Emilia: "You need my help?"
Henry: "Yeah, we need your help."
He asks with a serious face, his voice firmer than before.
Emilia stood up from her lounger in one smooth motion. Without even glancing at him, she slid her sunglasses back over her eyes and walked calmly toward the stairwell leading into the ship's interior. Her footsteps echoed on the wooden deck as she descended, ignoring her brother's plea as if he hadn't spoken at all.
Henry froze, staring at the empty spot where she had stood. The weight of rejection hung heavy on his shoulders.
Jack stepped forward, patting Henry on the back with deliberate mockery. A crooked smile played on his lips, clearly enjoying the sting Henry felt.
Jack: "You did great, boss; do you know someone else who could help us?"
He said it with biting sarcasm, the word "boss" dripping with revenge for losing the earlier vote.
Henry: "I mean, I think so."
Henry's answer was quiet but steady. Jack's smile faltered for a second, his brow creasing. He couldn't tell if Henry was bluffing or serious. The thought of someone worse than Emilia made his skin crawl. Goosebumps crept up his arms, leaving him with an unsettled expression.
Henry pushed past the doubt and rushed down into the ship's lower deck. The storage room smelled of salt and fish. Wooden crates filled with glistening catch lined both walls, the air damp and heavy.
Henry: "Wait, Emilia, please—we need your help."
His voice echoed in the dim chamber.
Henry glanced around, wrinkling his nose.
Henry: "Whoa, Emilia, I didn't think you would be interested in the fish business."
From deeper inside, her voice rang out, sharp and distant.
Emilia: "Leave me alone, Henry."
Her tone was harsh, but the edge cracked just enough to betray something else—something like sadness.
Emilia: "Whatever it is you need help in, it will only bring me more trouble than I already have."
That flicker of sadness was enough to anchor Henry's resolve.
Henry: "Then let me help you first, big sis. What is it? Tell me."
His words carried desperation, almost begging her to give him something to hold onto.
A door creaked at the far end of the storage room. Emilia emerged, no longer in a bikini but now dressed in a fitted dark-blue shirt and jeans, her long hair pulled back. Her green eyes gleamed like sharpened glass behind the dim light.
Emilia: "Henry, if you could help me, I would have asked you."
She walked past him without slowing, her perfume barely cutting through the smell of fish.
Emilia: "But I didn't. So leave me alone."
She climbed the stairs, her back to him, her words like a knife sliding between ribs.
Henry: "B-but big sis—"
Emilia: "I'm sorry, Henry, I can't help you."
The finality in her tone crushed whatever hope he had clung to.
Back on the deck, Emilia found Jack leaning against the mast with casual arrogance and Lenny sitting small on the lounger, glancing between them nervously.
Emilia: "And who are you two?"
She asked in a firm, serious tone.
Jack: "You should at least hear him out, you know?"
Jack's voice carried his trademark coolness, but underneath, he tried to impress her—if not out of respect, then at least to give Henry a chance.
Emilia: "I'm sorry, but in whatever mess he brought you in, it isn't my problem."
Without hesitation, she strode down the plank and into the streets of Grenzborg.
Henry surfaced from below deck moments later, his eyes heavy with sadness.
Jack: "Is she always like that?"
He asked flatly.
Henry: "I don't know… Maybe I just didn't notice until now."
His words were small, weighed down by hurt.
Meanwhile…
Emilia stalked through the cobbled lanes of the port city, a plastic bag swinging from her hand. The salty breeze tugged her hair. Gulls wheeled above. But her mind roared with Henry's voice, chasing her even now.
Emilia: "What was he thinking, coming out of nowhere and acting like it's important—as if I don't have my own things to solve?"
Her jaw clenched, her eyes hard.
???: "Emilia, wait!"
The voice cracked through the noise. Daniel, in his sailor uniform, hurried up the street, his steps clumsy against the stone.
Emilia turned, her eyes narrowing.
Emilia: "What do you want, Daniel? I am busy."
Daniel stammered, catching his breath.
