Author: 唇亡齿寒 / Lips Gone, Teeth Cold

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 38

Joanna disembarked from the Lady of the Night carrying a black briefcase filled with raw stone samples. She saw a line of crew members from the neighboring Silver String, trudging dejectedly toward the prison under pirate supervision, resembling chicks led by a mother hen. The female pirate whistled, ran along the line of captives to the front, greeted the first mate in charge of escorting, and received many resentful glances along the way, which pleased her greatly.

“A good start to the year with such a harvest—a good omen indeed,” said the first mate.

“Let’s hope so.”

A passing prisoner snorted contemptuously, receiving a fierce glare from the first mate. Joanna sized up the prisoner, noting his attire was vastly different from the other crew members. His clothes were made of fine silk, with a ruby pin at the collar. Despite his disheveled appearance, his eyes remained sharp.

“Let me guess, this must be the captain of the Silver String?” Joanna teased. “May I have the honor of knowing your name?”

“Leibniz, thank you!” the captain replied curtly.

Joanna turned to the first mate and feigned anger. “How could you neglect Captain Leibniz so? He deserves the same treatment as I!”

“Oh, I was so careless!” the first mate exclaimed exaggeratedly. “I’ll make sure he gets a well-lit single cell in the prison!”

The surrounding pirates burst into laughter.

“And,” Joanna continued, “I will host a banquet tonight to welcome Captain Leibniz.”

“Will you cut Pavlov’s dog food again?”

“Hey, wait!” Captain Leibniz interrupted. “Aren’t prisoners supposed to be treated better than dogs?!”

“Of course, we always treat prisoners well!” Joanna bit her finger, looking sincerely at the pitiful captain. “Pavlov can’t even get dog food!”

The pirates were laughing hysterically.

“Keep up the good work.” Joanna patted the first mate on the shoulder and bounced away. She felt Captain Leibniz’s angry gaze, which had no effect on her at all. However, another gaze pierced her like a sharp thorn into the back of her head. The female pirate turned back cautiously, searching for the source of the gaze, but only saw the captives walking with their heads down.

The sudden, prickling gaze disappeared as quickly as it had come.

‘Strange,’ she thought. ‘Probably just my imagination.’

The female pirate scratched her head and turned away from the line of captives, heading towards the command tower.

In her exclusive office within the command tower, four pilots and the holographic image of Leonard stood side by side, like soldiers ready for inspection.

The door slammed open, and Joanna flew in like a bird.

“Well done, my dear darlings!” She hugged each pilot, giving kisses on the cheeks of Titia and Alois to express her joy. She then bypassed Leo and went straight to her desk, placing the black briefcase on it.

“Captain, you’re discriminating against me!” Leo shouted.

“Complain when you get a physical body,” Joanna said without looking at him, opening the briefcase. It was filled with unpolished raw stones resembling gemstones, irregular in shape and rough in texture, mixed with a lot of gravel, looking no different from ordinary stones scattered on the ground. Titia let out a deflated sigh, while Alois almost blurted out, “Captain, did you bring a box of coal?”

“Leo, come take a look.” Joanna beckoned.

The AI raised its head. “Even if you apologize now, it’s too late. I won’t be swayed by these trifling benefits!”

“…Who wants to sway you. These are raw stone samples. I want you to check their quality.”

“Hmph!” Leo pouted, walking to the desk and examining the raw stones. Unseen to the others, the AI was scanning each stone in the box.

After a minute, he concluded, “Not bad. Upper-middle grade. Not the best, but decent. They should fetch a high price after polishing.” He pointed with an invisible finger. “That one, yes, the one with silver spots, is very hard and can be used for making drills. Spiders might like it.”

“Really…” The captain pondered for a moment. “I was planning to return the captives, the ship, and the cargo once Dowlan Company paid the ransom. But since these raw stones are useful… let’s keep half of them!” She turned the briefcase towards the four pilots. “Take your pick.”

Alois, puzzled, asked, “Pick what?”

“In this line of work, the harvest and risk always go hand in hand,” Joanna explained righteously to the young man participating in the robbery for the first time. “You all did a great job in this operation, and you deserve to pick the spoils first.”

“Captain, we appreciate the thought, but carrying a bunch of stones back is useless to us,” said Udino.

His brother, Errol, added, “Yeah, last time it was original computer parts, and before that, a bunch of paper books. You might as well give us money directly.”

