Black sails billowed tightly on the speedboat cutting through the sea. The pirate ship Black Widow, with a wooden figurehead of a beautiful sea goddess at the bow, was fleeing.

“Increase the speed!”

“Captain! Any more would be too dangerous. Besides, there are reefs ahead…”

“Damn it, then what do you expect me to do! Don’t you see those damn lions?!”

At the fingertips of Gallon, the Black Widow’s captain who was shouting furiously, was a ship bearing a sail emblazoned with a golden lion.

But then that ship split into several, and more than a dozen warships began to surround the pirate vessel.

It wasn’t a single ship chasing the Black Widow from the beginning, but an entire fleet.

“What are you doing! Get ready to fire immediately!”

At Gallon’s command, the pirates scrambled onto the deck and began to hurriedly take battle positions one by one.

But Gallon knew all too well. Of all people, it had to be the Sepian Navy. And if fate was truly cruel, that ship might even carry Elisha Shooter…

Even the mere possibility made Gallon tremble. The Black Widow, which he had sailed on his whole life, would be torn to shreds and sunk into the sea by Sepia’s state-of-the-art naval guns. Not just the Black Widow, but his entire crew and Gallon himself.

“Damn it, where the hell did those cursed Sepian Navy bastards start following us from?!”

Was it because of the gold mined from Slovia Island? Or because they raided a trade ship en route from Sepia to Estroa?

There were so many possible reasons he couldn’t even count.

Just then, the blinding sunlight disappeared. A heavy shadow fell over Gallon’s vision.

“Shall I tell you?”

A high, thin female voice whispered above his head.

In that instant, chills ran down Gallon’s spine.

There were no female sailors aboard the Black Widow. Gallon, who had lived his entire life at sea, had never allowed women aboard his ship. Not even for a moment. He was an old-fashioned, outdated pirate captain who believed that the sea goddess would grow jealous and angry if a woman were aboard, making the sea dangerous.

Gallon immediately aimed his gun upward, where the voice had come from.

But before he could even pull the trigger, a deafening gunshot rang out at the bow. Gallon instinctively grabbed his head and ducked.

Something rolled to his feet with a dull clatter. Peeking through squinted eyes, Gallon looked down at the object.

The figurehead of the sea goddess, which had once prayed for peace upon the waters, had been decapitated and was now rolling on the floor.

Without realizing it, Gallon raised his head to look up at the one who had sliced it.

Hair red like blazing flames, standing in stark contrast to the emerald sea unique to Sellaway. And on her shoulder, a silver pistol gleamed. The scorching midday sun shone down upon her.

The sea foam kissed the tips of the woman’s feet as she slid down the mast ropes, glistening like pearls. She looked like a beautiful goddess offering blessings to sea folk.

Gallon muttered unconsciously as he looked at the red-haired woman, “Elisha Shooter.”

But his voice was filled with fear. She wasn’t a benevolent goddess of calm seas and fair winds.

She was Admiral Elisha Shooter of Sepia, known as the Grim Reaper of Sellaway’s pirates.

“H-how did you get here…?!”

The ship was already in chaos. Naval troops from the Sepian fleet were pouring onto the deck, subduing the pirates. In front of Elisha Shooter’s navy, Gallon’s crew were helpless.

Gallon stumbled backward. There was only one way he might survive.

‘Jump into the sea.’

Just as Gallon glanced at the sea, Elisha saw through his intent.

“That won’t do!”

Elisha aimed her pistol at the retreating Gallon. With a crack, the bullet struck Gallon’s left leg precisely. He couldn’t even make it into the sea, collapsing pathetically against the hull.

Elisha slowly approached the fallen Gallon. Her military boots were soaked with the blood trickling from his wounded leg, but she paid it no mind. Standing before the trembling pirate captain, she willingly bent down.

Her hair brushed against the cheek of the pathetic, trembling man. Elisha whispered softly to the captain who couldn’t even protect a single ship or crew.

In a voice as gentle and merciful as the sea goddess he believed in.

“Now then, you’d better talk. Where are all the goods you plundered from the trade ship to Estroa?”

“I-if you let me go here, if you spare my life, then I’ll tell you…!”

“Still haven’t come to your senses, huh? Gallon of the Black Widow. If you’re truly a captain, you should’ve worried about the lives of your crew tied up over there, staring only at you. And give up the idea of starting over with the gold you illegally mined from the Slovia Island mine.”

“Even that… how do you know…?!”

“Too easy. By now, Sepia’s fleet should’ve arrived at the Rapan Archipelago.”

“No way…”

That day, Gallon realized something painfully.

As long as Elisha Shooter was alive, Sepia’s ships were not to be touched.

But it was already far too late.

Within three hours, he and his crew were strung up like fish and hauled aboard the navy ships. Disarmed and bound hand and foot, Gallon screamed at the top of his lungs.

“Captured by the navy… this is a disgrace to the pirates of Sellaway! Just kill me instead!”

“That won’t do. Enoch, bring it.”

“Yes, Admiral!”

Soon, a major called Enoch dropped a large sack on the floor with a thud. From the loosely opened mouth, gold bars spilled out in a cascade.

“H-how did you get that…”

“The Caterpin Archipelago? Far too obvious.”

