Chapter 207: Shiba (1)

Louis blinked.

What is he doing here?

It was definitely him. His black hair and beady eyes were as unmistakable as if they’d been drawn with a ballpoint pen. The guy he’d randomly bumped into on the street was on the same cruise ship. And not just anywhere on the ship, but right here at a bar called Obyte, out of all the possible locations.

Whether Louis sent him a bewildered look or not, the Cyclops, who had been leaning against the wall, suddenly felt another wave of nausea. He sprang up and craned his neck towards the sea.

“Uweeeegh.”

Chrrrk.

The sound stimulated Louis’s imagination.

Ugh… How dirty…

It no longer mattered why that creature was here. It would have been a blurry situation from the start anyway. With its condition, it wouldn’t have had the mind to answer any questions anyway.

Louis turned away without hesitation as he pondered the back of the Cyclops. Continuing to listen to this filthy quartet here would rot his ears.

“Kuueeeeek!”

“Wuek!”

“Keeeeeek!”

“Wuuk!”

So Louis departed from that place.

“Kyahahaah!”

“U wahahah!”

The wildly raving twins whirled past there.

How much time had passed? It was getting close to sunset.

Louis had been tumbling around a room with Fin and Nabi. He now got out of bed. It was a four-person compartment. Sometime while he was distracted, his twin had appeared on the neighboring bed, asleep with their head drooping.

Seeing them like that made Louis chuckle.

“…Slept yourselves out, I see.”

They’d gotten older, and it seemed they knew when to cut themselves some slack. Back in the day, Louis would probably still be insane with excitement, racing around outside right now. As he rose, Fin woke up from where she’d fallen asleep clutching Nabi.

“Where are you going?”

“Just outside. You keep sleeping.”

“Okay…”

She answered and held Nabi tight again. Nabi had become Fin’s personal pillow at some point.

Soft and warm, like a cloud, Fin might have thought.

Louis quietly snuck out and opened the door to the next room.

“…Kids? They still aren’t here?”

The room’s occupants were the Flame siblings and Lavina.

The empty space had been cooling the air for quite a while.

Louis had moved his search to find the children.

His steps were unwavering.

They were probably there earlier.

Where had the three seasick kids gone?

Since they had been groaning before, they probably remained by the railing in the same spot.

As he expected, it wasn’t difficult to find them.

But the problem was…

“…Why is it the four people who vomit now?”

There were four of them, not three as expected.

The one-eyed man Louis had seen this morning was still part of their group.

The hilarious thing was that all four were sitting together, having a friendly chat.

“Wow, you’ve experienced that before too?”

“Turns out it isn’t as hard as you’d think…”

Four figures sat closely together, engrossed in animated conversation.

As they recounted their adventures…

Gurgle!

The ship suddenly pitched violently.

“Oh man! That’s a rough one… Urp!”

“Ugh!”

All four clutched the railing simultaneously.

They leaned over the edge, retching for a moment before retreating to their seats as the storm abated. This ritual repeated itself over and over.

Murmurs…

Blast of wind…

Ugh…

Louis watched in dismay as his companions performed this delicate social dance.

“I never imagined I’d get so close to people by puking with them!”

Just as Louis stared incredulously at his four vomiting friends, Kendrick paused mid-retch and noticed him.

“Oh? Hey, it’s you!”

Now that Louis had been spotted, all eyes turned his way.

Under the combined gaze of eight bleary orbs, Louis flinched involuntarily.

This isn’t even a zombie transformation…

Louis was astounded by how much people could change in just a few hours.

Even if you consider Pablo’s dwarven physiology… why are these humans so weak to sea sickness?

And they were supposedly tier-2 beings, no less!

As Louis marveled at his disciples’ conditions, he asked, “Despite all that puking, is there still nothing coming out?”

”…Nothing’s coming out. But I keep feeling like there’s more inside.”

“Sir, I feel like I’m going to die…”

“Please save us…”

The Flame siblings, along with Lavina, turned to Louis, their voices filled with despair.

In the background, Mr. Squint, ever observant, mustered an awkward smile at the sight of Louis and the distressed group.

“So you’re… the teacher we’ve heard so much about.”

“What? Are they badmouthing me behind my back?”

“N-no, not at all. It’s just that your fists are faster than your words…”

“Sounds like an insult to me?”

