"Damn."From the moment she was born, Aquila had gone through an impressive number of crises, and each time she had survived by fighting with everything she had. But out of all those experiences put together, this was the first time things had ever been such a complete disaster.To summarize simply:First. She had been captured by pirates.Second. She’d been poisoned with something incurable, making any escape under her own power impossible.Third. And so she had ended up starting a ridiculous wager with this man, Noce Mostro..."Is there really any need to look that offended?"Noce lowered his head and pressed his lips to her left shoulder. When his damp tongue traced over the gunshot scar where dark blood vessels stood out, Aquila flinched and shuddered."I told you, if it’s blood flowing from my heart, I can heal you perfectly.""Nn, that tickles...!""I’m giving you a chance to kill me, and I’m restoring your strength for a whole day, and in exchange..."A dark hand tilted her chin up. Noce’s golden eyes gleamed with greed as he looked down into her faintly wavering red ones."All I get is one night with you.""Hh...!"Just above her lips, the man called the Devil of the Sea smiled."Have you ever seen such a considerate pirate?"The assassin’s day was over.Now it was time for the pirate’s night to begin.【Encounter】There was a deep story behind how an assassin had ended up in the hands of pirates.To begin with, the place Aquila lived was the Kingdom of Leandro, at the southern tip of the southern continent—a country bordered by the sea on three sides.Compared to the so-called great powers, its territory was small, but the land was fertile, and it possessed the largest port city on the southern continent. Thanks to that, trade flourished not only with the northeastern central continent but also with the desert nations to the west.The royal family and nobles enjoyed—and flaunted—their wealth and power not by their fiefs, but by the scale of the ships they personally owned.But there were those who coveted and threatened such riches..."A pirate ship!"Outlaws of the sea: pirates."W-what are you all doing! Turn the ship around at once!""We’re trying, sir! But before we can, they’ll...!""Then send up a flare! Request aid from the nearest naval branch!""We can’t! All the munitions are soaked!""What?! Which idiot was managing them like th—waaah!"Count Jebanon, one of the kingdom’s most renowned shipping magnates, let out a scream and fell sprawling in an undignified heap. His enormous pleasure cruiser shook violently.Kwa-thoom!Massive harpoons flew through the air and lodged in the hull °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° and railings, dragging the ship toward a bank of thick fog.A huge three-masted galleon. On the tallest mast, a pitch-black flag whipped in the wind, and the faces of the count and the others went pale."N-no, it couldn’t be..."The worst of all crews, represented not by any symbol but by a banner of pure black.The Mostro Family.A monstrous band of pirates whose entire crew were not humans but beastfolk—so fearsome that even other pirates trembled at their name.Crash!With a deafening boom, the two ships slammed together and locked. One by one, black shadows vaulted over the railings and spilled onto the deck.At the sight of those savage figures, the count flailed his arms and screamed."F-fight! What do you think I paid you so much money for! Protect me, at once!""A-aaah!"The hired soldiers rushed in as one, but it wasn’t even close to enough. Not even in the Merk Sea, notorious for its rough waters and rougher men, could they stand against the Mostro pirates, whose name had spread in infamy."Argh!""S-spare... gkh!"As the soldiers fell, soaked in blood, Count Jebanon and the nobles scattered and ran. But on a ship, the only place to run was the cabins.The pirates smashed down the locked cabin doors without effort and continued their plundering. Wherever their feet fell, screams and sobbing followed.Even Count Jebanon, who had fled to the innermost cabin, couldn’t escape them."Y-you curs! Do you have any idea who I am! Begone this instant!""C-count..."The count, whose girth was as generous as his wealth, had lost his wits to fear and was bellowing just as he always did. The soldiers standing before him wavered. This was not the time to be shouting. They wanted nothing more than to beg their employer to shut his mouth.Sure enough, the pirates who burst through the cabin door just cocked their heads and picked at their ears."Who’s the loudmouth?""The owner of this tub?""Ahh, then we should treat him with respect. What do you say, strip him naked and hang him upside down from the mast?""Don’t bother. Just tie him to the anchor and throw him overboard.""He’d sink even without tying him, don’t you think?""Puhahaha!""Y-you...!"At their joking back-and-forth, the count’s complexion turned a bruised shade, caught between rage and terror. He drew in breath to shout again—And all of a sudden, the pirates’ laughter cut clean off.In the cabin that had gone abruptly silent, the count and his guards blinked blankly. Then they heard footsteps, cutting