“Oh, I will give you money, but just take something. It’s symbolic. These are precious raw stones! Maybe keep one or two as a souvenir?” Joanna drawled. “I don’t want to carry this thing back.” This was probably the real reason. She turned to Titia. “Girls must be interested in gems, right? Come on, pick a few.”

Titia reluctantly approached the box but was pushed by Errol, causing her to fall onto it. “Go on, little sis. Pick for us.” The elder brother naturally shifted the burden of picking the spoils onto his sister.

Titia grumbled, “I’ll remember this,” as she picked through the box, finally settling on two of the largest stones. “They might look nice in the fish tank,” she said, weighing the stones in her hands.

“Only two?” Joanna was disappointed, then turned her expectant gaze to Alois. “You pick too! If you want, you can have them all!”

The captain’s enthusiastic promotion was hard to refuse. Alois hesitated, rummaging through the box before casually selecting a black stone. Seeing that the samples she brought couldn’t be disposed of, the captain frowned. Leo kindly suggested, “The vanguard team also deserves some credit. They should pick spoils too.”

“Good idea!” Joanna snapped her fingers. “Get them here!”

“Can we go now?” Udino asked.

“Of course.” Joanna rubbed her hands like a merchant. The four, plus the AI, seized the opportunity to leave the captain’s office eagerly.

“Too scary!” Titia said, still shaken in the command tower hallway. “The captain gives away whatever she robs! If we hijack a ship carrying oil next time, do we each have to take a barrel of oil back?”

“I understand her intention to reward merit, but her reward direction is completely wrong!” Errol followed his sister, “The merchant ship for trade will arrive next month. Hopefully, they’ll buy all the stones. Not a single one left!”

Alois and Leo nodded in agreement.

“Two stones.” Titia looked despondently at her “spoils”. “They’re too big for the fish tank.”

“You should’ve picked smaller ones,” Udino said.

His sister glared at him. “Why didn’t you pick then? Now you’re criticizing me!”

“Alright, Titia,” Leo intervened. “The two stones you got are high-strength hard drill stones from Neo Amazon. After processing, they can be made into daggers. They can cut through iron like mud, much better than ordinary weapons.”

“But where am I supposed to process these damn things?”

“Find Spider?”

Alois raised his stone. “Can this also be made into a dagger?”

Leo quickly scanned the black stone. “Definitely not. This kind of stone is usually used for jewelry. Its feature is that it shows different colors under different light intensities, so it’s commonly called ‘rainbow obsidian’. It’s quite rare. If polished well, it can be very valuable. You have a good eye.”

The young man didn’t feel happy at all about Leo’s praise. “Titia,” he asked, “can I trade with you?” He felt a dagger was more practical.

“Don’t even think about it.” The female pilot had also realized this.

Leo lamented loudly, “You bunch of vulgar people! All you know is fighting and killing—no sense of romance at all!”

“Then you take it?”

“…My database can’t hold this thing.”

The AI left the command tower under the disdainful gazes of the four, floating off to find the vanguard team leader. Subsequently, all vanguard team members were forced to take a “spoil”.

“…Then the captain gave me a stone, heavy as hell.” That night at dinner, Joshua recounted his misfortune. “Later, I asked Spider if he wanted it, and he did, so I gave it to him.”

“I should’ve done that too.” Alois toyed with his useless gem. “But Spider might not have accepted it.”

Joshua gestured. “Let me see.”

The young man tossed him the gem. The assassin held it between his fingers, examining it under the light. In the bright white light, the gem appeared deep purple, like uneven grape jam.

Joshua walked to the window and held the gem against the night sky. Under the starlight, it glowed bright blue, like a pure sapphire. “Rainbow obsidian?”

“You know it?” Alois leaned back in his chair, watching the color change in surprise.

“This thing can’t be bought just with money,” Joshua said, letting the gem shift between blue and purple. “If you don’t want it, give it to me?”

Alois lifted his chin slightly. The gem, unpolished, already showed its splendid colors. Once crafted by an artisan, it would be even more beautiful. He had never given Joshua a gift before. As long as Joshua didn’t mind the stone, giving it to him was perfectly fine. “If you like it, take it,” the young man said. “But what will you do with it?”

Joshua held the stone in his palm and smiled slightly. “Secret.”

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