‘This… this light?’
A light was shining from inside my bag. It was a phenomenon I had never seen before, yet somehow, it felt strangely familiar. As the light radiated outward, everything that had been moving under the power of Ekati Terminus suddenly came to a halt.
Panicked, I hurriedly reached into my bag to see what was inside.
‘What did I even put in here?’
I vaguely remembered packing valuable items and certain medicinal ingredients that would be troublesome if others found out about them…
“Oceanis?”
The Oceanis inside my bag was glowing. I picked up one of them.
‘I’ve never heard of anything like this happening before.’
The light from the Oceanis grew stronger the closer it got to Ekati Terminus. After hesitating for a moment, I decided to move the Oceanis even closer—until it was nearly touching Ekati Terminus.
At that moment, the Oceanis’ light was gradually absorbed into Ekati Terminus, dimming until it completely disappeared.
“It’s stopped…”
At the same time, the deathly energy writhing at my feet receded back into the ground, restoring the forest to its former tranquility. Bewildered, I looked around.
Even Ekati Terminus’ expression appeared peaceful.
Though unconscious from the darkness, her breathing remained steady and even.
In contrast, the once-radiant Oceanis had turned into a pitch-black pebble.
‘This is strange.’
Could the Oceanis actually cure the darkness? But Oceanis had already been widely distributed across the continent. If it truly had healing properties, someone should have discovered it long ago.
‘For now…’
For now, it was best to get out of here. Nodding to myself, I stood up.
“Lala!!”
“Lala!”
The earlier commotion had drawn Nereus and Isaac, who came rushing toward me, their faces filled with urgency.
“Dad! I’m over here!”
“Whoa. What are you doing in a place like this? Huh? You’re a bit far from where we got separated earlier.”
“Uh… well, it was because of a stranger.”
Hearing my response, Nereus finally turned his gaze toward Ekati Terminus. In the meantime, Isaac, already on high alert, stepped forward and distanced us from Ekati Terminus.
“This person said it was dangerous for a kid like me to be alone here and decided to take care of me. But she suddenly collapsed—probably because of poor health.”
“Really?”
“I think she’s someone in charge of this place. She spoke to me so casually, as if she was familiar with everything here. She even asked if I was an outsider.”
“Then she might be a worker from Terminus Castle.”
“Captain, stay cautious. She could be a criminal living in this area.”
“Aren’t we criminals from the outside?”
“………”
“Whenever Dad says something logical, we have nothing to say.”
“Hey, you brat.”
After handing me over to Isaac, Nereus left for a moment and returned, dragging some tightly bound individuals behind him.
“Dad, who are they?”
“Human traffickers. Found them over there.”
What kind of person talks about human traffickers as if they were picking up fruit from a market? I stared at him in disbelief. Seeing my expression, Nereus continued explaining.
“Looks like they were conducting slave trades in the Black Forest. After shaking them down, it turns out this place was also being used to secretly deal with assassination targets and other high-value transactions. In other words, Terminus isn’t directly connected to Odlo Island.”
The exploitation on Odlo Island had likely gone on for a long time. More importantly, the production and distribution of Angel wouldn’t have been limited to just Odlo Island.
If Terminus had been regularly using the Black Forest as a trading hub, then even if the general public was unaware, the underworld should have at least caught wind of it.
‘The people Nereus captured…’
I quickly scanned them.
‘Their earlobes are cut.’
There were faint scars showing that their earlobes had been split in two and stitched back together. This was a distinguishing mark of a certain guild in the underworld. It was so subtle that one wouldn’t notice it unless they were specifically looking for it.
But I knew what it meant.
Back when I was in the navy, that guild had grown so large that hiding its name was no longer an option.
‘Even if it’s about ten years later now, they must still be quite powerful. No one without significant courage or confidence would dare conduct business in the Black Forest.’
Even Barkinfo, the information island where all sorts of intelligence were traded, had failed to gather proper data on the Black Forest.
Barkinfo was a hub for buying and selling information, yet no details about the Black Forest had ever surfaced? The only logical conclusion was that continuing secret trades here was far more profitable than selling information about the place.
‘But if it turns out that Terminus is actually the mastermind behind the production and distribution of Angel… that information is worth even more.’
Barkinfo might already have information about the Black Forest and the illicit trades happening there. But the fact that it hadn’t been sold yet meant it wasn’t considered useful enough.
The Sixth Family was an entity about which one could never have enough information. In other words, this suggested that Terminus truly had nothing to do with these events.
‘Wait a minute, but there’s no way Nereus doesn’t know about this.’
Wouldn’t it have been cheaper to just ask around at Barkinfo, even if it meant paying a higher commission? But Nereus acted as if he were completely unaware, feigning ignorance.
‘Does he have another motive?’
“Then should we just leave these guys here and make a run for it?”
“Sounds good.”
There was no need to handle things too cleanly. After all, pirates weren’t exactly champions of justice.
