Roseus remained silent for a few moments, waiting to see if Rai’zac would continue speaking. Meanwhile, the others looked at him, wondering why his words had suddenly stopped. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Blodwen put two and two together and figured that he was currently hearing the ramblings of the sea god, Rai’zac.

However, Roseus soon realised that the god clearly had nothing else to say at that moment. Did he need to use the weapon more in order to learn more about the god?

"Is everything alright, Captain?" Silius asked with a concerned look on his face.

Roseus nodded.

"It’s nothing, just the voice of Rai’zac. Apparently this is his home."

After hearing this, the others were clearly bewildered. Especially Zaliah, who scrunched up her face.

"Well then, you need to tell that god to stop punishing the people of this land. Every night, those storms cause so much trouble."

Her words made Roseus wonder why exactly Rai’zac would be punishing the people of his island. After all, wasn’t his anger supposed to be directed at Susannoo, who was supposedly the god preventing Rai’zac from expanding his territory into the Third Ocean?

He decided to put the thought away for the time being and glanced at the two treasures that had been left behind during the battle.

One was Captain Danny Leaf’s jacket, and the other was his spectral sword, which was now stuck in a tree.

Roseus then looked at Silius and Petyr.

"Choose a treasure each and claim it for yourself. I no longer have a pact with Nammon, so these treasures can be shared amongst us."

Zaliah’s brows rose.

"A pact with Nammon? That Treasure-Eater? What in the Eight Oceans happened before you arrived here?"

As it was too much to explain at that moment, they ignored it and instead focused on splitting the treasures.

Petyr decided to take the jacket, as the sword didn’t suit him. It was a shortsword made for slashing rather than a fencing sword made for thrusting.

As he picked up the jacket, its respective information was given to him.

[Rare Treasure Equipped]

[Coat of Covering]

[Positive Effect I ~ When removing this coat, it temporarily expands and becomes a shield that can block greater physical attacks. This can only be used once a day]

[Negative Effect I ~ Once removed, your vision will become moderately blurred for thirty minutes]

Petyr donned the stylish jacket, which was brown with buttons, allowing it to be worn open or closed. He was pleased with its effects and believed that it would come in handy.

As for its negative effect, it was nothing too dangerous, so long as his vision wasn’t blurred to the point where he could no longer see anything.

As for Silius, the man made his way over and retrieved the spectral green blade from the tree. It wasn’t ideal for him, as it was longer than 30cm and therefore couldn’t be buffed by his Shortblade Efficiency skill. He wondered whether he should gift it to someone else instead.

[Rare Treasure Equipped]

[Nature Shortsword]

[Positive Effect I ~ When thrust into nature, the user is given the ability to significantly manipulate nature within a two-metre radius.]

[Positive Effect II ~ All strikes with this weapon cause slight earth damage.]

[Negative Effect I ~ Prolonged use of this blade will cause the user to develop the desire to seriously form intimate relationships with nature.]

"..."

After reading the description of the weapon, Silius swiftly placed it in its sheath and kept it by his waist, making sure not to equip it.

Yes... I think I’ll gift this weapon to somebody else in the future.

After this was said and done, the crew searched the rest of the pirates’ bodies, looting them for any coins, bullets, and other items that they might want to bring with them back to the ship.

Then, they continued their travels down the main mountain path, hoping that they wouldn’t have to face any more enemies.

Along the way, Roseus checked his progress through the Rookie Rank. He was now at 81%, edging closer and closer towards breaking through to the Deckhand Rank.

As for Petyr, he was now 40% through his Rookie Rank, whilst Silius, who was hardly ever involved in combat, was only at 20%.

Blodwen did not discuss the details of his progress, not yet. Roseus only knew that his rank was Drowned, and that he was likely at the beginning of this rank.

He wondered then what Zaliah’s rank might be, and hoped that she would give him that information once she officially joined the crew...

~~~

After a while, they arrived at the dockyard, where numerous ships floated upon the waters by the pier. It was much more active than before, now with merchants, couriers, and adventurers travelling to and from their ships and inland.

There were also two Templar ships docked: one belonging to Captain Lionheart, and the other a smaller vessel.

The group swiftly located the Redflower ship, where they found the rest of their crew sitting around drinking ale.

Before even boarding, Zaliah stopped and looked at the ship with her jaw dropped.

Roseus looked at her curiously.

"Are you impressed with our ship?" he asked.

Zaliah closed her mouth, and a tear began to fall from her eye.

"It’s... It’s..."

The rest of the Redflower crew had noticed that a newcomer had arrived with the group and guessed that it was the woman left behind for them by Captain Redeye.

They all hurried to the railings to look at her. Dawn was first. She held a tankard of beer in her hand despite not even liking the drink, and wore a smile on her face.

"Hello, ma’am," her voice called out over the sounds of the waves in the Translucent Sea. "What do you think of our ship?"

Everybody’s attention turned back to Zaliah. The woman’s tears were flowing even more heavily now.

"It’s... It’s terrible!"

Roseus’s face sank as he realised he had misread the expression on the woman’s face.