Purification

At dusk, the clouds on the horizon made the sky look as if it were on fire.

The red sun between sea and sky slowly sank into the ocean.

The harbor docks rang with clanging bells, while seabirds followed the Small Wooden Boats into port, perhaps hoping to snatch a few little fish from the holds.

Jasper asked High Priest Reed for leave and departed the Goddess of Freedom Temple early.

By the time Roy walked out of the temple gates, Jasper was waiting for him around the corner. Roy ran over, and Jasper headed with him toward the harbor docks.

There were hardly any people left in the Fish Market nearby. Several seabirds had landed by a trash bin, pecking at the foul-smelling entrails inside.

A heavy smell of sea fish drifted over the docks.

Around Deep Water Dock, groups of sailors were leaving the piers and heading toward the Lower District, where lights were gradually coming on.

There, besides buying liquor, they could find a few other things as well.

Of course, if they wanted an unforgettable night, they had better have enough Kole in their pockets.

Seabirds, sunset.

At the harbor docks, a massive Five-Masted Ship was moored nearby.

Two sailors stood beneath the ship's gangplank: the second mate and an ordinary sailor. When they saw Jasper and Roy approaching along the dock, they hurried over to greet them.

Jasper saw the bald second mate and gave him a nod in greeting.

"Did the introducer explain exactly what you'll be doing aboard the ship?" the second mate asked with narrowed eyes.

He was built like a brute, his body covered in bulging muscles. He wore a sleeveless tight vest and baggy trousers, his large bare feet stained with rust. A curved blade and a coil of rope hung from his waist.

When he turned around, Roy saw a green anchor tattooed across the back of his neck and scalp.

Jasper nodded.

The ordinary sailor beside him also carried a long blade. His head was wrapped in a black scarf, and he wore leather armor and leather trousers. His face was covered in a thick beard, making his features nearly impossible to see.

Roy could even smell blood coming from that long blade...

The second mate said to Jasper, "Then don't waste time. Let's try to finish early."

He then turned and stepped onto the gangplank. Jasper and Roy followed behind, with the sailor bringing up the rear.

As Roy crossed the swaying gangplank and boarded the ship, he realized just how enormous it was.

The deck alone was nearly forty meters long, and at the rear stood a pitch-black Ship Building filled with small windows.

At the front was a massive bronze ram shaped like the upper body of a giant with its arms spread and head raised. Yet a sharp bronze horn more than three meters long extended from the top of the giant's head.

A slanted mast rested against the bronze giant's back. This fifteen-meter blackwood mast carried a triangular sail.

Five masts, each more than twenty meters tall, stood in a row on the middle deck, spaced roughly seven or eight meters apart. Thick sails were tied around the bases and yards of the masts, while pulley-rigged lines hung above.

Part of the rear deck rose abruptly, reaching roughly the height of a two-story building. This was the Ship Building, and atop it stood the Captain's wheelhouse.

There were also double rows of oar ports on both sides of the hull, though all the oars had been fully retracted.

The entirely black ship looked somewhat old, but once Roy stepped aboard, he discovered that the color came from the ship's planks having been treated against rot and fire.

A group of sailors sat all over the deck eating dinner. Most of them were bare-chested beneath Light Leather Armor, with long blades at their waists and short daggers strapped to their legs. Their feet were bare, and moss had even grown around some of their ankles. Aside from messy long hair that could be braided, they were bald.

Their dinner was quite decent: grilled sea fish, octopus tentacles skewered on sticks, large bowls of vegetable soup, and whole-wheat bread as their staple. A huge wooden barrel in the middle of the deck held fruit that looked like an entire barrel of plums. Just looking at them made Roy's teeth ache.

When the sailors saw Jasper and Roy step onto the deck, their eyes kept sliding over them...

They did not bother lowering their voices when telling jokes, but they were not speaking Elven Language, so Roy could not understand a word.

The second mate, who looked like a black tower, spoke Elven Language with a strange accent, but Roy could at least understand him.

Roy did not see the Captain aboard this ship, nor did he see the first mate.

Jasper had only said that the burly man was the ship's second mate. The second mate led Jasper and Roy across the deck and directly to the captain's cabin at the very top of the rear Ship Building.

This was the highest place on the entire ship. The whole level belonged to the captain's cabin. Though it was divided into several rooms, every one of them was spacious and lavishly furnished. The furniture was exquisite, and every chair was carved with delicate reliefs.

