Arms on the Shelves

Such things hardly needed any explanation. Only souls burdened with immense resentment would linger where they had died.

This was a large ship full of human sailors, and the elf girl had died in the captain's room. No one could possibly claim with a straight face that some tragic, moving love story had taken place there.

Jasper swiftly put the spellbook into his satchel, and the ghost-purification ritual was over.

The second mate sitting on the soft leather sofa had not expected it to end so quickly. He had thought it would take half the night...

Reluctantly, he rose from the soft sofa and lowered his head to pull a stack of coins from the pouch hanging beneath his belt. There were exactly ten gold coins.

He weighed the coins in his hand, and they struck one another with a crisp, solid clink.

"Do you want gold coins?" he asked Jasper.

Jasper hurriedly shook his head and forced out a stiff smile. "We'll just go with the deal we agreed on earlier. Gold coins can only be melted into gold ingots and sold as materials. They aren't even accepted in the Elven Kingdom..."

The second mate's lips twitched slightly. The flesh on his face made the expression look particularly vicious, and he wore the look of someone thinking Jasper had no eye for value. "Ten gold coins where we come from can buy a polished, intact Magic Crystal Stone, not a magic core like this, where no one even knows whether there's a magic crystal inside."

As he spoke, he reached into his pocket again and pulled out a black stone the size of a duck egg, then handed it to Jasper.

Jasper took the stone, held it beneath his nose for a sniff, then pulled out a small hammer and struck it hard. After listening to the sound, he narrowed his eyes with a satisfied expression.

Seeing Jasper's reaction, the second mate smiled warmly.

Yet on his face, that smile looked especially sinister.

"Actually, we have another commission for you. Are you interested? The reward will still be a Saber-Toothed Sea Beast magic core."

Jasper put the magic core into his satchel and turned to Roy. Having seen the benefits of Roy's help, he felt this job was worth taking.

But cold sweat was already running down Roy's back.

He suddenly remembered the naga assassin by the sea, hunting humans everywhere. There was a strong chance it had something to do with this ship.

Especially after seeing the second mate's gloomy face, he became even more certain of his guess.

"High Priest Reed is still waiting for our report at the temple..." Roy said quietly to Jasper, glancing at the second mate.

Jasper tugged Roy's sleeve and replied in an even lower voice, "I can make him add more to the payment."

After seeing Jasper get that black stone, Roy felt he had become so overjoyed that he had lost his head. Roy quickly put a hand on his shoulder, pulled him into a corner by the captain's room wall, and whispered, "Jasper, let's not take the risk. I'm worried we don't have enough Holy Light Power!"

Jasper did not notice Roy's look. With complete confidence, he said, "My holy light can still perform purification four more times. It's more than enough for one ghost. Roy, we won't always meet employers this generous. But I can guarantee that every ghost purification is more or less like this... If you want to go home, I'll have them send you away first."

"Jasper, didn't you say you were going to pray with Abbott tonight?"

As he spoke, Roy jabbed Jasper in the ribs with his elbow.

The blow was not light. Jasper abruptly sucked in his stomach. Though he had not caught on yet, he knew Roy must have noticed something, so he said, "Oh! Now that you mention it, I think I remember..."

There was a washbasin in this corner, set into an iron frame extending from the wall.

The Bronze Mirror was embedded in the wall opposite the washbasin, pressed against the side of the wooden wall in a somewhat concealed spot.

Only someone standing in front of the washbasin would notice this cleverly designed Bronze Mirror.

Roy had walked around the captain's cabin eight times earlier. Since he had been paying attention to every corner, he knew there was a Bronze Mirror opposite the washbasin.

At that moment, Roy and Jasper could see the ordinary Sailor standing at the door through the Bronze Mirror. The door behind him had already been barred shut.

Though the tall, burly second mate on the other side of the captain's cabin wore a smile, he stood ramrod straight with both hands behind his back, tightly gripping a black dagger...

Only then did Jasper truly come to his senses.

It seemed their opponents had never intended to let them leave...

"Since we can't cooperate, I'll send the two of you on your way." The second mate wore an amiable smile as he approached step by step.

The Sailor guarding the door showed no intention of opening it. He used his body to block the door bar.

If not for that Bronze Mirror, all of this would have been hidden by the second mate and the Sailor...

"It's not that we... don't want to cooperate... If you want us to purify another resentful spirit, you'll have to pay more!" Jasper hesitated at first, but by the end, he was practically shouting.

