A Cry for Help

The naga assassin was like a sea serpent, his enormous fish tail swaying back and forth through the seawater in the Bottom Cabin corridor as he silently carried Roy forward.

The scales on his body were somewhat hard. Although his dorsal fin had been fully folded away, it still pricked Roy from time to time.

Perhaps because he had been hanging there for too long, Roy could barely summon any strength in his arms and could only let the naga assassin carry him onward.

Just as Roy thought they were about to reach the end of the corridor, the naga assassin suddenly gave him a light pat...

Then, to Roy's horror, he slowly sank into the seawater less than a meter deep in the corridor.

The corridor was pitch-black, with thick wooden walls on both sides. After being soaked by seawater for so long, the walls had become incredibly slick, with seaweed and shellfish even growing on them.

At a depth of only one meter, there was a very distinct boundary line on the wooden walls.

The naga assassin sank slowly and silently, without even causing the slightest ripple...

By the time Roy realized he needed to take a deep breath, the seawater had nearly covered his lips. He hurriedly sucked in a breath.

Before Roy's hair was completely submerged, splashing footsteps came from the other end of the corridor.

A sailor walked over from the far end of the corridor.

He carried a tin bucket in his hand, and a strong fishy stench wafted from it.

He was barefoot. Though his trousers had been rolled up to his thighs, they were still wet.

One huge foot stepped into the seawater, and the splashing water struck Roy's face. That hairy knee nearly slammed into Roy's face.

Roy held his breath, lying against the naga assassin's back, not daring to move at all...

Just as the sailor was about to pass the naga assassin, someone shouted from the end of the corridor, "Pat, don't feed them tonight. Nerev is worried that if they have the strength to cry out, they'll draw the elves from the docks over. We're leaving port soon anyway. Feed them then..."

"Damn it, why didn't you say so earlier? I've been standing in this stinking water for so long for nothing!"

The sailor cursed as he turned around and walked back.

As he turned, Roy nimbly dodged aside, narrowly avoiding a solid knee to the face from that thick thigh.

Only after the sailor had left with the tin bucket did the naga assassin rise from the water. Roy surfaced and gulped down air.

The air in the corridor was incredibly foul, carrying a fishy stench that clawed at his throat, but Roy had no time to care about that...

At the end of the corridor was a staircase leading to the first deck. The cabin door was shut, and messy footsteps could even be heard beyond it.

The naga assassin did not head toward the stairs. Instead, after secretly swimming halfway down the corridor, he unexpectedly squeezed into a storage room with Roy on his back.

This place had also been soaked by seawater. All the supplies had been cleared out, leaving only a few empty shelves and some Wooden Boxes on top of them.

The room also reeked heavily of mold.

After swimming into the room, the naga assassin went straight to the corner. He stretched out his arms, drove his sharp fingernails into the gaps in the wooden wall, and actually climbed it barehanded with the strength of his arms alone.

Roy clung tightly around the naga assassin's neck to keep himself from slipping off...

The room was very dark.

After all, they were inside a ship's cabin. The ceiling was so low that one could almost touch it just by raising a hand.

The naga assassin felt around until his hands found a round hole. With a little force, he squeezed his entire body into it.

The hole was narrow, allowing only one person through. Roy wrapped himself around the naga assassin's tail fin and followed him into the deck below.

This was a cabin meant for living in. Against one wall stood a bed—not a bunk bed, either—and it was two meters long and one-point-three meters wide. There was also half a table in the cabin, while several sets of leather armor and a curved blade with a golden throat hung on the wall...

Though the room was small, it had been kept very clean.

There was no need to look closely to know that the owner of this room held some status aboard the ship.

Roy wanted to inspect it more carefully, but the naga assassin had already reached the half desk nearby and pulled aside the curtain in front of it. Castleton, the night sky, and the sea immediately appeared before Roy's eyes through the glass window.

The round glass window was less than fifty centimeters in diameter. Though the naga assassin was three meters long, his body was slender enough to crawl out through it with ease.

Roy followed closely behind him and squeezed out as well.

Worried that the huge splash from jumping into the sea would attract the sailors' attention, Roy remained sprawled across the naga assassin's back and let him crawl down along the outside of the hull...

Only then did they silently slip into the sea. When the long-missed scent and coolness of the ocean wrapped around Roy's body, he trembled with excitement.

He forcibly suppressed the urgent emotions surging inside him as the naga assassin carried him swiftly toward Shallow Water Pier...

Castleton's docks at night were less than two hundred meters from Deep Water Pier.

Rows of Small Wooden Boats were moored along the plank walkways of the docks. The boats closest to the edge had already run completely aground, while only the Small Wooden Boats here still floated on the seawater.

