‘…There’s no way.’Aquila shook her head inwardly.‘He’s toying with me while he’s holding my lifeline. And getting some skirt-chasing in on the side…’‘I’ve waited a very long time.’Suddenly, that line rose up and made her pause.‘…Come to think of it, what was that? Did I mishear?’It had only been four days since she and Noce Mostro met.Teetering on the edge of fainting, she’d heard that inexplicable voice—had she really, or not?—and while she tilted her head at the uncertainty, the ship heaved hard once more.“Wah—!”Milio, caught off guard, pitched forward, and Aquila caught them. Milio gave an embarrassed smile.“Thank you, miss…”“It’s dangerous. Hold on to something.”“Yup.”Grab.Aquila looked down, a little nonplussed, at the hand on her arm. At her glance, Milio startled and let go.“Sorry. You should eat, and I’m getting in the way…”“You…”“Mm?”“Never mind.”Even with their hand off, the kid kept inching close. Aquila stared up at the ceiling with a look of resignation.‘…It’s chaos inside and out. I’ll have to postpone escaping.’With Noce Mostro away, it was the perfect chance—but if she launched a lifeboat and a blind cannon shot hit, or the storm took her, she’d be finished.She swallowed a sigh. Milio asked carefully,“Aren’t you going to eat?”“Ah…”But when she met those puppy eyes, she looked back down at the mug she’d only been fiddling with.‘If I want to preserve my strength, I need to put something in me.’She slowly lifted the lid and took a cautious sniff.‘Potato soup?’It had cooled a little, but the nutty, savory smell was appetizing. Whether by design or not, it was thin enough to drink without a spoon.Aquila tasted it, carefully. The instant the flavor spread through her mouth, her eyes flew wide.‘Th-this…!’Gulp, gulp, gulp!Her plan to start with a sip changed right then. Her head tipped back without hesitation.Gulp…!After the last swallow, a breath escaped her like a note of wonder.Then she lowered her head and found Milio staring at her, face taut with worry.“Is it… is it okay? I made it ahead of time since I didn’t know when you’d wake, so it must be cold…”“So that’s why he kept you.”“Huh?”So that was why Noce Mostro kept around someone who was so easy to take hostage and turned into baggage the second a fight broke out.Hesitating, Aquila said it plainly,“It’s delicious. Truly.”“Oh… thank goodness!”Milio beamed in relief.Aquila glanced at the kid, then down at the emptied mug.With the very first mouthful, she’d understood why Noce had this child aboard.The richness of the potato went without saying, the onion’s sweetness and the milk’s softness perfectly balanced. The seasoning—neither salty nor bland—was the golden mean itself.Even the aftertaste lingering now was fragrant and full. She almost hated to let it fade.‘They may have no combat strength, but this is overwhelmingly exceptional.’On a ship, a cook was indispensable. All the more so on a vicious sea like this—someone who could draw this kind of flavor from simple ingredients? You couldn’t put a price on that.‘There’s a reason they go in and out of the captain’s cabin freely. Maybe the finest treasure on this ship is this kid.’Whether they knew her thoughts or not, Milio offered the handled bowl they were holding.“I brought a lot just in case. Would you like more?”“…Then just a little.”Aquila accepted without argument. As an assassin, she could go days without eating, and her body didn’t feel hunger on a little food.But maybe it was because it had been so long since she’d eaten something someone had made for her.Her stomach was full, but the gentle warmth on her tongue made her hand reach for the next bowl.‘This isn’t the time to placidly enjoy food…’She knew it, and still something in her chest tickled.“When you’re healthy, I’ll make you something even tastier, miss. My specialty is fish, actually!”“…You can call me Aquila.”“Yes, Aquila—!”“Drop the title…”“Aw, I can’t do that. You’re the Boss’s lover.”“Pff—”Aquila sprayed soup. Without even wiping her mouth, she swung to Milio.Even with that look—like she doubted her own ears—Milio only smiled, not understanding what was wrong.In the end, Aquila had to ask directly who she supposedly was.“…Whose lover did you say?”“Huh? The Boss’s lover.”“…”“Oh—did you already promise to marry? Then fiancée…?”