Chapter 200: Battered Ship's boy and the Devastating Despair
Evening, Day 3rd
Black Betha
A smack at the back of his head sent Kai rolling on the deck.
"This is how you tie the knot, heh?" Raul asked, throwing the rope at Kai. "Get up! Do it again. Get up, I say or…"
Kai pushed himself to a crouch and picked up the rope again. Someone had tattled on him, he knew. Kai wasn't a welcome sight on the ship. Not when they didn't need a ship's boy who had the charms of a perfumed lady. His Charisma seemed to have run away, and Kai, after many smacks and curses, realized that this Attribute was a fucking unreliable cunt. That he was a mute hadn't acted in his favor too.
Every joint in his body ached as if someone was stabbing them with needles.
Kai had thought that him being a Contestant and having so many high Attributes would let him have a peaceful time following the orders and do an incredible job. Oh, how wrong he was! Kai shuddered upon recalling those arrogant thoughts.
Not that his Stats hadn't helped him, but the relentless work they made him do had made them almost useless. Item-M had told him repeatedly that before reaching the 3rd Set, Contestants were nothing but a stronger version of their human self, kind of like super athletes. It was their Items and Skills that made them stand out too much from the normal humans.
Kai learned that truth bitterly.
In the last two days, the heaviness had clung to his eyes like an anchor to a ship. One moment of relief, and he had woken up with a smack, like the one banging inside his head now. And God, they hurt. Kai grimaced in pain. What troubled him the most was that he could not even try to resist the beating, as it wasn't expected of a 14-year-old to get hit by that giant man and remain standing. Only once he had remained on his feet after Raul had kicked him for not climbing the foremast quickly, and that had brought down his Abnormality Limiter by over 25%.
'I should have known that it isn't easy to get an Elementary Ability,' Kai thought, somehow tying the right knot. 'It needed me to fool a 4th-Set Contestant to get the Elementary Pokemon Trainer. Tch! The outwardly simple nature of getting Pokemon Trainer has made me go soft. Big mistake.'
When he shifted to give the knot to Raul, he found the second mate had already gone.
'Fuck!' Kai cursed, hurrying off to do the next chore.
It had been an excruciating three days for him. The things expected of him included managing sails. Extending, reefing, unfurling, and then sewing in case of any cut, all required him to go up and down the masts. By now, Kai had been to all three masts of the galley so many times that he had even forgotten the count. Raul had to just grunt in Kai's direction for him to know that it was time to go to the crow's nest once more. His thighs were chafed raw, and the blisters had come and popped, turning his soles into what seemed like hard leather.
One thing that had been nodded at by almost all seamen was Kai's serpent-like nimbleness. Life at sea was a life of youth and vigor. It demanded harsh ways, and harsher men besides. All had noticed Kai's swift reactions, his slippery, gluey footing on the mast and the deck. Though he hadn't gotten even a hint of any nod from Raul, Kai could sense the emotions of all.
He knew he was heading in the right direction, and that seemed to have been sufficient for him, at least for now.
The chores also included ropework, canvas work, boatwork, and correct stowage of stores and supplies. It scarcely felt like the work of a single man. Kai did it all with his mouth shut and his body sweltering in the heat of the thick, humid air. Then there was the almost hourly work of cleaning one part of the deck or the other.
After helping the cook serve the food to all crew and the first and second mate, Kai returned to his hammock to get some shuteye. No matter how much he ate, the hunger didn't go away. He regretted not storing more of the Pokemon meat in his MRB. Whatever was there, he had already finished it on the first day. His MRB wasn't that spacious, to begin with. Now, with one more egg, it was becoming difficult to store miscellaneous things in it.
'I need a serious Inventory expansion,' Kai resolved, shutting his eyes. 'Unfortunately, it can only be done outside the Random Worlds because of the MRB.'
Snores of men were already buzzing into the crew quarters. A few of the men were going out with hushed steps, hissing, whispering, and cursing each other to hurry. Booze had corrupted their brains, and now, only whoring was on their mind.
Just when Kai was about to go to the lands of dreams, someone nudged his feet.
Kai adjusted his tired neck and noticed the fat seaman, Jared. He remembered him.
If he was right, then it was this fatty who had gossiped about him tying a wrong knot to Raul, Kai thought exasperatedly. If Kai hadn't sworn to himself to act according to the hint given by the System "put heart at work", then Jared would have died twice by now.
Kai flicked his chin up, asking what he wanted .
Jared spit. "Wanna jo'n us boi," the fatty said, leering at him. "Ye' ferst whore on us, huh?"
Black Betha stayed at the harbor. All the supplies that were needed to be stored were already there.
Stannis Baratheon, Lord of Dragonstone, and brother to King Robert had banned prostitution in Dragonstone. So men slid off the deck in the thick of the night to get some, hoping no guard would find them, and even if someone were to find them, then they wouldn't rat them out.
Everyone knew it, everyone did it, and yet none spoke about it.
Kai stared into Jared's eyes. Jared was well past the age of 50, and the grease in his joints had dried years before. The only reason he was in the war galley was that Ser Davos had taken pity on him.
Kai did not know if socializing with the crew could affect the outcome of the Quartermaster's acknowledgment, but he did know that it was nigh impossible to be called a seaman without knowing the seamen. And this was a great opportunity to at least have a taste of what it felt like to be a real man of sea and salt.
Cursing all the way, Kai slid out of his hammock and followed Jared and the other crew members off the ship.
They kept taking glances at him, passing jokes and jests at each other.
Suddenly, Jared put his fat arms around his neck and blubbered in his ears, his mouth smelling of roasted onions, garlic, and alcohol. "Here boi," he said, pointing in a different direction from where the rest of the crew were headed. "Bes' whore for ye' there."
Jared wasn't as much asking Kai as pulling him along. He took him to a secluded corner hidden behind the towering ships. The darkness danced here with every roll of the ships. When they were well out of earshot and sight of others, Jared grabbed the back of Kai's neck and threw him down.
Kai choked a laugh down as he saw Jared fumbling to take out a long, rusty knife.
"Pants down boi." Jared threatened Kai, pointing the knife at him, his hand shaking half in fear and half in lust. "Com' on! Ye' fucking mute."
Kai stood up and chuckled. -/I was wondering how much Soul Points a soul from this world would give me./- Kai said, his breath already rattling. -/Let's find out, shall we?/-
Jared couldn't see what Kai did. Nor did he hear the words in his mind. His eyes rolled back, his knees buckled, and with a thump, he fell. Happiness and hope abandoned the senior seaman as old and buried sadness resurfaced in his mind.
The Devastating Despair let out its true form as dark, foul, tattered robes bellowed noiselessly behind it. Its murderous, unforgiving eyes stared at its prey. One deep, rattling breath, shriveled, dry lips touching the fat lips, and Jared's soul left his body.
The man got the kiss, if not anything else.
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