The room where Roy and Jasper stood was probably where the Captain handled his work. A table stood in the middle, covered by a two-meter-square sea chart. Roy recognized at once that it depicted the Endless Sea, because Castleton Harbour sat in the farthest upper-right corner of the map.

Unfortunately, every label on it was utterly unfamiliar to Roy. He could not understand what any of it said...

A telescope hung on the wall to one side. Only then did Roy notice the room's walls, which were covered with all kinds of specimens: simple bones, teeth, beast horns. Each specimen seemed to contain some special power.

"There's a ghost causing trouble in this room. Help me find it and purify it."

The second mate sat on a leather sofa in the room, his arms draped over its backrest. He leaned his head back, closed his eyes, and spoke.

The ordinary sailor stood by the door, his gaze never leaving Roy and Jasper.

Jasper glanced at Roy, as though he had suddenly remembered something, and said, "Roy, didn't you learn the Glimmer Illumination Spell? You can try it now. I'll tell you how to use this divine spell..."

"It does more than provide light. Besides having a tiny bit of healing ability, it can reveal hidden entities lurking in darkness, including ghosts."

Roy did not hesitate. He immediately began drawing divine runes and reciting a prayer.

"Roy, when you get the chance later, buy yourself a spellbook like mine. You can record commonly used divine runes inside it. My book contains the runes for two divine spells. Whenever I cast either one, I only need to infuse it with Holy Light Power and recite the prayer. It's very convenient."

Jasper spoke only after a faint glimmer appeared above Roy's head.

Roy nodded.

High Priest Reed was rather opposed to him coming into contact with such spellbooks too early. Besides, he did not have that much Kole. These things were far from cheap.

A glimmer floated beside Roy's shoulder, radiating a faint, soft golden light.

"Walk around the room," Jasper said to Roy.

Roy followed Jasper's instructions, moving through the room with the glimmer. Jasper held his spellbook and followed behind him, carefully watching their surroundings.

The glimmer floated beside Roy like a candle held up at night.

Outside the cabin, sailors could still be heard laughing uproariously. They were probably doing some post-dinner exercise on the deck...

The captain's cabin was quiet by comparison, broken only by the occasional conversation between Jasper and Roy.

Following Jasper's instructions, Roy circled the captain's cabin eight times without stopping, yet he still failed to sense the ghost hiding in the darkness.

Roy could not help feeling that this job was a little boring!

Jasper was speechless too. He had not expected them to search for so long without finding the ghost, so he could only say to Roy:

"Roy, raise the glimmer's brightness a little."

"Okay!"

Roy raised a hand, cupped the floating glimmer in his palm, and injected a thread of Holy Light Power into it, making the ball of light brighter.

The illuminated area expanded by a full circle. When Roy reached the second window on the left side of the captain's cabin, he spotted a figure behind a white gauze curtain. Only its upper body was a faint outline; below that was complete emptiness.

Jasper, following behind Roy, saw the figure as well. He immediately gave Roy a push from behind, signaling him to move closer.

To his surprise, the ghost alertly darted out from behind the curtain. Under the Divine Light, its outline was extremely faint. The brightest parts of its head were its eyes, flickering with ghostly blue Light Flame. It lunged at Roy with bared claws.

But beneath the Divine Light, its body grew even fainter. Halfway through its flight, it veered left, preparing to hide somewhere dark.

It did not dare approach Roy at all...

Jasper saw the ghost and could tell that it had no ability to attack. If it escaped, finding it again would be much harder.

Jasper opened the spellbook in his hands. As he uttered a short, fluid prayer, a beam of radiance descended from the ceiling, trapping the ghost with perfect precision.

Under the Holy Light, the ghost's body began to disperse like green smoke, and its already blurry outline rapidly faded.

That cluster of Soul Fire was like a candle flame in the wind, ready to go out at any moment.

Bound within the Holy Light, its body turned into flecks of white ash that fell to the floor. Its transparent pale-blue soul, however, drifted upward on the wind, slipping free of the Holy Light's restraints and floating above Jasper's head.

Seeing the complete blue outline, Roy realized that the ghost had likely been an elven girl in life. Her delicate features and pointed ears made her identity clear.

"Go on. Return to the embrace of Goddess Elune. There's no use staying here."

Jasper spoke softly, then closed the spellbook in his hands.

As the divine beam slowly faded away, the blue soul dissolved into countless specks of light and vanished from the captain's cabin.