through the strange stillness.Thud, thud...With each heavy step, the wooden floorboards creaked faintly. Only then did the count and his guards realize that, at some point, it had grown unnaturally quiet outside.They could no longer hear the pirates’ rough voices, nor the screams of the passengers. A creeping sense of dread made not only the count and his guards but even the women hold their breath.Soon, the door that had been half-smashed by the pirates’ rough entrance swung open.Creak...With a skin-crawling sound, thick smoke seeped into the room. At the same time, the pirates, who had been standing there like a wall, moved aside all at once.Thud.Through the gap, a man with long black hair appeared.His hair, roughly tied low with a strip of coarse cloth, his bronze skin made darker by the dim light, his simple outfit of a long black vest with no shirt beneath—none of it was much in itself, yet the vicious muscles packed beneath made the whole far from simple.Clink, clink—the closer he came, the clearer the sound of his jewelry rattling became.A golden necklace dripping with ornate tassels, thick golden bracelets around his forearms and wrists, even earrings.In one hand he held a black pipe carved with antique patterns, the other rested lightly on the hilt of a sword as he came to a stop.He brought the pipe to his lips, drew in smoke with unhurried ease, then exhaled a long stream."Whoo..."With that low breath, smoke spread thinly through the air. The scent was rich, yet strangely not harsh—a mysterious fragrance.The count and his guards, who had unconsciously been holding their breath the moment he appeared, finally drew in air.The pupils under his thick brows were an unnatural gold. Their shape was closer to a beast’s than a human’s.The instant their eyes met his, the air grew heavy and their shoulders were crushed down by the weight.That man is...The monster of monsters... the Devil of the Sea, Noce Mostro.Captain of these vicious beastfolk pirates and the criminal with the highest bounty on these seas.There had even been a time when the navy had set out with an entire fleet just to exterminate him. Only a single ship had come back alive—and even that one was half-sunk and on the verge of going under.After that, no one ever tried to take on that pirate crew again. Those who had heard his reputation, spread far and wide across the seas and even onto land, understood.Even that reputation hadn’t come close to doing him justice.I can’t move...C-can’t breathe...Even though the man—Noce Mostro—hadn’t yet said a single word, those crushed by his presence were chattering their teeth. To meet that gaze, they felt, was worse than swimming in a storm-tossed sea."Boss. This is the last room.""...Mm."At the blunt report from one of his men, the largest brute among the pirates, Noce Mostro made a noncommittal sound.His ominous golden eyes swept lazily over the shivering people, then stopped on the most luxuriously dressed among them: the count.In that moment, the captain of the guard scraped together what courage he had left and whispered to his master."...We can’t fight him. You must think of a way to live.""Ah... ugh..."With his eyes locked to Noce Mostro’s, Count Jebanon couldn’t even spare the breath to shout as before. What came out of him was more like an animal’s whine.The captain of the guard understood perfectly that what he meant was, "How?" and answered quickly."He’s not the type to listen to begging. You’ll have to pay for your life. Fortunately, we have here... things that can take our place."Following his guard’s glance, the count looked back over his shoulder."Gh...""C-count..."Behind him, a group of beautiful women were trembling. They were the concubines and the most striking dancers he had brought along to grace his deck party, and just before the pirates’ attack they had been attending him at the closest range.Thanks to that, by sheer luck, they’d been able to reach this place surrounded by the count’s guards even in the chaos.But their luck ended here."On the sea, the only thing as precious as fresh water is women. There’s no way pirates would turn down such a bargain..."Gulp. The count swallowed.The women behind him, hearing their conversation, clutched desperately at the count."C-count, please. Please spare us...""You said I was beautiful. You said you’d take me back to your estate, didn’t you? Please, my lord—kyaa!"But the count flung his arm out and threw them all off, shouting in a shaking voice."I-I’ll give you these women. In exchange, spare me and my guards.""Count, you should be more respectful...""S-spare us! I beg you! At least our lives...!"The count immediately folded in the advice and cried it out, while the women behind him burst into tears. The pirates, who had been standing idle, let out laughs full of disbelief. Cornered as he was, that was the best he could come up with...?"All of them yours?"What came back was a question more favorable than expected. The pirates, the count, even the guards blinked.Whoosh. Noce Mostro exhaled smoke and tilted his head."Answer."

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