Maelstrom - Chapter 7

“First, I’ll escort you to the captain’s cabin.”

Barbara led the admiral, who nodded without resistance, toward the captain’s cabin. Unlike the salty air outside, a refreshing scent and a faint trace of cigar smoke greeted the visitor.

How he had found his way here didn’t matter. The Empire’s naval intelligence was the best on the continent, so if they set their minds to it, tracking down the Angelos’s location would be easy. The sea already belonged to them.

He had most likely come here already knowing everything about those illegal dealings. The problem was that she couldn’t tell whether his purpose was to expose it on the surface and dismantle Angelos, or if he merely intended to put a leash on them.

“Clean. I don’t even need to check, I can tell everything else is just as neat.”

After briefly scanning the sunlight spilling across the thick carpet through the window, the admiral looked over the orderly interior before heading straight to the desk.

The captain’s cabin, which didn’t separate the office, reception room, and bedroom, was larger than most noble rooms, yet because of the unexpected visitor, it somehow felt smaller.

“Of course it’s clean. It suits my taste.”

Barbara replied as she took out the ledger from the drawer and handed it to him, even as he boldly seated himself at her desk.

He frowned slightly at the thickness of it, then leaned back in the chair and casually propped his long legs up on the desk. It was an extremely relaxed posture, as if he were in his own home.

“Tea would be nice.”

Flipping through the ledger carelessly, he spoke to Barbara, who was still standing beside him.

When his previously expressionless face curved into a faint smile, the eyes that had been difficult to meet softened slightly. It almost felt as if the sword he had been holding threateningly all this time had finally been sheathed.

“As it happens, I just obtained some fine tea. I’m glad we met like this.”

Barbara maintained her outward smile as she turned to prepare the tea.

Instead of a reply, only the quiet sound of pages turning echoed behind her. But for some reason, Barbara couldn’t shake the feeling that he was staring at her.

Perhaps it was because the uncomfortable silence was as thick as the cigar scent clinging to his uniform.

Barbara focused on making the tea, trying not to be conscious of him

Then suddenly, she realized that at some point, the sound of pages turning had stopped, and she turned around.

“….”

As expected, their eyes met immediately. Barbara’s expression stiffened for a moment, but she soon lifted the corners of her lips. His tightly closed lips followed hers and curved upward as well.

“When did you start running the company?”

“Not that long ago. I started at the bottom as a sailor in Angelos myself.”

“Hmm.”

When she first joined Angelos, the company hadn’t been nearly this large. Due to heavy taxes, there was barely any profit left, and they could only manage to maintain the status quo.

At the time, because the company head had such a rigid personality, they didn’t engage in illegal dealings, which only made things harder.

He had taken notice of her, someone who was quick with numbers and would do anything for money. To grow the company, he made a firm decision despite being so different from her and began personally teaching her how to run things.

And Barbara, who needed money at the time, didn’t refuse.

“Those who start from the bottom tend to be tenacious.”

Admiral Farrell bared his teeth in what seemed like genuine amusement as he laughed.

Barbara’s hand, which had been pouring tea into the cup, paused briefly.

One of the reasons Admiral Farrell was so famous was that his origins were always mentioned.

“Isn’t that right, Boss?”

“I suppose so.”

“In that sense, I have quite a lot of enemies.”

It was right when Barbara frowned slightly at the sudden change of topic.

Admiral Farrell straightened his loosely draped posture and rose from his seat.

“As you know, I’m the hero of the sea.”

He himself brought up the refined epithet “hero of the sea,” rather than the “hound” that circulated among pirates, as he walked toward the door.

“Whether outside or inside, there are times when some people cross the line.”

All of a sudden, Admiral Farrell drew the ceremonial sword at his waist that symbolized his rank.

Barbara’s eyes widened at the unexpected turn of events. Things were moving too quickly for her to react.

Admiral Farrell opened the door without warning.

Beyond his back, a tricorne hat and a dark blue uniform were visible. A navy man.

Barbara felt a chill run down her spine. Not many people were allowed onto the quarterdeck. Normally, only those Barbara permitted could come up.

