"???"
Edward was stunned. What did that Vampire Countess have to do with this now?
"No, it's just a coincidence."
Edward directly shattered her fantasy. "Can you explain to us what exactly is going on?"
Olivia glanced at a few of the nearby crew members. Aldrich immediately waved them out of the room and followed them out himself.
"Have you heard about the assassination that happened in Backlund a few days ago?"
Edward nodded. "Yeah, I heard about it. They said all the victims were prominent nobles and officials."
"That's right."
Olivia hesitated for a while, then said with a bit of embarrassment, "The twelve of us...were actually mistresses of those dead bigwigs."
"..."
Edward and Klein were stunned.
Lilith, nestled in Edward's arms, held back her urge to ask what a "mistress" was.
"So…"
"After those important people died, their successors worried that we might've overheard some scandals or secrets while being with them. So, they wanted us silenced."
"Luckily, we were at Miss Akasha's private bathhouse when it happened. She saved us. After learning about our situation, she contacted Aldrich's security company and used her connections to get us aboard the White Agate and away from Backlund."
Edward was genuinely surprised. That Akasha was unexpectedly righteous.
"Our escape only made things worse in the eyes of the nobles. It seemed to confirm we knew something, so they sent people to hunt us down. If it weren't for Aldrich, we might not have even made it onto the ship."
"But Aldrich said that with only their security company's power, it would be hard to fend off endless assassins. That's why he thought of secretly transporting us away at midnight—so during the day, we made a big show of things to make it look like we were travelling openly on the White Agate."
"We wanted others to think we were headed to Damir Harbour to transfer onto a passenger liner toward Desi Bay, when our actual destination was Bansy Harbour."
Edward's eye twitched. "Wait, you're going to Bansy Harbour?!"
"Yes, why?"
"I…I heard something happened there recently. Why would you go there?"
Olivia blinked, confused. "I haven't heard anything. Isn't Bansy Harbour one of the main supply stops on the way to Bayam?"
Edward was surprised—so the Church of the Storm didn't raze Bansy Harbour to the ground like in the original story yet?
"Klein, what happened at Bansy Harbour?" Olivia asked cautiously. "Actually, one of our girls is from Bansy, so we thought it would be better to go somewhere familiar rather than end up completely lost in a strange place."
Edward thought for a moment. "Let me put it this way—going to Bansy might be worse than letting those nobles kill you."
"..."
Klein frowned. "What happened at Bansy Harbour?" He remembered that the White Agate was also supposed to stop there.
"Mm...The residents of Bansy worship a certain evil god. The island is very dangerous."
With just that sentence, the two instantly understood. Olivia grew anxious. "Then…where can we go?"
"Honestly, there aren't many truly safe places out on the sea. Almost every island has pirates prowling nearby. A group of young women like you will always attract the wrong kind of attention."
Olivia looked dazed. "Then…what should we do?"
"If I had to name one place, Bayam might be relatively safe for now—because some pirates recently pissed off the governor there, so anti-pirate crackdowns have intensified. Just not sure how long that'll last."
Klein silently muttered: What pirates provoked Bayam's governor? Wasn't that you, Mr. Tower?
At that point, Edward asked, "Since you said Akasha arranged your escape, why didn't you choose Feynapotter?"—The vampires seemed to have a strong presence there too, right? Or maybe the Sanguines in different countries didn't really associate with each other?
"Miss Akasha did want us to go to Feynapotter, but we wanted to try a new environment…"
Seems like they got too comfortable being mistresses and hadn't seen the cruelty of the world yet—heading off into pirate-infested seas like it's a pleasure cruise.
But hey, it's hard to reason with someone who's set on dying. And since they'd only met a few times anyway, Edward didn't say more. "Alright. Since this really was a misunderstanding, I suppose we overstepped."
He glanced at Klein. "Let's head back."
"Back?"
Olivia blinked. "You're going back to the White Agate? How?"
The two men exchanged a look and said at the same time, "We'll swim."
"???"
They then found Aldrich, who was leaning against the cabin door, ready to leave.
Unsurprisingly, Aldrich extended another invitation—this time directly to both of them: "I'm willing to offer half of the commission fee for this job if the two of you are willing to stay and help."
Edward: "Forget it."
Klein: "How much?"
The two of them spoke almost at the same time, but Klein quickly composed himself and said nonchalantly, "I was just curious—how much did these noblewomen pay to hire you?"
Aldrich saw a glimmer of hope. "Altogether, they pooled 2,500 pounds. If we can get them safely to Bansy Harbour, 1,000 of that goes to you."
"So much?!"
