“Alright, alright, everyone, attention!”
While we were all excitedly sharing the treasure, a husky voice called us.
Clara, wearing a pair of sharp-looking glasses from who-knows-where, banged on the wall.
“Does anyone remember the most important reason we stopped by here this time?”
“To mess with those noble scoundrels?”
In response to Clara’s question, Titan answered in a dazed voice. Everyone laughed heartily in agreement.
“Hey! What’s with that ‘mess with them’ talk? A kid is listening!”
Nereus scolded Titan to watch his language, but it was just funny coming from him.
‘Look who’s talking.’
He had the foulest mouth of all of us. Shaking my head, I refocused on Clara.
“Mess with the nobles, sure. We do that often! But isn’t there a special reason we came all the way to this ship auction? Come on, does anyone remember?”
Amid the silence, one person raised a hand. It was Nancy.
“Nancy! Please answer~”
“Haha, Clara, you sound like a teacher today! Wasn’t it because of that new drug?”
“Correct~”
Clara let out a clear, tinkling laugh.
“Even that vile orange orchard keeper was addicted to it, wasn’t he?”
“Yeah, he was.”
“That worm even tried to harm our dear Lala.”
“Ugh, I should’ve kept him breathing a little longer.”
With just one remark from Clara, three pointless comments followed. But as soon as Clara shot them a piercing glare, everyone shut their mouths simultaneously.
“Once someone is dead, you can’t kill them again, so let’s move on! The important thing now is figuring out what they were addicted to!”
“Yeah, yeah, and our Clara worked so hard to investigate it. You all call yourselves family, yet you keep going off-topic?”
Nereus chimed in, but he was slouching against the wall, looking anything but reliable.
“Dad, sit up straight.”
Only after I muttered this did Nereus grumble and push himself up from the wall. Once he straightened his posture, his face instantly turned serious.
“It was called ‘Angel,’ wasn’t it?”
‘Angel’? What a ridiculous name. He muttered under his breath.
‘That’s right.’
Why do illegal drugs get classified as illegal? Because they bring no good to the mind or spirit. Especially with Angel, its side effect of inducing insomnia was practically poison.
Yet people still craved Angel.
Because with it, they could escape their uneasy reality.
‘And, more than anything, it was dirt cheap.’
But one day, after a particular incident, Angel’s price skyrocketed.
“The production site of the raw material is closer than expected. It’s a place we’ve been to before.”
‘Of course it is.’
The turning point was the war that broke out on Odlo Island.
The raw material for Angel came from Odlo Island. More precisely, it was the root of the Kacho tree, from which Kacho leaf were harvested.
Odlo, which had been squeezing every possible profit out of a single Kacho tree, eventually faced numerous conflicts and collapsed. The root of the Kacho tree was then classified as an A-grade prohibited item.
The Kacho leaves could save lives, but the roots could drag people into hell. This stark contrast led to the Kacho tree being nicknamed ‘The Devil’s Gift.’
‘Come to think of it, maybe it was the Kacho tree that made the people of Odlo lazy.’
After all, they were closer than anyone else to consuming the root of the Kacho tree.
“I heard that several noble families have invested here. Apparently, it’s a good side hustle for them.”
“What should we do, Captain?”
Isaac subtly asked Nereus.
To be honest, Caelum, being pirates, had no real obligation to crack down on illegal drugs. That was the Navy’s job.
But Caelum wasn’t your typical pirate crew. They always walked a path different from the rest.
“We have to go, don’t we? What choice do we have?”
Nereus crossed his arms and let out a long sigh, Phew—. His face looked as if he was utterly annoyed, but soon, his expression grew serious. Finally, he grinned slyly.
“The route is set. Let’s go, you rascals.”
At the captain’s command, the disorganized crew suddenly shared the same look in their eyes. The faces of predators at sea, ferocious and beastly.
***
On the pirate ship Caelum, there were barely 30 crew members, certainly not even close to 50.
‘Didn’t it reach around 50 when I disembarked? I must be mistaken.’
Unlike me, who was picked up as a small child from a shipwrecked vessel, every one of them had an extraordinary backstory.
Among them, there were those with personal ties to this issue.
Even if they themselves were not addicted, people close to them or even themselves often ended up ruined because of it.
That’s why the Caelum pirate crew couldn’t just stand by and watch.
How could they welcome and laugh off those who had hurt their family?
Moreover, since the captain, Nereus himself, was so repulsed by it, there was no reason for the Caelum crew to be associated with it.
‘If it’s to destroy it, that might be a different story.’
After several days of sailing, Caelum finally arrived at Odlo Island. As they disembarked, they couldn’t hide their grim expressions.
“Something feels off.”
After Isaac left to arrange lodging, Clara spoke up.
Clara, known for her outstanding scouting skills on our ship, had sharp observational abilities. When she said, ‘something feels off,’ she wasn’t just talking about the atmosphere on Odlo Island.
Not long ago, before we stopped by the Western Continent, we had spent a few days on Odlo Island.
The atmosphere now was strikingly different from back then.
“In what way?”
“The birds are much quieter.”
Gilbert’s question was answered by Nereus.
“Which birds, exactly?”
“Come on, man. How can anyone tell which bird it is just by their calls? But it’s probably the Pistele bird.”
“You’re answering it just fine, though.”
Nereus grumbled, claiming he’d been used by Gilbert again.
