"What are your plans going forward?"
Silas stowed away the weak, unconscious Tracy, then turned to look at Klein.
"If you're not in a hurry, why don't you come aboard my ship for the victory celebration?"
"...Never mind." Klein hesitated a moment, glancing at the silent Azik Eggers in the distance, somewhat worried about his mentor.
"I'll stay with Mr. Eggers for a while, then leave with him."
"Fair enough."
Silas cast a covert glance at Azik, using his High Spirituality to observe the man's condition, and found that although he had grown cold and heavy, the gentleness at his core had not faded.
"Then I'll see you later. I'm off, I still need to go meet up with my men."
The "see you later" naturally meant aboard the Grey Fog. By then, he would still have a share of the spoils to give Klein.
So Klein followed Azik through the Spirit World and left, while Silas dragged the two halves of the "Black Death" off into the distance.
Soon, he spotted his own fleet out on the sea. They had spread out in a fan formation, and under the intimidating show of force led by the ironclad warship, they had surrounded a number of pirate ships even greater than their own.
Judging by the flags flying above them, these were Tracy's subordinates. Several of the ships were already badly battered, on the verge of sinking.
The pirates themselves had all been gathered onto a single ship, with the black muzzles of guns and cannons trained on them.
"Captain!"
When Silas's men saw him dragging in the wreckage of the "Black Death," they immediately let out a cheer.
Meanwhile, when Vice Admiral Ailment's crew saw the captured Tracy, the last traces of hope faded from their faces.
"Got them all?"
Silas landed on the deck of the "Doe" and asked First Mate Anderson.
"Come now, Captain, with a Sequence 5 like me leading the charge, how could any of them possibly get away?" Anderson said, sidling up with a grin.
"There were even two clever ones, good swimmers, who tried to jump ship and dive off to escape. I hauled them right back up myself."
"So, what's going on over there?"
Silas tilted his chin, pointing ahead.
There, Sofia Einhorn stood on top of a pile of treasure. She was excitedly waving an ivory dagger, showing it off proudly to the other pirates.
"Uh, the princess insisted on joining the plundering herself." Anderson looked uncharacteristically embarrassed.
"She said, since she was already on a pirate ship, she might as well experience it firsthand. Honestly, looks to me like she's had the time of her life today."
"..."
Silas shook his head. "Forget it, whatever."
"Captain, the inventory of everything seized from these ships is finished. Here's the list."
Boatswain "Sea Serpent" Walter hurried over and handed him a sheet of parchment.
The sailors around them held their breath, watching him eagerly, waiting for him to speak.
Silas lowered his head and read through the list.
Several thousand pounds in cash, a large quantity of jewelry, gunpowder and ammunition, food supplies, various sundries, and a handful of pirate ships still in relatively good condition.
Not much of a fortune for a pirate general, still somewhat lacking compared to an island governor. He soon set the parchment down, looked around at everyone, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.
"Right, have someone go pick through the 'Black Death' over there too, and add whatever's found to the list," he said. "Same rules as before: sundries and supplies go to the common stores, cash and valuables get split among everyone. We'll hold a celebration feast tonight."
"Ohhhhh!"
That was exactly what the sailors had been waiting to hear. They immediately threw their arms up and cheered.
"As for the pirates... Anderson, have them tied up and kept under guard. Once we make land, bundle them together with Vice Admiral Ailment and sell the lot off together."
Silas said.
He'd already killed enough pirates for one day; he couldn't be bothered to kill any more of them.
"Yes, sir!"
Anderson and Walter answered.
That night, the fleet anchored beside the hidden island where Vice Admiral Ailment's crew had previously been lying low, and the sailors held a grand celebratory feast aboard the "Doe."
The loud cheers carried out of the dining hall, startling awake the birds resting on the island.
Silas did not attend the feast. Instead, he stayed in the captain's cabin, thinking through what needed to be done next.
Scritch, scritch!
He quickly wrote out a list on the table in front of him. This was important intelligence that Ma'am M had dug out of Tracy's memories:
"Mad Captain" Connors Victor. He had ties to numerous slave traders in Backlund, making him an important node in the Demoness Sect's slave transport network.
Qonas Kilgor had mentioned him before, but Tracy's intelligence was more detailed, even including where he would be passing through in the near future.
"Enchantress" Lilith Elena, responsible for bewitching the minds of the island natives, manipulating their will, and delivering them onto the ships.
"Crooked Mouth" Joey, an island native who used his own advantages to work for the Demoness Sect.
One name after another went down onto the paper. Following each name was the target's range of activity.
It had to be said, Tracy really was worthy of her second-tier status; she had connections with a large number of grassroots operatives responsible for human trafficking, which was a huge help to Silas.
Once I deal with Vice Admiral Ailment and her pirates tomorrow, I'll go clean out this lot, Silas thought to himself.
Those witches might receive word from the Saintess of White and flee, so they need to be handled first, with top priority.
After that would come the captains piloting the transport ships, since they had the means to move quickly. Last would be the traitors preying on their own people.
Once he had thought this through clearly, he put the parchment away and spread out a larger blank sheet of paper on the table.
Swish!
A black key surfaced in the palm of Silas's hand. He pressed the back of his hand against the paper, and following the tip of the key, marked down a black dot with his pen, recording the key's rotation once again.
He had been doing this on and off ever since the ship had anchored that afternoon, and now he had finally pinned down another fan-shaped angle.
Silas marked his current position on the sea chart, then, following the direction, precisely drew in the fan shape, casting a broad shadow that overlapped for the most part with another fan-shaped shadow he had drawn earlier.
"It's coming together..."
he murmured to himself, eyes burning with intensity.
Although the overlapping area of the two fan shapes on the map was still large, translating to a considerable distance in the real world, at least his approach was on the right track.
As long as he kept recording from different points at sea, this range would sooner or later narrow down to something manageable.
Silas told himself, and put the sea chart away.
"Meow~"
In the darkness beneath the table, a pair of eyes glowing blue floated in midair, an eerie sight, though the sound they made was at least pleasant to hear.
Come to think of it, the Queen had written him a letter before, telling him that before she set off to search for the Black King, she hoped the two of them could meet once more.
He'd better not forget, when the time came...
Thinking this, he reached down, scooped the black cat up out of the darkness, and cradled it in his arms.
—
The Sonia Sea, on a certain island.
"My lord Shanks, did the ritual succeed?"
"Admiral of Blood" Senior asked respectfully, gazing at the altar strewn with severed heads, entrails, severed limbs, and blood.
"It succeeded."
came a cold voice from within the curtains surrounding the altar. "Now we just wait for the god's response."