PBGS 07

chapter7

Ananta gazed blankly at the woman with her eyes closed in his arms.

Her short blonde hair looked as though it had been cut hastily. Long golden lashes, the same color as her hair.

A land-dweller, someone who didn’t belong on this ship or in this sea.

Beneath those eyelids must have been crimson eyes, like the sunset.

But… what was that just now?

“Captain, the ship has started moving. …Captain?”

The navigator approached and gave a brief report, perhaps searching for him. Ananta only nodded faintly, half-listening.

“I know. It’s because of Rinka.”

“…What?”

Ananta recalled the scene he had just witnessed.

When those golden eyes, bright as the midday sun, looked out at the still waters, foam rose and waves began to stir.

Yet no wind blew.

The proof was in the still, quiet open sea.

Only around his ship did waves surge—a ridiculous sight—and the woman who revealed those golden eyes.

“Remember… what you must find…”

Ananta squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again. He stood, still holding Rinka in his arms.

“Seems our new crew member has some unusual skills. Should we agree to keep her secret?”

“It’s true then. That was Lady Maribel…?”

“Looks like it wasn’t a coincidence that she boarded my ship.”

He grinned suddenly, as if his worries had vanished.

“Tell the crew to treat her as an official sailor.”

“Understood.”

“And you know the rest, right?”

“Yes. Don’t ask, and don’t tell.”

The day the sea began to stir without wind—

Rinka didn’t know what the captain had told them while she was unconscious, but at last she was accepted.

She had become a real crew member of the Ghost Ship.

The other pirates, who had always kept their distance, welcomed her quickly. But that wasn’t the problem.

Had they been holding back until then, waiting for the cook and seamstress?

Ever since that incident, everyone had started pestering her without rest, calling her name constantly.

“Rinka, when will you finish stitching up my clothes?”
“Hey, Rinka, can we have that stew again—the one from yesterday?”
“Rinka—”

Just look at them.

Rinka slammed the large kitchen knife she was holding into the cutting board.

Thang!

The sharp blade sank deep into the wood, the ringing note filling the galley.

“Am I hearing things? Keep this up and I might start swinging at empty air…”

It was thanks to the pirates’ relentless meddling that Rinka adapted so quickly.

Even when Captain Ananta allowed her to board, even when she had made the waves rise, she never imagined the pirates would treat her this comfortably—or rather, use her so shamelessly.

“Rinka, thanks for stopping the captain from making another one of his bizarre dishes.”
“The hole in my shirt disappeared like magic. You sure you’re not a sorceress?”

Ever since her mother passed away, Rinka had lived alone. Cooking and mending were nothing difficult.

In fact, it was even nice.

The flour was fine and preserved with magic, so it never got damp. (Even the sack she had soaked climbing aboard was said to be perfectly fine.)

There was no shortage of ingredients—almost like money was overflowing—so she could cook freely.

And the sailors ate everything she made with delight, no matter what it was. That made it fun.

So Rinka, with a rather positive mindset, spent her days making stew and bread, sandwiches with roasted ham, boiled eggs…

“If you don’t want to eat fish pie made with sugar instead of salt, get out now.”

“Ugh…”

“Please, just add salt…”

Yet the pirates kept searching her out, all day, every day, and that was enough to drive her mad.

In only ten days!

Gripping the oversized kitchen knife once more with her small hands, Rinka glared.

The pirates, obedient for once, carefully closed the galley door and left.

“What is with them?”

The pirates she knew from rumor were far, far different.

Stories spread throughout Cather painted them as terrifying: roaming the deep western seas where even sailors dared not go, raiding distant fishing boats, killing crews, stealing ships, coveting jewels and gold, attacking both merchants and kingdom fleets alike.

And if you were caught, no one was left alive. To see their faces was doom.

That was what everyone said.

But here…

“Berry! Dinner’s ready.”

The twenty or so crew aboard this ship were nothing like those stories.

