Wizard: I Add Points and Hunt Monsters

”Huh??”

The pirates’ cheers died down, and they stared dejectedly at the frightened women on the deck.

”All of them for one person?”

”That Red-haired Captain, he was a real beast!”

Hearing the pirates behind him, Wei’en stared straight at the Storm Hunter, pretending not to notice Clelia beside him, her fists clenched and teeth practically grinding.

”Oh, Marco, the captain is so strong~”

”What?”

Clelia knew he was playing dumb. She gave him a resentful look, turned her head away, and huffed, ”I thought you were going to kill them.”

”They’re not enemies,” Wei’en said. Thinking of how the Sea Crow Race had called them ’food,’ he added in a low voice two words, ”For now.”

”Only for now?”

”At least for the time being, we have no conflict with them.”

’If only for the sake of that forbidden object,’ Wei’en thought, ’I’ll wait until I have more information before deciding my attitude toward the Sea Crow Race.’

”So, what about these women?”

”Women?” Wei’en played dumb again. ”What women?”

”How about you hand them over to me?” Clelia rolled her eyes. She knew Wei’en had no designs on these women, so she proposed a plan.

Wei’en watched the Storm Hunter slowly depart before turning to Clelia. ”What are you planning to do?”

”I promise I definitely won’t turn them into puppets.”

”Oh?”

”I want them to be my guards,” Clelia said, a flicker of excitement on her face. ”As the First Officer, I should have a personal guard unit. You wouldn’t refuse that, would you?”

”Guards?” Wei’en looked her up and down, highly skeptical of her words. ”Where did this idea come from all of a sudden?”

”We still have a long way to go to the Southern Continent. Think of it as finding something to do~” Clelia grabbed his hand, looking him straight in the eye with a charming gaze. ”Just say it, do you agree?”

”I agree, but if I find even one of them has become your puppet...”

”That will absolutely not happen!”

The moment she finished speaking, Clelia flung his arm aside and eagerly ran toward the women.

”Damn it, all of you stay away from my guard unit! Or I’ll string you all up from the crow’s nest!”

”What? Ask the captain’s opinion? I’m the one in charge of this!”

”Triangle-eyes, one more word out of you and I’ll hang you up right now to catch the sea breeze!”

Wei’en: ”...”

He watched Clelia bossily order Ronan to prepare clothes and equipment for the women, then personally lead them into the ship’s hold to wash up. He couldn’t help but scratch his head.

’Why is this woman suddenly so concerned about ordinary people?’

’But this is good, too.’

’At least they won’t be abused by the other pirates. And, well, it saves me from hearing any strange moaning in the dead of night...’

...

...

Late at night, the light of the red moon shone upon the undulating sea, reflecting a vivid brilliance.

The sails of the Ronan were raised. Under the pirates’ control, the ship continued south, trying its best not to deviate from its course.

By now, most of the pirates were asleep. Only Clelia was still in the newly cleared-out bottom of the hold, addressing the women rescued from the Storm Hunter.

”From this day forward, you are members of the Ronan’s guard unit. Your primary duty is to protect me!”

”Yes, First Officer!”

”Very good. Now, the guard unit needs a name...”

”First Officer,” one of the more mature-looking women spoke up, looking at the charming, beautiful, and powerful Clelia before her. Steeling her nerves, she said, ”How about... we call it the Queen’s Guard?”

”Hm? Queen?” Clelia looked over, a strange light in her eyes. ”Excellent. That will be the name. The Queen’s Guard!”

”Yes!”

”Heheheh... It’s decided then!”

’The Queen’s Guard!?’

Wei’en, who heard Clelia say this name through his spiritual perception, nearly fell headfirst from the crow’s nest.

’What kind of tacky-ass name is that?’

’And the crucial part is, Clelia actually accepted it with pleasure!’

’Queen...’

Wei’en could practically foresee a future where the Ronan would be forced to change its name.

’The Queen?’

HISS!

’Absolutely not! Not a chance!’

