Edward handed over a dagger and a test tube. "I need your blood. Just fill this test tube."
In the mystical world, letting someone else obtain your blood was very dangerous. But Helene did not hesitate. She immediately cut her palm and carefully caught the blood in the test tube, soon filling it.
"Here."
Edward stoppered the test tube and tossed it into the Leather Pouch, then looked at Tracy again. "Think carefully about what I just said. Tell me your decision the next time we meet."
"The next time we meet? When? Where?"
Edward shrugged. "I don't know, but I believe it won't be too far off, because..."
He turned to Helene. "Let's go."
"Wh... what?"
"Haven't you always wanted to get away from Tracy?"
Helene suddenly found herself unable to voice her misgivings. But I don't even know who you are. At least with Tracy, I wouldn't really come to any harm. Who knows what you'll do to me if I go with you?
But she knew she had no choice. She could only lower her head and follow him.
Black flames ignited on Tracy's body again. She broke free of the melted chains and stood up, enunciating every syllable. "Gehrman Sparrow..."
At that moment, she actually did not know whether to hate Gehrman for taking Helene away or thank him for giving her hope.
After a long while, she murmured to herself:
"First, turn back into a man... then pay back every humiliation I suffered today!"
As Edward walked back with Red-Haired Helene, she, too, had taken on the appearance of an ordinary pirate.
By then, all the fires at the docks had been extinguished, but more than half the ships were nothing but heaps of wreckage. A new problem arose: with so many people and