Chapter 1830: Land Ahoy
The ship rocked gently beneath his feet as it rode the rolling waves. Every so often, a larger swell crashed against the hull, sending a deep shudder through the vessel.
Above him, raucous laughter echoed across the deck. The Stryker Pirates sang off-key notes, stomped their boots against the planks, and bellowed drunken cheers into the wind.
Adam stood before a small mirror hanging from the wall. The person staring back at him was bald, his eyes were dark, and his face, though still haggard, looked far better than it had six months ago.
Yes. Six months had passed since the pirates abducted him.
He was still their "merchandise".
But even merchandise had its uses aboard a pirate ship.
Adam was given two meals a day. In return, he worked from dawn until nightfall and was allowed only six hours of sleep. By the pirates’ standards, this was considered generous treatment.
The other slaves were far less fortunate.
They remained caged in the lower deck, awaiting the day they would be sold in the next port. Most were given only a single meal a day and were treated little better than livestock.
Adam’s situation was different.
He was cooperative. He barely spoke. Whatever task the pirates assigned him, he carried it out without complaint. As a result, they neither beat him senseless nor treated him like cattle.
For now, they were content to keep him alive and useful.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Oi! quit dawdlin’ and get out ’ere!"
A voice bellowed from outside the door.
Adam ran a hand across the stubble on his head, his dark eyes flashing with a cold, calculative gleam.
The next moment, his expression changed completely. The sharpness vanished, replaced by the fawning obedience of a docile dog.
He quickly grabbed the mop and bucket and hurried out of the ship’s latrine.
"It’s all clean, sire." He bowed repeatedly.
The man standing outside the door was the same one who had captured him half a year ago.
"Ah, it’s ye." The pirate with the jagged scar and yellowed teeth licked his lips.
He grabbed Adam by the neck and slowly tightened his grip.
"If it weren’t fer the Cap’n wantin’ ye sold, lad... heh. The things I’d do to ye."
Adam’s eyes trembled, and a frightened whimper escaped his lips.
The pirate seemed satisfied with the reaction. He leaned in, took a long sniff, and then shoved Adam aside.
"Shame, really. Cap’n’s orders be absolute. Count yerself lucky, ye hear?"
"Much thanks, sire!" Adam immediately dropped to his knees, his head lowered in fear and obedience.
Once the door slammed shut, Adam’s mask dropped. His eyes turned cold, brimming with killing intent. But he quickly strangled that feeling.
Patience, he mused.
Now is not the time.
He rose to his feet and made his way through the corridors with great familiarity. He burned the image of the pirate Swale deep into his memory.
That man would be the first person he killed in this world.
For the next hour, he swept, mopped, and emptied the chamber pots in the crew quarters.
Only after finishing his work for the day did he make his way to the gallery. He had arrived just in time for dinner.
Standing at the back of the line, he kept his head lowered and avoided meeting anyone’s gaze.
Most of the pirates aboard the ship were Cavalier Paladins — the equivalent of a Mana Core Magus.
As for the captain...
He stood one rank above the rest of the crew.
A Templar Paladin.
The captain of the ship, Stryker, rarely showed himself. In fact, one of the few times Adam had seen him over the past six months was when a sea monster had unexpectedly attacked the ship.
Stryker stepped out of his quarters, swung his sword once, split the creature in half, and then returned inside.
The sea monster was a Mana Seed-level creature...
That was when Adam truly understood just how powerful the captain was.
And that was when he realized just how carefully he needed to tread in these shark-infested waters.
Even now, he had not yet begun practicing mindfulness. He feared that the captain, or any of the other pirates, would immediately notice him.
The only reason he was allowed to move so freely around the ship was because the pirates believed he was mortal. They thought him harmless.
"Count yer lucky stars, lad."
The cook’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
Adam turned and saw the man toss a piece of hard bread into his wooden bowl of stew.
That was right. Eating bread was considered lucky. At least, for him.
"Thank you," Adam said humbly as he accepted the bowl and walked away.
He made his way to the far side of the deck, as far from the captain’s quarters as possible. There was no one around. Leaning against the railing, he looked down at the fish stew in his bowl.
His lips curled into a smile, and he called out mentally:
Val, dinner’s ready!
A very faint gray light flashed before him, too subtle for anyone to notice. Suddenly, a small bulge formed beneath Adam’s ragged tunic.
The next moment, he brought the bowl closer to the opening of his shirt.
Eat everything. I’ve already had my fill.
He lied with a smile.
A few moments later, the bowl was empty.
Good boy, he said.
Now go back and sleep. I promise you, I’ll treat you to a grand meal when we make port.
I promise...
The bulge beneath his tunic disappeared.
Only after confirming that the little guy had fallen asleep inside his spirit sea did Adam begin scraping up the last remnants of stew from the bowl and licking it clean.
Then he lifted his gaze toward the distant horizon and let out a sigh.
The twilight sky of Myrrandor was breathtaking.
Four enormous moons hung overhead, each large enough to dominate the sky on its own. The largest of them bore a colossal handprint upon its surface. The pirates called it the Hand of God. That moon, along with another, was habitable. Adam could see countless lights flickering to life across their landscapes.
Yet even they shared the sky with more than ninety other smaller moons scattered across the celestial canvas like glittering jewels.
Bathed in hues of violet, gold, and deep blue, the skies seemed almost unreal. It was a sight Adam never grew tired of, no matter how many times he looked up.
Just as he was admiring the beautiful skies, a loud voice reached his ears.
Words he had been dying to hear for the past six months.
A cry rang out from the top of the mast, instantly drawing the attention of everyone aboard the ship.
"Land ahoy!"
