Chapter 4

In the morning, the whole family packed a box of easy-to-carry property, left home with a donkey cart, and headed for the port of Agrigento.

Except for a box of gold coins, several people were wearing full of jewelry.

Sophia saw that the neighbors who boarded the ship were all like this, with rings on their hands, necklaces and armbands on their necks and arms. Her mother wore a pure gold snake-shaped armband on her arm, which was one of her dowry. Because it was very heavy, she rarely wore it.

After working together to move the sealed box full of gold coins into the cabin, the butler took people back.

“To avoid accidents, please sit at the stern, ladies. Gentlemen and retainers sit at the bow.” said the great god Karas.

Sophia felt that this arrangement was reasonable. There were too many people on the boat. She felt uncomfortable with dozens of men and women standing together. People separated according to the host’s arrangement.

“Mother, do you want to drink water?” Sophia asked her mother. The four of them sat down at the stern of the boat, and the boat began to sail.

“No, save some water. The boat will take a day and two nights to arrive.” said the mother.

“Well.” Sophia and Senna both had large water bags made of lamb skin on their chests, while the mother and Sarah carried food to meet the family’s dietary needs for two days.

“The journey is long, and friction is inevitable. In order to prevent tragedies, please take off your weapons and put them in the big barrels here, and take them back when you get off the boat.” Sophia heard Karas say loudly.

“That makes sense.” Sophia heard many people responding, and then the men began to take off their weapons and put them into the barrel.

“Ugh~” Although most of the owners of this ship are Greeks, a maritime nation, not everyone can adapt to the swaying of the ship. Many men and women began to vomit on the side of the ship.

Sophia and Senna felt okay, but their mother and Sarah closed their eyes and endured it. Sophia saw the crew busy and the ship was getting farther and farther away from the land. The only thing that puzzled her was why the crew were still wearing leather armor and carrying weapons when sailing. Did they have to defend against pirates when sailing?

Everyone was waiting for time, even in the middle of the night, there was still vomiting. Sophia had woken up from a nap, chewing bread in small bites, looking at her father and brother in the pile of men at the bow. The strongest brother in the family is now the most depressed. He couldn’t drink water when he went over to feed him just now.

Sophia saw that Karas and the crew had all reached the deck of the ship, and the eight crew members were working together to carry the heavy stone anchor. Are they going to drop the anchor here? Sophia was puzzled. She looked along the rope of the anchor. The rope was circling past the place where the men gathered, and she didn’t know where it led. She stood up and wanted to remind Karas and the sailors that if they dropped the anchor, the rope might hurt the men. But it was too late. The eight crew members threw the anchor into the sea, and the rope quickly twitched into the sea.

“Be careful!” Sophia shouted loudly, and many people who were not asleep looked up at her in confusion.

Karas and the eight crew members turned their heads to look at Sophia, but drew their weapons.

“Ah~” The huge weight of the stone anchor, the thick hemp rope tied the men together, a large fishing net was thrown over to cover the men, and the one-sided massacre began.

The women screamed, and a strong woman rushed over, but was stabbed in the stomach by Karas.

Karas wanted to embezzle all the wealth of the neighbors! Sofia understood that this was a carefully planned murder. She saw a spear pierced into Killian’s chest, and then her father’s figure was blocked by the murderous crew.

The men who were bound and had no ability to resist were slaughtered, but Karas and his eight executioners were unharmed. The women screamed and jumped, but they could not change the facts at all. A huge sense of powerlessness enveloped them. Karas and his executioners walked towards the women. Sofia saw a girl being grabbed by her hair and fell to the ground, while the mother of the girl next to her was stabbed in the neck with a dagger, thrown out of the side of the ship and fell into the sea.

“Jump into the sea!” Sofia shouted, pulling her mother and Senna.

Sophia would rather die than be caught by them.

She turned around and jumped over the side of the ship. The sea surface hit Sophia head-on. She held her breath and closed her eyes, and fell into the sea. The hand she was holding on to her mother was knocked off by the sea water.

Her body felt unexpectedly heavy, and Sophia remembered that she was covered with gold and silver jewelry. She opened her eyes in the sea water to look for her mother, but saw that her mother was sinking straight down.

Her mother opened her hands to her with a face full of fear, and gradually disappeared in the dark sea.

“Throw away the jewelry!” Sophia shouted with all her might, exhaling her last breath and shouting. Perhaps Thanatos (the Greek god of death) had collected enough spoils tonight, and Sophia did not continue to sink. There was air in the sheepskin water bag on her chest, supporting her.

She waited anxiously for a while, but did not see her mother float up, so she took off her jewelry, threw it in the direction where her mother sank, and floated to the surface.

While crying and panting violently, she anxiously looked for Senna’s figure.