Captain – Chapter 302 – The Siren’s Song

Just as the scholar had said, eternal night had come.

Black clouds roiled endlessly at the horizon, casting great shadows that enveloped the Mermaid and obscured all light above the entire Annalian Ice Plains—never dissipating, thus eternal night.

The condition from Bivis’s statement had been fulfilled, and the ice plains had appeared. That being the case, where was the song?

This was Roy’s first thought after seeing that curtain of night, and as if to confirm her thinking, an infinitesimal, ethereal murmur—so faint she couldn’t even be certain it existed—suddenly appeared at her ear.

From this moment, all other sounds seemed to fade away from the young woman—the rain, the thunder, the commotion of pirates rushing to the deck and exclaiming at the sight, even her first mate’s calls from just beside her.

Only that elusive murmur, originating from an unknown source, gradually grew louder and clearer.

Was this the song?

The captain thought silently, listening carefully.

Only now did she finally realize that this humming, which was beginning to form a melody, was the song the scholar had spoken of—the one echoing beneath the eternal night.

However, she still couldn’t discern where the song came from, couldn’t understand its words or meaning.

The song was light and ethereal, natural and pure, echoing through the icy sea beneath the downpour, as if it had been born for this very purpose—what need was there for specific meaning?

Yet somehow, Roy heard in it an immensely deep sorrow and despair… a despair even heavier than the eternal imprisonment the scholar had once experienced.

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And so she suddenly felt cold, her body and mind as if plunged into a glacier, like that rainy night when she watched the little brat close his eyes, consumed by loneliness and sadness.

Then, she heard her first mate calling, and all sounds returned to her ears.

Roy turned to look at Caine who was watching her, remembered his embrace on that rainy night, and felt her body warm slightly. Then she suddenly realized the temperature had actually gotten warmer.

The eternal night was an ever-present rainy darkness, but this rain wasn’t cold. Instead, it was remarkably warm, as if welcoming the Mermaid’s arrival, or perhaps…

Trying to melt the entire ice plain.

“Can you hear it?”

Dispelling the thoughts in her mind, Roy found she could still capture that song. It hid among countless sounds, yet remained clear, gradually gaining direction. To confirm she wasn’t mistaken, she asked this question.

Of course, it was also to verify some of her suspicions.

“Hear what?”

Caine couldn’t understand the young woman’s abrupt question, confused, he uncertainly asked back.

“He can’t hear it, and neither can I. Everyone on this ship, everyone in this world except you, cannot hear it.”

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Bivis’s calm voice sounded beside her. The captain looked at him, remained silent for a moment, then said: “What is it?”

From this moment, Roy understood the scholar’s meaning, understood every word he had said, but she was still curious about what that song deep in the icy sea was, and who was singing.

Despite everything she had experienced, her curiosity remained as strong as ever, like a cat’s.

Feeling Roy’s inquisitive gaze, the scholar quietly looked at her without speaking, as if considering whether to tell her about that past event, or perhaps secretly planning something.

But in Roy’s eyes, the meaning was naturally quite different.

She thought he was being mysterious, trying to gain some advantage, acquire more bargaining chips, or perhaps he simply didn’t know and was just pretending to be profound.

Roy wasn’t sure which it was, but she didn’t care to guess. In the past, when dealing with this Death-Fearer, she had always gained the upper hand, obtained what she wanted, learned what she wanted to know, not through negotiation or anything else, but because of…

Her fists.

Thinking this, Roy unconsciously clenched her fist. Just as she was about to employ her tried-and-true method of intimidation, the scholar suddenly spoke.

“Do you really want to know?”

Hearing this, the young woman relaxed her fist and gave him a roll of her eyes: “Obviously.”

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Receiving Roy’s answer, Bivis took a deep breath. A reminiscent look appeared in his eyes as he turned to face the direction the Mermaid was heading. Countless memories rapidly flashed before him, then all faded away, leaving only deeply hidden hatred… and fear.

“It’s a siren’s song.”

His voice showed no fluctuation, as if the melody he spoke of was just the sound of a harmonica played by children in street alleys—ordinary and commonplace.

Siren?

Roy blinked. She had certainly heard this name before.

In the legends circulating in the Southern Islands, sirens were a group of beautiful female creatures with eagle bodies and human heads. They often sat on huge, wet reefs, using their singing to lure sailors from passing ships, causing them to crash into the reefs, then feasting on the men.

Therefore, they were also called sea demons, both feared and intensely desired.

Suddenly remembering something, Roy had a moment of clarity and asked the scholar: “In mythology, wasn’t their mother called Acherousian, the same name as the lighthouse we’re looking for?”

“Yes.”

The scholar nodded slightly, his gaze still fixed on the distance, but a hint of mockery appeared on his face, as if ridiculing the person who had named the lighthouse: “Acherousian was a deity. Her daughters were called Acheroides, or what people call sirens.”

“But Captain Edward named that lighthouse this not to give the siren in the tower some warmth, but only to commemorate…”

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“The extinction of this race.”

Hearing him say there existed a legendary creature called a siren in the lighthouse, the captain showed no surprise.

Since the devil had left a siren’s song as a beacon for his chosen one… for her, it was only natural that there would be a siren in that lighthouse. Even if it was a mythical creature, for someone like him, capturing one wouldn’t have been difficult.

But… extinction?

Hearing this word, the cold feeling that had just left Roy surged again from deep within her heart. As if confirming the truth of these words, the melody of that song also became deeper and more sorrowful.

“But according to you, if there’s still a siren in that lighthouse, then this race hasn’t gone extinct. So where does the commemoration come in?”

A guess that chilled her body and soul arose in her heart, but Roy was still somewhat unwilling to accept it and continued questioning along the scholar’s line of thought.

Hearing the young woman’s question, Bivis finally withdrew his gaze and looked at her deeply, his eyes like the lighthouse’s light, trying to pierce through the fog in her heart and reveal the answer: “Because the one in that lighthouse is the last siren in the world.”

“And to light that lighthouse, her life must be taken. That’s why Captain Edward felt such sentiment and created this memorial.”

As the scholar’s words fell, silence descended on the bow. A kind of coldness gradually emerged and lingered, one that even the warm rain couldn’t dispel.