‘But if Nereus said it, then it’s probably right.’
Despite seeming ignorant at times, he had an oddly deep knowledge about these things. If you asked him how he knew, he’d just give you an unhelpful, ‘You figure it out while living.’
‘A Pistele bird, huh…’
The Pistele bird was an omnivore, but it had a preference for the fruit of the Kacho tree, which was why it was most commonly found on Odlo Island.
If the call of the Pistele birds had decreased, it could mean that it had become difficult to approach the Kacho trees on the island, forcing the birds to migrate to other islands.
‘Anyway, I heard there’s some sort of manufacturing farm here.’
I clenched the strap of my bag as I thought about the unknown scum behind it all.
Inside this bag were various medicinal herbs I had, well, ‘rescued’ from the ship auction the other day.
‘I left it on the ship, and who knows what might happen.’
Given the circumstances, I considered looking for a flower pot where I could plant the ‘Dipers’ herb I had gotten at the auction.
But looking at the current situation, it seemed questionable whether we’d even be able to secure a place to stay, let alone find a flower pot.
‘This wasn’t the atmosphere I remembered.’
This island was once so wealthy and fertile that there was a saying it fell because of its own laziness.
It was such a prosperous and resource-rich land.
Despite being close to the Western Continent, this island nation stubbornly refused to use the shared currency, insisting on its own island currency.
Because they never saw the need for it.
The environment was so abundant that Odlo Island’s currency held value just by existing.
‘But that’s all a story from years ago.’
They profited from the Kacho tree, and they fell because of it.
Their complacency left them unprepared for war. When a single issue arose, Odlo Island collapsed instantly.
Their currency’s value plummeted, and the island became known as a Dead Island.
But just as it was about to fall completely, one of the six Great Houses offered support, bringing it back from the brink.
‘I’m not sure which house it was, though.’
The achievements of the Sixth House were so numerous that, even with relatively clear memories of the past, it was hard to recall each one.
Moreover, information about Odlo Island was something I had only come across as a side note while studying for the Medical Association exam.
Thanks to my contributions, I didn’t have to take the Medical Association exam to obtain my certification. However, it only made me an honorary member. I didn’t want people to think I became a doctor purely by luck, so I studied even harder.
But perhaps because I had crammed all the knowledge in such a short time, I couldn’t recall the finer details of its history.
‘As long as I remember the medical knowledge, that’s all that matters.’
“Captain.”
Isaac, who had gone to ask the village chief of Odlo Island, had returned. His face looked troubled.
“Ahh— are we camping out tonight?”
“There’s not a single vacant house, apparently.”
“Then I guess we’ll be camping for a while~ Huh? Lala, what’s wrong?”
As I stood there watching the two of them talk, Nereus noticed my gaze and asked.
“Dad, we’re pirates, right?”
“Of course.”
“Pirates are usually villains, scum of the sea, and impurities, right?”
“…Yeah, well~ that’s the general perception. But where did you even learn a word like ‘impurities’?”
“Genius for a day or two, huh.”
“Well, that’s true,”
Nereus and Isaac agreed without objection. It wasn’t that I was a genius, it was just that these guys were fools.
“Since we’re bad pirates, why don’t we just take over a house instead of camping out?”
“Uh, well…”
“Since the captain isn’t great at explaining, I’ll do it for him.”
Isaac crouched down to meet my gaze and began to explain.
“First of all, there’s a Navy branch on one of the nearby islands.”
‘That rickety thing?’
Not all Navy branches are the same. Even if they preach justice, if they’re understaffed, they can’t function properly.
The Navy branch near Odlo Island was the 103rd branch. Just from the number alone, it was obvious how remote and neglected it was.
Of course, there were newly established branches that received full support from headquarters, but 103 wasn’t one of them. Being assigned there was essentially a demotion. It meant rotting away there without ever achieving any notable results.
‘There’s no way my family wouldn’t know that.’
I narrowed my eyes and glared at Nereus, who was whistling as if he didn’t know anything.
This man had infiltrated the inner workings of the 13th branch — one of the top ten most important branches — and even tampered with classified documents.
‘On top of that, he stole and altered key documents.’
Now I understood how our Caelum pirate crew had managed to survive for so long. That man had been sneaking into the Navy like it was a casual meal, creating misinformation all along.
“Secondly, it’s for comparison.”
Isaac continued explaining the second reason, which I found more acceptable.
“Odlo Island is known for having a lot of vacant houses.”
After hearing his second reason, I finally understood.
One reason Odlo Island’s currency held such significant value on its own was that Odlo Island was a famous tourist destination due to its beautiful scenery.
“Recently, due to internal issues, Odlo Island stopped accepting tourists. They only occasionally welcome passing merchant ships or adventurers. Last time, we rested here as adventurers, too.”
“It’s odd that there isn’t a single vacant house if they’re not accepting guests.”
“As expected, Lala is smart.”
Isaac playfully ruffled my hair.
As my hair became a tangled mess, Nereus suddenly burst out shouting.
“Ah! I tied that up with so much effort!”
“Did you, Captain? No wonder her hair looked like a mess.”
“I tied it yesterday and the day before that too! And back then, you said it was cute!”
“Tch, it’s Lala who’s cute, not her hair. No matter how cursed the captain’s hands may be, my child is still adorable, so I let it slide.”
