Pirate: Crew of Desire and Bonds

Meanwhile, far from the storm and the black sea...

Inside Nasha Town.

After Jake and Grace had left the area, the unrest between the two nobles had only intensified.

What began as quiet political maneuvering and secret conflicts quickly escalated into open chaos.

Fires continued to burn across districts.

Clashes between the remaining forces of Baron Elden Von and Viscount Victor’s men spilled into the streets.

Civilians fled in panic as the power struggle reached its peak.

In the end, Viscount Victor emerged as the clear victor.

With superior numbers, better-prepared forces, and careful control of the narrative, he crushed the last of Baron Elden’s resistance.

The old local lord, once respected by many of the island’s people, was captured after his final desperate moves failed.

Not long after, Viscount Victor ordered a public execution.

In the central square of Nasha Town, under the eyes of the remaining citizens and his own soldiers, Baron Elden Von was declared guilty of treason and of deliberately creating panic by destroying parts of his own town.

The charges were read out coldly, framing the old baron as the true cause of the people’s suffering.

Then, without hesitation, the execution was carried out.

With the death of Baron Elden, Viscount Victor’s control over the island was all but secured.

The fires still burned in some districts, and the people remained fearful... but a new order had already begun to take shape under the young Viscount’s rule.

Currently, inside a private room of the luxurious manor.

Viscount Victor sat alone at a large wooden desk, the soft glow of a nearby lamp illuminating the papers in his hands.

His immaculate dark crimson coat was still neatly arranged, and his gold-rimmed glasses reflected the light as he read through a report in silence.

A faint frown slowly formed on his refined face.

His amber eyes moved carefully across the lines of text, but the more he read, the deeper the crease between his brows became.

Something in the report was clearly not to his satisfaction.

He remained completely still for several seconds, only the quiet ticking of a clock filling the room.

”...Interesting.”

Just as the word left his lips, the door to the room opened.

A tall, handsome man with crimson hair walked in without waiting for permission.

His presence was sharp and composed, carrying the same refined arrogance as always.

It was Julian Vance Solaris.

Viscount Victor finally lifted his gaze from the report.

The faint frown on his face remained as his amber eyes calmly settled on the newcomer through his gold-rimmed glasses.

Then Julian spoke, his voice cold and direct.

”Speak. What do you want that you call me here so late?”

Viscount Victor slowly set the report down on the desk.

A faint, teasing smile appeared on his refined face as he adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and looked at the crimson-haired man.

”Why not?” Victor said lightly. ”I simply wanted to give my thanks to my partner. After all... if it weren’t for you, who knows how long it would have taken me to win against the Baron.”

The moment those words left his mouth, the atmosphere in the room dropped.

Julian’s eyes grew colder.

The faint arrogance that usually lingered around him sharpened into something far more dangerous.

Without another word, he turned his back on Viscount Victor and began walking toward the door.

”If you call me here for something so useless again,” Julian said coldly, ”...then I will burn this entire place down.”

His voice was calm, but the threat behind it was unmistakable.

Yet Viscount Victor only shook his head and smiled faintly, completely unbothered by the warning.

”Ahh... you seem to be in such a bad mood these days, so I simply tried to lift it a little. But anyway...”

He tapped a finger against the report on the desk.

”The real reason I called you here is because I have rather interesting news... from the Final Fortress.”

Julian, who had already reached the door and was about to open it, suddenly paused.

His hand remained on the handle as the atmosphere in the room shifted once more.

Slowly, he turned his head slightly, crimson eyes narrowing.

”...The Final Fortress?”

Julian fully turned around, his earlier cold indifference now replaced by a sharper, more serious expression.

Anything that came from the Final Fortress was never ordinary.

That place was not just another stronghold.

It stood at the outermost frontier of the mainland kingdom... a final line of defense that had held for generations against the horrors of the deep and the endless threats beyond the borders.

News from there was rarely good... and almost never unimportant.

Julian’s crimson eyes locked onto Victor.

”Speak,” he said, his voice no longer carrying the earlier irritation. ”What news came from the Final Fortress?”

Viscount Victor leaned back slightly in his chair, the faint smile still present on his face, though his amber eyes behind the gold-rimmed glasses had grown more serious as well.

”You already know that my family is part of the knights stationed at the front, right?”

Julian remained silent and nodded.

He already knew that Viscount Victor’s main family had several members who had long served as high-ranking knights at the Final Fortress.

Victor lightly tapped the report on the desk.

”That’s exactly why I received the news first-hand,” he said quietly. ”And as always...”

His faint smile faded completely.

”...it isn’t good news.”

Julian frowned slightly at those words.

Before he could even ask, Viscount Victor opened his mouth and dropped the bomb without hesitation.

”Recently, on the frontline... they discovered that a small number of Deep Aberration beasts have undergone a variation... or a mutation, or evolution... whatever you wish to call it.”

Julian’s crimson eyes widened.

A variation among the Deep Aberration was never a small matter.

Those creatures were already one of the greatest threats the mainland kingdom faced.

If they had truly begun to change...

Then the entire balance of the frontline could collapse.

Victor remained calm as he continued, his fingers lightly resting on the report.

”And according to the message from my family’s knights... the mutated ones are stronger, more intelligent, their actions and patterns seem to have changed... and they are far more difficult to kill than before.”

Then his expression grew even more serious.

”And some of them... even possess new abilities different from what we learned through our ancestor’s sacrifices.”