Kieli, Vol. 2: White Wake on the Sand by Kabei Yukako

Author:Kabei, Yukako
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Yen Press
Published: 2018-01-30T05:00:00+00:00

He became a sailor, oh, about six years ago; at the time, he would go out onto the main deck every evening after finishing his day’s work, and even though he would have to get up early the next morning, he would stay up late, gazing at the night sea. Now he couldn’t remember a shred of what it was he liked so much about this scenery that was so drably colored such a thick, dark blue-gray.

The crewman took off his round glasses and wiped his face, now thoroughly soggy with tears, with the sleeve of his work clothes.

“Sniff…Sniff…”

“Oh, cut it out already. How old are you? And you call yourself a man of the sea,” spat the captain, standing next to him puffing his silver pipe. The smoke formed a thin line, and the cold night wind carried it off as it blew across the deck.

The sailor cast a hate-filled sideways glance at his boss and retorted in a tearful sob, “I didn’t become a sailor to do this!”

“And I didn’t become a ship captain to do it, either.”

“Then let’s stop already!”

“We don’t have a choice. You know that now that we’re involved, we can’t pull out so easily.” The captain twisted his lips, his pipe still between them, and said, glaring back at the crewman, “You know, you’re always, always talking like that, and yet you’re still on my ship.”

“Well, I…!” He faltered; the officer had hit a sore spot. The captain blew smoke right in his face, and the sailor coughed violently.

The captain had no right to say so, but that was exactly the case. His fellow sailors had washed their hands of the matter and left the ship one after another, but as for himself, he kept whining and crying about it. But he was still here. Well, he couldn’t help it; no one wanted to lose his job and end up on the streets. The actual owner of The Sand Mole’s Seventh Son was an import dealer whose main office was in South-hairo. Both he and his boss, the captain, were mere employees, and if they didn’t want to get fired, they had no choice but to shut up and do the job they were given.

Only the captain and a part of the crew knew about it, but the imported goods the ship’s owner dealt in sometimes included girls and children, and they were the ones responsible for obtaining those goods. The captain, the captain before him, and the captain before him all carried the work out indifferently, as though there was some kind of manual. They targeted tramps, women, and children who wouldn’t cause any future problems, and dropped their companions in the ship’s hold.

The sailor shivered, only partly because of the cold night wind.

“I just know they hate us. When I think about them turning into ghosts and crawling up from the bottom of the ship to curse us to death…”

“Ha! Ridiculous.” The captain was clearly mocking the sailor, but over his jeers…

“…They actually did come haunt me,” another voice suddenly interjected.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.