"January 11, 435
Finally, we have arrived. With Great Power's blessing, as long as we retrieve the Holy Relic, I can be initiated into the ordination ceremony and become the true servant of the Holy Master!"
This is the last entry in the journal, and from this title, it's clear that the captain was a believer in the Futan Sect; it's not hard to guess that the Futan Sect had sent their own followers before seeking out Charles.
Charles instructed the crew to search the other ships, and they found that the captains' journals all recorded their intense emotions in the final moments.
Just as Charles was wondering about the reason, the scrawny chef, Frey, handed him a journal.
"Captain, take a look at this; it's a bit different."
Charles took it and flipped it open. His pupils shrank to their smallest in an instant. The beige journal was filled with disorderly words.
"Be careful! Don't go to the island. Our own people! They're not human!! They want to eat us! I don't want to be! I want to return to the island, to safety! The island!"
Different groups of illogically arranged words, signifying that the person's mind was somewhat unstable, stirred a chord of horror in everyone reading the journal, all speculating what on earth the captain had experienced?
"Gulp," Deep struggled to swallow his saliva and pulled his head back, warily watching his companions who he'd spent day and night with. The journal indicated that danger came from their own people. Could it mean there were monsters lurking among them right now?
Charles knew what he was thinking and slapped his head with the journal, "Stop imagining things; we haven't even landed on the island yet."
"Captain, are we still going to go?" Deep asked with some hesitation.
"Of course we're going." Charles' expression suddenly turned resolute. No matter what dangers were on that island, nothing would obstruct his way home, even if it meant dying on the way.
The Rat slowly approached the beach; the rusty anchor smashed into the water, and the smoke from the funnel gradually dissipated.
A wooden boat was lowered, and everyone headed together towards the island.
As they drew closer to the ominous island, Charles opened a wooden box and handed out some flintlock guns and revolvers, with tightly wrapped bundles of dynamite at the bottom.
For this mission, he had specially acquired a fair amount of supplies.
With the weapons, everyone's nerves settled a bit.
Seven sturdy men holding weapons jumped from the boat and walked across the beach towards the distant forest.
Calling it a forest was a stretch; not a single tree was green. It seemed as if thick rust covered the grotesque branches. All the tree trunks appeared as if they were tumorous, some parts swollen in huge lumps and others suddenly indented.
Walking among them gave the illusion of traversing the innards of a body.
The crew knew their goal was a solid gold Fu Tan statue. As torches illuminated their path, they kept looking for anything that glinted in their vicinity, but to no avail.
Not long after they started walking, a trail of scattered footprints appeared on the ground. Seeing human footprints, everyone's minds eased slightly, as the prints at least indicated that this path had been trodden by others, which should be somewhat safer.
Whether they guessed right or not, after nearly two hours of walking without any incidents,
The tension eased a bit once they gathered branches and lit a campfire.
The scent of toasted bread filled the air as they ate, while speculating about what could have happened to those who had disappeared.
"You're saying they were eaten by monsters, like the things in the sea?"
"Not quite, some of the people on those ships belonged to the Futan Sect, as you know, and the creatures of the sea seldom attack them. I think there's something dangerous on the island."
Charles didn't join the discussion, his caution as he surveyed their surroundings was palpable. The strange forest was eerily quiet apart from the noise they made themselves—no sound of insects or birds chirping could be heard,
which was undeniably weird for an island to be without danger. He had seen many logs from Exploration Ship captains and knew that not a single island in the Earth Sea was safe.
The islands now inhabited by humans had only been occupied after determined efforts to eliminate the dangers present.
Just like the previous time at Coral Islands—when humans first came into contact with Coral Island, they discovered the island itself was alive. More than twenty Exploration Ships formed a fleet and engaged in a fierce battle with the giant coral. By all accounts, many had died before they managed to kill it.
"Stop chatting, finish eating quickly and let's start searching. The longer we stay here, the more dangerous it gets."
Hearing Charles's words, the crew stopped their idle chat, hurried their eating to briefly restore their energy, and continued on their way.
"Captain, I heard that once we return, we'll be on a big ship, right?" Deep asked quietly as he came over.
"Mhm."
"Great, by then I'll be able to manage a dozen sailors like the other sailor chiefs on the big ships. Not like now, without even a single sailor under me."
Charles glanced at the excited young boy, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. Youth was wonderful, always optimistic about everything.
But indeed, upon their return, they would need to take on more sailors. Though the Rat was small, not having a single sailor was a bit of a joke.
Charles and his companions followed the path ahead, but this narrow path seemed endless, stretching out before them infinitely.
If not for the scattered footsteps on the ground that kept changing, Charles would have thought he was marching in place.
When they had been walking for nearly three hours, legs sore from the journey, the forest suddenly cleared and a stone building entwined with brown vines appeared before them.
From the outside, the building looked dilapidated and it was hard to tell if it was a temple or a church. The place where there should have been a wooden door was no longer there, leaving only a dark, gaping hole.
Charles pulled at a bandage and asked gravely, "Is that thing inside?"
The bandage hesitated before nodding, "It should be... I'm not quite... sure... I'm sorry... my memory isn't very good..."
Regardless, Charles decided to go in and take a look. At least the footprints on the ground led straight to the entrance without any signs of disorder, suggesting the danger had not yet emerged.
He turned to his Chief Engineer and chef, "Let's go, the four of us will take a look inside."
James and Frey nodded simultaneously, following Charles as he strode into the building.
The bright light from the torches illuminated the interior; the inside was remarkably clean and spacious compared to its ruined exterior, with a polished red floor that didn't have a speck of dust. However, the carvings on the walls made those who entered feel a chill down their spine.
The walls were covered in layers of bizarre relief sculptures, depicting deformed creatures beyond human imagination entwined with each other.
They resembled a mix between starfish and octopuses, with strange bodies that had an eye embedded in the center.
From their body language, they seemed to be worshipping something.
But these odd reliefs didn't draw much attention from the three; everyone's gaze was drawn to the golden statue in the center, that odd humanoid figure covered in tentacles was none other than the Fu Tan statue.