Conquest Sea, the shipping lane leading to Iweig.
On the vast sea, the massive vessel, having lost power, was now completely adrift on the surface. All the passengers were in a panic due to the earlier explosion. Following the crew's arrangements, the passengers were currently in their respective cabins, anxiously awaiting further developments.
The second explosion that occurred shortly after in the lower cabins of the shining white pearl further exacerbated this unease. After this explosion, some passengers began to refuse to stay in their cabins any longer and rushed out, wanting to get onto the deck, leading to disputes with the crew members maintaining order.
After the second explosion, a sailor covered in grime from the lower cabin rushed onto the deck. After frantically asking around on the deck, he focused his gaze on the deckhouse above and then saw Captain Costa there.
"Mr. Costa! Something terrible has happened! Another explosion just occurred below deck for some reason! This explosion has caused severe flooding in the lower cabin! It can't be stopped at all!"
Waving his hands, the sailor shouted towards Costa on the deckhouse. Hearing the sailor's words, some passengers who had rushed onto the deck and even some of the sailors maintaining order began to panic. The thought that the ship was starting to flood intensified the panic, and the crowd began to lose control and become chaotic.
Costa on the deckhouse turned his gaze. Seeing the spreading chaos on the deck, he, wearing his Captain's uniform, slowly put his hands behind his back and spoke loudly with a calm demeanor and tone.
"Everyone, there is no need to panic! Although this ship has unfortunately suffered such a severe accident, and the entire vessel is in danger, the Holy Mother has not abandoned us. Look over there! Thanks to God's favor! We have encountered the Church's fleet! I have informed them of the ship's situation and requested assistance, and they have already responded and are rushing here with all their might!"
"Everyone, Light is by our side, there is no need to panic. Follow the arrangements, maintain order, and I, as the Captain, guarantee that everyone on this ship will be saved!"
Costa said, comforting those below. As he spoke, he also pointed towards the approaching fleet in the distance. When the panicked passengers and sailors saw that many ships were indeed coming towards them from afar, they all breathed a sigh of relief, and order on the scene was re-established.
Seeing the previously chaotic situation below improve, Costa calmly turned his head and looked at the three corpses in the cabin behind him, speaking sternly to his subordinates.
"Hurry, before the Fanatics' ships arrive, dispose of these! After you're done, prepare to dive and leave! Remember to go to the nearest stronghold when you reach the shore."
"Yes, Mr."
Following Costa's orders, several Ebergrass followers began to hastily deal with the three corpses in the cabin. At this time, Costa looked at the scene on the deck below with a serious expression, then snorted and spoke.
"Another explosion, this time it directly caused the ship to flood. Hmph, it seems he was afraid that if those Fanatics came, they would only help with repairs and not take people, so he made sure to cut off all retreat... It seems he must have brought quite a bit of explosives onto the ship..."
"Hey, Costa, are we really going to board those Fanatics' ships later? Won't that be too dangerous?"
Next to Costa, Massimo said with some unease. After hearing his words, Costa replied indifferently.
"At this point, the only way to reclaim the deep blue heart is this... Although we can find that thief with this button, his strength is considerable, and I'm not confident I can kill him alone, so we must act together."
"Fortunately, we all have some spirits Concealing talismans and'Shadow' storage items on us. They should be fine against the Fanatics' basic detection. As long as we act like we used to, pretending to be ordinary Captains and jewelry collectors, no one will suspect anything. Even if that guy notices us boarding, he won't make a fuss for his own safety."
Costa said so. Listening to Costa's words, Massimo was silent for a while, then couldn't help but grit his teeth and respond.
"Hmph... There's no choice. Although it's dangerous, at this point, we can only go there. As long as we find that guy on board, his end will come when we disembark!"
"Hmm... So from now on, I must continue to seriously perform my duties as Captain." Looking at the Light fleet that was already very close, Costa muttered. Now, as a good Captain, he had to start organizing the evacuation of passengers.
...
shining white pearl, on a corridor of a certain cabin. Naifnis, dressed in casual clothes, was jogging along with a somewhat flustered expression. After running for a while, she knocked sideways on a cabin door, but upon knocking, found that the door was not closed. After pushing the door open and entering, she saw a silver-haired girl sitting by the window leisurely drinking coffee.
"Miss Dorothy, why are you still here? This ship is about to sink! Let's hurry to the deck!"
"Don't panic, Senior Nefelnis. This is a big guy with over ten thousand tons displacement. It will take a long time to sink. Sit down, we can drink a few more cup here before leaving. If everyone rushes to the deck now... it will cause trouble for our diligent Captain's organizational work."
Listening to Naifnis's words, Dorothy said unhurriedly. Seeing Dorothy's calm demeanor, Naifnis couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva, then closed the door and came in, sitting down at the table with unease.
