"Pft- Hahaha!", the auburn-haired girl laughed graciously while covering her mouth with her free hand, "I'm sorry! I forgot that you were not accustomed to our practices!"
With tears of laughter swelling under her eyes, she continued to laugh until she was satisfied.
After a few seconds, she gradually stopped and settled down with her plate filled with food.
"Let me see..", she then grabbed Cetas' hand and carefully looked at the burn.
"Doesn't look too bad, Jones can patch you up with a touch!"
Cetas, who was still perplexed by the pain, was confused about the auburn-haired girl's words. He was curious as to why the girl suddenly choked and almost let out tears at the same time.
However, after assessing the situation, he guessed that the girl was feeling enjoyment.
"Hey Jones!", the girl turned around and stared at the doctor that Cetas saw in the infirmary.
"What seems to be the issue?"
Locating the man donning a white blouse and casual black trousers, Cetas noticed that he spoke in a different manner from the auburn-haired girl and Skadi.
It seemed more refined or formal.
"Fix him up for me!"
The girl tilted her head quickly to the direction of Cetas' hand.
Cetas understood that the girl was signalling for the doctor to heal him.
As the man walked towards Cetas, he mumbled a couple of words, "Please, Ms. Elishia, what have you done this time?"
"I have done no such thing, sir!", the girl spoke in the same tone as the doctor.
In response, the doctor sighed and moved on to grab Cetas' hand, examining it thoroughly.
"It is but a mere mild burn. However, I shall alleviate the pain for you, sir."
With those words, Cetas felt warmth rising up from his fingertips, it flowed up from his capillaries all the way to his blood vessel, as if regulating his blood flow even better - energizing him and boosting his capabilities.
"There, now you shall feel better. If you will excuse me..", the doctor bowed and took the opportunity to exit from the scene. Cetas, however, was in amazement. It was an entirely unfamiliar concept, but unlike others, it filled his heart with excitement. As if he had been exposed to such abilities before but had long forgotten what it was. The energy that he was provided seemed like it could make him swim for a whole week! Clearly showing interest, Cetas looked at the back figure of the doctor slowly becoming slow as he descended down the ship.
Before Cetas could go after him, he heard the girl's voice once more.
"Amazing, right?", Elishia, the auburn haired girl, had a wide and warm grin on her face. "Our healer, he's really amazing. He's capable of doing many things, outside of that unique accent of his. He can heal with just a mere touch and not only that! He can also give our body's vast amounts of energy. Isn't that cool? That's the power of Ether Zeal! Oh Helios Almighty, I wish I had a unique Zeal like him!"
Although Cetas could not understand her sentence, he was familiar with a particular word.
"Z-zeal?"
Surprised, Elishia turned her head back towards Cetas as her eyes widened, "You can understand me?!"
She placed her hands on Cetas' shoulders and leaned in closer to get a better understanding of the humanoid creature in front of her.
Cetas was confused.
Was it another gesture of these creatures on the surface? He asked inwardly, curious about them.
When suddenly, a shrill and ghostly voice of a different tone intervened on Elishia's curiosity.
"Of course, he can't. He's a depth-dweller."
Cetas turned toward the sound of the voice which he realized belonged to the long white-haired man of the crew. He wore a white frilled blouse paired with a black suit and a white trench coat. Along with his black trousers, the man's clothing pattern looked different from the usual fashion of the crew.
Cetas noticed that he was the only different one in terms of clothing.
"Reid!"
"Come to the upper deck, Captain wants to announce something..", the white-haited man voiced out with a glint of indifference.
Unaware of the surface-dweller's words, Cetas could not decipher the meaning behind the white-haited individual's message due to the indifference of the man's tone.
So, Cetas reached for the meat on his plate - carefully, this time - and placed it inside his mouth with the hopes of ingesting it. Even though he was packed with the doctor's energy boost, Cetas still wanted to eat because he had been starving for weeks or maybe months.
When he was about to grab another mouthful, Elishia grabbed his arm and slowly dragged her feet towards the other side of the ship, "Come on."
Cetas followed through while chewing the scrumptious looking meat in his mouth.
