At that moment—
Several noisy voices came from somewhere nearby.
They were rather grating.
Rook’s expression shifted slightly.
He glanced at the pile of valuables the two pirates had gathered inside the room but made no move to take any of it.
Too much of anything was suspicious.
If he returned alone with an excessive amount of loot, someone would inevitably start asking questions.
Especially when every other member of his squad had somehow failed to return.
Right now, Rook was still nothing more than a low-ranking pirate.
Getting his hands on a little over one million Berries could be explained away as good luck.
But if he brought back too much, even a dog would know something was wrong.
It was true that during every raid, people inevitably killed one another over treasure whenever no one was watching…
But drawing too much attention would only make him a target.
Rook certainly wasn’t foolish enough to believe that the captain and first mate who had managed to build and control an entire pirate crew were brainless idiots.
Without sparing the treasure another glance, Rook quickly crossed the courtyard, climbed over the wall, and left.
Less than two minutes later, four or five armed pirates arrived.
When they saw the corpses inside, not one of them showed the slightest reaction.
But the moment they noticed the valuables scattered across the floor, excitement instantly spread across their faces.
Not far from the town’s harbor—
Rook appeared beside the second-floor window of a house that had already been thoroughly looted.
At his feet sat a cloth sack containing several bottles of cheap fruit wine.
The sky was growing darker.
Through the open window, the breeze carried in the heavy scent of blood mixed with faint traces of smoke.
The sounds of smashing and destruction had nearly disappeared.
In their place came the stench of burning houses and corpses.
Burning.
Killing.
Looting.
The pirates’ actions gave those words their most vivid possible meaning.
Rook stopped looking for prey.
The timing was no longer right.
Through the fading twilight, he stared toward the pirate ship bobbing with the waves at the harbor.
It resembled some enormous monster lying motionless in the water, coldly watching the town.
A faint shiver rose from the depths of Rook’s heart.
As he looked at the scene before him, he warned himself inwardly.
This was real.
This wasn’t some illusion.
This was one of the most ordinary scenes imaginable in this world—
In this era.
The cold surface of the windowsill pressed against Rook’s fingertips.
The sensation traveled into his consciousness like hammer blows, striking again and again, tempering his mind and forcing him to recognize reality for what it was.
And reality was cruel.
Rook slowly closed his eyes.
He drew in a deep breath, tasting the bitterness in the air.
Then he rested.
He didn’t know how much time passed.
Suddenly—
A piercing alarm rang out from the pirate ship.
“The Marines are here!”
“Everyone, alert! The Marines are here!”
“Captain’s orders! Retreat! Retreat!!!”
A shrill voice, as unpleasant as a cracked gong, screamed from the lookout atop the mast.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Rook’s eyes snapped open.
At the same time, deafening cannon fire thundered across the sea.
He looked in the direction of the sound.
Only a vague black silhouette could be seen in the distance.
A cunning pack of wolves had attacked a flock of sheep.
And now the hunters, guns in hand, had finally arrived.
Late—
But still here.
And when wolves saw hunters, their first instinct was naturally to run.
Rook tightened the bundle over his shoulder, picked up the sack at his feet, and immediately turned to leave.
Bottles clattered loudly against one another as he rushed out of the house and sprinted straight toward the pirate ship at the harbor.
At that moment, rapid footsteps erupted from the surrounding houses.
One savage-looking face after another appeared in Rook’s vision, each wearing a mixture of excitement and tension.
Sharp curses rang out one after another.
The pirates racked their brains for increasingly creative ways to insult the female relatives of the Marines who had arrived.
The Marines had bared their fangs.
Their cannons bombarded the pirate ship.
Naturally, the pirates had no intention of simply taking the attack.
Their own cannons immediately returned fire.
However, compared with the disciplined, synchronized thunder of the warship’s guns, the pirate ship’s return fire sounded far less convincing.
Fortunately for them, the sky was already dark.
Neither side could aim worth a damn.
Rook was among the first group to reach the harbor.
He sprinted up the gangplank at full speed and boarded the deck.
