"You know that thing is just like a bullet, right? Use it once and it's gone."
"I only need one. Can you get it for me here?" Charles's voice was urgent.
The skeleton woman crossed her arms, thinking. "Hmm… Just one? Let me think…"
After a few seconds, she slapped her hands together. "Right. I heard the Sharks intercepted a shipment recently; there should be some mirror boxes in it. If you need one urgently, I can sell it to you for 40,000 Echo. And don't say I'm ripping you off—this stuff isn't cheap to begin with."
"No problem! Please, get me one right now."
Seeing how quickly Charles agreed, the skeleton woman felt a flash of regret, thinking she had priced it too low.
"Luna, take good care of our friend. I'll be right back." As the skeleton woman turned to leave, a girl in sheer gauze at the bar slinked over, catlike.
The tempting figure before him was nothing compared to the anxiety boiling inside Charles. He was deeply uneasy.
Usually, only sunlight can turn a Vampire to ashes, but you shouldn't be able to pack sunlight in a box. This illogical Abyss-Sea has already hit me with so many surprises—I'm not sure of anything anymore.
"Hey, handsome~. Why are your legs shaking so badly? Are you holding something back?" asked the girl in gauze, trying to snuggle into Charles's arms.
Annoyed, Charles raised the hand wearing the Tentacle Ring and shoved her away.
Gleeful, Audric lunged and draped his cloak over her. He clamped a hand over her mouth and sank two Vampire fangs into her pale neck. Her bare feet trembled outside the cloak.
The wait that followed taught Charles the true meaning of an agonizingly slow passage of time, where every minute felt like a day.
Half an hour later, the skeleton woman returned, carrying a mirror box identical to the one pictured on the paper.
Charles desperately reached for it, ready to open it.
"Wait! Captain! Let me get out first!" Audric, his mouth smeared with blood, bolted for the door in a panic.
Charles's trembling hands pressed down on the lid, his breath quickening.
"You're opening it now? Do you really think 40,000 Echo is pocket change?" The skeleton woman's eyes widened.
FLASH! As the lid came open, a blinding light instantly illuminated the entire bar.
The glow from within wasn't like the harsh summer sun, but more like a winter sunbeam—warm and comfortable on the skin, stirring a gentle sleepiness in all who felt it.
In that moment, all of Charles's earlier anxiety melted into a profound peace as he felt the sunlight brush across his skin. He had never felt so close to home.
The brilliant light vanished as quickly as it had arrived. Just three seconds later, the bar returned to its previous dimness.
The men and women in the bar were silent for a second or two before the usual rowdy racket resumed.
Smelling the faint scent of sterilized mites on his clothes, Charles smiled faintly as tears slid from the corners of his eyes.
The box contained genuine sunlight, light from the true sun. It was a beacon on Charles's path home.
"Haigou's friends are certainly loaded, playing with mirror boxes like toys. Hey, you need a woman? How about me?" The skeleton woman slipped back behind the bar and resumed mixing a cocktail.
Clutching the mirror box, Charles sniffled and asked the skeleton woman, "Where did this come from?"
"Didn't I tell you? The King puts out a batch every half-month."
"No, I mean, where does the stuff inside come from?"
The skeleton woman stopped shaking her cocktail shaker, her expression growing serious. "What are you planning? The last guys who tried to steal business from the King were skewered on his harpoon and fed to the sharks."
"I'm not trying to steal his business. I just want to know the source of this sunlight."
"What's the difference? If it were you, would you tell anyone? Do you have any idea how much money the King makes from this? For Haigou's sake, I advise you not to go looking for death."
But Charles was persistent. "When does he usually appear?"
The skeleton woman sighed. "The King almost always makes an appearance at the auction in two weeks."
Charles drummed his fingers rapidly on the bar. "He's the King of Sodoma? This whole city is his?"
"That's right. And not just Sodoma—his influence is massive. He has more than a dozen ships over a hundred meters long, and all the North Sea pirates answer to him. Even the island Governors have to be wary of him."
Charles sat there, his expression heavy, deep in thought.
"Don't zone out. Pay up," the skeleton woman said, planting her hands on her hips.
Audric had to help Charles back to his bed. The pain from his wounds was not enough to distract him from his growing suspicions.
If this so-called King really has a way to the Earth's surface, why doesn't he go up there? Why stay here in this sunless abyss? Is he just leveraging resources from the surface to easily lord over this world? Or maybe this sunlight isn't even from the actual sun?
Whatever the reason, Charles resolved to make contact. This was the only lead he had found.
As his mind churned through the possibilities, Second Officer Krona burst in. "Captain! I got some intel on that old man from a local big shot!"
"What did you find?" Charles asked, propping himself up in bed.
Krona hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Captain, it cost me a pretty penny to dig this up. You're going to reimburse me, right?"
"No problem. Just tell me."
"Alright. Everyone around here says the old man has been here forever. No one's sure when he first showed up. For most of the pirates, he was already here treating the sick and injured when they arrived. No matter how severe the wound, he can fix it. That's all there is on him—he's a doctor. No other pirates give him trouble, since you never know when you might need saving yourself."
"I see…" Charles mused.
"Captain, why are you looking into his background? He's just a doctor, right?" Krona asked curiously.
"Don't you think the Narwhal is missing a ship doctor?"
Krona's jaw dropped, his expression one of surprise. "You mean to—"
Just then, the door was pushed open, and the Doctor limped in from outside. "Clothes off. Time to change your dressing."
Seeing Charles shoot him a meaningful look, Krona quickly left.
The Doctor clamped his iron hand on Charles's bandages and tore them away, revealing a chest covered in wounds. The injuries, which should have been healing, began oozing fresh blood again.
"Running around with injuries this bad. Are you trying to die faster?"
The Doctor smeared a layer of black powder over the wounds. He then unclipped his iron hand, revealing a mechanism inside that resembled a stapler. He pressed it to Charles's wound and—POP! POP! POP!—stapled it shut.
Charles felt no pain. He found it strangely fascinating to watch his own flesh being joined together by metal rivets.