"There are no living beings inside...no, there should be no life at all. There’s no breathing, no signs of activity, but the material of the ship is still very new. Did the people aboard disembark?"
As she walked along the hull, her tapping suddenly paused, and she rushed to the side as if she had discovered something, hastily waving her hands to the people of Alagina’s group,
"Come look, come look, my heavens, there’s a hole at the bottom of the ship!"
Alagina and Fisher walked toward Pahetz’s direction, and on that large ship’s hull facing the beach, they found a sizable, irregular hole. It didn’t look like it was caused by something hitting it from the outside, but rather...
"This hole, it seems to have been broken from the inside, someone from within made their way out and landed on the island."
It didn’t take long for Alagina to notice that the inside of the hull’s hole had many chop marks, which proved that the people inside had purposefully broken through using an axe.
The inside of the ship was pitch black at the moment, but Fisher suddenly noticed faint glows within that darkness. He lowered his head and with the aid of sunlight saw the quiet room inside, he unexpectedly discovered feathers strewn all over the floor, all of a grey-white color.
It wasn’t just the floor; the walls and ceiling were all scattered with these feathers. The reason feathers still clung to the walls was due to the plentiful bloodstains there. The thick blood made the feathers stick to the walls, making the feather-covered room look as messy as a chicken coop.
"Feathers? Why is it all feathers? Is this a Grey Bird Species ship?"
After taking a glance at the feathers, Alagina also felt that they didn’t quite resemble the one in the Ice Prince Sword, so she started to wonder if this was a ship of the Grey Bird Species. When she looked at Ossie with confusion, she found her vigilantly staring in the direction of the woods.
There, a figure entirely covered by a black cloak, walking waveringly and unsteadily, paused for a moment when they saw the people on the shore and then, as if overtaken by madness, began running towards them,
"Who is it?! Stand back!"
Everyone raised their weapons, aiming at the figure that was running towards them, but the figure didn’t stop at all and continued to stagger forward, all the while shouting something in his mouth.
But after running only a few steps, he fell to his knees at a distance from Alagina and the others, banging his head furiously against the ground, and while bowing repeatedly, he didn’t forget to repeat the words he had been shouting.
Everyone present, except for Fisher, changed their expression when they heard the language; the man was speaking the Northern Language, which Fisher just so happened not to understand.
Leading the group, Alagina exchanged an incredulous look with Pahetz and then took a step forward, addressing the man in the Northern Language,
"What are you saying?"
The man didn’t stop bowing his head, and after hearing Alagina’s words, he finally lifted his head, revealing a face that startled everyone.
Under the black cloak appeared the face of a human man, but unlike a normal person, his eyes were covered with a layer of white feathers, as if they had grown out of the eyeballs themselves, completely occupying the location of his original eyes.
Looking further through the gap of his cloak, feathers also grew on his neck, among which were some shorter feathers, all dappled with blood, looking like objects bursting out from flesh and blood, sending shivers down one’s spine,
He bowed his head several more times to Alagina and repeated the same phrases he had said before, causing Alagina to frown slightly, and then turn her head to Fisher at her side.
"He said, ’Respected Lord Phoenix, the sinners deserving of a thousand deaths dare not forget the mission you have bestowed upon us, and have long awaited your arrival here to retrieve that treasure. We can finally find relief from this inescapable curse.’