G.o.d —The Beginning of the End— Volume 2: Elf, Nanny, Thunderous Anger
Original novel in Chinese by: 御 我 (Yu Wo)
Chapter 6: To the South, Part One—translated by Jia Ling (proofread by Trespa.s.serby; C/E edited by lucathia)
"Yahoo! Xiao Bai, look! The color of the sea looks so similar to the color of Alan"s eyes!"
Shooting Star brazenly held on to the side of the boat, with half of his body hanging out of the boat. He repeatedly shrieked at the churning waves below. Right now, his favorite thing to do was to throw whatever object was within reach off the boat and watch the rolling waves swallow the innocent objects.
"Reckless abandon." This phrase was simply tailor-made for Shooting Star.
When they first went to find Dan, Shooting Star hadn"t shown any expression of guilt. In fact, whether or not he had any feelings of guilt at all was up for debate. Not only that, he boldly gestured at Alan and said, "This is Alan. You recognize him, right? He"s that elf!"
Shooting Star, you… Bai Saya simply wanted to find a hole and crawl into it. Who would steal something someone was guarding and then shamelessly introduce that thing to the person?
"Since Ice Chess said Dan already knows, it"s all right!" Shooting Star said confidently, "If we tell Dan early on, then when we"re out at sea, we can have Alan restore his golden hair! I don"t want to have to continue to look at this ugly black hair!"
"Ice Chess went to find you?" Dan was silent for a while and hurriedly turned to ask Bai Saya, "He didn"t hurt you, did he?"
Woah woah woah! Shooting Star elbowed Alan, who was beside him, a few times and taunted them, "Look! He only cares about Xiao Bai. I think we simply shouldn"t tag along anymore. If we go, we might incur resentment. Don"t you agree?"
Bai Saya threw a harsh glare at Shooting Star. Regrettably, the latter"s skin was so thick, even the peerlessly sharp Sword of Sacred White wouldn"t be able to cut through it, let alone a mere gaze.
Bai Saya took multiple deep breaths and sincerely apologized, "Dan, I"m really sorry. Because of us saving Alan, we created a lot of trouble for you."
Dan shook his head. "It"s all right. You didn"t create that big of a problem. Ice Chess didn"t make things difficult for you, did he?"
Being sent away to another continent isn"t considered that big of a problem? At the side, the corners of Shooting Star"s mouth twitched. He still held some suspicions that this had all been planned by Ice Chess. Dan is protected by a thousand-year-old demon, which is plenty for him to live the easy life, yet he"s punished simply because he lost an elf? No matter how you looked at it, this punishment was just to put Dan and Bai Saya on the same boat.
Bai Saya nodded. "No, he only wanted us to follow you to the Shaosi Continent to see if we could be of some help."
"Is that so? Was Ice Chess really looking for "us" to go help? Didn"t he just want Bai Saya to go?" Shooting Star asked Alan at a side, looking shocked. The latter was too lazy to even roll his eyes at him.
"He wanted you all to come and help me?" Dan"s eyebrows furrowed even further.
Specifically because of this, he was always unwilling to ask Ice Chess for help. The other party did whatever he wanted and exactly what Dan didn"t want. He had no intention of bringing Bai Saya along. The situation at the Shaosi Continent was uncertain. He didn"t want to bring Bai Saya on a risky venture.
"Oh right, he also gave us a card for us to pa.s.s to you." As he spoke, Bai Saya started looking in his bag.
"What does it have to do with "us!" That Ice Chess clearly asked Xiao Bai to personally pa.s.s the card to Dan." Shooting Star commented sarcastically to a side.
After finding the black birthday card, Bai Saya didn"t forget to shoot Shooting Star a glare. Then, as he pa.s.sed the card to Dan, he hesitated for a bit. Finally, under the overbearing reproach of his conscience, he congratulated, "Dan, happy birthday."
Dan paused. Evidently, he hadn"t at all expected Bai Saya to have known about his birthday. He took the card and saw a familiar insignia on the outside. It was the insignia that Ice Chess always used. He thought about it and realized that Ice Chess had definitely been behind it.
He sighed. What meaning does this kind of thing have, unless it"s from Bai Saya personally? "Regardless of what Ice Chess wanted you to do, you only have to agree, but you don"t have to actually do it. Naturally, I will cover for you."