*
This is good! Cetas claimed in his thoughts. The food, albeit eating slowly, was actually beginning to saturate his stomach rather quickly. It was as if he were eating 3 fishes with one piece of the octopus meat. Drowning in the thoughts of the tasty-looking meat, Cetas reached in for another piece yet to his dismay, he realized that the plate was already empty.
With a crestfallen expression, he was warped back to reality. He and Elishia finally arrived at the upper deck.
Upon looking around, he noticed the familiar blonde-haired Skadi, the white-haired man, the doctor, and the bulky red-haired man that held two tentacles on his two arms.
On his side, the auburn-haired girl let go of his arm and pointed at Skadi's figure, signifying that he should listen to her.
If he could understand them, he would.
Alas, with the language barrier, Cetas could only stand there in contemplation - interpreting Skadi's words in his mind.
After confirming that everyone in the crew had arrived at the upper deck, Skadi began to speak. Cetas heard the all-too familiar imposing yet soft voice.
"Men! I have important news to delegate. As of right now, our ship has been damaged. Due to some unknown reason, a hole could be found from the infirmary down to the keel of the ship.", Skadi claimed while looking at the doctor named Jones,
"Thus, we cannot continue with the traversal of Poseidon Depths.."
With those words, Cetas noticed the auburn-haired girl raising her hands and protesting.
"But Captain! How about your ritual?"
Ritual? Cetas somehow captured the word but did not know the meaning of it.
"That could be settled another time. Besides, I think we have a much better interest as of right now.", she turned her head towards Cetas, who was wondering about the meaning of the word "ritual".
Cetas, noticing the stares, dismissed his thoughts and gazed at them with confusion.
Skadi continued:
"I have contacted the Historian. He said that he had some potential insights regarding the ritual and.. him."
After a few seconds of silence, Skadi cleared her throat, "So, we will be heading to Helios once more with three goals in mind. One, find Galkan materials for acid proofing"
Cetas suddenly noticed the doctor shudder.
"Two, find the Historian, learn more about depth-dwellers, and potentially relieve the language barrier between humans and them. This could help us learn more about my ritual and maybe... gain another crewmember - if that is aligned with his wishes, of course. It would also serve us well due to the fact that depth-dwellers are incredibly adept in ocean traversal - as told in folklore."
"Aren't those mermaids? The ones adept in ocean traversal?", Elishia asked.
"Yes, mermaids or seafolk as we call them are also well-versed in travelling in the ocean. However, we are not merely staying on the surface.", Skadi grinned, a feeling of excitement rising up within her chest.
"We will also travel underneath the sea and find treasure deep within."
Immediately, Cetas noticed the crewmembers tense up except for the red-haired bulky man. He thought that she must've said something imposing in order to rile up their insides.
"No worries, everyone. That event will surely be a long time from now. As for our third goal, I've been issued an assignment by the Headhunters."
Suddenly, the tense atmosphere was replaced by excitement. Cetas could see that there is a hint of passion inside the eyes of the crewmembers.
The winds then blew softly and to Cetas' surprise, he saw that it carried a piece of fibre paper which was making its way towards Skadi.
Skadi naturally grabbed the paper beside her as if she was already used to floating objects already. She held the paper in one hand and examined it with utmost carefulness. Then, she grinned widely, revealing deep longing for a battle. After examining the paper, she turned it around to reveal its contents to the crewmembers.
It was an unfamiliar poster with a mural of a man smiling devilishly as he held a sword on his right hand. A red bandana could be seen hiding his right eye and he had blood smeared on his black goatee.
Underneath the mural was some text that Cetas could not understand.
"This is Captain Falkone, leader of the Red Bandana Pirates worth 5000 Solaris!", Skadi declared.
"Solaris huh.. Not Solis, this should be interesting.", the red-haired bulky man spoke up, with steam coming out of his nose.
Skadi smiled and continued:
"Based on the intel gathered by the Historian, they've recently arrived on the Eastern Heliosian Shores with a broken ship. Well, now, they can't leave Helios for at least 3 weeks - a ship that size needs its repairs!"
"Men! Are we ready for a hunt?"
The four raised their arms up and curled their fist into a ball. Then, they pounded their chest towards the area where the heart resides.
"Aye!"
"Then, turn back! We're heading to Helios!"