Captain – Chapter 12 – Blue Whale

Everything was developing in a positive direction.

Another three days passed, and Caine’s injuries had finally healed almost completely. He no longer needed Roy’s attentive care. Of course, starting from this day, many of the chores became his tasks.

For an officer who had servants at home and attendants in the military, washing dishes and cleaning plates were naturally tasks he performed quite awkwardly. He even had his finger cut by a broken glass bottle, enduring merciless mockery from both the captain and the raven. However, with his powerful learning ability, such incidents soon ceased to occur.

This peaceful life continued until four days later, which was the sixteenth day of their survival on the solitary island. Alfie’s excited shrill cries broke the tranquility above the eastern coast, traveling along the white sand and black soil into the small world of the two people and one bird.

From a protruding part of the stone cave wall hung a dried wooden stick, from which three plump mackerels were suspended, all smoked, capable of being preserved for many days.

When Alfie’s calls reached the small stone cave, Roy was learning how to use the short pistol she had seized from Caine. For a pirate, even a legendary pirate of her fame, this military equipment, which the Auran Empire guarded very strictly, remained as mysterious as an enigma.

The captain, accustomed to using matchlock guns, widened her eyes as she watched Caine manipulate that exquisite pistol filled with precise mechanical structures, resembling a work of art, while nodding continuously.

“So, I just need to load the gunpowder, remove the safety, and pull the trigger? That’s so convenient?” Roy took the pistol handed to her by Caine, as surprised as a child who had never seen the world.

“Yes, but it can still only fire one shot at a time. You must remember this clearly.” Caine warned solemnly.

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“Yes, yes, yes, I know.” Roy quickly responded, knowing that if she treated his words as mere passing wind, even pretending to do so, this naval officer who considered everything meticulously and allowed no errors would lecture her for an entire day.

I don’t know if I’ve recruited a first mate or hired a nanny.

Roy thought helplessly, returning the pistol to its holster.

In fact, she had no regrets about recruiting this officer as her first mate. During these days of interaction, seeing the terrifyingly strong learning ability of this young man who had recovered his health, as well as his flawless arrangements and working style, she had more than once been grateful for her correct decision.

Just as she was about to discuss the plans for the next few days with Caine, the captain suddenly stopped speaking. Her ears trembled slightly a few times as she heard the distant calls of her beloved pet, and the content of those calls made her heart stir.

“Blue whale! Blue whale!”

Blue whales were creatures frequently seen around the Southern Islands. Due to their valuable nature, pirates often hired whalers from the islands to hunt them, then sold the whale skin, bones, and fat at high prices to the Auran Empire and the Pronora Federation. However, the two words Alfie was calling out now didn’t refer to these massive and beautiful creatures.

In pirate slang, “blue whale” meant a merchant ship carrying treasures, a mountain of treasure that pirates coveted most.

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Just as Roy had prayed, good luck finally descended upon the two of them.

A merchant ship had arrived outside the solitary island.

“What kind of godforsaken place is this? My Lord, guide Your lost follower out of the devil’s labyrinth!”

Captain Eda, a corpulent man, desperately withdrew the monocular telescope through which he had been gazing at the sea. Looking at the completely identical and unchanging scenery in all directions, he felt an excruciating headache.

From this moment, he had to reluctantly admit that his talent for navigation was truly far inferior to his talent for commerce.

Eda Voight, twenty-six years old, was a merchant from Parei, a small country belonging to the Pronora Federation. In order to transport wheat wine, a specialty of Parei, he had departed a month ago from the coastal port of Loharbi in the Federation, traveling eastward along the most commonly used route between the Federation and the Empire.

He had thought that with an extremely detailed sea chart and experienced old sailors, he wouldn’t need to spend a fortune to hire those haughty official navigators of the Federation. Unexpectedly, during the journey, they encountered an unprecedented storm. He even saw, from afar through the misty fog, a whirlpool larger than a small city.

Under the influence of seemingly endless thunderstorms and unpredictable magnetic fields, his compass failed. Clouds shrouded the sky for three full days and nights. The double-masted merchant ship, enveloped by ocean currents and fierce winds, drifted east and west, deviating from the established route by an unknown number of nautical miles.

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Now the weather had cleared up again, and a bright blue sky appeared overhead. But there were no characteristic landforms around to determine their location. So this merchant, navigating for the first time, could only rely on the judgment of the old sailor, struggling to sail eastward in a seemingly endless journey.

After more than a dozen days and nights, they arrived at the offshore waters of a solitary island that resembled hell.

Following the shouts and pointing fingers of the sailors, Eda looked down along the ship’s railing. The sight nearly frightened his heart out of his body.

Those were charred remains floating on the sea surface, apparently traces left after some fine warships had been completely destroyed. But the problem was that among these remains, not a single floating corpse could be seen.

This scene was too shocking and extremely bizarre. The sailors on the ship, accustomed to laziness and having no heart for resistance even when seeing pirates, wanting only to pay to avoid disaster, were naturally frightened pale and trembling incessantly.

Only the old sailor, aged but still exceptionally robust, shook his head and said to the dazed captain: “It seems a disaster occurred here. Everyone died.”

“Di-di… disaster?” Eda swallowed hard and asked him: “Why not a great battle?”

“Captain, have you forgotten what we saw earlier?” The old sailor didn’t explain, merely referring to the terrifying whirlpool that everyone had witnessed long ago, and the thick bolts of lightning that kept striking down.

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“You mean these ships were struck by lightning like this, and the bodies of the dead were swept to the bottom of the sea by the whirlpool?” Eda trembled, cautiously glancing at the cloudless clear sky, fearing that a bolt of lightning might strike his head at that moment.

“That’s the only explanation. And judging by the style of these warships, they should belong to the Auran Empire Navy.” The old sailor’s eyes flashed with brightness as he quickly scanned several ship hulls that hadn’t been too severely damaged, offering his judgment.

The sailors looked at the old sailor with awe and admiration, believing his words without doubt. After all, he had once been a proud Pronora naval officer, a sworn enemy of the Auran Empire.

“As for why they came here…”

The old sailor looked with deep eyes towards the gradually receding mist and the solitary island emerging from it, saying in a heavy tone: “It must be that island.”

“Th-th-then forget it, let’s turn around and leave quickly.”

Even knowing that there might be treasures on that island capable of attracting such a large fleet from the Auran Empire, the timid Captain Eda didn’t want to tempt fate. He planned to immediately change direction, getting as far away from this inauspicious solitary island as possible.

Just as he was turning the steering wheel, a sharp-eyed sailor pointed to the white sandy coast of the solitary island and shouted loudly: “Captain, there are people there!”