...
About twenty minutes had passed.
The previously calm sea started to grow more turbulent.
The hull of the Autumn Maru began to rock violently.
Several sailors working on deck suddenly lost their footing and fell to the ground.
As they staggered to their feet and looked out to sea,
the pitch-black sea surface billowed with waves, especially in the distance where large white objects appeared and disappeared amongst the swells.
The white objects tumbling in the waves seemed to be far from the Autumn Maru.
Logically, in the night, the sailors shouldn't have been able to see such distant objects with the naked eye.
But for some reason, those things that surfaced and submerged on the sea, constantly moving, were unusually conspicuous.
"Whoo—"
"Humm—"
The sailors started to hear noises coming from all around the sea.
The sounds were ethereal and prolonged, lonely and sorrowful.
It was like the ocean's heavy sigh.
The sailors looked at each other—
"Whale calls?"