22.
“Running away with Pia would be…”
“Mary!”
The Third Princess clasped her hands together, moved by Marigold’s words.
But Lancel, who had just said he would leave the decision to her, immediately interjected, his words ringing hollow.
“If you run away, you’ll be branded a pirate without a second thought. Are you okay with that? They’re the kind of people who kill, kidnap, sell, and plunder.”
“But… those are really bad people!”
‘Ah. You’re finally realizing it, Marigold.’
Pirates were inherently bad people.
In fact, the pirates here had initially planned to do something unspeakable to Marigold.
Lancel still held that memory close to his heart.
And above all else…
===============
[Game Guide]
※ Features of the “Pirate Route”:
- Numerous evil deeds achievements.
- Many undiscovered endings.
- Potential progression to a “Corrupted Ending.”
- Conduct Points will decrease in the next game!
- Very high probability of Karma points increasing.
※ Karma Penalties:
-10 points or higher: Initial travel funds will be stolen.
-50 points or higher: Start in a dangerous area.
-100 points or higher: Start with a frail constitution.
-200 points or higher: Permanent physical impairment.
-500 points or higher: Permanent terminal condition.
-1000 points or higher: RE-START.
-3000 points or higher: GAME OVER.
※ How to Lower Karma:
- Faith Achievement.
- Reputation Achievement.
- Villain Extermination.
===============
Lancel stared intently at the section that had appeared midway through the guide: “Karma Penalties.”
‘Karma! Anything but that!’
He shuddered, as if a trauma were resurfacing.
‘Why did my sister create something like this? Wasn’t this game supposed to be a romance fantasy?’
To reiterate, this game’s genre is romance fantasy, a life and dating simulation targeted at women.
‘The fact that it’s been turned into such a brutal game is entirely my sister’s fault. Damn it. I should have grabbed her by the collar and stopped her during the test play.
Terminal illness? Re-start? Game over? What the hell is this?’
The explanation was so brief that it was hard to fully understand, but one thing was clear:
Even a slight mistake will result in something catastrophic happening.
Something that might be beyond Lancel’s ability to handle.
Something truly catastrophic.
Lancel recalled the events on the island with the blind Marigold.
‘Absolutely not. I suffered so much just to get 200 points. The pirate route is scrapped.’
After all, it wasn’t just anyone—it was Marigold.
What would happen if this terrifying prodigy of potential became a pirate?
Whatever happens, things won’t end normally.
Becoming a great pirate and roaming the seas would be nothing extraordinary for her.
Anything was possible with Marigold.
Perhaps even accumulating over 500 Karma points in one go wouldn’t be entirely impossible. After all, she’d already gained 200 points at once—why couldn’t she reach 500?
“Sir Lancel? Why are you sweating so much?”
Marigold, flustered, pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his forehead.
Lancel stared at her, trying to calm his pounding heart.
“Th-think it over carefully. The life of a pirate might not suit you, you know?”
“Calm down, Lancel. I never thought I’d become a pirate either.”
“Why, Mary?! We finally became pirate leaders! Can’t we just live together, swaggering around?”
“No, Pia. How can we live by doing bad things? I’m a proud Navy officer of the archipelago. The naval base can’t function without me.”
Marigold dismissed the Third Princess’s complaints and turned to Lancel.
“The escape I meant isn’t like that, Lancel. We just need to hide Pia somewhere safe.”
“Hide her?”
“Yes! We’ll keep her hidden until things calm down. Once the Empire settles down and peace returns… then we can reconsider, right?”
Marigold wracked her brain, stammering, “What do you think, Sir Lancel? This is all I can come up with…” She blinked, glancing around nervously.
‘It’s not a perfect solution, but…’
It was merely a temporary measure.
Still, it wasn’t entirely unfavorable for Lancel and Marigold.
They could simply stash her away in some remote corner of the archipelago and have her live like a mouse. The archipelago, for better or worse, was a region where surveillance was lax.
If things got too dangerous, they could just package her up neatly and return her to the Empire.
“Here’s the Third Princess you’ve been looking for.”
“Indeed, she is the Third Princess I’ve been searching for.”
Even in the worst-case scenario, the Third Princess or Lancel could simply take full responsibility.
A mere First Class Private of the Navy like Marigold couldn’t possibly go wrong.
‘What’s the worst that could happen? I’d just die.’
Lancel didn’t have any particular regrets. After all, this iteration had been all about taking a vacation.
If Marigold’s current desire was to protect the Third Princess, Lancel would simply honor that wish.
That was all.
Looking back, the three years he spent stranded on the deserted island had been surprisingly pleasant. He had no worries or anxieties.
All he had to do was secure food and shelter.
By that standard, it would rank as one of the most fulfilling vacations of his life.
Lancel’s original goal of taking a vacation had already been achieved. Yes, that was it. Lancel would just go with that.
“Princess… Pia…”
“No! Call me Pia, Mary.”
“P-Pia… is this enough for you?”
“Yes! I’ll trust only Mary and Lancel. You’re the only friends and family I have left.”
Marigold still seemed torn between Pia and the Third Princess.
Meanwhile, the red coral parrot, oblivious to the tension, bobbed its head inside its cage.
“When I reclaim my dignity as the Third Princess someday, I’ll make sure you never regret protecting me now, Mary and Lancel.”
“…Yes…”
Still, Lancel couldn’t help but find the Third Princess’s words untrustworthy?
However, the decision had already been made.
