71 Vol 2. pt. 8 Patch 2.0: The Wolf and the Serpen (1/2)
Fenrir knows that he should be sleeping. The tournament takes place in two days in-game, but by reality's time, it is tomorrow. Though, it will only be the opening ceremony on the first day of the four-day tournament.
Yet, instead of sleeping, he finds himself taking The Shoebill out for a nighttime cruise to what has become their usual fishing spot behind that basically-useless tower of cannons.
”You do an excellent job steering your ship, my hero,” Nehalennia says.
”It's pretty easy. Want to try?” Fenrir asks her.
She perks up and does an excited little hop. ”May I?”
As proper and refined as she tries behaving, she reminds him of an excited little kid at moments like this.
Fenrir beckons her over. ”Stand here,” he says, pointing to where he was just standing behind the steering wheel.
Nehalennia stands where ordered and looks at the wheel. ”Is there a particular way I should handle it?” she asks.
He grabs her hands by her wrists, his taller figure standing directly behind her smaller one, and places her hands on the wheel. ”If you want the ship to turn right, you spin the wheel this way,” he demonstrates by moving her hands for her, ”and left, you turn it the opposite way.”
”How do I stop it?”
”Right now, we're just using the wind instead of Tab's engine, so we'll have to use one of Tab's other new inventions. See that pedal?” he asks, pointing down at a small pedal sticking up from the deck on the left side of the steering wheel. It has what looks like a mechanical pulley system running from it to the top of The Shoebill's mast. ”Step on it when I tell you to.”
Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
”Aye, captain!” Nehalennia says with a wide smile and cutesy salute.
The Shoebill eventually reaches the shadow of the tower. It is almost pitch dark in the shadow of the tower as it completely eclipses the moon.
Fortunately, The Shoebill has a few lanterns scattered about on the deck which are lit and providing light. ”Alright, press on the pedal,” Fenrir orders her.
”Aye!” Nehalennia presses her foot down on it. Tabitha's system comes to life as the rope connected from the pedal to the top of the mast automatically pulls in the ship's sails in a matter of seconds. Nehalennia claps out of praise for the engineer. ”I know that there are those in this game who try to push technology to its limit, but I have never seen a single person – especially a fellow woman, achieve something like this on her own!”
”Yeah, she's a smart one. That pedal on the right there will unfurl the sails when you press on it, and this lever,” he points at the lever on the stand that the wheel is connected to, ”turns the engine on. When it's down like this, it's off. The more you pull up on it, the stronger the engine runs. I'd demonstrate, but even with just a little bit of power, that engine is loud. Don't want to disturb everybody sleeping.”
”Ah, yes, I would not want them to lose their Rested bonuses. However, it is truly remarkable that she has come up with so many elaborate systems! This is similar to what automobiles of old were like, is it not? You have the 'brake' pedal, the 'gas' pedal, and a 'stick' for gears!”
”It's crazy to think that teens have no idea what any of those are now. I actually got to drive a car once back when I was a teen.”
”Really? You did?” Nehalennia looks at him with excited interest.
”Yep. Back when everybody had to trade their manual vehicles in, my dad let me take his car out for a drive around the neighborhood before trading it in. It's weird to think I'm probably one of the only guys my age who has ever driven a car before,” Fenrir explains, placing his hands on the steering wheel. He can still remember what the leather grip of the car's wheel felt like in his hands as well as how the tobacco-stained interior smelled.
”My father probably would have allowed me to do so as well, but I could not. It is why I am so attached to this body and why I refuse to abandon it. This body – this form, allows me to do what would otherwise be impossible for me. I would feel wrong abandoning it for a new one, especially considering the fact that it has been blessed.”
”I know the feeling. I've got some uhh, leg problems in real life, so I love this body I've got here. It's everything I'm not in reality, and I get attached easily, so I don't think I could just abandon Fenrir no matter what sort of shit he gets stuck in,” he says. While he normally wouldn't talk about this sort of topic, especially with somebody whom he has only just met, he just feels like the two of them can relate to one another.
He figures out why that is.