*Ulalalalalala*

*Huuuuuuuu*

Shouts, screams, laughter, and the sound of music continued to echo through the extremely festive carnival ship. 

"Hahaha! Now isn't this fantastic! You look older than me!" With slick grey hair neatly combed back and a slightly haggard beard, Jolly gulped from the blue gourd he usually kept around him. His speed of draining the contents of the gourd a little greater than his speed of drinking, causing the heavily scented alcohol to smear his mustache and beard. 

"Tch, I've seen many fuckers, but not one as loose as you. You're 60 and have a kid barely 13-year-old! The hell is wrong with you?" In front of him sat an extremely wrinkled woman. A long skirt covered her waist and legs but her torso was revealed. Unlike Jolly, the old woman let her white hair flow freely. On the log, beside her, was a wooden mask carved with the head of an eagle and golden mane flowing out of its edges.

"Just because you don't want to pop more children doesn't mean others can't," Jolly snorted, "And don't think you don't smell like young blood... shit, it's stinkier than a rotten fish. Quite the smelly one you found!" 

The woman pursed her lips before sighing lightly.

"Anyway... did you make up your mind about the Pirates? I heard that the Hen Reserve Community took the deal," the woman inquired with a sigh, "But to think that those chickens will have the audacity to pull other communities and confuse others... the markets of every Community in two months' time to the blockade is facing an unusual inflation."

"Hmm? That's the least of your trouble," Jolly smirked, "Many are stupid to try weak Body Cultivation Techniques... man, even when I went as far as to send letters to everyone to assure all of them. Tsk, tsk..."

"Oh? What did you write? Did you tell the truth to your community?" The woman inquired with a sharp expression.

"No, I wrote— My balls can defend you all so take refuge behind them without fear. Somehow... body cultivation manuals were sold at a greater pace," Jolly chuckled, handing the gourd to the old woman as she began drinking from inside the artifact.

"You deliberately sabotaged your own ship?"

"I just said the truth," Jolly shrugged without care, "If even after so many years they cannot trust me, whose fault is it?"

"Yours, you whore! Did you forget the massacre? All the slave traders were affected and every one of them migrated to other ships!" The woman growled.

"Eh, I needed the slaves but didn't have money. For the record, I did ask nicely," Jolly sighed, "Anyway, I didn't find Jin this time and only his kids occupied the shop. What's up with that?"

"He's off on an 'expedition.'" The old woman sneered.

Jolly's expression instantly soured, "He could have waited, right? It's been 3 years... we could have gone to 'the' expedition together."

"Why, your community ran out of young women for you to screw?"

"No... but nothing nails old age to the bones as deeply as the impending birth of a grandkid," Jolly sighed with a sullen expression.

"Well, gods have mercy on that poor soul," The woman raised her gourd and drank once again.

---

"That's right," Trilok heard a soft coo. His breathing was a bit heavier as a curvaceous figure hugged him from behind and kissed his ear softly, "Now take a deep breath."

Trilok breathed in the smoke of the herbs placed within the roll of fish skin while Kol looked into his eyes with an intense focus.

"Hold it in," the whisper guided softly, "Resist the urge."

'Much harder than you think!' Trilok grumbled but finally, he couldn't and ended up coughing out a small cloud of smoke.

"Sigh, you two are a bit hopeless," Kol blushed while Trilok moved away from the caring embrace with a scowl. Sitting next to Kol, he looked towards Nena. The woman who sold him the Weed Harvester.

"Sister Nena... it's just bitter," Kol whined with a terrible expression but her eyes remained slightly hazy and a flush touched her cheeks while she gazed at Nena's gorgeous physique. The woman actually wore a band of flowers over her head, but seeing the duo's expression, Nena herself couldn't help but sigh.

"Come on. You need to get into the spirit of the festival... I've got an idea. It's usually plan B but... it always gives enough courage," she shrugged.

"Wait, before that, don't you have any of your contacts here?" Trilok inquired with a frown, "Why aren't you with them?"

"What contacts?" Nena inquired.

