Captain – Chapter 749 – Epilogue (Part One) – Negotiations, Treasure Hunting, and Curse Breaking

The old era has passed, the new era has arrived.

The war with the Pirate King has drawn to a close, but there are still many things to be done.

Such as tallying war losses, or dividing the spoils of victory.

The former represents the cost—though sorrowful, when calculating the size of cake each party can obtain, those losses can only be viewed as bargaining chips.

Cold, even heavily ironic bargaining chips in an epoch-defining negotiation.

Fortunately, while the concept of “cake division” was first proposed by Roy, due to her sensitive identity and complete lack of interest or talent in political affairs, she was lucky enough not to have to sit at that “dining table”—she only had to let her first mate go for a while.

Well, perhaps more than just a while.

Surrounded by her father, Richi, and others, Roy watched the sharply uniformed young man board a small boat toward the negotiation site jointly decided by the three parties—the Goddess Hestia—where he would personally attend his own “battlefield.”

Only this time, he was attending as a representative of Auran, accompanied by a group of generals.

Also present at those negotiations would be the Federation’s nameless but powerful Crown Prince—Young Master Shelley—and the Islands’ new Great Captain, Victor.

In terms of historical and epochal significance, this meeting would be even more far-reaching than the confrontation between Captain Gerard and the last Guardian of Law twenty years ago.

Therefore, Roy strongly suspected they might negotiate for days and nights on end.

Fortunately, compared to the other attendees, Caine’s physical condition didn’t require much worry.

After watching her first mate enter the giant warship’s shadow, the young woman withdrew her gaze, shrugged at the onlooking crowd, causing the raven perched on her shoulder to tremble.

“Alright, stop staring at me. I’m really fine.”

Feeling the pirates’ “Are you joking?” gazes, Roy knew it was nearly impossible to convince those close to her that she had both defeated her ancestor and emerged without irreversible hidden injuries. She could only helplessly look toward her father.

Since his return, he naturally commanded immense prestige among the crew, even faintly surpassing her own.

In the current situation, as long as he nodded, the pirates would naturally believe she was unharmed.

More importantly, Roy trusted he could see the truth.

Because whether due to the ancestor’s final embrace and flame convergence in the star sea, Gerard and all the other bonds, curses, or blessings the devil had left in this world seemed to have passed to her like an inheritance.

Thus Captain Gerard’s great power remained, strong as ever.

Of course, setting aside such mystical explanations, the young woman preferred to believe that the cheap ancestor was still using lies to fool people even in his final moments.

After all, this was more like his unrestrained style until death.

Following the captain’s gaze, the pirates naturally looked toward the relaxed and relieved man, knowing the answer before he even spoke.

“Yes, she’s fine—like she just went off to dance.”

Meeting everyone’s gazes, Gerard smiled and nodded, looking at his daughter with particularly gentle and peaceful eyes, as if he too had only truly relaxed recently.

Though he had said repeatedly that he believed she would surely succeed.

Succeed in doing what she wanted, succeed in doing everything.

But when that divine battle began and he felt his great power pressed back by brilliant starlight, his heart and soul’s depths suddenly trembled, as if gripped by an invisible hand.

Due to the devil’s bloodline, due to the unsolvable bonds, he had felt that flame.

The hotly beating flame of life.

His heart had sunk to its lowest depths, knowing she had stepped onto a path of no return.

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Until later, when night and clouds suddenly scattered and a point of starlight fell from heaven, until the young woman stood prettily before him again, the man knew he had witnessed the greatest miracle and had guessed something through the subtle changes in the demonic power within his body.

Now, smiling warmly as he met her gaze, he even deliberately teased her.

His words no longer filled with timidity and guilt.

Perhaps this was because of those mutterings that had once echoed in his heart from the young woman.

“There, see? You all heard—I’m really fine. Stop looking at me like ‘when are you going to collapse?’ It’s bad luck.”

With her father’s “backing,” Roy spread her hands, then smiled and changed the subject a moment later.

“I’ve gambled and fought with Captain Edward many times, always losing more than winning—no, I should say I basically never won. I’m not afraid of you laughing at me about this.”

The pirates exchanged glances at this, showing no great surprise.

After all, though their captain was remarkable, in various aspects—whether in legend or battle record—she could hardly match that Pirate King. Losing more than winning was normal.

Besides, who in history dared stand up and claim total victory over that devil?

Not a single person, probably.

