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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter Thirty-One: Heavy Rain
Time passed, and before long, it was October. The autumn air was crisp, signaling the season for ripe oranges.
In the Orange Grove, Nami and Nokigao stood under an orange tree, picking oranges and placing them into a wooden basket beside them.
"Let me see how many we've picked."
Not far away, a woman with a red headscarf, carrying a cigarette and a wooden basket on her back, approached. She set down the basket and glanced at the two girls' baskets. "Nami, Nokigao, you two are quite the little workers."
"Aunt Bellemere, you haven't picked as many as us," Nokigao said with her arms crossed, glancing at the basket the woman had set down.
"That's because there are two of you," Bellemere replied with a smile. "Of course it takes me longer to pick them by myself."
"But we're just kids, and Aunt Bellemere is an adult," Nami pouted from the side. "It seems like Aunt Bellemere is slacking off."
"I'm not slacking off," Bellemere shot back with a glance at them. "Alright, it's almost noon. Let's carry both baskets into the house, sort the oranges using fir needles for padding, wrap them up nicely, and then I'll go make lunch. Once it's ready, we can eat."
"Both?"
Nami and Nokigao exchanged glances, both showing signs of reluctance.
"Hurry up."
Belmer patted the shoulders of the two.
"Yes."
Nami and Nokigao nodded and carried their baskets into the room where the oranges were stored. However, as soon as they set down their baskets, they noticed that the room was filled with many oranges that had already been sorted.
"What is this?"
Nami's eyes widened as she exchanged another glance with Nokigao, her face flushing.
It turned out that Aunt Bellemere hadn't been slacking off; she had already picked a basket full and sorted them out.
The two slowly returned to the Orange Grove, feeling a bit shy about facing Aunt Bellemere. But when they arrived, they found that Aunt Bellemere was already back in the house cooking.
"Let's take these back."
The two carried the oranges back to the room, sorting them out and wrapping them in fir needles to keep them fresh for one to two months.
The two of them finished their preparations and it was already noon. Wiping the sweat from their foreheads, they returned to the restaurant and sat down at the table.
The meal was ready: grilled fish, tempura, and rice.
"The dishes look so sumptuous today," Nami exclaimed, her eyes widening. Usually, their meals consisted mostly of vegetables, with only occasional meat.
But today, not only was there grilled fish, but also fried tempura.
"You two have worked so hard for so long, of course I wanted to treat you well," Bellemere said with a smile. "Go ahead and eat."
"Okay."
Nami and Nokigao immediately picked up their chopsticks and began to eat.
Nokigao grabbed a piece of fish and put it in his mouth, his eyes lighting up as he quickly followed it with a mouthful of rice.
Nami picked up a piece of tempura, placed it in her mouth, and slowly bit down, making a satisfying crunching sound.
As they enjoyed their meal, Nokigao noticed Bellemere only eating rice and couldn't help but ask, "Aunt Bellemere, why aren't you eating?"
"I'm on a diet; I can't afford to eat these things," Bellemere replied with a smile, a grain of rice still stuck at the corner of her mouth.
Seeing her smile, Nami's eyes revealed a hint of sadness. She said nothing and lowered her head to continue eating.
After finishing their meal, Nami and Nokigao helped to clear the dishes and tidy up.
This was the household rule: Belmer was responsible for cooking, while Nami and Nokigao took care of washing the dishes and cleaning the floor.
Once they were done, Belmer waved her hand and said, "You two can go rest now."
"Aunt Bellemere, when are we going to pick oranges this afternoon?" Nokigao asked Belmer.
"You don't need to worry about that this afternoon."
Belmer smiled and added, "I can manage it by myself. There aren't many oranges left, and I want to leave some on the tree."
"Okay." Nokigao nodded and returned to the bedroom with Nami.
Their bedroom was shared, with a bunk bed; Nokigao slept on the top bunk while Nami occupied the bottom.
Nokigao climbed up to her bed and lay down for a nap.
However, Nami did not take a nap. Instead, she crawled under the table to grab a telescope, a notebook, a pen, a ruler, an old strange device with fan blades, and a watch.
"Nami, what are you going to do?" Nokigao asked curiously.
"I got a wind gauge to test out a new method for measuring the wind," Nami said with a smile as she packed the item into an old backpack.
Nokigao curiously asked, "Did you buy that wind gauge? How much did it cost?"
"I stole it."
Nami stuck out her tongue and added, "Don't tell Aunt Bellemere; she'll scold me."
"I won't say a word."
Nokigao nodded and inquired, "When do you plan to come back?"
