Crimson Servant

They became friends.

Storm and Francis moved around several places for their own reasons. After leaving the deck of the Norbrion, they behaved like indifferent strangers. They both know that publicizing this rare friendship may bring trouble to the other party, which neither of them wants to see.

Only on the journey on the sea, only in the captain's cabin swaying in the wind and rain, will the two people open their hearts and share everything about themselves with each other.

For the dark elf who had just arrived on the surface, that familiar room had become an important part of his life. The wooden cupboards filled with empty bottles, the faded nautical charts, his own seat and his own lingua franca with a southern accent, all took on new meaning.

Together they studied the hallucinations that troubled the dark elves, and discussed everything to find answers.

"That's a prophecy, Francis. What you're seeing is a picture of the future." Storm stood up from his seat excitedly, delighted by his friend's powerful ability to predict the future.

"The unchangeable future." Francis closed the window, took out a new wine glass from the cupboard, and poured a little wine that covered the bottom of the glass for Storm. The captain did not know how to drink, which was something he tried to hide, and his cupboards were filled with gifts from his crew, whose kindness he never refused. Storm kept trying to change that, but he never could change his physique.

"Storm, we're going to have a storm in two hours."

The captain's wine glass had just reached his lips, and when he heard the dark elf's words, he put down the glass.

"Well, I will tell my sailors. If this is unavoidable, let the storm come harder."

Storm left the captain's cabin to take command of his crew.

Francis looked at the wine glass on the table, and the wine glass in his hand touched the wine glass on the table gently.

"Cheers." The dark elf said softly.

Francis' foresight made the crew of the Norbrion fully prepared for the storm. They easily survived the storm with lower casualties than before, making everyone cheer for Storm.

A cheerful Storm returned to the captain's cabin.

"You saved them, Francis."

The dark elf smiled back.

"No, you were the one who guided them through this. You could do it even without me, Storm."

"Okay." The captain shrugged and drank the wine glass on the table. "Just think of it as the result of our joint efforts. Are you really not considering joining us? Your eyes are enough to make you the best in the world. Navigator. Together, my sea, I can’t believe what the future holds, can you see it?”

Francis shook his head, sorry for disturbing his friend's ambitions.

“What a good navigator should do is predict the storm and avoid it, not act like a judge declaring that bad results are destined to come.”

The Dark Elf's rejection made Storm feel depressed, and he pretended not to care about his friend's rejection.

"Well, it seems that I have to find another navigator who is as good as you." The captain seemed to have thought of something, opened his pendant, and showed it to the dark elf in a showy way.

"My daughter Christine is still very young, but perhaps due to my influence, she has shown some interest in sailing. Hum, Frances, Christine will definitely do better than you in the future. Wait until I go back this time , I told her to target Uncle Francis, the prophet of the future. Speaking of which, she hasn’t met you yet.”

"You haven't been to my hometown yet. That's a bit inappropriate for a friend of Storm Norbrion."

Storm was so enthusiastic about introducing the Dark Elf to his family, and assured them that he had whispered his name in their ears so many times, that his daughter and wife both loved their father's special Dark Elf friend. Full of curiosity.

The captain is always like this, with sudden and turbulent enthusiasm like the tide, without any rules.

The dark elves who have been familiar with him for a long time have learned to stand firm in this sudden enthusiasm.

"I'm very fascinated, but, Storm, you should have heard some rumors about me on land. Thanks to my efforts, the surface people did distinguish Francis Blade from the stereotype of the dark elf."

Francis grabbed the wine glass and poured it into his mouth, a self-deprecating look on his face.

"Now my reputation is even more unpopular than that of the Dark Elves. They call me the 'Dark Scourge'."

Storm patted Francis on the shoulder and comforted: "People in the world are always confused by appearances. When they are in the most pain, they are often the most irrational. You just hit their outlet."

"But why do you always predict bad things to them? Do you only see a bad future?"

The dark elf shook his head in denial.

"Storm, what I saw were many incomplete fragments, many, many, with good and bad in them. But sharing a person's joy with a dark elf will not make him feel happier, but a dark elf reveals a person's joy. Disasters can bring wake-up calls.”

"I want to remind them, but the future I see involves too many people and too much time. I have no choice but to choose the person with the worst future."

"As a result, none of them escaped their fate."

Storm looked at his friend. The dark elf's desire to undo his misfortune was the source of his own ruin.

"Maybe the way you predicted is wrong. Don't be so direct, Francis. You can use more suggestive and deceptive words to get yourself out of trouble. Just like those magic sticks, it may be a suitable method. It’s what you’re missing.”

The captain refilled the wine glass for the dark elf again. He extremely hoped that Francis could get the results that matched his efforts. He was thankful that even so, this special friend had good intentions towards strangers who could not understand him. Storm sympathized with him and was proud that he was his friend.

"I don't like lying," Francis replied.

"My purpose of approaching them is not to fool them into trusting me. Doubt and awe will waste time and waste reaction time when real disaster strikes. Only the most direct and clear prediction can allow them to understand the situation as soon as possible."

There was a helpless expression on Storm's face. This is the most troublesome and admirable thing about Francis.

Francis Blade was as direct as his gaze, as sharp as his blade.

"Why do you insist on going to the scene, Francis, if the future is already determined, if your actions have no effect. If all your efforts over the years have been in vain, if those eyes have foreseen all this..."

Francis replied.

"If you can't see it now, it doesn't mean it won't happen in the future. Maybe this is what I have been trying to see, an answer, a possibility to change the destiny. When someone breaks free from the thread of fate and deviates from the fixed destiny with his own ability. The future. When these eyes lose their prophetic authority, I can feel myself melting into the confusing fog, just like all people whose future is uncertain."

"If all of this really happens, I can feel the freedom from being manipulated by God's fate and accept my own confusion happily. I will continue to see and execute for this purpose, and I will not relax a step until real changes come. "

Storm continued, filling the speaker's glass with wine.

"Even if it makes you bear the hostility of others, even if it still doesn't change your situation, even if it makes you lose your savings..."

Francis Blade shook his glass and glanced at the gathering clouds in the distant sky.

"Then let the storm come harder."