No sooner had Louis spoken than Lavina and Tania’s fingers pointed at Kendrick.

Is he the culprit?

“You! All of you!” The flustered Kendrick flailed, but the truth had already been revealed.

And the punishment followed swiftly.

“Aaaargh!”

Kendrick’s body was catapulted overboard.

“H-human overboard?!” The Cyclops were aghast as Kendrick suddenly flew off the bridge.

Even more shocking was when Kendrick came flying back, drenched in seawater.

“Gak!”

In Kendrick’s mouth, caught by the salty deluge, was a rather large fish.

Louis stared at Kendrick, who had just spat out a fish, as if he were a baffling spectacle.

“What’d you catch that for?”

“Well… I… Something swam past my face, so I reflexively grabbed it…”

“Hmm?”

And while he was at it, he caught a fish too?

What a remarkable fishing technique, Louis muttered before launching Kendrick back into the sea once more.

“Aieeeee!”

After two additional plunges, Kendrick collapsed on the beach, writhing like the fish he’d hauled ashore earlier.

Ravina seized the moment to flatten Kendrick’s cheeks with her palms.

“Hey, you can’t lose your head! It’s not just skin and bones!”

Kendrick would usually throw a fit, but now he was so worn down he couldn’t muster even a single protest.

Mr. Cyclops, who had been watching this scene, gulped. He knew for sure from the situation a moment ago that Louis, who had been talking to him all this time, was no ordinary person. It was either due to some strange ability or his character.

At that moment, Louis noticed Mr. Cyclops’s nervous demeanor and spoke up.

“Hey, Cyclops.”

”…Yes? Ah, yep!”

“What is he saying about me again?”

“T-That’s not it! He hasn’t said anything else!”

“Really? If something comes to light later, you’ll be in his shoes, you know?”

As Louis pointed at Kendrick, who was currently receiving a slap from Lavina, Mr. Cyclops frantically shook his head.

“I-I really didn’t say anything!”

“Really? Are you serious?”

“I am completely serious!”

“Hmm…” Louis looked thoughtful as Tanya interrupted.

“It’s true, Louis. That moron didn’t say anything else.”

Louis turned his gaze toward Tania.

“Tanya, where did you learn such language?”

“Moron?”

“No, not that.”

“Yes?”

“Shiba.”

The moment Louis finished speaking, Silly Eyes replied.

“Yes?”

“What?”

“…?”

“What was it?”

“You called me just now.”

“When did I do that?”

“You said ‘Shiba’…”

“Why are you cursing at me for the first time we meet?”

“Excuse me? When did I curse at you?”

Finally sensing something strange about their conversation, Louis blinked rapidly and asked,

”…Your name is Shiba?”

“Yes, but…”

“‘Shiba’ as in ‘shi’ for shit?”

“Um…”

“Don’t you ever get tired of having such a disgusting name?”

“This is actually the first time I’ve heard it since birth…”

Louis gazed at Shiba with amusement.

Wow, this guy has character for sure.

From his appearance down to his name, he was one unique fellow you wouldn’t forget after meeting him once.

Louis continued calling out to Shiba several more times until he finally gave up, partly due to Shiba’s slightly more displeased expression, likely because he was tired of having his name emphasized.

After taking his eyes off Shiba, Louis handed small bottles filled with green liquid to his companions from his own pack.

“What is this? Some kind of… seasickness cure?!” Lavina asked, her eyes filled with anticipation.

In a grumpy tone, Louis replied, “No, it’s a sleeper.”

“A what?”

“If you drink it, you’ll immediately pass out and sleep for a whole day.”

“Isn’t there any medicine to actually cure seasickness…? Something that would make it go away cleanly!”

“There isn’t,” Louis said firmly.

His statement was actually a lie, but he had no intention of giving her the real cure.

Seasickness is something you get used to after experiencing it a few times.

Unless she had a unique constitution like Pablo, she would be able to acclimate just fine.

She would be traveling on boats often in the future, and he didn’t think it was a good idea to rely on medication every time. It would be better for her to get used to it now.

Louis observed Lavina’s dejected expression and responded indifferently, “If you don’t want it, I won’t say it.”

“O-Oh, no!“.vector Lavina quickly snatched the bottle from Louis’s hand.

Since there was nothing left to come out anyway, holding her mouth shut like this was better than clinging to the railing like she was sleepwalking.

