‘Trying to scam us, huh?’
That manager doesn’t know much, but at least he just saved his life. Trying to scam pirates like that? Clara may look like that, but she’s one of the strongest fighters in our pirate crew.
Among her peers, there was no one who could match her strength or speed.
Although Nereus may be a bit slow-witted, in moments like this, his instincts are impressively sharp. He realized long ago that the necklace, adorned with numerous jewels, was worth far more than the sum of its parts. He knew it wasn’t something that would be casually put up in a place like this.
With one of Clara’s hands positioned beneath the decorations of her dress, we found ourselves in a room with the manager, the four of us, and two guards.
‘Three people can be dealt with, even without Nereus getting involved.’
Our original goal was to get inside, and since that goal had already been achieved, it wouldn’t be hard to swiftly subdue any obstacles and walk away unnoticed. Our skills were enough to avoid detection, and even if we were discovered, it wouldn’t matter.
‘We could just kill them all…’
Yes, if we killed them all, the absurd notion of ‘assassination’ would become a reality, and we could eliminate them in an instant.
The manager only showed himself at the auction house after all the bidding had ended. So, there was nothing to worry about.
‘I’m such a soft-hearted person.’
It seemed like the atmosphere grew more tense after my comment, but I didn’t care. I could guess what the person in front of me was thinking. Fortunately, they seemed to have enough sense not to think about killing us and taking the necklace for themselves, even though the mood had turned colder.
A shipboard auction was, essentially, a black market. Everything that happened at sea was under the jurisdiction of the navy. The navy had always worked to create clean, safe seas.
But despite their efforts, shipboard auctions had never been eradicated—not even by the time I turned twenty-six. It was as if the organizers knew exactly where naval inspections would happen.
This implied that the real owner of these auctions had immense power. No one would dare to act so boldly in a place like this.
An unknown, mysterious figure who entered without a name or a ticket—yet in their hands, they carried at least a national treasure-level ornament.
‘And coincidentally, the clothes we’re wearing are all premium products from Lunatic.’
Lunatic’s premium line had always been limited to a few custom pieces. Shamelessly, we’d snatched them up. But since we’re pirates, it’s fine. If the navy did something like that, it would be a huge scandal.
‘It’s fine. We’re pirates, after all.’
I uncrossed my arms and tilted my chin upward. It felt like I was copying Nereus’s mannerisms.
“Hey, Lala.”
“………”
“I like the way you’re talking all cool, but you’ve got cocoa on your mouth.”
…No wonder my lips felt ticklish.
After rubbing the area around my mouth roughly, I once again focused my gaze, looking sharp and determined.
“Lala wants some gold bars.”
Earlier, Clara’s performance was like that of a ‘An overly indulged lady with a life of constant ease,’ wasn’t it?
“Then I should do it too.”
“Lala doesn’t know about fees or percentages because she’s too young for that.”
I ignored the gaze of the adults, which seemed to say, ‘She sure said that clearly for someone who doesn’t know it.’
“Cash. I don’t like paper money. Gold coins or gold bars.”
“Then about the installments…”
“Do I look like a little kid?”
The manager’s expression seemed to say, ‘But you just said you were too young for that,’ but why would I care? People with no shame push forward boldly, even if their words contradict themselves.
“Or does this auction allow installment payments after bidding? Do you guys do that too? Then let’s go with that.”
“…….…”
“In that case, we’ll participate in today’s auction and bid on everything—and pay it all in installments.”
“Oh, Lala. Do you even know the word ‘installment payment’?”
“Yup, I became a genius after watching my life flash before my eyes. I’ll be smarter and more thorough than Dad.”
Without any rebuttal, Nereus whistled and lounged back on the sofa.
I once again widened my eyes as much as I could and spoke with a sharp gaze.
“Manager, how much can you stretch this?”
***
“I’m living the good life thanks to my daughter~”
Nereus chuckled like a villain as he sprawled on the VIP room sofa. A bag filled with gold bars lay on the table.
While glancing around the luxurious VIP room, I picked up a cookie from the glass plate and munched on it.
“What about Clara?”
“She’s out there with the nobles in the hall. Clara handles those snobbish people better than anyone.”
‘Well, that makes sense.’
Clara was originally from a noble family in the western continent. However, after being disowned for some reason, she became part of the Caelum Pirate Crew family.
No one knew exactly why she was disowned, but…
‘They said she was found on the verge of drowning at sea.’
What was certain was that Clara had been in enough pain to want to die back then. I didn’t hear it from Clara directly, but from Nancy. At that time, Gerard and Dexter found Clara on the brink of death. That event became the catalyst for the three of them to become very close friends.
I was curious about her backstory, but since everyone in the Caelum Pirate Crew had their own stories, I didn’t feel the need to ask.
“Then, why are you here, Dad?”
“To be a threat.”
“Hmm…”
I eyed Nereus suspiciously, then opened the box of gold bars.
“Can I take a few of these?”
“What for?”
“They’re playing a game down there. I want to play too.”
To be precise, it was a gambling den. I didn’t know if anyone would take a kid like me seriously, but wasn’t this an illegal auction house? There was no way there would be many people here with common sense.
‘They’re probably thinking of scoring big and using it for the upcoming bids.’
Nereus would also be aware of this type of environment.
“Tsk. It’s best not to get hooked on it.”
