<h4>Chapter 73. Compensation For Her Assistance</h4>
"Aye! Charles! Long time no see, where have you been?" William raised up the wine ss in his hand in greeting. He was just like how Charles remembered him to be—intoxicated and disheveled.
Charles'' eyesnded on the ordinary-looking young woman next to Elizabeth and asked, "This is...?"
"Charlie''s daughter. He died, so she took over her father''s ship and became the new Explorer Captain," the enthusiastic chubby man by the side answered.
<i>Charlie? </i>Charles instantly recalled the grim-faced, middle-aged man with his distinguishable hawk-like nose.
"How did he die?" Charles asked with a stunned expression. Despite being an Explorer for so long, he still couldn''t get ustomed to others dying so easily.
William belched as he let out a light chuckle. "He''s dead. Period. Does it matter how he died?"
Charles was struck by a pang of sorrow. It was all thanks to Charlie and his acquaintance that he was able to acquire the leads to Sottom and also the sunlight. He had wanted to express his gratitude when he returned, but little did he know theirst meeting would be their final one.
Turning to the young woman, Charles carefully chose his words before he said, "I was a friend of your father. If you ever run into any difficulties, don''t hesitate to find me."
Since her father had assisted him selflessly, it was only fair for him to look out for the daughter.
The portly man winked at the girl andmented, "Lass, Charles is a formidable dude. You could ask him for a livable ind, and he might be able to get you one."
Charlie''s daughter shed a shy smile to Charles and said, "Thank you. My father had mentioned you."
Seeing her pure and innocent smile, Charles felt an impulse to dissuade her from bing a seafarer. God knows what the cursed subterranean sea could do to torment her. However, it was not his ce to interfere since this was her decision to make.
Charles then turned his gaze onto the towering beauty on the couch. She was the reason for his visit today.
"Can we step outside for a moment?" Charles asked.
Elizabet''s lips curled up for a split second before she forcefully turned them back down. Feigning an indifferent expression, she answered, "Not today. I''m not feeling up to it."
William and the few other familiar faces burst out intoughter. Their heartyugh echoed in the hall. They had long sensed the awkward rtionship between Charles and Elizabeth.
Without uttering a single word, Charles fished out a woman''s earring and waved it before Elizabeth before he headed straight for the door.
At the sight of the earring, Elizabeth''s expression turned solemn instantly. She promptly let go of the young girl and caught up with Charles.
As the pair left their sight, the remaining captains started their spections.
"What do you reckon their rtionship is?"
"What else could it be? Surely it''s <i>that </i>kind."
"Didn''t Elizabeth fancy women? When has she taken a liking to men? I thought they were just having a fling."
"Who knows? Perhaps she wanted a taste of something else?"
"Such arge woman. That brat Charles sure has it tough at night, doesn''t he?"
"True, dealing with one Elizabeth is like bedding two ordinary ones."
***
Meanwhile, the two subjects of spection stood at the entrance of the Association.
"Why is my Illusory Earring with you?" Elizabeth asked with a somewhat grave expression.
Charles remained silent and returned the earring to Elizabeth. He then reached out a hand to lift up her eyepatch. Indeed, the ck void beneath it was identical to those of the human husks back on the ind.
Elizabeth swatted his hand away impatiently. "Answer my question. I lost this relic on an extremely dangerous ind. How did it end up with you?"
Charles'' gazended on the bustling port in the distance. After a few seconds of silence, he calmly recounted the events that transpired on the ind to Elizabeth.
Charles paused briefly before he continued, "I do not hate you. To be honest, I feel d to be favored by a beautiful woman like you. But I''m really sorry. I have something important that I need to do, so I can''t give in to what you want."
Elizabeth adjusted the strand of tinum blonde hair that fell out of ce and let out a dryugh, "I see... So my eye helped you, and you feel guilty toward me now, huh?"
Her expression turned icy instantly as she turned to walk back into the hall. "You don''t need to. Those were the words of my other eye, but it doesn''t represent my thoughts. You can just pretend that nothing ever happened."
Charles triggered the Tentacle Ring to halt Elizabeth in her steps. He then pulled out a stack of papers from his chest pocket and handed them to her.
With a confused expression, Elizabeth unfolded the paper and scanned the contents. With every page that she read, her eyes widened even further in surprise.
"That ind has freshwater?!" Her voice had even turned a note sharper out of extreme surprise.
"I''ve explored more than half of the ind. There aren''t other issues; the most dangerous matter to deal with would be 1002. I''ve jotted all the detailed information about it here. If you can find a way to deal with it, then this ce will be a new livable ind."
Holding onto the stack of papers, Elizabeth''s hand trembled. She hadn''t expected the man before him to present her with the ind''s intelligence. The value of the information in her hands was unimaginable. All captains of exploration vessels risked their lives for a livable ind, and yet Charles had provided one that casually.
"If... If you are giving me this aspensation for the assistance my eye rendered, then I can''t ept it!" Elizabeth tried to return the papers to Charles. However, her hand remained frozen in ce.
"Just take it. It''s not of much use to me. Our goals are different. Also, younded on the ind first. So, it should be yours." With that, Charles then turned and headed toward the busy harbor district.
Elizabeth stood in a daze as she watched Charles disappear into the distance. Her emotions wereplicated.
<i>"Right, look at how generous we are. A livable ind is nothing. I can give it away without batting an eyelid."</i>
Charles could sense the underlying sarcasm in Richard''s words and retorted.
<i>"Elizabeth saved us on that ind. I don''t like being in her debt. As for us, we only need a ship to explore the inds."</i>
<i>"You can repay your debt toward her with your body! Do you think you are some billionaire CEO? Gifting an ind with the snap of your fingers? It''s an ind! A freaking livable ind!"</i>
<i>"1002 isn''t that easy to deal with. We don''t have the time to waste on that. Don''t forget that our goal is to return to the surface world and not to be some overlord in this cursed ce."</i>
<i>"Aren''t you being too hasty about it?"</i>
<i>"Then what do you suggest? Get it back from her?"</i>
Richard fell silent for a moment before he resigned, <i>"We''ve already given it to her. Asking it back from her would be so... disgraceful."</i>
Just then, Charles felt an odd sensation. His left hand shot out and snagged the weasel-eyed figure behind him and threw him onto the muddy ground.
His transparent tentacles extended to retrieve the stolen wallet from the thief''s hand. Then, a tentacle grabbed the thief''s right hand and lifted it up. Charles then raised his feet and stomped down hard on the thief''s forearm.
<i>Crack!</i>
The bone snapped and twisted into an odd L-shape. The thief''s agonized cries rang out.
The onlooking crowd stared at the unfortunate man with horrified expressions before they swiftly distanced themselves from the sprawling figure on the ground.
After tossing the thief aside, Charles aimlessly strolled on the streets. He encountered fishermen with theirs over their shoulders, arrogant gang members, and clusters of sailors. Everyone seemed to be busy with their own matters. Walking amongst them, Charles felt like a reef in a rushing riverpletely out of ce.
Laesto had instructed Charles to rest, but he had no idea how to go about doing it. The concept of rxing entirely had be foreign after all this while.
Ironically, taking aplete break seemed even harder than exploring an ind.