"I don't know either," Nami replied. "Two ships are coming in the afternoon, and I want to observe their sails and draw a dynamic diagram under the boundary layer surface effect. I’ll wait until the ships dock, but I’ll be back before dinner at the latest."
"Be careful and don’t go to dangerous places," Nokigao said, resting her chin on her hands.
"I know," Nami replied, nodding. She slung the backpack over her shoulder and dashed out of the house.
"Nami, where are you going?"
A voice came from behind her; it was Belmer.
"To the beach," Nami waved her hand dismissively.
Belmer sighed, "Don't go into the water, and don't head to South; there's Shark School there."
"I know."
Nami shouted back before disappearing into the distance.
Arriving at the West Coast, Nami reached the right side of the port at the Coast, where a flag was fluttering in the wind.
Nami took out her pen, notebook, and ruler.
The wind was strong, causing her clothes to flap loudly as her notebook blew open, pages turning rapidly.
Nami pressed down on her notebook, glancing at the flag beside her. She measured the angle between the flag and straight ahead, multiplying that angle by 16 and then dividing by four to get a value.
Thirty-three.
This was in k/h, and then calculating time in seconds gave approximately 9/s.
A level five wind.
This kind of wind isn't classified as strong, but it is certainly noticeable and carries a significant force.
Nami eagerly took out her Watch and Anemometer.
She placed the Anemometer on the side, and the fan on top immediately began to spin.
Nami adjusted the time on her Watch, then pressed the switch on the Counter at the bottom of the Anemometer with her right hand. When the second hand pointed to the number one, she pressed the switch.
The Anemometer reset to zero and began recalculating.
Nami fixed her gaze on the Watch, counting each passing second. After the second hand made a full rotation, she pressed the Counter switch again.
Based on the Counter's readings, she used the Curve Formula to calculate the distance traveled by the fan, then divided that by sixty seconds to get the speed in seconds.
"97/s."
It was surprisingly 7/s more than expected.
Nami noted this result and proceeded to measure again using both the Flag Method and Anemometer, taking multiple averages.
The Flag Method recorded a wind speed of 91/s, while the Anemometer measured 97/s.
The error between the two measurements reached 6/s, which is quite significant.
It was likely due to the wind direction and the inherent inaccuracies of the Flag Method measurement itself.
It seems that measuring the wind requires professional tools.
Nami thought, glancing at the Anemometer, a smile creeping onto her lips.
This was the first piece of sailing equipment she had acquired.
Nami wandered to several other spots, continuously measuring the wind, managing to confine it within a certain range.
However, as time passed, the wind grew stronger, even reaching 11/s, which qualified as a strong wind, meeting the criteria for a level six gale.
Moreover, the clouds hung low and thick, while fish could be seen surfacing to breathe.
"It's going to rain," Nami remarked as she glanced at the sky and then at the Surface of the Sea.
The clouds were ominous, and the fish surfacing from the Water Surface were forced up by low pressure expelling dissolved oxygen, compelling them to come to the Water Surface.
Given the height of the clouds and changes in wind strength, rain was imminent.
At that time, there would be at least a level seven wind, accompanied by a storm.
Not only that, but Nami also spotted a high column of water shooting up into the air in the distance, nearly ten meters tall.
"Is that a whale?"
Nami raised her telescope and saw a massive head beneath the water column.
When a whale surfaces to breathe, it expels carbon dioxide and other gases. This rush of air from its blowhole creates an upward current, forming a water spout.
With a ten-meter water column, this whale hidden beneath the surface of the sea must be at least thirty meters long.
What a huge whale.
Nami gazed at the distant water column, but just then, it suddenly vanished as the entire whale was flipped over.
A dark shadow appeared beside the whale's body, biting down on the blue whale.
This shadow was not larger than the whale, yet the blue whale was utterly defenseless. It attempted to escape but was quickly caught up with and brutally attacked, disappearing beneath the surface of the sea.
Before long, blood began to spread out, turning the surface of the sea a deep crimson.
"What about that fish?"
Nami recalled the Black Fish she had seen eight months ago, a dolphin with immense attacking power.
It seemed that the whale Hunt had just encountered was also that same creature.
What a vicious fish it was.
As Nami looked at the gloomy sky, she gathered her belongings, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and ran toward home.
While running, she shouted, "It's going to rain! Bring in the clothes, bring in the clothes!"
With Nami's call, many residents hurried to collect their clothes from outside.
Everyone in Cocoa West Village knew that although Nami was mischievous and liked to steal, she had never misjudged the weather.
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