“I’ll just play a little.”
I had no intention of actually gambling. The plan was to pretend that I had lost all my money gambling, and then acquire the item I wanted.
‘Would they even sell it to a kid?’
I didn’t expect much from the moral compass of the people here. They might not kill or humiliate others, but that was about it.
If I could offer them a big enough sum of money to ignore their shallow ethics, they wouldn’t refuse.
‘I brought it just in case.’
In my pocket, I had the pearl necklace that Nereus had given me to ‘play with.’ I also picked up two gold bars from the stash. Just as I was about to stash them away, a large hand reached in and blocked the bag.
“Are two enough?”
“Huh?”
“Here, take more. Take more.”
Nereus shoved two more gold bars into my hands. When I glanced up at him, I saw him grinning slyly.
“It’s the money we earned thanks to my daughter—use as much as you want. But I’ll borrow some too, alright?”
“Huh? Oh, okay.”
Nereus took the entire bag of gold bars and casually strode out of the room. His movements were so natural that I didn’t even realize something was off.
I stayed in the room alone for a while before it finally hit me.
‘That man… isn’t he a thief?!’
Right.
Not much different from being a pirate, is it?
I hurried out of the room, but by the time I reached the hallway, there wasn’t a single trace of Nereus to be seen. I ran down the hall, glancing around, and spotted Clara gracefully chatting with the nobles, wearing an air of elegance.
“Big sis! Clara, big sis~!”
“Oh my, it’s my little Lara. What’s the matter, dear?”
Her voice was sweeter than usual. It wasn’t her usual pleasant, low tone, so it made me shiver with goosebumps.
“Have you seen Dad?”
“Ca… Dad?”
“Yeah! He left with the gold!”
“Oh, my.”
Clara wasn’t surprised. Instead, she smiled calmly.
“Then try checking the game room. If Dad left with gold on this ship, there’s only one place he’d go.”
Did Nereus have a gambling hobby? No matter how much I searched my memory, I only remembered him playing lighthearted betting games with the crew, but never gambling with actual money.
‘And he always lost those too!’
I sprinted toward the game room. What if my words earlier had provoked him into actually gambling? But the moment I arrived at the game room, all my worries vanished.
“This guy is insane, isn’t he?!”
“Th-this probability makes no sense?!”
Amid the voices of amazement and agitation, Nereus was at the center of it all.
‘W-what is that?’
I stood there, dumbfounded, staring at the table where Nereus was sitting. He hadn’t been gone long, yet chips were already piled up around him like a mountain.
“If you don’t have any chips to bet, you can even bet the accessories you’re wearing.”
By now, his appearance had devolved into that of a carefree delinquent. He smirked, picking up the most expensive black chip and twirling it between his fingers, taunting his opponent.
“D-damn it! W-wait here! I’ll go exchange more chips!”
“Sure, sure, take your time~ There’s plenty of time before the auction begins~”
As I stood there, dumbfounded, an elderly man next to me shook his head and muttered.
“Taking it all like that… He’s lucky if they don’t throw him overboard.”
‘Good thing Nereus isn’t a weakling.’
A gambling den is a business. If one person wins too much and wipes them out, the house suffers major losses. Naturally, they’d want to get rid of him.
‘I’m sure Nereus has a plan, right?’
I saw his face, filled with excitement and laughter.
‘…He has a plan, right?’
Maybe he did. Maybe he didn’t….
I let out a deep sigh and, in an attempt to calm my mind, I took a deep breath. That’s when a peculiar scent wafted into my nose.
“……….!”
It was a familiar smell. It was so faint that if I weren’t a sensitive child, I might have missed it—a strange, fishy scent.
I knew this smell very well.
‘It’s this guy!’
The old man next to me, who was worrying about Nereus, was actually a vendor who regularly sold poison at this shipboard auction.
This scent was from the medicinal herbs used to mask the smell of poison.
‘There’s a telltale sign to it, too.’
Although the herb was widely known as ‘odorless and colorless,’ when mixed with the scent of poison, it left behind a subtle fishy aftertaste. This was why assassins avoided using this herb—it would be like announcing to the world that they were carrying poison.
I tugged on the old man’s clothes.
“Grandpa.”
“Hm? Who are you, little one?”
I looked up at him with the most innocent, childlike expression I could muster and said,
“My name is Lala.”
Blink, blink.
“Grandpa, there are so many people here, and my legs hurt… Can you take me somewhere to play?”
A little cuteness to take ten steps forward.*
Pretending to be a clumsy kid, I ‘accidentally’ dropped a gold bar. The surrounding onlookers stirred, and I could hear the old man gulp.
‘What do you think? You won’t just leave me here, right?’
If he was a man with no greed, he’d be worried about leaving a child with gold all alone. If he was greedy, he’d be tempted by the sight of the gold.
Plus, I was dressed like a wealthy child.
Of course, anyone would assume I was the child of a guest. Nobody would dare harm a child in such a public setting and take their gold.
“W-well, alright then. How about we go play somewhere with grandpa?”
“Yay!”
He would likely lead me to the area he was in charge of. After all, there weren’t many ‘hidden’ places on this ship.
🍓; *A little cuteness to take ten steps forward, is a metaphorical expression that suggests using charm or an adorable demeanor to achieve a significant advantage or progress in a situation.
