Chapter 410: Passing Time, Watching Waves
“I think the term is ship,” Zhen Yue corrected her cousin, Zhen Hai.
“Bah! Whatever.”
After boarding the PS Nimona, the Zhen Clan didn’t take too long in squaring away all of their luggage into their respective cabins.
The original itinerary called for them to be sleeping in hammocks in a shared sleeping quarters, so it came as a pleasant surprise that there were enough private rooms to fit everybody, with some people sharing rooms. They were all family, so this wasn’t a big issue.
Evidently, even the crew was surprised with having their own private quarters as well…and that bunk beds were a thing that existed. Several members of the crew were quite surprised at just how stable the bunk beds were.
Regardless, this was the first time many of the Zhen Clan branch members had ever been on a boat, let alone a ship, let alone a steam ship, and they wanted to see what such a vessel had to offer.
Some of them went to go check out the galley, like Zhen Tai and Zhen Feng.
“What’s that smell? It’s like…the sea breeze outside, but intensified.”
“It smells like…stewed Spotted Salmon with Bronze Cow’s cream and a hint of Ocean Spinach Oh! And potatoes. Good stuff.”
“Still find it crazy your nose is sharp enough to pick up specific ingredients.”
“Love food, what can I say?”
Others went down to the cargo hold to make sure their respective aether beasts were well cared for or that their larger pieces of luggage were properly stored away, like Zhen Xing and Zhen Guo.
“Should…should we be worried that the Blood Rose Crawler we brought along as a gift is currently clinging to the roof of the hold like the floor is made of lava?”
“I don’t think so, didn’t Fifth Uncle mention that most species of plant type aether beasts detest sea water?”
“Oh yeah…doesn’t explain the Tri-Tailed Peacock cuddling it for safety though.”
“That’s lost on me too.”
While several others more decided to check out how the view was on the top deck of the ship to watch the waves go by and feel the sea breeze.
“Hey, Zhen Yan.”
“First brother, third brother. Where’d you get the fishing poles?”
“The crewmen had some. Apparently they use them sometimes to supplement dinner.”
“Huh. Makes sense.”
“Have you seen where Zhen Hou is? I figured the big bear would be all for fishing.”
“I have actually, turns out he and the sea do not get along…”
“Ah.”
In the case of Zhen Yue and Zhen Hai, they decided to shoot the breeze while trying something they never done before now: smoking.
“Cough! Damn,” Zhen Yue cursed as she hacked up some orange colored smoke after attempting to take a long drag from a handmade cigar, “what the hell is this stuff anyways? It tastes like…smoked tangerines.”
“Dried Citrus Moss,” Zhen Hai answered, “I got it from one of the crewmen, apparently this stuff is good for fighting off scurvy if you happen to have a citrus fruit allergy.”
“That’s a thing?”
“Apparently,” Zhen Hai answered again after taking a drag from his own cigar. Zhen Yue found it surprising he could do so without coughing.
“Okay, how the hell did you do that?”
“You got to do it slow and breathe from both your nose and your mouth when you do,” Zhen Hai answered, “I learned it from Gianna.”
“Ah,” Zhen Yue nodded in understanding, “that’s adorable.”
“Thanks.”
The two scions of the Zhen Clan then proceeded to idly stare at their respective engagement rings, with only the sound of the waves splashing against the ship and the subtle burning of their cigars being the only things they could hear.
Several moments of silence passed until Zhen Yue finally decided to break it.
“You were asking about us being real Roaring Tiders because you’re worried about us being able to get back home, aren’t you?”
“Yup,” Zhen Hai agreed.
“You’re thinking that grandfather won’t be able to bury the hatchet with the ‘main’ clan?,” Zhen Yue elaborated.
“Partially that, yes,” Zhen Hai replied while taking another drag from his cigar, “but I’m also worried we’ll get along too well with them to the point where we just…move to the Pearl Scale Empire.”
“Huh?”
Zhen Yue looked at her cousin incredulously once she had processed what her cousin just said. “What are you talking about?”
Zhen Hai let out a sigh before elaborating further.
