Jebra was talking about typical alchemists in this world who created a series of common practices and unspoken rules.
What he didn’t know was that Angor never studied alchemy in the “common way”. While Angor might know about certain conventions among alchemists, he didn’t have a reason to copy their examples. Till now, he mostly did alchemy works while following his own pace.
He did leave alchemy reports after creating items. But in his papers, he usually left some simple questions and some brief ideas about how to improve his future works, unlike the other alchemists who would record each of their movements when crafting something and keep everything noted down.
Of course, Jebra had no idea of Angor’s habits, so he could only surmise Angor’s working routine by referring to the other alchemists he knew.
Sliv was fully aware of what Jebra was implying, but still, he insisted that Jebra should keep following behind Angor as if their previous conversation didn’t happen.
And this greatly confused Jebra.
Previously, Jebra thought that his teacher was only asking him to stay away from Song of the Deep for the moment to avoid unexpected grudges. But couldn’t he just run off somewhere? Why did he have to stay with Angor?
He then brought this question up.
Sliv wasn’t Jebra’s supervisor or anything, so they didn’t usually talk much. But right now, Sliv decided to answer Jebra nicely since he really needed to rely on Flunza’s help when most people in the organization were trying to alienate him for failing his task.
“Same as you, I never thought Angor can be the culprit. But since Mister Flunza didn’t tell you to disregard the task, I think you should listen to him, hmm?”
Jebra frowned. “Where is my teacher now? I’ll talk to him. If he wants me to keep away, I can just remain at Ferran for a bit longer.”
Sliv shook his head. “Mister Flunza has returned to the organization and is arguing with Donsei’s men. He can’t contact you right now. You do what he said and stay with Angor. You’re supposed to gain Angor’s trust, hmm?”
“But I already did,” Jebra said with a plain expression.
“Oh? That’s pretty fast. How did you manage it, hmm?”
A little proudly, Jebra explained what happened between him and Angor.
“That’s how you won his cooperation?” Sliv frowned and didn’t give Jebra a chance to protest this time. “Go after him, now.”
When the connection was forcefully shut off, Jebra remained speechless with an irritated look.
Haku slowly materialized beside him and spoke up, “Shall we go and look for Mister Padt now, sir?”
Jebra nodded. “I will. Alone. You remain here and wait for Mister Sliv’s further instructions.”
With that, Jebra left Blue Estate on heavy steps.
...
Angor had left the territory of Anrum and reached the central lands of Farren.
The boundary of Aureum was already in sight before nightfall.
When heading to Marcel District, he didn’t conceal his vehicle, so he caused a lot of mortals to start exclaiming prayers and words of worship at him. But for some reason, these people were all calling Marcel’s name.
Without minding them, he went straight to Erwin’s house and saw the captain inside his home. After exchanging formalities, he asked Erwin if Tulu was here.
“I believe Tulu is still in the fishing village where he was born, sir.”
Angor then learned how to find this village and left Yothur City on his Gondola.
Following Erwin’s instruction, he arrived at a small and peaceful settlement along the coast. Under the starlight, he saw returning fishing boats coming back to the village after a full day’s work, while kids chased each other at the beach and waited for their dinner.
He found an empty spot outside the village and landed his boat.
When he was casually walking to the village, he suddenly saw a group of people running outside while yelling the name “Kumur” using a strong accent.
Also, they seemed to be women and elders of the village, probably because able-bodied men were still away piloting their boats.
The villagers only gave Angor several curious glances before they headed farther to look for “Kumur”. Only an old man with a walking stick who had trouble moving too far was left behind at the entrance of the village.
“Ho... who’re ya, young one? Never saw you before.”
“A traveler, sir. I’m here looking for someone,” said Angor.
“A traveler, you say. Hummm... whossit that you’re lookin’?”
“It’s Tulu.”
“Tulu... must be the little lad of Scott. His home’s over there.” The old man pointed to a wooden cottage that sat behind several palm trees.
Angor glanced that way. “He’s... not home?”
The old man also looked and saw the house completely unlit. “Right... I heard he went fishing together with Ralph in the morning. They’ll be back soon.”
The old man proceeded to talk about what he knew about Tulu and the other fishers in the village without minding who Angor was, while Angor simply listened since he had nothing else to do.
But they were soon interrupted when they heard someone screaming loudly at the beach.
The old man looked at the source of the voice and put a hand over his head. “Darnations. We’re supposed to look for Kumur! And why is Harvey’s kid yelling like that? Shoot. Did something bad happen to little Kumur?”
Then he started panicking a little while mumbling prayers.
From the old man’s occasional rambling, Angor managed to learn what happened to the villagers. It seemed that a group of kids got too excited while playing and suddenly fell into a competition in which they would see who could dive longer and bring back more shells. But at the end of their game, they found one of their members—Kumur—missing. That was when they all ran back to the village and asked the adults for help.
Almost half an hour had passed since Kumur disappeared in the water, which meant the mortal kid didn’t have much hope.
“Tra-traveler, oh curse these legs of mine! Can you check them out and tell me if they took Kumur back?” the old man pleaded.
“Alright.” Angor nodded and moved toward the beach area.
He wasn’t being generous by doing so. Rather, he just sensed strange energy signatures coming from that way.
When he arrived, he saw all the adults gazing in a particular direction on the sea in great surprise.
Under the bright moon, they saw a child not far from them flailing his arms in the water.
“He’s alive... was he playing a prank then? He went too far and cannot swim back?” Angor tried to infer what happened by thinking like a naughty kid.
But he wasn’t interested in the kid. There was something behind the kid that attracted him.
The moon looked rather big tonight, which brightly illuminated the surface of the sea, allowing everyone to see a large sea beast about ten meters long quietly lurking at a distance.
The alligator-like beast with spikes growing all over its body was carefully gazing at the people waiting ashore, using a pair of crimson eyes that showed nothing more than hunger.
Great. Now a monster learned how to “fish” people from their home. Angor thought with a deadpan expression.
Obviously, the monster didn’t eat Kumur yet because it was waiting for bigger prey, naming, the kid’s saviors.
Naturally, the villagers were all looking at the terrifying monster in great fear without moving. There was only Kumur’s mother who was begging everyone to no avail.
It seemed the woman couldn’t swim, and her husband had yet to return from fishing.
She collapsed on the ground in despair. She wished to give her child one last look, but she wasn’t sure she should.
“Hey, ya’ll look! A boat is going over there!” One of the villagers suddenly pointed to a light spot moving on the sea.
Angor also looked that way and saw a small wooden boat approaching Kumur’s position. He couldn’t see who was using the boat because a black curtain blocked his view.
“That’s Ralph’s boat!” Someone yelled.
Ralph?
Angor knew that name because the old man back at the village just told him. Ralph was a villager who took Tulu away in the morning.
On the boat, a dark-skinned figure flipped the curtain aside and entered Angor’s view.
It was Tulu, and he was looking at the struggling child with a worried look.