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chapter 32
“Alright, alright~ attention~!”
While everyone was buzzing with excitement dividing up the treasure, a husky voice called us over. Clara, wearing a pair of sharp-looking glasses from who-knows-where, banged on the wall to gather attention.
“Does anyone remember the most important reason we stopped by this place?”
“To screw over those noble bastards?”
Titan answered in a dazed voice. Everyone burst into laughter and agreed wholeheartedly.
“Hey! You little brat, watch your mouth! The kid’s listening!”
Nereus scolded Titan to speak nicely, but coming from him, it was honestly just funny.
‘Says the guy with the filthiest mouth among them.’
I shook my head and focused on Clara.
“Well yes, messing with nobles—ahem—we do that all the time! But we had a specific reason for coming to this auction ship today, remember? Anyone?”
In the silence, a hand went up. Nancy.
“Nancy! Tell the class~”
“Hahaha, Clara, you sound like a teacher today. Wasn’t it because of that new drug?”
“Correct~!”
Clara laughed cheerfully.
“That scum of an orange orchard manager was addicted too, right?”
“He was.”
“That worm tried to hurt our Rara, too.”
“Should’ve kept him alive a bit longer.”
At Clara’s one sentence, three unnecessary additions came flying out. She shot them a sharp glare, and they all shut their mouths instantly.
“He’s already dead, so we can’t kill him again—moving on! What matters is: what he was addicted to!”
“Right, right! Our Clara worked so~ hard investigating, and you useless family members keep going off-topic?”
Nereus added, though slouched lazily against the wall, which didn’t exactly make him convincing.
“Dad, sit up properly.”
Only after my weak scolding did Nereus grumble and straighten his posture. His face shifted to seriousness at once.
“That stuff was called ‘Angel,’ wasn’t it?”
“Angel,” he scoffed. “Ridiculous name.”
‘That’s right.’
There’s a reason illegal drugs are illegal. Whether it affects the mind or the body, nothing good comes from them. And Angel, in particular, was practically poison—its side effect of causing severe insomnia was notorious.
But people still wanted it.
Because with Angel, they could ignore their miserable reality.
‘Not to mention it was extremely cheap.’
Until that one incident that caused the price to skyrocket.
“The production source is closer than you think. We’ve been there before.”
‘Of course.’
It all started when the war broke out on Odlo Island.
The raw ingredient for Angel came from Odlo Island. More specifically, from the roots of the Kako tree—the same tree whose leaves produced medicine that saved lives.
Odlo thrived by exploiting every benefit of the Kako tree. But eventually, conflict piled up, the island collapsed, and the Kako tree’s roots were designated as a Class A forbidden substance.
Kako leaves save people. Kako roots ruin them. Because of this dual nature, the tree was often called “the devil’s gift.”
‘Honestly, Odlo’s downfall might’ve been caused by the Kako tree itself.’
No group had easier access to the roots than the residents of Odlo.
“I heard a bunch of noble brats have invested in this whole Angel thing. Pocket money, they say?”
“What do you want to do, Captain?”
Isaac asked Nereus carefully. Truthfully, Caelum had no obligation to involve themselves. Pirates didn’t go out of their way to deal with illegal drugs. That was the navy’s job.
But Caelum was never a normal pirate crew. They walked a completely different path.
“We have to go. What else can we do?”
Nereus crossed his arms and sighed. Though he looked annoyed, his expression soon hardened—and then he grinned.
“The course is set. Let’s go, brats.”
Everyone, previously scattered and carefree, shared the same sharp expression. The faces of predators—rulers of the sea.
* * *
Caelum’s crew wasn’t even 50 people—barely around 30, really.
‘By the time I left, weren’t we close to 50? I got mixed up for a moment.’
Unlike me, picked up as a baby from a wrecked ship, every one of them had a dramatic past.
Some of them even had ties to the issue of addiction—if not themselves, then people dear to them. Many lost everything, even without being addicted directly.
Of course Caelum couldn’t stand by. How could a family forgive those who brought them pain?
Especially when the captain Nereus himself despised it with his whole being.
‘If anything, they’d be interested only so they could destroy it.’
After several days of sailing, Caelum arrived at Odlo Island. As we disembarked, no one could hide their grim expressions.
“Something’s off.”
Clara spoke after Isaac left to arrange lodging.
Clara wasn’t our scout for nothing. Her observational skills were exceptional. When she said something was off, she didn’t just mean the atmosphere of Odlo right now.
We had stayed on this island for a few days before heading to the western continent earlier.
And the current atmosphere was completely different from before.
“What exactly?”
