"Captain!"
A tall crewman with the Chris Pirates' skull tattoo inked on his left arm came running, waving frantically.
Standing by the coastline, Aeridar turned his head, a blade of grass still dangling casually from his mouth.
"Cap... Captain, I found it! I found the house by the shore, the one that's only half a house!" The tall crewman bent over, panting hard as he supported himself on his knees.
"Yo~ Nice work," Aeridar grinned, clapping the man on the shoulder. Then he waved to the others. "Come on. Let's go check it out."
They had trekked a fair distance, at least a third of the way around Jaya Island, before Aeridar finally saw it: a house built precariously along the shoreline, only half complete. A slab of timber had been nailed up to cover where a wall should've been, and a few crooked decorations resembling castle turrets, clearly inspired by that infamous children's book character, the so-called great liar Noland, were scattered about.
"Cheapskate," Oliver muttered under his breath.
"Eh…" A bead of sweat rolled down Aeridar's forehead. That line sounded strangely familiar.
Tugging on Aeridar's arm, Millie asked with wide-eyed curiosity, "Captain, Captain! Is it like, he wanted a castle, but he couldn't afford one, so he just drew one instead?"
"Heh~ I bet he couldn't even afford a full house," Mina giggled, pointing at a man doing stretches by the front door. "Why else would he only have half?"
Arlan scratched at his nose, which had started to itch. "He's even got a chestnut stuck to his head… Real or fake, who knows."
The man in question, broad and well-built, with a defined physique, diamond-shaped face, a clump of blond hair atop his head with what looked like an actual chestnut embedded in it, stood at the door, working through his routine. Tattoos ran along his arms. Clearly no weakling.
When the man noticed the small group of seven or eight approaching, his brow furrowed. "Hey, hey! Who the hell are you people? What do you want?"
Aeridar didn't mind the hostility. He stepped forward with a smile. "You're Mont Blanc Cricket, right? A descendant of Noland the Liar?"
"You here to laugh at me too?" Cricket growled, seeing Aeridar's grin. He'd been mocked like that since childhood, it was always the same: smirks, scoffs, and scorn.
"I'm not that bored," Aeridar said, shaking his head. "I'm looking for a way to reach the Sky Island. And I'm hoping you'll help."
Knowing the man's backstory, Aeridar didn't take the attitude personally. For someone who'd been ridiculed his whole life to not turn spiteful or vengeful toward the world? That alone was impressive. Some rudeness? He could let that slide.
"Sky Island, huh?" Cricket narrowed his eyes, sizing Aeridar up. He struck a match and lit a cigarette, exhaling as if he'd just heard the funniest thing in the world. "Heh… You actually believe in that crap? That's rich."
"You don't?" Arlan shot back.
Cricket gave a bitter chuckle. "I don't know."
"But I do know someone who believed in Sky Island with everything he had." His laugh took on a twisted edge. "That someone… ended up becoming the most infamous liar in history. And now, every last one of his descendants walks with their heads bowed."
"You're talking about that old North Blue tale," Aeridar said. "The tale of Noland the Liar."
"Yeah. That's the one. He's... well, my grandfather's grandfather's grandfather's… Something. Honestly, the connection's so far back it's barely even blood anymore," Cricket muttered, turning his head to the side.
"I know. The Mont Blanc family was exiled, and your descendants have lived under that shame ever since," Aeridar said seriously. "But that's not my concern. I'm not here to judge."
Cricket looked at him for a long moment, then turned around. "Fine. Come inside."
Aeridar gave a satisfied smile and motioned for Millie, Mina, Arlan, and Oliver to follow him into the half-built house. The other three crewmates stayed outside to stand guard.
Inside, the house was modest, furnished, but sparsely. Most of the furniture was old and worn. Millie and Mina rocked on their heels, eyes darting around curiously.
As he rifled through a bookshelf, Cricket spoke without turning. "Even so, no one in our family ever hated Noland."
"Why not?" Millie and Mina asked in unison.
"Because Noland was the most honest man who ever lived," Cricket said firmly. "In that picture book, it says his final words were: 'I understand now. The city of gold… must've sunk to the bottom of the sea.' They even drew him all goofy and dopey."
"But the truth is, he died in tears, full of sorrow. Because right up to the very end, he believed that the island he brought the king to, that part of Jaya, was the Golden City he'd seen before. He just couldn't bring himself to believe it was all an illusion."
"He believed the gold had sunk due to tectonic shifts. But anyone who heard that thought he was just making excuses. In the end, he was executed in the public square, mocked as a fraud, and that title, 'Noland the Liar,' was carved into our name forever."
"So that's why you're here diving, to find the sunken gold and clear your family's name," Arlan said, pointing to a set of diving equipment stashed in the corner.
"I came here two years ago. Even just having some distant blood relation to him gets me cursed out by strangers like I'm diseased," Cricket said, pulling a thick, aged journal from the shelf. "I just want the truth."
He flipped to a marked page and handed it to Aeridar. "This is Noland's logbook. He even wrote about the Sky Island."
"A log entry from Sea Circle Calendar year 1120… That's four hundred years ago!" Aeridar's eyes widened as he took it. Arlan and Oliver leaned in to read over his shoulder. Sure enough, the journal mentioned the Sky Island, back then, it didn't even seem unusual to talk about such things.
Closing the logbook, Aeridar stepped up to Cricket. "Noland thought part of Jaya sank… and the gold with it. But with all the giant sea currents erupting here, what if, instead, it was blasted upward? What if the gold isn't below the sea, but above it, in the sky?"
Cricket flinched. He'd seen those massive currents again and again, currents strong enough to launch entire ships skyward. But half an island?
"…No way," he muttered, brows furrowing. But deep down, doubt was already creeping in.
He'd been diving for over two years and found nothing. Could it be? Had the Golden City really been hurled skyward, toward the legendary Sky Island?
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