By Zephyria ========
“Aha.”
In Silver’s future plans, the target of ‘Go to the mainland if you don’t want your nose to be the first thing to disembark’ had shifted from Charcoal Fire Bear to Stuffy Field Mouse. To have established a maritime kingdom in such a short time—his drive was truly thunder-level.
“They say he burst into the bedroom out of nowhere. Right in the middle of Charcoal Fire Bear roughly conquering his boyfriend’s backside. He declared that from today, the Shark Tooth Gang belonged to him, and then he grabbed a fireplace poker and snapped it clean in half.”
“A poker?”
Silver frowned.
“It was probably a wooden stake. Or Charcoal Fire Bear was on drugs and seeing things.”
“Oh, obviously.”
The senior shrugged.
“But Charcoal Fire Bear would have needed an excuse to surrender without even fighting, right? For that, the opponent had to be a monster. He had to be able to snap an iron poker with ease for Charcoal Fire Bear to save face. Anyway, that night, Charcoal Fire Bear lost everything to Stuffy Field Mouse, including his house. Oh, except for the lover.”
“Charcoal Fire Bear went bankrupt overnight…”
“He didn’t go bankrupt. He’s the vice-captain. Do you think a greedy guy like him would just quietly go under? He negotiated with Stuffy Field Mouse. And the next day…”
Suddenly, a sob mixed into the senior’s voice.
“From that day until now, we haven’t been able to smoke a single puff of hallucination herb. To commemorate his appointment, the new captain burned every single medicinal herb in the garden. Every last one, without leaving a single leaf!”
He sounded as though he wouldn’t have wailed this bitterly even at a family funeral. The senior rubbed his eyes harshly with his sleeve.
“What fun is there in piracy without even a small consolation? I don’t even know what to do while I’m not on drugs. ‘Think’?”
The senior’s face contorted. He looked as if he felt a surge of nausea just by uttering the word ‘think.’
“Everything is strange! I wake up every morning with a clear mind. I can hear the birds chirping distinctly. I can taste the nuttiness of the bread. How can a person be like this?”
“You’re rehabilitating wonderfully.”
“Rehabilitating my ass! This is destruction!”
The senior sobbed, covering his face with both hands.
“Running laps around this vast island! As if that weren’t enough, carrying logs back and forth along the beach! Diving into the dawn sea! Pushing boulders! I feel like sweat is oozing from my very bones! Anyway, go to the new captain right now.”
“Why?”
“Did I tell you why the captain is looking for you? I don’t know! I don’t know!”
Silver gave up on asking further. Damn bastard, I hope you just drop dead from doing rehab exercises day and night.
“The captain will be holed up in his house. You’re here, and I’ve delivered the message. Whether you go to the captain or not is none of my business now.”
With those words, the senior slammed the door shut and left. Silver’s belt pouch surged and heaved.
〔Pruru, Pruru! It looks like that eccentric wants to recruit you!〕
Starry eyes shouted before Silver could even open the pouch. Silver clicked his tongue and flopped down onto the bed.
“Recruit? Counting the price of the hide before even catching the deer.”
〔There’s no other reason to look for Pruru! Pruru is the only person on this island who doesn’t need rehabilitation! That alone makes you an excellent talent!〕
Starry eyes flew up into the air.
〔Maybe he’ll put you in the top three in rank! Hurry up and go!〕
“Go where? I’m leaving for the mainland. I’m sick and tired of this drug island.”
〔It’s not a drug island anymore. The members are rehabilitating. If you organize this place well, it’ll be something even most tribes would envy, right?〕
That was true. In Stohl, the boundary between a pirate group and a tribe was blurred anyway. Depending on Stuffy Field Mouse’s decision, the Shark Tooth Gang could be reborn as the Shark Tooth Tribe overnight.
〔Pruru, look at the natural environment here. It’s incomparably more abundant than the interior. It wouldn’t be bad to settle here.〕
“Pass. Group living has too many rules to follow. I prefer the life of a free wanderer.”
〔It’s wiser to keep several options open, Pruru. I think it wouldn’t be bad to try living here for just one year before deciding. Who knows, that eccentric might offer you a massive allowance.〕
“A massive… allowance?”