"Miss Dorothy, are you... really not panicking? This is a shipwreck! I heard the cabin below is flooding!"
"Of course I know it's going to sink, after all, I blew it up. Don't worry, I controlled the damage well, this ship won't sink for at least four or five hours. Look, the Church fleet is right in front of us, that's enough time for everyone to transfer safely."
"So, there's absolutely no need to rush to the deck now. It's noisy and crowded there, not to mention it would be bad if you were pushed into the sea."
Sipping her coffee, Dorothy said lightly. Looking at Dorothy's actions, Naifnis felt a slight chill down her spine.
'Miss Dorothy... Not only did she bring a pile of bombs onto the ship, but she also talked about sinking a ten-thousand-ton giant ship so casually... She feels a bit scary, should I say she's worthy of being a senior executive of the Rose Cross? Is she really only thirteen years old?'
Looking at Dorothy like this, Naifnis complained in her heart. Looking at Dorothy in front of her, Naifnis suddenly recalled when she was thirteen years old. At that time, she had a wealthy and wonderful family, and both her father, mother, and Grandpa loved her dearly. She spent a carefree childhood under the care of all parties.
'Thinking about when I was young... Although I loved reading more influenced by Grandpa, I was essentially as innocent and playful as other children. I really can't understand what factors made Miss Dorothy at this age more adult than an adult, with such deep scheming... Could it be that she has been receiving some cruel training from the Rose Cross since she was a child?'
'If that's true, then Miss Dorothy is really pitiful. In what should have been a naive and innocent childhood, she had to participate in cruel secret cult struggles. It feels a little pathetic...'
'But thinking about it this way, what would Miss Dorothy be like if she lived a normal life and grew up normally? Miss Dorothy is very beautiful. If she wasn't always so mature-looking, but instead looked like an ordinary child, she would probably be very cute, and maybe she would even call me older sister!'
Looking at Dorothy, Naifnis mused in her heart with a hint of longing. Meanwhile, Dorothy, who was drinking coffee beside her, noticed Naifnis's slightly strange gaze, tilted her head slightly, and then continued to speak with an unchanging expression.
"What are you looking at me for? Is there something strange on my face?"
"Something strange? Ah... No, nothing strange! I was just spacing out for a moment!" Hearing Dorothy's words, Naifnis immediately snapped back to reality and quickly said. She definitely wouldn't tell Dorothy that she was imagining what she would be like if she were a truly innocent little girl.
After listening to Naifnis's words, Dorothy just glanced at her and didn't say much else, but instead looked out the window at the Light fleet whose flag could already be seen, and then spoke.
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"The Church's ship has arrived. Let's have one more cup here. We'll go up after the deck is less crowded. No need to go up now and squeeze."
"Hmm… calmly drinking coffee on a sinking ship is a strangely wonderful experience…"
Muttering to herself, Senior Nefelnis walked over and sat down in front of Miss Dorothy, who smiled and made her a cup of coffee.
...
As time passed, the Church's fleet finally approached the disabled shining white pearl. Maintaining a certain distance, the Church's fleet stopped, and countless lifeboats were lowered from the warships and passenger ships. The people on board rowed the lifeboats towards the side of the shining white pearl. Due to the shining white pearl's high deck and the risk of collision if larger ships got too close, it was not possible to directly transfer passengers using gangplanks. Therefore, Jode chose to use lifeboats as the main method of transferring passengers.
On the shining white pearl, Captain Costa was focused on organizing the evacuation of passengers. He organized the sailors to lower the gangway, allowing the people on the deck to climb down the gangway onto the lifeboats below in an orderly fashion. Countless passengers, once in the lifeboats, were transferred to various ships in the fleet and then returned to pick up new passengers. Occasionally, anyone who fell into the water was immediately rescued.
Under effective command, the passengers did not rush onto the deck all at once but were organized into groups and sent off the ship in batches. The large rescue fleet provided a sense of security to the passengers, so most people followed instructions. Although there were minor disturbances at the rescue scene, the general order was maintained, and there was no collective panic.
Using lifeboats to transport passengers, although not highly efficient, was thankfully possible due to ample time. With persistent effort, the passengers on the shining white pearl were orderly transferred to the Church's fleet.
As time passed, the shining white pearl finally began to show clear signs of sinking. Although this phenomenon was dangerous, it also lowered the deck height, making the overall rescue operation more efficient. With lifeboats rapidly shuttling back and forth, the number of people on the shining white pearl quickly decreased. After more than three hours of busy rescue operations, there were not many people left on the shining white pearl.
On the sea surface at dusk, Miss Dorothy, led by the Corpse Puppet acting as her guardian, was in one of the last lifeboats heading towards the Church's fleet. From the departing lifeboat, Miss Dorothy turned her head to look at the shining white pearl, which had already sunk halfway, gazing at the steel behemoth she had personally sent to the bottom of the sea.