Daniel: "I—I guessed that we have to go to the same place, so I thought it would be a good idea that we walk together."
Emilia: "Whatever."
She rolled her eyes and turned away. He scrambled to catch up, slowing once he matched her pace.
Daniel: "Sooo, what did your brother want from you?"
His attempt to break the silence felt like a pebble tossed into a storm.
Emilia: "Nothing, Daniel. Matter of fact, mind your own business."
She replied coldly, not sparing him a glance.
Daniel: "I—I am sorry, I just wanted to—"
Emilia cut him off.
Emilia: "Whoops, sorry Danny, but we are here."
Her voice snapped with dismissal. They stopped before a large wooden storage hall. The towering doors were shut tight, the building looming over the narrow street like a silent beast.
Daniel's heart jumped at the nickname—Danny. His face flushed red, his lips twitching with a smile he tried to suppress.
Emilia rapped her knuckles on the door.
Emilia: "Broker, I'm here. Open the damn door; I brought what you wanted."
No answer.
Her jaw tightened. She knocked harder, her voice echoing down the empty lane.
Emilia: "Broker, open the fucking door!"
The shout made Daniel flinch back, startled.
Daniel: "Emilia, w-w-we should be m-more p-patient, y-you know?"
She ignored him, temper flaring. Her boot slammed into the wood. With a creak and a crack, the doors swung open, the sound booming like thunder.
Inside the Hall…
Dim light spilled through holes in the roof, cutting dusty beams across stacked crates. In the center sat a man perched on boxes, surrounded by rough figures. His skin was dark, his dreadlocks long, and a thick fur-lined coat draped across his broad shoulders despite the warmth.
One detail stood out like fire: his left eye. Orange, burning, and scarred with three black horizontal lines etched deep across the iris.
Broker smiled, wide and unsettling.
Broker: "Yo guys, let me introduce you to a bad chick."
His deep voice rolled like gravel.
Emilia: "Shut up, Broker, I have what you want."
She snapped, tossing the plastic bag onto the floor in front of him.
The sunlight caught the bag, making the bottles inside gleam faintly.
Broker: "That's what I'm talking about."
He nodded at one of his muscle-bound men, who stepped forward to retrieve it. Broker lifted a bottle, tilting it toward his strange eye.
Inside sloshed a clear liquid.
Emilia: "So we're even, right?"
She asked, her tone sharp, eyes locked on his.
Broker: "Fisher's liquid. Won from a rare fish in the Lumarian Ocean. Illegal to catch now, on account of overfishing. Mass-farmed to death for their liquid and its narcotic effects. Now the price skyrockets—one bottle worth more than some towns. A dangerous prize."
He spoke like a man savoring his own knowledge.
Emilia: "What do you want, Broker? I brought you what you want."
Broker: "Yeah, you're right."
His voice turned suddenly dark. With a violent motion, he hurled the bottles to the ground. Glass shattered, liquid splattering across the floor.
Daniel recoiled, trembling, while Emilia's chest tightened. She stared at the broken glass, guilt flickering across her features.
Broker stood, descending from his seat with heavy steps. He stopped just inches from Emilia, his strange eye glowing faintly.
Broker: "Did you forget what my left eye can do? It shows me the truth of anything I hold."
Emilia: "I didn't know that it's not real, the bos—"
Broker: "The Boss?"
He cut her off, laughter boiling up from deep in his chest. The sound was wrong—too loud, too wild. It echoed against the rafters, making Daniel pale and Emilia's stomach knot.
Emilia: "What, you don't believe me? Ask him."
She snapped back, trying to mask her unease.
Broker: "YEAH, MAYBE I SHOULD!"
He roared with laughter, spinning and pointing toward the shadows at the far end of the hall.
From the darkness, a figure stepped forward. Pale-skinned and older-aged, his hair had thinned to a patchy crown. His presence was quiet, yet it bent the air around him with unseen weight.
Daniel's voice cracked in horror.
Daniel: "B-boss"