The Fairy with no Wings

Chapter 32 : Planning

Three weeks has passed since they started heading towards Blackbalt Snow, Jongho and Seonghwa took turns in training Neil, he improved pretty well, but he still can't fight in real battle.

Seonghwa was having a duel with him on the main deck while Valerie, Yunho and Yeosang watched from the quarterdeck "don't be so hard on him!!" Yunho shouted for him to hear, he was leaning his elbows on the railings as well as Yeosang and Valerie "don't worry, I won't" Seonghwa assured him.

They stood opposite of each other en garde "begin" Seonghwa ordered him and he advanced and swept his sword at Seonghwa, Seonghwa only moved his head backwards, he tried to cut him but Seonghwa turned to the right, Neil almost fell.

Neil stood stern in his place, then thrust his sword at Seonghwa's chest, he avoided it, and Seonghwa was about to strike, Neil retreated avoiding his attack, he didn't wait and advanced again aiming for Seonghwa's neck, Seonghwa stopped it with his sword, disarming Neil, he fell on his back, and Seonghwa pointed the end of the sword at his face "good fight" he praised him "but it isn't over until one of the opponents die, so go and pick up your sword" he scolded him and Neil quickly picked up his sword and swept it at Seonghwa.

The fight was Seonghwa avoiding Neil's attacks and scolding him, he told him some tips if he ever lost his sword, he advised him to always carry a dagger with him in case he needed to use it.

The fight had finished with Neil completely exhausted and Seonghwa didn't even shed a sweat, he went to the quarterdeck after he helped Neil standing up "how was he?" Yeosang asked him "pretty good actually, he showed such improvements in three weeks, he has potentials" Seonghwa told them "that's good news aside from him recovering" Yunho sighed in relief.

They stopped talking when they saw the snow falling, Valerie panicked "what is this?!" She shouted hiding behind Yunho, but it didn't stop the snow from falling on her head "you never saw snow?" Seonghwa asked surprised "is this snow?" She asked surprised "we only had rain on our island, or the part I lived in" she explained getting away from Yunho, pulling off her glove and reaching her hand up so she can feel it "it's cold, and light" she said fascinated by it "if it piled up on the ship, we could try playing with it" Yeosang suggested.

They heard doors of the cabins open, the rest of the crew ran towards the main deck and jumped under the snow happily.

The snow didn't stop, forming a thick layer of snow on the ship, the crew started a snowball fight, everyone avoided Jongho's balls because they were extremely strong, Wooyoung and San kept aiming at Seonghwa, Yunho was throwing them at everyone until one hit Hongjoong, he made a huge ball with the help of Valerie and threw it at Yunho, but he used Mingi as a human shield, he got hit by it, then he glared at Yunho and started running after him, Yeosang was building a snowman with Neil and a fort next to it, so they can attack the members freely.

The fight was quite long, they kept on playing until sunset, they went to the kitchen to eat after a long battle.

After they finished eating and chatting, Hongjoong cleared his throat getting everyone's attention "it's been three weeks now since we started heading towards Blackbalt Snow, that means we only have one left until we arrive" he told them and looked at Neil who is obviously nervous "look Neil, I won't push you to say anything, but at least you can tell us about who we are fighting" said Hongjoong in a calm tone, Neil took a deep breath and looked at the crew "the target is the prime minister, he is in charge of the empire until the heir reaches the legal age, the previous emperor had put him in charge two days before his death, later on, I found out that he killed the emperor and the empress right after they signed the papers of his custody over me until I become the emperor" he told them.

There was a little bit silence, Wooyoung put a hand on Neil's shoulder patting him "it must've been hard on you" he said and Neil nodded his head slightly "do you still have the scheme of the castle with you?" Neil asked Valerie and she ran to Hongjoong's cabin, and brought the scheme back with her, Neil took it and opened it on the table, everyone got closer so they can see clearly "we'll move on Friday because there will be a ball and everyone will be busy, so first, when we arrive at the island, we should dock on the east coast, it's abandoned because of the winter monsters, so it should be safe there" he told them "how is it safe with winter monsters on it?" Mingi asked almost shouting "they are harmless, unless you attack them first or they see you as a threat, anyways its rare to encounter one of them" he assured him, Yunho put a hand on Mingi's shoulder "don't worry, you don't look tasty anyway" Yunho teased him making everyone giggle and Mingi sulked.