“As if!”The shout ripped out of her before she knew it.“I told you I’m nothing to that man!”“R-really…?”Milio tilted their head, stealing glances. Aquila knew their eyes were on her state of dress.“…”She was still wearing Noce’s robe. The instant she realized, she wanted to throw it off—but there was nothing on underneath.In the end, she ground her teeth and explained as calmly as she could,“It doesn’t mean anything. My clothes were ruined, so I had no choice but to borrow this.”“Riiight…”But it definitely smells like the Boss.Milio kept that thought to themself.To a beastfolk with keener senses than a human, there were things you could see, smell, feel. It wasn’t just the scent caught in the cloth.Like an animal marking territory—or what it owned—the thicker traces were on her body in more than one place.Enough that any beastfolk on this ship would, on sight, recognize her as “the Boss’s mate.”…Probably better not to say that.Milio wisely held their tongue. But they couldn’t quite hide a faint, odd twist to their expression, and Aquila’s eyes narrowed.‘You’re hiding something.’She was about to press them when she suddenly stopped.Her head snapped to the door. At the abrupt shift, Milio’s eyes went round.“Aquila…?”“Shh.”Aquila put her index finger to her lips. The red eyes fixed on the closed door went cold.Sensing the same wrongness, Milio clamped their mouth shut and held their breath.Young or not, a pirate was a pirate; their instincts were sharp.With the two of them silent, the sounds outside swelled.Cannons and gunfire, shouts and screams, the thudding of boots across the deck.Outside, the fight still raged.But within that clutter of noise, Aquila caught a sound that didn’t belong.Creak… creak…The faint groan of timber. Aquila knew that sound well—the sound made when you walk on the balls of your feet, sneaking.There was no reason for the crew of this ship to be moving that quietly. Which meant—‘Intruders.’Her face hardened as she stared through the closed door.***At the same time—on the deck, where bullets and curses flew.“Damn… persistent!”Shaaa!“Aaagh!”A pirate caught the full bite of a viciously cracked whip and went straight over the rail. In the lull, Milena took stock of the field and drew a breath, then waved a hand through the hazy smoke hanging around them and grimaced.“Ugh… humans and their filthy tricks…”The boarding enemies kept popping smoke shells, flooding the deck with acrid haze and a rancid stench. For the Mostro Family—every last one of them beastfolk—the odor, which scrambled the senses, was teeth-grindingly unpleasant.Here and there, pirates locked in close combat gagged and groused.“Urk, the smell…!”“Don’t puke! I don’t want to smell that, too!”Annoying or not, it didn’t slow them in the least at crushing the push. They weren’t called a monster pirate crew for nothing.Far off, the sound of the sea splitting and ships crashing skyward fed their drive.In truth, this wasn’t the first time other pirates had formed an alliance to drag the Mostro Family—the Merk Sea’s top power—down.Each time, just like now, high individual-combat officers, Siobhan among them, would fly along the lines on ropes, wiping out the enemy ships one by one, while the rear guard with Milena at the center held the deck against the press.Then, when the Boss, Noce, got fed up, he’d carve the sea with a stroke and raise a tidal wall, and the pirates would run with their tails tucked.But today was markedly different.‘There are overwhelmingly more of them. And even frightened by the Boss’s strike, they keep clinging on to the bitter end. Why?’Without looking, Milena turned away from the smoke bomb coming in from behind and slipped past it—then used its momentum to drive a spinning kick.“Ghk!”Another one splashed overboard.But the reek left behind by the man spread again across the deck, and complaints flared all over.“Ugh, they’re ridiculously tenacious today! Did they all take something?!”Milena thought the same.She’d assumed, with Noce out front from the start, it would end without much sport—yet the battle was dragging on. Even with defeat already hanging over them, enemy ships kept pushing in toward them.‘Something’s wrong.’

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