Departure in Three Days
Departure was set for three days later. In the interval, they had to finish all the resupply work. The ship had been meticulously repaired by Nostrum’s shipwrights, and most of the sailing provisions had already been secured through the guild. Only one issue remained: recruiting a crew.
While Rose had been caught up in Mateo’s schemes, the majority of her sailors had fled. They had thought they were joining an ordinary small-time pirate outfit, only to learn from the start that the crew was being hunted by the Empire. After watching the ship get impounded in Nostrum, it was a wonder any of them had stayed at all. If they failed to gather enough hands by the deadline, they would have no choice but to fill the roster with Nostrum sailors. For Rose, that was the one option she desperately wanted to avoid. There was no guarantee that a handler like the head maid wouldn’t be lurking among them.
The moment Rose and her closest companions stepped into the sailors’ guild, every man’s eyes locked onto them. It was only natural. Three stunning beauties had appeared in a place reeking of sour sweat and cheap booze.
“Whoa, ladies, I think you took a wrong turn.”
“Lost? Want big brother to help you find your way?”
Ignoring their leers, Sara calmly assessed the men’s physiques.
“It’s hopeless. None of them are worth a damn.”
Just then, five or six rough-looking thugs closed in, surrounding the women.
“Hey, this ain’t a place for bitches like you.”
“Or maybe you’ve got some business with us?”
One of them grabbed his crotch and thrust his hips upward with a filthy laugh.
“Get lost. You stink.”
Rose’s cold dismissal made the men flinch for a second, but the obvious gap in their appearances quickly brought the smirks back.
“Don’t be so stuck-up. Come on, let’s go. I’ll teach you what a real man tastes like.”
One of them reached out to slap Rose’s ass. That was when it happened.
“Huh?”
Thud.
A light breeze seemed to brush past, and the man froze. Something hit the floor.
“Oops. Where exactly were you trying to put that filthy hand?”
Nelia spoke in a playful tone, a dagger already in her grip. In the blink of an eye she had severed the man’s wrist and let it drop.
“Aaaargh!”
The man collapsed, clutching the stump of his wrist. One of his comrades tried to draw his sword, but Sara’s rapier was already pressed against his throat.
“Move and I cut. Get lost.”
The men had no choice but to raise their hands and back away. Even the one who had lost his hand fled in terror.
“Is this really the best they’ve got? What are we supposed to do?”
Nelia kicked the severed hand across the floor like a toy as she spoke. Still, Rose knew they had no choice but to recruit whoever was available. Sara and Nelia were simply too strong, and since this was still the early stage of the game, finding a truly capable navigator was nearly impossible. For now, they just needed enough warm bodies to get the ship moving.
“Wait… isn’t that Rose Black?”
As Rose turned toward the guild clerk, a voice drifted from the corner.
“It is! That’s Rose Black of the Black Rose Pirates!”
“They say there’s a three-thousand-gold bounty on her head. Never imagined she’d be this beautiful.”
The gazes directed at them shifted from crude lust to something closer to fearful reverence mixed with raw greed. A desperate longing that whispered they would gladly throw away their lives for even one night with her.
“We’re looking for crew. One frigate. One hundred men.”
“Hiiik… Y-yes… We do have a listing for roughly a hundred positions, but…”
The clerk looked up at Rose with anxious eyes. His expression asked the silent question: who in their right mind would sign onto a pirate ship?
In this game the sailors’ guild was neutral ground—open to everyone, offering equal opportunity. Rose turned and scanned the wanted posters pinned to the board. They weren’t the highest rank, but somewhere in the middle she found the Empire’s bounty notices for herself and her companions. Imperial fugitives. The most dangerous category of all.
“Well now, looks like we’ve got ourselves a big fish.”
Another group of men approached. Knowing her identity and still daring to come closer meant these weren’t the same small fry as before.
“Imperial fugitives, huh? What the hell did you do?”
“Bounty hunters?” Rose asked, hand resting on the hilt of her sword.