“The birds’ calls have decreased.”
Gilbert asked, and Nereus answered.
“What kind of birds?”
“Hey, kid. How would I tell birds apart by their calls? Probably the Pistel birds.”
“Yet you still answered.”
Nereus grumbled that Gilbert was using him again.
‘If Nereus said it, it’s probably correct.’
He seemed clueless on many things, but strangely knowledgeable on these topics. When asked how he knew so much, he’d vaguely say you learn things while living.
‘A Pistel bird…’
Pistel birds were omnivorous, but their favorite food was the fruit of the Kako tree, so they were most commonly found on Odlo.
If their calls had decreased, it meant access to Kako trees had become difficult—and the birds moved to other islands.
‘Anyway, there should be a production site somewhere around here.’
Thinking of that nameless scum, I clenched the strap of my bag tightly. Inside were all the medicinal ingredients I had “borrowed”—well, acquired—from the auction ship.
‘Who knows what would happen if I left these on the ship.’
I had planned to buy flowerpots here and plant the deepers I obtained, but judging by the mood, the real question was whether we could even find a place to stay.
‘This island was never like this.’
Odlo Island was so wealthy and fertile that people joked its laziness caused its downfall. Although close to the western continent, Odlo stubbornly refused to adopt the common currency and insisted on its own.
They simply didn’t need the common currency.
The island’s natural wealth made its currency valuable on its own.
‘Well… at least for a few more years.’
They prospered thanks to the Kako tree—and collapsed because of it. With no experience preparing for war, one problem toppled the island easily.
The currency value dropped, the island was called the island of death, and only after help from one of the Sixth Houses did Odlo revive.
‘I don’t remember exactly which family it was…’
There were too many achievements by the Six Houses. Even with clear memories of my past life, remembering every detail was hard.
And information about Odlo was something I barely skimmed while studying for the medical association exam.
Thanks to certain accomplishments, I didn’t need to take the exam to get a license—I was accepted as an honorary doctor. But I didn’t want people saying I became a doctor through luck, so I studied like my life depended on it.
Maybe because I crammed everything in such a short time, I forgot most of the historical details.
‘As long as I remember the medical parts, it’s fine.’
“Captain.”
Isaac returned from speaking with Odlo’s village chief. His expression was troubled.
“Oh—so we’re camping tonight?”
“They said there are no vacant houses at all.”
“Then we’ll be camping for a while~ Hm? Rara, what’s wrong?”
I must have been staring, because Nereus noticed and asked.
“Dad, we’re pirates, right?”
“Of course.”
“Pirates are usually villains, trash of the sea, impurities, right?”
“…Uh… usually, yeah? Wait, how do you know the word impurity?”
“Genius. Obviously.”
They both nodded in agreement. Not because I was actually a genius—but because they were fools.
“If we’re bad pirates, then why don’t we just steal someone’s house instead of camping?”
“Well, uh.”
“Since our captain is terrible at explanations, I’ll do it.”
Isaac crouched to make eye contact with me and began explaining.
“First, there’s a naval branch on one of the nearby islands.”
‘That useless one?’
Sure, it was a naval branch. But a branch was only as effective as the manpower it had.
The naval branch near Odlo was the 103rd. Being in the 100s told you how neglected and remote it was.
Even among newer branches, some received heavy support from headquarters. But the 103rd wasn’t one of them. Being assigned there was basically exile—your career ended the moment you arrived.
‘As if my family wouldn’t know that.’
I narrowed my eyes at Nereus, who whistled innocently. He had infiltrated the 13th branch—one of the top ten in authority—after studying its internal structure, stole documents, altered them, and escaped.
‘He even stole and forged major paperwork.’
Thinking back, it made sense how Caelum had survived so long—because Nereus always slipped into the navy and scrambled their intel like it was his hobby.
“Second reason—comparison. Last time we were here, Odlo had plenty of empty houses.”
Only after Isaac said that did it click.
Odlo’s currency was valuable because the island was beautiful and famous as a tourist spot.
“Recently, Odlo stopped accepting tourists due to internal issues. Only the occasional trade ship or adventurer is allowed. We stayed here as adventurers last time.”
“It is strange that there are no vacant houses when they aren’t accepting guests.”
“As expected, Rara is brilliant.”
Isaac ruffled my hair roughly. When my hair got messy, Nereus yelled:
“Hey! I worked hard tying that!”
“You tied it, Captain? That explains why it looked like a bird’s nest.”
“I tied it yesterday too! And the day before! You said it looked cute!”
“Rara is cute. The hair was a disaster. Even with your cursed hands, our child is too lovable to look bad.”
