I was trapped in a dark, narrow space where not even a single ray of light could enter. It was difficult to tell how much time had passed there. In a space where there was absolutely nothing, the only sounds I could hear were my breathing and the beating of my heart.
It was agonizing.
Terrifying, horrifying. If I had the chance, I wanted to beg for forgiveness.
***
“…Hah!”
I woke up from sleep, gasping for breath. My body was soaked in cold sweat and felt incredibly heavy.
‘A dream.’
I mumbled to myself without realizing it.
‘I can’t believe I’ve had this dream again.’
It was a dream I used to have often during my time in the Navy. However, since my return, I hadn’t had it even once, so I had forgotten about it.
That vivid terror from back then.
‘I’ve grown too accustomed to this life.’
Honestly, I hadn’t just grown accustomed; it seemed like I was living as if my previous life had never existed. Trembling, I looked around me.
I don’t think getting used to this life is a bad thing. As a doctor, I have remarkable talent and knowledge, and in the future, even if everyone tires of me, they won’t abandon me because of my abilities.
‘But if I keep having dreams like this, that’s not something I want.’
Was it because of that dream? I didn’t feel like doing the childish things or saying the silly words I occasionally did while hanging out with Caelum recently.
Familiar yet unfamiliar…
Yes, it felt like I had returned to who I was during my Navy days.
‘This is unpleasant.’
If anything, this was me acting my age. If my attitude became that much more mature, I should have felt comfortable, but strangely, I felt unsettled. Was it because my body was still young?
“…It’s cold.”
Caelum’s pirate crew, who had been feasting all night on various foods, shamelessly devoured the additional supplies the Odlo Island brought them and cleaned out everything.
I didn’t eat anything since I was already full at that time.
“Urghhh…”
“…….”
“Grooogh… Ugh.”
“…….”
“…….”
“Are….. are you alive?”
“Drooo—”
“Ah, seriously.”
Slap! I smacked Nereus’s side with my palm, and he turned over a few times while lying down.
Judging by the way he was sprawled next to me, snoring and clicking his tongue, it was impossible to guess how many plates he had eaten.
‘He probably ate the most.’
I thought he must have been possessed. It was quite fascinating since he usually didn’t eat that much.
‘After that, one by one, they all started feeling sleepy and headed to their rooms.’
Normally, Gilbert would have grabbed a few people to clean up after the meal, but today, even he seemed tired and didn’t say anything.
‘Well, as soon as we arrived at Odlo Island, they were busy setting up accommodations, and then… um.’
Did they even do anything?
Preparing for camping was only something they did when there weren’t any places to stay nearby, or when the ship was far away. But in this case, the ship was right in front of them, so there was no need for camping preparations.
It all started because Nereus suddenly said, ‘I feel like camping today~’ and insisted on a barbecue party, dragging everyone into it. Even though it wasn’t necessary, they went along with it.
Still, knowing the monstrous stamina of this crew, it didn’t seem plausible that setting up a few tents would exhaust them. So what else did they do…?
‘Really, nothing much.’
In short, these people had been practically playing for days. And now they’re sleeping like this? They must have an easy life.
“Dad, Dad.”
Looking at the color of the sky, morning was approaching anyway. I decided to wake up Nereus to help clean up what wasn’t tidied the night before.
“Dad?”
“………”
But he showed no sign of waking up.
Come to think of it, that was to be expected, right? I had slapped his side earlier, and he didn’t wake up. Why would he wake up just because I called him a few times?
“Dad, wake up. You said you’d tie my hair every day. And let’s clean up together.”
“……….”
Was he pretending to sleep? I checked his breathing just in case, but it was steady and calm.
‘How much did he drink last night?’
I glared at Nereus and gave up, deciding to wake someone else. But as I checked on a few others, I noticed something strange.
‘Nobody is waking up…?’
It wasn’t just a suspicion; pirates didn’t have a legitimate profession. At best, it was questionable whether you could even call it a profession.
As pirates, it was customary to always have a few people awake to guard against attacks. No, actually, with Caelum’s usual routine, they would have been drinking and partying from dawn till morning.
They loved to party, and since they weren’t sailing, why not?
Even when they drank on the deck every night, they managed to pace themselves. Once they reached an island, they would party until dawn, have a bowl of Gilbert’s hangover soup, and then go about their business.
They were usually livelier than me, even when I went to bed early.
‘But now, they’re all asleep before 2 a.m.’
Because of my young body, I got tired quickly and didn’t notice. Caelum’s crew never all slept at the same time. No matter how much they partied, there was always at least one or two standing guard at night.
In other words, this situation wasn’t normal for us.
‘Could it be that there’s already a spy among us?’
The thought sent a chill through my body.
‘No, that can’t be.’
But could it really not be? In my previous life, I was nothing more than a useless, ordinary child. If anything had happened, there was a 100% chance I wouldn’t have noticed.
But what if? What if that’s true?
‘In the first place, we never returned to Odlo Island in my previous life.’
We didn’t loot the treasure of the Baire pirates or attend the onboard auction. The fact that Caelum even acquired information about ‘Ange’ was entirely new.
‘What has changed?’
Why is it that everyone but me has fallen asleep?
