The Pirate King's Daughter - Chapter 19

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 19
“What are you doing right now?”
“I had coffee.”
“I made it for Tatiana.”
“Shouldn’t the cook avoid showing favoritism?”
Kiis and Dilshad suddenly started bickering.
I wasn’t sure if it was their incompatible natures or if Kiis was trying to get rid of Dilshad, but the two quarreled quite often.
“Keep it down. You’ll scare the fish away.”
At my words, Kiis straightened in his chair and refocused on fishing, while Dilshad settled onto the deck beside me.
“Oh, Tatiana.”
Dilshad tapped my leg gently.
“Did you get a bite?”
I quickly reeled in the line before the fish could escape, but Dilshad was pointing at something.
“Look, something’s showing up over there.”
“Huh!”
Beyond the horizon, land finally appeared.
* * *
“State your identity.”
A naval officer in white trousers and a dark navy jacket approached us. Behind him stood two sailors with rifles, their expressions menacing.
‘This is a nightmare.’
We had arrived at Balas Island—the very place I had tried so desperately to avoid, where the Naval Coalition maintained its base.
The five of us here would be imprisoned there.
“We’re all from Hibery Island, which lies below Donggreeodia. It’s a small island, and since we’re commoners, we don’t have any documents to prove our identity.”
Kiis stepped forward, with Perian and Dilshad standing beside him.
I stood a little apart, pressed against Berto’s side—the man whose actions had landed us in this mess.
The officer examined each of us in turn, as if weighing the truth of our words.
“What is your occupation?”
“We’re mercenaries.”
Kiis answered exactly as I had coached him beforehand. But he showed no nervousness even facing the officer, which worried me slightly.
“And who is the navigator?”
“I am.”
Then Berto opened his mouth.
“Hibery is a small island. How did you learn to helm?”
“My father is a merchant trader.”
My heart pounded.
I had gone to such lengths to forge their identities, and now someone would mistake them for commoners?
“Please wait here. We’ll conduct a search for smuggled goods.”
We were finished. I’d raised their suspicion on the first check.
‘We sold off anything that looked like treasure, removed the weapons cache entirely, and kept only minimal self-defense arms.’
We’d even disposed of the Stuffed Deer Head from the captain’s quarters, so that should be fine.
I waited anxiously for what felt like an eternity until the officer who’d conducted the search whispered something to his superior.
The commander’s eyes flashed.
“Seize the pirate vessel.”
His voice was heavy with threat, and with a metallic click, the sailors behind him chambered their rifles.
“Wait! What’s the reason? We’re not pirates!”
At my question, a rifle barrel swung toward me.
The three men in front blocked it, and Berto pulled me back, signaling me to stay silent.
“If you weren’t pirates, you should’ve shown some good faith by getting rid of your Pirate Flag.”
A Pirate Flag? That couldn’t possibly exist.
“Disarm immediately and come with us. Resist, and we’ll use force!”
As the sailors advanced with their weapons ready, a wall of flame erupted before them, blocking their path. It was Dilshad’s magic.
“Fire!”
Gunshots rang out. Between the towering flames and the smoke, visibility was nearly zero, yet bullets rained down ceaselessly.
“Ah!”
I covered my head and crouched down when Berto suddenly lifted me and started running.
The three men ahead cleared a path. Behind us, dozens of sailors I hadn’t seen before came pursuing.
“B-Berto! They’re shooting! Run!”
I clung to Berto’s ribs, gripping his coat and shaking it. But instead, he slowed and came to a halt.
“No! They’re still chasing! Keep running! What are you—”
The three men ahead vanished. In their place, naval officers stood in formation, guns trained directly on us.
Berto slowly set me down and positioned me behind him. But the sailors had formed a circle around us, leaving us nowhere safe.
“Drop your weapons.”
My holster fell to the ground with a soft thud, followed by Berto’s sword beside it.
“Raise both arms.”
The officer came closer, his weapon still trained on us, and kicked my precious Revolver away with his boot.
Perhaps as a result of the Original Work Immutable Law, Berto and I were imprisoned in the Naval Coalition base.
