|Bocho Sanwee|
"Achoo!~"
The sun hasn't up yet here I am in the middle of the ocean, fighting the cold breeze with only my thin clothes. The boat was quite unstable because of the sequence of waves and it made me dizzy.
"First of all, why do I have to be here? ...if only that old geezer—"
"Quit muttering around, Bocho. If you really don't want to come with me this early, you can swim back to the shore" An old man standing in front of me, holding a long stick with long string at its very end—serving as the fishing rod.
His name was Robert Steinbach, he was the chief of our town, Gualflem. I heard that he used to live in the city but he moved here after his wife and daughter died. Though, I've never heard the reason why his family died.
Our town was located on the very edge of the country of Hyuera, travelers often called this town, the seaside town. At first, the town of Gualflem was hopeless because of the war that made huge damage to our area. After the old man moved here twenty-five years ago, he taught the people of this town how to stay alive.
He said that instead of relying on any help from the other kingdom, we should teach ourselves how to stand on our own feet and work hard to live. And that's made him a great leader and earned the title of the chief of our town.
I get what was his point, but...
"Is waking up early in the morning just to catch some fish really necessary?!" I shouted even though he was just in front of me, made him covered his ears.
He raised his fishing rod and swung it down hard that made the end of the string flew into the ocean.
"Kids this day... couldn't shut their traps" he paused as he bent down his knees and sat on the boat. "Back when I was young I was quite the enthusiastic one, whenever there was something I want to do, I'd do it with my whole heart..."
I furrowed my eyebrow as I looked at him. "Quit bragging, old man"
"I ain't bragging Bocho, I was just stating the truth," he said as he laughed wryly.
A moment of silence rose between us, all I'd heard was the splash of the cold ocean and the screeching noise made by his fishing rod whenever he pulled it.
He noticed that I was freezing at his back and took a red weird-shaped out of his pouch. He stretched his arm to me with strange-shaped fruit on top of his hand.
"Eat this... Back in the place where I used to live before, we used this fruit to keep our body warm" I took it from his hand and looked carefully at it.
"Th-thanks..." I stuttered in embarrassment. I've never expected that there's a time that he would do good things for me.
Old man adopted me after my parents died in hunger but after that, all he did was make fun of me. I'd already lost my count on how many times he threw me in the ocean or how many times he woke me up by splashing water on my face. I didn't know that he could be a father figure sometimes.
"By the way, lately there was seems weird plants growing in the forest not only that but there were also strange animals lurking around. I'd already talked about it with the chief from the next town but like us, they have no gist of what kind of creatures are those"
"Isn't that just an undiscovered reptile or something?"
"There are no reptiles—exceeded the size of a normal house, Bocho"
"Eh..." I—sounded like I'd lost my interest.
If what the old man stated was true then there was a probability that there were also strange creatures that'll appear here in the ocean.
"Eeck!"
I jolted after I heard something bumped on the side of the boat. Would I see a strange creature if I look at it?
Holding on the side of the boat, I lightly leaned my head to look—what was in the water. Then I saw a red light came from the deep ocean, it's just a pale light flickering in the ocean.
"What was that?"
I'd leaned my body and stick my left arm on the water, trying to reach the strange red light. Id certainly knew that if the red light was coming from the strange sea creature, then there's a probability that I'd lost my hand. However, despite that danger, there was a part of me screaming that I should reach that light and took it out from the ocean.
My eyes widened as I see the red light started to shine bright, as the light shining brighter and brighter, something rising from the ocean.
"What was that Bocho?"
The old man asked. Perhaps he also noticed that something was shining on the right side of the ocean.
I immediately reached the red light as it became closer and of all my surprise, I felt nothing but a human body. Pulling it out of the water, there's no doubt it was the body of a female with her long hair waving on the ocean.
The old man took his hands off of his fishing rod and give me a helping hand as he saw what I'd pulled out off the ocean. Fortunately, we safely took her out of the ocean and laid her down on the boat.
Looking at her, there's no doubt that the red light I saw earlier was coming from the ruby necklace embraced around her neck.
✽
A couple of hours passed since we found the girl and took her into the old man's house. In the meantime, she was laying on the bed with clothes provided by the lady in the next house while old man Robert and I were discussing in the next room.
"Judging by her dress and the necklace around her neck, she must be a daughter of some noble" Old man as he sipped on his cup of coffee.
Then if she was a noble, what was she doing in the middle of the ocean? as far as I know a female noble wasn't allowed to wander around without any guards or escorts. More importantly, why did her necklace shone earlier?
"Then what will we do to her?" I asked.
"For now we'll just let her rest and maybe after she wakes up and regains her strength, I'll ask her various questions such as her name, her home, and most importantly the reason how did she ended up floating in the ocean"
But our situation was kind of tough if it turns out that she was a fugitive and some people are looking for her, this peaceful town might get in dange—
"E-excuse me, c-can you tell me where I am" a voice unknown to me, it was as if the voice grazed my heart.
"Oh! you're already awake" the old man turned his gaze on the door side as he gave his usual smile.
I immediately turned my head in that direction—where the voice came from—and there she is, a girl with chestnut brown hair with sapphire-colored eyes standing before us.
There was only one thing that came to my mind.
Forget the fugitive thing, this girl was incredibly beautiful.