Most of the insides of Arkshelled Island was filled with new occupants, but Gabrio thought that they might as well be the same. One of the ships that was permanently anchored to the Island was that of the Merchants. Oh, he had no grudge towards the Merchants, but seeing them turned the insides of Arkshelled Island into their own alongside the Company’s officers were quite something.

There were workers in the innards of the Island that were capable of taking care of the hatchery that they have been guarding. Not only that they controlled the rationing and the supply of the rations in the Island. They were gladly using ‘marks’ as their currency.

Every man and woman of the fleet gets their ration as long as they are able to contribute to the workings of the fleet. Those who do not work, do not eat. It was simple, but to make sure that the whole fleet does not exhaust its supplies. Rations were limited depending on the person and his or her role in the fleet and the marks they have.

The marks acts as a way for them to count and calculate the losses and the gains of the fleet and give freedom to the fleet's people to buy goods from the quartermaters.

Gabrio was being paid four hundred and fifty marks and he could spend it on booze or food, but Gabrio had been keeping it and instead used it to treat his patients.

He was also trying to procure materials for his side projects. Anyway, the two of them were in the Innards of the Island and found themselves walking in the hatchery where most of the captured hatchlings were.

Upon entering, Gabrio saw the little creatures who were trapped in wooden cages with their limbs sticking out. There were hundreds of creatures in the hatchery that were being…salted.

“What’s happening with the hatched ones?” Gabrio pointed out.

“They’ll be tested by my peers for testing. We’ll try to turn them into cattle, but for now we’re making sure that the breeding sow, the mother is ‘occupied’ in breeding.

The two entered a room. In that room was a creature that had been once ‘Queen’ of this Island. It was the female alpha that once thrive in the innards of the beast, but now it was ‘bonded’ to the shelled beast and was being controlled.

The ‘tongue’ of the beast was sticking out and its stomach was filled with eggs. There were hatchery workers who were pulling out eggs from the entrance of the. The ‘Queen’ lays about thirty eggs in batch. Each of these eggs were the size of a palm tree fruit as well.

“Puppetry,” Gabrio inspected the roots that were connected to the spine and the brain of the beast, “it looks like the Elven-kin sure know their craft well.”

“It is strange as their spells. It was too dangerous to let a beast like that so instead they opted to turn this creature into a puppet that can be controlled.”

“What about its nutrition?”

“The root itself does it.”

“I still find all of this hard to believe.”

Ristina raised both hands and shrugged.

“The giant monsters, the banners of light, the appearance of someone prophesized to be a herald of light, the cosmic blink, a fleet accompanied by spirits, and now a shelled beast? Yeah, it’s hard to believe that we are part of this. We only knew that there were those who could do beyond what we thought is possible. These were legends manifested, and now I think that we are fools for not noticing.”

A great lie that was revealed to the world. The lie of the dynasty that ruled all of Aon had been revealed, that they were simply spirit-blooded humans that were gifted with the gift to cast spells. But to humans who don’t have enough blood of the spirits, it causes ‘madness’ that had caused the Imperial Family to kill as many as they can in their tragic reign.

“We live in strange times indeed,” Ristina folded her arms.

“This reminds of me the brain experiments that my teacher did. He poked the brains and see if it would cause a response.”

“The results?”

“I know how to cripple someone and kill their brain without killing them after learning what he did.”

“Oh, does it work in these creatures?”

Gabrio pondered for a moment. He looked at the appearance of the female alpha and nodded.

“If I can severe the frontal lobe, the prefrontal cortex, and the anterior part, I think I can do it. But clearly their brains are different so we might have to test it out to see.”

“Will you?”

Gabrio stopped pondering. It was as if he realized that he was a Doctor and not a Surgeon. He held a grim look on his face as he composes himself.

“I can give you the materials of the experiments. I have it in my cabin where I kept some of the tomes that my teacher left for me.”

“I thought you’d throw away all of that.”

Gabrio eyed Ristina softly before speaking.

"My teacher was a dangerous man who was numbed to what he did. I hated his ideals, his beliefs, and everything that he stood for except for his perseverance in acquiring knowledge. How many died so that he could do his experiments and advance the surgery that they teach in Accad? He was a cruel man, but to throw away what he devoted his life for is disrespectful for those who were sacrificed for it. I am not ashame of the 'knowledge' that he taught me.”

“I see.”

“No, you don’t.”

Ristina gave him an eyeful before shaking her head. Gabrio didn’t let that get to him as he continued observing the roots around the beast.

“Let’s go and see the rest of the eggs. Oh, I should let Rocco know that you’re going to be my associate.”

“I don’t really need it.”

“Oh, but I do. It’s hard to inform the Officers that a friend is coming to visit, especially in these seas.”

The two walked out of the chamber and got out of the hatchery. It was just a few walk away from the chamber and Gabrio found himself in what seems to be a large oval chamber with workers burying food in sealed containers and some of them were the eggs.