She noticed that others seemed to be in the same position, and the remaining bottles vanished from Louis’s hands in a flash.

At that moment, she felt a yearning gaze nearby.

With a smirk, Louis asked, “What’s wrong? You want some too?”

“P-Please.”

Considering it wasn’t particularly expensive and having already played with their names, Louis handed her one bottle as well.

Then, a problem arose.

Thud… Thud…

She heard dull sounds of people falling left and right.

Louis stared at the trio sprawled on the floor before him with an expression of utter disbelief.

“These idiots… They actually ate that stuff!”

Were they just so desperate to escape the hellish motion sickness? Or were they simply crazy enough to trust Louis…

As explained earlier, once ingested, the highly potent Sleeping Pill caused the Flame siblings and Lavina to instantly collapse as if dead, asleep for who knows how long.

And then…

Thud.

“What the heck?” Louis clicked his tongue at Shiba, who had also crumpled to the ground alongside them.

“Is there one more screw loose in that head of hers?”

With a big sigh, Louis hoisted his four drooling companions and drug them into another room.

Time passed.

It had been five days since the passenger ship bound for the Autumn Continent set sail.

The flame siblings and Lavina had easily adapted to seasickness. Once they were free from nausea, they naturally began enjoying the voyage, happily exploring the ship.

The problem lay not with them but with another group. Louis noticed four individuals who had been tagging along all day and called out to them.

“Hey, you four from the vomiting quartet!”

“Vomiting quartet, where are you?”

“Over here, vomiting quartet!”

Louis shouted first, followed by the twins chiming in. Their voices were so loud that the surrounding area reverberated with the sound.

This caused nearby people to burst into laughter. Upon hearing this, the so-called vomiting quartet flushed and hurried over.

“M-Mr. Louis!”

“I-I told you not to call us that!”

“We don’t get seasick anymore!”

“Cough!”

As the four protested, Louis rubbed his ear at their incessant whining.

“Oh, it’s not that big of a deal. In fact, I’ve never seen people bond over seasickness like you guys do.”

I’d heard of Do Won Gyeolgye, the Sharing Heart meaning to share one’s feelings with another but what was this Vomit of Unity?

The four who had clung to the railing five days ago with seasickness were now inseparably close since waking up from their forced naps at the Han Temple. While Lavina’s charisma certainly played a part, even the Flame siblings grew closer. Perhaps vomiting together truly brought them closer as they shared their vulnerabilities.

The trio continued chattering away until they noticed Louis’s eyebrows twitching uncomfortably. Realizing they were pushing his limits, they hastily changed the subject—well, Tania did, since she always had a knack for spontaneously coming up with ideas.

“Oh, that’s right, Miss! Shiba used to be a noble!”

“Who? Him?”

“Yes!”

Under Louis’s gaze, Shiba awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

“Haha, I wasn’t really from such a remarkable noble family. It went bankrupt when I was young…”

“That’s what I suspected. You never struck me as nobility.”

”…I suppose I’ve lived life without doing anything I hadn’t done since my family’s fall…”

One might expect Shiba to feel hurt by these words, but instead, he just smiled, unfazed.

At that moment, Tanya interrupted again.

“But that’s exactly Mr. Shiba’s family!”

“What do you mean?”

Tanya’s face lit up with wonder as she clapped her hands.

Applause!

“Oh, you know, it’s a piece the teacher bought at the auction house last time! That’s where it originally belonged.”

”…What?”

Louis’s eyes widened slightly.

“Bunt? That’s right, isn’t it, Mr. Shiba?”

“You’re correct, Miss Tanya.”

Shiba laughed and nodded.

Tanya’s excitement grew at his confirmation. “Isn’t this incredibly fascinating, sir? Wow, to think Shiba is from the Bunt family… I guess this is what they call fate.”

Tanya gazed at Louis with sparkling eyes. Ignoring her look, Louis turned to study Shiba’s face.

Black hair, black eyes, and eyes so narrow the color was barely visible. This appearance bore no resemblance to Carrie and Lucia, the Bunts he knew from the past.

That’s why he hadn’t associated Shiba with the Bunts at all.

So you’re the offspring of that son of a bitch Carrie? The thought of the sly dog Carrie who had tricked Louis into spending 5,000 gold on that damn necklace he’d prepared. The recollection stirred a low rumble between Louis’s teeth as he muttered, “You Bunt bastard…”