Captain – Chapter 77 – Isaac Hedler

With those words left behind, the captain gave the three no time to react.

Roy grabbed the swinging rope and leapt, gliding across the sea as lightly as a petrel. At the rope’s furthest reach, she unhesitatingly let go, using the swinging momentum to grasp the wooden rungs protruding from the Victoria’s black hull.

Watching that agile figure rapidly climbing the dark hull, Caine’s hand on the railing gradually tightened, a hint of resignation appearing in his azure eyes.

No matter how confident the captain appeared or how reassuring her words, when facing this eerie vessel, she had still prepared for the worst.

“First Mate… what did the captain mean by that? She won’t really fail to return, will she?”

Understanding the captain’s meaning, Daniel’s initial excitement at his assignment quickly faded, his grubby little face showing traces of worry.

“She will return. Of course she will.”

Caine released the railing and turned around, smiling as he patted the boy’s head. His repeated words seemed to be convincing the boy as much as himself.

“After all, the captain has never disappointed me.”

The Victoria was enormous—climbing to the railing alone took Roy nearly three minutes.

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After vaulting over the rail and successfully reaching the deck, Roy kept one hand on the cross embedded in her curved sword’s scabbard while vigilantly surveying her surroundings, guarding against any strange entities that might emerge from the darkness.

The spacious deck was eerily silent. Beyond Roy’s deliberately hushed breathing, not a single sound could be heard, as if she were the ship’s only guest—or rather…

The only living person.

Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she confirmed no so-called ghosts or spirits had appeared nearby, Roy slightly relaxed her vigilance. She knelt down and carefully felt the wooden deck.

Very damp, but without a trace of mold.

Making this observation, the captain stood up straight again, her brow involuntarily furrowing.

It seemed just as the legends described—after suffering Annisdora’s curse, the Victoria had been eternally trapped in that moment. No matter how time passed, wind blew, or rain fell, nothing on this ship would ever be affected.

After deliberating briefly, Roy decided to check the captain’s quarters first.

Quickly crossing the deck and ascending the spiral staircase at the stern, the girl stopped at the entrance to the captain’s cabin. She listened at the door for a moment, and confirming it was as deathly silent as the deck, unhesitatingly kicked open the teak door while simultaneously removing the cross to shield herself.

The delicate cross showed no reaction. Instead, the wind from the captain’s forceful entry made the candlelight inside the cabin flicker restlessly, casting numerous mottled light spots on the floor and walls.

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“Well, it truly is a dead ship.”

After a moment of silence, Roy returned the cross to the scabbard and softly murmured to herself as she observed the cabin.

The Victoria was a warship of the same class as the Tyrant that had sunk outside Devil’s Island. Naturally, its captain’s quarters were incomparable to those of the small Osprey. Besides the detailed sea chart hanging on the main wall, there was even a tactical sand table filled with ship models near the wooden door.

Before that sea chart stood a spacious walnut desk. Seated behind it was the captain, wearing an Auran Navy uniform adorned with a gold-trimmed tricorn hat—the highest-ranking officer commanding the imperial navy in this battle.

Though the style had somewhat changed, Roy recognized the uniform, having seen something similar on Caine. Combined with the epaulette reflecting the candlelight, this captain was undoubtedly a high-ranking imperial admiral.

Walking past the tactical table to the mahogany desk, Roy looked at the admiral who was bent over military reports. She reached out and gently pushed his shoulder.

“Crack.”

With a teeth-grating sound, the admiral fell backward, limply resting against the chair back. Beneath the pristine tricorn hat was a yellowed skull, its hollow eye sockets staring blankly at the uninvited guest who had disturbed it.

“It’s a dead man, Captain.”

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The raven, perched low on the girl’s shoulder, croaked a reminder.

“Yes, a dead man. It seems Annisdora’s mercy extended only to inanimate objects, not to these poor souls.”

Roy remarked pensively, her gaze no longer lingering on the skeleton but scanning the desktop to see if there was anything worth taking.

By now, she had largely confirmed that there were likely no other living beings on this ship. Since they could no longer enjoy these worldly possessions, she might as well take everything for herself.

Thinking of the century-old paintings and treasures she might acquire, the girl’s mood suddenly improved, causing her to cast all thoughts of curses and predicaments to the back of her mind.

Unfortunately, there were no valuable treasures on the admiral’s desk. Apart from military reports written on parchment, there was only a common quill pen and a crudely made copper pocket watch.

Ignoring the quill, Roy picked up the pocket watch, looking at the tiny pits and scratches on its case with disdain: “Where did they dig up this piece of junk? A mighty imperial admiral using something like this? How shabby.”

Sighing lightly, Roy opened the watch without much hope. Looking at the photo inside—a man with a gloomy expression and unkempt black beard—her golden pupils narrowed slightly.

She couldn’t possibly recognize this person, but she had heard of the name written on the yellowed portrait and seen the blood-red hexagram tattooed on the man’s exposed collarbone.

“Isaac Hedler.”

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Roy murmured the name, then her lips curled into a playful smile as she turned to ask the raven: “Alfie, do you remember this man?”

Alfie cocked her little head, looking askance at the photograph and that glaring blood-red hexagram, shrieking sharply: “Traitor! Traitor!”

“Yes, the infamous betrayer in pirate history—Edward’s once most trusted First Mate, First Mate Isaac. If he hadn’t sold out the pirate alliance’s meeting location, Captain Edward wouldn’t have needed to hastily engage with a fleet far smaller than the empire’s.”

Roy pressed her hand against the edge of the desk, slowly circling around it to the side of the pirate traitor who had turned to bones. She narrowed her eyes at the uniform: “It seems after betraying his captain, Mr. First Mate did quite well for himself. But unfortunately…”

“He still couldn’t outmatch that man. Who could, when that damned devil possessed Annisdora’s Box?”

Saying this, Roy grabbed the admiral’s collar and yanked hard. The already loose skeleton crumbled at once, the upper body falling to the ground, the uniform opening to reveal a white undershirt and twisted collarbone.

However, on that smooth collarbone, there was no trace of the hexagram mark.

Seeing this, Roy’s eye twitched suddenly, and a chill surged through her heart.

“So it’s… an imposter.”