North x Northwest
Chapter 80

The Bell Rock was busy preparing to set sail as soon as the sun rose.

Cesar climbed onto the upper deck, breathing in the damp morning air. He wanted to stay longer at the inn with Lil, but he had to come out first because there was something he couldn’t delay. Leaning on the railing for a while, he looked down at his hand that held her. The sensation of touching her still felt vivid. Her lingering breath from her gaping lips reverberated in his ears, and the memory of him pressing down on those lips, biting and sucking them dizzily went back and forth in his mind.

‘We’re so close, but why am I still feeling anxious when I already have everything she has closer than anyone else in the world?’

Cesar impulsively looked behind him, anticipating that Lil might already be on the dock. But much to his chagrin, she wasn’t there yet. He longed to hug her right now, to bury his face in her shoulder and breath in her scent. Whenever he did, he was assured that they were really together. He was content but also anxious about not being entirely satisfied. He couldn’t shake the feeling of missing something crucial in the happiness that seemed perfect at first glance.

Cesar took a deep breath. The smell of damp wood lingering on deck made his breathing hazy.

‘The last voyage with the Bell Rock.’

At the end of this journey waited the life he always hoped for. It was his big wish. He wanted Lil to be happy and the excitement that he finally could comfort his anxiety.

Cesar went up to the forecastle and approached Courant who was mopping the floor.

“Courant.”

“Yes?”

Courant stood up, wiping his hands on his pants. Cesar looked around for a while and eventually looked at the boy.

“…”

“Oh, uhm… Navigator?”

“…”

Because Cesar had never personally spoken to him before, Courant’s eyes widened in curiosity when he recognised the man calling for him.

“What’s going on?”

After confirming that Ed had not arrived at the dock yet, Cesar spoke.

“I have a favour to ask of you.”

“Yes?”

Courant scratched his nape and looked around. He seemed to be puzzled or even slightly annoyed.

‘Courant’s in charge of all the small chores that need to be done on the ship, so he actually hasn’t enough time to keep an eye on Edgar…’

Nonetheless, Cesar had no choice but to go with Courant. A witness must be directly involved in the scene in order to establish credibility, and Courant was the best choice for avoiding Ed’s perceptive senses.

“Lately, I feel like someone keeps breaking into my cabin.”

“..!”

Cesar consciously lowered his voice. No matter how reasonable his purpose was to drive out Ed, a lie was still a lie. His voice that uttered the fabrication sounded foreign to him who has lived his whole life in sincerity. Cesar was so unfamiliar with it that he shut his mouth. He thought for a moment whether he should replace another way, but the anxiety he had been suffering from all day long, engulfed his agony.

He rested his gaze on Courant, who immediately showed hostility toward someone. However, by the looks of him, Courant didn’t seem to be thinking about anyone from the recently aboard crew. At first, Cesar was puzzled by his reaction, but not long after he recalled that Courant was from Marchand, so he could guess who he was suspicious of.

‘Things might be easier resolved than I thought.’

“Every time I enter my cabin, something is subtly different on my desk. It seems like the one breaking in was scouring for information.”

***

Ed’s mouth fell open. Even someone like him, who had travelled all around the world, had never seen such mysterious formed sea cliffs. The dark stone walls that rose from the ocean, extended endlessly to both sides and formed an enormous circle. The majestic structure was so tall that it looked like it was piercing the sky. The cave-like space was filled with seawater, creating a hidden bay, and in the middle of it, a few ships with their sails removed were anchored. It looked just like any cave from the outside, but it revealed a hollow sea cliff on the inside. Ed bent his neck and gazed up at what appeared to be the entrance to a sacred temple.

“Wow…”

Marenzio elbowed him upon seeing him standing so stupidly.

“Look, Doctor. Are you just going to stand there like that? Hurry and load your stuff on the ship.”

Alain shoved Marenzio’s shoulder.