‘Could there truly already be a spy among us?’
I revisited the idea I had dismissed earlier. The unidentified spy selling information about Caelum to the Navy happens about 20 years later.
I had planned to make Caelum strong enough in 20 years that no force would dare to touch us. Even if one or two spies stirred trouble, they wouldn’t cause any real damage.
The reason I believed the person who betrayed Caelum and the one who abandoned me were the same was simple. First, Nereus would never entrust my safety to some lowly crew member. Look at how much he adores me now. If he weren’t the captain, Nereus himself would have stayed behind with me.
That meant the spy was someone who had firmly settled within Caelum and also knew of my situation after I was left alone on the island. Caelum didn’t know whether I was dead or alive, and even during my time with the Navy as Mare Akera, I never revealed any connection to Caelum.
Could someone cruel and insane really spend about 20 years living in Caelum, only to sell its information to the Navy once its notoriety peaked—
That’s what I had thought, but…
‘If so, then is their current action because of me?’
The only person who has changed in Caelum is me.
If my actions led Caelum to grow faster, and the hidden spy decided to nip it in the bud 20 years earlier—
‘No, this can’t be.’
While Nereus might be the strongest in 20 years, he wasn’t that now. Actually, even in 20 years, he was eventually captured.
I ran barefoot, frantically searching for anyone who might still be awake.
‘No one!’
I opened every room as quickly as I could, shaking everyone who was sleeping, but none of them moved at all.
‘W-why?’
I slumped to the ground in despair. That’s when I sensed a presence behind me. Picking up a stick nearby, I swung it at whoever was there.
“P-Polaris. That’s dangerous.”
“E-Ethan?”
Ethan, dressed as neatly as usual, looked at me with a stunned expression. He seemed slightly surprised, staring at me before leaning down.
“Were you very scared?”
“……….”
Ethan reached out his hand and wiped around my eyes.
“Don’t cry. I’m here, alright? Why are you crying so much?”
“E-Ethan. Everyone… they’re not waking up.”
“…No wonder. The first mate still hasn’t woken up at this hour. He must still be asleep.”
Ethan glanced around, then got to his feet.
“Come on, take my hand. Let’s look around.”
“O-Okay.”
Together with Ethan, I wandered through the eerily quiet surroundings.
‘Even the fire’s out.’
Even the bonfire, which had been blazing last night, had gone out entirely, leaving no smoke at all. That made me realize just how strange the situation was.
“…………?”
Then, my eyes fell on the pile of empty dishes near the bonfire.
‘That’s….’
“Polaris, what’s wrong?”
I could feel Ethan’s gaze as I stood frozen in place. Still, I couldn’t bring myself to move, so I asked him,
“E-Ethan, about last night. What food did the people of Odlo Island bring us?”
“They brought plenty of food, yes.”
“Do you remember what you ate?”
Ethan’s eyebrows furrowed at my question.
“That part I can’t recall. You know my memory well, don’t you?”
“How do you treat Tarhaki disease?”
“With boiled bark from the Brul tree and seeds of Zuyu fruit, drinking the decoction for three days while keeping warm.”
“Did you eat the ceviche last night?”
“No, I didn’t. I’m not a fan of raw fish.”
“Got it! Thanks for answering!”
That was enough.
Although Ethan often forgot little things, he never neglected his duties as a doctor, and once he memorized a treatment, he never forgot it.
I thought maybe if I kept asking him questions, I could get what I wanted—and it worked. Ethan himself seemed surprised at how quickly he had answered.
‘I need to check this.’
Letting go of Ethan’s hand, I ran to the pile of dishes. I lightly inspected the dishes that had once held food prepared by the people of Odlo Island, and my suspicions were confirmed.
‘What kind of traitor is this?!!’
Odlo Island’s warm climate meant it was a haven for insects. In such an environment, if you didn’t clean dishes immediately after eating, bugs would swarm them. But except for the first few plates they brought, there wasn’t a single trace of bugs on the rest.
‘These people, are they putting drugs in the food?’
Based on the dishes, the food contained the same sleeping agent I had almost consumed at the auction. That drug had a bitter taste, so it was often brewed in tea. However, one way to neutralize its bitterness was by mixing it with animal fat.
But the effectiveness of the drug diminished when exposed to high heat, so it was usually combined with bitter teas.
‘But ceviche, made with fatty fish, doesn’t require heat, making it a perfect medium.’
Odlo Island’s ceviche used red fish, fulfilling the condition of animal fat.
I recalled the other foods Odlo Island had provided.
Every single dish contained animal fat, and they had even gone out of their way to bring tea that supposedly aided digestion.
‘It’s a good thing I didn’t eat anything.’
At the time, I was already full, so I hadn’t taken a single bite. Ethan, too, had barely eaten anything, given his notoriously small appetite.
Caelum’s crew members were generally robust compared to others.
‘They didn’t expect this.’
The Odlo Islanders couldn’t have anticipated that our pirate crew would be so healthy that even a potent sleeping agent wouldn’t fully affect them.
So they must have hurriedly brought more food, waiting for us to consume it.
I looked at the plates, untouched by insects, and grimaced.
The amount they used was enough that it was a miracle everyone was still alive.