At least their captain had won the most important battle.

Sure enough, as everyone’s thoughts wandered, the young woman’s proudly self-satisfied laughter, like a little fox that had stolen a chicken, rang in their ears.

“But in the end, wasn’t it this captain who won? So cheer up—it’s worth holding a grand celebration banquet. But before that…”

“First, treasure hunting. All those ancient lost treasures are right beneath our feet.”

When asserting herself as “the one who laughed last,” Roy’s face didn’t flush, her heart didn’t race.

Firstly, she had indeed stopped her ancestor on the divine path and delivered him a heart-piercing blow. Secondly, that greatest crisis… naturally wouldn’t be told to them.

Regarding the first half of her statement, the pirates who didn’t know the truth naturally agreed.

And upon hearing “treasure hunting” and Alfie’s echoing cries of “devil’s treasure” as she flapped her wings on the young woman’s shoulder, the crew’s eyes lit up, all becoming excited, just short of grabbing shovels to dig on the spot.

The legendary Pirate King’s throne had nothing to do with them, but the focus of that story passed down for centuries—Edward’s treasure—they could definitely touch.

What a fortune that must be! Probably enough for the entire crew to live in luxury for life.

Seeing everyone’s mood, Roy smiled cunningly, raised her index finger to her lips to signal secrecy, then had everyone prepare for treasure excavation and transport.

After receiving orders, the pirates departed together, returning to the ship to gather excavation tools.

Of course, not to the giant warship that was the center of attention—that would be tantamount to announcing it to the world. After brief discussion, everyone decided to move to the Nightmare King and the Ark, bringing in the people who had once traveled together and were now gathered on the “Ghost Scythe.”

Thus the beach briefly bustled before returning to quiet as the crew departed.

But treasure hunting was ultimately a “minor matter.” Though the water ghosts on the Nightmare King were slow, with Longfellow to mediate they wouldn’t cause chaos, so Richi and Vivian remained on the beach, whispering about something, apparently uninterested in treasure hunting.

But this peaceful scene of the two conversing quietly under the warm sun was soon interrupted by a certain “tactless” person. Roy approached and waved her hand between them.

“You should go back too, bring Longfellow and the others, and while you’re at it…”

Lowering her hand under their questioning gazes, the captain crossed her arms and smiled: “Prepare the medium and process for curse breaking. Let’s finish it today.”

Even before “dismissing” the pirates and mostly recovering, Roy had already spread her senses to carefully explore this small island in its entirety.

Now that the mist had cleared and the devil was gone, nothing could obscure her “vision” anymore.

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Thus she easily “saw” the labyrinthine city buried underground—larger in area than even the island’s surface—and discovered those treasures.

Then she was surprised to find that what she had casually said when promising the Blood Craver girl—”Who knows, that devil might just have what we need in his collection”—had actually come true, leading to the earlier scene.

Richi took Roy’s suggestion well enough, but Vivian was genuinely stunned.

Though she had endured centuries of suffering, though she knew that since this captain had defeated the devil and made promises, curse breaking would surely have hope—

When that dawn, that glimmer of hope, quietly arrived before her, the girl who had led the vengeful souls in bitter seeking was inevitably stirred.

Only after being gently called back by Richi did she nod to Roy, then depart with the young man, though her steps still showed some bewilderment at this heaven-sent surprise.

“What about you, old man?”

Finally, only Roy, her father, and the dozing raven remained on the beach.

Hearing the young woman’s increasingly natural form of address, the man smiled and shook his head: “Such things belong to young people. I’ll stay here and watch the situation.”

“Also, to see that long-missed little fellow.”

Seeing her father’s gaze shift toward the sea, Roy followed his line of sight.

On the golden, autumn-leaf-scattered near sea, whether having received news of the treasure hunting or fulfilling Gerard’s words, the Ghost Scythe with its ghostly glow was approaching with the other two warships, moving past the various vessels to stop closer.

Soon, the fully equipped pirates and water ghosts, led by Richi and his companion, came ashore and followed Roy into the dense forest toward the interior.

This wasn’t because the young woman didn’t want to see that night curtain.

But since she knew he still existed, hadn’t dispersed with the devil’s passing, she was at peace and thought there would be plenty of opportunities to meet later, so she left.

For now, let the former youth and his idol have a good reunion.

Passing through the dense forest, Roy led the mighty procession back to that clearing.