‘There’s no choice. We’ll have to hide her. Whatever our past connection might have been, considering the bond we’d forged over the past three years as the red coral parrot…
Bond?’
Screech!
“Stop pecking me! I’m not trying to steal your food.”
Chirp!
“Ugh, you’re such a glutton.”
Screech! Screech!
“Do you get hives or something if I touch you?”
Screech! Chirp chirp! Screech! Screech!
“Fine. You’re dinner tonight. Come here!”
‘Hmm.’
Right… that must be it.
Boom!
It was at that moment…
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The deafening drumbeats jolted the pirate base awake.
“Who’s there?!”
“It’s a surprise attack!”
“The Navy has landed on the island!”
“Why now of all times?! Damn it, run!”
The commotion erupted from outside.
“T-the Navy! The Navy’s here to capture me! Eeeeeeek!”
The Third Princess buried her face in Marigold’s arms, trembling violently.
‘…Should I just return her now?’
Lancel’s resolve wavered for a moment.
23.
“Building a base in a place like this? These rat bastards.”
Rox Ruin’s lips twitched as the pirate base gradually came into view, hidden deep within the jungle’s dense foliage.
The bamboo structures, meticulously constructed over the past six months, appeared to him only as spoils of war.
Wiping out a pirate force of this size would be a feat worthy of recognition in itself.
“Kill all the men. Bring the women back to headquarters. Be careful when capturing them—Her Highness the Third Princess might be among them.”
The secret base housed at least several hundred people.
What was strange was that within such a massive base, there were hardly any combatants to be seen.
Even the few who were present were battered and wounded, groaning in pain.
“P-please… spare me!”
“Die!”
“Run! Everyone, run to the ships!”
“Don’t let them escape!”
The pirates were slaughtered without resistance under the Navy’s merciless assault.
“Aaaagh!”
Blood spurted everywhere. A crossbow bolt pierced the back of a fleeing pirate. Hidden figures were dragged from their jungle lairs and summarily beheaded.
“Ha ha ha.”
Amidst the screams and shouts, Rox Ruin hummed a tune. To him, the pirates’ cries sounded like a symphony.
“Ah! Your Highness the Third Princess! Rox Ruin has arrived! Come out at once and accept my protection, Your Highness! I, Rox Ruin, have crossed the vast sea to reach this remote island and rescue you!”
Above him, the corpses of pirates crashed to the ground with sickening thuds. Navy soldiers swarming the bamboo huts were literally hacking the pirates to pieces.
“Rox Ruin, heir to the Count Ruin family, has arrived! Your Highness the Third Princess!”
Amidst the chaos, Rox Ruin drew his rapier.
“Get out of my way.”
He slashed the blade diagonally upward at a figure blocking his path.
Clang!
“Hmm?”
Rox Ruin felt a tingling sensation as he faced his opponent.
The man was tall, cloaked in black, with bandages wrapped tightly around any exposed skin. A thick beard obscured the lower half of his face beneath the hood.
“Ho ho. For a pirate, you possess a surprisingly decent spirit. I, Rox Ruin, shall grant you the honor of hearing your name. Consider yourself privileged.”
“…Name…”
The man stroked his beard thoughtfully.
“Beard.”
“What?”
“Blackbeard.”
Rox Ruin’s face twisted in anger.
“…To dare utter my epithet after I, Rox Ruin, personally bestowed a name upon you? Yes, it was my mistake to expect chivalry from a mere pirate.”
With a sneer, Rox Ruin raised his sword.
“There is no second chance. Go to hell.”
His blade flashed forward like lightning, piercing Blackbeard’s heart in an instant.
Or so he thought.
“……!”
Clang!
Rox Ruin’s sword was cleanly deflected.
He stared in disbelief at the weapon in Blackbeard’s hand.
It wasn’t a sword.
It wasn’t even a weapon at all.
“A stone… axe?”
The stone axe, polished to a shine, hurtled toward his face.
.
.
.
“What the hell is going on here…!”
By the time the Navy reinforcements, who had belatedly pursued Rox Ruin, finally reached the island, more than a day had already passed.
Finding the pirate base hidden deep within the jungle proved surprisingly easy.
The path was marked by scattered corpses, their stench leading directly to the pirates’ stronghold.
But the scene that greeted them inside left them speechless.
“What are you staring at! Get me down now!” Rox Ruin’s irritable voice snapped from above.
He and the vanguard of Navy soldiers were all suspended in mid-air, bound tightly and dangling from aerial cages.
At least several dozen Navy personnel were trapped within.
“H-how did this happen?”
The reinforcements struggled to comprehend the bizarre spectacle before them.
All the corpses they had seen on their way here were pirates. Yet the fact that Navy soldiers were being held captive felt strangely unsettling.
“Lord Rox Ruin! Could it be that you were defeated by pirates?”
“…It was Blackbeard’s doing.”
“Blackbeard? You mean… the legendary Blackbeard of the archipelago sea?”
“Don’t be ridiculous! He’s just some pirate who knows how to swing a sword. Hurry up and get me down from here!”
Rox Ruin roared, causing the soldiers around him to wince.
24.
After settling matters on the deserted island, they returned to the archipelago with the help of the pirates.
As Lancel slept aboard the ship, he suddenly realized that the scenery before him wasn’t real.
‘It’s a dream.’
Lancel had become lucid in his dream once again.
It was a familiar dream, with a large full moon visible through the window.
“Lancel.”
Marigold was there.
Indeed.
The horned Marigold.
‘…Again…?’
Again ?
Again ?