The man waved his hands.
“Not at all. After seeing what you just did, only an idiot would pick a fight. You’re looking for sailors, right? Perfect timing—we and our mates are also looking for a ship to join.”
“You do realize it’s a pirate ship, yes?”
“Of course. And we’re pretty vicious bastards. Ordinary crews can’t handle us.”
As he spoke, the man carried himself with the easy confidence only the strong possessed. But there was something he didn’t know. Rose was a player who had already cleared this game once. She could tell at a glance that he wasn’t a named character.
“How many of you?”
“About twenty. Instead of standing around, why don’t you come to our hideout and say hello? We’ll show you how useful we can be, and you can greet the captain properly.”
There was a slight risk, but with Sara and Nelia at her side, Rose decided there shouldn’t be any real danger. The men left the guild first. Rose followed, keeping a wary eye on their surroundings. No one tried to jump them for the bounty. Instead, many watched the women trailing after the men with strange, speculative eyes.
Their hideout was tucked away in a corner of the harbor district.
“Boss, can we start calling you that now? The guys are gonna love you. Above all, they’re hopeless when it comes to women. For a beauty like you, they’d offer not just their lives, but even their two most precious balls.”
The man in the lead cackled as if his own vulgar joke was the funniest thing in the world.
“The sun’s setting,” Rose said, gazing at the sea visible between the buildings. It wasn’t mere small talk. The man guiding them was deliberately wandering, wasting time. He was waiting for darkness.
When they entered the narrow alley between two large warehouses, the red-tinted path suddenly grew dark.
“Heh, you’re sharp after all.”
The guide turned back with a meaningful smile and put distance between them.
“But you’re too late.”
He put his fingers to his lips and whistled. Shadows of suspicious men appeared atop the surrounding buildings.
“Twenty-two men. At least that part wasn’t a lie,” Sara remarked calmly.
“Hehe, I was getting bored just moving boxes all day. This is perfect timing,” Nelia said, drawing daggers into both hands and preparing for real combat.
In truth, twenty ordinary unnamed men would have been no match for even one of the three women. Yet Rose’s heart pounded with tension and unease. This game could no longer be considered the pure version she once knew. She had to treat it as an entirely new game—one reborn as a living hell for women.
Cannons existed in this world, but firearms did not. Even so, the fact that they had positioned men on the rooftops was ominous. The alley had only two exits—front and back—and the thugs had already blocked both with massive iron plates. They were clearly preparing some cowardly trick.
It meant they had a way to subdue the women without ever getting close.
The instant Rose drew her sword, something poured down from above. The men had begun throwing nets.
Clang!
When Rose slashed at the net, instead of being cut it rang out with a sharp metallic sound.
“These aren’t ordinary nets. We know our swords can’t beat you. But what if the roles switch from hunter and prey?”
They were nets woven with magic thread. Ordinary blades couldn’t sever them, and once they touched skin they clung like a squid’s suckers, instantly restricting movement. A valuable tool.
“Ugh! Why is this so sticky?!”
Nelia, who had been holding daggers, failed to deflect the net in time and took a hit to her leg. She screamed while desperately trying to tear it off.
These weren’t common thugs. They were slave hunters. And judging by how freely they threw around high-grade magic tools, they clearly had powerful backers.
“Cough, cough. What the hell is this now?”
Nelia sliced apart an orb flying toward her, only to be engulfed in unidentified smoke. A sweet scent. It was definitely an aphrodisiac.
“Don’t breathe it in! Clear it away, Sara!”
At Rose’s command, Sara gathered her power. A gust of wind swept the powder aside.
“You’re holding out longer than expected. Just how long can you… Who the hell are you?”
A new shadow appeared on the roof. He was far larger than the other men. He grabbed one of the net-throwers and hurled him bodily to the ground. The slave hunters were thrown into confusion by the new arrival, and that brief opening gave Rose’s group the chance they needed.
Thanks to being lured into the narrow space between buildings, Nelia kicked off a wall and leapt to the roof. Rose and Sara began smashing the iron shields blocking the alley.