“Maybe I’m just paranoid, man I’ve been hanging around Zhen Liu too much lately, but grandfather ran away from the main branch because he wanted to elope with grandmother, right?”
“Right…”
“But since grandmother’s dead, heavens bless her soul, there’s nothing holding him back from moving our branch clan to Roaring Tide so that we can be closer to the main branch…assuming the hatchet gets buried. That or the hatchet gets used to smash our heads open.”
“…”
Zhen Yue stared at her cousin for a couple seconds in pure silence…before flicking him in the forehead.
“Ai! What the hell?”
“Did you seriously forget that not only do we have way too many roots back at Stone Claw City, but that you and I have finances waiting for us? I really doubt grandfather will want us to break those off just because the main branch wants him back.”
“But-”
“But nothing. We were born and raised on Stampeding Bison, our fathers were born and raised on Stampeding Bison and heaven bless that we raise our descendants there too. We may have Roaring Tide in our blood, but deep in our souls, we’re Stampeding Bison.”
“…huh.”
As Zhen Hai mulled over his cousin’s words, the aforementioned cousin kept trying to smoke with mixed results.
“Hack! Seriously, does Gianna have you huff incense while you make out or something this shit burns!”
“Something like that…oh speaking of public displays of affection, have you seen Zhen Liu anywhere? He’s the only one of our family I haven’t seen run around the deck in an attempt to see everything or at least enjoy some form of leisure in the ship compartments.
“If I had to guess…maybe he’s in his room?”
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[Interesting…I meant to head to the galley and ended up on the top deck, but that also meant I got to hear some interesting insights into our lord’s family’s mind. Hmm, wonder if we can get a kaijin that can use anima so we don’t have to rely on actually listening…]
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“Okay, I’m over it,” Zhen Liu declared as he stopped groaning and sat up in his bed.
“That was fast.”
Jin Fang and Rianna were a bit taken aback at the sudden turn in Zhen Liu’s mood, they were honestly assuming he was going to be like that for another hour or so with how grumpy he sounded. There were plans to accelerate the change from grumpy to pleasant via “physical means”, but neither one could pluck up the courage to do so…especially when someone else was present.
Zhen Liu, unaware of these particular feelings, simply got out of bed at this point, stretched a bit and proceeded to pull out the Key to Nowhere.
When Rianna and Jin Fang saw the key, they were a touch confused as to why he was bringing it out now.
“Do you want to spend the voyage to Roaring Tide at the Library? Seems a bit of a waste to me,” Jin Fang observed.
“This is my first time seeing the ocean, and it looks gorgeous,” Rianna agreed.
“Wasn’t planning to do that. I actually have three reasons as to why I’m heading there now,” Zhen Liu answered, “Firstly, I’m actually opening it up so I can grab Mini. This is the first time most of us have ever been out at sea, and I wanted Mini to experience it. That and Tiny wanted to go swimming with her in the ocean.”
“Well that’s adorable.”
“Secondly, I’m going so that I can grab Archanidame and Lacerage for Possestol usage. Took me a bit of time, but I think I know which of my relatives is compatible with which kaijin.”
“Ah.”
“Seeing that thing still makes me flinch.”
Due to Rianna and Jin Fang already knowing about Zhen Liu’s weird abilities, he had informed them ahead of time about how he planned to power up his uncles on the off chance shit went sideways at the main branch. Maybe it was paranoia, but he had read enough novels to know that he was in the era of time where people get politically backstabby, especially when family is involved.
Plus, he didn’t want to expose the kaijin if he could help it, more eyes on suddenly powerful relatives meant less eyes on him.
“Lastly, and most importantly, I want to check on Jasper and Janice to make sure they’re adjusting well to being under…spiritual supervision… especially when one of those is spirits is Logos.”
“Ah.”
With his reasoning now laid out, Zhen Liu proceeded to make his way to the closet door of his cabin and use the key to turn it into one connected to the Library.
As he clicked it open however, he was greeted with a rather painful scream mixed with laughter.
“Not until you promise to stop ‘leaving gifts’ at the estate!”
“Haha! Get his ass!”
=Look away children, look away.=
