yemalu

After dumping those two guys outside, I went back to Emilia and Maurice where the former was busy counting the money.

"Umm… She doesn\'t trust you?" I asked, watching Emilia count the Bronze coins out one by one carefully.

Maurice snorted, "I see you haven\'t known her for long. But no, she just likes counting money. I\'m not even kidding. It\'s fine if you don\'t believe me though."

No, no. I may not have spent as much time as you might have with her but I already know her well enough to believe that.

She\'s even too busy counting the coins to even notice we were talking about her.

Maurice leaned against the counter, "So, how did you get yourself caught up with her? She\'s serious about you not being lovers, right?"

I nodded, "She still believes that it\'s entirely unprofitable to be in a relationship, last I checked."

"Oh? So you\'re interested in her then?"

"Huh? Not really. I admit she\'s quite a charming lady but I do have others I am… Well… Involved with. So I\'m not courting her if that\'s what you\'re asking."

"Hmph. So why are you here with her then? I don\'t think anyone would involve themselves with her for no reason."

I looked at Emilia but she\'s still stuck counting the money and showed no signs that she even heard what was going on beside her.

Thinking that it should be fine to tell him I leaned myself against the counter too.

"As Emilia said, I\'m her client. Or more accurately, I was a passenger on her ship."

The Merman raised an eyebrow, "So I was right then, she really did lose her ship?"

"Well… Kind of. It was attacked and we fell overboard. Then we found out that it was a setup by her crew who had planned to betray her. We found an island which coincidentally was the hideout for that Calder guy so we stole his ship and sailed over here."

"Hmm… Well I suppose I can understand what got you two into your current situation but I still don\'t understand why you two decided to come here in the first place? If you\'re worried about the flag being an issue, you girls could have just made a new one and chased after your ship. There\'s no reason for you to come to this place full of nothing but lowlives."

Emilia seemed to have finished counting the money since she joined in the conversation right then, "That\'s because we came onto something really good, Maurice~"

He huffed at her, "Something so good that you\'d delay getting your ship back just to deal with it?"

"Oh, getting my ship back is a given. But this… This thing is something that I can\'t deal with as easily after I get it back."

I noticed the Merman\'s eyes light up just a bit and he took a moment to look around the Guild, checking to make sure no one was paying attention to us before he leaned in close to us.

"Grey Powder?" He whispered.

"Ohohoho~ That\'s right, eight crates of it too~"

"Hell… Eight crates? Where did you even get them?"

"Believe it or not, that Calder guy we stole the ship from."

"And he\'s only worth a hundred Creas? How did he even get that much?"

She waved her hand, "That\'s not important, what I want to know if you know why we\'re here now?"

"Of course, of course. You\'re looking for Merrick right? I can go get him to meet you at your ship."

"No need. Tell him to meet us at our usual place. We\'ll bring the goods there."

Maurice grimaced, "Ah… Sorry Em… Your old place got taken over…"

The Nekomata furrowed her brows, "What?! Who dares?!"

"Yeah… About a year ago, a group of new pirates came in. They call themselves the Underdogs or something which, coincidentally, is the group that the two people belonged to whom your lady friend here beat up. They were the ones who took over your place."

She banged the counter with her fist and roared, "Blasted asswipes! And I paid for that place too!"

Surprisingly, no one even paid attention to us, though I suppose that should have been expected since there were still people fucking and there were even a pair of pirates brawling over on the other side.

Maurice shrugged, "Unfortunately, it\'s been many years since you\'ve been around Em. No one thinks you\'ll even be coming back since you\'re busy on that ship of yours. And I\'d think if you weren\'t in the state you are now, you\'d come back here either. Plus… There were already rumours of your death."

"Grrrr… No doubt spread by those assholes!"

I raised my hand, "Umm… Sorry to interrupt but… What is this \'place\' you\'re talking about?"

Emilia seethed as she propped up her head with a hand, "It\'s my hideout, my base. It\'s a piece of land I had claimed rightfully as mine back when I was a pirate. I even paid money for it too! Sure I don\'t use it anymore but that place was mine!"

Maurice sighed, "Well… It\'s mostly what she said. You see… Umm…"

I straightened up, "Oh. I\'m Aster. Sorry for the late introduction."

"No, no. The fault lies with me too. I am Maurice, as you might have heard. The only staff of the Guild branch here. Anyway, as I was saying, Miss Aster, the Sitnalta Union is basically an archipelago made up of a large number of islands. Most of the natives here don\'t live on these islands and instead, live in the cities underwater which leaves all these islands pretty much untouched."

I nodded, "I heard that the Merfolk were upset that people sailed here and took what they wanted from around here which drove them to piracy in the first place?"

"That\'s right. But my people now also realise that these islands could be put to good use too, so we started loaning out spaces on these islands to groups who want to set up their base here, or even just to live here if they want."

My gaze went to Emilia who was still visibly pissed, "I\'m guessing Emilia rented out such a place here and these pirates took over it? Won\'t anyone do anything about it?"

Maurice smirked, "You\'re in a country of pirates, who do you go to for such things? The guards? The knights?"

"But didn\'t Emilia pay money for it?"

"Hahaha. Paying money to the government here just ensures that you won\'t be bothered by the Merfolk if you were to settle here. If someone else manages to strongarm you away from the place and also pay the government their dues, they wouldn\'t even care."

Well that\'s just sad…

"Then why would anyone want to rent here if they still run the risk of losing it anyway?" I asked.

"Reputation, miss Aster. If one is able to lease land here and also maintain and protect it, then it shows that you are both capable and also wealthy. And around these parts, respect can go a long way."

I looked at Emilia, "And you managed to do this in your year of pirating?"

Emilia seethed, "That\'s right! I fought for that piece of land for an entire week just to claim it! It was to the point that no one dared to challenge me afterwards and these guys just walked in uninvited! They didn\'t even earn it!"

Well if she puts it that way, I can see why she would be pissed.

This was like clearing out a location to build your base in a game, only to have raiders claim your base while you were out doing other stuff.

There\'s no way anyone would be happy about such a situation.

Emilia clucked her tongue and tilted her head at the door, "Those Underdogs or whatever. How big are they?"

"Around a hundred fifty or so people I\'d guess from their ship. They have a frigate class ship, doing quite well for themselves in fact. Just recently raided a small merchant convoy off the coast. You\'re not planning to take them on, are you?"

"That\'s exactly what I plan to do, Maurice. Tell Merrick to meet me at the usual spot. I should have cleared them out by the time he shows up."

"Always the crazy one… Alright then..."

The Merman left the counter and dove into the pool behind him again.

I turned to look at the Nekomata, "Umm… Correct me if I\'m wrong but… Are you saying you\'re going to go and clear out a hundred and fifty people?"

"That\'s right. Why?"

"Didn\'t you tell me that despite this being a lawless place, it\'s still frowned upon to murder people?"

"Not when said people move in on your territory! That means war! I can go kill them and there would be people buying me drinks afterwards."

Ok… Pirate society seems pretty complicated too… Guess I shouldn\'t ask.

I then looked at her with a pointed gaze, "Not that I doubt your abilities but… Are you really going to wipe out a hundred and fifty people by yourself?"

"What? Of course not! I\'m taking all of you with me!"

…

Eh?