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Traveling on boats was always stupidly long and boring. It would've been better if she had books or perhaps a few things to experiment on, but that pirate's ship was merely filled with food, alcohol and a bunch of so-called treasures. Ah, pirates sure loved gold, but what did it truly mean for them outside of money ? Alchemist could never understand people's dream of getting rich. She could care less about money, as she only seeked knowledge. That, and if she truly needed gold, she could always find some copper and work a little to change it into this other weirdly valuable material.
The oil lamp next to her bed was just barely enough for eyes to see around in the boat's dark room. Alchemist was scribbling a few ideas she has on some paper, mostly doodling some transmutation circles that she may use in the future to annoy her brother. Ah, he was kind of annoying, but she sure missed him. She kind of hoped that he missed her as well.
Next to her were the other two non-pirate travelers of the boat, all sleeping in the same room. She didn't especially liked them, but they weren't too much of a bother so she kind of let it pass in hopes of gaining Yogurt's trust and perhaps snatching the alchemy book that he kept. Sadly, she couldn't try to steal it from him or just take it away and giving it back later, as his body guard was kind of ... Well, a good body guard. She put down her sheet of paper and looked at Lilac who was cleaning carefully his weapons with his usual neutral expression. Did this man ever smiled ? It looked like he was bored to death. Ah, well, alchemist guess that she would probably be as well if she has to be stuck with a man like that.
For the little that she saw, Yogurt was the exact cliché of a rich prince someone could have. Hoarding money like a dragon, collecting things greedily and refusing to share knowledge, yet obviously too incompetent to be able to gain all of these treasures by himself. Alchemist guessed that he inherited them from family, and wondered for how long all of these treasures had been in this family's possession. Long enough for their heir to become someone who can't walk outside with his hand being held, apparently.
Suddenly, a little "Outch !" Was heard from the other side of the room, and she turned around to see the prince on the ground, mumbling something.
"Urgh ... This bed is awful, I've never slept on something so hard before ... I'm going out to see what's up on the deck. I think Pirate is still partying there."
The two other cookies nodded as they watched the man get out of the room in silence. Alchemist looked at her notes for a bit, put them on the ground and turned to Lilac.
"I know that talking isn't your thing, but I was kind of curious ... How do you put up with him ? I mean, he's not the worst person I've seen, but he looks really spoiled. I was wondering what do you think of him."
Lilac stared at Alchemist, took back his Chakrams and went back to cleaning them.
"Ah ... Okay."
"He's an idiot."
"H-huh ?"
"He's careless, stupid, heavily spoiled, doesn't know how to do a single thing without outside help, and for what I know, he's scared of way too many things. He can't even kill a spider by himself."
Alchemist was voiceless. It was rare to hear Lilac talk, even more rare to hear him talk tht much and that was kind of a lot of things to process in a small amount of time.
"W-woaw ... I didn't think you hated him that much."
"I don't hate him."
"Well after everything you said, it certainly sounds like you do..."
"I was merely listing his flaws because I do not want to idolize him like others do, and I like to remind myself that it's despite all of these flaws that I appreciate his presence."
"So, what I'm getting is that you like him, but still think he's an idiot ..'"
"I don't think the two ideas can't match up together. I think he's not that intelligent and doesn't try to be but ... It's not really his fault. And I don't know if I can blame him for it."
"I don't think it would be too difficult to ask him to read a book or two, especially with the fact that he probably owns the biggest library on earthbread."
"I wish it could be this simple ... But sadly, this is a complex situation. He used to try, when he was younger. He wasn't the best, but he had a desire to know more and more about this world. But people kept telling him that he wasn't enough, and that he would never be enough. I often see him coming back in tears after he talks with his father. That man kept repeating to him that he was just an idiot and good for nothing for his entire childhood. And eventually ... He gave up. He stopped caring. If he was never going to do anything good and was meant to be always looked up to, why should he even try ?"
Alchemist looked down on her bed and began to feel guilty for what she thought about Yogurt. It reminded her of how people used to treat his brother. Saying that he's lazy is one thing. Acknowledging his illness was something else.
"I'm ... Sorry."
"When I say that he's not that intelligent, I don't mean it in a bashful way. It's okay to not be a genius, the goal is for you to end up being a good person. And even if I feared that he would never be able to do so, I think this travel is teaching him something. And I have hopes that he might actually become the man that his younger self dreamt of being."
"... I think that you being by his side is helping."
"... I wish so. And either way, if he needs to have his hand held to learn things, I want to be the one to do so."
Lilac smiled, put down his weapons, and blew down the candle.