Amity: The Peaceful

Chapter 17

Ade raised his brow when he felt a soft and small warm hand on top of his, "What?" he asked strictly, good thing his reflexes are under control, or he might brush away the kid's hand. And that can hurt the kid physically and emotionally.

Finn stared at the cabin's door before jumping off from the bed, he gripped Ade's hand before pulling the man forcefully who didn't even budge.

"Wait!" Ade stated after the second forceful pull of the boy, his body is still aching for pete's sake! "Fuck." he cussed silently after getting up, his lower back is aching, and his butt is burning.

He sighed after composing himself, he held the boy's hand and let the kid pull him outside, of course he was the one who pushed the heavy wooden door.

His eyelids automatically closed when his eyes came in contact with the sun's bright light. Ade has himself to adjust before opening his eyes. The happy crew members, calm sea and pretty shade of blue skies were the ones who welcomed his eyesight.

He watched the crew members doing their task, some are above adjusting the sail cloth, tying the mask, shouting at the others to hand them something, mopping the wooden floor and more. And all of them are surprisingly decent looking, very far from his expectations and catches before. Most pirates whom he encountered before are rubbish looking and old.

But still, he doesn't have any plans to interact with them unless he can use them.

"You're here, Finn."

The familiar voice of a woman made the two turn their heads towards her direction, Ade glared at the woman and simply composed himself if ever the woman attacked him.

Sayyida gave him a look before speaking in a rude tone, "Horace's looking for you." she stated before walking away.

Finn smiled after hearing the person's name, and so he dragged Adeodatus to the quarter's deck once again. Ade was hissing for the whole walk, especially when they're ascending, he was having a hard time stepping on the stairs because of the shackles. The chain's length isn't enough for every step, aside from that, he is being pulled as well so he needs to catch up with the kid's step.

His annoyed expression became deeper when he saw Horace together with some crew members who were eating their breakfast, "Are you planning to feed me together with your men?" he asked, interrupting Horace's conversation with the sailing master.

Most of the crew members lowered their eyes after meeting his, some faked their cough, trying to break down the tension that started to build up.

"All of you get down first." Horace ordered.

The crew members obliged and went down, the sailing master beside Horace gave him a bow before descending as well.

"Do you wanna eat at the cabin?"

"Yeah, but I'm too lazy to go back now, your kid pulled me up here."

Horace cleared his throat before tilting his head, he carefully watched the annoyed expression of the alluring emperor in front of him. "My kid? I don't remember having one."

"I mean, this." Ade answered before pointing at the clueless kid who's staring at the wheel.

"Finn... is not my kid, but I post as his guardian."

Adeodatus raised his brow, "So, you're recruiting youngsters to work for you? Really? Underage people."

"Underage people don't work on my ship, I never hired or let any, some are just... pushovers and stubborn so... besides do you even know how many underage teens work illegally in your empire? They're scattered all around every region."

Adeodatus lips twitched after sucking his breath, of course he is aware about the happenings inside his empire even the smallest details about his empire's people, it's just that... those kids are good at hiding, tricking the royal guards, and more. In addition to that, those kids are just going back to doing illegal things after his soldiers release them.

"Where are his parents anyway?" he asked, changing the topic since he doesn't want to be scolded by the man, especially by a criminal.

"Dead." Horace answered shortly after glancing at the boy.

"Ohh." Ade looked down and stared at Finn who was just standing beside him, he is just like me then... they took his parents from him at an early age, but he has a guardian beside him... exactly just like me... I just hope this kid won't experience too much suffering and burden in his life.