Klein almost blurted it out. No wonder they were willing to become mistresses—being able to casually pull together that much money...
He had to admit, he was tempted.
After all, Bansy was already a stop on their route. Earning 1,000 pounds just by taking a detour? That was practically a gift.
But the moment he recalled what Edward had said about Bansy's danger, he suppressed the temptation and replied in a cold tone, "Sorry. I've got other matters to attend to."
Aldrich sighed. "Alright, I'll have someone take you two back."
"No need. We can—"
Just as Edward was about to open the Traveler's Door, several flashes of fire suddenly lit up in the distance.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A barrage of cannon fire rang out. Black cannonballs shot toward them from a ship whose silhouette could barely be made out.
Aldrich quickly pulled out a monocular and took a look, then said in shock, "Pirates?! That's impossible! At this time, how could we just so happen to run into pirates?"
Edward twisted the trajectory of over a dozen cannonballs, sending them splashing harmlessly into the surrounding sea. Casually, he remarked, "Judging by how ready they were, they've been waiting a while. Someone leaked your movements."
"Impossible! My men have followed me through life and death—they'd never betray me!"
Aldrich immediately shouted, "Prepare to fight back!"
But his bodyguards looked around in confusion—All our guns turned into snakes earlier…
"OHHHH!"
The pirate ship closed in rapidly. Even from afar, the jubilant shouts of the pirates could be heard.
Klein snapped to attention, ready to assist, but then noticed Edward looking excitedly at the incoming pirate ship.
"Why do you look so happy?" he asked.
"Heh, did you forget why Bernadette gifted me a ship full of pirates? I came out to sea for pirates."
By now, the pirate ship was within a dozen meters. A pirate with a tricorn hat drew his cutlass and shouted, "Kill all the men, and bring the women back for our pleasure!"
"Hahaha, never thought I'd see the day I shared the same interests as Backlund's noble lords!"
"OHHHHH!!"
Ropes were flung from the pirate ship, latching onto the passenger vessel. The pirates tugged hard, pulling the two ships together. Some of them, unable to wait, leapt over prematurely—only to be instantly shot dead by Aldrich and his men.
Aldrich urgently called out, "Gentlemen, we've lowered the lifeboats—take those women and escape! We'll hold them off!"
The pirate with the tricorn hat laughed wildly. "Escape? To where? You two look fresh-faced—who knows, maybe someone in our crew likes your type."
Klein: "…"
Edward strode forward and shoved Aldrich aside just as he was about to shoot. "Step back. Don't hurt my precious little pirate XP-babies."
Aldrich shouted in shock, "Are you insane?!"
In the next second, every weapon in the hands of pirates and bodyguards alike turned into ropes, which slithered up their arms and swiftly bound them from head to toe.
The pirate captain's face changed. "Tough nut! Retreat!"
Without hesitation, he jumped overboard—only to be rebounded in mid-air by an unseen force and slammed back onto the deck, where ropes instantly wrapped around him.
In less than thirty seconds, the entire pirate crew—dozens of them—lay scattered across the deck in utter disarray, tightly bound.
It wasn't just Aldrich and the bodyguards who were dumbfounded—even Klein couldn't help feeling a twinge of dread.
At that moment, Edward hopped onto the pirate ship and called over to Klein, "Looks like I can't stay on the White Agate anymore. I'll just take off from here. What about you? Coming with me, staying here, or want me to take you back to the ship?"
The "go with Edward" option was immediately ruled out by Klein.
This voyage was supposed to be for mermaid-hunting—and more importantly, for role-playing and growth.
But with Edward around? How the hell was he supposed to "grow"? And playing a persona in front of someone who knew you well? Embarrassing.
Returning to the White Agate, though…
He glanced at the women trembling in the corner—several of them were quietly sobbing in fear.
Klein hesitated for a moment, then said, "I'll stay. And earn a bit of coin while I'm at it."
"Alright. Be careful."
Edward used [Magnify] and [Distortion] to rapidly steer the pirate ship away. As he left, he suddenly thought of the coin Klein had tossed earlier in the day:
Tails: Not supposed to disembark at Damir Harbour.
Turns out the true meaning was—they'd leave before even reaching Damir.
What a destiny compass!
Once the pirate ship had disappeared into the horizon, Klein stepped up to Aldrich and said coldly, "I want 1,500 pounds."
Aldrich froze—then broke into a delighted smile. "Done! No problem!"
After a pause, he asked, "By the way, how should I address you?"
Klein grinned. "Gehrman Sparrow."
Aldrich's smile froze on his face.
———
[Note]: Don't forget to VOTE. It keeps me motivated.