"Boss meant your friends," Kol explained quickly, fearing that she'll have to smoke once again. By now, both Trilok and Kol were extremely repulsed by the feeling itself.

Nena's eyes glazed before she shook her head.

"I had a few growing up but... well, I don't really care about it now. Usually, I would just participate in the dance during the carnival but seeing you two stumbling about everywhere, I thought of helping you feel a little comfortable," Nena smiled.

"Dance! I almost forgot! Boss, on your feet. Let's dance!" Kol stood up from the wooden log instantly while Trilok's face darkened.

"Not going," he snorted, making Kol look towards the number of men and women laughing and dancing erratically to the music of drums with a longing expression.

"Come with me, if he wants to join, he'll come running later," Nena smiled and stood up before taking Kol by her hand and leading her near the bonfire(fly). On the other hand, Trilok let out a deep breath and tried to recover from his slightly confused state. He glanced around the carnival. It is only after experiencing the mysterious aspects of life that one can realize is he is fated for it or not. To Trilok, Carnival represented mystery, but now, he didn't want any part in it. 

The smoke made him cough, the powder made him relive through his greatest 'hits.' Not to mention the people.

To most, this was simply a place to hook-up. 

He saw Roa with his possible wife, Nelly, hand-in-hand swaying to the music. She had shown a little distance at first but right now, Nelly smiled while embracing Roa. 

On the other hand, Noland had effectively creeped everyone out, not with his tolerance, but the bullshit he spouted under the influence. 

And—

A towering figure suddenly covered Trilok's gaze as he slowly looked up.

With none of his eyes unpatched and a traditional twirling mustache, Jenc looked down on Trilok with an incomprehensible look on his face.

"We need to talk," Jenc grunted.

---

"Ooh!" Kol yelped and tried to perform the same moves as Nena the moment she reached the crowd of dancers. Nena had a wide smile on her face as she raised her hands overhead and twisted her buttocks in a riveting manner as she winked towards Kol.

"Open up a little. Let the rhythm control you!" 

As she said so, Nena suddenly turned around and raised her knee which was planted into the crotch of a young man close to her.

"Don't touch me again, boy," Nena smirked as the Jorl, a rather popular fisher from Kol's generation ended up collapsing to his knees with a red face while he held his crotch.

"I'm... sorry!" he gasped.

"Sister... that was amazing!" Kol smiled widely. She had indeed been a little worried about the intoxication emboldening the men around her to try stupid things but Nena's actions were so effective that it made Kol realize something.

"Not my first time," Nena held Kol's hand and pulled her closer, "You can't let others easily enjoy the goods you have to offer, right?" Nena snickered while she began guiding Kol to dance a little more naturally. 

"You shouldn't have worn such tight clothing," Nena commented, "It restricts a person to move more easily."

"Ah... but I wanted to look good," Kol admitted with an embarrassed smile.

"What does it have anything to do with clothes?" Nena shrugged.

"But..." Kol eyed Nena's body.

'If I had a body as slim and curvaceous as yours, wouldn't I say the same thing?'

"Silly," Nena giggled, pecking Kol's cheek, "It's not the figure that lasts, but the attitude!"

Kol blinked. She felt her thoughts surging not because of the kiss. Such playful touch between women was something common even in the Silent Community but it was Nena's words that made Kol flinch. It wasn't the first time she had heard the sentence and the shadow of a large person appeared in Kol's eyes. Her eyes curved due to a wide smile as she kissed Nena in return.

"I'll try to be like that."

Nena smiled without care. This interaction was extremely common for her. In fact, there was no way to tell if the two could meet each other once again so they began to happily chat while dancing.

After a couple of moments, Kol glanced towards Trilok to see what her boss was upto and her eyes twitched.

'What's he doing with the Boss?' She exclaimed at the sight of Trilok and Jenc sitting on the same log with a peaceful expression.

---

"We need to talk."

Trilok looked up to match the towering Jenc's gaze. He was slightly surprised by Jenc, of all people, reaching out to him, in such a hearty occasion no less. But not letting their past interaction affect the beginning of another one, Trilok nodded calmly and offered, "Why don't you take a seat? Let's talk while watching the dance."