A hulking pirate squeezed through the galley door, barely fitting.

A scar carved along his jaw, an eyepatch over one eye, a muscular body, sharp gaze that made him look fiercer still.

The largest man on the Ghost Ship. When Rinka first saw him, she had almost fainted from fear.

But his name was the ridiculously cute “Berry.”

And he was the one most eager to help with small chores.

Berry hefted two massive pots of stew to the long table, with a ladle so big Rinka could never have finished even one scoop.

“Oh, fish stew today? …I told you not to swing that around.”

“Y-yikes, you scared me!”

Did I mention that the real problem wasn’t the others?

Plenty of pirates bothered Rinka, but the worst offender was the man with shining silver hair and bright blue eyes who always laughed so lightly—her captain.

Every time he crept up silently and leaned in close behind her, she jumped and nearly swung her knife.

“You said holding a knife was hard at first, but you’re adapting quickly. Saw you stick it in the cutting board earlier—nice technique.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Means you’ve got talent. Want to learn properly?”

“With a sword?”

“Not for fighting. For self-defense. You’re on a pirate ship now—never know what might happen.”

He smiled and ruffled her hair gently.

Aside from a brief, almost laughable standoff back in Cather, the voyage had been peaceful.

And ever since that day, Rinka hadn’t dared to go on deck alone, afraid of falling into the sea.

What dangers could there be at sea?

All she knew were pirates and sea monsters.

She soon sat with the captain at the edge of the table and received another bowl of stew—thinner than the others, with fewer chunks.

“Didn’t you say you don’t eat fish, Rinka?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Strange. Growing up in a port town, but you don’t eat fish?”

“I guess I had too much as a kid. I’m sick of it.”

In truth, ever since learning she was half-mermaid, eating fish felt uncomfortable. But she simply excused it as being tired of the smell.

After all, she couldn’t live in the sea anyway, but… who knew? That fish might’ve been her father’s friend once.

“All right, listen up while you eat. I’ll tell you where we’re headed next.”

“You already told us last time, Captain.”

“Rinka didn’t hear it then, so I’ll say it again.”

The captain, who had devoured his stew and bread in moments, tapped the table. All eyes turned toward them.

So much pressure. Why did I sit next to him?

She tried to shift her chair away, but the captain was quicker.

He draped his arm over her shoulder, cleared the table, and placed his palm down. A pale blue glow spread from his hand, seeping into the wood.

Rinka forgot to move, staring blankly at the light shimmering beneath his hand.

So pretty…

Unaware of his gaze following hers.

From the glowing table, a sea chart slowly surfaced, traced in blue as though drawn in ink.

Most astonishing of all—a tiny ship moved slowly across it.

The Ghost Ship.

“Wow…”

The word slipped out before she could stop it.

The captain chuckled and gestured toward the vast western sea.

“This is the Western Sea. It doesn’t even have a name. Every wave born from the small seas eventually flows here.”

He explained briefly.

The greatest sea in the world. Strange and monstrous, seen by no one. Home to creatures of the abyss. So deep that none who fall in ever return alive.

And also the sea where the merfolk lived—the sea of the father who had married her mother, and given her life.

The pirates’ territory only stretched to the border, just before the sea dropped into those depths. Any further, and even pirates would not return.

“See this long island at the border? That’s our destination. Now that the wind has returned, we won’t take long to reach it.”

Rinka asked, “Why there?”

“Because only there can we find certain black-market traders. I commissioned an item from them. If I don’t fetch it now, I may never get another chance.”

“….”

“What, are you scared?”

“I am not.”

She couldn’t even imagine it clearly, so there was nothing to fear. Just a chill at the thought of heading deeper and deeper into the western sea.

Besides, though it was dormant now, she still had the Pearl. That was some comfort.

Even so—Rinka had spent her life avoiding the ocean. And this sea was surely the one her mother had warned her of: “Sail far west, and you’ll find the deep sea.”