Dancing in the Legendary Sea - Chapter 7 Part 2

Anyway, it was valuable medicine. Lokira handed out the medicine package.

“You are leaving now. I secretly brought it for you to use it on the voyage.”

Orion quivered and opened the package, then he threw the bundle of wrappers back at her.

“I have fully recovered. You need it more than I do.”

“Oh, it’s okay. What do you mean? Your eyes can see well now?”

Lokira asked thinking that the subject would change. Orion glanced at her. Feeling uncomfortable, she went out of the cave, trying to avoid his gaze. Then, he headed for the ship anchored in the shadow beneath a cliff. He replied without looking back as if he already knew that Lokira would follow.

“As you can see, it’s okay. I was nervous because the night snow seemed to come back, but now I can walk without a light. I’m lucky that the dying Chios woman wasn’t strong enough to pull my eyeballs out.”

Orion grabbed the anchor line and skillfully climbed into the ship. Lokira looked up at him blankly.

“Did she try to hurt you?”

“What do you know? I was stabbed.”

He crouched his big body and placed the package somewhere on the deck. When he got up again, he elaborated,

“As for me, I don’t know what she was thinking, and I don’t want to know. If I had to guess, she might have wanted to use me as her toy.”

“I do not know…, How do you get to Chios?” (Lokira)

Instead of answering, Orion extended out his arm. Lokira, who did not understand for a moment, realized his intention and stuck her hand out. Her body lifted up lightly to her surprise, and she was on the boat before she knew it.

“Mycenae’s Hercules, who originally combated wild beasts, was the most famous, but he had gotten old, so until now, he has not left Greece.”

He turned towards the prow and began to loosen the anchor line.  Suddenly stunned by the boat’s movement, Lokira sat down at the end of the hull.

“So now in the Aegean Sea, I’m a bit better than the rest, They sent a man from Chios to Atlantis with a commission seeking someone to hunt down an elusive wild goat, so they wanted me to catch it.”

The goat was good at climbing mountains and also stubborn. A billy goat could injure many with his horns.

“Did you catch it?”

“It was nothing. It only took three days of hiding and then trapping it. The King of Chios was grateful and even treated me to a grand banquet, and I thought they made too much of a big deal of it.”

The next moment Orion spat out a voice full of hostility,

“The princess propositioned me on the spot!”

Lokira was surprised by his shocking words. This was the exact opposite of what she learned from being beaten with a whip.

“Woman to man?” (Lokira)

“Ah, something like that. I liked it. The custom of proposal is different from country to country.” (Orion)

“But the high priest teaches that Artemis is aromantic, so an unmarried woman should never approach a man first…” (Lokira)

Lokira, who had been taught by the high priest, immediately realized that she had been wrong. She should have been banned from contact with men more than anyone else. Now, she conversed very naturally with this man, and she even got on the boat by holding his hand. When she felt the contradiction, her words became difficult. Eventually, Lokira asked,

“So what did you do?”

“Of course I refused. She laughed out loud and said it was okay, but she put some drug in my glass without me knowing it.”

Orion’s tone of resentment was heard clearly. In the meantime, something seemed like he couldn’t tell anyone burst out.

“She must have thought that I wasn’t going to wake up. However, I did wake up but was unable to move my body, At that time, she was on top of me holding a knife, telling me to stay quiet.”

He shed a long, incredulous laugh. Lokira quickly blinked. All of Orion’s outside stories were amazing, but this one was especially so. It was unbelievably stimulating. (*T/L: Lokira is so cute here.)

“She was a scary person, trying to hurt you for refusing her advances… ” (Lokira)

Then Orion frowned and asked, as if he couldn’t understand.

“What?”

“She was angry that you rejected her so she tried to stab you, right?”

Did she say something weird? Lokira tilted her head without even knowing. The wrapper around her head came loose and one of her horns was slightly revealed. Orion suddenly looked embarrassed. The hand, which she had stopped before, suddenly began to concentrate on tightening the loosened knot.

“Hey, I mean…. Ah, no. Anyway, she was a dangerous woman.” (Lokira)

“Huh? Yes. Anyway, I couldn’t stand still. I struggled while trying to get out. The woman succeeded in hurting my face, and it made me angry. So we were fighting and when I got up, the princess fell out the window.”

Lokira’s mouth opened wide at the dramatic story. In the meantime, she found something strange and asked,

“That’s…. Isn’t it an accident rather than a murder?”

The only way to fault Orion here was that he had poor reactionary instincts. Maybe what happened wasn’t because of his actions. The princess may have slipped on her own by mistake. Orion’s expression turned heavy.

“A kill is a kill. It’s still a fact.”

He frowned for a moment while making sinister calculations.  Eventually, he shook his head.

“Anyway, I ran from that spot to the port and floated here on the boat. Led by the current, I came down in this direction and suddenly encountered a strong wind. Then you know the rest.”

The anchor line was loose. Orion picked up the oar. He skillfully balanced his legs in front of the boat and immersed the paddles into the sea. His thick shoulders pushed the handle. The vibrational feeling of the ship moving was astonishing, and she looked down.  The shallow water was reflecting the moonlight. White light fluttered on a black background. The small boat crossed a couple of low waves powered by the oars he was rowing. Lokira became frightened and withdrew at the sensation of a buzz; the boat returned to the shore after a short trial. He dropped her off the boat. The waves of the night sea was reflected on his face with the indelible wound.

“As you can see, you can always go out to sea. I’ve been waiting to say this to you before I left.”

“Did you wait for me?”

Lokira was a little surprised and asked. Orion evaded the question and said in an ambiguous tone,

“When my boat flipped, I thought it couldn’t be helped if someone like me was killed. But you purposely saved me…. Thank you.”

His gratitude was somewhat unexpected to Lokira. After sending off Orion, the lingering feeling was deep even when she went up the stone steps and returned to bed. It felt strange as if a large wave drenched the shore. A mysterious man saying thank you to a woman with horns.

‘He is going to leave now.’

He may leave right at dawn. Suppressing the sadness, Lokira went to sleep. A fluttering shake permeated the bed. But the next day, Roxias came to her after a long absence.