Leo looked up at the voice's source and found a young man with fiery red hair looking down on him, literally.
Viren…
Leo immediately recalled the name, and memories of the past flashed in front of his eyes.
–Oh look, ain't that the bastard child of Uncle Patrick?
–Scum, know your place. But..but… hahaha! Couldn't even stay conscious for the awakening!
–My little brother… hoho… it's been a long while since I saw you. Let's play a game, shall we?
–Hahaha, why are you crying? You only just lost an arm and a leg. It was a necessary punishment for losing the game! Don't think it's unfair!
The horror, the suffering, it all came back momentarily, making him be in a daze.
"You! I asked you something!" The young man, Viren, shouted, making Leo snap out of his thoughts.
I really should do something about my PTSD. Tch. It's going to get me killed for zoning out.
Back to reality, Leo thought of a few different responses for Viren's haughtiness in his mind. Just like in games such as Arcane Duel or Tarot cards reading that have multiple responses for the same thing, he had to select one of the choices he thought of. They were:
– Ignore.
– Say something haughty.
– Act in a similar way like past life.
– Establish dominance.
He had a vague idea of how the outcome of the respective choices would be, hence he decided to go with the choice that would give him some peace and quiet throughout the six hour long journey.
Leo looked at the youngster with red hair and calmly taking a step towards him, asked with an indifferent gaze, "You are?"
The girls around Viren let out a dramatic gasp, as if they just watched Leo commit a murder.
Being a hot-blooded youth, Viren clenched his fists within his coat's pockets, and shot a hateful look at Leo.
By the time he could say something, Leo already went past him to meet the captain of the ship. On his way, he took off his hat, letting his vibrant green hair flow freely.
Viren had a look at it and gritted his teeth. He didn't follow Leo to beat him up for his audacious nature and dropped the matter.
The girls around him, however, hugged his arms and said things like:
"Young master, are you just going to let him go?"
"Young master should punish that guy for his audacity!"
"Yes, yes, young master should not let this slide!"
Viren gritted his teeth and thought, 'bastard, I'll have you pay for this after the ceremony is over. Just wait.'
Touching Leo here was out of question. His green hair was the reason Viren dropped the matter.
He was out of touch with family matters, but there were some things his parents shoved down his throat before leaving him to wander around. One of them was to never provoke the green-haired and eyed people in certain areas. Silver City and Tryst Harbor were one of those places.
To Viren, it sounded as if his parents were afraid of these people. This made him question, there are people that my family can't afford to offend? However, he later saw the hidden meaning in their words.
'In certain areas', they said. This meant Viren was free to do as he pleased with this guy as long as he wasn't in those areas.
Don't let me find you after the ceremony, bastard boy. Viren snorted and went to his room with the girls, ignoring their useless provocation. He wasn't a fool to be swayed by the words of some maidens.
Oblivious to Viren's thoughts, Leo walked leisurely to the captain's room.
After a few knocks, a deep voice asked him to come in.
Leo saw a burly, tanned-skin man with a rough beard and unkempt hair staring at a few yellowed pages. He greeted him and made his presence known, then went to his room and sat quietly.
Rhythmic hisses and billows of steam marked the ship's departure. It creaked away from the dock, and the churning sound of the steam-powered engine below deck intensified as it set course for its express journey towards the Ignis Archipelago.
Leo looked at the fast-distancing Tryst Harbor through his room's window. His heart began beating anxiously in anticipation while his mind braced for the dozens of upcoming PTSD attacks.
Not in the slightest was Leo excited to be at the Ignis Archipelago, which was the real base of the Ignis Family.
The Tryst Harbor soon turned into a faint outline and eventually disappeared in the horizon. The sky blue water was replaced with clear green as the ship entered the Voyager's Sea.
This was the safest sea among all and had routes to all the continents of the world — even the ice-covered Northern and Southern Continents.
The surroundings soon became blurry as the ship moved with astonishing speed of knots. In just four hours, they reached the Central Continent, which was halfway between the Western and Eastern Continents.
Twenty days of journey that a cargo ship moving at moderate pace was covered in just four hours. This was how fast this steamship was!
The ship stopped for ten minutes in the Azure Mist Harbor of the East Province, then set off for the Ignis Archipelago again after it had picked up a few more youths of the Ignis Family.
…..
A distant island could be seen on the horizon through Leo's window. It seemed to be getting clearer with each passing second as the ship sailed closer.
Leo put on his hat and walked out of his room while holding a black briefcase.
In two minutes, the ship anchored itself at the dock and a gangway was laid out for the youngsters to walk.
Leo was in no rush. He let the other youngsters descend down first while he looked around the harbor to see if it was the same as his past life or not.
There were a few steamships docked here and many redheads could be seen walking around. They were accompanied by their maidservants, uniformed in black and white attire.
However, although the maidservants had similar clothing, there was a change in the clothing of the redheads.
Half the people walking around did not wear suits, but loose fitting robes with a conical hat, appearing like what people here liked to informally say, 'daoists'.
It was a chaotic yet beautiful mix of cultures that Leo was looking at.
Suits and dresses were common in the Western Continent while loose-fitting robes were widely popular in the Eastern Continent.
The Ignis Family had their major operations in both continents, so it was natural for the members to wear such different clothes.
Ignoring the attires for now, Leo gazed at a certain short middle-aged man with long hair. He was descending down the gangway with a dark red-haired youngster who was slightly shorter than him in height.
Leo kept his gaze affixed on them. Something major was going to happen at any time now.
He looked at the youngsters on his ship and saw them to have all descended. To not miss the event, Leo quickly made his way down while keeping an eye on the man.
Nothing of note happened as they walked away from the ship, but a few seconds later…
"Stop, you bitch!" Someone's loud yell was heard from a distance.