Chapter 26: Nast’s Memories

Chapter 26: Nast’s Memories

Only after the pressure eased did Klein casually pull over a chair and place it by the door, sitting opposite the King of the Five Seas, Nast, across the hall.

Although that pirate king stood over 1.9 meters tall and sat atop a half-height black platform in a position of looking down from above, Klein did not appear at a disadvantage at all. He even casually put the tall top hat back on his head.

After a brief silence, Nast, who held the orthodox title of White Maple Earl, spoke in a voice filled with majesty:

“Give me a reason to answer your questions.”

Klein’s thin body leaned back at leisure.

“The reason is that, in the future, when you need to trade with me, you will not have to hear a similar request.”

The dark-red light in Nast’s black eyes jumped once before he changed the subject.

“Among the Saints still active in this world, I know most of them. But that does not include you.”

Klein rubbed the feathered mask covering his face, smiled, and instead of answering, asked in return,

“Have you seen Zaratul?”

“I once saw Him twice in Emperor Roselle’s court, and I have also interacted with many members of the Secret Order.” The King of the Five Seas, Nast, answered in a flat but extremely dignified tone.

Many members of the Secret Order… If you have time, introduce everyone to me… Klein could not help muttering inwardly.

Then he smiled.

“I have also seen Zaratul.”

Nast raised a hand and stroked his short black beard. His already tall figure seemed to swell slightly, pressing the atmosphere throughout the captain’s cabin into heaviness, dimness, and silence.

Several seconds later, he looked down at Klein from above and said,

“My impression of Emperor Roselle is very simple.”

“No one was more suited than Him to become the Black Emperor.”

He did not explain the specific meaning or reference of “Black Emperor,” nor did he care whether the demigod opposite him could understand it.

So that’s how it is… Judging from the King of the Five Seas’ words, although the Emperor showed in his diary that it was only near the end of his life that he made up his mind to switch to the Black Emperor pathway and carry out the corresponding preparations, in reality, he had developed a certain understanding and inclination very early on, unknowingly revealing it in advance and making no small number of arrangements ahead of time… Klein thought in sudden understanding.

He believed that the King of the Five Seas, Nast’s understanding of Emperor Roselle was probably close to this extent. After all, he had only met him a few times. Therefore, Klein turned to another question:

“In the Emperor’s later years, did He ask you or your father to do anything secret?”

The steeple crown on Nast’s head shifted slightly. He said in a low voice,

“Someone once asked me the same question.”

Klein laughed and boldly guessed,

“Bernadette?”

“Yes.” Nast rested both hands on the two sides of the iron-black throne. “At that time, she was still very young and not mature enough, to actually ask such a question. With Emperor Roselle’s status and level in His later years, what secret matter would be more confidential if entrusted to me and my father, rather than planned and carried out by Himself in secret?”

He’s saying I’m as immature as Bernadette was back then… Klein sighed and laughed.

“For those who care about matters in this area, even the slightest hope is something they are unwilling to let go.”

This was precisely why, after using an illusion to hide the passenger ship, he had still come to meet the King of the Five Seas.

He wanted to search in the real world for clues about that door of light above the gray fog. Aside from confirming who the third transmigrator was, he also had to investigate matters involving Emperor Roselle in depth. This was an inevitable choice!

The dark-red light in the King of the Five Seas, Nast’s eyes contracted and expanded once.

“What is your relationship with Emperor Roselle?”

Klein thought for a moment and sighed.

“One could say we are old friends.”

After all, above that mysterious door of light, the cocoons corresponding to the two of them had hung together for hundreds or thousands of years, even if they were not right next to each other, separated only by one obstruction.

That was their relationship on the level of reality. As for the psychological level, having read so many of the Emperor’s diary entries, Klein had long since, unconsciously, regarded him as a true fellow countryman who shared the same emotional home and sense of identity.

Nast stared at the demigod sitting by the door, thin as a booklet, for a while. Then he withdrew his gaze and said in a deep voice,

“What else do you want to ask?”

Klein had long prepared. His speaking pace was neither fast nor slow.

“In your mind, what was abnormal about Emperor Roselle in His later years?”

Nast, whose forehead showed faint wrinkles, fell silent for a long time before saying,

“I did not understand Him deeply enough to notice any abnormalities.

“The only thing I found strange was that the few times my father and I met Him, He would always stand before the floor-to-ceiling window on the west side, gazing into the distance. Some of those meetings happened in the morning, some at noon, and some at dusk. And that room did not have only that row of floor-to-ceiling windows.”

“The west… The distance… The Fog Sea?” Klein said, seeming to speak to himself and to seek confirmation at the same time.

He remembered the mysterious primitive island the Emperor had mentioned in his diary, and the Abyss hidden somewhere in the Fog Sea.

The King of the Five Seas, Nast, nodded gently.

