HTWBB Chapter 24

"Did you happen to see a ship?"

"A ship?"

"A shipwreck, a sunken ship."

Abel tilted his head to the side. After slowing down in silence, he met her gaze again from where he'd moved it away.

"Do you mean something like that?"

The sound echoing through the narrow space spread far as he took one more step forward. Upon exiting the cramped path, a fairly spacious place greeted her.

There was no need to search carefully. About ten steps from the moisture-filled floor, a chillingly blue sea was settled calmly like a lake. As if there were luminescent rocks below, it gently radiated light without even rippling. And in the middle of that mysterious water surface, something jutting up could be seen.

It was part of an unknown shipwreck—very old, partially rotted and crumbled, in wretched condition.

"Yes. That's it."

Rietta got down from Abel's arms. As her feet touched the ground, the pain she'd forgotten stabbed her again. Abel, who had paused briefly, quickly caught Rietta as she flinched momentarily.

"Can you walk?"

It was a dry voice, far from concern. Rietta firmly denied.

"Not yet. I'll go slowly."

"...If this is how it'd be, was there any need to get down?"

"There's no reason to stay like that either."

Abel sighed and grabbed one of Rietta's arms. She left Abel supporting her as he was but tried not to rely on him as she slowly moved her steps. Her long coral hair swayed lightly in a gentle breeze. An impossible thing in a cave.

She withdrew her gaze from the shipwreck and looked up. Stalactites hung like spears from the high ceiling connected in a dome shape with bumpy walls, and at the far right end was a hole large enough for a person to pass through. Through it, stars gathered as if about to pour down any moment. It was hidden so well that one wouldn't discover it without looking closely.

"For something you were looking for, it's rather ordinary."

Abel muttered. As he said, shipwrecks in the sea weren't uncommon, but they weren't particularly special either. Moreover, since nothing could be felt from the outside, it was all the more reasonable to think so.

However, no matter how old the ship was, she'd never seen such a large vessel wedged in that fashion inside a small cave.

"Is it the sea below here?"

"It is. But there's no space large enough for that huge ship to enter."

The ceiling looked completely impossible to enter, so if there was a possibility, it would be below, but Abel flatly denied it. That meant someone had artificially placed the ship here.

Rietta, who had been watching the sea glowing blue even in the darkness, suddenly looked at the floor near the bow. Things she hadn't noticed while her gaze was captured by the ship now entered her vision.

"That's..."

It was on the less wet floor, about three steps away from the calm seawater where no waves struck. Rietta removed Abel's hand and approached ahead of him.

A broken wooden box and sharp debris that had fallen off, a rectangular case that looked extremely luxurious even without other decoration. The case with its mouth gaping wide was half-vomiting red velvet cloth.

'They stored liquor in it.'

Just from eyeballing it, it was similar in length to the liquor bottle Nick had shown her. Every circumstance was saying this was definitely the merchant ship he'd boasted about.

Her blue gaze slid back to the shipwreck with only its head sticking out. If she'd found the right place, the rumored 'Mermaid's Heart' would be there. Rietta, about to straighten her waist and kick off the ground immediately, sighed at her legs that wouldn't take strength and her wound that was screaming. She'd forgotten her physical condition.

"What are you trying to do?"

"Oh. I forgot you were here."

Abel raised one eyebrow. Rietta briefly gauged the distance between the cave floor she was standing on and the shipwreck, then stepped back a few paces without even looking back at him.

"I'm going inside."

He let out an empty laugh.

"Do you even have the strength to climb onto that ship?"

"It's none of your concern."

"...Right. It's none of my concern."

Abel drawled his words as he stared at her. It was a gaze observing her thoroughly. Rietta no longer paid attention to whatever he did. It was true that due to having almost no magic and even fainting, she currently lacked the strength to even stand properly.

However, her patience had reached its limit to just sit and wait for her body to be able to move. Squeezing out her remaining strength wouldn't kill her immediately. Even if the barely closed wound tore open a bit, she could endure it. It was when Rietta, having made her decision, lightly tapped the ground with the tip of her right foot.

"I'll take you."

"What?"

"I mean I'll go with you to that ship that wouldn't be strange if it broke apart right this moment."

"Why would you?"

This time he answered without hesitation.

"Because I want to."

