She stepped on the ringing of the copper bell, walking up to the Red-clad Woman.
The Red-clad Woman froze.
Gloria stretched out her hand.
“Let’s go.”
“Stop pretending.”
The Red-clad Woman’s face twisted.
She looked as if she wanted to curse, to bite, to tear Gloria apart.
But in the end, she just stared at Gloria’s hand.
For a long time.
She cried.
Without a sound.
Red tears streamed down her empty face.
She took Gloria’s hand.

The last wooden pile of Ghost Port snapped.
The Ghost Ship charged into the Sea of No Return.