“I agree to the deal,” Charles said to the doctor who was stitching up his wounds.

  The doctor paused, a scarred smile creeping across his face. “Really? That’s wonderful! I’ll definitely use the best medicines to restore your mind to health.”

  “But the terms of the deal need to change. I can give you the ‘Black Mirror,’ but you must become my ship’s doctor.”

  If there was one lesson Charles learned from his previous battles, it was that having a skilled doctor on board could significantly reduce casualties. If only he had had one last time, the outcome would have been much better.

  The doctor lowered his head and continued to staple Charles's flesh. “You’re not the first to ask me to be their ship’s doctor. Their ships are bigger, and they’re stronger. Why should I choose you?”

  “Because I have something you want. You value the Black Mirror highly; you must want to know more about its origins, right?”

  “Coincidentally, I know everything about it. If you become my ship’s doctor, I can tell you all about it, provided you believe what I say.”

  After finishing the stitches, the doctor stepped back and scrutinized Charles, as if trying to read his thoughts. “Let me see the Black Mirror again.”

  Charles tossed his phone to him. Watching the doctor gently caress the black screen, a tenderness crossed his face that seemed entirely out of place.

  Curious, Charles wondered what memories were flooding back. “Did he once have a phone too?”

  With a loud thud, the doctor slammed his iron hand against the edge of the bed. “Two years! I’ll stay on your ship for two years. You’ll tell me everything.”

  “Deal. That thing is yours now, and you can ask me anything about it once you’re on board.”

  As long as he became the *Narwhal*’s ship’s doctor, Charles was confident he could prevent the phone from falling into the wrong hands. Two years would be enough for him to understand the doctor’s character before making further plans.

  “Ng'lui mglw… nafh…”

  Whispers echoed in Charles's ears as he watched the doctor morph into a grotesque monster, this time even more severe. His consciousness felt like clothes tossed in a washing machine, constantly tumbling, on the verge of unraveling.

  Shaking, Charles reached for the gel in his clothing, but before he could grab it, the grotesque figure struck it away with a tentacle, offering him a vial of medicine instead.

  Faced with the ever-shifting form of the monster, Charles knew it was still the doctor. With trembling hands, he accepted the potion and drank it down.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  The monster departed, only to return moments later with more vials—not just potions but various pills and ointments. The bizarre flavors assaulted Charles's taste buds repeatedly, nearly numbing his sense of taste.

  “Doctor! How much longer?” Charles cried, clutching his head in pain. The effects of the potion were not immediate.

  The grotesque creature’s six mouths on its belly opened to say something, but the whispers drowned out all other sounds.

  At that moment, the distortion began to shrink, and the ugly face of Rasto Herman reappeared before Charles.

  “Is it cured?”

  The doctor appeared anxious, scratching his half-white hair, flakes flying everywhere. “Impossible! How could the Silent Salt have no effect?!”

  Seeing his distress, Charles realized that his auditory hallucinations weren’t going to be easy to cure.

  Suddenly, Rasto lunged at Charles, staring intensely into his eyes.

  Charles instinctively tried to pull away, but the doctor held his head firmly. “Don’t move!”

  After several tense seconds, the doctor released him and asked frantically, “Did you see something extraordinary at sea?”

  “Gods? I’ve seen them twice—once eight years ago, and once not long ago.”

  This answer seemed to trigger Rasto, who trembled, angrily stomping his steel leg on the floor. “I knew it! I should have guessed it! My medicine is fine! It’s definitely fine!”

  “Is this illness related to the gods?”

  “The gods?”

  The doctor sneered. “I don’t care what kind of nonsense gods they are. I just know that anyone who gets involved with them ends up suffering.”

  “Can you treat this condition?”

  “It’s not an illness, do you understand? It’s a curse! A damned thing! Just looking at it can be fatal, and they call them gods! Hmph!”

  The doctor’s grotesque face leaned closer, his trembling eyes fixed on Charles.

  “I can suppress the symptoms, but it’s only temporary. If you want to survive, you must find a way to break the curse yourself. That’s not my specialty.”

  Remembering the auction in two weeks, Charles made a decision. “Then help me suppress it for now. I need to handle some personal matters first.”

  As he sought a way to the surface, he didn’t want any distractions; getting back to the surface was paramount.

  The doctor grabbed a fist-sized sea spider from under the bed and walked to the table to prepare a potion. “Just so you know, Captain, if you die before two years are up, I’ll consider it fulfilling my end of the bargain.”

  “Fine, just don’t poison me to finish your task early.”

  “Poison!? That’s an insult to a doctor!”

  In the following days, Charles continued to taste the strange concoctions the old man prepared. Although the flavors were less than desirable, Charles’s mental state improved noticeably. The whispers, even when they appeared, were now merely a distant buzz, and the visual hallucinations had vanished.

  With the enhanced healing from the Black Blade, Charles’s wounds healed significantly within just a few days, restoring him to peak condition.

  “Captain, are you sure that guy is our ship’s doctor? I saw him secretly adding gunpowder to the pills he gave you the other day,” Second Mate Kronari asked, concern etched on his face.

  Charles paused in his journaling, then resumed writing. “Mind your own business. How are the crew feeling?”

  “They’re okay. They know the reputation of this place and don’t dare wander around. Captain, how much longer do we have to stay here?”

  “Not much longer.” As soon as he finished speaking, a bat burst through the door, transforming into Audrick. “Captain, the auction in Sodom is about to start!”

  Charles donned his captain's coat and stepped out of the captain’s quarters.

  Under Audrick’s guidance, Charles quickly arrived at a wooden ship, which lay horizontally, its keel hollowed out to create an entrance. This was now the venue for the Sodom auction.