In response to those words, Bai Saya felt a strong sense of shame and unease. Despite Dan saying so, Bai Saya was unable to do those types of things.
Dan frowned as he read the contents of the card.
"Shooting Star!" Bai Saya shouted.
Shooting Star had crept beside Dan, purposely putting on the appearance of strolling around. However, his eyes were trying very hard to sneak a glance at the contents of the card.
He had wanted to know what was written on the card this entire time, and thus had tried to brainwash Xiao Bai nonstop. He said a whole bunch of maybes: Maybe the contents will endanger us. Maybe it says things like "These three people are the murderers" or something. He used every method to encourage Bai Saya to show him the contents of the card.
However, because of Bai Saya"s righteous personality, he would never peek at other people"s mail. Moreover, the recipient was Dan, whom he felt he had treated very shamefully. Afterwards, Bai Saya even placed the card in front of his chest and kept it on him at all times. He did so to avoid Shooting Star from reading the card, which would betray what had been entrusted to him.
Blockhead! Shooting Star nearly had a fall-out with him, if not for Bai Saya putting down his foot: if you dare peek, I won"t help you wash your underwear and socks anymore.
Shooting Star compromised.
Even though there was also Alan to do the ch.o.r.es now, he was an elf. Elves hate dirty things the most and have a severe obsession with cleanliness. If he were told to go wash underwear and socks, Shooting Star would most likely be struck down by lightning.
Shooting Star didn"t want to wash his underwear and socks himself, and he also didn"t want to be struck down by lighting for no reason. He could only compromise.
However, now that the card was no longer in Bai Saya"s hands, his "accidentally" seeing the contents of the card could not be considered going against the promise he made to Bai Saya!
Bai Saya did not think the same and vocally halted Shooting Star. His intention wasn"t to stop Shooting Star but to warn Dan that there was someone taking a peek.
"Biting the hand that feeds you!" Shooting Star puffed his cheeks out and huffily stomped his way back from Dan"s side.
Alan coldly remarked, "It was clearly Bai Saya who has been feeding you all this while. No matter how you look at it, it cannot be said that he is being "fed" by you."
"It"s an idiom! In idioms, you don"t have to stick rigidly to the meaning of the word. You got that or not?" Shooting Star retorted, full of self-confidence.
Alan humphed disdainfully, "The point of languages is to use words to convey meanings. Naturally, the meaning of the words should be the focus. Only humans would say one thing, yet be secretly referring to the opposite."
"Pot calling the kettle black! The language where the phrases don"t match the meanings the most is clearly Elvish!" Shooting Star retorted, without any courtesy.
Alan lifted his brows and argued back, "This is slander! Our Elvish is the best in conveying meanings, and thus misunderstandings will never be created."
"Yes yes, of course listening to Elvish will indeed prevent misunderstandings. What we can say with a single sentence, you take the whole morning to say. There is no one who can listen to the end, so of course there will be no misunderstandings!" Shooting Star"s sharp tongue was absolutely more powerful than an elf"s who "always expressed each meaning clearly."
"You…" The elf narrowed his eyes. His ice cold expression seemed about to be ruptured by lightning.
Bai Saya grimaced. Just as he was about to go resolve the stormy argument and brawl, Dan finally finished reading the card and lifted his head. "I understand. Everyone, travel with me."
Hence, the adventure team set out to sea.
Bai Saya sincerely wished that Shooting Star would be content with his lot, and not anger Alan until there was a thunderstorm. What if the boat is struck? Bai Saya was not very good at swimming.
Luckily, two days into the sea trip in the present moment, everything was going unexpectedly smoothly. The boat that the group of people had boarded left the Weisite Continent and headed for the Shaosi Continent.
Shooting Star was busy looking at the waves all day and throwing things into the sea.
Quite a few disgruntled sailors approached Bai Saya one after another. They complained that their mop, hat, water bottle, shirt, and even adult magazines (the sailor whose magazines were thrown overboard looked particularly angry) had been thrown overboard by Shooting Star. Afterwards, Bai Saya arranged a whole circle of fish bones around Shooting Star and peace returned.
