The Dusk of Dawn

Chapter Seven- The Loser g**g (2)

On the deck, stalls and arguing people were scattered all over the place. Hundreds of aromas mixed together, even the strong, sharp scent of the ocean beneath seemed faint now. Fluffy looked around, Jackson and Driya were busy selling the giant crab (which successfully attracted a lot of customers). He walked over and watched them auction it.

“I’ll give three hundred silvers!” A man cried from the crowd.

“Yes! Sure! Tra—” Jackson began. But Driya stomped on his foot.

“Bendan! Wait for higher prices first!” She snarled, the man backed off at the sight of her, but it was too late as she called after him. “And you duo guan xian shi ren! This crab is worth at least a thousand!”

The crowd gasped and gathered closer, pocking and observing the dark black crab (which, Fluffy realized, was turning pink slightly at the edges).

“Is it really?” He asked, whispering at Driya.

“No,” She grinned. “But we get more this way.”

Just as she predicted, prices soon skyrocketed to two thousand one hundred silvers. Just as the crowd was hesitating with whether to add more price, a masked figure walked out and pointed at the crab.

“This is a chameleon crab!” She exclaimed. “It's worth at least five thousand!”

With the person provoking the crowd and saying hardly understandable, complicated biology vocabulary, the price again shot to seven thousand and forty-nine.

Fluffy did not need to look to determine that the masked person was Kitty. Apparently, Kitty and Driya had planned this beforehand, dragging the price of a crab that was supposed to be worth six hundred to seven thousand.

So later the crab was won by a wealthy but idiotic-looking teenager. They parted the money between themselves; Driya took two thousand five hundred, and Kitty collected two thousand. Kitty then did a fast division problem and Fluffy and Jackson both received one thousand two hundred and seventy-four point five Roras (One Rora was equivalent to ten Aros).

Kitty instantly set off to look at a stall where an old woman was selling small pet fish in plastic cups. Driya went to a stall where they sold new and all sorts of arrowheads, of different materials— especially carbon fiber,  flint, chert, obsidian, jasper, and quartzite ones, which were the best type. Jackson went to buy new knives, and later Driya saw Jackson in her peripheral vision and went to buy knives too. 

Fluffy bought a new cutting board and basic ingredients. After stuffing a few cabbages, lettuce, a bag of tomatoes, onions, and carrots into his sack, he still had seven hundred and thirty Roras left in his pocket.

He decided to save them for further needs. He walked off to the most unnoticed corner on the deck, which turned out to be an old man selling newspapers.

“Hello,” He began, arriving at the stall. The old man stared.

But then the front page of the newspaper he sold soon caught his eyes.

A large picture of Kitty with a metal band on her left arm, Driya shooting arrows at someone, and Jackson sending a guard flying across the jungle, was printed on the front.

He gulped and dropped three Aros onto the table of the stall and took away the newspaper with shaking hands.

He ran across the deck, keeping the paper folded, and found Kitty and Driya discussing an article beside a bookstall.

“Driya!” He yelled, they both looked around in confusion as they saw him.

“Yeah...?” Driya answered uncertainly as he ran closer. He panted to a halt and showed them the paper. Both of them gazed at it, eyes wide.

Soon Kitty returned with Jackson. They packed the things they bought and ran back to their boat, telling the guards to let them down.   

As soon as they hit the surface, Kitty hopped into the sea and pushed the boat away faster than ever before. She gradually came to a stop once they were a safe distance from the Titanius and climbed back up.

“I can’t believe it!” She exclaimed, Jackson nodded fervently. Driya bit her lips and stared down at the paper.

“And I can’t believe no one has come to get us yet!” She agreed. “It’s lucky that the bendan had made his stall away from an eye-catching place.”

“Imagine how we were still selling the crab just then!” Jackson yelled. “How dangerous would that be if someone recognized us?”

Fluffy sighed and spread the paper across the boat’s sun-beat deck, they gathered around to read it once more clearly.

The Loser Gang

Recently our reporters had confirmed the escape of three dangerous prisoners in the Flow Jungle Prison. All three with dangerous crimes of violence and one with murder. We implore all who read this article to be extremely vigilant and watch out for these three criminals. They escaped the Flow Jungle at 3:04 pm, heading for the North seas. They were reportedly seen at Kasona island town three days later at 9:47 am and have disappeared ever since.

They were given the name ‘Loser g**g’ taken as evidence that they are the most unwelcome and disobedient of the regions they came from.

As the bounties were given beneath, the criminal Driya Queen has committed the murder of four at the Flow Jungle. Queen Kumira is going to court for this case next week at noon (see page 19). All criminals should be approached with caution.

And beneath were three bounty papers clipped to the newspaper. The first one was a large painting of Driya. She was painted to look extremely megalomaniac-like and held a blood-stained knife.

“Wow. Driya is actually worth ten thousand Roras,” Kitty said, taking a closer look. “Oh! And it says only alive. I wonder why.”

“Yeah,” Jackson agreed, looking at his painting, in which he looked extra fat and heavy, punching a person dead. The painter somehow left out his eyes. “I'm only worth five thousand. And it’s dead or alive. How offensive? How come I’m cheaper than a crab?”

