NOVEL WEB Book 6: Chapter 39: Pirates
Under the hot tropical sun, the endless turquoise sea stretched to the horizon, where it met the sky at a faint, barely visible line.
Above it, a lighter azure blue spread wide, dotted with tiny white clouds that soon drifted off to somewhere unknown.
Lilith was surrounded by nothing but blue, like a bird trapped in a cerulean cage.
Her wings were spread wide, but not flapping. She simply floated, weightless, on the hot, humid sea breeze above the desolate ocean.
As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but rippling blue waves. Perhaps this godforsaken stretch of sea was simply too far from land—there wasn't even a seabird in sight, let alone a single island.
Only now and then would a strange fish leap from the water before vanishing again.
Lilith held a map in one hand and a compass in the other. She glanced up at the sun, muttering under her breath as she tried to figure out her position.
With her limited knowledge of geography and navigation, the only thing she could be somewhat certain of was that she was probably heading in the right direction—and probably getting close to the target sea.
In short, she was probably… lost.
So far, she'd been flying purely on instinct.
But flying blindly over a vast ocean based on instinct alone, the odds of finding Dragon Island were about the same as finding a needle in a haystack.
"I should've brought a professional."
Lilith tugged at her hair in frustration. Staring at the map any longer was pointless.
She was just beginning to consider heading toward the nearest coast to hire a guide when a small black dot on the horizon caught her attention.
"Hmm?"
That's…?
Heat gathered in her eyes, molten gold washing away the black flames as her dragon blood awakened, sharpening her vision a dozenfold.
The black dot slowly magnified in her sight until the image of a three-masted ship came into focus, their sails marked with the unmistakable skull and crossbones.
"A pirate ship?" Lilith frowned. "What's a pirate ship doing in a place like this? There aren't any shipping lanes around here. Aren't they worried about starving to death while waiting to rob someone?"
A pirate ship out here was no different from a mountain bandit hiding deep in the jungle, hoping to rob someone. The only way for them to survive would be to go native and live like a savage.
Of course, it was not like the pirates were here to fish—though, judging by the looks of it, the fishing around here did seem promising.
A slow smile crept onto Lilith's face.
"Talk about a stroke of luck. I was just looking for a professional who could navigate the sea—and now the heavens went ahead and sent me a ship."
With a slight shake of her body, her massive dragon wings dissolved into black liquid and melted into her back. Then she dropped down, gliding low and fast across the surface of the water.
The sea parted in shallow ripples beneath her.
In no time, Lilith reached the underside of the ship without being noticed.
"This thing's bigger than I expected."
She looked up at the towering hull, at least twenty meters high. The black wooden boards gleamed with a metallic sheen under the sun. The bow, sharp as a blade, sliced brutally through the water, and with all three sails full of wind, the ship was moving surprisingly fast for its size.
This wasn't something your average small-time pirate could afford.
Lilith slowly rose into the air before descending onto the deck.
"Who's there?!"
The shout came just as her feet came into contact with the wooden floor.
Lilith looked up. A scruffy man stood nearby, staring at her warily. His upper body was bare, and his hair and beard looked like they hadn't been trimmed in ages. He was holding a green bottle of wine in one hand, looking at Lilith warily.
The smell of alcohol coming from him was strong enough to knock someone over.
Lilith raised an eyebrow in amusement. "You seem to be living quite the life… Drinking wine out here in the middle of the ocean."
That was a good sign.
Wine itself wasn't rare, but if they still had it out here, it meant the ship was well-stocked with supplies. And that meant there might be islands nearby where they'd been restocking.
Lilith got straight to the point.
"Where's your captain? I have something to discuss with him."
"M̲o̲t̲h̲e̲r̲f̲u̲c̲k̲e̲r̲, did you not hear my question? I asked who the hell are you?"
The scruffy man clearly wasn't in the mood for polite conversation. His face twisted into a snarl as he drew the saber from his waist and staggered toward Lilith with a lurching lunge.
Lilith sighed.
"I was trying to be polite since I'm here asking a favor. Guess that's not happening."
And then—she moved.
The scruffy man barely registered a blur before the world flipped upside down. His body slammed to the deck, his head driven hard into the wooden planks by a crushing force he couldn't resist.
The wood cracked, splinters jutting out like teeth. If his skin hadn't been thick, his face might've been ruined on the spot.
He let out a loud, pitiful scream as pain and vertigo dispelled what remained of his drunken haze.
"I'll ask again. Where's everyone else? You can't be the only one on a ship this size."
Lilith placed one foot firmly on the man's head, scanning the deck.
Aside from coils of rope, chains, fishing nets, and other clutter, the deck was empty. The crow's nest was unmanned too. The whole ship felt like a ghost vessel drifting across the waves.
These people are way too laidback… Aren't they worried about crashing into something? Even if you're trying to reenact the Titanic, there's no Rose aboard. Rumors about female pirates can't possibly be true, right?
"In… in the cabin. Everyone else is inside," the middle-aged man croaked.
"Oh? A whole crew of grown men holed up in the cabin?" Lilith grinned. "Are they having fun in there?"
That's a rather dangerous thought!
The middle-aged man looked at her speechlessly before saying, "It was just a banquet! We had a party last night—everyone's drunk and passed out in the cabin!"
"A banquet, huh? How lavish." She removed her foot and instructed, "Lead the way."
"A-Aye!" The man clutched his throbbing cheek and staggered to his feet. It was only at this moment that he finally got a proper look at the person who'd so effortlessly pinned him to the ground.
She was a blonde girl who seemed to have walked out of a painting.
'Where the hell did she come from…out here, in the middle of nowhere? Could she be… a mermaid?' His gaze drifted instinctively toward her feet—
"There are no mermaids. No sea witches either." Lilith gave him a shove. "Move it. I'm just a passing traveler with some business to discuss with your captain."