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[Start of the chapter]
The moment Roy finished speaking, 99.8% of the people on deck froze on the spot, completely baffled. The remaining 0.2% were Gon and Android 18.
Gon wasn't baffled at all—he didn't understand any of it anyway. He just thought this guy was insanely impressive.
As for Android 18… those irresistibly charming eyes of hers seemed to fire off a gentle, tender beam that nearly turned Roy's bones to jelly.
Corona discharge caused by cold light?
Electroluminescence?
Air ionization?
Plasma potential difference?
Dielectric breakdown threshold?
And so on…
What kind of nonsense was all this?
Everyone present—including the first mate, the sailors, and Kurapika—felt like they couldn't understand a single word.
But there was one thing they definitely understood: this "St. Elmo's Fire" was merely a normal natural phenomenon and didn't signify anything else.
Also, Roy's tone carried that helpless "you people never read books, did you" vibe—plus the unconscious superiority a top student has over slackers. It wasn't outright mockery, but that tone stung even worse, trampling people's pride and making everyone feel awful.
"No way! St. Elmo's Fire is a curse! It's a legend passed down mouth to mouth! My uncle's eldest cousin's second uncle-in-law's third aunt's fourth grandaunt's fifth grand-uncle—supposedly he ran into St. Elmo's Fire, and an entire ship's crew met disaster! Only three or four people came back!"
Someone in the crowd shouted that.
"A curse?" Roy stared toward the voice with a dead-fish expression.
"Do you know why this weather phenomenon is called 'St. Elmo's Fire'?"
"W-why?"
"Because the name 'St. Elmo's Fire' comes from a saint long ago—St. Elmo—who was from a country called Italy. By that country's tradition, St. Elmo was regarded as the patron saint of sailors. So in the early days, whenever people saw a glowing light appear on a ship's mast during a violent thunderstorm, they attributed it to St. Elmo manifesting to protect them. That's how the name came to be."
"That's the traditional explanation. Now for the mythic one: in an ancient country called Greece, when people at sea saw a single glowing corona of discharge, they called it Helen. If it appeared as a pair, they called it Castor and Pollux. In fact, together with Clytemnestra, these four figures are described in Greek myth as two sets of twins born after Zeus—king of the gods—had an affair with the Spartan queen Leda."
"Among them, the brothers Castor and Pollux took part in many adventurous expeditions aboard the Argo. They were mainly responsible for keeping watch from the Argo's two masts, guarding their companions across the whole ship—so they were long regarded as protectors of sailors."
"So even if we're talking about legends, when you explain it from tradition and mythic origins, St. Elmo's Fire is considered a guardian of sailors and a symbol of good fortune and luck. Where does this 'curse' nonsense come from?"
The entire deck went blank-faced again.
Including the captain and the first mate—every one of them had their mouths hanging open as they stared at Roy in a daze.
Except for Gon and Android 18.
Clack.
The Red-Nose Captain's pipe slipped from his mouth and fell onto the deck.
That sound snapped him back to reality.
As he bent down to pick it up, the Red-Nose Captain muttered under his breath, "Damn… I've been sailing these seas for decades, and this is the first time I've ever learned St. Elmo's Fire has this many origins and explanations."
The other examinees and the first mate gradually came back to their senses, but none of them picked up Roy's thread. On one hand, they had no idea how to respond. On the other, they didn't want to talk to Roy anymore—too damaging to their self-esteem. In perfect, unspoken agreement, they fell silent and focused on dealing with the storm in front of them.
Yeah. When you're an academic slacker, you should have the self-awareness of an academic slacker. Roy felt very satisfied with his own eloquence.
Still, after Roy's little "science lesson," the fear and unease that had been spreading across the ship instantly evaporated into thin air.
No one was scared anymore.
But the raging waves were still raging, so the Sea God's violent rocking and bucking didn't stop.
Since earlier, quite a few people had already been flung off the deck and into the sea.
And many more were seasick—faces pale, collapsing limply across the boards.
Roy couldn't be bothered with them. If your strength isn't solid and you still insist on coming just to make up the numbers, that's on you. The Hunter Exam isn't a child's game. If you can't withstand even this much wind and spray, you should head home early.
So Roy and Android 18 found a clean spot and sat down right on the deck. With Aura at work, a pressure wave formed within a certain radius around them, keeping their surroundings clean—without a single drop of water splashing onto them.
Let the waves rage as they please— a gentle breeze still brushes the mountain ridge.
Their behavior was all seen clearly by the blond young man who'd been watching them the whole time.
Roy also sensed that attention. It was subtle, but in front of Roy—who had learned to perceive Aura—nothing could hide.
But Roy didn't care about it at all, even if that attention was coming from one of the three major protagonists of the Hunter world.
Feeling the storm's oppressive might, Roy's eyelid twitched. He stood up.
He suddenly remembered: during the second phase of the exam, there would be a rather willful, bratty, violent woman. Since they were out at sea right now, he might as well make preparations in advance.
...
The Sea God continued sailing through the storm. Roy quickly finished his preparations, and after the rain weakened slightly, the Red-Nose Captain finally made time to come over to Roy.
(End of Chapter)
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