Angor put some bread crumbs in front of the bird, hoping it would dig in. However, he only received another scorned side-glance.
Angor thought the bird disliked bread so he gave it some fruit and jerky slices. The bird still turned its head away.
"Are you thirsty?"
The bird nodded its head quickly again.
"Ah, so that's why."
Without much thought, Angor gave the bird a glass of fresh water.
Then he received a slap in return.
The seabird stretched its wings, knocked the glass away, and returned to the endless sea.
What happened next was more unexpected though. The bird returned to his room, circled around the narrow room for a while, and finally stopped in front of Angor's teacup.
The cup still contained the remaining Morning Dew leaves Angor used to make his tea.
"Aha…" Now Angor finally understood. The bird was attracted by Morning Dew.
What was special about Morning Dew? For now, Angor knew that it was a magic plant. So this seabird was a supernatural creature too?
Angor pondered. Maybe one of the supernaturals on the top floor was the bird's owner after all. Only one of those amazing wizards could have created such an extraordinary pet.
The bird flapped its wings, pointed at the cup, then pointed at Angor.
Angor knew what it meant. He re-filled the cup with hot water. This tea brought from an ancient nation called China from another world was said to possess richer taste when served with water for the second time. The seabird was initially disgusted by the "second-hand" tea, but once the fragrance of tea began to fill the room, it soon became sprightly and flapped its wings as if intoxicated.
When the cup was full, the bird did not even wait for the water to cool before it reached into the tea with that beak. There was a loud drinking noise, and the water level went down quickly until there were only leaves left at the bottom.
The bird did not seem satisfied, so Angor filled the cup again. He brought a lot of Morning Dew. Besides, he was going to throw away his leftovers anyway. If the bird wanted it, he could wait.
Though it seemed Angor did not have to wait. After consuming several cups, the seabird picked the remaining leaves clean.
"I think I'll call you 'Cleaner' instead since you did a thorough job," Angor did not know what else to say in this situation.
Now the bird smiled in content. Those tiny eyes had become the shape of the crescent moon. It did not respond to its "new name", but only nodded towards Angor in respect as if showing gratitude for the tea. Next, it reached sideways with its head, took out a small golden card from its pouch and put it in front of Angor.
Seeing how Angor did not react, the bird even pushed the card further towards Angor.
"For me?" He finally realized what just happened and picked up the card.
Since Angor got its idea, the bird let out another gentle chirp as if saying something. Before Angor could reply though, it dashed out of the window.
When Angor looked towards outside again, there were only the usual sky and clouds. The bird was nowhere to be found.
"Interesting. It even knew how to repay people," said Angor as he shook his head. He then chuckled, "Teacher once said you should return people as best as you can for the tiniest kindness. I guess the bird just did it by giving me a card."
No longer minding the vanished bird, Angor focused on the golden card in his hand. One side was blank, the other had a picture on it—the same fat lady wearing violet hair, drawn on the bird's bib and pouch.
Angor stroke the picture with his fingers. It felt embossed. Looked like the patterns was carved onto the card.
Someone used such delicate craftsmanship on this tiny card… There must be a reason.
He knew nothing about the picture though, so he would not get the idea behind this no matter how deep that might be. Besides, there was no point in wasting time on the matter. Angor simply put the card away in his pocket and continued enjoying his journey.
Listening to the sound of sea waves and the low bellowing of flowing undercurrent, Angor took out a book to read.
The title read "Idea on Ancients".
He found the book in the bookstore at Moonwater City. It mainly contained mythology stories collected by the author from all kinds of places. In other words, the book was just a myth anthology, added with the author's own view, thus the title "Idea on Ancients".
Angor kept reading until the color of dusk had covered the entire sky.
When he finished the book, Angor believed he would have called the book "Doom on Ancients" rather than "Idea on Ancients". Every single god or deity in the book perished in the end, either died trying to save mankind by fighting demons or died due to some other natural reasons. Not one of them enjoyed a happy ending. They were only myths, so nobody knew if those were real. Maybe the so-called gods were only powerful wizards?
Common folks were usually terrified or resistant about supernatural power. Maybe "perished gods" were referring to wizards who left the Old Earth. Since the Old Earth had not witnessed any supernatural in a long time, people with good imagination made up all the "perished gods" to comfort themselves.
Angor put down the book, stretched, and checked the weather. He then decided to have dinner for now.
Angor knew much about The Redbud during the month. There were more than one dining halls. Almost every floor had one. Also, one could tell the social classes of people eating in these halls according to the decoration and the food in these places.
The dining hall on the top floor of The Redbud was the most luxurious one. Only apprentice wizards were accepted there. Angor heard that a formal wizard was staying on this ship, though he was not sure if this was real.
There were about several dozens of talents like himself as well. They were found from various continents by the guides from the three major wizard organizations: the White Coral Floating Island Academy, the Gravity Forest and the Tower of Hurricane. They were staying at the mid-tier on The Redbud who used the White Flander Restaurant on the middle floor.
The sailors and other handymen used the Alfalfa Restaurant on the bottom floor.
Angor came to the White Flander Restaurant just at dinner time. There were a lot of people. Now that no one was proud of being a talent anymore, they simply took their plates and found a seat while letting the chefs decide what to eat. It did not matter whether you were a blueblood or rich man. Here, everyone was only a rookie about to step onto the path of wizardry.
Rookies should act like rookies. They could boast about their achievement after they actually made any.
Angor always followed his teacher's advice of being neutral. He would not make himself stand out. With that mindset, Angor copied everyone's action, took a plate from the chef with roast fish and bread in it, with his head lowered. He collected some vegetable and winter fruits from another section, fetched a bowl of potato scallop soup with mashed garlic and took a seat near the window on one side of the hall.
He had been eating roast fish for half a month now. He really missed his teacher's Chinese food. Thinking about how he would not find his favorite food for many years, Angor's face quickly darkened.
If I knew I would live alone earlier, I'd have learned cooking from Teacher from the start.
Angor sighed in his mind even though he still kept his noble politeness on the outside.
The half-shut wooden door kept squeaking with people going in and out. Angor could see the door well from his position. A young man wearing silver and gray lace shirt pushed the door open and walked into the hall with slow, somewhat unpleasant steps.
Angor had been staying low-profile ever since he was on the ship. In this cruel wizarding world, his beloved brother was no longer here to protect him. He had to be modest to find peace.
That was why he never interacted with anyone apart from Alan and Aleen during the entire month. While Aleen and Alan tried their best to expand their social network, Angor only kept himself to his studies and puzzles.
Solitary he might be, Angor still recognized this man full of nobility and womanish temperament, which only meant how famous the man was on this ship.
Dove Silverheron, the third successor of the Silverheron royal family from the Central Empire on the Land of Revelation.