<308 - Pirate's Greeting>
The cruise ship, half-filled with crew members, was anything but a cheerful place.
“I’m getting off this ship once this voyage is over.”
“And what about turning your life around with points?”
“Those are just words while I carry out the foundation’s orders, you bug. With voyages like this, I’d need more lives than I have.”
The crew, who boarded the ship expecting to hit the jackpot with a stroke of luck, soon learned that fortune comes with its fair share of misfortune.
If you don’t hope for luck, you can overcome your life with daily efforts, but if you bet your life on luck, a moment of misfortune can cost you dearly.
Even the deceased weren’t special; they just happened to be the ones who didn’t make it.
“Cells one through four.”
500 crew members were tightly packed in cages with different numbers. Among them, those trapped in cages one and two, led by the demonic contractor, Roe, met gruesome fates.
If someone from three or four had been drawn, it wouldn’t have been surprising if roles had reversed between the dead and the living.
“Lady Oknodie. I’d love to escort you to your destination, but we lost a helmsman among the crew members killed by the demonic contractor, so we can’t navigate the cruise ship.”
“Oh, that’s fine! There are students who can navigate the ship!”
With Oknodie’s suggestion, Jigoku scratched his cheek, wondering if this was a good idea.
“I’ll take it, but are you sure? Handing a pirate the keys to a ship is like letting a cat run a fish shop.”
“It’s fine! Even cats die if they eat pufferfish!”
“…”
Well, if a cat tried to eat that dangerous ship… too bad for it!
Jigoku was honestly relieved he was late to the party.
Student mutinies.
Professor Raeb.
Apostle of Anrage.
In all this chaos, if they had jumped in first, they would have likely been trapped in a cage or sacrificed long ago.
They survived by being cautious until the very end.
“Captain Jigoku! Are we steering the ship?”
“Use honorifics when addressing the captain. I don’t want to steer alone; let’s do it together.”
“Wow! I thought as a lowly pirate I’d spend my days looting. I never thought I’d even experience steering a ship!”
“So how do we steer it? Do we row or something?”
“Idiot. This isn’t a galley ship. If we had to row this big ship, we’d need thousands of mana users down below just to keep up.”
So how do we actually steer it then?
“This ship is mostly mechanized. You don’t really have to do anything; just channel mana into it and set the coordinates, and it’ll navigate automatically. The helmsman just has to make minor adjustments when we hit a reef.”
“So we’re just here to cheer?”
“Not a chance! The ship’s main functions are all geared toward combat, so all the machinery is wrecked. We need to kick into gear the manual system set up for emergencies.”
Jigoku kicked open the emergency storage chest in the warehouse.
“Alright. Grab a tool each.”
The third-rate crew members of the Jigoku Pirate Group each received a shovel from Jigoku.
“What’s this? What does this shovel imply?”
“Maybe it means to smack lazy crew members with it. We’re pirates after all.”
“Wow!”
“What nonsense are you spouting? Get on with it and mine coal with the crew!”
“…….”
The harsh reality of being a lowly pirate!
They were even glared at by the crew.
“Those are the pirates who crashed into the grand auditorium wearing masks, right?”
“They still haven’t returned the jewels they stole…”
The pirates were actively put to work in the toughest labor spots.
“This is way too grueling.”
“My arms feel like they’re going to break.”
“I miss my mom. I just want to go home…”
One member, covered in soot, glanced sneakily outside.
“Someone tell the captain that we’re suffering!”
A pirate peeked his head out stealthily to signal for help with his mouth to the other students!
As he pleaded for sympathy, another student happened to look in from the window and lock eyes with him.
“Yikes!”
Startled by the sudden eye contact, the pirate fell backward, shocked to see the identity of the person.
The Masugaki Princess, with a band-aid on her cheek, grinned brightly.
“Oh? It’s the third-rate scrubs who did nothing but play around in battle, huh?♡”
“Ugh. The Empire’s princess…”
“You’re not seriously planning to run away just because your arms might be sore, are you? Unless you want to get smacked by an angry classmate, who’d be that foolish?”
Next to the Masugaki Princess, a rough-looking bearded fellow popped his head in.
“Just say the word. If anyone tries to run, I’ll smash their skull.”
“…”
A ridiculous alliance forming between the Masugaki Princess and Son Ohchun to unify the border and the empire!
There was no way for the lazy pirates to join the ranks of the united students who risked death, stepping away from their beginner’s ease.
The third-rate pirate crew members realized they had no way to escape the karma of their lazy ways, and they sadly gripped their shovels with tears in their eyes.
Just as the members were utterly exhausted and about to collapse, the island finally came into view!
As the horn sounded, all the crew and students throughout the spacious cruise ship were informed of the development and rushed to the deck to see the island.
“Wow, that building is huge!”
“What is that? A magic tower?”
