The Undead Captain Takes No Living - Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Three months later, the Royal Capital handed down its verdict.

Auguste had colluded with Ghost Port, harmed the Sea Patrol Navy, and framed Leon. The evidence was conclusive.

The Marine Defense Duke’s Mansion was confiscated.

After Victor took over the Sea Patrol Navy, the first thing he did was come to South Seven Pier to apologize.

Dressed in a new military uniform, he stood outside House Melowen’s shop.

Leon sat behind the counter, cracking sunflower seeds.

“Does apologizing do any good?”

Victor said, “No.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Because I should be.”

Leon looked at him for a while.

Then he tossed him a packet of dried fish.

“Buy one, get one free. No credit.”

Victor caught it.

“How much?”

Leon named an outrageous price.

Victor paid without so much as blinking.

After he left, I asked Leon, “Doesn’t your conscience hurt?”

Leon counted the silver.

“His father owed me.”

“His family already paid.”

“Emotional damages are calculated separately.”

I couldn’t be bothered with him.

Gloria was drying red cloth in the front yard.

She was now in charge of collecting the shop’s accounts.

Because she had a cold face and didn’t talk much, whenever someone tried to skip out on a debt, she simply stood outside their door and rang a copper bell.

It worked very well.

The fish-selling auntie said she had a bright future.

Gloria asked, “What future?”

The auntie said, “Being a shopkeeper.”

Gloria thought it over, and that very night, she snatched Leon’s account book.

Leon was so angry he came to complain to me.

I said, “Didn’t you say your shoulder hurt? Work less.”

He stared at me for a long time.

“You’re playing favorites.”

I was perfectly calm.

“Mm-hmm.”

Leon clutched his chest and left.

Cedric was repairing fish-drying racks in the backyard.

He now studied everything very seriously.

Drying fish, boiling salt, reading accounts, even haggling with the fish-selling auntie.

The results just weren’t very good.

The auntie taught him, “If someone says ten copper coins, you say five.”

Cedric nodded.

The next day, someone came to buy fish and asked, “How much?”

Cedric said, “Five copper coins.”

The man was overjoyed.

By the time I rushed over, an entire basket of fish was nearly sold out.

I asked, “Who told you to open with five copper coins?”

He fell silent.

“I thought I was supposed to say it first.”

I held my forehead.

Leon laughed so hard beside us that his shoulder injury relapsed.

Cedric looked at me.

“I’ll pay for it.”

“With what?”

He thought for a moment.

“My wages.”

“You have wages?”

“Gloria issued them to me.”

I went to find Gloria.

Gloria said, “He works more seriously than Leon. He deserves wages.”

Leon was furious.

“I’m the owner!”

Gloria flipped through the account book.

“The owner owes the shop three taels for wine.”

Leon went quiet.

And so, the days slowly moved forward.

Ghost Port did not open again.

On misty nights, Sunken Bell Reef would occasionally toll once.

I knew it was not a warning.

It was someone far away reporting that they were safe.

One night, I dreamed of my father again.

He stood beside the fish-drying racks in the backyard, complaining that I’d used too much salt.

I asked him, “Will you come back?”

He shook his head.

“Once the road is clear, you don’t turn back.”

When I woke, the corners of my eyes were wet.

Cedric was sitting outside the door.

He didn’t come in. He only asked through the door, “Did you have a nightmare?”

I wiped my face.

“Not really.”

He was quiet for a while.

“Do you want water?”

“No.”

“Do you want me to call Leon?”

“No.”

“Then I’ll stay outside the door.”

I looked at the shadow on the door.

His shadow fell in the moonlight.

Very faint.

But it was truly there.

I suddenly said, “Cedric.”

“Mm.”

“Come in.”

It was quiet outside the door for a very long time.

So long I thought he was going to turn into a block of wood again.

At last, the door was pushed open.

He stood in the doorway and didn’t step inside.

“It wouldn’t be proper.”

I laughed despite myself.

“I asked you to come in and pour me a cup of water.”

He paused.

“All right.”

When he poured the water, the tips of his ears were obviously red.

I looked at him, and the little bit of sadness in my heart slowly dispersed.

The human world was very good.

There was noise, the smell of fish, accounts that never balanced, and a cup of water after waking in the middle of the night.

There was also someone I had dragged back from a ghost ship, now earnestly learning how to live.

Another half month passed, and House Melowen’s shop hung up a new sign.

It was no longer the Melowen Salted Fish Shop.

It was the Melowen Ferry Shop.

We sold fish and boiled salt.

We took business from the living and escorted the dead along old roads.

On opening day, the fish-selling auntie brought a string of firecrackers.

Victor delivered a Navy permit.

Gloria clicked away at an abacus behind the counter.

Leon wore new clothes and leaned against the doorway, bragging to people about how he had once fought his way seven times in and seven times out of Ghost Port.

I exposed him. “You spent most of that time locked up.”

He said, “That was called luring the enemy in deep.”

Cedric nodded seriously from the side.

“Mm.”

Leon patted him on the shoulder with satisfaction.

“See? The Captain understands me.”

Cedric added, “But you were indeed locked up.”

Leon’s smile froze.

I laughed so hard I could barely stand.

At dusk, the customers dispersed.

I stood by the pier, watching the sea mist rise bit by bit.

Cedric walked to my side.

The Red Cord on his wrist had been rebraided by me, with a tiny salt bead added inside.

I asked, “Are you still afraid of getting lost?”

He said, “Yes.”

I looked at him.

He looked at me too.

“But now I know the way.”

Something stirred softly in my heart.

In the distance, the Sunken Bell rang once.

It sounded like someone knocking a bowl beneath the sea, urging us to come home for dinner.

I turned and walked toward the shop.

Cedric followed at my side.

After two steps, he suddenly stopped.

I turned back.

“What is it?”

He raised his hand.

That length of Red Cord swayed gently in the evening wind.

“Ilya.”

“Mm?”

“This time, I caught up on my own.”

I looked at him and smiled.

“Then keep up.”

He smiled too.

It wasn’t obvious.

But it was very beautiful.

“All right.”

The sea mist did not catch up.

We went home.

(The End)