Crownless: The Fallen World

Chapter 9: Undersea Earthquake

Sebastian's aftercare was impeccable. 

The man was too detail-oriented that it would be hard to nitpick something about him. It wasn't like Hale was trying to look for any flaws. It was just her admiration for the guy. She was worried about the things that she stored in her Holowrist. Before she could even express it, Sebastian had already given her an upgraded version of the Holowrist. He was trying to explain everything to her, but all his words only went in and out of her ears. 

"Hale?" 

"Hm?" 

"... were you listening?" 

Hale was embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I was out of it for a while." 

"Okay... which part do you remember?" 

"I'm sorry... I remember nothing." 

It looked like she was ignoring Sebastian's words, but she wasn't the type who would ignore people intentionally. He concluded that she was still muddled from yesterday's operation and explained again with great patience. 

Before Sebastian dismantled the previous Holowrist, he had already transferred every data it had into his computer. More importantly, the coordinates where Hale stored her possessions while maintaining the connection between the device and the storage. Sebastian didn't trigger any security measures, so Hale could still retrieve whatever she needed from her Holowrist. He also said that he removed all the tracking and any unnecessary functions. There was an additional function where Hale could contact Sebastian without needing a mediator between them. Of course, the others still needed a mediator to send messages or calls. If he removed it, the mediator would be suspicious of how the students received messages from Hale when they didn't receive anything. 

They would know that Hale didn't have their Holowrist anymore. She might be involved in what he ever feared to come. 

"Thank you for the efforts, Sebby," she smiled at him. "By the way, where did you do this?" 

"In the bathroom," he answered. Technically, he didn't lie. He may have made it in one of his workshops, but he did open a portal in the bathroom. 

"You must have a lot of things in your storage...," She gingerly took Sebastian's hand where a device fit snuggly on his thick wrist. "This one must be another device you made. Are you also going to make me one in the future?" 

Hale couldn't help it. It wasn't that she wanted a high-end device. It was because she wanted to have something identical to what Sebastian had. It felt like they had this connection that no one else had. 

"I might, but I can't give you a guarantee," he said as he slowly pulled his hand away. 

Suddenly, Sebastian received a strong alert from his device. The emergency sound was blaring, startling Hale. There was an earthquake advisory, and the epicenter was from the seafloor. It was quite a strong one. A few seconds later, the emergency alarm sounded from the ferry's control room. They told the passengers to stay seated as the ferry would enter Emergency Mode number 2. The epicenter of the quake was nautical miles deep. Even though they were in deep water, the waves rocking the ferry were huge. Sebastian took Hale the first time he heard the advisory and firmly held her. 

He deployed all of his emergency measures, firmly holding onto the floor. Thankfully, they fixed the furniture on the floor, and the other tools and equipment had their measures to hold in place. There wouldn't be any accidents in case of intense rocking of the ferry while on water. 

Outside the huge glass window, Sebastian watched how the waves were constantly raging and hitting the side of the ferry. His hold on Hale tightened, and she held on tighter. While in that position, Sebastian was monitoring what was happening around the ferry. The ferry increased its water intake in preparation for submerging the entire ferry. Once the rocking started calming down, Sebastian slowly loosened his hold around Hale. 

There were now two layers surrounding the ferry. The inner layer kept the ferry balanced inside, preventing it from tipping over. Meanwhile, the outer layer was thicker than the inner layer. Its main job was to protect the ferry from any threats. After the ferry fully stabilized, a loud sound came from outside of the room they were in. Sebastian carefully examined the layout of the submerged ferry by releasing more stringed energy. It was the final step before the submerged ferry could advance through the water. There was still resistance felt from the water, so the ferry sank deeper. 

"It seemed like we could only stay in deeper waters...," Hale mumbled as she marveled at the majesty of the deep ocean. "By the way, Sebby?" 

"Yes?" 

"How come the advisory came to you first?" 

Her eyes only held pure curiosity, making Sebastian let go of his guard for a bit. 

"You know how I have been traveling for years, right? I have been everywhere, Hale. I also thought of installing things in every places I have been to. It was to alert and warn me about the places I might visit again to decrease the threat to my travels," he answered. He couldn't say the other purposes of the installation, but that reason was already durable enough. 

"I see. Then I'm glad," Hale expressed her joy by twisting her body shyly. 

"... why?" 

"Well... because you have been so careful all your life, we met again. I'm so glad I saw you again after you left the estate. I was so worried about you all the time while I also constantly imagined what you would look like in case we met again," she said as she stared into his eyes. "I have to say, everything I see exceeded my expectations way higher than I thought. Sebastian, thank you for surviving." 

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