Swoosh Swoosh—
A small breeze entered through the window of the cockpit and rustled up his messy waves.
June has been sitting in the cockpit for an hour or two now, reading the novel he grabbed from the cabinet next to him.
There wasn't any particular reason why he chose to grab this particular novel out of all the ones present inside the cabinet. It's just that the cover caught his eye, that's all.
The book was heavy in his hands, around 2.3 inches thick, bound in cracked, dark brown leather worn smooth as if it had been untouched for centuries. The cover was etched with delicate silver threads that formed interweaving vines that spirals into blooming moonflowers at the corners; Giving an ancient feel to it.
Although June himself knows that it's a newly released edition, due to the quality of the cover itself.
Normally, such books would have taken a day or two to finish, but due to his dormant ability allowing him to think and process information at a much faster rate, he's already halfway through the novel.
From the cover itself, it's pretty telling that the book belonged to the fantasy genre...
Romance-Fantasy, to be exact.
While not his favorite genre to consume, normally June would prefer to read thriller or true crime fiction, he doesn't really discriminate against genre.
Though the title was kind of amusing, to say the very least.
[I Accidentally Seduced the Villain by Offering Him Leftovers]
The book itself was an interesting read.
The beginning portion was pretty generic; it followed a relatively popular female soldier who quickly made a name for herself at a young age within an Empire. But, after an accident, she'd realized that she was an ordinary government worker in her past life, and had gotten reincarnated into one of her favourite romance novels, as a side character a year before the event of the main story's start.
'It is like a book inside a book.'
This then causes a few panics, as within the original story-- the soldier died.
So, for the next few chapters, she desperately tried to avoid the original plot by any means possible. Which comes falling apart, when she offered food to an injured man she saw in the royal castle... Which happens to be the novel original villain.
Although June doesn't read this type of story much, the beginning was extremely generic. Painfully so, that he almost closed it a few times while reading. However, midway through the story suddenly became an action drama thriller, with the introduction of one of the female lead's ex-comrades, whom she thought died in battle. This causes a conflict between the two, as the ex-comrade believed that the main character had left her to die in battle.
'The execution of the conflict is good.'
It is due to this sudden genre shift, from comedy to action thriller romance, that convinced him to continue the novel.
Swoosh Swoosh—
June sighed as he looked out from the cockpit windows.
The ride so far has been relatively smooth, despite the strong initial currents. From what he had gathered, it was mainly due to one of the enchantments on the boat that allowed a relatively smooth feel for the passengers.
He reached over to his bag and grabbed his stainless steel flask, and poured the drink within, into his throat.
The vessel that he was on came to a sudden halt.
It was at that moment that he heard the sound coming from the Riverman from outside.
"Alright, everyone! We will be stopping here for a while to eat lunch."
June had never been on one of these boats before in the past, but had researched about them. Due to one of the enchantments for the helm, the boat does not require an actual anchor to keep it in place.
Swoosh Swoosh—
Putting the novel down, June covered his mouth and let out a yawn.
Rubbing his eyes, he stood up, straightened his back, one hand in his pocket with a thumb sticking out.
Exiting the cockpit, he could see that there were already a few passengers that was admiring the view outside. After all, the forest of Bastion, while dangerous, is also breathtaking.
Looking down onto the river surface, he could see the reflection of the emerald forest shining upon it, which creates a sense of tender calmness to anyone who sees it.
Thankfully, it seems that those pesky invasive Cricket species haven't migrated this far downstream yet, thus currently enjoying the tranquil silence of the forest.
From above, he could see that the Riverman, Jessica, was coiling a chain and wrapping it around her wrist. The chain seemed to be connected to a relatively short spear, which is unfit for most kinds of battle.
'Is that a fishing spear?'
June thought, as he gradually approached the Riverman.
"Are you planning to hunt some fish-like Nightmare Creatures here?"
He asked.
The Woman next to the helm paused for a moment; it seemed that she didn't expect anyone to talk to her.
"Oh, yes of course! Every time the canyons get flooded and form into rivers, Nightmare Creatures also come along as well."
She glanced over to the Corsair for a second, then quickly averted her gaze.
"Of- of course, the more high ranked Nightmare Creatures get killed early on, near the source, but there's still some lower ranked ones here... Anyhow, my plan right now is to catch a few fishes here and there to make lunch."
Jess laughed, a subtle yet bright grin appeared on her face as she descended down onto the deck. The chain was now tightly wrapped around her right wrist.
"Ah, you're an Awakened, right? Would you like to try spear fishing too?"
She turned around and asked.
"Sure."
June accepted her offer in a nonchalant tone, since he has nothing better to do.
"Sweet! Uh, there should be a couple of fishing spears left over at that chest, there."
The Riverman pointed over at the chest, near the windows of the cockpit.
Swoosh Swoosh—
Opening it, June grabbed a similar spear out of it and slowly wrapped the chains attached to it around the wrist of his dominant hand.
"These fishing spears are mass produced memories by spellsmiths of Valor."
The woman proclaimed.
"If these are memories, then why don't you just dismiss them instead of keeping them inside the chest?"
Jess flinched and paused for a second before answering.
"It's for the aesthetic."
She scoffed.
June stared at her for a while with a deadpan expression before shaking his head and slowly walking over to the fence of the boat.
"You should already know how to use it, considering how you're an Awakened."
The Riverman spoke as she approached him from the side.
With a subtle nod, his eyes narrowed as he gripped the spear firmly, gradually raising it up. Beneath the river tides, June could make out a shadowy figure swimming between the rock debris.
Huff Huff—
His breath slowed down and became steady.
One.
Two...
Three!
With a violent twist of his torso and hips, June lunged his spear at a lightning-fast speed, piercing it through the roaring, churning current.
Bubbles started to form, disturbing the shining surface of the water. June could feel a rigorous force trying to wiggle away and drag him down with it.
'It's strong.'
June thought, as his jaw clenched.
His gaze never once left the water.
Huff Huff—
With steady breath, his other hand grabbed another point of the chain and started to pull.
"Hmmph!"
With a violent, explosive jerk of his legs, he threw the Nightmare Creature out of the water and onto the deck.
A small, violent thud, the fish slammed into the ground, alerting the attention of the other passengers on board.
"That's a large catch..."
Jess mumbled as her voice started to trail off.
"Well, I suppose we can feed most people here with it! We just need to catch one or two more."
************************************************
Swoosh Swoosh—
Sitting on his seat in the cockpit yet again, he closed the novel and placed it down on the table as the pale glow of moonlight shone on June's chiselled face.
He sighed as he finished drinking up all of the liquor in his stainless steel flask.
Lunch came and went.
In the end, June and the Riverman caught a total of 5 fish, which somehow got devoured by the six passengers.
Which was surprising, since he did not expect them to finish it at all. However, according to one of the mundanes, they ran out of food midway while walking to the boat, thus they were already starving.
'It's been hours, we should be arriving soon.'
June thought to himself as he stared at the moonlit sky through the windows of the cockpit.
It was then that he saw a figure of a large structure in the distance that cuts across the river, like a series of walls descending from a mountain peak.
It seems that he had finally arrived at Rivergate.