Chapter 430: The Need for Power?
"E-excuse me!?" Viesta jumped back, her eyes wide as she stared down at Lillian’s teasing expression.
"What~? Come on~! I told you about me an Marionette, so tell me your thoughts on the Council President!"
The corners of Viesta’s lips twitched as she gave a crooked and wry smile, "I-I just see her as a reliable person... That’s all..."
Lillian, sensing a sense of hesitation, couldn’t help but grin widely. She nodded slowly, deciding not to push on any further, "Alright~ alright~... I’ll trust you for now."
Standing up from the lid of the chest, Lillian pulled out her phone and decided to take a look at what time it was.
[15:37]
’Ah~... I should begin now.’
Putting away her phone, Lillian noticed someone off to the side, throwing her a glance. And realising that it was from Nearlo, who seemed rather apprehensive to approach her, Lillian smiled.
Gesturing for him to come over, Lillian looked towards the stern of the ship before calling out to the Captain.
"Oi~! Captain, you wanna know what is inside the chest?!"
As soon as she said that, the Captain’s eyes flashed with a starry look as he immediately leapt from behind the wheel and flipped through the air.
Thud.
"KAHAHA! Of course I do!"
After landing right beside the chest, he immediately passed by Lillian and knelt in front of it.
Lillian watched Captain’s hands shake from anticipation as they neared the metal locks of the chest. She snickered quietly, excited for what was about to happen.
Once everyone had gathered around the chest, the Captain finally broke it open.
And what they saw...
Caused the Captain’s eyes and everyone around, besides Lillian, to light up.
It was a chest filled with all sorts of gold relics, each shinier than the last despite their age.
"RICHES! MATEYS, LOOK! A TREASURE CHEST FILLED WITH RICHES!" The Captain immediately leapt onto his feet and began to engage in a comical set of dance moves as he pranced around the entire ship.
Viesta knelt down and held up what she thought to be a chalice made of gold. Her mouth opened in the shape of an ’O’ before looking towards Lillian in confusion and disbelief:
"H-how did you know there was a treasure chest inside its stomach, Lillian...?"
Lillian smirked, having already come up with an excuse on the spot. She tapped the earring hooked onto her left earlobe and said:
"I got this earring from the Leviathan. Apparently, it allows me to sense nearby treasure that would have worth to me."
"T-that’s... W-wow..."
Nearlo, although shocked by the amount of gold relics inside the chest, snorted as he waved his hand around, "It’s just gold. Nothing special about it. We should just donate it the moment we get to the nearest charity."
After the Captain returned from a full loop around the ship, he immediately denied Nearlo’s suggestion, "We fought tooth and nail for this! It’ll be a waste of effort to give it away to some charity!"
The Captain then began to make exaggerated hand gestures, "And even if yar SOMEHOW convinced me to hand over this treasure chest, how would we know they would even use it for their stated cause!?"
"We fought tooth and nail to survive! That’s not the same as not being able to help others when we can!" Nearlo argued back.
Viesta watched as both the Captain and Nearlo argued back and forth before noticing Lillian’s steady approach to the treasure chest.
Watching as the girl knelt down, she walked and crouched beside her.
Lillian gave Viesta a warm smile before fishing out a crown made of gold, which had a variety of gems attached to it—as well as... An eye around the same size as that of a human, and it seemed to be made out of a coral-like material.
Standing up, Lillian closed the chest and looked towards Viesta for a favour.
"Could you put this chest into your spatial ring? I don’t have that much room left in mine."
"Oh? How come?"
"I just wanna clear up some room for what I’m going to do."
Viesta tilted her head slightly, quietly wondering what Lillian was going to do. But, since the request was harmless, she didn’t see any reason to refuse.
The Captain, noticing in the corners of his eyes that the chest had suddenly disappeared into thin air, felt his eyes bulge out of their sockets.
"MY TREASURE!"
As he was about to interrogate Viesta about what she had done, Lillian called to everyone.
"Can everyone pay attention to me for a moment?"
Everyone turned their eyes in her direction and watched as Lillian spun the crown on one finger.
"After the battle with the Leviathan, which I’m sure was the most intense battle we all engaged in our entire lives, so how about we throw a celebration?"
The Captain, now calmed from his greedy fervour, blinked in Lillian’s direction before smirking.
"A celebration? Yes, indeed! A celeberation is absolutely needed! Why didn’t I think of that?"
Viesta folded her arms and tilted her head. The thought of a celebration piqued her interest and was definitely a needed thing after going through something like that.
"What did you have in mind, Lillian?"
The white-haired girl looked towards the Cowgirl with a mischievous grin as she clutched onto the crown and yanked out the eye embedded in the gold crown.
She then randomly tossed it towards Nearlo, who caught it with a confused look on his face.
Everyone then watched as Lillian held the eye over her head.
Lillian then yelled with an excited and maniacal look on her face, "What do I have in mind? Shouldn’t something as grand as killing that Leviathan be obvious?"
Viesta, hearing her words, couldn’t help but feel a bad premonition brewing inside her chest.
Holding a hand over her chest, she began to wonder. Why was she feeling this way?
...
She now knew why.
"HOW ABOUT AN ASCENSION IN TIER FOR A CELEBRATION!?"
With an energetic yell, Lillian threw the eye against the wooden deck of the ship, causing it to—
C-crack...!
—Crack open and reveal another eye beneath... Another eye that was real by any means...
It had a pure black sclera and deep azure blue veins that spread across it like cracks or webbing.
It also had an aquamarine-coloured pupil, which seemed to glow exponentially fast as it settled its gaze on the Captain, who widened his eyes and immediately dashed to try and store it within his spatial ring.
But unfortunately... Lillian prevented him with a toothy grin, causing his face to pale.
Soon enough, the eye dissolved into a swirling gas, which then appeared as a glowing portal that began to suck everyone in.
Viesta, Nearlo, and his bodyguard tried to hold onto a fixed object on the ship, hoping to resist the pull of the unexpected Gate before failing.
Even Captain Righthook, who had summoned several pairs of wings, failed in this task.
Only leaving Lillian to be the one falling freely into the portal without a hint of regret or worry.
She needed strength.
She needed more power...
All so she could complete one singular mission given to her months ago...
And that was to give Marionette her desired "Good" ending...
’And for that... I must climb the stairs of Ascension...’