Chapter 357. A Visit
Weister struggled to find words to respond to his mother. His eyes darted around until his gaze landed on the Narwhale's Cook, Planck, waving at him from afar. Weister sighed in relief and said, "Mother, my friend is calling me, so I'll..."
"Go ahead, you're an adult, so it's great that you have a circle of friends. Just remember to come back home early," Elena said.
"Okay! I'll definitely be back by ten tonight!" Weister replied and ran toward Planck.
"Thanks for bailing me out, Planck," Weister said.
"Bail you out? I'm here to tell you that the guys are drinking at Anchor Bar; wanna go with me there?" Planck asked.
"Of course, I'll go," Weister replied almost immediately.
Weister followed Planck to the bustling Anchor Bar, and he soon found himself sitting on a wooden stool with ice-cold beer going down his throat. He let out a groan of satisfaction, feeling extremely comfortable.
The old and new crew of Narwhale sat alongside Weister and Planck before the round wooden table.
The sailor named Buck sitting next to Weister leaned closer to the wooden table and said in a low voice, "Have you guys heard of it yet?"
"Heard of what? The news about how the Captain is blind?"
"Is that even considered news? I'm talking about how the Second Engineer will replace our late Chief Engineer. The Second Engineer's promotion means that there's going to be a vacancy in the engine room team.
"I overheard the First Mate and the Second Mate, and they said that they're planning on picking someone from among us to join the turbine room team!"
"Is that so? I think the Captain will just recruit a newcomer outside," Weister said.
"The turbine room is the heart of an entire ship, so the Captain will definitely promote from the inside first rather than hire from outside. If the Captain opens up the recruitment once more, I'm sure it's only for the O.S. and A.B. positions.
"Anyway, I don't think I've told you yet, but the salary of the turbine room team is twice our salary!" Bucker exclaimed.
Charles reached out a trembling hand toward the little girl's head.
"Sparkle? Is it really you, Sparkle? Why do you look like this?" Charles asked.
"Of course, she's Sparkle. She's my daughter, so changing forms is as easy as breathing for her. I had her transform into this form. What do you think? Our daughter looks pretty cute, right? Ah, I forgot that you went blind."
Charles turned to the voice and shouted with apparent anxiety, "So you're here?! Why did you not say anything? I ended up hurting Sparkle!"
"Relax, scumbag. Your tiny broken dagger can't possibly harm our daughter. As I told you, she's pretty strong," Anna said and walked up to Sparkle. She pulled out the dagger sticking out of Sparkle and shoved it back into Charles' hand.
Charles patted the wound on Sparkle's abdomen and let out a huge sigh of relief upon realizing that the wound had disappeared in an instant. Charles then started stroking Sparkle's head with one hand and turned to the side before asking, "Why are you here?"
"You went blind, and you're asking me why I'm here? I really don't know what to say," Anna said, sounding displeased and annoyed.
Anna had always been like that, so Charles didn't mind her tone of voice at all. In fact, he was eager to share with her the fruits of his adventures. He grabbed his coat nearby and took out the nautical chart from one of the coat's pockets.
"Look!" Charles said excitedly, "I found the exit to the surface world!"
A soft and slender arm reached out from behind Charles and gently pinched the piece of paper.
"Are you sure it won't be similar to the rift above us? It's not another fake, is it?" Anna said, sounding doubtful.
"No, there's an extremely high chance that the exit to the surface world is here. It also makes sense that the Foundation has passageways like this that are connected to the surface," Charles replied.
Anna regarded the man before her with a complicated gaze before patting his shoulder. "Call me once you're about to go up. I'll go up with you."
"Of course, you'll go up with me. We used to live there, after all!" Charles replied. His excitement had seeped out of his voice and had suffused his face into a thrilled grin.
Anna kneaded her temples; she sounded helpless as she said, "I'm just worried that you might go crazy again if the surface isn't what you expect it to be."
Charles' grin froze and eventually faded away. He stroked his daughter's head gently and muttered, "Never—it's never going to happen again. I'm not going to go crazy even if the surface world is no more.
"If that were the case, I'd just go back to Hope Island and enjoy my days here as a Governor with you and Sparkle. There'd be no more running around."