“You too, Marenzio! And when you first came here, didn’t you drool and lose your mind, too? Why are you criticising him for being in awe?”

“You must be forgetting a lot of things since you’re getting older, grandpa. When did I do that?”

Ed boarded the Bell Rock, leaving behind the quarrel that the two had started. He didn’t forget to occasionally take a look around the cliff that seemed to reach for the heavens. As he walked with half his mind elsewhere, busy sailors hit him from all sides, so Ed switched his gaze to the world of humans, leaving the infinitely huge nature behind. When he looked around, half of the people on the deck were new to him.

The strange feeling he had sensed from the moment he heard the news of their departure resurfaced.

‘Until yesterday morning, we couldn’t board because there was no crew, so what happened all of a sudden?’

He asked Alain, but the old man only said that there were indeed times like this and didn’t seem to know further details either. Nevertheless, Ed couldn’t get over the feeling of uneasiness.

‘Why did she drink so much when she knew we were leaving the next morning? She didn’t appear to be aware of how much she had consumed.’

“Load everything within the hour!”

“…”

Ed, who was standing far away next to the foremast in contemplation, raised his gaze to the rear deck where the command had come from. Lil looked down at Ed as she placed her feet on the deck railing. Because she didn’t tie hair today, her black hair was flapping beneath her triangle hat. Ed took off his hat and nodded, but Lil didn’t return his greeting, let alone acknowledge him. Instead, she raised her gaze to the watchtower.

“Why is the watchtower empty? Courant!”

Ed put his hat back on and grinned under its shade. Although Lil’s action appeared small, it actually signalled that he may board. Ed then noticed Cesar close to her and delightedly wondered how much Lil could remember of their conversations from the night before. Contrary to Ed, Cesar had been staring at him for quite some time. He was either dissatisfied with Lil’s acceptance of Ed’s existence or the fact that Ed was with Lil when she got drunk. Whether it was the former or the latter, Cesar appeared clearly hostile, so Ed gave him the meanest, most gloomy smile he could muster and then walked down the deck.

Halfway down the stairs, Ed stopped at the thought that he could give him an even meaner smile. He pondered for a moment.

‘Should I come back up and smile one more time? Forget it, the momentum is gone now. When it’s funny, it’s funny, now it won’t be threatening at all.’

He reluctantly continued down while grinding his teeth.

‘When Cesar took Lil last night, he feigned indifference, but he asked me how I see her…’

Realising the answer, he hurriedly shook his head. In a means to distract himself from the subject, Ed thought about a book from his favourite scholar and recited it as if it was his bible.

“…Are you okay, Doctor?…”

“…You’re just recovering from your injury, right?…”

Many sailors asked him how he was doing as he passed through the artillery deck. But Ed, who has been through this every day for the past few days, didn’t respond and simply waved his hand. However, two other sailors appeared out of nowhere and followed him to his cabin to inquire about a remedy for lovesickness, but Ed shut the door in front of them, muttering that he was exhausted.

Finally left alone, Ed examined his bed first. The bedspreads were clean, but the wooden floor beneath them was blackened with bloodstains. He put down all his belongings, rummaged through the medicine cabinet, took a bottle of hematopoietic agent* and drank it. Since it was extracted from the spleen of a horse, the taste was quite fishy, ​​so Ed quickly swallowed it with a frown.

While he was brushing his tongue, the case of his Surihe caught his eye. Ed opened the leather box, got his instrument, and decided to head back to the deck.

‘If I were to stay here, I’ll only be accompanied by the smell of blood… I probably can be a little more earnest in my contact with Lil because we already talked a lot yesterday, I’m sure she’ll be more welcoming now…’

“I don’t remember. You were with me yesterday?”

Footnote:

* Hematopoietic agent: increase the production of erythrocytes (red blood cells), leukocytes (white blood cells), and platelets. Ed is taking this because he had lost a lot of blood due to the bullet wound.