“If the head of Terminus gets wind of this incident, they’ll have to respond in one way or another—whether positively or negatively.”
“You made sure they’re properly tied up, right?”
“Of course, of course. I even checked if they had any weapons on them.”
It was a perfect job. We all nodded in agreement and quickly left the Black Forest.
***
At least, that’s what we thought.
“What the hell is all this?”
Gilbert was staring at us with sharp, narrowed eyes.
“………”
“…Ahem.”
“Lala doesn’t know anything.”
The reason for this sudden situation was parked right in front of the inn we had rented—it was a massive carriage.
It would have been fine if it were just a big carriage, but…
“Why is Terminus Castle inviting you lot?!”
“That’s what I’d like to know. Maybe I have a secret birthright or something?”
“Tsk. We handled everything perfectly, though.”
Nereus and Isaac answered Gilbert’s scolding with nonchalance. In response, Gilbert smacked both of them hard on the head before turning to look at me.
“Hic.”
Gilbert was the first mate of our ship, but in moments like these, he seemed even more intimidating than the captain.
Where did all that strength come from in such a lean body…?
“Polaris… yeah, it’s not your fault. What else can you do when your so-called father is like this?”
“Uh… right.”
In reality, I was probably the one who had caused the biggest problem. I clutched my bag tightly—the one holding Desmer and the now-blackened Oceanis—and kept my mouth shut.
“Anyway, they’re just sitting there waiting for us, so wouldn’t it be better if we went and checked it out?”
Isaac rubbed the top of his head as he spoke. Nereus agreed.
“Yeah, yeah. If we keep dragging this out, they’ll get suspicious. What if they start thinking we’re actually pirates?”
“How would they even determine that just from this? Are you kidding me?!”
“But, but Dad Gilbert—”
“Hmm? What is it?”
The moment I called out to him, Gilbert, who had been scolding us fiercely just moments ago, suddenly softened his tone. It was only natural that everyone around us gave him strange looks.
“Wouldn’t it be better if we went? I mean, they personally came all this way to invite us. That might not necessarily be a bad thing.”
“And why do you think that, Polaris? Can you explain?”
“The Tenus Territory is a place that has developed through the efforts of many people. Even though it’s near the empire’s borders, the Head of Terminus wouldn’t want to do anything that could harm it. After all, it’s been maintained by their ancestors and descendants for generations. If they publicly invite people like this and then those guests suddenly go missing, what kind of rumors would spread?”
If dangerous rumors started to circulate, it wouldn’t be good for Tenus at all. The possibility of the locals keeping quiet about it did exist, but I had reason to believe otherwise.
“Besides, the reason we picked this particular inn over the others was because every other place was already full, right?”
There were several inns in Tenus Territory. The one we were staying in, however, was located in the most remote part of town, near the Black Forest—a place that outsiders avoided the most.
The locals had no reason to stay at an inn, which meant that the other inns being completely occupied could only mean one thing—there were a lot of outsiders in town.
“If they don’t want outsiders spreading rumors, then they’ll make sure we leave safely.”
Of course, rumors about Terminus inviting someone would still spread, but in this case, the focus would be on us rather than Terminus itself. That meant they wouldn’t have anything to lose.
“………”
A long silence followed.
“…Whistle.”
Nereus broke the silence by whistling, while Gilbert just gave me a strange look.
“As expected of Polaris. She must take after me—she’s smart.”
“What nonsense are you talking about? Obviously, she takes after me.”
“You’re both wrong. I’m just uniquely brilliant all on my own.”
I firmly cut off their ridiculous argument by shaking my head.
“Anyway, stop keeping our ‘guest’ waiting! Because of them, our entire family hasn’t been able to eat properly!”
Worried that we’d all get dragged off together, our family members had piled food onto their plates but had barely taken a single bite, anxiously watching the situation unfold.
“…Sigh. Fine, I guess we have no choice.”
In the end, Nereus stepped forward to meet the messenger from Terminus.
“What exactly is the reason for your visit?”
A middle-aged woman regarded Nereus carefully before responding.
“Yesterday, when our lord regained consciousness in the Black Forest, she found a group of human traffickers collapsed beside her. During their… interrogation, we were able to obtain a description of a rough-looking man with greenish-blue hair.”
“……”
“And also, she mentioned earlier that she saw a little child with uniquely emerald-colored hair.”
Her gaze flickered toward the wall where I was hiding.
“…So, you’re here.”
“…I mean, isn’t it a bit of a stretch to say that alone proves we’re involved? It’s not like our appearances are that rare.”
‘But they are rare, though.’
Neither Nereus nor I had common hair colors, yet he shamelessly insisted otherwise.
“Indeed. However, the only group in this town that suddenly rented out an entire inn, while including individuals with such distinct appearances, is yours.”
“……”
“The lord of this territory is well aware of all her people and their appearances.”
“……”
“Does that answer your question?”
The woman’s words were so precise that there was nothing left to argue.
