"You—you—you!"
Sifa was startled and instinctively leaned backward, heavily pressing against the back of his chair.
Crack!
The back of the wooden chair Sifa was sitting on shattered beneath his weight. He immediately fell toward the floor, but the Hunter's skill let him roll and quickly regain his balance.
He stood up, flustered and at a loss, only to see Kardashian laughing so hard she was bent over. The corner of his mouth twitched as he realized he had been toyed with.
"You entertained me, little boy."
After laughing for a while, Kardashian finally stopped. She lightly pressed two fingers against her lips, then blew Sifa a kiss. "Thank you. My mood hasn't been this happy in a long time. I feel more and more like a human."
She walked toward the door as if she intended to leave, but stopped beside it. Turning her body slightly, she blinked and said, "Once you help me find my teacher, perhaps I'll give you a special night."
"Looking forward to it?"
She let out another soft laugh, opened the door, and left.
Sifa held his forehead and shook his head. "I'm not looking forward to it at all. After all, I'm a normal person."
"But damn it, I was actually being teased!"
The next day, Sifa summoned all the important members of the ship to the captain's cabin. Looking at Nefi, Caven, Polly, Chik, O'Neill, and Harry, along with the boatswain Nelson and navigator Mick, he nodded as he looked over the core crew of the Explorer.
"You've all worked hard during this time. You've performed quite well."
"Look at what we've accomplished since we went to sea. We've repelled Vice Admiral Deep Sea twice, and the last time, we even crushed his fleet and captured the pirates aboard his flagship."
"We