HEO 5

The ship they boarded at Eva Hill Harbor was a sailing vessel with no fewer than seven sails. Fortunately, they could have private cabins here.

However.

“Your Highness and Silver Wolf will share a cabin with me. Now, come aboard.”

Suddenly, he found himself sharing a cabin with River Rat for a whole month. Wolf whispered to Red Eagle.

“Your Highness. As you wished, the adventure has begun.”

Red Eagle didn’t answer. His shoulder shook as if he was holding back laughter.

The moment he stepped aboard, Wolf was startled. Most of the male passengers were blond giants. It was the first time he’d seen so many blond men gathered together, making him feel strangely restless. In contrast, the women were petite and had varied hair colors.

Stoll men buying Atania women to take back home?

He knew about arranged marriages, but witnessing it firsthand made his face flush. Stoll actively encourages marriages between Atania women and its own citizens. They also frequently abduct Atania men to use as studs. The purpose of this abhorrent crime, persisting since the ‘Ill Omens’ Invasion,’ was racial improvement.

‘And across the North Sea, the barbaric continent has lived in isolation as a single race for an extended period. For thousands of years since the dawn of light. With that much time, problems were bound to arise. ‘

‘The <Ill Omens> knew this too.’

As the history teacher stated, the Stolls realized upon invading the Atania continent: they were one-eyed giants. In the rich outside world, only two-eyed beings existed.

A single race across the vast continent. Human variants that could never be born in Atania. A civilization lagging centuries behind Atania in every aspect: art, architecture, agriculture, metalworking. They lacked writing entirely. The Stolls defined these differences not as characteristics, but as problems. They attributed the cause to the race being ‘inferior’. They completely ignored other factors like geographical conditions, natural environment, resource distribution, or weather.

Wolf had read this explanation in a book.

It was said that human variants were born rarely to begin with. The one-eyed giants would immediately check the traits of a newborn child; if deemed a ‘variant,’ it was killed. As a result of repeated infanticide and arranged marriages, variants were now treated in Stoll as something only found in fairy tales, like “talking sparrows” 

The sailing ship left the harbor. Red Eagle remained silent until they entered the cabin. Inside, two-tiered bunks stood on either side of a narrow passageway.

River Rat flopped onto the right bunk and fell asleep. Wolf placed his travel trunk on the upper bunk above where he lay.

“I’ll take the top bed. Your Highness can rest below.”

Wolf said cheerfully while climbing the ladder to the top bunk. Sitting on his bed, Red Eagle stared down at his own feet. Wolf leaned his head down.

“Your Highness, we look ordinary here. Blond hair isn’t common in Atania, you know.”

“True.”

Red Eagle looked up at Wolf and smiled. Compared to other Atanian boys their age, both Red Eagle and Wolf were tall and solidly built. Blond hair and exceptionally developed physiques were characteristic of the Stolls.

“Wolf, you’re popular, right? With girls?”

“What…?”

Wolf was flustered. Red Eagle placed his hand on his crown.

“You’re taller than me and have a likable face. Commoner girls are more open-minded than noble girls, right?”

“You seem interested in hearing about other people’s love lives. Unfortunately, I have nothing to share.”

Wolf flung the blanket over his head. The action only piqued the prince’s curiosity.

“Levenon allows marriage from eighteen, right? Do you have a woman you’re promised to?”

“No! I’ve never even been in a relationship.”

“You have! And you’ve dated a lot!”

That response made Wolf give up on having a genuine conversation.

Why doesn’t that prince believe a word anyone says? Does he have a hearing problem?

“Wolf, tell me about being rejected by a girl. Like a tearful unrequited love story.”

“My own stories are sad, but other people’s failed romances? Nothing’s funnier. But Your Highness, I’ve never been rejected. So I have no such stories to share.”

“You’ve rejected a lot of women? Wow, now I’m curious about your girlfriend’s face?”

“Yes. I’m curious too.”

“She must be incredibly beautiful. What’s her name?”

“Mia, I suppose? It’s the most common commoner girl’s name in Levenon.”

Wolf was popular with girls. He’d turned down over fifty dating requests. It wasn’t that he was picky. He simply had no sexual desire. He’d never even experienced the common wet dream, and he felt no urge to masturbate. His peers complained their morning wood made their bed sheets bulge, but Wolf’s sheets remained flat every single time. He’d tested himself repeatedly, suspecting something was wrong with his equipment, but concluded there was nothing abnormal.

Wolf found this about himself strange. How could a teenage boy be like this? If he were deeply religious, he might have rejoiced that God had bestowed the destiny of a priest upon him, but that wasn’t the case either.