Captain Norton’s furious roar immediately rang out above the chaos.
“Listen up, all of you bastards! Get to your stations!”
“Raise the anchor! Hoist the sails!”
“We’re leaving!”
The pirates aboard the ship moved with practiced efficiency.
The anchor came up.
The sails were raised.
Rapid footsteps echoed across the deck while pirates returning with full loads of loot laughed wildly.
Amid the cannon fire, the gangplank was pulled aboard.
The pirate ship gradually moved away from the harbor.
Rook, who attracted little attention, climbed down from the rigging alongside an older pirate.
“Captain! We haven’t boarded yet!”
“Don’t leave us behind!!!”
“Please, Captain!!!”
Shrill cries came from the distant harbor.
Six greedy pirates had ventured too deep into the town.
Their return had been more than a dozen beats too slow.
They had been left behind.
One of them even jumped into the sea and desperately tried to swim after the ship.
But the vessel was already more than two hundred meters from shore.
At the stern stood Norton.
His icy blue eyes stared coldly at the stranded men.
He showed absolutely no intention of stopping the ship to wait for them.
Then he turned his gaze across the deck.
There were noticeably fewer pirates than before.
His hawk-like blue eyes swept across the crew, sharp enough that no one dared meet his gaze.
His low, hoarse voice followed.
“I warned all of you beforehand, didn’t I?”
“You had one hour to raid deeper into the town.”
“Once that hour was up, you were supposed to stay alert because the Marines could arrive at any time.”
“Look carefully at them.”
“This is what happens when you don’t follow the rules.”
“It’s not that I’m heartless.”
“I’m responsible for everyone aboard this ship.”
“So choose.”
“If all of you want to turn back, I’ll personally lead the charge.”
“No, no, Captain Norton! You’re absolutely right!”
“Those idiots ignored your warning! Bastards like that deserve to die sooner rather than later!”
“The captain’s orders are absolute! We can’t break your rules just because of them!”
“Captain Norton is right!!!”
Pirates were greedy and selfish.
None of them would risk their own safety to rescue a handful of idiots.
They enjoyed pillaging and tormenting civilians.
Actually risking their lives in a serious fight against Marines was another matter entirely.
The pirate ship continued moving farther away from the harbor.
The Marines reached the docks.
All that awaited the stranded pirates now was execution by firing squad—
Or the gallows.
Their cries gradually turned into curses.
…
Norton watched the ugly expressions of the men aboard his ship.
He smiled coldly.
“Enough.”
“Those Marines can’t catch us.”
“Now line up.”
“Hand forty percent of everything you collected over to the third mate.”
The pirates’ expressions immediately changed.
Some twitched at the corners of their eyes.
Others sighed miserably.
But every single one of them obeyed.
Because those who refused to follow the rules in the past had already been hanged from the bow.
Even now, two dried corpses still hung from either side of the ship’s prow.
No one even remembered exactly when they had been strung up there.
A line quickly formed across the deck.
Most of the pirates wore expressions that looked as if their mothers had just died, yet still forced smiles onto their faces.
Before long, it was Rook’s turn.
He opened his bundle and the sack of wine.
Standing before him was the heavily built third mate, with a large cloth sack lying at his feet.
The third mate glanced at Rook with mild interest.
Then one of his subordinates grinned, reached into Rook’s bundle, and grabbed roughly half of the Berries, gold, and silver jewelry inside.
He tossed everything into the large sack.
As for the cheap fruit wine—
They barely spared it a glance.
If anything, they looked disgusted by it.
Once the tribute was collected, Rook closed his bundle.
Then he turned his gaze toward the first mate, who stood alone beside the railing.
He was a middle-aged man with pink hair and delicate, almost feminine features.
His eyes were slightly narrowed.
The corners of his lips curved upward in a smile that wasn’t quite a smile.
He resembled a venomous snake.
No pirate dared approach him.
Rook took a deep breath.
Putting on a respectful expression, he walked over.
Under the first mate’s assessing gaze, Rook pursed his lips.
“First Mate, thank you for what you did for me last time.”
