Shrouded Seascape

Sparkle gently patted the head of Nene, who was two heads shorter than her, and replied, "I guess you can say that. I'm in a bad mood, so I came here to play with you."

"That's great! The teachers didn't assign any homework to us tonight. Where are we going to play?" Nene said happily, her hands grabbing the other party's hand.

Just then, a group of boys walked past them, and the boys were arguing fiercely, debating whether Michiel's uncle was really an explorer or not.

A flushed Michiel gesticulated, defending himself anxiously. He then told everyone that they'd know the truth as soon as they reached his home.

Sparkle glanced at Nene and saw a glimmer of curiosity in her eyes. Sparkle blinked and held Nene's hand, following closely behind the group of boys. "It's okay. If you want to follow them, then go ahead.

"We're friends, so you don't have to accommodate me every time. And friends should accommodate each other equally."

Nene grinned happily at Sparkle and exclaimed, "Thank you, Sparkle. You really are my best friend!"

Sparkle instantly saw through Nene's thoughts, and her thoughts were exactly the same as her words. Paired with her innocent and delighted smile, Sparkle couldn't help but sigh at the sight.

Nene hadn't changed at all. Instead, Sparkle discovered that she was the one who had changed greatly. She could no longer interact with her good friend like before, as the difference between the two of them had become so massive that she could instantly see through her good friend's thoughts and deduce her reaction.

Sparkle didn't attract the attention of the group of students. When the children saw Nene and Sparkle holding hands, they assumed that Sparkle was Nene's family member.

Sparkle's beautiful appearance didn't attract their attention as well. In fact, they seemed unconcerned about such a superficial trait and were more focused on arguing about whether Michiel's uncle was really an explorer or not.

The boys' attitude wasn't strange at all, but it was almost guaranteed that they'd regret their attitude today in the distant future.

The group of students walked down many streets and alleys until they finally found themselves in an exquisite villa. When their feet landed on the smooth floor of the house, everyone went silent as if they had agreed to do so beforehand.

Clearly, the environment was unfamiliar to some of the students, and it was proven by the look of hesitation on their faces. Michiel had never told them that his home was at the heart of the island.

"Come on, my uncle's room is here. It's already so late, so he should be back by now," Michiel said. He ran up ahead, looking pretty excited as he led the way for his classmates.

The children were a bit uneasy, but they still walked up the stairs and soon found themselves standing at a door on the second floor of the villa.

Michiel was about to knock on the door when he discovered that the door was ajar. A creaking noise echoed as the door opened, revealing a bald, burly man sitting among a pile of liquor bottles.

The bald, burly man cast his lifeless gaze at the children standing behind the door.

"Uncle Klaus, my classmates are here to see you. They didn't believe me when I told them that you're an explorer. Can you tell them that you're a real explorer?" Michiel asked.

However, he didn't get any response from his uncle.

Klaus chugged a half-empty bottle of liquor and stared at Sparkle with bloodshot eyes. He was one of the surviving explorers of the surface world. which meant that he was quite powerful. Otherwise, he couldn't have survived the surface world expeditions.

Klaus' prowess and keen intuition were telling him that an exceptionally beautiful girl standing among a group of children was just too abnormal of a sight.

As he moved the bottle of liquor away from his mouth, the murky brown liquor flowed down his dirty beard and drenched his protruding belly.

"Michiel, go ask your mom if dinner is ready," he said.

"Don't mind me here. I have no ill intentions. I just want to—"

Bang!

A deafening gunshot echoed, interrupting Sparkle mid-sentence. Klaus had whipped out a flintlock pistol with an abnormally large barrel from behind him and instantly pulled the trigger.

A bullet engraved with black runes shot out from the barrel. The bullet seemed to carry with it a swirling black mist as it struck Sparkle's head before exiting her nape. However, Sparkle sustained no wounds whatsoever.

Realizing that his weapon was ineffective against Sparkle, Klaus' expression turned fierce, and he jumped into the air. He bit a gold tooth in his mouth, and his towering figure was instantly covered in green scales. His legs merged, becoming a tail as he transformed into a half-human, half-snake monster.

Klaus swung his tail, sending his nephew flying away to safety before sending a flurry of attacks at Sparkle.

Unfortunately, his frenzied attacks couldn't inflict any damage on Sparkle, but his attacks were enough to terrify the children, making them huddle on the floor, screaming for dear life.

Sparkle didn't dodge any of Klaus' attacks, allowing the latter's limbs to pass through her figure.

Sparkle was pondering if she should take Nene somewhere else for her to calm down when Dipp drifted into the room in his blue mist form, shouting, "This is Hope Island's District 3! Who fired that gun just now?! You better freeze if you don't want to die!"

Klaus immediately retreated into a corner of the room, and his forked tongue flicked in a blur of up and down as he cast a wary gaze at Sparkle with his yellow split pupils.

Klaus opened his mouth, which resembled a snake's mouth, and spat a yarn doll with buttons for eyes. The yarn doll's sewn mouth curled up slightly as it smiled quietly at Sparkle.

"Huh? Sparkle? Why are you here?" Dipp asked. He was surprised to see Sparkle in front of him. Then, he asked another question, and he quickly learned about what had just transpired.

"I heard a gunshot and thought that something serious was going on. Turns out it was just a misunderstanding. Hey, man. You went too far here. She's the Governor's daughter. If you hurt her, the captain will personally skin you alive."

Since someone from Hope Island's Police Department was familiar with Sparkle, Klaus calmed down. He became downtrodden once again as he picked up the yarn doll and walked into his room.

"By the way, Sparkle, do you have any news from the captain? Has he contacted you through your diary yet?" Dipp asked, sounding a bit anxious as he stood with his hands akimbo while staring at Sparkle.

Sparkle quietly shook her head.

Dipp revealed a trace of disappointment on his face, and he sounded annoyed as he said, "Where did the captain go? How come we haven't heard from him at all? Could it be that we have to wait another three years for him to come back?

"I have no idea what's going on with that guy, Bandages, as well. He told me that he would make contact with your mother, but we still haven't heard from him at all. He really is irresponsible."

Just then, an eyeless green head peeked into the villa. Dipp approached the green head and said, "Norton, you don't have to come in here. It was just a misunderstanding caused by Sparkle."

Sparkle looked around the messy villa. She pondered briefly over something before pulling Nene with her toward Klaus' room.

"Didn't you want to know his story as an explorer? Go ahead and ask him now."

Nene saw her crying classmates at the door and became hesitant to approach Klaus' room. "It's fine. I think we should just go home."

"What do you mean, 'it's fine.'? We're already here, so we might as well proceed with our plan. Half-measures are a bad habit to have, you know?" Sparkle said before pushing Nene toward Klaus.

"Um... um... Hello, Michiel's uncle. I'm Michiel's classmate. My classmates and I came here because we're curious about you. Are you really an explorer?" Nene asked cautiously while surreptitiously glancing at the yarn doll next to Klaus.

The lower part of the yarn doll's body was soaked in alcohol.

Klaus chugged the remaining liquor in the bottle of alcohol in his hands before throwing it away. His eyes reflected pain as he glanced at Sparkle before turning to look at Nene, saying, "You're here to ask me that question? Isn't Charles an explorer as well? He's the strongest explorer out there, so you should go and ask him instead."