Chapter 431: A Conversation between an Old Dragon and a Young Springer
*Bing-Bong*
Please note that the following chapter is technically running in parallel with another chapter, literally the one right after this one.
For the full picture though, please read this in chronological order, or if you have a wonky enough attention span, feel free to open both this chapter and the next in order to see how this would go in real time.
*Bing-Bong*
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“Shit, shit, shit!”
“Hold up, kid! I got-holy shit!”
As soon as Zhen Shi grabbed the boy, managing to grab the kid’s legs just as he fell over the railing, he was immediately taken aback about how much resistance he was suddenly subjected to.
It wasn’t that the boy was heavy, far from it, it was the fact that the fishing pole that the boy was trying to reel in was so resistant.
“What the fuck?!,” Zhen Shi exclaimed in alarm as he used his aether to reinforce his grip and the child’s body. The reason for the latter was that he didn’t want this kid to suddenly be split in two just because he was caught between two opposing forces, especially one strong enough to match an Aether Lord.
“What the hell kind of fish did you manage to hook?!,” Zhen Shi called in alarm as he did his best to hold the boy back.
“I don’t know!,” the boy cried.
The two of them struggled against the fishing pole for quite some time when the fishing line suddenly snapped, sending both the elder and the teenager tumbling backwards.
“Ah!”
“Whoa!”
Had the two paid closer attention to their surroundings as they fell, the two of them would have seen that right when the line snapped, a small figure no bigger than a thumb had jumped across it and sliced the line before disappearing, that and the giant blade-like fin peeking through the water’s surface for a brief moment.
As the youth and the elder tumbled backwards into a wall, thankfully not on top of one another, the fishing pole fell to the deck floor with a clatter, a better fate than getting lost at sea.
“What the fuck was that?,” Zhen Shi asked between deep breaths, tiring due to being caught completely off guard by whatever monstrous sea creature the boy had somehow hooked. The boy however did not respond, as he was too busy trying to catch his breath as well.
‘Eh, wait for him to initiate conversation I guess,’ Zhen Shi concluded when he saw the panting teenager.
Now that he had a better look at the boy, Zhen Shi could now confirm that this teenager was definitely a member of the crew and not a member of the main branch clansmen, based on the more obvious differences in their uniforms, this kid was definitely in a sailor suit, and the less obvious differences appearing in the physical features.
The entirety of the main branch came from the Roaring Tide continent exclusively, and the teenage sailor before him looked like a very typical boy born and raised in Stampeding Bison.
If he had to hazard a guess, this boy was probably a cabin boy like the one helping Captain Douglas, albeit, not as lucky as that aforementioned cabin boy.
Eventually the youth managed to steady his breathing long enough to finally start talking.
“Thanks for the help, Patriarch Zhen Shi,” the boy said in a surprisingly melodic tone that sounded just a bit off.
“No problem at all my…hold on.”
Just as Zhen Shi was about to accept the gratitude, stand up to his feet and go on his way, he noticed a little detail that shouldn’t have been mixed into that statement of thanks: his name and title.
Once he picked up that little tidbit of information, he brought his attention back onto the boy, who was now staring at the fishing poles locked in place instead of at him…for a few seconds though. When the boy realized he was being stared at, he quickly brought his attention back to Zhen Shi.
The patriarch of the Zhen Clan now had a few questions for this child.
“How did you know my name? I don’t think we’ve met until just now.”
“Huh? Oh, uh…m-my captain told me about you. Part of a briefing a few days back about who was going to be a guest upon this ship. Well…back when the ship had sails and not… paddles.” Emphasizing his point, the boy proceeded to flap his arms a bit to mimick a paddling motion.
“That’s… a reasonable answer,” Zhen Shi conceded. It made sense that the captain would inform his crew about the number of guests that were coming aboard their ship, as it would make it easier to identify if a stowaway came onboard or not.
“Alright then, what’s your name, boy?,” Zhen Shi quickly followed up .
“My name? It’s Sawyer…Springer. Sawyer Springer.”
“Sawyer…Springer?,” Zhen Shi repeated. That name didn’t sound right to the Zhen Clan patriarch, but…he had come across names that seem weird before. He also couldn’t really judge due to himself technically having a “weird name” by Stampeding Bison standards.
“Hmmm,” Zhen Shi hummed before standing up to his feet. Once he was up, he turned towards Sawyer and presented his hand for the teenager to take.
“Well then, it’s nice to formally meet you, Mister Springer. My name is Zhen Shi.”
The boy stared at the hand for a moment, before realizing what it was for. Sawyer quickly took the offered hand and used it to stand back on his own two feet.
“Thank you, sir.”
“You’re welcome.”
Now that both parties were up on their feet, a silence seemed to form between them.
Nothing oppressive or awkward mind you, just…it was the type of silence that forms when neither party had any idea of what to talk about.
‘Huh…feels like deja vu, that was the term, right?,’ Zhen Shi thought to himself as he let out a tired sigh. Evidently he was a bit too obvious with his expressions, so much so that Sawyer felt prompted to inquire why he was tired.
“Hmm? Is something wrong?”
“Huh? Oh. Nothing, it’s just…it’s an issue that you’ll become more intimate with as you get older, more specifically, when you get to my age,” Zhen Shi explained.
“Middle aged?,” Sawyer asked with a confused look on his face.
“No. I mean…oh right, I look younger now than what I actually am. I keep forgetting that…,” Zhen Shi trailed off, his thoughts wandering once more.
Perhaps prompted by the thinking, Zhen Shi proceeded to lean on the railing once more in order to stare off into the horizon.
As he began to stare off into the distance and think however, Sawyer took this chance to lean on the railing as well, at a distance at least three feet to the man’s left.
The two stood there in silence once more, until Zhen Shi decided to break it.
“Sawyer, how old are you?”
“Me? I’m uh…six…teen, last I checked.”
“Last you checked?”
“Don’t really know my birthday so I keep track based on the harvesting seasons. I think I was born around…barely season?”
“Ah. Old school, got it,” Zhen Shi nodded in understanding, “well…I have a couple of grandkids around your age. Maybe a touch older or a bit younger here and there, but still.”
“Really? Think I’d get along with any of them?”
“I…think so.”
“You think so?”
Zhen Shi let out a sigh after hearing this question. He wasn’t sure why he was spilling his heart out to some kid he randomly met, but something about this Sawyer kid gave off the feeling that he could be trusted with such matters. Granted, that could also be related to the underlying sense of familiarity he felt coming off of the kid.
“I can only say ‘I think so’, because despite my over eighty or so years of life, I barely know how to interact with any of my children let alone my grandchildren. I barely know anything about them beyond a certain point. That sort of thing was my wife’s duty moreso than my own and she ..well…damn, and here I thought I had already grieved over her enough. Why am I telling you any of this? I barely know you as is!”
Zhen Shi slumped over as his shoulders felt heavier with all of these revelations he had just shared with some random teenager.
However, the teenager in question didn’t seem too bother by the old man’s venting. If anything, he looked surprisingly thoughtful.
Sawyer allowed the silence to continue for a moment before deciding to speak his piece.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t an excuse to try and leave, it wasn’t a question pertaining to an earlier subject to try and change the current mood and it wasn’t even an attempt to give an answer.
Instead, it was two simple words, one single question.
“Why not?”
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[That wasn’t part of the script.]
[Think… he’s… ad-libbing…?]
[No…I think he’s learning.]
