"Advancement?" Danitz froze, then frowned. "Now? Brando, are you serious? Have you already digested your potion?"
How long had it even been since he took the potion? And he had already digested it!
"You were there the day I drank the potion. I'm a lucky one, after all." Lorne looked at Danitz.
"I survived a shipwreck, then stumbled across ruins while drifting at sea. Things went wrong in the end, but those first two experiences alone were enough to digest it."
He did not dare mention that his potion had "dissolved the moment it entered his mouth," afraid he would scare Danitz.
"Well... all right." Danitz grudgingly accepted Lorne's explanation. "But things are tense in Bayam right now. If you're planning anything, you'd better wait a couple of days."
"Tense? What happened?" Lorne asked.
Danitz walked to the window, lifted a corner of the heavy curtain, and glanced outside before speaking.
"I don't know the details, but there really are rumors that Bayam is going under martial law. And the Church of Storms has been unusually active lately."
"Although the authorities haven't actually done anything yet, most pirates and bounty hunters have decided to lie low for a while." The Church of Storms? Could this have something to do with me? Lorne recalled the thunderstorm above Primitive Island.
"In any case," Danitz lowered his voice, his expression solemn, "if you want to find King Roy, I'd advise you to wait until the situation becomes clearer."
Lorne fell silent for a moment, then asked, "If I wanted to leave Bayam right away, could I just buy a ticket and sail out?"
With Bayam in such turmoil, Lorne would not mind simply leaving and getting far away from all this trouble.
Danitz shot down the idea. "Whenever martial law is imposed, the