God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 515: Carvings.

Cain closed his eyes...

In his mind, he tried to create a picture. Making a plan was one thing, but pushing things forward, on the right track, was another thing entirely. Some might even argue that they were two separate topics entirely.

'Right now, the ship is sailing south, where the City is supposed to be. Normally, at this speed, it should've taken less than an hour or so, but this cursed world just has to make things difficult.'

'We've been sailing for days on end now and there is still no sign of land. Coul we be on the wrong track? No, that's impossible... If there's one benefit of having this cursed ship, it's that it is the best at circumnavigation. Except there is a fundamental problem, we can't lose our way. I think...'

'That means the city is just that far ahead. But why... An expansion of land and sea shouldn't make the distance ratio so wide, right? Mathematically, it just doesn't make any sense.'

These days, Cain had been trying to figure out a lot of things. A day had passed since he had released Rollo from the brig, and he still had a lot on his plate. He had made little progress in figuring out spatial compression and decompression, so that was great!

Not only that, but numerous groups had been encountering stranger creatures in the waters, racking up their casualty counts.

Things weren't going smoothly at all.

Still, he should have been optimistic. But it got worse.

Rumors were starting to circulate on the ship. Rumors that Cain and the others had no idea where they were going, that they were lost at sea. These rumors had escalated to some quite unsavory things, and a certain group that sprouted from the people from the Western Island had begun preaching about a new religion founded on Yanagi, the Minor Light God.

They claimed that Cain and his followers were the devils that had captured them, and were leading them to their deaths. Their only way to survive, was to rely on their God and allow power to change hands.

Of course, a simple way to get rid of this problem would be to throw those involved in it overboard, but that couldn't happen. After all, the variables involved were numerous and delicate.

For one, doing that would bring about fear and distrust, something he wanted to avoid. If they suspected his to react such a way, it would be difficult for him to earn a good reputation amongst all these people.

If he wanted to do something meaningful in this doomed world, he could act rashly.

The other way to deal with the problem was to root out the masterminds and deal with them accordingly. However, he had so much on his plate. He couldn't deal with all that now. The others were also very busy.

This was why he had decided to free Rollo. Despite his hatred for him, he couldn't deny the hard truth.

Rollo had ability. He was also different from the other Crimson Warriors.

'If he steps out of line, I can always kill him. No loses there.' A dark thought flashed through his mind, but he shook it away.

He had given Rollo an important task...

Keep the rumors out of the people's mouths and divert their attention to something more productive. These people, due to their ineptitude, couldn't help out with hunting and other things. Because of the lax lives they had lived up till now, they refused to do much hard labor as well.

The only reason they were able to watch still, was because Suki, leading her own team, had refused to see them starve, and would periodically turn in her catches to make sure they were fed.

'Talk about a waste.' Cain had no qualms letting them all starve to death of they decided to be lazy.

'Speaking of which... That dude, erh... Luke, was it? Is he really dead? Could I have misjudged the situation?'

Cain had thought that Evangeline had kept Luke locked away somewhere. He didn't know how, but he had just had that biting suspicion.

However, even after a month, he had heard no news about Luke, nor anyone looking like him appearing in the ship. It was quite strange.

Whilst thinking about all these things, Cain's hands remained busy, carvings all sorts of runes into the metal slab in his hands.

With his understanding of runic language increasing, he had also learned more about the mystical arts and the language of runes tied to it.

Each element, Fire, water, earth, wind, life, light, space, as well as paraelementals, had their own sequence of invocation when it came to runes.

To call upon an element, one could either verbally invoke the names of these runes, or physically draw them out using either writing or hand signs.

However, elemental magic was just one form of magic. On reality, magic that didn't have elemental properties tied to them were often the most used, and also the most mysterious.

Take the strange magic {Eye of Uncertainty} for example. It involves using regular magic incantations and runes without having to invoke the elements.

These types of spells and runes were the basis of all spells, both elemental and non-elemental.

And because it was impossible to have an affinity for it, this means that to progress in ut, one had to truly understand magic and magic theory.

Cain sighed, 'In it's raw form, it isn't hard to understand. It's like figuring out water is formed from hydrogen and oxygen. The complicated part is understanding the boding energy between the atoms, their bond angle, the type of bond, the polarity of it, and all that. It's so confusing.'

Cain sighed. It was like chemistry class all over again...

However, it was also deeply intriguing and fascinating as well. For what seemed so stressful, he couldn't stop for one second, trying to figure out these mysteries.

'If I could just figure out a way to make these runes bond in the right way...'

It was like trying to control every minute part of a chemical reaction so it could produce the desired result. Hypothesis after hypothesis, turning into failure after failure. And all this without possessing a proper guide or model.

Reading a few books was definitely not going to be enough...

However, he could tell he was on the brink of discovering something. A breakthrough if you could call it that.

All he needed was a push in the right direction.

Suddenly, he felt something leaning against his back...

Cain frowned, 'How odd...'

He pushed lightly against it, not remembering leaving a pillow in the forge. He also didn't remember placing a pillow behind him.

Suddenly, a subtle yet obvious scent hit his nostrils. It was like smelling an aged whiskey. Sweet, yet with a kick behind it.

Proper hygiene could do wonders. Although they wouldn't stink very badly if they didn't wash up, that didn't mean they would smell nice. Bathing regularly Cain was very particular about.

However, even he didn't develop such a marvelous scent. His heart was immediately enveloped with a chill.

A pair of dainty, white arms wrapped around his neck, bringing him closer. Cain could feel the body heat coming from this person very intimately now.

'Fuck.'

From all the sensations he was taking in, he could tell who this was.

"Eva... Are you planning on making my death look natural? Death by heart attack?"

A warm trickle of air blew into his ears, causing him to go rock solid,

"It depends... Are you scared or excited?"

Evangeline's slightly raspy voice swam into his ears, causing him to feel a little dizzy.

'Absolutely terrifying.'

Cain tried hard to keep his composure,

"What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be with Hunter and Ignis?"

Evangeline chuckled, still standing behind Cain,

"The mission was concluded early. We have some news for you."

Whatever feeling of lust Cain was feeling immediately mellowed out,

"What news?" He asked seriously.

Evangeline chuckled again, her red eyes sparkling mischievously,

"Calm down a bit. I can tell you're stressed."

Cain tried arguing, "But this is important, right?"

Evangeline shook her head, "Maybe... But your health is even moreso. And I'm not talking about your physical health."

Cain fell silent. It was easy to ignore the degradation of one's mind because it was hard to notice, but once you know what to look for, it would be quite obvious.

Seeing Cain fall silent, Evangeline's smile became wider.

Rubbing her hands on Cain's shoulders, she asked,

"Just relax~"

Cain couldn't tell what her intentions were. She had been doing this for the entire month, since the beginning of their voyage. Every time she had a chance, she would come bug him out. At first, he had tried avoiding it by asking her to do a lot of things, but it had only made her bolder, unpredictable, and more audacious.

It was getting out of hand...

Cain sighed, still not pushing her away,

"How do you even get in here?"

"Hm? That's a secret..." Evangeline said, her eyes slightly narrowed as she enjoyed Cain's back. It wasn't very broad, but it was good enough.

Cain had felt awkward about these types of things at first, but had learned to just accept them at they were. If he stayed still, she wouldn't be inclined to do more than allowed.

After some time, she finally began talking,

"During our latest excursion, we found something interesting. Not only that, but the situation of things might just be more complicated that we thought."