Alan also appeared to be very happy. Even though his face was still ice-cold and didn"t show much expression, he spent all the time he was not sleeping looking at the sea. It appeared that the elf that rarely left the forest really liked the sea.
The only person who was unhappy was actually Bai Saya. This was due to a simple reason, yet it was also one beyond remedy: he was seasick.
Moreover, it was the type of seasickness that left the mind a mess. They had only been out at sea for two days, yet he had become so thin that even his cheeks had sunk in. In these two days, he had been puking out all three meals, plus dessert and late night snacks. Even if he were made of metal, he would have caved in.
Shooting Star threw objects until he was bored and finally remembered his pet. He went over to poke Bai Saya, who was lying in the shade on the deck. Bai Saya was so pale, he looked like a corpse.
"Xiao Bai, when you were seeking revenge, didn"t you take a boat from the Yisite Continent to the Weisite Continent? Were you seasick then?"
Bai Saya weakly replied, "Yeah, I was. B-But I was only thinking about revenge all day long, so I wasn"t as sick as… as I am now."
"Oh, then how about I hit you so you can think about taking revenge on me. This should help, right?" Shooting Star concocted a terrible idea with utmost seriousness.
Bai Saya summoned his strength to roll his eyes at Shooting Star, and snapped, "No need. Just don"t create more messes for me to clean up."
"When have I ever? I"m so well-behaved." Shooting Star shrugged his shoulders and then ran over to the side of the boat to resume throwing his fish bones.
After Shooting Star had run off, Alan also walked over. He asked indifferently, "Do you need help with anything?"
"Help me supervise Shooting Star. Make sure he doesn"t burn down the boat," Bai Saya answered weakly. He absolutely did not want to have to go swimming while seasick.
Alan was silent for a bit, and said with a bit of effort, "All right, I will."
Then, he walked off in Shooting Star"s direction.
With someone to look after Shooting Star, who specialized in making messes, Bai Saya heaved a sigh of relief. He turned, preparing to nap for a bit to alleviate his body that was so seasick it was unbearable…
"Alan, your hair is so pretty. Under the sun, it"s even shinier!" Shooting Star was extremely moved. As expected of my pet. At the same time, he became handsy. "Come! Let me, your owner, feel it for a bit~"
"Let go!" The elf started to overflow with anger.
Bai Saya, who was asleep, tossed and turned restlessly.
Shooting Star shouted stubbornly, "I"m not letting go! I committed a robbery exactly for "this," so I have to touch it until I"m content!"
Bai Saya"s brows creased, like he was having a nightmare.
"Let go of me!" The elf"s uniquely melodious voice was laced with the crackling of lightning.
"Not letting go!~~"
"Let go!" Alan stretched out a hand. There was an impressive ball of lightning above his palm.
The surrounding sailors started to scream and flee.
Just as the ball of lightning was about to be launched, a pair of ghostly white hands grabbed onto the corners of Alan"s clothes. The two people looked over toward the hands. Bai Saya was half sprawled on the ground. He spoke weakly, "Alan, you better go to the other side of the deck to look at the ocean."
Alan frowned. "You told me to watch over Shooting Star. I can"t see him from the other side of the deck."
"Sorry, I was wrong! I retract that request. You don"t have to watch over him anymore."
Bai Saya wanted to cry, but he had no tears to do so. He wanted to slap himself. Am I so seasick that I"ve lost my mind? Why on earth did I ask Alan to watch over Shooting Star? When the two of them were together, they would only escalate messes into disasters.
"Humans, they are truly a fickle race." Alan"s brows creased. However, he didn"t want to watch over Shooting Star anyway. He thus casually strolled over to the other side of the deck.
Bai Saya wearily let go. In order to prevent Shooting Star from doing things such as "burning down the boat" or "angering Alan, causing the elf to burn down the boat," he could only give up on lying in his originally very comfortable spot. He hunkered down by Shooting Star. Bai Saya"s eyes were half closed. He ended up in a half asleep, half awake state where he alternated between wanting to sleep and being afraid that Shooting Star was going to stir up more trouble.
This tragic scenario continued until Dan was done with his work. When he went onto the deck to find Bai Saya, he spotted Bai Saya lying there, as ashen as a corpse.
He immediately went over, concerned. "Saya? Why are you lying here? Do you want to go back to your room to rest?"
