“Din, Din, it’s your turn. Din, wake up.”

I woke up with someone shaking me lightly and calling out my name. It was Mun.

“Is it time already?” I mumbled as I got up from my bed.

We had arrived at Scarlett’s ship only a little after we had left Lanport. Aside from Scarlett’s own boats, we had left the other boats on the island the ship was docked near.

We were inside one of the small rooms within the ship. From what I saw, in each room, there were four beds. Two beds attached on the wall of opposite sides. As Mun rested on her bed, I left the room and then went to the top deck to keep watch.

To call Scarlett’s ship large would be an understatement. I had never seen a ship of this size before. The top deck itself was about the same size as the training grounds at the academy.

Then going down the stairs, there was a hall with multiple bedrooms and then one more floor below that was the kitchen and dining area along with a warehouse space. There was one more floor below that and that was where we kept all the ones under Crowell’s control at.

Even with how far we were from Lanport, we weren’t sure whether they would wake up like their normal self or still be under his control, so we kept them in a locked room, just in case.

Before everyone went into their own rooms, we had assigned two people to be awake at one time. One would be on the top deck watching for any outside attacks while the other one would be outside the looked room at the bottom of the ship.

It was my turn to watch the top deck after Mun so I went to the front of the ship and leaned onto the side of the ship.

There wasn’t really much to look at from up here with the mist being as thick as it was, but the fresh air definitely felt nice.

“How did you sleep, Din?” Lorelei asked.

Unlike all the others before me, I felt thankful that at least I had company.

“It didn’t even feel like I was asleep for that long,” I complained. It almost felt like the moment I closed my eyes; it was already my turn to watch.

My body felt tired and it took all I had to just stand up straight. I was also trying my hardest not to fall asleep.

“Oh yeah! I went back to the jail after I went to check on Tal and the others, but you were already gone. I had such a hard time finding you after that,” Lorelei said as she flew in front of me.

She seemed annoyed that I was looking at the sea rather than her. With a pout on her face, she continued, “Do you know how hard it was for me to find you? There isn’t anyone I can ask for help either.”

I moved my glance to the side as I apologized, “I’m sorry, Lorelei. Everything happened to suddenly.”

“What happened?”

“You know the thief kid? He came and freed me from my cell while you were away. He somehow used his Wish to knock out the guards in our way. Then when I went back to Lewis’ place, they tried capturing me again so Mun and I escaped out of the city. Then that’s when we met Scarlett’s crewmates.”

Lorelei thought to herself for a moment.

“She helped you just like that? And now she’s planning on taking us to Aegis even though we barely know each other?”

I nodded and then added, “We also helped her get some of her crewmates back from Crowell. So to repay me for that, she’s taking us to Aegis.”

I could tell Lorelei still doubted something.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

Lorelei froze for a moment, but then she finally told me, “Scarlett is leading a pirate crew and from what I know about pirates, they don’t necessarily have an honor code, so I just find it weird that she seems like such a nice person.”

“Maybe there are nice pirates as well.”

It seemed like Lorelei wanted to say something at first, but then she just smiled and nodded, “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

Now I began to doubt myself. Was Scarlett really planning on helping us?

“So do you want to tell me what you’ve been up to?” I asked. “It must’ve been hard being alone for that long.”

“I was mostly observing how the people of Lanport behaved. There was one thing I noticed that was different when the people saw you versus when they were alone. The moment anyone not under Crowell’s control got near one of the people, they would suddenly get really happy and energetic.”

“They didn’t act like that when we weren’t around?”

Lorelei held a lonely expression and averted her gaze to the floor as she explained, “They seemed like they lacked energy to do anything aside from fulfilling their biological needs. It was sad, really.”

Was it because of Crowell’s mind control?

“We have to go back,” I claimed. “We have to get that earring from Crowell before he takes over the rest of Grandel. We can’t let him do what he wants!”

“I think we can leave him be.”

I was shocked. I looked over to Lorelei, who was avoiding looking at me.

I asked, “Why? He’s controlling people, Lorelei. How can we possibly just let him keep doing that? We know for sure that I’m unaffected by his power so I should be able to stop him. No, I can stop him!”

“I wasn’t just watching over the people in Lanport, I also went to spy on Crowell as well.”

On Crowell?

Lorelei’s eyes finally met mine. She still had the lonely expression as before, “When Crowell was in his mansion, he was talking to one of his maids. I think the maid must’ve been someone close to him because he would ask for her opinion on some of the actions he took. It seemed like even he wasn’t sure whether what he did was right or wrong.”

“Of course, what he’s doing is wrong. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out,” I scoffed.

He was controlling people against their will, turning them into puppets.

With a nod, Lorelei continued, “Yes, in any other case, I would agree with you, Din.”

“Does that mean you don’t agree with me now?”

“It’s a different kind of a situation. I’m sure we can ask Lewis and Chris about this, but from what I heard, it doesn’t sound like Lanport was a good city to begin with. I heard that the people of Lanport were violent and would always create conflict for no reason at all. They were the types of people that wanted to fight just for the sake of fighting.”

“And you’re saying that means it’s okay for them to become mindless puppets now? No matter what you say Lorelei, what Crowell is doing is wrong. No matter what his reason is, I can’t let him keep doing that.”

“Huh? Who are you talking with?”

A voice came from the stairs. It was Tilly. I guess it was already time to switch watch.

“It’s nothing, good night,” I said as I walked past her down the stairs. Lorelei followed closely behind me. It looked like she wanted to say something, but I hurriedly walked ahead.

I didn’t even want to look at Lorelei right now. I couldn’t believe she was trying to defend a man like Crowell.

There was no way I was letting all the people of Lanport suffer like that.