Rietta stared intently at this utterly suspicious man. While maintaining an attitude that never crossed the line with polite honorifics, his actions were always willful. Rather than manners ingrained in his body, it seemed like a harmless mask forcibly learned. As if there had never been any need for such things from birth.

In her experience, guys like this were the most dangerous, and her intuition was rarely wrong. Now was no different. Weren't those violet eyes that had been observing her like an inanimate object the whole time now sparkling with undisguised curiosity?

"Not bad."

However, Rietta didn't speak words of refusal. Not only was she the type not to let opportunities that came her way slip by, but now was a time when she had to seize even a half-baked opportunity with a trap laid in it.

At the permission finally given, Abel naturally raised his arms then lowered them right away. Then he turned around and bent his legs. Rietta stared blankly at his black hair darker than the night sky and his broad back that stood out even more due to his light clothing.

As expected, she didn't like it. Help always came with a price. She no longer believed words of those that said they were just giving freely with a smiling face. It was more comfortable to choose and act alone, then take full responsibility. Rietta temporarily pressed down the unease in one corner of her heart and placed her hands on Abel's steadily waiting shoulders.

Unlike at the aerial tomb, the flight was very brief. Abel jumped lightly while carrying Rietta on his back and brought her onto the slanted deck in one breath.

As the weight of two people was added, the ship that had seemed firmly fixed made a sound like a ship's horn and moved slightly. Abel's head tilted along with it, then returned to its original position.

"Is this okay?"

"It doesn't matter even if it's not."

Rietta, who had gotten down on the deck, quickly scanned the surroundings. There wasn't much to look at. As Nick had said, on the deck there were only a few wooden boxes of the same shape as those seen below, rolling around carelessly.

She carefully moved her feet toward the submerged area. First she saw the broken mast and sail ropes tangled haphazardly, with the hideously torn sail wrapped around here and there.

And a bit farther away, below what appeared to be the wheelhouse, stairs leading to the cabin were positioned like the entrance to a labyrinth—pitch-black.

"I'm curious about something."

Behind Rietta's face clearly reflected on the water surface, Abel appeared. Curiosity that hadn't cooled rippled in his violet-like eyes. Rietta met eyes with him in the water.

"Speak."

"Is this your real appearance now?"

As she moved her focus forward, deep blue eyes gazed at her clearly. Plop. A water droplet that fell from the ceiling disrupted the surface.

Watching the coral color swaying this way and that, she blinked and nodded. Abel had already seen her current appearance before.

"Yes."

"I'll really ask for the last time. You, are you human?"

About the time Abel's distorted image in the water was finding its original form, Rietta turned around.

"Why are you curious about that?"

Once they left this place, they would part without regret, each going their separate ways to find their path. It had been that way since Brynhildr's tomb.

Meeting by chance and parting just like that—a one-time encounter that was nothing. That was the entirety of their relationship.

If you thought about it, there were many entanglements, but they hadn't grown close enough to be curious about each other. If by any chance there existed a next meeting, that's how it would continue to be. Therefore, Rietta had no intention whatsoever of satisfying that one-sided simple curiosity.

Abel pulled up the corners of his mouth slightly to create something resembling a smile.

"I've never seen an ordinary person swim in that manner."

"What do you mean?"

He drew a smooth curve in the air with his finger.

"The way of using your entire body like a whale."

"...You watched me."

Rietta answered a bit late. Words of denial didn't come out. That was because it was confirmation with conviction, not a question.

Abel must have been watching her swim. Probably from before she was swept up by the current.

"I did."

Rietta faced him. If he'd seen her, that meant he too had been in the sea at the same time. Yet without a single sign of being wet or tired, he even had strength remaining to somewhat stitch up her torn wound after rescuing her when she'd fainted.

Rietta knew her wound hadn't been minor. It was obvious just from the amount of blood soaked into her clothes and her utterly ruined top. It was definitely not a level that would recover in a short time, so if there was someone who helped, it could only be Abel.

She didn't let the question that had surfaced before slip away this time. Rietta took one step toward him.

"What's your identity? There are no mages like you here."

"A mage like me?"

"Those who move magic with a single gesture without catalysts or magic stones no longer exist in this land."

"Your assessment of me is generous."

"Don't deflect and answer."

Abel moved his lips then firmly closed them. Then, seeming to ponder while briefly stroking his chin, he carefully examined Rietta's face.