The Pirate King's Daughter - Chapter 7

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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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Episode 7
I glanced sideways at Perian, my eyes narrowing slightly.
His sudden change in demeanor unsettled me.
“There he is.”
Kiiis emerged from the building Perian pointed to, laden with various items.
“Why’d all three of you come together?”
Kiiis asked, seeming puzzled.
“I needed to speak with you. I ran into Perian just a moment ago.”
“What did you need to say?”
“Berto mentioned that securing materials here is difficult, so there’s a limit to how much we can repair the ship.”
Our plan was to customize the pirate vessel Kiiis and I had sailed to our liking before heading to the Empire.
He said there were enough gold coins aboard.
“So I thought we shouldn’t waste time and should depart as soon as preparations are ready. We need to get back quickly, after all.”
I was eager to cut the two-year voyage down to one year.
“Hold on. You just woke up from fainting. It’s too much to set sail immediately. I think you should rest a few more days.”
The answer came from Perian, not Kiiis.
His feigned concern frightened me far more than his earlier sharp words.
“I’m fine. If anything, sleeping so long has left me completely refreshed.”
“You were captured by pirates before we got here, weren’t you?”
“Even then, I just slept soundly. Kiiis took care of the pirates anyway.”
Perian sighed, regarding me as one would a stubborn patient.
“But you two…….”
Kiiis, who had been observing quietly, finally spoke up.
“Did you decide to drop the formal speech?”
“We agreed to speak informally since my manner of speech makes it impossible to hide that I’m nobility.”
Kiiis’s expression became oddly complex at Berto’s explanation.
“All three of you?”
Hearing Kiiis’s slightly off tone, I seized the moment. This wasn’t displeasure at all.
“Kiiis, so here’s the thing—what if all three of us spoke informally together?”
Surprisingly, Berto and Perian didn’t protest at my overreach; instead they looked to Kiiis, waiting for his answer.
“Hmph. Want to match yourself against me?”
“Not so much that as—the three of us are like friends, and it feels odd to address only you so formally.”
“This is absurd.”
“If you don’t like it, fine.”
He was younger than Berto and yet stubbornly resistant to change.
“……Fine. Let’s all get along comfortably from now on.”
He seemed to be grinding his teeth, but once permission was granted, there was no taking it back.
“Good to have you as a friend.”
I extended my hand, and Kiiis let out a scoff of disbelief.
“I said you could speak informally, not that we’re friends.”
“Petty.”
“Don’t insult the royal family.”
Unable to argue back, I could only glare, and Perian clapped his hands sharply to redirect attention.
“All right then, back to the original question. When should we depart?”
“Today.”
I repeated my insistence, and Kiiis stared at me.
“Are you really sure you’re up to it?”
“I’m not the one steering the ship. What about you, Berto? You fought yesterday—are you too exhausted?”
“I’m fine.”
“Then we depart today.”
I settled it summarily, and Perian shook his head in disapproval.
“But we need to decide where we’re going.”
Berto had pointed out the most crucial detail.
Our next destination was a place we absolutely had to reach.
The place where the heroine was. Romance was hardly my concern, but her abilities were essential.
She was a mage.
“Since we’re unfamiliar with this region, we should ask the village elder. Berto, would you go? I’ll stock up on supplies while you’re out.”
“Understood.”
At his overly formal response, I opened my eyes wide and stared at Berto.
He cleared his throat once, then answered again.
“Got it.”
I’d need to correct both Kiiis and Berto’s speech patterns during this voyage.
“I’ll help. I just bought some herbs—what else should we get?”
As I watched Perian converse with Kiiis, I quietly followed Berto.
“I need to drop Luke off. Luke!”
Luke, who had been playing with a stick in the distance, uninterested in the adults’ conversation, came running like an arrow the moment his name was called.
We soon arrived at the village elder’s residence, and fortunately, I received a recommendation for exactly what I needed.
“For that, Primanu would be a good option.”
The elder said, setting down a cup of tea.
“Primanu. I think I’ve seen it on a Sea Chart before.”