“That is also my guess.”

Phew… Klein silently exhaled. After considering briefly, he stood and said,

“My questions are finished. Please forgive my presumptuous visit.

“Earl, I wonder what sort of transaction I might be able to help with?”

He was fulfilling the promise he had just made.

The King of the Five Seas, Nast, was silent for two seconds.

“Find me the Card of Blasphemy corresponding to the Black Emperor.”

For an instant, Klein suspected that the pirate king opposite him was testing him. But he quickly felt that it was difficult to connect an unknown demigod with the holder of the Black Emperor card, so he smiled.

“I will do my best.

“However, the questions just now are not worth a Card of Blasphemy. If I can obtain it, I will trade the contents inside with you item by item. Of course, perhaps I can only provide clues to that card.”

Nast rubbed the armrest of the iron-black throne and replied without emotion,

“Then so be it.”

Klein again removed his hat and bowed. Then he opened the door and left, returning to the deck.

Under the gazes of Viscount of Dread Bird Mustang and the other pirates, he raised both arms.

His body rapidly shrank, and the feathered mask on his face spread out along with it. In only two or three seconds, his entire person had turned into a normal red-headed sea eagle.

The red-headed sea eagle immediately flapped its wings and flew diagonally into the dim wind and rain, disappearing from the sight of all the pirates aboard the Black Emperor.

So this is a demigod… Bird Mustang looked up at the sky, sighing with emotion.

Although upon reaching Sequence 5, each further step forward made the tendency toward madness and losing control increasingly serious, greatly increasing the possibility of failing advancement, the title “demigod and half-human” remained endlessly tempting. As long as one successfully took that step, one would obtain divinity and undergo a change in the essence of life. Whether in lifespan or abilities, one would completely surpass the human category and stand far above.

Inside the steam-and-sail passenger ship, Klein gave up control of the red-headed sea eagle, allowing it to fall into the sea where no one could see and become food for fish.

At this very moment, the passengers aboard the ship were mentally stretched taut, because the Black Emperor was about to draw alongside them.

In fact, this was something that should have happened several minutes earlier. But for some unknown reason, the Black Emperor had ignored the passenger ship and sailed straight ahead, while the passenger ship had not taken the opportunity to escape. Instead, it circled around the Black Emperor, maintaining a distance of several hundred meters.

After this eerie situation continued for a while, it finally ended. The distance between the two ships was reduced to only several dozen meters.

The Black Emperor passed the passenger ship from the side, sailed into the night woven from wind and rain, and did not return.

The passengers and crew stared blankly. Only after several minutes did they understand a single fact:

The Black Emperor had left! It had not attempted to plunder them!

Some passengers cheered. Some burst into tears. Some collapsed weakly, finally relaxing themselves. Only a small number of people remained clearheaded, filled with doubt toward everything that had just happened. Yet they were unable to reach an answer that matched every circumstance and could only comfort themselves:

“The Black Emperor must have already completed a plunder. And this is a passenger ship, not a cargo ship, so it didn’t catch their eye!”

As relief spread throughout the entire ship, Klein, in the appearance of Dwayne Dantès, cast his gaze north.

Compared to the King of the Five Seas, Nast, who had only met Roselle a few times, there was another person more familiar with this Emperor:

The Mystery Queen, Bernadette!

This lady, who was likewise a pirate monarch like Nast, had recently been appearing often in Backlund!

“Once I return to Backlund, I’ll have Star Admiral contact the Mystery Queen and strive to meet her again as soon as possible…” Klein withdrew his gaze, drew the curtains, and lay back down on the bed.

…

In the waters of the Rorsted Archipelago, aboard the Future.

Star Admiral Cattleya finally received a reply from the Mystery Queen, Bernadette.

She had no idea when that invisible messenger had arrived, but this did not prevent joy from welling up within her.

After opening the envelope and unfolding the letter, Cattleya eagerly began reading the first line beneath the salutation:

“That is indeed a descendant of Charles…”

So that Craftsman really is Emperor Roselle’s direct descendant… I can no longer allow him to mix with believers of the Primordial Moon. I need to bring him aboard the Future… As Cattleya thought, she nodded almost imperceptibly.

Once she had made her decision, she remembered that Craftsman Sharf’s headache-inducing character and morals made her feel that she had an obligation and responsibility to discipline him.

After some consideration, she walked to the window of the captain’s cabin and looked outside.

After searching for a while, her gaze landed on Frank Lee, who was leaning against the ship’s side, chewing on a mushroom.

“Frank.” Cattleya called in her usual tone.

Frank, his sleeves rolled up, immediately returned to himself from deep thought.

“Captain, is something the matter?”

Cattleya said solemnly,

“You will be given an experimental assistant later.”

Frank first froze. Then he revealed a pure smile.

“All right!”