Only this time, everything had returned to ordinary. Covered in dust from a thousand years of history, there was no longer a brilliant throne, blinding lava, or old gentleman to greet them.

After the young woman circled the throne, saw through the mechanism, and triggered a certain device on the armrest, the earth shook, and at the clearing’s outer edge, a crescent-shaped floor section sank and folded away, revealing a spiral stairway passage.

Having solved the not-particularly-novel puzzle, everyone filed down the spiral stairs.

Then they were deeply shaken by what met their eyes.

What appeared before them was a true palace, even a royal city, with walls and floors laid with pale golden stone, permanent braziers placed at intervals, or strange stones emitting brilliant light.

Most importantly, this place was truly enormous.

Compared to Solomon’s treasure room that Roy and the crew had once visited, this was countless times larger, with gold and silver everywhere, piled in heaps.

Like worthless straw—though even finding so much straw to nearly fill this palace would be no easy task—and this was merely the first level.

Following the spiral stairs deeper level by level, the space didn’t shrink but expanded, though the treasures were fewer than the hills of gold and silver ornaments, mostly consisting of famous paintings, sculptures, and even entire sections of murals and reliefs that had been stripped away.

Only after passing through four levels did the treasures and gold and silver mountains finally disappear.

Deeper still was a true labyrinthine city, with corridors like webs and countless mechanisms, even vast dark chasms with no visible bottom.

The crew’s steps stopped here, ordered to take away the most valuable items—whoever took something could keep it, and if they ever left the ship and wanted to safely sell things, they could have the Great Captain’s people contact those great families.

But faced with ocean-like piles of treasure, even the most money-loving pirates became numb at this point, not knowing where to start. After all, with their numbers, even if they only chose the most portable gems and jewelry, they couldn’t carry it all.

What a happy “burden” indeed.

After settling these matters, Roy led Richi and his companion with the water ghosts to continue downward, deep into the palace’s fifth level that was like a complete maze.

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Those web-like spreading, crisscrossing up-down routes were simply impossible to exhaust by human power alone. Even thousands of explorers entering with sufficient food and water might never have anyone reach the destination through “bumbling around.”

This was like flowers in mirrors and moons in water—the most malicious joke the devil had left behind.

If anyone could enter this magnificent underground palace after his departure and only focused on the first four levels, they could easily return with full loads.

But if greed was like the sea and this still wasn’t enough, then once entering the labyrinth, they’d never leave again.

Another test of human nature, another manipulation of hearts.

Surprisingly though, apart from abyss-like spaces, this enormous palace contained no deadly traps—perhaps the devil’s rare “kindness.” As for how this hall was built… either through great power or by ghosts.

Of course, no matter how complex the maze, it posed no difficulty for Roy at this time.

Those intricate lines were gradually dismantled in her rapidly flowing thoughts, forming several viable paths, from which she then selected shortcuts.

Soon, everyone “escaped” the web, passed through the labyrinthine internal corridors, and through architectural miracles—movable circular platforms with attached crossroads—approached the deepest part of this treasury.

While waiting, thinking of the treasure mountains on the upper four levels, Richi couldn’t help asking the captain who was leading the way: “Come to think of it, you knew Edward’s treasure was this abundant early on. Why not simply announce it publicly? There’s no way to move it all anyway.”

With rumbling sounds, the final circular platform connected with a cliff face. Roy led everyone along the smooth stone surface’s only entrance—a long corridor lit by scattered candlelight—while saying: “That absolutely won’t do.”

“After all, these treasures were all collected by our Pirate King. How could there be any reason to return them? Besides, that man was my Roy family’s ancestor.”

“In a sense, this is the inheritance he left to me and future generations.”

“How to divide it is naturally up to me.”

Hearing this, the young man shrugged: “But this was all stolen.”

“What’s stolen becomes one’s own, doesn’t it?”

With Roy’s matter-of-fact reply, the raven on her shoulder supportively cried “one’s own” a few times. Knowing this was typical pirate style and the young woman’s miser nature acting up again, Richi smiled and said no more.

Casual conversation dispelled the gloom and tedium. With the former captain and first mate’s banter and Vivian’s rare interjections, the long corridor was quickly traversed.

At the deepest part of this giant treasury was only an ordinary hall-sized secret room, with several stone platforms scattered about—only five at a glance.

Upon them lay forever dust-free spears or other oddly-shaped weapons and implements.