The second mate stopped, his narrowed eyes gleaming coldly. He slid the dagger into his sleeve, and the corner of his split lips lifted slightly. "The payment is negotiable, as long as you can clear the resentful spirit from the lower cabins."

Jasper forced himself to say, "Two magic cores for each resentful spirit purified."

"Fine!"

The second mate agreed without a moment's thought.

Jasper and Roy secretly exchanged a look. Jasper continued, forcing himself onward, "Then take us there to see the situation..."

The second mate waved to the Sailor at the door, and the two of them heard the door open...

Roy and Jasper followed behind the second mate as they left the captain's room. The two were trapped in the middle, while the Sailor walking last kept his right hand on his sword hilt.

They left the captain's room, went down the stairs, then turned right into the cabin beneath the captain's room. This cabin was above the deck.

Only then did Jasper notice that although the sailors sitting on the deck were smiling at them, their smiles were plainly mocking.

The second mate walked down the narrow corridor toward the rear. The scent of pan-fried sea fish still lingered there, and wooden shelves beside the corridor were piled with hard whole-wheat bread and stacks of baked Wheat Cakes, each stack taller than a person.

So this was where the ship's kitchen was. It was one of the few decent rooms above deck.

The second mate paused at the kitchen entrance and casually exchanged a few words with a fat cook inside. Then he took a ring of copper keys from the cook's hand.

He led Roy and Jasper a few meters farther ahead. They had reached the end of the corridor, at the stern. Through the arched windows, they could see outside the ship, but they were not docked by the pier. Everything outside was pitch-black.

Using the copper keys, the second mate opened the last cabin door. Inside, the shelves were filled with crates of vegetables and fruit. The vegetables included pumpkins, onions, carrots, and tomatoes, while the fruit included oranges, pineapples, and watermelons. Such vegetables were almost impossible to find in Castleton, though the fruit was in season here.

Roy did not see any Breadfruit, not a single one...

Roy had heard Mage Benjamin say that a Great Sea Ship like this would definitely have a plant cultivation room.

This was clearly not a cultivation room, but a storeroom for vegetables. It was cool inside and not stuffy.

"There's another resentful spirit in this storeroom. It always comes out late at night to frighten our Head Chef. I need you to purify it..." the second mate said to Jasper.

He could not even be bothered to hide his intentions anymore. His tone was commanding, and his eyes clearly said that he had them right where he wanted them.

Roy and Jasper exchanged another look, then entered the storeroom one after the other.

The second mate and the other Sailor stood guard at the storeroom entrance. The cabin door remained open, but neither of them squeezed inside.

The storeroom was not large, yet it was crammed full of vegetables. There was only one door, and the interior was utterly dark...

Roy cast the Glimmer Illumination Spell again. Only when the cluster of faint light floated above their heads did the storeroom gain a trace of illumination.

There were many shelves inside holding vegetables and fruit, and rows of slanted Wooden Boxes sat on them.

Roy suddenly realized something. They had loaded so many seasonal vegetables and fruit onto the ship, but this was not a cold storage room. The produce could not be kept for long. Unless they were about to set sail, there was no need to store it in a warehouse at all...

When the two reached the deepest part of the storeroom, the calmness had vanished from Jasper's face.

He was flustered, but he kept his voice as low as possible. "Roy, we can't get out. It's all my fault! I should have been the one taking this risk. I never expected to drag you into it too."

Standing beside a shelf, Roy put an arm around Jasper's shoulder and said, "Jasper, don't be so pessimistic. As long as we stay calm, we should still have a chance!"

"This is the port of Elf City. As an outside ship, they'll have to restrain their actions."

Moreover, Roy knew the tide would not come until around three in the morning. Without the rising tide, this Great Sea Ship could not leave the harbor at all.

"Jasper, you can swim, right?" Roy asked.

Jasper hurriedly nodded.

"Later, we'll find a chance to get to the Oar Room. We'll say the resentful spirit escaped there. Once we get there, that room has a row of windows. When a Great Sea Ship needs to use oars, the oars extend out through those windows. When the time comes, we'll rush to the windows and jump straight into the sea."

"As long as we can make it safely to the pier, we'll be safe. I bet they won't dare chase after us!" Roy continued.

As Roy spoke, he noticed something on the shelf to his left that seemed to be reflecting light.

Instinctively, he adjusted the Glimmer Illumination Spell. Several scales glittered beneath the faint light. At first, he thought it was a sea fish, but then he immediately realized something was wrong. It looked like an arm!