Kapitel 11: Ch11: Leaving
Year 1511 of the Sea Circle Calendar.
Having spent 4 years in Cocoyasi Village made him different. When he first arrived here, he was lost. He didn't know his past, where he is or what to do in the future.
These are hard questions to answer by anybody. Fortunately, our young hero found his calling, made friends and learned about the world.
Today is the 5th day of the new year. Tomorrow the merchant ship will arrive and Caden will have to find a way to get on it.
To leave the island, he needs to break free from the orphanage's control. Although it might sound dangerous or bad, the reality is completely different.
Yesterday, he talked with Daddy Dee and Mummy Mee about his decision.
"I will run away, at least officially." He stated, sitting in front of them both at the dinner table. It was early in the night. All the other kids went to their rooms to sleep, so the opportunity to have a secure talk with the caretakers appeared.
"Are you really sure about this? You could just easily get adopted by somebody in the village, you know." Said Daddy Dee, looking concerned with his decision.
"I thought about it. In the case where I am adopted, it could become my weakness in the future. For example, if I somehow angered a powerful person and he wanted to take revenge on my relatives, the family that adopted me will suffer for no reason. The same goes to the orphanage. It is much better if I break ties with you, so that you will be ignored later if I do something bad." He said, before fastly correcting his last statement as he looked at Mummy Mee getting even paler than usual.
"I don't mean that I will do bad stuff. It was just an example, don't worry Mummy." He assured her.
"If that's the case, young man, then I will have to file a report for a missing person tomorrow." Said Daddy Dee, before giving some advice.
"You see, if you SOMEHOW get to the police station before me, you can talk with Genzo and he might just close an eye on the report before you leave completely." He said, looking at him with a small smile.
"Thank you. Thank you both for taking care of me for so long." Said Caden with gratitude in his eyes.
"Oh, no problem child. Through the years you spent with us you were definitely the most responsible of our kids. We are happy for you." Finished Mummy, taking him into a hug.
As the sun rose, Caden woke up early to go to the police station to look for Genzo.
'Hopefully he didn't yet leave for his daily morning patrol around the island.' He thought, quickening his steps.
Arriving just in time, he found Genzo leaving the station.
"Hey, Genzo!" He shouted to get his attention before running up to him.
"Hmm? Oh, Caden! What are you doing here so early?" He asked, surprised about the boy.
"Please do me a favor!" He said, catching up to him.
"What is it?"
"Later today, Daddy will come to the station to file a missing person report. Please ignore it until tomorrow, can you do that for me?" He asked, looking like his life depended on it.
"Now why would I do such a thing? You know I'm very serious about my work." Said Genzo, looking sternly at the kid.
What he said about his work attitude is true. All the years Caden lived here he never heard somebody complaining about Genzo. Not mentioning how there are no problems or incidents in the village.
To emphasize that, he still goes on his morning patrols without breaks every day.
"You see, that report will be about me. I hope you will think positively about my request." He said, looking at him more calmly now.
"I don't know Caden…" He said, not knowing what is right to do.
"If you won't do as I say, believe me that I will send Nami after you." Caden replied, looking seriously at him.
Genzo's face turned grim. For the past years, Nami was a constant pain in his ass. Almost every day she would come to the village and cause problems or do pranks on people. Most of the time he tries to avoid her and only confront her after she does something.
Thinking that her small wrath could be directed at him if he chooses wrongly, made him shiver.
"Ok, ok. I will let this paper pass. I don't remember hearing or seeing anything that comes from Daddy Dee until tomorrow." He said, before swiftly walking away in the direction of the shore.
'Nice, one thing on the list done. Now, to the second task…'
Caden went to Bellemere's home next. He promised the girls that he will spend the morning with them, playing for the last time before he leaves.
Coming inside, he found Bellemere making breakfast, Nami sitting on the chair, drawing something on the table.
"Hi, Nojiko is still sleeping?" He asked, looking for her around the house.
"Yes, she is. You know how much she loves to sleep." Answered Bellemere, flipping a pancake.
Rich aroma of food was coming from the pan.
"Mmm, that smells nice. I guess I will go wake her up then." He said, going to Nami and Nojiko's shared bedroom.
Softly knocking on the door, he went inside after not hearing anything. Walking closer to the right side of the room, before him lay Nojiko, with her head under a pillow with a small blanket wrapped over her.
"Hey, it's time to wake up." He slowly said, looking at her from above.
"Mhmm.. fife mure mints.." She said, slurring a bit.
"What to do with you.. I know." He said.
At that moment, Nojiko woke up from being suddenly moved up.
"What is going on?!" She said, looking around.
Caden fastly picked her up, holding her in a princess carry. Looking up, she saw his face with a massive grin on it.
Since he was already much taller than most kids, she was pretty high in his arms. Side to side, Caden was already a head taller than Nojiko, who is his age.
"Caden! Put me down please!"
"Ok, but first let's go to the kitchen. Breakfast is almost ready." He said, turning around and taking her with him.
"Wait, wait! I need to change my clothes!" She said, desperately trying to stop him from taking her out of her room.
"Nope, you slept in, you accept the consequence of your action. In this case, you will eat with us in your pajamas." He said, not even bothered by her attempts at grabbing the walls and doors.
"Ok, but put me down first." She said, giving up on running.