The weasel’s ears perked up. Of all the quotes left behind by Black Weasel, the only one Silver truly acknowledged was, ‘The most fragrant scent in the world is the scent of money.’ However…
A feeling of discomfort took precedence. Anyone else would be fine, but Stuffy Field Mouse was someone Silver had harbored inappropriate desires for, if only for a brief moment. Settle in that guy’s territory?
“Pass. Absolutely pass! No matter how massive the allowance is, settling down just doesn’t suit me… huh?”
Silver blinked. He was outside the lodging, though he didn’t remember moving. His feet were more honest than his head.
Starry eyes cheered as he dove back into the belt pouch.
〔Let’s go! Allowance negotiation! Allowance negotiation!〕
〔Make sure to get an advance! I want a new set of clothes!〕
“…Tsk.”
Silver fastened the pouch button and looked up.
“Fine. I’ll get you a set made of the finest Atania silk.”
The autumn sky was stained by the sunset. The old house catching the wind atop the hill looked as if it were floating in a pool of blood.
The house, which originally belonged to Charcoal Fire Bear’s territory, was still crooked. Planks haphazardly nailed to every window rattled in the wind. It looked like an old warrior with a limp.
The entrance door, which slid open even before he knocked, was the same as before. People of the pirate captain variety usually don’t lock their doors. It’s to properly teach a lesson to any arrogant fool who breaks in with an axe in the middle of the night. Though Charcoal Fire Bear ended up being the one who suffered.
Only a single torch hung on the hallway wall. Except for where the light reached, the hallway melted into a terrible darkness, appearing like a pitch-black solid. With every step, he felt as if his entire body were being buried in a mass of tar.
Silver hesitated in front of the room door. This is…?
Half-doubting, he inhaled. A faint fragrance slipping through the gap beneath the door… He had smelled it once before. On the night Stuffy Field Mouse had a fever, the old lodging that had endured the torrential rain with its whole body had been immersed in the same scent.
The scent of a forest drenched in rain. Sandalwood.
Suddenly, a wave of dizziness washed over him. Silver leaned his hand against the wall and shook his head. The splinters of the rough wooden wall pricked his palm.
Why suddenly…?
Silver inhaled slowly. Once more. And once more.
Even as he repeatedly steadied his breathing, the dizziness would not leave. Rather, the hallway stretched out like dripping candle wax. Every time it swayed in the wind, the torch left layers of red afterimages.
Above all, the fragrance. The sandalwood scent, which should have stayed in his lungs for a moment and then left, seemed to have lost its way, wandering and stretching out to touch every corner of his body. Though the concentration was clearly faint, it felt as if the scent were seeping into his very bones.
Silver rubbed his forehead against the wall and held his breath. This was wrong. There was no way a normal fragrance could cause such a chaotic physical reaction. That field mouse bastard must have mixed drugs into the sandalwood powder.
Was this guy a junkie?
He had suspected it briefly that night too. He had simply forgotten. Because for a drug user, the man overflowed with an energy like the sun. And the disgust in his gaze when looking at the junkies here had seemed genuine.
Along with the sandalwood scent seeping back in, the memories he had forcibly buried followed. A young body burning like a fireball on the bed. Golden hair clinging to his face. Dazed eyes staring back. And even the strange crack that had occurred within himself when he leaned closer to the man.
Perhaps that was all it was. Perhaps that damn experience was merely a hallucination. Perhaps the rebellion his body had staged back then was a trick played by drugs cleverly lurking within a wonderful fragrance.
Just then, there was a presence beyond the door. The sound of footsteps approaching. The exceptionally heavy sound of those steps directly revealed a formidable physique. Moreover, he was barefoot. Shoes wouldn’t make such a soft sound.
The footsteps stopped abruptly with the door between them. Silence.
Silver couldn’t even twitch a fingertip. His muscles tightened as if he had decided to become a bowstring. Such intense tension surged over him. All because of something as simple as the sound of footsteps approaching.
Silver held his breath and squeezed his eyes shut. He squeezed out all his strength to urge himself.
What are you doing?
Don’t stall. Leave, right now!
It was the moment he tried to turn his head. The door swung open.
Silver’s entire body froze. The man looked down at Silver, leaning one arm against the doorframe. The only thing covering his muscular upper body was golden hair cascading down to his chest. His face, half-hidden in the darkness, bore no expression. He looked like a statue carved from snow-white plaster.
108 – Hell’s Execution Order