Captain – Chapter 597 – “Succession”

The military boots were no longer before her eyes.

Roy slowly rose and looked ahead. The scene she saw was precisely the skeletal captain sheathing his sword and sitting back in the ancient wooden chair, their gazes intersecting.

If those empty, profound eye sockets of the skeleton could indeed project a gaze.

Clearly they could.

Because reflected in the girl’s dark golden eyes, that skeleton gently nodded, meaning he could “see” her and feel the gaze she cast upon him.

And had also heard those two words.

“I promise.”

After that, a low “rustling” sound suddenly appeared in the room.

Like fallen leaves stirred by warm wind, like sand grains rolling and flying on a beach. Its source was the skeleton sitting upright in the wooden chair, seemingly never having changed position.

Having received the promise and entrusted his authority, mission, and everything to the girl, there was no longer any need for him to persist. He gradually turned to dust and scattered amid the low sound.

Dispersing along with him was the decay that had accumulated in the room for countless years.

Everything seemed to be moving toward rebirth.

The radiance on the candlesticks along the side wall gradually brightened. The tightly closed portholes opened without cause, and sea wind carrying moist rain swept in, completely clearing away that sense of vicissitude and staleness.

During this process, the ghost who had been standing beside Roy, watching the entire “succession” ceremony, finally moved, stepping forward.

She walked past the fallen long table, came before the wooden chair, then lightly lifted her skirt hem and naturally sat in the skeleton’s embrace, gently pressing her cheek against his chest.

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Against that heart with its obvious crack, presenting a deathly black hue.

Faintly, beside the ghost girl’s cold, gleaming eyes, there seemed to be additional points of light bearing crystalline, starlike radiance—like pearls, more like tears.

The captain silently watched this scene.

She didn’t know the other’s story, but from what she had witnessed earlier, she could imagine some of it.

It seemed the ghost must be that Representative’s daughter.

Through coincidence, or the choice that man had spoken of, she had ultimately found that pendant, learned the truth, and informed the goddess and others of that tragic news.

And then? It must have been pursuit.

Just as she herself had pursued her father’s footsteps, step by step approaching the Cursed Sea and hidden truths, the ghost must have undergone a similar process.

Only… she had not succeeded.

Due to her undying obsession, her consciousness—or rather, her soul—had remained within the pendant. Afterward, this sacred object had been entrusted by the Auran Goddess to Lady Annisdora.

Finally reaching her hands.

After thousands of years, this pursuit with no visible path ahead had finally reached its conclusion.

That great person’s remains had finally scattered completely, along with his clothing and that miraculous restored straight sword, all turning to sand and dust, vanishing with the wind.

Only the triangular military cap he wore—white-based with golden thread depicting the goddess’s prayer image—remained, falling gently like a feather.

Into the ghost girl’s hands.

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Having lost the skeleton’s support, the ghost sat in the wooden chair, gazing thoughtfully with slightly tilted face. For a long while, until those star-like teardrops scattered, she turned to look at the captain.

Seeing this, Roy slowly approached, then knelt on one knee before the wooden chair.

She removed the captain’s hat from her head, placing it on the nearby armrest, then slightly raised her head to look at the frail girl who was almost the same height as herself.

Looking at those eyes where the color of sorrow gradually faded, rippling with a certain brilliant radiance, Roy understood her meaning and smiled as she repeated her earlier words.

“I promise.”

Hearing this, the ghost was quiet for a moment, then gently nodded.

“Thank you.”

As her words fell, she raised the military cap in her hands—symbolizing authority, the goddess’s blessing, and that Representative’s recognition—and gently placed it on Roy’s head, solemnly adjusting it properly.

When the captain slightly lowered her head to accept the bestowal of the cap, then raised her eyes again, the ghost was nowhere to be seen.

But she knew the other was still on the ship and had formed a strange connection with this magnificent giant vessel, as if they had merged into one, no longer needing to drift.

And seemed to… possess extraordinary powerful authority.

As for why the captain could sense this, it was because from the moment she donned this military cap—or rather, accepted the mission of redemption—this giant ship had finally acknowledged her.

It was willing to reveal its secrets to her and serve as her escort.

In the brief time it took to rise, countless data and images appeared before Roy’s eyes, flowing into her mind—the giant ship’s structure, history, propulsion methods… any related information came flooding in.

So complex and rapid that even with her constitution, she felt waves of irrepressible headache.

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Following this came shock—indescribable shock.

Shock at the Goddess Hestia’s extremely complex yet magnificent construction diagram, as regular as an artwork, that perfect combination of theology and technology.

This giant ship… actually didn’t rely solely on wind power for propulsion.

It also used countless hidden passages to connect the interior—that is, the cross in the chapel—with the warship’s hundreds of cannons and countless secret locations, thereby able to deliver divine grace, or visible magical power, throughout the ship’s body.

Thus it gained extraordinary firepower, defensive capabilities sufficient to treat giant waves and storms as nothing, and most importantly, possessed the power to…

Move autonomously in windless environments!

This was too incredible, just like a fairy tale.

In the interval while receiving the warship’s intelligence and her headache gradually subsided, Roy’s gaze suddenly focused as she glanced at a porthole on the side wall, then turned toward the wooden door.

That thing was coming. She had to go respond… no, give it a surprise.

A tremendous surprise.

“Monster, monster!”

Left outside the captain’s quarters and following the girl’s orders to monitor the sea’s movements, the raven circled above the deck while issuing sharp warnings.

The pirates, already prepared, all turned to face the side shrouded in sea fog.

They lowered their breathing somewhat nervously and fearfully. The wind and rain had somehow diminished considerably, making the already empty deck seem even more silent.

People could even hear their own extremely regular heartbeats.

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Thinking of this, the pirates suddenly noticed something wrong. After exchanging glances, they learned from their companions’ stiff head-shaking that this wasn’t their heartbeat, but…

“Its.”

“Thump-thump, thump-thump…”

Powerful as war drums, seemingly able to influence the environment, that despair-inducing heartbeat drew closer. The sound of waves coming from within the sea fog also became increasingly clear and violent.

“Still no movement from the captain?”

Listening to the continuous “monster” warnings from overhead, watching the sea fog begin to churn chaotically, Ben standing by the side rail frowned as he asked the pirate beside him.

“Not yet, bosun. To be precise, it’s been as quiet as a graveyard over there.”

Hearing that ominous comparison, Ben shook his head and raised his hand to give the other a hard smack. But before he could scold anything, a dramatic change occurred in the distance.

“Boom, boom…”

Even across such a distance, everyone on deck still heard that thunder-like sound of breaking water, then vaguely saw a massive shadow burst from underwater. More than a dozen blue-green suns suddenly rose, though they lasted only a moment.

The next moment, the silhouette of the Mermaid lying across the water fog disappeared.

In an instant, that specter had destroyed a warship. Though the ship had already been heavily damaged and near sinking, it still brought tremendous shock to the pirates.

But what was even more terrifying was that after dealing with the Mermaid and discovering there was no target aboard—not even half a living person—the monster fell silent for a moment, then…

Came toward them.