Chapter 25: Mutation

“Sister Verona~ I came to call you sisters for dinner. Eh? What is sister doing?”

My head snapped back, and my feet pushed off the ground.
Sitting on the chair, my body instantly lost balance and fell backward.

‘No, no, no! I’m going to fall, I’m going to fall!’

The next moment, the chair’s fall was halted.
Elvira steadied the chair, and then pushed the two front legs that were off the ground back down.

The chair was stable, but I wasn’t!

First, the back of my head hit the chair’s backrest, and then my head shot forward and collided fiercely with Elvira’s forehead.

With two “bonks,” my head felt dizzy.
I grimaced in pain, and tears even streamed down my face!

“Ugh, ugh, ugh~ it hurts, it hurts so much…”

I covered the bumped spots on the front and back of my head with both hands, my voice almost like the whimpering of a small animal.

It’s swollen, my forehead is swollen!
Elvira’s scales are really hard.
The back of my head is fine, but the fiery pain on my forehead is quite something.

“Are you okay?” Elvira asked with concern, then raised her hand to rub the large bump on my forehead.

“I’m fine… I’m very good…” I squeezed out a few words from my throat, quickly got up, and walked out of the room as if fleeing from a giant beast, pulling Little Nia with me.

It’s for no other reason than that I’m hungry.
When you’re hungry, you have to eat.
From my hasty departure, you can tell that I was really hungry.

Elvira’s concern about the black dragon legend far exceeded my imagination.
It seems that it won’t be easy to solve this in a short time, so I’ll just have to guide her slowly.

Lost in thought as I walked through the ship’s cabin, holding Little Nia’s hand with one hand and my forehead with the other, my strange and comical actions attracted a lot of attention.

Nadiesse has quite a few crew members.
How did I not notice them before?

These crew members have clear divisions of labor.
Races like the gnomes are the grassroots of the entire fleet, responsible for various miscellaneous tasks.
External negotiations and planning are probably handled by Nadiesse or the rabbit-eared young man, Peters.

Of course, it’s not to say that besides Nadiesse and her group, there are only gnomes.
There are quite a few other races with beast ears or horns, and you can’t tell their jobs just by looking at them.

As for the others…

I glanced at a conspicuous table in the corner.
Three people were sitting around it, and they were the ones I was more familiar with: Peters, the burly bear-man, and the gnome leader.
They were holding some kind of cards in their hands, looking like they were playing a poker game.

But the comical thing was that the normal-sized cards were no bigger than a fingernail to the bear-man.
And the chair under him was already deformed from the pressure, as if it would fall apart at any moment.

This chair is of really good quality.

I think the bear-man on the ship is the security force, and he probably also handles some physical labor.

Strong physique, flexible mind, and agile movements—these are the advantages I’ve currently found in the other races of this world.
So the question is.

Compared to humans, other races clearly have better racial talents.
So why do I always get the feeling that other races are the ones being oppressed?

Even with people like the Grand Inquisitors in the Church of Mancius, they shouldn’t be able to completely suppress the other races.
The reason is simple: the number of Grand Inquisitors is too small, only six, not enough to affect an entire race.

And I don’t think the Grand Inquisitors are that powerful either.

There must be another reason…

“Oi! Verona, what are you thinking about?”

Someone patted my shoulder from behind.
That person clearly didn’t hold back.
The force was so great that I stumbled forward two steps.
When I looked back, wasn’t it Nadiesse?
On this ship, she’s the only one who would treat me like this.

“Nadiesse! That hurt!”

“Did it? I didn’t use any force. And if it hurts, why are you holding your head?”

“Because I want to!” I glared at her and said, word by word.

“Fine, fine, it’s none of my business. Let’s go, find a seat, and get ready for dinner.”

I looked at Nadiesse with a resentful expression, but she ignored it and walked straight to the dining area.
And as luck would have it, the table she chose was next to Peters and the other two.

All three of them were acquaintances, so I wasn’t being coy.
I led Little Nia over and sat down as well.

“I don’t know if this is your first time on a ship, Verona. I hope you like the food on—pfft!”
Nadiesse burst out laughing before she could finish her sentence.
“What happened to your head? It’s so red and swollen, like a pachycephalosaurus in heat. It’s too funny.”

Although I don’t know what that pachycephalosaurus thing is, from the way Nadiesse is acting, it’s probably not a good comparison.

I looked at Nadiesse with a half-smile, slowly raised my clenched right fist, and then held a small knife to my right wrist.
I said amiably, “If you don’t want to get whipped, you’d better shut up~”

“Don’t! Don’t you dare splash blood on my ship, that’s bad luck.
I was wrong, okay? By the way, where’s the other one?”

Seeing Nadiesse admit her mistake and change the subject, I also put away my threatening posture.
I looked at the ceiling and replied, “Her? I’ll just bring her some later.”

With the way Elvira was acting just now, would she really come out and eat in front of everyone?
That would be no different from seeing a ghost.

“Alright, since you said so.”

After that, we didn’t talk anymore and just quietly waited for dinner to arrive.

I passed the time by interacting with Little Nia in my arms, rubbing her head and stroking her small hands.
The little one squinted her eyes in enjoyment, looking excessively cute.

But you can’t just shear one sheep.

Fortunately, I looked at the three people playing cards at the next table and immediately became interested.
When the rabbit-eared young man, Peters, saw me looking over, he smiled in response.

“Miss Verona, are you also interested in Tarn cards?”

“Tarn cards? How do you play?”

“It’s actually very simple, but most of the people who play are rough guys like us.
It’s normal for a refined lady like Miss Verona not to know.”

“Refined? Me? Really?” I pointed to myself with my index finger and asked.

“Of course. Just by looking at you, I can tell you must have an extraordinary background.
I think you’re similar to the boss in some ways, but… more distant?
Sorry, please forgive me for only being able to think of this word.”

Did the party that time leave them with the impression that I’m not approachable?
No wonder.
Making a long face in a happy atmosphere is like a chicken standing among a flock of cranes.

Actually, in just a few days, Nadiesse and the others have left a good impression on me.
That’s why I accepted their invitation and came to the ship with Elvira.

Thinking of this, Nadiesse across the table also started to tease:
“Maybe we were too enthusiastic at that time and it was a bit much for Verona?
The greedy witch also has an unknown side.”

I shrugged and replied noncommittally.

“Give me a break.”

“Miss Verona, I can’t say for sure about other things, but at least those who can follow the boss are all honest and decent people,” Peters took over the conversation and continued.
“They may look a bit fierce, but without exception, they all have kind hearts.
We are a big family on this ship.
There may be quarrels, but there is also tolerance.”

“We are all out here struggling to make a living, and it’s not easy for any of us.
But that’s life. It’s never smooth sailing, and we can all understand each other.
So, Miss Verona, on this ship of other races, you can relax a bit.”

“Okay, I will,” I smiled and nodded in agreement.

I turned to look at Nadiesse.
She had a relaxed expression on her face, like a traveler full of longing for the future and the distance.

But what was strange was…

Nadiesse’s brow slowly furrowed, and her ears twitched as if listening to some sound.
The next moment, her expression suddenly changed to one of extreme terror.
She gritted her teeth and shouted.

“Everyone, get down!!”