After putting his things away, Hamo came out with Ed. Back on the deck again, Ed couldn't help frowning as he asked, "Hamo, are there only two people on the ship now?"
From the moment he had boarded to the moment he entered his room, apart from Hamo and Andre, Ed had seen no one else. For such a large ship, just starting it might require a dozen to several dozen people. Fully crewed, it would need more than 150. But he had only seen two people so far. It was too strange and gave him a feeling of being scammed.
"Of course, there are more than just me and the captain. There are three more in the cabin below," Hamo said with a smile, pointing toward the deck.
Looking at Hamo's smug expression, Ed was speechless. Is that really what I was asking? Even adding the three people below, that made only five. How could five people operate such a large ship? Could it be fully automated, running on giant engines and computers?
It seemed Hamo genuinely didn't understand Ed's meaning, so he personally took Ed down into the cabin.
"This floor is the ship's gun deck, where ammunition and other weapons are stored."
Ed observed the environment. There were a total of ten rock-shaking cannons on both sides. Ed hadn't done much research on this type of weapon and had only a superficial understanding. But just from appearance, they were definitely superior to Hols' cheap models.
These stone-shaking cannons were visibly different. They were wrapped in an unknown metal shell with beautiful patterns and reliefs engraved upon them. The base was wider and firmly fixed to the deck. Ed even spotted a shell-loading port on the right side of the rear half of the barrel, a method more convenient and simpler than Hol's muzzle-loading approach. Clearly, this was a more advanced model.
Seeing that Ed seemed interested in the cannons, Hamo proudly introduced them as if he owned them. "The Shipbreaker-C model rock-shattering cannon is one level higher than the Type B cannon equipped by the Navy of the Blood Gold Alliance. It's a large-caliber No. 6 cannon."
Listening to Hamo's introduction, Ed understood very little. Neither he nor the original body's owner had much knowledge of these things, let alone the different standards or how they worked. At most, he knew a bit about guns and ammunition from games and movies.
Looking at the ten cannons, even a minimal crew would require at least twenty people, not to mention those transporting shells and performing other duties. Even thinking with his toes, Ed knew the ship was severely understaffed.
As Ed wondered if he had boarded the wrong ship and been fooled by that crazy priest, Hamo continued his tour guide duties.
"The bow and stern of this deck house the ship's library and the cold storage area, where we store all our food to prevent spoilage. The kitchen and dining area are at the rear."
As he spoke, he led Ed forward, pushing open a large door. They entered a bright space with well-spaced windows providing excellent lighting. Rows of three-tiered bookshelves stood neatly stacked with all kinds of books and materials. Each shelf was separated by a wooden bar and secured to the ship's support posts. A reading desk and chairs were nearby.
"Hey! Lipoca, stop sleeping! We have a new person here!"
Hamo tapped on the semi-circular front desk near the door. Inside, a hammock was slung, holding a middle-aged woman of average, unremarkable appearance. She had long, messy brownish hair, C-cup breasts, and was wearing a white sailor suit and mid-length trousers.
The woman, named Lipoca, simply reached down from the hammock, grabbed a blanket, pulled it over herself, and waved a hand dismissively with an annoyed voice.
"Go away, Hamo, don't bother me. I stayed up too late looking up information for the captain last night. Let me rest."
Hamo could only shrug helplessly at Ed and lead him out of the library. As they walked, he explained, "That was another junior member of the ship. She's responsible for managing the books and documents. She spends almost all her time in the library; you could say it's her personal room."
"I've never actually seen her go to her own cabin, except to use the toilet. Although she looks alright, her personality is terrible, she's definitely going to die single, you can write that down," Hamo seemed to have some interest in Lipoca, but her personality had made him give up, though his behavior suggested he wasn't entirely over it.
They then arrived at the dining area at the rear. This area was completely open, separated from the gun deck only by two curtains. Pulling the curtains aside revealed several long dining tables with rows of stools and chairs. Beyond the dining area was the kitchen, an open-air setup.
A middle-aged man with long golden hair tied back like a girl's, a chest-length beard, and a slightly wrinkled face was processing ingredients. Dressed in a white chef's uniform, his plump figure and protruding belly vividly suggested he was a skilled cook.
Hamo walked over with Ed and introduced the man in white. "This is the ship's cook, Uncle Matt."
Hearing Hamo's voice, the middle-aged man looked up and offered a kind smile. Seeing a new face behind Hamo, he wiped his hands and walked out with a chuckle.
Without waiting for Uncle Matt to ask, Hamo took the initiative to introduce Ed. "This is the new trainee member on board. The captain came to pick him up this time."
Matt nodded and held out his hand to shake Ed's. "Hey there, young man. I'm Matt, Matt Reeb. Since you just came on board today, if there's anything you'd like to eat tonight, you can tell me."
Ed smiled happily. "Thank you for your kindness, Uncle Matt. In that case, I won't be polite. If possible, I would like to have Tide's Bounty Pie, Pearl Diver's Platter, Mystic Mariners' Medley, and Sunset Shores Soup. Oh, and possibly a glass of orange juice. Thank you."
Ed bluntly listed all his favorite dishes, ones Aunt Marcy and Raila used to make for him, without any hesitation. This left both Uncle Matt, who had only been asking casually to maintain his image, and Hamo, who hadn't expected this turn of events, utterly dumbfounded.
Ed wasn't a shy brat who would just say, "I can eat anything." To do so would be indirectly looking down on the chef's professionalism, as if dismissing his sincere offer to make him feel comfortable on his first day away from home.
"You're really not holding back, are you?" Uncle Matt said with a joking scold. "Well, it's going to be a bit of a pain in the ass to make all those dishes for you, but a promise is a promise. So, what are you two waiting for? Get out of here! I have a lot of work to do."
Hearing Uncle Matt's mock scolding, Ed and Hamo quickly nodded and hurried out of the kitchen.
"I didn't expect you to take Uncle Matt's words so seriously," Hamo said as they headed toward the area leading to the lower deck.
"He's a very good cook, so he takes everything related to cooking very seriously. Now he won't take a single minute's break until he's made everything. He has to make different kinds of food for everyone; the main members are very picky eaters."
"Further down, we have the rest cabins for the secondary members, as well as some strange workshops and storage rooms."
With that, the two of them walked down. This area was divided into two sections, connected by corridors on both sides and a central aisle.
"The front area is where we rest, and the back area houses various manufacturing rooms and workshops."
Just then, a ding-dong sound came from one of the rooms in the back area. Hamo, seeing Ed's head turn toward the noise, immediately explained, "That's one of the main members of the ship, Old Man Bobby. But we'd better not disturb him right now, otherwise he'll scold me like crazy again."
"What about the other members?" Ed asked directly.
"The rest of the crew? They're on a mission on Meister Island right now," Hamo replied casually as he continued forward, arriving at another entrance leading to a lower level, "Further down is the cargo hold, where a lot of supplies and cargo are stored."
After saying that, he picked up an oil lamp from the entrance and led the way down. This area was completely submerged in darkness, with no light source except for the oil lamps. After a rough tour, Ed became familiar with the layout and structure of the entire ship. Hamo then brought Ed back to the open deck.