Chương 21: Dried Heat
Being pulled out of the scalding ocean water by the Prince's fairy companion, Junko plopped onto the wooden floor.
The fairy seemed rather calm, although troubled while the Prince seemed apprehensive, to say the least.
With a single glance at them, they froze for a moment.
Junko, having had her fill of enjoyment from the fairy she 'studied', no longer saw anything amusing or interesting about the fairy as she had 'seen' everything there was to see, and the Prince definitely had not a single bit of amusement to offer little Junko.
Standing up and walking off without a peep, she passed by multiple adventurers, mages and knights on her way below deck, no one really knew what kind of look to give her.
So they simply stared for a short while until she walked out of sight.
The fairy sighed as she sat down on the Prince's shoulder.
...
Without a single care pertaining to the near-unbearable heat that wafted in the air, Junko waddled her way down and down, further below.
Not everyone below deck noticed her, including the group of four that originally found her.
No one really tried to say anything or ask anything from her since they had their own problems to deal with.
The main problem, as previously mentioned, was currently the asphyxiating heat.
Junko continued further below, where she soon found herself near where her alleged 'Escape Attempt' began.
Wandering around the area, Junko had but a single mission in mind.
'Prey..'
The single mission was to find food.
The heat where she was currently at was extreme, yet she found little problem with it.
She kept jumping up to grab the handles of tall doors that were just slightly out of reach, opening them with a simple tug afterwards.
Sometime later, about 8 doors and 7 rooms worth of searching, little Junko stumbled upon a pantry of dried food and ale kegs.
*Creak~* *CRACK*
'Prey already hunted?'
She thought with a disappointed tone after she had cracked and pried open a small crate filled with small packs of dried meats.
*Bang* *Break*
She tossed the lid of the crate to the side with one hand as she peered into the crate.
Reaching her hand in and attempting to get some of the meat, after some fishing around and standing on the tips of her toes, she caught a small package of dried meat.
Taking a step back and sitting down, little Junko bit into the pack of meat, not removing the plastic packaging or paper labels.
With an unhappy and slightly peeved frown, Junko managed to tear the package in half after some trouble.
'Prey taste bad...'
She thought as she gnawed slowly on the plastic, only to spit it out a moment later.
'Not prey.'
Throwing it aside, she took a piece of meat that was torn and fell to the ground when she ripped the packaging in half.
Eating the dried meat, although the quality was quite low, Junko enjoyed it more than the plastic.
'Prey!'
She thought with a light giggle and happy smile as she looked around the wooden floor for the rest.
Searching through the rest of the ripped packaging on the ground, she soon consumed all the edible parts of one pack of dried meat.
Standing up and reaching her hand back into the crate, she grabbed another.
...
"Is there anyone further below deck?"
Marcello asked as he walked to refill his lukewarm water with a fellow adventurer, making small talk along the way.
"There is that one small team that is looking around down there for any damages to the hull and storage."
"Do they got water down there even? I'd bet the heat further below wouldn't be that far off from hell."
"Isn't Hell supposed to be cold and freezing, Marc?"
"Ah, my bad Byorn. Different religion's hell is whats I meant."
Marcello apologized while refilling his water and drinking it all down in a few quick gulps. He then asked.
"Another thing though, lad. Have ya seen the little lass around? Last I've heard is that she was above deck but I doubt she'd stay in the heat for long now."
Byorn, with a refilled mug of water, now again emptied in a moment, answered without much thought.
"Ah yes, she passed by here some time ago, didn't she? I thought she was looking for you. Near the stairs to below deck is the last place I saw her."
Byorn, refilling his water yet again, turned his gaze to the stairs leading further below deck.
"I doubt she actually went down there though. Talk to you later Marc, this water here was actually supposed to be for the lady mage sitting over yonder and I can't keep her waiting forever."
With that, Byorn the adventurer walked off.
"Speak with ya soon, Byorn."
Marcello, with a troubled thought plaguing his mind, refilled his mug with water once again before walking off towards the group he had become acquainted with during his travel to the centre of the Great Dragon Continent.
"Hey, ya'll. Did any of ya happen to see the little lass pass by-"
Before he could finish his question, the hustle of the middle deck suddenly turned quiet like a graveyard in a holy city.
Shouting could be heard coming from below deck.
All the voices coming from below sounded confused, shocked, angered and surprised all wrapped together in one big amalgam of sound.
Everyone in the middle deck, in silence, looked towards the stairs that led further below.
The yelling was now louder, running could be heard.
The sound of running footsteps, fast yet heavy, neared the stairs quickly before suddenly stopping.
The next moment, everyone within viewing range of the stairs could see little Junko jumping to the top of the stairs, carrying above her head a small crate of dried meat and a keg of ale stacked on top of the crate.
As she landed, she lost her balance because of the keg of ale and tripped.
The crate fell to the floor and broke apart, dried meat packages now spread across the floor to the feet of the surrounding adventurers, mages and knights.
One of the knights crouched down and picked up one of the small packs.
"Dried meat?"
He asked no one in particular.
Some others followed suit and took a small pack of meat off the floor for themselves.
The keg of ale that had fallen, in a lucky twist, didn't break apart as it slowly rolled towards the wall of water kegs where everyone was going to get their mugs refilled once every few minutes.
A nearby adventurer, one named Byorn, was closest to the barrel.
"It's ale."
He muttered to the surroundings almost questioningly.
Little Junko, as she saw the crate of 'prey' broken and sprawled across the floor couldn't help but have a devastated look on her face.
She was still far from full and now the 'prey' she had found was all going to be eaten by the surrounding people.
That was the conclusion she had come to at least.
With a weird sensation in her eyes, she turned to look around and saw some faces from the group that had found her in the jungle after the 'incident'.
Without much thought in her little head, Junko ran towards Marcello and Elaryn.
Her very first tears threatening to leak out of her eyes, a hungry stomach and an unbearable 'itch' like thirst in her throat bothered her to no end.
As she ran towards the duo, Elaryn crouched down and caught her.
"Oof. Now, now. What's wrong?"
Little Junko sniffled as Elaryn wiped a tear from Junko's eye and patted her head.
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