“It might be the foundation’s secret base.”
“Building something that big on an uncharted island… is it a treasure vault for the foundation’s precious items?”
As countless students wondered aloud, Jonnas, who was standing beside Oknodie, kindly answered.
“That’s the Kuierania Archipelago, and the building you see now is the Isajang’s mansion.”
“That’s all a house!?”
“…It has more floors than our magic tower?”
“The mansion looks way more luxurious than the Yellow Magic Tower made of dirt.”
Roe, freed from petrification, and the Sandkooker, who had his arm pinched by her, stared enviously at what was presumed to be the mansion.
People talk about a tower being impressive if it exceeds 30 floors, but the tower in view had over 50!
And it’s still called a ‘mansion.’
I knew the foundation was powerful enough to influence the entire continent, but this is just ridiculous!
“It’s even bigger than the palace where the princess lived?”
Even the Masugaki Princess appeared somewhat taken aback by the mansion’s immense size!
“The mansion’s size is also for storing collections.”
“Collections?”
“You must not have seen any in person yet. Take this opportunity to explore. It’s a perfect chance to expand your knowledge, especially for an aspiring collector like you.”
“Does that mean there’s lots of food?”
“You can look forward to it.”
Jonnas doesn’t make empty promises.
Oknodie’s expectations grew exponentially.
While her eyes glimmered, the warrior seemed notably intimidated and was subtly glancing around.
“Does this mean… we’ll receive that order?”
Though rumors of the foundation’s orders had reached her, there was still a tremor of fear within this rookie scholarship student!
The lower-tier members of the [Secret Scholarship Society], a subordinate organization to [Organization that Plays with Oknodie], stifled their chuckles at the rookie’s bewildered expression.
“There’s no way they’d give you a difficult order right from the start.”
“Orders are given to inferior scholarship students who can’t prove their worth or follow the foundation’s directives.”
“Newbies actually get treated pretty well, right?”
“Ah, those were the days.”
“I wish I could go back to being a newbie.”
Even those regretting becoming scholarship students reminisced fondly about how great it was in the early days, as the foundation’s initial investment was superb.
It’s way better compared to ordinary workers who wash dishes for five years to learn how to cook ramen or carry luggage as mercenaries for five years!
“If you’re scared, shall I hold your hand or something?”
“Ugh. Stop treating me like a kid.”
As Ishtar turned down Oknodie’s offer, someone tightly grabbed her hand.
“Don’t act so tough. You’re trembling like crazy.”
“Yufi!”
“If you knew you’d feel so embarrassed you’d turn red, you shouldn’t have done anything to be embarrassed in the first place. That’s your punishment for passing out on your own while looking for protection.”
With Yufi’s proactive attitude, Roe and Arcadia’s eyes sparkled simultaneously.
While Roe’s gaze shifted to the Sandkooker, Arcadia’s attention was on Oknodie.
“What, what’s this?”
Clueless and overly enthusiastic, the Sandkooker panicked and ran away, while Oknodie casually placed her hand in a natural grip offered by Arcadia.
“Are you scared too, Arcadia?”
“Isn’t Di the one to be scared of?”
“Me?”
Arcadia earnestly replied to Oknodie, whose eyes widened in surprise.
“Di’s papa is… a scary person.”
Everyone’s expression on deck turned serious.
The papa who had prepped half the crew for death was coming out to greet his daughter.
If that person isn’t scary, I’d like to know who is!
“Is that so? I don’t really… know.”
“Ugh. That girl must have never experienced what a normal family is, so she doesn’t know to be scared of her own papa.”
“Poor thing.”
“The foundation is truly unforgivable.”
“Instead of saying that it’s unforgivable, shouldn’t you be screaming for your life? You might meet Papa himself this time, who set those traps!”
“Surely he wouldn’t create such terrible traps in his own home, would he?”
Home is where you go to relax.
He wouldn’t do something like that, right?
He wouldn’t be overly hospitable, but surely he’d keep his threats balanced.
So, let’s hide any sense of hostility.
As long as we don’t irritate him, it’s possible we might just slip through!
The students exchanged unspoken promises, sneaking glances at Oknodie!
“But why isn’t the ship stopping?”
“We’re getting closer to the island!”
Everyone panicked and dashed to the helmsman room.
Jigoku, the new helmsman, was waving something in one hand.
That item was once the lever!
“What the heck is that?”
Jizel, unable to hide her ominous premonition, asked while sweating profusely.
“Oh, this? It’s the brake. Sadly, it’s broken and useless now.”
At Jigoku’s confident reply, the faces of many students, including Jizel, turned pale.
In an attempt to avoid crossing Papa Oknodie’s mood, the ship, which had weighed 200,000 tons but was now reduced to 120,000 tons after fierce battles, bulldozed its way through the sandy shores toward the mansion!