Berto unfolded the Sea Chart he’d brought to the table.
Primanu was a bustling port city on the eastern edge of the Greodia Continent. For reference, Greodia was also the continent where the Empire lay.
When you looked at the world map, there was a large stretch of black painted down the middle—the sea and land corrupted by Lucas’s fallen power, the Black Sea and darkness.
That’s why Primanu, though right beside the Empire, was cut off by the darkness; reaching it required a circumnavigation of the world.
It would’ve been easier if Lucas had brought us straight to the Empire after rescuing us from the Black Sea.
‘But if he had, we’d all have been killed,’ I reminded myself.
There was nothing to be done about it.
While I mentally cursed Lucas once more, Berto finished his conversation with the elder and rolled up the Sea Chart carefully.
“Would it be possible to also ask for a recommendation to a shipyard?”
“Oh dear, how could I have forgotten? I’ll write a letter right away.”
Shortly after, the elder returned with an envelope and a large wooden box.
“Lady Tatiana, please accept this humble gift. I regret we could not repay the debt you’ve incurred, yet you’re leaving so suddenly.”
The moment the elder opened the lid, I was utterly mesmerized.
“Wow…… it’s so beautiful.”
A stained glass humpback whale soaring through the sky was surrounded by pearls, sea glass, and fragments of shell.
“We heard you’re undertaking a long voyage. On our island, we have always hung such a charm on our ships, hoping that the Guardian of the Sea—the humpback whale—will protect our sailors.”
“Thank you so much. I’ll hang it in the most visible place.”
With that gift of gratitude received, our voyage preparations were complete.
* * *
A great sail billowed and unfurled. The white canvas swelled round with the wind.
The capstan creaked and turned, and the anchor holding the ship in place rose from the depths.
We were departing.
“Sister!”
I leaned against the railing on the second deck, stretching out to gaze at the dock.
Luke waved his arms enthusiastically. Behind him, the village residents gathered to see us off.
“Take care, Luke! Thank you all!”
It had been a brief meeting, but they were the first people I’d encountered upon returning to this world.
Dear people who hadn’t pointed fingers at me as a reckless princess but instead hailed me as a hero.
“Goodbye, sister! We’ll definitely meet again next time!”
As the ship changed course, Kiiis, Berto, and Perian, like me, clung to the railing to bid farewell.
Hibery Island receded further and further into the distance.
The crowd of people scattered one by one, and eventually even the last tiny silhouette vanished into a speck.
“It feels strangely melancholic.”
Entering the captain’s quarters, I opened the gift box from the elder.
Wondering where to hang it, and captivated by its luminescence like a suncatcher, I fetched a chair and stood upon it.
As I hung the humpback whale on the wooden beam spanning the ceiling, sunlight streaming through a small window passed through the stained glass and scattered its light.
“Perfect. I love it—oof!”
Crash!
Caught off guard by the violent lurch of the hull, I tumbled from the chair and rolled across the floor.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
The ship began to rock far more violently, and something slammed into the vessel with a heavy thud.
I rushed outside at once.
“What in the—!”
The deck was in chaos.
Seawater had poured over the sides and pooled across the floor, making it slippery and difficult to maintain balance.
It came like a bolt from the blue.
The sky was perfectly clear, and the sea some distance away was perfectly calm.
‘The original story never had an episode like this.’
Had the plot already begun to diverge because I’d altered my actions?
“Berto!”
First, I needed to find the navigator.
“Get inside the cabin! Brace yourselves and keep low!”
Berto’s voice came from the second level. It seemed he was at the helm controlling the ship, so I couldn’t see him.
I moved toward the captain’s cabin door handle as he instructed but hesitated, unable to open it.
‘Where are Kiiis and Perian?’
Though I shouldn’t be worried about others, my task was to return them safely to the Empire.
They all had to survive.
So the world could be saved, and so I could live.
“Kiiis……!”
I turned back to shout his name at the top of my lungs when I was swallowed by a dark shadow and froze.

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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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