The lightless sea surface, the gloomy sky, the cold wind blowing against Aaron’s cheeks, making his coat flap noisily, and also making his expression grow heavier and heavier.
“A storm is coming.”
His voice was somewhat hoarse, without the expected full resonance.
Perhaps only at times like this would he remember that he was no longer young.
“Mr. Aaron, the deck is not safe. Go back and rest.”
A sailor came up and spoke with Aaron using clumsy polite language.
They were all rough men, but Aaron was not.
This honored guest might be their only path to escape the storm, and also their last straw.
“Perhaps…”
Aaron took a deep breath, feeling the air full of fishy smell rush into his nasal cavity.
He lowered his hat.
“Can you see it?”
“What?”
Aaron did not say more.
This was good for everyone.
After all, this was only a storm.
“What is your name?”
“Howard, sir.”
“Howard… Do you have a family?”
The sailor was stunned for a moment, then gave a dry laugh and nodded.
“I married a wife, no children yet, but soon. After this trip out to sea, I plan to open a shop, and after that I won’t come out to work anymore.”
“A beautiful wish.” Aaron nodded and patted his shoulder.
“Go back. The storm really is coming. I will leave in a moment.”
“Stay safe, sir.” The sailor walked into the cabin, not forgetting to close the door.
The firelight in the cabin was also covered by the door panel, causing the deck to fall completely into darkness.
Aaron stood by the ship’s side, looking at the sea surface that had completely lost visibility because of the darkness, and also looking at the distant mountains whose rough outlines could only be seen beneath the dark clouds.
That should be their destination.
Aaron had never been there, but the map said so.
“…”
Until that “mountain” began to move.
Until that pitch-black phantom revealed His true face.
Until the ancient well-like calm sea surface suddenly surged into a vortex, and countless strange tentacles, as if from the bottom of the sea, climbed onto the clouds in the sky.
The storm was coming.
No one could escape calamity.
…
Splash.
As if at the final moment when his vision was swallowed by seawater, Aaron’s consciousness slowly disappeared, then slowly emerged again.
The icy touch once again surfaced on his body, and a large mouthful of fishy-sweet liquid also once again rushed into his nasal cavity, making him struggle to open his eyes, poke his head out of the water, and cough strenuously.
His voice became very strange.
Perhaps something in the water had affected him, but Aaron no longer had the leisure to care about those things.
What was before his eyes was not the lightless deep sea that should have appeared, but a wooden house.
Strange.
He had never seen a place like this.
But when he struggled to try to climb out of the water, he discovered that his body was soaking in a bathtub, and bright red liquid submerged his body, as if it were fresh blood, yet much thinner than fresh blood.
Probably water mixed with fresh blood.
He did not know.
His body had never been as weak as it is now.
Merely rescuing himself from the bathtub had already made him somewhat exhausted, and the overly pale skin color and slender body also made him understand that his body had probably undergone some special change.
He had seen similar cases.
Whether humans turned into ghouls, or poor people bitten by those vampires, their bodies would more or less show some changes.
So he barely stood his body straight, slightly swaying his somewhat muddled head, and looked toward the only mirror in this room that seemed like a bathroom.
In the mirror was reflected his…
or rather her current appearance.
Overly pale skin, an excessively slender body, conspicuous long golden hair, and heterochromatic eyes of blue and yellow.
Aaron had rarely been able to see such a beautiful young girl.
The tragic thing was that now he had become such a young girl.
She might be somewhat malnourished, somewhat anemic, but on the whole still fairly healthy, not especially sickly.
The slender and delicate hands also showed that she did not do much labor work, which made her more like a genuine young lady.
A young lady who died in a bathtub.
On the rack in the bathroom was a set of clothes.
They were new, and also very clean, even making Aaron feel that they had been specially prepared for her.
Very unfortunately, there was no underwear, only a white shirt, a vest, and a pair of especially form-fitting leather trousers.
These did not look like clothes a woman would wear.
Perhaps there were such, but they absolutely should not be clothes worn by a woman with such a delicate body as this.
Aaron rather felt that these clothes had probably been prepared for her.
After putting on the clothes, fastening the belt, and slightly adjusting the places that did not fit, Aaron was surprised to discover that even without wearing underwear, she would not need to worry about the shirt revealing anything or showing any improper protrusions.
Yes, because the young girl’s figure was simply not enough to support this kind of shirt, and there absolutely would not be any hidden danger of exposure.
Perhaps she still had quite good self-awareness.
Walking out of the bathroom, Aaron came to the living room with a bed.
There was probably no other room here either.
Having an independent bathroom might already be quite remarkable.
On the table beside the bed was an especially familiar object.
Aaron had seen it before, or rather often seen it, but there was something slightly off about it.
It should have been a gun, but it looked more retro.
Perhaps it should be described as a hand cannon?
But compared to that kind of eliminated product that was laborious to load and relied entirely on luck to shoot, it looked even more exquisite.
The bronze-colored gun body was inlaid with some gears.
Aaron had never seen this type of hand cannon, even though it should more properly be placed in a museum.
And beneath it was a letter.
[Hello, welcome to my body. Whether you come from the distant past, or from an even more distant future, my name is Igris, the owner of this body, but I encountered some trouble, forcing me to ultimately make this decision, but that is no longer important. Enjoy your new life, whether under your own name, or the name Igris. This gun was gifted to me by a friend, but he is already dead, so there is no need to worry. I no longer have any friends or relatives alive. Inside the trousers are my last savings. There really is not much, so I am afraid this is not a beautiful beginning, but I think you will still cherish this hard-won new life, right?]
“Igris… very nice. Looks like I have a new name again.”
Aaron…
or rather Igris, tucked the envelope into her pocket and felt the pocket of her trousers.
As the letter said, there was all her savings—two copper coins.
Probably enough to buy half a loaf of bread?
Not too sure.
In the end, she fixed her gaze on that gun, and slowly gripped it in her hand.
The next moment, an icy voice slowly sounded in her mind.
[You have obtained your first gunpowder weapon. This is a special moment, even though it will not be the last one. Obtained title: Lucky Trigger. ——Your every shot will have an extremely small probability of not consuming ammunition. Note: The boundary between life and death is often held at the moment the trigger is pulled.]
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T/N: A new Translation here.