Jenc thought for a moment before nodding. Trilok hadn't noticed at first, but Jenc felt a little wobbly. He slowly sat down and looked at the group of dancing men and women with a dazed expression.

"What happened to your eyepatch?" Trilok inquired seeing that Jenc hadn't spoken a word since he sat down and his eyes were clearly unfocused.

"My eye patch?" Jenc blinked before touching his left eye and seeing that his patch was misplaced, the man groaned loudly. He didn't look imposing, cold, or calculating. Instead, he expressed himself like a child would and he frowned deeply.

"It's lost," the man stated the obvious but Trilok wasn't in the mood to entertain the man who punched his younger brother. Even his current restraint emerged not from the lack of strength but abundant reason. He will make the man pay with or without strength even if—

"I'm sorry."

— he apologizes and begs for his life...

'What?!' Trilok's thoughts came to a stunning end.

Jenc sniffed a little, rubbed his nose off of a layer of reddish powder, and sighed, "Trilok... I am truly sorry for hitting your younger brother. He said things out of inexperience and I took my anger out on him unfairly. And you. It was wrong of me and I should have never punched a child.

Please, forgive me."

Jenc stated with a bitter expression. He still continued to gaze at the dance but somehow, Trilok felt that Jenc's mind wasn't the least bit into the dance or the beautiful women. Instead, the man held his hands together and silently waited for Trilok's answer while his head would sway every now and then.

'He is clearly under the influence,' Trilok frowned.

Would it be right of him to accept the apology? In fact, the man was simply sorry to hit Vayu, not himself. And that, too, while he was intoxicated. 

This revealed two things to Trilok, that substance of mental influence was quite dangerous. After all, there was no way for Trilok to affirm if what Jenc said is something he truly meant. What if Trilok accepts the act of burying the hatchet but the next day, Jenc forgets all of it and continue to treat Trilok as an antagonizing force?

'Not to mention, who's to say that Vayu wouldn't find troubles with the man?'

If Trilok tried hard, he could snuff out the feeling of revenge in Vayu's heart to get back at Jenc.

But did he really wish to remove such an amazing form of motivation out of his brother? 

Just one punch had caused Vayu to change in his mannerism and thoughts. He became more focused, more thoughtful, and stronger.

"I see..." Trilok stated plainly. In the end, he did not accept the simple act of apology derived from drugs.

Still, Jenc silently stood up and left Trilok alone on the small piece of the log.

'I need to use my money, not to purchase resources, but skills.'

Trilok finally formed the thought.

He hadn't squandered his resources to depict an act of desperation. In the end, it didn't feel right. But now, he was quite ready to divert some of his time to combat practices at a level greater than the basic techniques taught in combat classes by Instructor Vitski.

---

"You're worried about him?" Nena inquired with a sly smirk.

"Well, yeah, he—" Before Kol admitted she worked for Trilok, she remembered that Nena still thinks of her as an alchemist in partnership with him, "Ehm, he's a valued partner."

"Ohhhh?" Nena gave a teasing smile and cooed, "Then how about you ditch me and comfort him? Look, the big man must have said something to upset him," Nena pointed out, "In fact... just this once, I can give you a tip to quickly comfort him. This method is efficient, elegant, and effective."

Kol's brows twitched as the beautiful ring on Nena's middle finger flashed and she held a small red pill in her hands.

"This is Crimson Heaven in the form of a pill. Here take these two," She produced two other pills and placed them in Kol's hands. Meanwhile, Nena bit the third pill in her hand and quickly looked around.

"Boy, come here!" The woman pulled the boy who she kicked in the nuts and pressed her lips against his. The boy's and Kol's eyes widened instantly but soon, the youth had his eyes rolled up slightly while his shoulders grew relaxed.

"Fuhaaa!" pulling back, Nena licked her lips, "You got that? Bite the pill to disperse the effects and quickly share it with your partner."

Nena smirked before pushing Kol out, "Now go. Make good use of my pills! Fly, little chick!"