Chapter 96: Happiness Arrives

Old Pa Pompey was an old-timer of Dornick Port. He didn’t know how many generations back his ancestors had started living in Dun Er Ke, but his family had witnessed all the historical events as Dun Er Ke transformed from a tiny fishing village where few birds flew into the Empire’s third largest Port, and the sole ice-free Port in the Empire’s north.

When he was young, Old Pa Pompey had also been rowdy and aggressive. He worked as a dock porter for two years. Then, because he was good with his fists, he was drawn into a small, violent gang among the dockworkers. Following the near-inevitable path for hot-tempered young men in Dun Er Ke, Pompey, well-skilled in swimming, became a minor pirate.

He drifted at sea for several years following an old captain, living wonderful days where he ate and drank his fill and found a different girl every night amidst wind and waves. Like other quarrelsome locals, Old Pa Pompey met a girl he truly loved. So, the pirate Pompey vanished. Dun Er Ke gained a Pompey Uncle who ran a small tavern. As years passed, Uncle Pompey became Old Pa Pompey.

Old Pa Pompey, who once preferred speaking with his fists and daggers, now had three sons who were even more fond of stirring up trouble than he had been. It was clear his little tavern couldn’t be split three ways for his unruly sons to inherit separately. That tavern could support one family, but not three.

Old Pa Pompey absolutely didn’t want two of his three sons to tread his old path, living a hard, rootless life on the sea or risking death fighting in some waters only to be tossed into the sea like garbage for fish to eat.

Therefore, Old Pa Pompey took out all his savings. This included all the profits he’d earned from nearly ten years on the sea, plus every coin his little tavern had brought in over decades. The total was ten thousand gold and shining Gold Coins. He gambled his entire life savings by investing it all into the Trident Whaling Company and the Whaling Ship “Sea Windmill,” which was still under construction.

Having gloriously become a minor shareholder in the whaling company, Old Pa Pompey waited nervously for two years. Finally, the Sea Windmill was completed and launched. If it scored a successful hunt during this year’s whaling season, even one good haul would let all the shareholders recoup their investment. And all future profits would be pure gold in the shareholders’ pockets.

Old Pa Pompey’s plan was simple and honest: break even in the first year, then pocket profits equal to his total investment every year after that. After paying the Empire’s taxes, in a decade he would command a near fortune of one hundred thousand Gold Coins. That money was enough to secure a nice plot of land in Dun Er Ke and open a reasonably sized inn.

A small tavern couldn’t sustain three sons and their future families. But a small tavern plus a decent inn would more than comfortably support five sons and all their kin. Old Pa Pompey wanted his sons to stay on the straight and narrow, avoiding the reckless path he took in his own youth.

Early one morning, hearing rumours at the Port that the Sea Windmill was docking, Old Pa Pompey rushed down. He was shocked. Why was the Sea Windmill returning today? According to the whaling plan, it shouldn’t be back for at least another seven days.

Could it have been incredibly lucky, stumbling upon a big catch right after leaving port?

Or was the luck terribly bad, encountering some kind of disaster instead?

Filled with anxious worry, Old Pa Pompey waited silently among the crowd. When the Sea Windmill finally docked, his first sight was the massive hole torn into the great ship’s stern. It looked cleaved by some external force, with the surrounding steel plates cracked and melted.

Darkness swam before Old Pa Pompey’s eyes. Had the ship met with disaster?

He seemed to see his ten thousand Gold Coins sprouting ten thousand pairs of adorable little wings, fluttering away from him. He seemed to see his three sons, wielding battle-axes and cleavers, attacking merchant ships at sea only to be riddled like pincushions by crossbow bolts from the escort mercenaries.

Though he’d never actually seen the strange creature called a hedgehog, it didn’t stop his imagination: his three sons stacked together, bristling with arrows embedded everywhere – surely the perfect picture of what a hedgehog must look like.

A sweet taste rose in his throat as a surge of blood gathered there, ready to be vomited.

Right then, Old Pa Pompey saw Blackbeard. He saw this hugely important figure in Dun Er Ke. He also saw Lin Qi embrace Blackbeard warmly and heard Lin Qi’s casual remark: he and Enzo had, together, taken down one quarry.

Old Pa Pompey’s heart clenched. One quarry? If it was a Frenzied Unicorn Whale, things weren’t too far beyond saving. This year he might still recoup some costs. Even with the Sea Windmill’s repair bill, he’d still have some coins left to take back to his little tavern.

But, like all anxious minor shareholders, Pompey felt an irritation towards Lin Qi. Just one quarry, and you bring the Sea Windmill back? Just one quarry, and you caused this much damage to the ship? Repairs for such a colossus were costly; a hole roughly two meters wide would certainly take tens of thousands of Gold Coins to fix.

At that very moment, the jubilant minor shareholder representatives rushed out. They stood on the deck, holding aloft a long, gleaming Unicorn Whale King’s tusk! Gold, covered in spirals, over four meters long, and thick as a man’s waist at the base!

The unique colour, the distinctive spiral patterns, the incredible length far exceeding any ordinary Frenzied Unicorn Whale’s tusk – all announced to everyone on the dock that the esteemed Young Masters, Lin Qi and Enzo, had hunted a Unicorn Whale King!

A Unicorn Whale King worth ten, or even twenty times a normal Frenzied Unicorn Whale!

Old Pa Pompey’s heart hammered violently. Hot blood rushed through his veins, flooding his brain, surging through every part of his body. He hugged everyone around him, babbling wildly, his arms waving forcefully.

He seemed to see a brand-new inn standing ready. He saw his three sons’ strong, beautiful wives. He saw grandchildren running and crawling everywhere. Happiness arrived so fast, so abruptly. Tears streamed down Old Pa Pompey’s cheeks as he laughed uproariously at the sky. “Young Master Lin Qi, Young Master Enzo, they are truly…”

Struggling for words, he hesitated. Then, suddenly, he roared: “Young Master Lin Qi! Young Master Enzo! You are real men among men!”

The docks erupted in laughter from the aristocrats and gentry. They nodded their approval; the praise was perfect.

Lin Qi and Enzo gave modest, repeated bows to the frenzied crowd all around. Everyone was tightly wrapped in an atmosphere of pure joy.