The Elma Sets Sail

Evening.

Laurent stood beside the altar at the center of town, delivering a long, tearful speech praising the heroic deeds of Oushen and the others.

Jemia, Aga, and Ruslan stood among the crowd with wine cups in hand, celebrating together. Lemoni was somewhere in some corner of the venue—no one knew where, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Meanwhile, Oushen stood silently at the back of the crowd, drinking alone without saying a word.

"What's wrong with you? Standing here by yourself and drinking your sorrows away—that doesn't seem like you." Elma noticed Oushen standing alone and walked over, looking at him curiously.

"Nothing." Oushen smiled. "What about you? We're leaving tomorrow. Aren't you going to spend more time talking with your little brother?"

"Nothing to talk about. I can't rein in that temperament of his. Don't let the way he acts like a quail around me fool you—he's actually got a lot of guts." Elma's gaze settled on Aga amid the crowd, and she could not help but laugh.

"True enough. Most people wouldn't dare come with us to kill a Siren and Lamia." Oushen nodded in agreement. "You can tell he genuinely wants to become stronger. Otherwise, I wouldn't have let him travel with us."

"Is he strong?"

"Not bad. And with Lachtar's gift, his combat ability is definitely far from weak."

"You mean that ship?"

"The ship, and the other things aboard it."

After that, the two of them fell silent for a while.

"Oushen, promise me something." Elma lowered her head, loose strands of hair hiding her eyes and concealing her true emotions.

"...I probably know what you want to say." Oushen took a sip of liquor. "I'll take good care of Aga, but when it comes to fighting, he'll have to rely on himself."