North x Northwest

Alain quickly hit him on the back of the head. He then asked, raising his gun back towards Lil.

“Really, who are you?”

“Lil Schweiz.”

“…”

As Alain had no answer and Lil had nothing more to prove, she let go of the doorknob and turned around.

“Come in.”

Her eyes instinctively fell on Ed, who lay in front of the flickering fireplace.

‘Chances of survival were already slim to begin with, but to make matters worse, there are now two more people with enough justification to shoot him…’

Alain seemed to have noticed that Lil couldn’t let go of her sword, so he asked nervously.

“Who is that?”

Before Lil could answer, Jericho walked ahead of them and tilted his head as he looked down.

“…Doc… tor?”

Lil immediately rushed past Jericho and blocked Ed from their sight. Her mouth dried as she swallowed dry saliva. Watching the two, she elaborated, hoping to ease the rising conflict a little.

“That’s right. But he’s close to dying.”

Alain bent his upper body to examine Ed’s complexion.

“Then what are you doing here instead of doing anything about it…”

“We can’t leave because we’re being chased.”

“Who is chasing you? No, that doesn’t matter. What do you need?”

“Clean water and a clean cloth…”

“You can find that much from a cabin near here.”

“…And dry firewood, food, as well as herbs for disinfection…”

“Firewood and food aside, I don’t know much about medicinal herbs.”

“Me neither… What about distilled liquor?”

“There are a lot of people smuggling alcohol around here, so that should be easy to get.”

“Okay. But…”

“…”

Just when Alain and Jericho were about to turn their backs, they stopped upon hearing Lil’s hesitating remark. Making eye contact with them, she knew each of them had a lot to say, but their quick actions implied that they had silently agreed to save Ed first and talk later.

‘Since Ed helped them escape from the Gualtiero prison, they may perceive this as an opportunity to make amends. But for them to consider this as their way of showing their gratitude, it’s better for Alain and Jericho to know this vital piece of information first…’

“Before you leave, there’s something you need to know.”

“What is it?”

Alain and Jericho were watching Lil blankly when the latter moved her foot slightly to further block Ed from their line of sight, sensing his weak breathing coming from around her calf when she scoot closer.

“Ed’s real name is Edgar Retiro.”

“Why say his real name all of a sudden? What’s the point in knowing his name when he’s dying?”

Jericho asked indifferently, but Alain’s reaction was different. He turned fully towards her. He might be called Grandpa by the Southerners due to his age, but Lil knew that his eyes had never lost their zeal. And those intelligent, powerful eyes, shining beneath his wrinkled eyelids, looked straight at her.

“…What? Edgar Retiro?”

Lil spoke clearly to their confused faces.

“Yes. As in Admiral Retiro.”

It came as no surprise that Alain and Jericho immediately drew their guns, so Lil quickly got down on her knees and shielded Ed from the muzzles pointed at him. She explained, slowly, while spreading her arms as if to stop any potential bullets.

“You met him at the Devito Harbour, right? He helped break you out.”

Instead of Alain, who kept his mouth shut, Jericho shouted.

“Captain, what are you talking about? How can the doctor be the Admiral?”

“I know it sounds absurd, but take a moment to think this over.”

“..?”

“…Weren’t we believing that Admiral Retiro was a complete lunatic? In reality he turned out to be a little different from what we thought…”

Alain intervened.

“And why are you telling us this now?”

“I’m giving you a choice. If you want to help, you have to know this first before deciding if you indeed want to help. I can’t have you helping Ed without knowing anything. If you don’t want to do that, then just pass by.”

“Since when did you know?”

“On the deck of the Bell Rock, just before I got stabbed, the Navy Commodore addressed Ed as the Admiral.”

“Oh my, oh my!”

Jericho stomped his foot, while Alain just stood there slowly lowering his gun.

“You can just pretend you haven’t seen him, so there is no need to kill him. Currently, the entire Navy believes they should attack the South. Ed is the only one who is opposed to it. It’s obvious what decision the Navy will make if the admiral changes.”

“Is that why you’re trying to keep him alive?”

‘There will be no end if I start telling them the truth. So what should I say? Do I actually need to make the ridiculous confession that I’m in love with him?’

“No, but if Ed really was on the Bell Rock to target the South, I promise you that he would already have died by my hands. I’m getting tired of explaining. It’s simple. If you want to help, help, and if you want to pass, pass.”

Jericho swept through his hair as if he were going to rip it out.

“I’d rather you said nothing! Am I the only one who is confused by this?”

“Now that I know the truth, I can’t pretend to be deceived either.”

Jericho looked at Alain, who looked down at Ed without moving for a while. He then raised his arms as if he were dumbfounded.

“I wonder if he’s still suffering from mysophobia when he’s dying?*”

Lil laughed before criticising them for making a joke during such a critical time.

“Why are you smirking like that in a serious situation like this? You crazy people. Decide quickly.”

Alain tucked his gun back into his belt.

“What else can we decide?”

“What does that mean?”