“I found a few small gifts for you.”
“I hope you won’t find them too insignificant.”
As he spoke, he held out his open bundle.
The valuables remaining inside were worth a little over five hundred thousand Berries.
The first mate looked at Rook.
With that same ambiguous smile, he said,
“We’re crewmates on the same ship.”
“I didn’t help you last time for something this insignificant.”
Rook understood immediately.
So this bastard really had no intention of letting him off.
Rook lowered his gaze.
A vicious light flashed through his eyes.
Then he spoke with an unusually helpless expression.
“I remember about half a year ago, I got curious about women for a while.”
“So I went to find an older woman.”
“Afterward, I don’t know what happened, but some red spots started appearing down there.”
“She told me it was just some minor problem from puberty.”
“She took my money and got me some medicine that was supposedly really effective.”
“She told me to keep taking it on schedule.”
Rook raised his head.
His eyes were filled with confusion and curiosity.
“First Mate, did you ever get anything like that when you were younger?”
“The kind that starts itching whenever you stop taking the medicine?”
As he spoke, Rook subtly pressed his legs together and shifted them slightly.
The first mate’s eyes widened.
He immediately took a clean step backward.
His expression looked as if he had just swallowed a dead fly.
There was even a trace of relief in his face.
“No.”
His voice was cold.
Rook immediately put on a disappointed expression.
Then he offered the bundle to him again.
The first mate looked at the Berries and valuables inside.
For some reason, they suddenly seemed rather disgusting.
But when he considered their value, he was reluctant to reject them outright.
He took a breath and pointed toward a briefcase beside him.
“Put them in there yourself.”
Whenever Norton collected enough tribute from the crew, he always distributed a portion among the first mate and several other officers aboard the ship.
Rook quietly sighed in relief.
It seemed his ruthless act of deliberately ruining his own image had worked.
The first mate liked men—
But he was also obsessed with cleanliness.
He definitely knew what kind of illness Rook was implying.
Whether Rook’s claim was true or false, there was no chance the man would personally test it.
And by offering him tribute, Rook had accomplished two things.
First, he had repaid the favor.
Second, he had shown the first mate enough respect in front of everyone.
Rook emptied the remaining valuables in his bundle into the briefcase.
The first mate glanced at him and waved dismissively.
Annoyance filled his eyes.
“Enough. You must be tired.”
“Go rest.”
Rook nodded respectfully and left.
The surrounding pirates looked at him curiously.
Most wore mocking expressions.
From their perspective, Rook had gone over to suck up to the first mate, only to be completely ignored.
Not only had he gained nothing, he had thrown away his entire fortune as well.
But then again—
Who told him to owe the first mate a favor?
Rook, however, felt considerably lighter.
He looked toward the harbor in the distance.
It had already shrunk to little more than a black dot.
The Marines hadn’t pursued them.
Once the tribute collection was finished, Captain Norton was in an excellent mood.
He loudly announced that they would hold a feast.
After every successful raid, the food and alcohol served at these celebrations were always unusually plentiful.
Rook ate until he was completely full.
Once the feast ended, however, he was assigned to clean up the mess.
And because Rook stood near the bottom of the ship’s hierarchy, he was also required to remain on watch during the first half of the night.
The deck had been cleaned.
Unlike the other two pirates, who hid inside the lookout platform at the top of the mast and fell fast asleep, Rook stood below with his iron sword in hand.
Well-fed and rested, he repeatedly practiced the fundamental sword techniques engraved into his mind and body.
Once he entered a learning state, Rook’s concentration became extraordinary.
His entire mind immersed itself in practicing the fundamentals of swordsmanship.
One hour later—
[Swordsmanship Proficiency +1]
Three hours later, another group of pirates arrived to take over the watch.
Covered in sweat, Rook finally sheathed his iron sword.
He returned to the cramped room on the ship’s second lower deck.
There had originally been six people sleeping in the hanging bunks here.
Now—
Only Rook remained.
The translucent system panel appeared before him.
His gaze fell upon his Beginner Swordsmanship proficiency.
[5/100]