“Hmm, are there many chambers like this? I haven't inspected these chambers and corridors before.”

“There are, the beast’s body is inherently cool and the temperature here are good enough to keep some of the supplies. I think they are planning to make a distillery soon to make some wine.”

“Is that their priority?”

“Yes, how else are people going to stay sane in these seas?”

She smiled and led Gabrio to another room where it quickly reminded Gabrio of a typical commerce guild. The one behind a wide and long table was reading stacks of documents. Noticing Ristina’s stride to the long table, the man got out of his seat, placed the document down, and bowed his head in greeting. Meeting eyes with Gabrio seems to have dulled that smile of his.

“Rocco, I told you about him.”

“Ah, Doctor of the Milostiv,” he held his hand out. Rocco squeezed his hand and Gabrio gladly squeezed back with his surgeon’s grip. Rocco’s face turned white for a moment, before he arched back and laughed.

“Men,” Ristina snorted.

“So what brings you here, Miss Ristina?”

“I came here to look at my specimens. My friend here also needs a rest from his dutiful work so I might as well introduce him to the bastard of the Commerce.”

“How rude,” Rocco seems like he wasn’t hurt. His face was as thick as a brick as he beamed a smile. “Nevertheless, I am indeed the only ‘bastard’ willing to come to this voyage.”

“Have you taken care of the bunks of your associates?”

“Oh, I have indeed. My associates have stopped complaining after receiving such unique standards of living. Believe me when I say this, that they are perfectly capable of adjusting this below their standards of living.”

The room was cool. Most of the insides either stone, dirt, or wood. Gabrio listened to Rocco who was thumping his foot on the wooden flood that covered the chambers where people stay.

“I wonder, have you started the training as well?”

“Of course, my associates, have been doing their best in hopes they could learn to find the best meat and how to butcher them perfectly.”

“So you threw some of the job to them?”

“I did. I still have a lot of things that needs to be done so studying the same specimen will result in the progress being slower. I am not the only one who specializes in such butchery, and there should be more who are willing to test the creatures.”

“Indeed, we have been getting odd looks, but I daresay that the ignorant cannot fathom how we must acquire a new source of food. Ah, that reminds me Miss Ristina, have you heard of the Whalers?”

“I got a missive from one of the Captains, what about them?”

“It seems that they are eager to bring new specimen, but have asked that we give them a place where they can butcher the giants that may come our way.”

“They are asking for to get supplies now?”

“What can they do? They’ve been working hard in making sure that none of us are killed by a predator. I believe that they are willing to work in creating a warehouse for you to visit and examine if these creatures are eatable.”

Ristina pondered about what Rocco said. Certainly, within the few months, the ones who have been active are the former whalers and hunters of the deep who specialized in hunting giant creatures.

“As long as they have the permission of the Grand Admiral, the Elven-kin, and the Merchant Union, then I will teach them.”

“Oh, they have petitioned it. The Heads allowed them to do what they please and plans to use the area the edges of the Rostford to build the creatures. And I recall they are planning to make ropeways and put those Protectors to work as well.”

“Is it okay for me to hear this?” Gabrio asked.

Rocco glanced at him. Gabrio raised a brow.

“It doesn’t matter. It won’t be long until they know that they will be creating ropeways that will deliver the creatures they harvest to a stockpile where they can drag it to the Ark for the Miss to experiment on.”

“I feel loved,” Ristina said dully.

“Of course, you are a professional from Accad, and I believe that you are up to ask.”

“Quit that talk to me, Rocco. I know that you just want your personal investment wasted, and yes, I would let you know if some of them are consumable and then you put a price tag on them.”

“You wound me with such words,” Rocco said exaggeratedly, but he kept that crooked grin on his face. “Alas, I cannot lie to you, Miss. Indeed, as I said, we must find new materials to work on. Ah, that reminds me, would you like to know the development of those scales we peeled from some of the beasts?”

“I’ll talk about that later, Roc. For now, how about you focus on your work?”

“Goodness, I have not been out of my trance, that I forget myself.”

Gabrio and Ristina left the Commerce’s chambers. Gabrio thought how fast it was they were able to create ropeways lifts being pulled by the workers. It was a system that allows them to carry materials and at the same understand where they were going. The innards of Arkshelled was complicated and they might be able to expand, but they could not do anything about the giant veins that sustains and limits the bile and acid that are might be harmful to the people in the innards. Gabrio noted that if it wasn’t for the ‘bark’ covering the walls. Living in the innards would have been impossible.

“Do you think we would have made it this far without their help?”

Ristina looked at him.

“We’d still be stuck in empty seas and it would certainly take us years to navigate through the sea of reeds. It is hard to admit, but the technology of the Elven-kin are superior, and we can only accept the reality that it would take us long before we could reach this far.”

Gabrio could only nod to that truth. Even a fool could tell how much work they are doing for the fleet. Then, the two went back to Perlshaw.