“What does it mean? It means that we have to save him first!”

Jerico grabbed Alain’s shoulder after his loud remark and headed toward the door. It was clear that he was worried that Alain’s thoughts might differ from his own.

As the door closed and the damp silence returned, Lil staggered and exhaled. Her relief mixed with her tension so heavily that she couldn’t figure out which was the bigger emotion.

She ran her cool fingertips down her face.

‘I did it… with my true appearance… With this face, I confronted the sailors. And on top of that, with the Imperial Admiral right behind me…’

Through the years, Lil developed a habit of not having expectations in any situation, so she wouldn’t be surprised if they decided not to come back.

However, contrary to Lil’s prediction, Alain and Jericho soon returned bearing the materials she had mentioned.

Lil gradually relaxed as she checked the fabric several times for stains. They all knew basic first aid as all three of them had been through a lot on the sea. So while Alain poured strong liquor on Ed’s wounds, Jericho wiped them with a wet cloth and Lil tied a bandage.

After finishing all the treatments, Lil’s head felt dizzy. She thought she should go hunting, as both she and Ed had to eat. However, she still couldn’t take the risk of leaving the place alone and thus leaving Ed alone with them.

Lil returned to her spot after making a decent fire and took a seat on the floor.

The three of them were sitting in a huddle when Lil asked, feeling like she was dealing with disobedient children.

“Why on earth did you come back to the Empire?”

“We had to find out whether the Captain was alive or dead.”

Tears formed in Jericho’s eyes, but when his gaze met Lil’s, he cleared his throat and turned his head. For the first time since they were reunited, Lil could finally take a deep breath, feeling the tension instantly draining away.

“You fools…”

Alain blurted out.

“But thank goodness you’re alive.”

“With you guys here, who’s the Captain?”

“Marenzio.”

“That hot-tempered one?”

“After us, he has the most experience.”

“And what if he gets into a fight with Julio?”

“That other guy has lost a lot of his spirit.”

“That’s a relief, but still…”

“No, rather than lost, I guess it’s more accurate to say that his spirit’s completely broken. Our Captain who came back from the dead risked his life to set us free, so why would he remain stubborn and hold on? Didn’t you see that he, himself, threw his dagger into the horse that was chasing the Captain?”

“I saw that. But…”

“What ‘but’? You have seen it yourself. He’s no different from the other guys who first boarded the Bell Rock and in the end, accepted the Captain’s methods as well. Even if he kept barking like a dog, the rest of the crew would no longer listen to him.”

Lil recalled the last time she saw Julio.

‘I initially deemed it as nothing but a hasty decision, but remembering Julio’s accurate aim, causing one of the horses chasing me to fall down, tells me that perhaps his anger has indeed softened. In addition, if Julio was still a threat, Alain and Jericho would never have left the ship.’

Lil, deciding to trust their judgement, turned her arrow towards Jericho this time.

“Then, with Grandpa gone, you should’ve been the one to protect the Bell Rock, Jericho, so why did you follow him here?”

“I couldn’t send Grandpa alone. He’s all old and can’t even see well at night, so who else can take care of him if not me?”

Jericho grinned, baring his teeth. Still, Lil couldn’t afford to smile back, as her ears were still perked up at any possible changes outside.

‘Despite what he says, I saw firsthand that Jericho was as scared as Courant when they executed Ed. So, what on earth made him decide to remain in enemy territory where both geography and people are unknown?’

– – – – –

references:

“I wonder if he’s still suffering from mysophobia when he’s dying?”

= This was a bit of a hard one. When translated as a sentences (사람이 다 죽어 가는데 왜 또 결벽증이 도진 거냐고.) the ‘mysophobia’ also translated as ‘tuberculosis’, ‘sclerosis’, ‘mycelia’, ‘kyphobia’ and the list goes on… when we only translated the word (결벽증이), we found ‘mysophobia’. Seeing that Alain is supposed to make a joke and that Ed was a bit of a neat freak (also remembering the part where he was particular with his food) during his time on the Bell Rock, it seems that this makes the most sense. We do sometimes see some Korean views, so if anyone wants to clarify, we always appreciate it! 🙂

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TN:

Hey guys!

Wow wow wow, it feels like yesterday when we celebrated the 200th chapter back in July, but today we already reached number 300! Coincidently, March 26th 2022 was also the date we started with our weekly updates, making it exactly 2 years since we started this chapter in our life! What a milestone, what a ride and what an adventure! Just like a hundred chapters ago, we like to thank all of you readers! We probably lost motivation a long time ago if it weren’t for you! So thank you!

We sadly can’t promise you another 100 chapters as with ‘only’ 1,5 volume and 3 side stories to go, all good things eventually come to an end. We can promise you that we still have plenty of chapters and therefore plenty of adventures left. It’s hard to make an accurate calculation as we cut the chapters ourselves, but we estimate that the story comes to a conclusion around chapter 375, so as we said, there is still a lot of the story to explore! 🙂

Happy reading and lots of love,

Pru and Formidable

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