“Wolf! If you won’t tell me your girlfriend’s name, at least tell me about your first time! I command it as your prince!”

Red Eagle rose from his seat and began pounding Wolf’s back.

“Did you mess up your first time? It’s alright, it’s fine, it happens! Sit next to me and calmly spill everything…”

The urging turned into a gasp of terror. Suddenly, River Rat jumped up and flung off his shirt. A bizarre tattoo covering his bulging, muscular torso, came into view. Before the prince and his attendant, stunned by the unprecedented visual shock, the barbarian assumed a boxing stance and jabbed his fists into the air.

Wolf and Red Eagle exchanged glances and slipped out of the room side by side like cats. Only after reaching the deck did Wolf speak.

“Why is he acting like that?”

“Why? He’s just losing his temper, telling us to shut up because it’s noisy.”

“I figured as much, but I asked just in case.”

It was grim. The sea wind in late November was far more biting than any river wind. In this cold, it was hard to spend time on deck even at midday. In other words, until they reached Stoll, they’d have to stay shut up in the cramped cabin, staring at River Rat’s face day and night… Oh, dear God. This trial was far too harsh for young boys.

“Let’s find a place where people gather to relax. Since this is a large sailing ship, there should be a lounge or dining room.”

As Red Eagle said, there was a dining room that doubled as a tavern. From then on, the two boys spent almost all their time in the dining room, except when sleeping. Time felt like a huge, immovable boulder. To push that boulder, Wolf and Red Eagle tried everything. Playing cards. Holding pens in their mouths to write letters to each other. Taking apart and reassembling pocket watches. They also argued frequently. Which tastes better, butter or cheese? Is a woman’s true charm her fingernails or her toenails?

One day, a sailor announced the Stoll Continent was near. Snowstorms, only ever heard of in the subtropical region of Levenon, swept in. The two stayed on deck until late at night, watching the sea covered in snow. The snow, the first they’d ever seen, looked like white salt.

That night, Wolf couldn’t sleep. He was tense. A mix of fear and excitement, lingered stubbornly, circling every corner of his body. In just a few hours, they would reach the barbaric continent. They would encounter a world as unfamiliar and strange as the snowstorm he’d experienced for the first time in his seventeen years, a world different from Atania in every way.

Unable to endure it any longer, Wolf stepped out onto the deck. It was a pale dawn, the snow had stopped. A thin coastline divided the world. Around noon, the continent of Stoll appeared in the distance. Within a couple of hours, the ship arrived at Morgan Harbor.

The weather was clear. Wolf’s first impression upon stepping into Morgan Harbor: Pathetic!

Even Red Eagle looked disappointed.

“The harbor is small. Is this the largest harbor in Stoll?”

“Of course not.”

River Rat replied without hiding his irritation.

“It’s merely the closest sea port to the Chief White Deer’s tribe. From here, it takes two days on horseback to reach them.”

White Deer. The name evoked an image of an elegant, long-necked beauty, but in reality, she was a warrior and tribal chieftain who accompanied the King of Stoll on overseas invasion expeditions. The real person was closer to a muscular woman carrying a bloodstained axe in one hand and slinging an Atania man over one shoulder. She supposedly had Red Eagle after spending a night with the king.

“We must buy horses. Follow me.”

River Rat gestured and walked ahead. Farther away, a merchant with dozens of horses in tow haggled with passersby. Most of those disembarking from the schooner were also heading toward the horse dealer.

Wolf followed Red Eagle, chest in hand, surveying his surroundings. Hills encircling the harbor. Scattered old inns. Baggage warehouses. Until now, Stoll had been an image to Wolf like sparks exploding when steel is forged. But the scene before his eyes now was gloomy, like an ancient castle long since fallen into ruin. Judging as a tourist, it was pretty lousy. Even a remote village in Atania probably wasn’t this bad…

The line of people waiting before the horse dealer was quite long.

“Looks like we’ll be waiting a while.”

It was the moment River Rat glanced back at Red Eagle. Wolf took a step back. Did I see that wrong?

Something flew by… It grazed River Rat’s head.

Riverside Rat didn’t move a muscle, only rolling his eyes left and right. Soon, a crimson line bloomed across his face. From below his left eye to his right ear. Thin as a thread.

The next moment, Wolf doubted his own eyes. The upper part where the red diagonal had bloomed, half of River Rat’s skull slid like a sled on a downhill slope, then dropped down.

Perhaps it was absurdly cruel. To Wolf’s eyes, the scene played out too slowly, too vividly.

How could this…

One thing was certain. The journey was over.

From now on, it was an adventure.