NOVEL WEB Book 6: Chapter 40: Captain
"You mean… you want to hire one of my crew as a guide to some island?"
The captain tapped the map spread across his desk, his beard just as wild and unkempt as his subordinate's.
He squinted at the pretty blonde girl standing before him—a figure completely out of place aboard a pirate ship. His wide eyes were still bloodshot from a hangover.
"…And this island doesn't even exist on the map?"
"Well, something like that." Lilith nodded, covering her nose with one hand as she discreetly moved her stool a little farther away.
Lilith had no idea what kind of party these men had thrown the night before, but the stench of alcohol in the cabin was unbearable.
As soon as she followed the scruffy crew member into the cabin, she was hit by a wave of foul air: booze, vomit, and the stench of smelly armpits. It was like a punch in the face from hell itself.
If she hadn't been quick enough to partially shut off her sense of smell, she might've passed out right then and there, just like the pile of naked drunks littering the floor of the cabin.
Without hesitation, she'd dragged the man called "Captain" outside and politely woken him up with a full basin of cold water.
He was truly a man of the sea, with a flexible pride.
"Money's no issue, I just need someone competent," Lilith said, lacing her fingers together beneath her chin and looking him straight in the eye. "If your crew can sail a ship all the way out to this godforsaken place, I'm guessing you've got more than a few professionals on board."
The captain patted his chest with pride. "Of course! As long as it's on the sea, there's nowhere Captain Graybert of Behemoth Pirates and my beloved ship, SS Behemoth, can't reach!"
"Oh wow, how impressive," Lilith said, clapping politely. She blinked her wide eyes and said, "So… about that guide?"
"Please allow me to decline." Graybert waved, his tone firm and final. "You'd better find someone else. We're not taking the job."
"Oh?" A dangerous glint flickered through Lilith's eyes. She leaned in, her voice low and deliberate, punctuating each word: "Are you sure… you don't want to reconsider, Captain of the Behemoth Pirates?"
She emphasized the word "pirates" with a sweet, venomous smile.
"I don't mind playing the defender of justice… just this once."
With those words, she tightened her grip on the teacup Graybert had offered out of courtesy—and crushed it between her fingers.
Looking down at the shattered teacup—made of steel for durability at sea—then silently touching the fresh bruises on his face, Graybert wore a bitter expression.
"We haven't done anything wrong. And if you're really a defender of justice, isn't using violence a bit… unrighteous?"
Lilith pointed at the black flag with skull and crossbones fluttering high on the mast. "Do I look like an idiot to you? Do you think a three-year-old will believe that a pirate captain's hands are clean?"
"This is a pirate ship, yes, but we're not that kind of pirates," Graybert said, pausing to gauge Lilith's reaction. Once he was sure she wasn't about to deck him again, he added, almost proudly, "We're the good kind!"
Lilith's mouth twitched as the urge to slap him into oblivion flared up again.
Calling yourself a good guy with that face? You might as well say you're undercover for the royal navy.
"If we were the kind who plunder and kill, we wouldn't be out here in the first place," Graybert said, gesturing to the empty sea. "We'd starve to death waiting for a ship to rob."
"…Fair enough," Lilith muttered. That was something she'd wondered about earlier. "Then what are you doing in this godforsaken stretch of sea?"
"Hehehe… well… that's a long story." Graybert chuckled awkwardly.
"Make it short then."
Under Lilith's icy glare, Graybert shrank a little. He still remembered how quickly she'd knocked him flat last time. Clearing his throat, he smiled sheepishly. "We're treasure hunting."
"Treasure hunting?"
"Yeah. You know how it goes—when pirates find treasure, they always stash it somewhere remote or on some uninhabited island. Sometimes they leave a map, sometimes they don't. And when they die, well… those treasures are lost forever. Shame, really."
He clicked his tongue.
"Our goal is to pose as fellow pirates, sniff out those stashes, maybe snag a map or two. Then, we return the treasures to their rightful owners, and as for us… We just make a little honest living along the way."
…Honest living? Sounds more like you're planning to find those treasures and sell them back at a premium.
"I see. I think I get it," Lilith said, eyeing Graybert strangely. "But how is what you're doing any different from digging up someone's grave? Aren't you worried some pissed-off pirate gonna kill you?"
"I prefer to call it returning lost property to its rightful owner. This is nothing like graverobbing!" Graybert said with a perfectly straight face.
"And this kind of thing is completely normal among pirates. Don't forget, miss—the very definition of a pirate is someone willing to sell their soul for a pile of gold," he added.
"Right… I get it already," Lilith muttered, rubbing her forehead. "So that lavish banquet you all threw…?"
"Hehehe… it's not really a big deal," Graybert said with an embarrassed smile.
"We just happened to uncover about one-fifth of a legendary Pirate King's lost treasure. There were a dozen of us, so after dividing it up, we each got only a little over ten thousand gold coins. It's really nothing impressive."
…What do you mean it's nothing impressive? You're grinning from ear to ear.
Lilith rubbed her face. Even with her sense of smell shut off, she could still imagine the disgusting stench of alcohol.
"Seriously, couldn't you have had your party on an island? Did you have to do it on this ship? It reeks so bad."
"Well…" Captain Graybert grinned awkwardly. "That was the plan at first. But while we were digging for treasure on an island that was marked only on the pirate king's map but not anywhere else, we might've caused too much of a commotion by accidentally blowing up about half of the local natives' settlement."
"They've been chasing us ever since," he added, craning his neck to glance over Lilith's shoulder at the open sea.
"Huh? They gave up already?"
Then he snorted. "Heh, I knew their little canoes could never catch up to my SS Behemoth. When it comes to speed, there's no ship out here that can beat us."
Is that why you were sailing at full lift and full speed… during a party?
Lilith covered her face with a hand, suddenly regretting ever trying to talk to this man. Wasn't there anyone else aboard capable of making decisions?
She glanced at the crew sprawled around the ship, still wasted.
…Yup, seems like he's the only one.
The expression on Lilith's face hardened as she tried her best to take him seriously.
"But, you're professional treasure hunters. That means you're also good at finding islands, right? So why not accept my request? Is it because you think I can't afford to pay?"
"No, no, no…"
Graybert's eyes swept over her—not with any indecency, but with the precision of someone sizing up a situation.
"Judging by your clothes and strength, I'm certain you can afford our services."
Then his expression sobered. He stood straighter, meeting her eyes with unexpected seriousness.
"But even treasure hunters need a treasure map. Miss, all you've brought is a world map. It's useless for sea navigation and you're expecting us to find an island that doesn't even appear on any chart. No offense, but that's just not possible."