Wei’en hurriedly banished the idiotic thought and focused his perception on the surrounding sea, observing any minute differences on the surface.

He was doing this because he had discovered that, every so often, a notification would appear on his panel—

[You have stepped into a boundless repository of killing intent from an unknown existence. Because your Spirit level is greater than 5000, you have successfully resisted the erosion of Spiritual Power... Special Reward: Survival Points +10, Spirit Level +1.]

The time between these notifications was irregular, as was the distance the Ronan traveled. His spiritual perception detected no power fluctuations, nor anything else out of the ordinary.

Aside from the Dream-Enterers who appeared on the ship from time to time, he had found nothing...

Wei’en stared at the distant sea, its surface shimmering under the red moon’s glow, and fell into deep thought.

’A repository of killing intent... Just who could pull off something on this scale?’

’Judging from the panel’s notifications, I have reason to suspect that this so-called repository of killing intent might encompass the entire Cordo Sea.’

’Across such a vast area, countless people are pulled into slaughterous dreamscapes every night. The amount of killing intent collected by this repository must be... an astonishing quantity.’

’And finally, it only works at night—is someone controlling this from the shadows?’

”Captain, I’ve finished tallying all the loot from the Storm Hunter.”

Just then, Ronan, who had been on deck counting their haul, emerged from behind a pile of large and small chests, shouting excitedly.

”Let’s hear it.”

”The money totals 12,323 gold pounds and 5 shillings. We have enough food and drinking water to last until Avad Island. And most importantly, I found these!”

Ronan took off a Space Ring and pulled out items one by one.

There were strangely shaped bones, more than a dozen parchment scrolls, and various weapons and pieces of equipment that glowed faintly...

Wei’en leaped down from the crow’s nest. ”Are you saying these are things we can turn over to the Black Pearl, or, uh, maybe things we *don’t* have to turn over?”

’If the people on the Black Pearl find out I wiped out everyone on the Storm Hunter... there’s no telling what kind of situation I’d face.’

”More or less,”

The excitement on Ronan’s face faded a little, as he too thought about their future predicament. Still, he pointed at the items on the deck and said, ”That’s the skeleton of a Deep Sea monster. And these Era Relics and equipment... for them to be specially collected and stored, they must be valuable.”

Wei’en glanced over them and mused, ”According to your usual rules, how is loot like this handled?”

”If you don’t want anyone to know, you sell it on the mainland. Most city-states have their own black markets.”

”I mean the distribution of loot, for those on the ship.”

”On the ship?” Ronan froze for a moment, pointed toward the hold, and then pointed at himself. ”You mean, you’re going to distribute it to us?”

”Mhm.”

Wei’en gave him a look that was not quite a smile. ”You don’t expect me to take all the heat for wiping out the Storm Hunter by myself, do you?”

”No, of course not.” Ronan gritted his teeth. ”By the old rules, the captain takes sixty percent, the First Officer and Second Officer take twenty percent, and the rest of the crew divides the remaining twenty percent.”

’A sixty-twenty-twenty split, huh?’

”Then we’ll stick to that,” Wei’en said, pointing to the Era Relics and the skeleton. ”These are mine as well. As for the weapons and equipment, see who needs them and distribute them.”

”But...”

”Just do as I say.”

”Yes, Captain.”

Ronan was overjoyed. He had already inspected the equipment; it was at least of Excellent grade, and some pieces were even Rune Equipment engraved with a Rune Array.

After Ronan and his men moved the chests into the hold, Wei’en sent the remaining items into the Clown Theater, also taking the opportunity to open up a small space to store the newly acquired forbidden object.

”Seven thousand gold pounds...”

After finishing all this, Wei’en returned to his workshop and counted the gold pounds. ”I’m rich. Now I have to think about how to spend it...”

”It seems you’ve been doing well for yourself these days, Mr. Wizard.”

Hearing this voice, Wei’en turned his head. Reflected in his crimson eyes was a broken clown mask.

”Leonard?!”