At the "Flying Fish & Rum" tavern in Damir, Danitz stood before the notice board plastered with bounty posters, scanning from top to bottom before finally spotting his own name.
"Damn it, still only 3,000 pounds... Must've been too low-profile these past six months..." Danitz grumbled discontentedly before examining the posters for new faces.
"'King of the Five Seas' Nast's bounty remains unchanged at 800,000 pounds... Next is 'King of Immortality,' 'Queen Mystic'..."
"Eh? The 'Wind Demoness' from the Black Emperor actually has an 11,000-pound bounty in Loen too? What'd she do?"
"Wait... Why is there a 10,000-pound 'Flame Demoness' listed after her? Also under the 'King of the Five Seas'? Has His Lordship allied with the 'Demoness Sect'?"
"'Admiral of Stars' has a new 7,000-pound 'Lady Scythe' under her command too... Lots of famous female pirates lately!"
After these musings, Danitz pushed through the tavern door, weaving past rowdy drunks to perch on a barstool. He rapped the wooden counter and tossed out a gold coin:
"A Southwell beer."
The bronze-skinned, white-toothed bartender wiped a glass and poured the drink with zero enthusiasm.
"Hey, I know your boss 'White Shark'!" Danitz protested.
The bartender remained impassive. "'White Shark' went missing after a voyage. The owner now is 'Mad Fox.'"
"'White Shark' vanished? When? And who's this 'Mad Fox'?" Danitz asked, startled.
The bartender eyed him but stayed silent.
Danitz immediately understood. Muttering, he produced another gold coin.
Only after pocketing it did the bartender continue: "'White Shark' disappeared over two months ago... But even before that, he'd been acting strange—giving me weird, hungry looks and going weeks without women."
What? Did his preferences change? Danitz studied the bartender skeptically. While decent-looking, he was no pretty boy—certainly no match for that detective Ebner Bryan.
"'White Shark' supposedly clashed with 'Lady Dragon Might' before vanishing... His disappearance happened after her ship left Damir... Most think she's involved."
Lowering his voice, the bartender added, "Rumor is the new boss 'Mad Fox' serves 'Blood Admiral,' tasked with capturing 'Lady Dragon Might' when she returns."
"'Lady Dragon Might'? Think I heard about her on the ship here. Her 'dragon might' is all bluff—her real sequence is probably 'Weapon Master' on the 'Warrior' pathway."
As Danitz processed this, he took a swig of beer before tossing another coin:
"Give me the latest rumors."
"Five coins." The bartender raised the price without blinking.
"You know who I am! If your intel's worthless, you'll regret it." Danitz produced four more coins but threatened anyway—no point being fleeced.
The bartender, now satisfied with the payment, didn't hesitate any longer and began to speak:
"The Royal Navy's ironclad Pritz destroyed a passing pirate crew during routine drills... The terror of battleships and heavy artillery is beginning to spread among some of the smaller pirate factions... Some are thinking of going on a final spree before the ironclad fleet becomes fully operational—take one big haul and then get out of the game...
'Admiral of Blood' Senor and 'Vice Admiral Dusk' Bulatov Ioan clashed again in the southern seas near Sunia Island, getting into a major battle... This time, 'Admiral of Blood' acted like a madman and came well-prepared. 'Vice Admiral Dusk' had to pay a steep price just to escape.
A detachment under the 'King of the Five Seas' encountered the Rorsted Archipelago's First Fleet just the day before yesterday! Surprisingly, even with Admiral Amyrius Rieveldt personally commanding the navy, they couldn't pin down the detachment. In fact, the admiral nearly got injured during an assassination attempt, allowing the 'Witch of Wind' and the newly-emerged 'Witch of Fire' to make a name for themselves in one fell swoop.
The Future under 'Admiral of the Stars' intercepted a Loen smuggling vessel in the Misty Sea but was unexpectedly and fiercely pursued by the Intis navy... During that battle, the 'Lady of the Scythe' killed the Intis navy's rear admiral, Winx Delien, who had led the fleet in pursuit. Because of this, her bounty in Intis skyrocketed to nearly 8,000 Fells.
But what's even stranger is that Loen also issued a bounty on her at the same time."
So that's how the "Witch of Wind," "Witch of Fire," and "Lady of the Scythe" rose to fame—and got those bounties...
I remember that Admiral Amyrius Rieveldt of the Rorsted Archipelago is a demigod on the "Arbiter" pathway. Even for our captain, she'd likely have to use the hidden aces aboard the Golden Dream to retreat safely from someone like him...
Those two witches really are formidable!
And as for Winx Delien from Intis—I've heard of him too. He should be an Ocean Songster. To think he died out at sea at the hands of the "Lady of the Scythe"? That pirate woman must be no slouch either!
As for "Admiral of Blood" attacking "Vice Admiral Dusk," Danitz didn't care much. Ever since a few months ago—when the captain temporarily left the Golden Dream—Senor had been intermittently going mad, attacking people all over the place. The Golden Dream itself had even nearly been assaulted by him once.
After taking another sip of beer, Danitz finally asked about his real reason for coming to the bar—information about the detective, Ebner Bryan.
After paying another two gold coins, he heard a story about a "playboy" who left a trail of romantic flings wherever he went.
His scandalous reputation had even spread all the way to Bayam? Even the "Lady Dragon Might" of Damir supposedly had an ambiguous relationship with him?
Danitz immediately began worrying about his captain, afraid she might also fall for the playboy's tricks.
Maybe... all those habits that resemble the captain were just part of a facade to please her? No, that doesn't make sense... he had no reason to keep up the act in front of me... Was he afraid I'd expose him? But even if he was faking, I'd never say anything nice about him anyway... So what's the point?
Just as Danitz was drowning in doubt and worry, he suddenly noticed something was off in the bar—it had gone abnormally quiet, devoid of the rowdy noise that should have filled such a place.
Two burly men were facing off in the middle of the room.
"Boring trick." With his experience, Danitz immediately saw through the setup, smirked at the bartender, then slipped into the crowd to avoid getting dragged into the potential brawl.
Sure enough, after a short farce, one of the musclemen—"Sea Eagle" Logan—singled out a newcomer adventurer for his usual extortion scheme.
But to Danitz's surprise, that adventurer turned out to be incredibly strong, and his way of handling things suited Danitz's tastes perfectly. After the man slammed the bartender's head onto the counter and quickly dodged the guards to escape the bar, Danitz used a mystical item to hide in the shadows and followed him.
...
(End of chapter)