Chapter 77

“Ha…”

Before my eyes lay the fallen figure of my old ‘Mother.’

As I looked at her head split in two, breathless, Cheshire let out a small sigh.

There was not a moment of hesitation.

Despite being the master I had devoted my loyalty to for my whole life, there was no trace of doubt in her hand that wielded the axe.

And now that it was over…

The only sensation I felt was an intense sense of relief.

It was as if something that had coiled within my heart had disappeared completely.

That was all.

It was strange.

The fact that I could feel this sensation at the death of this woman.

At the same time, I realized clearly.

I no longer felt…

Her as my mother…

Or as something precious…

‘Is this… the result of being reborn? Or could it be… simply because I now have someone more precious?’

I didn’t know which answer was correct.

But…

“Ah…”

At least in this moment, Cheshire felt the need to care for another self before her…

My younger sister, who was lost in confusion over our mother’s death.

“…Please follow me, I will take you to where we need to serve… to where the real mother is.”

“Ah… Yes… Sister…”

An existence whose loyalty and thoughts were still unclear.

In a situation where she was constructing her thoughts and establishing her reasoning like a newly born child.

Just like the past her…

At a stage of truly accepting everything seen and learned.

And now,

Cheshire began to do what she needed for her sister.

Not for a false mother who thinks of them only as tools…

But to find the true mother…

The being who would never abandon her no matter what happened.

*

“Mother.”

“…Umm… Just call me Auriel.”

“Yes. Auriel Mother.”

“…Huh…”

Even after saying it countless times, another Cheshire still does not stop calling her mother.

Though she had already heard the general situation, she thought it would take a while for this burdensome situation to end…

Auriel gently stroked her head with the thought that this was also a seed she had sown.

“By the way… what should we name this child? It wouldn’t do to call her Cheshire too.”

“Auriel should decide.”

“According to Auriel Mother’s wishes…”

“Hmm…”

Auriel pondered for a moment at the answer she somewhat anticipated.

And then, after a while…

She carefully spoke the name that came to her mind.

“Schrödinger… Let’s go with that…”

It was a name derived from a cat she had raised at the monastery in the past.

*

“Tch. Their names were grand, but they were completely useless.”

As Lemain rummaged through the storeroom of the White Shark Pirate Crew, she spoke with dissatisfaction.

The amount of treasure was far less than she had anticipated.

Though she had expected a decent profit from a somewhat renowned privateer crew… what she had actually obtained from their storeroom were merely trivial books and various medicines.

The only somewhat valuable items were the metal lumps, including adamantium, but even those were not plentiful.

“…Honestly, this girl named Elise must have had nothing better to do. To waste time and money on such trivial matters…”

While expressing her discontent, Lemain examined the materials left behind by Elise.

Though she could roughly understand what had been done with these, they were not topics that piqued her interest.

“Creating life, huh… Now that I think about it… someone did something similar in the past. But the results seemed much better than this…”

The information reminded her of the technological advances compared to the past, but she didn’t feel any deeper meaning beyond that.

Throwing down the book she was holding, Lemain lightly waved her hand.

-Flame!

A flame began to rise from it.

Feeling as if she was crushing a bug that kept coming back no matter how many times she killed it, Lemain left the storeroom, holding a bag filled with metal lumps.

“Well… At least I got some money from Auriel…”

3000 talants was a pretty sizable amount for Lemain, so it seemed she had managed to recuperate her expenses.

Just as she was planning to go to Pare as quickly as possible to withdraw the money, it happened.

“V-Vice-Captain!”

“Hmm?”

A subordinate pirate rushed into the storeroom with a tense voice.

“What’s going on?”

“An enemy has appeared! A warship flying the flag of the Kingdom of Frantz is coming this way!”

“What? Ah… No way… Why are they coming now?”

The appearance of the enemy ship at an incomprehensible timing.

With all the forces of the Kingdom of Frantz having already left, the arrival of their ship raised more questions than dangers.

‘Are they really planning to stab us in the back now…? Or could it be that girl Napoleona is deceiving us…?’

The underlings of the pirate crew had been disbanded completely, and about 70% of the main forces, including the Pirate King, were gone.

If they were aiming to exploit this power gap, it wasn’t entirely impossible.

Thus, feeling a sense of urgency for any potential emergency, Lemain asked coldly.

“What’s their scale? How many of them are there?”

“That is… just one ship.”

“…What?”

“One ship… it’s the size of a small warship, but it’s heading directly to the port with the flag of the Kingdom of Frantz.”

“…”

The story was so ridiculous it nearly stopped Lemain’s thought process in its tracks.

She held a moment of silence before speaking in a dazed voice.

“No. Are they out of their minds… What the hell…”

“What should we do? At this rate, it seems they’ll arrive at the port where the Golden Cross is located in about two hours…”

“Hm…”

Even with a lack of forces on our side, there was no reason to lose to merely a small warship.

Most importantly, the fact that they were coming straight to the port indicated a likelihood that they had a purpose other than combat.

“First, we need to see for ourselves. Gather everyone else.”

“Yes, Vice-Captain.”

With that, Lemain began to move quickly with her subordinates.

While the enemy’s scale seemed trivial, there was always the possibility of a disaster, so she headed toward the port to protect her flagship.

*

The warship of the Kingdom of Frantz was approaching the port directly.

Although it was small, seeing that it had ten cannons installed made Lemain and the other pirates tense.

“Don’t attack recklessly. Stay on guard until they show hostile intent.”

However, even as she spoke, Lemain and the crew grew more and more wary at the sight of the enemy ship approaching.

‘They aren’t sending any signals. If they were messengers or surrendering, they would show some kind of mark, but there’s nothing at all…’

‘If they’re coming into the port, shouldn’t they be slowing down? Why are they keeping the sails so wide open?’

A warship approaching in a manner completely incomprehensible in every way.

The abnormal behavior of the ship was causing even more tension than openly preparing for battle.

And then…

“V-Vice-Captain… What’s this?”

“Shit… everyone get out of the way!”

The warship charged straight toward the dock without any sign of slowing down whatsoever.

No matter how small a warship it was, it was still several hundred tons, and the assembled pirates could only rush to escape when it barreled into the port.

-Crunch!!!

With a loud noise, the warship ground halfway onto the dock.

The wooden structure shattered in several places, the keel broke, and the relatively intact ship was instantly destroyed.

“Ah…No… What the hell is…”

Lemain felt astonished at the incomprehensible surprise attack.

Right after that, she and the other pirates cautiously approached the now completely stopped warship.

Amid the dust clouds from the impact, they were on high alert, weapons drawn.

But then…

“…Huh?”

“Cough! What’s going on? I told you to stop!”

“I-I’m so sorry. That wasn’t in the book…”

“I can’t believe this… Are you guys really navy? It shouldn’t take days to get here. Just when I thought you finally arrived, you don’t even know how to stop the ship.”

“Um… Well… The truth is, we were… Gah!”

“I’m sorry! I fell asleep during navy class!”

Voices came to her ears.

With those familiar voices mixed in, confusion and curiosity began to emerge on the faces of Lemain and the other pirates.

And then…

“Huh… Well, whatever, we have arrived… uh?”

“…”

Amid the dust clouds, familiar faces emerged, along with a forgotten creature perched on her shoulder.

“Ah, Vice-Captain!”

Upon seeing the faces filled with joy, Lemain spoke in utter disbelief.

“What… What the hell… Why are you all here?”