The moment he realized even his last hope—the gold—had been taken, Gallon’s face went ashen.

“Enoch, fire.”

“Yes, Admiral.”

Enoch fired a pistol into the air. The sides of the fleet ships opened, revealing cannon muzzles. A large cannonball struck the Black Widow’s mast.

“N-no! Stop! I said stop!”

But Gallon’s screams were drowned out by the roar of more cannon fire. In just three shots, the fleet’s artillery engulfed the Black Widow in flames.

Once the most notorious pirate to survive longest in Sellaway, Gallon could only watch in shock as his ship burned and sank into the sea.

“Haul them all to the fleet.”

At Elisha’s single command, the navy moved in perfect coordination.

Once the pirate ship had completely sunk, leaving not even a spark behind, only the blue sea remained. Elisha finally spoke.

“Let’s return. To land.”

No sooner had Elisha finished speaking than cheers erupted from the navy.

“Turn the bow toward land! We’re finally going home!”

***

Elisha’s boots touched solid ground. The sensation of firm land, not the queasy rocking of a ship tossed by waves, felt strangely unfamiliar.

“How many months has it been since we’ve set foot on land! I’m so moved right now! If it weren’t for those damned Black Widow bastards, we would’ve landed at least last month.”

Major Enoch, who had followed Elisha like a puppy since their academy days, babbled on incessantly.

But Elisha’s eyes were fixed on a lavish carriage near the harbor. Following her gaze, Enoch’s brow furrowed deeply.

From the carriage gleaming with gold, Deren, the eldest son of Duke Roserica, stepped down.

“Don’t tell me it’s that Roserica whelp again? What is it this time, what excuse is he here with…”

“Forget it. I’ll win.”

“As if I didn’t know that. No one knows your temper better than I do, Admiral…”

“What did you just say?”

Just as Elisha reached out to grab Enoch by the scruff, an unpleasant dark shadow fell over her.

“Such vulgar behavior. Elisha, how much more will you drag Roserica’s honor through the mud before you come to your senses?”

“And what brings you here?”

Thus, Elisha chose to ignore him. Though Deren clicked his tongue, he got straight to the point.

“Father is calling for you.”

The moment she heard the word ‘father,’ Elisha’s expression twisted.

“A noble can’t even manage their expression? No wonder you’ve always—”

“You must be mistaken. I’m a bastard, not a noble. Didn’t you make that perfectly clear to me since I was a child?”

Meeting Deren’s eyes directly, Elisha spat out each word like she was chewing them.

“Elisha, you insolent…!”

Just as Deren raised his voice, he flinched and glanced around. Only then did he notice Enoch and the rest of Elisha’s navy glaring daggers in their direction.

Deren growled low, voice hushed, “Get in the carriage. Even if your blood is base, you’re not stupid enough to defy Father’s order.”

Elisha couldn’t hold back a laugh. “Let’s head to Roserica Castle first. Enoch, I’ll leave the rest to you.”

“Yes, Admiral.”

At Elisha’s command, the navy took a step back. But they continued to glare at Deren, so he had no choice but to board the carriage, his pride thoroughly trampled.

The two got into the carriage. For a while, silence reigned inside. Elisha was glad for the quiet, but given Deren’s usual personality, he would’ve started yelling at her the moment the door closed. Today, however, was different.

And unfortunately, Elisha’s hunch wasn’t wrong. As soon as they left the military base, Deren began shouting like he had nothing to fear.

“Elisha Shooter! You ungrateful wretch! I took in a low-born bastard like you and raised you, and this is how you repay me? Humiliating me?!”

Of course. That cowardly, short-tempered Deren had clearly been terrified of Elisha’s loyal navy.

That damned ‘bastard’, that damned ‘status’.

She’d heard it since the day she was born. It was tiresome to the point of disgust, and now it was simply boring.

“For Father to rely on someone like you, someone of my standing shouldn’t even have to see your face! A low-born wench with an unknown background, whose weak mother threw herself into the sea—”

Elisha, who had tried to ignore everything he said, could not let it slide once he mentioned her mother. She drew the pistol from her waist and pointed it at Deren.

With a sharp click, the trigger was cocked, and a cold sensation touched his forehead. Deren instinctively fell silent.

“W-what do you think you’re doing! That gun—where did you even…! How dare you point that at me, the heir to Roserica! Put it down right now!”

“According to Sepian military law, officers may carry firearms outside the battlefield. Know why?”

“……”

“Because summary execution is permitted.”

Of course, only in cases of treason, wartime crisis, or grievous crimes like leaking military secrets.

But Deren, terrified just by the muzzle in front of his face, neither knew the details nor had the wit to consider them.

“Y-you! You think you’ll get away with this?!”

Though his words were threatening, his voice trembled so miserably that Elisha could only sneer.

A pathetic man whose worth began and ended with his bloodline. If not for the name ‘heir to the House of Roserica’ he happened to be born with, he was nothing.

Even while trembling in fear, he clung to his last scrap of pride, repeating the words ‘How dare you’ over and over.

“So, let’s just stay quiet and go in silence. Understood?”

Perhaps he realized this was Elisha’s final warning, because after that, Deren shut his mouth completely.

Finally at peace, Elisha leaned back against the seat.