“I'm worth eight thousand,” Kitty yawned, looking down at hers. Her painting was giving a small wicked smile and her hair covered half of her face, her iron band stained with blood. “Hmm. It’s dead or alive, too. Oh! And they said it’s ‘Kitty the Thief’.”

“They called me ‘Driya the Sniper’,” Driya said, squinting at the bounty. “See— ‘Watch out for any teenage female who carries a long black bow and a quiver of arrows.’ Bendans. That’s not a sniper, that’s an archer! Humph!” She huffed. “And maybe they want me alive because… I killed? And they want to sentence me? And Kitty has got powers which is why she’s probably worth more— sorry Jackson.” She suggested apologetically. He glared.

“So… Are we, uh, criminals now?” Fluffy asked timidly. How could this happen? How could we be on bounty?? And two of them are DEAD OR ALIVE!!! There’s going to be so many people hunting us now!

“Us, not you,” Jackson said, flipping the newspaper. “They left you out of this.”

“But how are you still supposed to be who you want now?” He turned to Driya. “Especially you! You can’t be the Queen if you’re on bounty!”

“Not exactly,” Driya shrugged. “I’m pretty sure Jeremy has a bounty too though, no?” She looked up at Jackson for confirmation.

“Yeah,” He agreed, reading an article. “He’s got a bounty of forty two billion Roras.”

“What?” Kitty frowned. “And no one came for his head?”

“Too scared,” Jackson replied. “Many did, but they never returned. Or returned so gruesomely that I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Hmmm.” Kitty bit her lips and subsided.

There was a moment of silence. Driya and Kitty still studied their bounties and Jackson read the newspaper. But suddenly, his hands froze and he looked up.

“What?” Fluffy asked. Could there be something worse than how it is now?

“Nothing,” he said. “It’s just… Driya?”

She looked up. Fluffy had a strong feeling, it was definitely something.

“Are you… The Princess of Luana?”

*

Kitty looked up slowly. The waves pattering against the hull of the boat suddenly seemed so slow and the air was stiff with the scent of guilt and awkwardness.

Fluffy’s mouth was half-open. I guessed that all the time! But wait— Queen is not the royal surname of Luana! It’s the Kumira family!

“Haha, uh, no!” She said, dropping her bounty and rubbing her head. “What are you talking about? How could that be possible? I’m not.”

“But it says right here, on the court,” He looked down. “Queen Kumira said ‘I am utterly sorry on behalf of my subject— and daughter— Driya Queen. Her identity as the Princess of Luana should be more clear, that I insist she should not be travelling with low-born rubbishes.’”

There was a long, dragging silence.

“That’s probably why her bounty is ‘Only Alive’,” Kitty said faintly. “Queen Kumira wouldn’t want her daughter dead.”

“But that’s… Then is your surname really Queen?” Fluffy asked, turning around.

“Apparently it is,” Jackson said. “The Queen admitted it.”

“Only under one circumstance…” Kitty muttered. “How interesting…”

“What circumstance?” Fluffy asked.

“See— in Luana, the child normally takes their mother’s surname,” She began. “Especially for royals. But, If the father is also a royal from another place, the child takes the father’s surname. Not mother’s.”

Fluffy stared.

“That means…” She glanced at Driya. “She is the princess of two Kingdoms!” She gaped at her, wide-eyed. “But she grew up in Luana, so she uses that identity.”

Everyone turned to look at Driya instead.

“What— I really don’t know about my dad, alright?” She protested. “Mom never mentioned him, and I never asked!”

“Sounds like another lie!” Jackson exclaimed.

“It’s not, you bendan!” Driya snapped. “I know nothing about him!”

“I think there’s nothing to be so worked up about,” Kitty said, covering her face with her bounty. “I don’t mind as long as Driya doesn't think we’re a bunch of ‘low born rubbishes’.”

“Of course not,” She groaned. “Apparently I enjoy travelling with you people as long as particular ones of you are not annoying!” She turned her gaze upon Jackson sternly.

“That’s not the point!” Jackson yelled. “The point is; what other secrets might she be hiding? Or did she come with us for special reasons?”

“I don’t blame her for that,” Fluffy said, remembering when they first met. “We offered her on board.” 

“Oh. That,” Jackson said, subsiding. “Hmm, true.”

After a while, Kitty sat up. “Just one more thing. Fluffy, are you really comfortable travelling with us?” She asked.

Fluffy rose his brows as Driya and Jackson turned to look at him.

“Uh— well— yes, sure?” He staggered.

“We are really going to need to go into hiding from others,” Kitty said, rubbing her chin. “It’s not good enough if we still hang around like this. But you don’t have to, you can still live a normal life.”

“Or,” Driya looked around. “We could get rid of everyone who dares touch us!”

“I can see why she’s the one with the highest price now,” Jackson said grumpily, looking at the papers.

“I’m happier this way,” Fluffy grinned.

But suddenly, Jackson stared.

“What is it now?” Driya asked.

“T- they say,” He shivered, his voice trembling as he read on; “The confirmed death of Zac Ling. Funeral ceremony the day after tomorrow in Town Nile.” 

Everyone was silent.