Though Roy didn’t explain much, Richi and his companion, having followed the Lady and seen divine objects before, immediately recognized these as no ordinary items—almost all were famous divine artifacts, though different from those in the world’s end cabin.

Of the five divine objects, except for the delicate silver cup they were walking toward, the rest were all sacred or fierce weapons born for slaughter.

As if that man had collected them to bury deadly enemies or even an entire era.

But why hadn’t that devil used them in the end?

“It’s not that he was kind-hearted.”

Reaching the stone platform, Roy casually picked up the silver cup, then looked at the two who were glancing around.

Guessing their confusion, she explained: “In fact, except for that black blade born specifically for granting death, divine objects all have very strict conditions for use. Just like how Captain Edward initially needed the Lady’s approval to activate the magic box.”

“Similarly, when I returned Aegis, I had to ‘feed’ it enough divine blood before it reacted. So that man wasn’t compassionate—he simply couldn’t use them.”

Seeing their understanding, Roy showed them the silver cup in her hand and smiled with full confidence: “Look, this is the medium I mentioned.”

“This should be an ancient holy object used to hold the blood of believers sacrificed to gods or the other shore. Its function is… to connect people with gods or heaven?”

“In any case, it’s a pure vessel that should allow our blood to coexist.”

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Looking at the silver cup with ancient characters inscribed on its exterior wall and a clear blood-colored gem embedded inside, Vivian was silent for a moment before nodding.

At her signal, the water ghosts drew an extremely complex star-chart-like circular diagram around the hall’s central open space with the prepared ghostly green carved stones imbued with inexplicable magical power—a gift from the great Lady.

It was vaguely connected to yet completely opposite from the pattern that evil and mad family head had drawn when transforming himself and his relatives into Blood Cravers.

The purpose was to reverse fate and restore bonds.

Of course, reversing the sinister formation required by ancient witchcraft was no easy task. Roy heard from Vivian that even gods had spent over a century calculating this.

Only the medium had been missing, and that Lady’s divine blood, closely connected to calamity, wasn’t the best choice for rewriting fate and breaking curses.

With Roy’s appearance and her devil’s blood that could burn like blazing fire and incinerate dark mysteries, she naturally became an excellent substitute. Only the old problem remained.

Without a medium, the captain’s divine blood and the blood crystal used by Blood Cravers to activate the ancient formation couldn’t merge when they touched, but would quickly burn away completely.

Until now, with the silver cup found, they might finally have the possibility to rewrite everything.

Soon, the water ghosts had arranged the sinister formation, all standing nervously in the center. Though they were dull, at this moment they all understood what might happen.

The two young women stood at opposite edges, with Richi further away on the outside.

Meeting Roy’s encouraging gaze, the Blood Craver girl cut her fingertip and with difficulty extracted a blood-amber-like crystal, trembling as she placed it in the silver cup.

A crisp sound—the blood crystal hit bottom.

Then a drop of brilliant golden devil’s blood fell under Vivian’s tense gaze, covering the blood crystal before suddenly igniting silently, its fierce momentum like prairie fire spreading across the sky.

That cold blood crystal might melt in the next instant.

Or the fire might extinguish, leaving only hopelessness in the end.

But…

As if even the gods pitied this girl who had suffered and sought escape from pain for centuries, unwilling to see her scattered, hopeless eyes again—

The firelight dimmed somewhat but didn’t extinguish, burning quietly.

The blood-colored “amber” wrapped in it melted in that gentle glow, merging with the ghostly fire to look like wine made of flame.

“Go.”

Only when Roy’s soft voice reached her ears did the Blood Craver, mesmerized by this beautiful scene, return to her senses, force herself to calm down, and go to the formation’s center.

To the vengeful souls she had led for centuries in atonement.

After that, the captain smiled and raised the silver cup toward that pitiable girl, toward those pitiable people, then recited the curse-breaking incantation left by the Lady.

In an ancient script she didn’t know, understanding only the pronunciation.

The meaning was…

“O pitied ones, I release you from your suffering.”

As the words fell, the silver cup tilted, the “fire wine” flowed down, gently landing at the ring formation’s edge.

Following the complex lines and strange symbols, it ignited the entire ancient formation, finally enveloping everyone in the formation with ghostly golden flames tinged with dark red.

Silently retreating outside the formation to stand with the young man, Roy’s eyes reflected this scene.

Not fierce, not entirely warm.