'Sinking such a large ship like this must be a considerable loss. It's quite an achievement to have broken something this big for the first time in my life…'
Looking at the giant ship gradually being swallowed by the sea, Miss Dorothy couldn't help but think to herself. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her: if someone knew she had sunk the ship, would they blame her and demand compensation?
'Probably not, after all, I'm only thirteen. Kids don't know any better and just blow things up for fun.'
Thinking this, Miss Dorothy turned her head away from the sinking ship. She then rode the lifeboat all the way to the Church's fleet, finally docking beside a passenger ship. With everyone's help, she successfully boarded the passenger ship with her "guardian."
Upon boarding the passenger ship, Miss Dorothy and other rescued passengers were gathered on the deck. Here, several priests and Sisters were conducting simple physical examinations of the rescued passengers.
Just as Miss Dorothy was searching through the crowd, a soft voice sounded from behind her and the Corpse Puppet guardian.
"Mr., to confirm your condition, I will now perform some simple examinations on you and your daughter. Please cooperate with my work."
Hearing this familiar voice, Miss Dorothy slowly turned around and saw a Sister in a white dress, wearing glasses, and smiling. Seeing the Sister before her, Miss Dorothy responded with a smile like an ordinary young girl.
"Okay~ Sister."
...
The night sky gradually darkened, and the Church's fleet remained on the sea. Everyone from the shining white pearl had been rescued, and the rescue work was now in its final stages.
On the flagship of this pilgrim fleet, in the Captain's cabin, which was decorated with strong religious elements, Captain Costa of the shining white pearl was meeting with the supreme commander of this Light escort fleet, explaining the circumstances of the accident on the ship.
According to Captain Costa's explanation, the main reason for the shining white pearl's accident was a malfunction in the boiler system. In his words, the ship's boilers had experienced intermittent problems after setting sail. At first, it wasn't noticed until the ship's speed significantly decreased, which then drew attention. Captain Costa then said he sent people to inspect the boilers, but unexpectedly, before the inspection results were available, a severe boiler explosion occurred, leading to the maritime disaster.
"As expected, was it a boiler problem? I wonder what malfunction occurred in the boilers that led to this result…" After listening to Captain Costa's report, Jode, in uniform, muttered, and as he spoke, he looked out the ship's window. On the distant sea outside the window, the shining white pearl's massive hull had already sunk two-thirds.
"Yes, Captain Jode, my biggest confusion now is what exactly went wrong with those boilers? What was the specific cause of the malfunction? But now the shining white pearl has sunk into the sea, and that answer will likely never be known… It is my dereliction of duty as Captain for not preventing the accident in time and causing such a great misfortune."
Captain Costa said this, his voice filled with sighs, and his expression showed Silence, as if he were truly blaming himself.
"It's not entirely your fault. At sea, many crises come suddenly and without warning; not everyone can handle them. The sinking of the shining white pearl is indeed a misfortune, but the silver lining is… although the ship sank, the lives of the vast majority of people were saved. People are more important than the ship.
"Mr. Costa, you did an excellent job organizing the passenger evacuation. In a moment of crisis, you fulfilled your duty as Captain. Your performance today is at least satisfactory in my eyes. If anyone wants to investigate you for this incident later, I will speak on your behalf."
Jode said this to Captain Costa. Hearing his words, Captain Costa immediately replied gratefully.
"Thank you so much, Captain. To be honest, if it weren't for you today, I don't know how big this tragedy would have been. You saved us. On behalf of everyone on the shining white pearl, I extend our highest respect to you."
"Haha… No need to thank me. The one you should thank most is the Holy Mother. It was she who guided us and brought us here."
"Ah… Praise the Holy Mother…"
While speaking flattering words, a hint of resentment subtly appeared in the depths of Captain Costa's eyes, but he immediately suppressed it.
After a moment of pause, Captain Costa looked out the window at the shining white pearl, which was gradually moving away and about to completely sink, and then asked.
"By the way, I have an important question I want to ask you, Captain. Where is your fleet heading? Will we be sent to your"
Hearing this question, Jode did not hesitate at all and spoke without thinking.
"Our destination is Iweig, the same as your previous destination, but I apologize. Due to supply storage issues on the fleet, we cannot carry an additional two thousand people for a long voyage to Iweig.
"Therefore, I have ordered the fleet to head north at full speed to reach shore as quickly as possible. We will see the land of Castile in less than a day. We are expected to dock at Navaja, the nearest port to here, where everyone from the shining white pearl will safely return to land."
...
Hmm… My classmate is getting married the day after tomorrow, and I have a long journey to attend, so I'm a bit busy. I might not be able to update. If I can update, the word count will likely be halved. Please forgive me.