Mulan, who had never been much of a drinker, picked up his glass and took a small sip. It was not as bitter as he had imagined, and even tasted rather mellow, but it was certainly not to his liking. He still preferred cola.
Still, remembering how poorly he had slept these past two days, Mulan drank a little more, treating it as a sleep aid.
Although the Princess Niseriel had briefly strayed off course, it had not greatly affected the voyage as a whole. Barring any further mishaps, the ship would reach Valentin Harbor during the day tomorrow.
Mulan did not want to delve any deeper into the affairs aboard the ship. He would leave its dangerous individuals to the Valentin Police Department once they docked. These ominous matters were rather dangerous for him as he was now.
This was an old world, one unlike the old world remembered by his twenty-first-century soul. Here, all manner of mysterious things truly existed beyond the sight of ordinary people. There were countless extraordinary wonders, and certainly countless horrors and dangers as well.
That was Mulan's conclusion, and also a warning to himself, reminding him that he needed to tread carefully.
Of course, if the detectives in Valentine wanted to question him, Mulan would tell them everything he knew. He would also remind them that the boy and girl who had heard the singing certainly knew something-at least more than they had admitted. Until then, however, he would say nothing more.
The investigation aboard the ship was very limited at present, and Mulan understood that those villains had concealed themselves well. Anyone capable of creating something so uncanny was no ordinary person, either. Mulan even doubted whether the Valentine police were capable of taking over the case.
But the man he had seen at the Military Tribunal gave Mulan reason to believe that Dierjia's authorities very likely had people who could handle such situations. And as a major city on the empire's western coast, Valentine should not have been too far behind in any respect.
As he pondered this, Mulan speared the last piece of potato on his plate. Yes, today he had eaten nothing but potatoes with gravy. No one could eat steak every day.
"Come to think of it, those two seem to be avoiding me on purpose. Or are they hiding?"
Chewing his last piece of potato, Mulan scraped the gravy from his plate with the little bread he had left and glanced around. He could not see the boy or the girl, but they had not gone missing. They were simply showing themselves less often, something the restaurant staff could confirm.
Mulan rubbed the area beneath his brow to ease his drowsiness. After only a moment, he stopped, because his surroundings had become remarkably quiet without his noticing.
"Crrrk... crrrk..."
The creaking of old wooden planks reached Mulan's ears, as though the ship's deck could no longer bear its load. He slowly opened his eyes. The passengers around him seemed extremely blurred and distant, more like slowly moving smudges of color. There seemed to be cheerful voices and laughter far away, yet his immediate surroundings were eerily silent.
Goose bumps rose in patches across Mulan's skin. His body stiffened, and he remained motionless, only his eyes moving as he surveyed everything around him. The restaurant's finishes had become terribly aged, its paint peeling away in flakes. The tables and chairs were battered, and the plates were covered in dust and stains.
"Crrrk..."
Once again, he heard wooden planks groaning under a weight they could not bear. Mulan looked toward the sound. The boards overhead had begun to sag and warp, and the deformation was growing worse.
"Crrrk..."
Here and there, the restaurant floor beneath his feet began to bulge slightly, as though something were writhing underneath it.
"Hsss, haa... hsss, haa..."
Mulan breathed deeply and slipped his right hand inside his clothes, finding the Ring of Light. The cool touch of metal gave him a little reassurance, but the eerie atmosphere brought an even greater sense of oppression.
Mulan suddenly turned his gaze toward the porthole. A dark shadow swept past, and the dust on the aged glass was rubbed into a twisted shape, as though something had been pressed against it just moments before.
"Come on! Show yourself in front of me if you dare!"
Mulan let out a low growl, his stern expression taking on a ruthless edge, as though he were still on that battlefield roaring with flames. His body tensed, every muscle poised to unleash its strength at any moment.
As Mulan's nerves stretched taut, layers of color began to wash over the dilapidated cabin. His surroundings gradually grew noisy. Laughter, conversation, children's shouts, and the clink of tableware all reached his ears, and he abruptly came back to his senses.
"Hah, hah, hah..."
Breathing softly, Mulan realized that his hand was still supporting his forehead. He picked up a napkin and wiped the fine beads of sweat from his face, while the goose bumps on his body had yet to fade.
Mulan looked around. Everything felt so warm and alive. Another dream? Or was I hallucinating? That felt pretty real!
Over the past two days, Mulan had frequently suffered nightmares, several in a single night, all brief and bizarre. Some had been similar to what he had just experienced, but none had felt so vivid, as though he were truly there. He could not even tell whether it had been a fleeting dream or a hallucination.
Yet both just now and on those earlier occasions, although Mulan had been extremely tense during those dreamlike experiences, he had not felt any strong sense of danger-at least, none directed at him.
"Could it be because of the Siren Case?"
Mulan could not help suspecting it, but he had no way to be certain, because he had never once dreamed of a Siren or heard any singing.
"Mr. Jonester, what's wrong?"
The attentive waitress approached Mulan again. Noticing that his complexion looked rather poor, she immediately asked after him with concern.
Mulan had already calmed down, and he gave her a slight shake of his head.
"It's nothing. I haven't been sleeping well, so I'm a little tired. Hmm, the bill, please."
The ship would reach port tomorrow, and Mulan already knew some of the arrangements planned behind the scenes. Once the Princess Niseriel arrived at Valentin Harbor, all passengers and crew would be forbidden to disembark, and the Valentin Police Department would be notified.
That was how things would go if all went smoothly. However, there were also people of distinguished status and high standing aboard, so whether those arrangements could actually be enforced remained uncertain.
Mulan left the restaurant and returned to his room. Even if he was likely to have nightmares, he still needed to sleep. After all, faint dark circles had already appeared beneath his eyes. However much he dreamed at night, he would still spend some of that time asleep.
The battlefield had forged the habits of Mulan's current body, and even the arrival of a new soul could not erase them. No matter how harsh the conditions, he had to force himself to get a certain amount of rest.
The next day, sunlight shone through the cabin window. Its warmth fell across Mulan's face. His eyelashes stirred, and then he slowly opened his eyes.
"Haaah~~~~"
Mulan yawned, then rolled onto his side toward the wall, keeping the sunlight off his face. He had slept unexpectedly well the previous night, which had greatly eased his tension.
Once he decided to stay in bed, Mulan endured a little hunger and remained there all the way until evening.
The Princess Niseriel should have reached Valentin Harbor around noon, but because it had strayed off course along the way, it was already evening by the time it approached Valentine. Owing to the weather in the nearby waters, the sun had long since disappeared, and a vast haze of fog had risen over the sea.
"Bwooo----"
The ship's horn was so loud that it jolted Mulan awake. The ultimate layabout had seemed intent on making up for all his lost sleep at once. He pushed himself up from the bed, ruffling his hair as he looked through the porthole.
A layer of fog hung over the sea. From time to time, he could see a hazy beam of light sweeping through it in the distance.
Valentine's lighthouse? We're about to dock!
"Bwooo----"
As though answering Mulan's guess, the Princess Niseriel's loud horn sounded once again.
Valentine, the place where Mulan Jonester had been born and raised, felt both familiar and strange to the Mulan of the present. Some images in his memory were vivid, others hazy. At times, they felt more like documentary films he had watched...
PS: Starting today, there'll be two updates a day. The story has barely begun!