* * *
As Berto and Tatiana disappeared down the path, the three men backtracked and hid behind a building.
Two of them had already dropped their weapons and raised their hands.
With a metallic whisper, Kiis drew his sword.
“What are you planning to do now?”
Dilshad grabbed Kiis’s arm and spoke, but Kiis kept his gaze fixed on the two of them as he answered.
“If you draw their attention with magic, I’ll charge through.”
“We’re already surrounded. We can’t escape like before. You’ll definitely get shot. Berto might use a sailor as a shield, but what about Tatiana?”
His words were right. But Kiis’s reasoning didn’t work logically.
“For now we fall back and think of a way to break them out.”
“Breaking them out will be ten times harder.”
“But if they’re alive, we can at least try. With a Pirate Flag found on our ship, immediate execution is possible.”
Kiis spat a curse.
He could move as if blessed with wings, yet now his feet wouldn’t budge. Because Tatiana might die.
“Ow, it really hurts—please be gentle…”
“Quiet.”
I watched as a sailor bound Tatiana’s arms tightly behind her back. She winced and struggled against the restraints.
The two of them were led away like that.
“…Damn it all.”
He’d failed to save her again.
Pirates, a humpback whale, a caravan master, Serena, and now the Navy. He’d lost her how many times already?
And probably one more time without even knowing it.
That night came flooding back to Kiis with perfect clarity.
When he’d tried to lift her from the hammock where she slept, she had opened her eyes.
And then came the rambling words.
—Your Highness, Father! Father is sending poison in my name to you, someone, probably the Empress…
In fact, Kiis had drunk the supplement Tatiana sent from the battlefield and pulled back from death’s threshold.
Apart from that moment, he’d waited for letters she was supposed to send daily, but none came. Was there a connection?
Add to that the changes he’d witnessed after his return, and her reverting to her old temperament after being cast into the Black Sea.
Everything was muddled. He was definitely missing something.
But such thoughts hardly mattered now.
“Give it to me.”
Kiis extended his hand to Dilshad.
“What?”
“The Artifact that changes appearance.”
“Are you seriously going to steal something that precious right now? The Navy saw my face too.”
Dilshad muttered that Kiis was basically robbing him blind.
“Because I have to save Tatiana.”
“I’ll save her. You save your own friend. The one you were suspicious enough of to throw into the middle of the sea—don’t worry about her.”
A crimson aura shimmered into being around Kiis like a heat haze.
“I don’t think now’s the time for us to fight each other.”
Perian, who had been silent until now, stepped between them.
“I know we pushed you away, and the situation was certainly suspicious enough to warrant it. But now that we’ve decided to stay together, this is when we need to combine our strength.”
He sounded like a teacher calming down academy students.
Grumbling about how annoying it was, Dilshad pulled two piercings from his pocket and held them out.
“Put one on each. Press and hold for three seconds, and you’ll transform.”
“What about you?”
Perian asked.
“I’m already wearing one.”
“You carry so many around?”
“What’s it to you? Do nobles like you know anything about a vagrant’s life?”
“Unlike Kiis, I didn’t grow up privileged. Ah, never mind. That one’s circumstances weren’t great either.”
Perian spoke lightly, glancing at the Mana Stone carved like a jewel.
“But I can’t wear it around my neck? I don’t have pierced ears.”
“Can’t do it. Just shove it through like he did.”
Dilshad pointed at Kiis.
The way blood dripped down his ear was almost horrifying to see.
Dilshad transformed into Serena, her original appearance, and Kiis pressed the Artifact through his ear as well.
“Oh, Kiis. If you’d been born a woman, you’d be the belle of high society?”
Silver hair cascading to the waist, cold yet captivating crimson eyes. But the personality seemed to have gotten even fouler.
“Shut up. Just put yours on already.”
It was the rough, hardened look you’d see on a battlefield.
Perian decided not to push his luck, lest Kiis explode, and pierced his ear without further delay.
“Do I look good?”
At the same time, soft brown hair fell gently past his shoulders. Perian smiled with the fresh warmth of a sun goddess.
“Stop talking nonsense and follow me.”
But Kiis, looking displeased, led the way while dragging his long pants behind him.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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