Chapter 12: The Ghost Ship

Seeing that Vilyric could read her intentions at a glance, the mature yet slightly mysterious beauty of the Sea Priestess immediately broke into a satisfied smile.

“Not bad, indeed a cooperation that is mutually beneficial—neither side will suffer losses.”

“Hmm… I would love to hear more?”

The Priestess calmly crossed her arms, not speaking, just quietly waiting for the beauty in front of her to continue, wearing a look that said, “I’ll just keep listening to your flattery.”

The fact that the other party approached her and couldn’t wait to express their intentions on the very first night of their arrival only indicated how much control Vilyric actually had in this matter.

Sure enough, Silisa chimed in.

“During the day, Miss Vilyric seemed to take an interest in certain buildings on our Palute Island and even specifically inquired about them with the guards nearby. Do you remember that?”

The Priestess raised an eyebrow, vaguely noncommittal.

“Oh, that… I just thought there were a lot of merfolk coming and going there, and I was a bit curious, didn’t Miss Silisa explain it was a medical facility? Are you trying to pull a fast one on me?”

Watching the seemingly innocent black-haired girl in front of her, the Sea Priestess let out a gentle sigh.

“Miss Vilyric is a clever one; there’s no need to play the fool. I certainly did not lie, but the meaning and function of a medical facility can be quite broad, wouldn’t you agree?”

“So?”

“…”

Suppressing the urge to pinch the girl’s perfectly delicate face, Silisa realized that the other party was not easily fooled. After a moment of silence, she could only nod in resignation and be forthcoming.

“Alright… Actually, the situation in the Emerald Sea Region is currently at war. Although the front lines have yet to reach the six islands and the nearby royal territory, the pressure we face is increasing day by day, so we need help.”

“Oh? War, huh~”

As expected.

In fact, even when she first arrived near this archipelago, or even earlier when she scanned with her mind, Vilyric had already sensed something amiss.

First, the excessive concentration and sensitivity of Palute Island’s outer defense forces. Although Noah’s Ark was indeed quite large and looked intimidating, fundamentally, it was just a transport ship without any large weapons onboard—it didn’t really pose much of a threat on the surface.

The merfolk, being a sea-dwelling race, surely had a deep understanding of ships; there was no way they couldn’t judge that.

Yet, even then, when the ship reached the nearby waters, several hundred nautical miles away from the East Sea Pearl, hidden merfolk scouts had already discovered them and were tailing them, which was why they received such a warm “welcome” outside the island.

Wasn’t that warning line set a bit too far?

Besides, there were those buildings she noticed while waiting for Silisa near the island’s heart lake.

As the Sea Priestess explained, those were indeed medical facilities for treating the injured, but the issue was the sheer number of merfolk coming and going. In times of normal peace, how could there be such a high demand for medical services?

Moreover, the atmosphere surrounding that building was extraordinarily strange, almost as if it were…

A nest nurturing something.

That very atmosphere had even briefly brushed against a strand of spiritual points she had quietly released, but Silisa’s appearance interrupted Vilyric’s intent to investigate further. By the time the Priestess returned, that feeling had vanished.

The girl nodded slightly, continuing to probe subtly.

“So, which faction are you at war with? How can we assist?”

Silisa contemplated for a moment, seemingly struggling to explain.

“To say ‘faction’… is actually not accurate. To be precise, we are resisting a ‘catastrophe.'”

“A catastrophe?”

“Yes, ‘Ghost Ship’—has Miss Vilyric ever heard that name?”

The Priestess raised an eyebrow.

This time, she had indeed heard of that infamous thing.

“One of the Four Disasters, the East Disaster?”

“Exactly.”

“Oh…”

Long before tackling the Southern Disaster “Phantom Cloud,” Vilyric had already thoroughly researched information regarding the Four Disasters.

The original land was vast and unfathomable, even involving countless aspects of mysticism, but most of it remained localized and rarely expanded or moved about, causing catastrophic casualties.

However, the Four Disasters were exceptions.

They wielded bizarre and unpredictable powers that ordinary beings and nations could scarcely resist, but the truly terrifying aspect lay in their tendency to move frequently.

All Four Disasters are like that; they may not be the most secretive and powerful existences in the world, but the danger and threat they pose to civilization is terrifyingly unparalleled.

Compared to the South Disaster “Phantom Cloud,” which left a barren landscape in its wake, the East Disaster “Ghost Ship” may not exhibit the same exterminating phenomena, but its level of horror and mystery was just as profound, even entwining with some peculiar rules reminiscent of mystical tales.

The “Ghost Ship” roams the Endless Sea at night, with no logical patterns to its movements.

Any vessel on the sea or island dwellers have a chance of witnessing its appearance, only to possibly see it vanish into the mist moments later.

If you’re lucky, you might just brush past it, but if you come too close when that peculiar entity appears, the shadow known as “disaster” will silently descend upon you.

The East Disaster simply sails upon the ocean, never actively attacking living things in any form.

On that old and ancient ghost ship, it is said there are no crew members, yet entering the misty waters that accompany its movement, whether willingly or unwillingly, the vessel will invariably sink into the sea, losing all communication.

If the Ghost Ship draws too near to certain unfortunate islands, all living beings will inevitably vanish after its shadow leaves, leaving only a chilling silence behind.

Some say the Ghost Ship is a nightmare manifest of the Sea Goddess Vail, taking the lives of those who break her rules and disrespect the sea.

Others say it is a ship once ridden by great sinners, unable to leave even after being banished by the Goddess Vail, seizing souls and bodies in hopes of resurrecting one day, true evil spirits.

But no matter what, as its name implies, the “Ghost Ship” is a bizarre entity that ordinary beings and nations absolutely cannot engage with or comprehend through conventional means, let alone oppose.

The Priestess found it hard to believe.

“How did you end up battling the Ghost Ship? Isn’t it supposed to be non-aggressive and unpredictable? Honestly, I can’t imagine how a normal island tribe could contend with such a thing; a single ship couldn’t possibly spark a war, could it?”

Nodding in agreement, the priestess’s water-like clear eyes darkened with a hint of gravity.

“This matter… dates back a few years.”

…

Around five years ago, an unusually special uninvited guest suddenly visited the palace of the East Sea Pearl.

He was none other than the renowned captain of the Master of the Sea, the legendary Pirate King Rashid Bachiri.

Rashid did not sail his ship nor bring any followers; instead, he used some special means to bypass the outer island defenses and directly entered the palace grounds.

However, he did not come to assassinate; rather, he seemed to be trying to find the leader of the Mingjia tribe at the time, King Willipol Mingjiao, to discuss certain matters.

The Merman Tribe is the most powerful faction in the entire Emerald Sea Region, essentially the rulers of this area, and naturally had a long-standing feud with the pirates who roamed and plundered various island tribes.

However, although Rashid was a pirate, his reputation was not too bad—more akin to a “Robin Hood” character, and given his extraordinary identity, King Willipol ultimately chose not to turn him away immediately but opted to meet this legendary Pirate King in person.

This meeting became the catalyst for everything that followed.

   

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