“Miss Swan, are you perhaps interested in Mister Padt?” Helen looked suspicious.
Swan narrowed her eyes. Helen’s reaction just gave her a strange and unpleasant idea.
“Was that question too strange?”
“Ahem. Just curious is all. You never cared much about who protected The Limpet before.”
Swan’s expression turned a bit harsh. “Are you in love with that man?”
Out of instinct, Helen tried to deny. But she saw Swan’s stern look and decided to speak more truthfully.
“Mister Padt has... something on him, that attracts me.” She leaned on the railings of the balcony and watched the morning sun with a serene look. “It’s not love. Well, we’ve stayed on the same ship for a while, but we don’t talk much. He just has all those things that feel so different from someone like me. Wisdom, generosity, he’s kind... I like it.”
“So you like him after all?”
“No.” Helen shook her head. “Or I’m not sure anymore. But it won’t matter.”
“Why’s that?”
“We’re from different worlds, and we live at different levels. The things we can see and approach are so different.” Helen recalled the evening conversation she had with Angor and how much insight she gained from it. Swan observed Helen’s expression with great curiosity.
Swan didn’t know how to read minds yet, but she could feel that Helen seemed rather unfettered compared to before.
“What did he tell you? Did he reject your proposal?”
“Mister Padt is... wise, and perceptive. I think he knew what was going on inside my head that night. And no, I did not confess, and he did not reject me. He didn’t say it directly, but he convinced me into following the path of a wizard. For a brighter future, for Lord Asbel, and for myself.”
Swan was pretty surprised to see Helen acting like this. Previously, Helen looked content with her current lifestyle, and Swan did not force Helen into coming with her.
This “Mister Padt” opened her up?
“That night? What happened between you two? And who’s Lord Asbel?” Swan felt her inquisitiveness piling up.
Helen chuckled. “Whatever you’re thinking about wasn’t the case, Miss Swan. We simply talked about the future. That was about it. As for Lord Asbel, she was a champion of the Blackberry Waters and my childhood hero. But she later disappeared from our view. Mister Padt told me that she went to the wizarding world. By the way, Lord Asbel is a huge grace of a woman.”
Woman?! Swan didn’t have her concerns explained. You’re following Asbel’s steps but not mine?
“Alright. I’ll just take it that you respect ‘Mister Padt’ very much. Since he helped you make your decision and accept my offer, he did a good job.”
Swan didn’t look happy when saying this.
“Miss Swan, you haven’t told me why you asked about Mister Padt in the first place.”
“Call me Swan. I’ll not remind you again.” Swan rolled her eyes. “It’s nothing, really. Just a random thing to ask. Yesterday night, your Mister Padt fell into a fight with an elite apprentice out there.”
“Yesterday night? Elite apprentice?”
“Yup. That apprentice is titled ‘Child of Ocean’. Even true wizards will have a difficult time killing him at the sea.”
Helen knew the difference between wizards and apprentices from her book, and she was very surprised to hear about this.
“Miss-I mean, is he stronger than you, Swan?”
“I’m a level-3 apprentice, yet I’m afraid the Child of Ocean can end my life with a finger if I’m to fight him near water.”
In fact, Swan saw Angor and Jebra talking to each other yesterday. And she still felt terrified of how Jebra noticed her presence with ease.
“Is-is Mister Padt alright?”
“He’s okay. In fact, he’s totally unharmed, which is strange. Since there was deadly energy in the area, they must have attacked each other. But no, they parted ways peacefully later. As far as I know about Jebra, he’s not someone who would let his enemies go freely. There must be something wrong with Padt.”
Helen sighed in relief. “Maybe they ran into each other by accident and found out that there’s no reason to fight? Or maybe they’re friends?”
“Heh. Child of Ocean came from a very peculiar organization. If they’re friends... then I’d like to know who this Padt man really is. I’m only going to ask something simple, there’s no need to be all hush-hush. If you don’t want to tell me, I’ll just go and question your sailors.”
Helen nodded. “Alright. What do you want to know?”
“Where’s he from? What’s his full name?”
“He said he came from ‘Brute Cavern’. As for his name... no, he never told us.”
“Brute Cavern is a major organization, that’s for sure. But isn’t White Clam operated by Floating Mech City? How did they let a member of Brute Cavern protect the ship?”
“It’s a long story. It all started from when Mister Roman abandoned us...”
Helen explained Roman’s incident in detail without keeping anything from Swan. Everybody on The Limpet knew about this matter, so there was no point in keeping it a secret.
Swan listened with a big frown. “Leviathan... So Padt can use illusions, I see. But how could his illusions work against Leviathan? Well, that thing might be a bit slow, but it’s still not something an amateur Illusionist can deal with. Gosh, I should have checked the footage. But it’s kept by the association now...”
Next, Helen explained the second part of their voyage including the strange ghost ship and the giant “jellyfish”. However, Swan didn’t mind these too much since it was pretty common to run into these things at Devil’s Water.
“He knows alchemy too?” Swan was more interested in another clue she heard.
According to Helen, Padt repaired the ship using “amazing alchemy skills” and then applied a rune named Preserve Heat on the ship to fend off the deadly cold.
“Brute Cavern, enchantment alchemy, illusionist...”
All these clues suggested a certain name that everybody had been talking about recently.
“So he used something to disguise himself?” Swan recalled the looks of a middle-aged man she saw yesterday.
“Wait, Mister Padt used a fake look?” asked Helen.
“Helen, my friend, if what I’m thinking is right, this ‘Mister Padt’ is younger than that hooligan who harassed you a moment ago.”
Helen’s mouth fell agape.
“For real?” She quickly took out a parchment roll from her pouch and spread it open. “Mister Padt gave me this. Do you know what it is, Swan?”
Swan examined the emblem drawn on the parchment and nodded.
“There’s no doubt. ‘Mister Padt’ is actually Angor. His full name is Angor Padt.” Swan tossed a magazine to Helen. “Check this out.”
Helen immediately noticed the same emblem printed on the colorful cover of the magazine, along with the title of an article: Master’s Work at Remnant Auction?!
“What’s written in the magazine might be a little off. That guy’s still far from being a master. But a small charm that sold for 200,000 crystals is enough to prove his skills,” Swan exclaimed. “Now I know why Jebra let him leave. Anyone would, if they know Angor’s alchemy potential. Rumors say that Angor and Jebra are enemies. Guess it’s a lie.”
Swan then realized that Helen wasn’t showing any response as if the reality hit her too hard.
“If you must know, his real look is way better than what you saw. Even Bogula tried to capture him once. If you do wish to get to him, feel free to try. Your age doesn’t matter.”
Instead of being depressed as Swan expected, Helen looked up from the magazine with a determined look.
“I knew Mister Padt is brilliant but... not SO brilliant! I think I need to work even harder to keep up with him.”
Swan saw Helen’s bright attitude and giggled.
“Well, guess I have to thank him for making you so aspiring.”