“Aaaah! Run!”
The men tried to flee, but they couldn’t shake an enraged dark elf. Nelia became darkness itself, slicing through every last one of them without mercy.
“Haa…”
It hadn’t been a difficult fight, but the small amount of aphrodisiac she had inhaled left Rose dizzy. She took a deep breath to steady her mind. Sara and Nelia returned, and the giant shadow of a man approached Rose as well.
“Stop. Come any closer and I’ll cut you down.”
The highly-strung Sara raised her sword in warning, but the opponent simply snorted and ignored her, stepping directly in front of Rose.
“Rose Black.”
His voice carried a chilling sense of intimidation. He held up Rose’s wanted poster, comparing her face to the drawing. Once he confirmed it was really her, he grinned.
“Looking for sailors, are you?”
“Who are you?” Rose asked, studying his face carefully.
Kein Fenrick! A rare sailor who could only be obtained under specific conditions. His combat ability was top-tier, and his skill as a boatswain was utterly irreplaceable. Rose had encountered him several times while playing the game but had never managed to learn his recruitment conditions, so she had never been able to hire him.
“Let’s just say I’m a hunting dog that bites the Empire’s throat. Originally I planned to join under you, but I’m disappointed. If you struggle this much against trash like them, you’re useless.”
He spoke as if he were the one in charge. Rose wanted to make excuses. Professional slave hunters had deliberately driven them into an ambush. But a truly capable captain would never have let the situation arise. Her impatience had clouded her judgment.
“State your business. What do you want from me?”
Yet Rose refused to sound pathetic.
“Do you intend to fight the Empire from now on?”
“Perhaps. It seems that way.”
“I’ll lend you my strength. Let me join you.”
“Without any conditions?”
“Of course not. It’s neither difficult nor complicated. Just take me to someone. If you deliver me to Caspian, I’ll devote everything I have to you.”
At the name ‘Caspian,’ Sara’s expression wavered. Rose herself was shocked. That name belonged to Caspian de Thalassium—the current Emperor of the Empire.
“Honestly, it will be difficult right now. But I promise. I will take you to Caspian.”
At those words, Kein knelt on one knee before Rose and swore his loyalty.
“My life belongs to Admiral Rose.”
On the day of departure, they had somehow managed to finish recruiting the crew. The men at the sailors’ guild had known the identities of those who approached Rose. The rumor spread that despite becoming their target, she had strolled the streets without fear and instead annihilated her attackers. As a result, those seeking a big score flocked to her ship.
“This is the final mission.”
Right before departure, Mateo visited the captain’s quarters. He acted as if he had completely forgotten what happened in the training room last time. He spread out a nautical chart and marked a point.
“There should be a small uninhabited island here. Your task is to retrieve the treasures located on it. There is likely a wrecked ship as well.”
“What kind of treasure?”
“Simply gold and silver that lost its owner. We are merchants who cannot resist money, aren’t we?”
But Rose sensed he was hiding something. Something he didn’t want even her to know.
“How do we find the island?”
“Something miraculous will happen on that island.”
“For example?”
“I cannot answer that. I’m not certain myself.”
“Fine. Let me confirm the mission details. Go to the point marked on the chart, locate the island with the wrecked ship, and bring back the treasure on that island. But there will probably be too much. Bringing everything is impossible.”
Rose deliberately emphasized the word ‘impossible.’ The contract forbade demands beyond her ability.
“Of course. I will assign you one attendant. He will locate the island and appraise the treasure for you.”
“So I just give the treasure to the attendant?”
“No. The attendant only appraises. You must bring it to me personally. That will complete our contract.”
Rose recalled what Mateo had said before—that she would become completely his. She had a strong feeling that the jewels brought back from this mission would be connected to that claim.
Mateo left. Rose took the helm.
“Unfurl the sails!”
At Kein’s command the sailors moved with perfect coordination, and the ship slowly began to glide forward.