"Nah, I'm taking you like this."
In such a way they entered the kitchen. Caden put Nojiko on the chair, before looking at the other girls in the room.
Nami looked at Nojiko, who had a red face from being in her childish pajamas, being glad that she got up at the right time today.
On the other hand, Bellemere looked somewhat jealous.
Noticing it, Caden walked up to her, leaned closer and told her quietly to her ear. "In a few years, maybe I will be picking you up or more."
Hearing that, Bellemere also got red in the face, quickly looking away.
"Ok, let's eat and then we can spend time having fun in the garden." She said, before sitting down. Caden joined her.
Together, they all ate the pancakes, before having fun for the rest of the morning. As noon came, Caden went in the direction of the port. On the way, he looked around the village, reminiscing about all the fun things he did here.
He couldn't just live his life never leaving. Knowing how big and amazing this world is, he feels like it would be a huge waste to not explore it.
Arriving at the port, he saw some small boats that the villagers owned. On the other side he saw a big ship, classically brown all over, with 3 masts having white sails. The ship didn't have any specific logo on it. Only on the top you could see a flag, showing a few berry coins around a red dot on the green background.
'Well, at least it doesn't look like a pirate flag.' He thought, getting closer to one of the workers, who were currently carrying out cargo from and to the ship. Most of it was in wooden boxes, but some barrels also appeared.
"Hello, can I ask you something?" Caden asked one of them.
The blond haired guy stopped for a moment to look at him.
"What do you want, kid?" He asked.
"I want to get onto your ship." Answered Caden, looking at how they were working.
"It isn't my ship, you see that guy over there? The one wearing blue jeans, green shirt and red jacket? He's our boss. If you want to get hired or something, ask him and not me." He answered, turning back to work,
"Hey, before you go, I'm Caden, what's your name?"
"Hmm.. I'm Thomas." He answered, before going back on the ship for more boxes.
Walking to the guy Thomas pointed at, Caden noticed how he was noting down things onto some papers.
"Hello, do you still hire people?" Asked Caden.
They guy looked up from his papers, looked Caden up and down before saying. "You don't look like an adult. What do you want, boy?" He replied.
"As I said, I'm looking for work." He said, trying to appear bigger than he is.
"Hmm.. Can you pick up this box?" The guy asked, pointing with his pencil at a box nearby. It was one of the bigger ones, probably being some 200kg.
Caden decided to try lifting it. Although he found it easy to do so, he acted as if he was struggling to do so, but finally managed to pick it up.
The man looked impressed, noted something down and said. "Ok kid, you are hired. Go inside the ship, on the deck should be standing Mabar, my Quartermaster. He will introduce you to your job. Just tell him you are a new hire. Also, I'm the captain of this ship. My name is Ganero, what's yours?" He asked, looking at him and pointing at the deck.
"Oh, I'm Caden. Thanks for the opportunity." He said, before going onto the ship, dodging the sailors walking with big boxes in their hands.
Ganero looked intensely at his back for a moment, before continuing writing down stuff.
As Caden found Mabar, an older man with some scars on his face and a round belly, he got introduced into the job of a chore boy.
He was shown where the cleaning supplies are and made aware of the other 2 people who also had his position. Unfortunately, they didn't seem very friendly. Although he introduced himself, they just ignored him and did their tasks.
Walking down from the ship, he got back to Ganero and found that they would leave after a few hours, when the sun started to touch down. He asked to leave so he could say his goodbyes. Captain agreed.
Going back to the village, Caden went back to Bellemere's house to spend some more time with the girls.
He couldn't go to bid farewell with other villagers he got to know, because he was still technically running away.
After rejoining the small family of three, he played some more with them. Running around, playing tag and hide and seek. Looking at the sun, it was starting to go down.
"Girls, it's time for me to go." He said calmly, looking at them.
"Bye Caden, till the next time.." Said Nojiko, trying to hide her tears. Her first real friend will be going away for the first time in her life.
"Caden, do you really have to go?.." Asked Nami, looking at him while holding her skirt and slowly crying.
"Yes, I have to. For my own good." He said, going on one knee and giving her a powerful hug.
Standing back up, he also gave one to Nojiko, who just started crying more because of that.
"Stay safe out there. Remember, you can always come back to us. We will be waiting." Said slowly Bellemere, wiping a tear.
"I will. You guys stay safe too. If some pirate ever comes here while I'm gone, remember to stay alive. I will come back to save you. Believe me." He said, a little bit ominously.
After giving some more hugs to all three of them, he left in the direction of the port, waving back at them.
"Mommy, he will be back, right?" Asked Nami, sobbing softly and looking down.
"Yes honey, he definitely will. He said so, right? Have you ever seen him break his promise?" Said Bellemere, trying to cheer up her daughter.
"You are right, he must come back. After all, he invited us into his ship in the future." She said, smiling again.
"WHAT?!"
Bellemere's scream was heard even by Caden, who was already at the village edge.
After a moment of walking he reached the ship. On the edge was standing Mabar.
"Just in time. One minute more and we would sail away without you, kid." He said with a gruff voice.
"Good thing I'm here then." He said happily, walking up to his shared quarters.
From afar, Genzo looked as the ship got further and further.
"Safe travels." He said quietly, before walking back.
Even though Caden left, life still moved on.
~2295 words
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