Given the special situation, the navy could come aboard, but the captain’s cabin, which could only be entered after coming up to the quarterdeck, already had the admiral inside. There was no need or reason for anyone else to come up.

“Y-Your Excellency! Th-That’s not what it is…!”

The flustered navy man waved his hands as he tried to make an excuse.

Admiral Farrell knocked his own soldier to the floor and pressed his foot onto the man’s chest.

“Isn’t it?”

He answered indifferently and, without the slightest hesitation, drove the blunt-tipped sword into the man’s shoulder.

“U-Uaaagh!”

As if hammering in a stake, he forced the blade into the shoulder with strength. The tip, unable to cleanly cut even a single layer of tough cloth, gradually twisted inward until it abruptly stopped with a dull jolt.

The moment Barbara saw the corner of the admiral’s mouth lift from the side, she witnessed the dark blue uniform being dyed deeper through the open doorway with a cracking sound.

“Ahh!”

With a scream of pain, sticky blood slowly spread across the wooden deck.

“You should’ve endured it just for today. This makes me lose face, doesn’t it?”

Was it just her imagination that his face, glancing briefly back at her, seemed tinged with regret?

He looked down again at his soldier, who let out a small groan, and then loosened his grip on the sword as if granting some great favor.

Even so, the blade stood rigid, having shattered the shoulder bone entirely, and the Angelos sank into a heavy silence.

Of course there were forces that kept a commoner like him in check, but she hadn’t expected such blatant interference. Had they thought there was something to gain from this meeting? Or was it simply for surveillance?

There was no way to know.

“The mood’s completely ruined. Now then, how should I be compensated for this.”

The admiral rubbed his chin as if pondering for a moment, then bent down and grabbed the soldier by the hair.

“Ghk! Y-Your Excellency, it’s a misundersta—!”

His terrified face was clear. His trembling voice begged for mercy.

“Shh. You’d do well not to provoke me any further.”

With that, the admiral rose as he was and dragged the soldier by the hair, pulling him down from the quarterdeck. Barbara, who had been watching from inside the captain’s cabin with the door still open, stepped outside.

The thick pool of blood that had gathered stretched out in a long line following his steps. As the blood seeped between the deck boards, Barbara frowned slightly, and at that moment, Admiral Farrell abruptly turned his body as if recalling something he had forgotten.

He looked up at Barbara, who was standing on the quarterdeck. Taking in the sight of her hair gently swaying in the warm breeze that suited the clear weather, he spoke to her.

“Bos, this is rather embarrassing.”

“….”

Barbara found herself at a loss for words for a moment at his oddly off-kilter gaze, then belatedly opened her mouth.

“I understand. Those of noble blood can be rather petty.”

Admiral Farrell burst into laughter at Barbara, who spoke as if echoing what he had said earlier in the captain’s cabin. The sound of his laughter drifting across the heavy silence felt unexpectedly pleasant.

“We’ll get along quite well.”

Their gazes collided, and a tingling sensation ran to the tips of her toes, but Barbara showed none of it.

“Angelos simply does its best.”

“I’d prefer that best to apply only to me.”

“….”

It was a quiet voice, yet it rang as clearly as if it had been whispered right beside her ear. Not understanding what he meant, she couldn’t respond right away, and he turned his back.

“See you tomorrow.”

The trail of red that had stopped began to stretch out long once more.

With the admiral’s ceremonial sword still embedded in his shoulder, the soldier was dragged along in his grasp. Perhaps because he had felt the pain of his shoulder being shattered while fully conscious, his limp, unconscious state looked pitiful.

“Ferio!”

A stern-looking man who had been watching stepped forward at the admiral’s call and immediately followed after him.

The voices they exchanged sounded like they were discussing what to do with the soldier.

Barbara’s gaze moved from his back, shining like a small sun, down along the trail of blood that stretched like a red carpet to her feet.

Realizing that she was standing on top of the dark red stain before she knew it, Barbara felt a cold unease, wishing that this sense of foreboding was nothing more than her imagination.