Chapter 39: A Bold Hypothesis

Chapter 39: A Bold Hypothesis

Out on the great ocean, pirates shared three iconic interests: strong liquor, women, and gambling. Alger Wilson merely took out his silver pocket watch, clicked it open, and glanced at the time before he understood where he ought to begin asking around.

It was a quarter past eleven. Brothels and bars had yet to open. Only the casinos would certainly already have gathered a crowd of fellows dreaming of becoming rich with ease.

Alger was even more familiar with the port city of Bayam than with his own hometown. Almost without pausing to confirm directions, he wove smoothly through streets and alleys until he arrived outside a casino hidden within a secluded lane, with no signboard hanging at its entrance.

According to what he knew, the owner of this “Gold Coin Casino” was a gang leader with a deep background, someone who maintained an unclear yet faintly existent connection with an important person in the Governor-General’s Office. For many pirates, this was one of their first choices when they wished to dispose of stolen goods and purchase supplies.

Precisely because of this, pirates often appeared here. In the morning, they might exchange their loot for thick stacks of gold pounds; by evening, they might have already lost everything and been thrown out.

Alger tugged at his thick brown coat, pressed down the flat cap that had become popular on the continent, pushed open the half-closed door, and entered the casino under the watchful eyes of one bodyguard after another.

Within the Kingdom of Loen itself, casinos were not permitted. They could only exist in the form of individual rooms attached to bars. But across the kingdom’s vast overseas colonies, gambling was not merely legal; it was a pillar industry. Among them, Bayam of the Rorsted Archipelago and Aleser in East Balam were the most famous in this regard. Quite a few wealthy men from Backlund and the shores of the Midseashire Sea would travel there specifically to gamble heavily.

Sweeping his gaze around, Alger saw all kinds of card games, as well as roulette-style gambling derived from dice.

Since it was still early, there were not many gamblers. Alger very quickly “browsed” them all.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up. With sharp perception, he recognized who a certain disguised fellow had originally been.

He removed his hat, walked to a table playing Texas Hold’em, patted the target on the shoulder, bent down, brought his mouth close to the other man’s ear, and said in a suppressed voice, “Blazing.”

Danitz was using his right hand to lift a corner of his hole cards. Startled by the pat and the whispered call, he nearly jumped up and threw a mass of flames at the person behind him.

After being attacked by Steel Maviti, he had understood that he should not go out gathering information using his true appearance. That would draw the attention of one greedy pirate after another.

Although most pirates were not strong enough for Danitz to take seriously, he likewise had no wish to expose his movements and disrupt the plan to hunt Steel Maviti.

What he had not expected was that, only an hour after he left, his carefully applied disguise would be seen through.

Danitz’s spirit tensed to the extreme. He quickly turned his head, using the corner of his eye to glance at the person “greeting” him.

When he saw the distinctive deep-blue hair like seaweed, Danitz relaxed slightly and instead checked whether his fellow players had heard what had been said.

The gamblers were all seriously studying their cards, either tossing them away or covering them, completely unaware of what had happened on this side.

“Why are you here?” Danitz asked, pretending to be casual.

He and Alger had met at the previous pirate gathering. He knew the other man had a ghost ship and a dozen or so sailors, making him a fellow with decent strength but little fame.

According to Vice Admiral Iceberg’s judgment, for a pirate crew that was neither large nor especially strong…