The moment Redd landed on the ship, his eyes were met with an amazing sight. Sturdy wooden beams frame the space, and the scent of fresh tar mingled with the faint aroma of sea salt. The central mast rose like a sentinel, its rigging a complex lattice of ropes leading to the sails high above.
To one side was the pointy bow of the ship that seemingly extended for dozens of meters. On its end was the statue of a woman holding a jar of water tilted forward as if she was pouring water into the sea, filling it with her blessings.
To the other side was a gigantic, layered atrium with at least 5 levels that Redd could count with his eyes. Each level looked better than the other with the first one being purely made out of colorless, old wood. The higher his eyes went, the better the quality of the wood became.
It was almost a comical sight.
'Hmmm… That is interesting.' He thought to himself.
"How did you know that someone would come and pick you up?" The tall man named Butler asked.
"My father left for the Hunter's Dream a few years ago and told me what to do in case I get an invitation," Redd replied with a smile.
This was the excuse Lodra taught him to say in case someone asked him about his knowledge of the Hunter's Dream. Redd knew how suspicious it would've been if he understood what to do without even having any prior knowledge.
"But, how did you know that I was the one that got the invitation?" Redd asked.
However, Butler didn't answer his question as he continued walking toward the entrance to the cockpit.
"One last advice. Survive." He left those words behind before he vanished somewhere.
Redd looked at the closed door with a confused look for a second before he shrugged and focused on something else.
"Let's see. I should settle down since the trip will take a while. Hmm, where should I go though?" Thinking to himself, he walked toward the biggest, most noticeable place on the ship… The Atrium.
Opening the door, he was met with an open area that looked like a hall. Pillars rose from every corner of the hall and pierced through the ceiling, passing through to the next floor and then the floor after that.
"It's really big…" The boy murmured as he walked deeper into the place, heading toward the stairs.
Although he didn't notice it at first. But, apparently, the stairs go both ways which meant that there was also a floor beneath all of this.
"Hmm?" Redd's noise picked up on a smell the moment he reached the stairs. It was an unpleasant odor, akin to that of rotten corpses and blood. However, it was too faint for him to discern where it came from.
'Is it perhaps coming from the floor beneath?' He thought to himself as he looked at the stairs that went down. There wasn't any lighting that reached that place so visibility was almost non-existent.
As Redd looked silently at the stairs, he picked up on the sound of a groan. It was barely audible and considering his situation, it was possible that the floor beneath him held something… Something rather suspicious.
"Well, I shouldn't rush it. We will explore the place floor by floor. Starting from…" His eyes looked up to the last floor. In contrast to the dim, eerie atmosphere of the lower level, the fifth floor looked sparkly, and beautiful, exuding an air of elegance akin to that of a luxurious palace.
"Woah, that looks really shiny," Redd murmured before he started climbing the stairs while humming casually.
The first floor was desolate. All the rooms were closed and even those that weren't were empty. There was not even a trace of a single person in the place.
"Am I one of the first to get on this ship or what?"
Walking through the empty corridor of the first floor, he moved to the second one which looked more presentable than the previous one. However, the same case applied for this floor too. It was empty.
"Anybody here?" Redd tried to call for anyone but to no avail.
Then, as he was about to go up to the third floor, his eyes caught a silhouette standing near the balcony on top of him.
"Hm?" Looking up, he saw a girl looking back at him. She had her elbow resting on the balcony casually and her eyes directly gazing at Redd. However, her eyes were deadly cold in contrast to Redd's curious gaze.
No, they weren't cold. More like they lacked any human emotions in them. But, that didn't diminish her eye-catching appearance.
The girl was beautiful, stunningly so. She had a distinct silver hair with a strand of black swimming alone in the sea of her shiny, flowing hair. Her face was as white as porcelain, oval in shape with two greyish eyes that lacked any color.
She looked like a doll, a very beautiful one.
"Hello there! My name is Redd!" The boy waved at her with a smile as he introduced himself.
However, the girl didn't reply and instead closed her eyes, a sigh leaked from her beautiful lips.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Oh? I'm going up to check the other floors."
"You're a newcomer?"
"Yeah, I'm from Blue Elephant Island! It's my first time on this ship!"
The girl seemed to understand what he meant as she subtly nodded her head before she pointed up. "Third, fourth, and fifth floors are prohibited from entry. Go back."
"It's prohibited? Why?"
"Just go back." The girl replied coldly.
"But, the tall guy didn't say anything about prohibited entry." Rubbing his chin, Redd looked up.
There didn't seem to be any sign that these floors were anything special apart from the distinctive luxury. It really didn't make sense.
'I'm curious now.' Redd thought as he was about to walk up.
However, the moment he took a step up, he was met with the looming silhouette of the same girl.
'When did she…?' Redd looked back at where she was before he said. "You're really fast."
"What part of 'Prohibited' don't you get? Leave." She said.
"You didn't give me a good reason as to why it's prohibited. The tall guy is the owner of the ship and he didn't say a word. Wait, he did tell me to survive which is weird."
"Don't you find it odd that he told you to try to survive?" The girl asked with a cold look.
"Yeah, you do have a point. But, I'm not good with hidden meanings haha haha." Chuckling, Redd shrugged. "So, are the last three floors occupied?"
"Yes."
"Hm, I see. Are the people who occupy them special?"
That question made the girl go silent for a few seconds before she answered. "Yes. Now leave."
'Oh, are they perhaps Hunters that are coming back to the Hunter's Dream? Well, that would make sense.' He thought as he nodded his head.
"Ok, I'm leaving." Redd turned around to head down, only to be stopped by the girl.
"You… Do you have money?"
"Money?"
"A lot of money."
"No, I don't."
'Lodra did give me a few hundred bronze coins. But, he told me that I need to join a clan in order to start gaining money.' He thought to himself as he was about to walk down, to the second floor, only to be startled by a loud sound before his eyes caught a silhouette falling from the fifth floor.
*BANG*
Approaching the balcony, Redd took a look down. There, sprawled on the ground was a woman, covered in terrifying wounds and bruises. Her face was distorted with pain and her empty eyes were wet with tears.
However, it didn't take long for Redd to realize that the woman… is dead.