Bai Saya, who was half asleep, opened his eyes. However, he was not fully conscious. He groggily replied, "I have to watch over Shooting Star."
Dan frowned as he glanced at Shooting Star. The latter seemed not to care and even made a face at him. Dan strongly suppressed his anger and calmly said to Bai Saya, "I"ll help you back to rest."
"No!" Bai Saya abruptly woke up. He shouted, "Shooting Star will burn down the boat!"
Dan frowned even harder.
"Hey! What are you saying?" Shooting Star shouted rudely. He forcefully jabbed Bai Saya"s chest and interrogated, "What do you mean I will burn down the boat? Maybe I would if I weren"t on the boat, but I can only stay on this boat right now. There are also no islands nearby. I wouldn"t do something like burning down the boat, which would harm someone else and also myself!"
"Oh right, you only do things that harm other people but benefit you." Bai Saya laughed foolishly for a bit.
You dare to say it directly! Shooting Star shot a glare at Bai Saya. Then, he smiled and played dumb with Dan. "This fellow, he"s so seasick that he"s lost his marbles. I think you should help him inside."
"I will naturally do so." Dan"s tone was cold. Upon looking down and seeing Bai Saya"s anxious expression, he resolved to task a sailor to specially look after Shooting Star the entire trip. First of all, it would help reduce Bai Saya"s workload. Second of all, should the boat really be burnt down, it would be detrimental for everyone.
He helped Bai Saya up. Bai Saya could not even stand properly, which prompted Dan to say anxiously, "I"ll help you to your room."
"Thank you," Bai Saya replied gratefully.
Dan supported Bai Saya back to his room, helping the latter sit on a chair. He then warned Bai Saya again, "He isn"t a good companion."
"Who… Oh. You mean Shooting Star?" Bai Saya was confused. Hadn"t they already discussed this a long time ago? Moreover, Dan should already be familiar with Shooting Star"s personality. After all, during their first meeting, Shooting Star had already nicked his neck.
Dan nodded and hinted, "If, for any reason, you are suffering because of him, I can help you resolve this problem."
Upon hearing those words, Bai Saya"s first thought was blankly wondering how Dan would be able to help him solve this problem. Does he have a way to make the cheeky and troublemaking Shooting Star become obedient? Or is he able to get Alan to allow Shooting Star to touch his hair?
"Can you make him more obedient?"
Dan"s tone and expression didn"t change as he said, "I have no way of making him obedient. However, I make it so that he can never cause trouble ever again."
Never cause trouble ever again… That does sound good. However, there"s no way that Shooting Star would become obedient… Unless… All of a sudden, Bai Saya understood the true meaning behind those words. His eyes widened and he growled, "What are you saying? You want to bring harm to Shooting Star?"
Dan tactfully replied, "If you permit it."
"Shooting Star is only a child!" Of course Bai Saya wouldn"t allow it. He clenched his hands and growled, "He is just particularly mischievous, occasionally creating a few small messes. Also, he often creates trouble for other people yet doesn"t reflect on his mistakes…"
Without realizing it, his voice grew smaller and smaller the more he spoke. Seriously! Shooting Star, aren"t your shortcomings a bit too many? Even those who want to say good things about you have to put in so much effort!
"He put you in danger." Dan rarely spoke so sternly.
Bai Saya immediately rebuffed, "Shooting Star didn"t put me in danger. I was the one who wanted to save Alan. This cannot be blamed on Shooting Star."
Dan shook his head. "That is a small matter."
When he heard that, Bai Saya furrowed his brows and pondered. It was true that the number of disasters Shooting Star had caused was not small. However, the number that Dan would have known about was small. Furthermore, to be considered "danger," the only incident that fit was saving Alan.
Upon thinking this, he looked at Dan with suspicion. He couldn"t think of what event Dan had in mind, that he was even willing to eliminate Shooting Star.
Dan was silent, as if he were debating if he should divulge the event that he was referring to. However, he feared that if he did not say it out loud, Bai Saya wouldn"t leave Shooting Star willingly.
At last, he still chose to speak. "Saya, the Guild has been watching you two."
Bai Saya stared at him blankly and asked, "Is this because of the matter regarding Alan?"
"No." Dan shook his head. "It"s because of the matter regarding Mannen Ford.