The naga assassin held Roy beneath the buttocks with both hands and lifted him up, then turned to dive back into the water.

Roy crouched on the planks, wiped the seawater from his face, and softly called, "Wait."

The naga assassin could not understand what Roy said and looked at him suspiciously.

Roy gestured for the naga assassin to wait there, then immediately stood and ran toward the docks.

There were no ship-boring tools on these Small Wooden Boats, but the general store on the docks had them...

Roy was covered in injuries. The sailors had stripped off his Novice Priest robe, leaving him naked except for a pair of shorts.

His wrists and ankles had been rubbed raw and red, while the muscles in his arms were sore and swollen, as if they had been dislocated.

Dozens of small wounds from fishhooks covered his body. Soaked in seawater, their stinging pain took all of Roy's strength to endure.

He ran along the docks, looking utterly bedraggled. There were hardly any people around Shallow Water Pier at night. When the Old Elf guarding the dock entrance saw Roy's miserable state, his face filled with shock, and the teacup in his hand rolled beneath the table.

Roy looked human. The Old Elf merely stared at him, unwilling to cause trouble.

After rushing onto the docks, Roy did not cry out for help.

The ship was less than two hundred meters away. Though the darkness and the ship itself blocked the view, shouting would likely alert those sailors that their secret had been exposed.

At this late hour, the general store on the docks had already closed.

However, Roy knew that the general store at the harbor docks specialized in business with seagoing ships, and its owner slept in the store almost every night. He hurried to the window behind the general store and pounded desperately on the bedroom window.

The owner cursed from inside, "It's so late, and the shop is closed! What are you knocking for?"

After more grumbling, he pushed open the window with obvious annoyance. The instant he saw a human-looking boy outside wearing only shorts and covered in wounds, his complaints abruptly stopped.

Roy gripped the window with both hands and said as quickly as possible, "Give me an axe and a chisel. I'm Roy from Brown Street Number Fifty-Seven. I'll pay back whatever I owe you tomorrow. Please help me..."

Seeing Roy's condition, the owner's eyes filled with wariness. Then, as if recalling something, he hurriedly said:

"I know you. You're Roy, that elf boy who looks like a human. I'm not senile yet. By the Moon Goddess, what happened to you? Did you fall into a tugboat's Fishing Net?"

As he spoke, he had already opened the nearby door and turned to enter the general store behind him.

"I ran into some trouble. I need an axe and a chisel..."

Roy had no time to explain.

"If you're in trouble, go find the Elf Rangers. Don't try to play the hero yourself."

The owner warned Roy as he handed him an axe and chisel.

"I'm going to ask them for help right away. This is a very serious problem. One of my companions is trapped inside that ship..."

Roy took the axe and chisel and ran swiftly toward Shallow Water Pier. Before he even reached the wooden platform of Shallow Water Pier, he saw the naga assassin emerge from the sea beside the dock's stone wall.

He had not left. He had been secretly watching Roy from the edge of the docks.

Without another word, Roy tossed him the axe and chisel. Knowing that he could not understand Elven Language either, Roy pointed at the naga assassin, then at the ship. Then Roy pointed at himself, pointed in the direction of the Guard Squad, and mimed holding a shield and sword as he slashed.

Only then did he rise and sprint toward the Guard Squad.

There were guards on duty at the harbor Guard Squad even at night, with only a warehouse separating it from the general store.

Two magic lamps burned at the entrance of the Guard Squad, making it particularly conspicuous in the night.

Roy ran over, gasping for breath, shoved open the door, and went straight to the reception desk.

It was unexpectedly the same elven woman from last time. This time, however, she was not wearing leather armor but a loose dress that looked like a nightgown. A soft blanket had been spread over her chair, and she looked ready to rest at any moment.

When Roy burst through the door, he gave her quite a fright.

"I'm Roy, and I live at Brown Street Number Fifty-Seven. I'm a Novice Priest at the Goddess of Freedom Temple. Tonight, while my companion and I were purifying that ship, we were detained by its sailors. At the same time, I discovered that they had captured an entire shipload of Naga Sea Clan. I risked my life to escape. Please help rescue my companion."

Standing before the reception desk, Roy delivered the words he had prepared in one breath.

"Captain... Captain!"

The elven woman covered her collar with one hand as she ran to the stairway and shouted upstairs.

Roy took the chance to catch his breath. Looking over the furnishings inside the Guard Squad, he suddenly realized that the Guard Squad at the harbor docks was normally only responsible for maintaining order at the docks. To deal with an entire ship of pirates, this handful of guards...

Seemed like it might not be enough.