Chapter 58
“Haa…”
“Are you alright?”
“Yes… it’s nothing much…”
Cheshire asked in a careful voice.
Dust forced a smile and began to regain her posture.
She slowly guided the Aura inside her body to flow through her limbs.
Since Aura possessed natural Healing capabilities, even that alone allowed her to recover from minor internal wounds.
The burning, nauseating pain within her slowly began to settle.
While using Aura did drain her stamina, the physical pain quickly faded in exchange.
And so, after finally completing her recovery, Dust’s face looked more at ease.
Seeing that, a brief sense of relief blossomed in Cheshire’s heart.
Strangely enough, it felt even deeper than when their overwhelming enemy had finally retreated.
“I’m glad. And… thank you. If it weren’t for you, I would’ve been in serious danger.”
“I only did what I had to. Now, Cheshire, come here. I still have some time and energy left—I’ll treat your wounds.”
Cheshire had sustained several injuries from the earlier battle.
While none were fatal, Dust wanted to show her kindness—as a friend, it was the natural thing to do.
“I’m fine. These kinds of wounds… if my mother lays her hands on them, they’ll be—”
“Huhu, don’t refuse. This much is nothing for me. Come on, sit here.”
“Ah…”
Unable to bring herself to refuse Dust’s offer,
Cheshire sat down beside her with a slightly stiff expression.
But then…
“…Huh?”
“…”
As things progressed, Dust began to feel a sudden sense of confusion.
As always, she had Condensed Aura and brought it to the wound.
At this level, not only should the wound heal, but even any damaged organs could be repaired.
And yet—
“What… why isn’t this working…?”
“…”
There was no recovery.
Even with highly concentrated Aura being applied,
The wounds on Cheshire’s body neither healed nor faded.
It was common sense that injuries healed when exposed to Aura.
And yet, that natural outcome simply wasn’t happening.
Staring in silent confusion, Dust didn’t know what to say.
At that moment—
While Dust sat dazed, Cheshire spoke in a calm voice.
“There’s no need to be so surprised. Since long ago, the only one who’s ever been able to heal my body is my mother.”
“R-Really?”
“Yes. My body… is different from normal humans.”
“?.. What do you mean by that?”
“…”
Avoiding Dust’s gaze, Cheshire fell into silence.
Her expression stiffened, like someone with a secret they couldn’t share, and seeing that, Dust also fell silent.
Having traveled across the continent, Dust had met all kinds of people.
Even so, someone who couldn’t be healed by Aura, the very source of all life and Divine Power—
This was her first time seeing such a person.
‘Well, she must have her reasons. I don’t need to pry.’
Dust had encountered countless people during her charity work.
Among them were individuals who had committed heinous crimes and lost everything,
Runaway Slaves from distant lands,
And even those hiding their identities as members of the Demonic Races.
To Dust—
No,
To Auriel Stardust—
Treating such people without prejudice, and simply accepting them as they were, was second nature.
The scriptures taught not to judge others by their background, but to see the person themselves.
As a proper Nun, that was how she was meant to act.
And so, looking at Cheshire—who now seemed a bit dispirited from their earlier conversation—
Auriel smiled brightly and said:
“Alright then. Let’s leave it at that.”
“! Ah…”
“Some kind of rare constitution, I suppose…? Then please, make sure to visit your mother later and get properly treated.”
“Y-Yes… understood.”
Auriel naturally brushed the matter aside without showing any discomfort or concern.
And just like when she’d heard her song before—
Cheshire felt a sudden twinge deep in her chest.
Though she didn’t realize it—
That feeling…
Was called “Emotion”.
***
The situation had finally been subdued by the efforts of Bennessa’s Soldiers and high-ranking officers.
However, from this point onward, the mood among the allied forces gathered on Sicily began to shift ominously.
“You bastards! Are you mocking our Franz Kingdom?!”
“This isn’t mockery—we’re stating the truth. It’s the Franz Kingdom that’s acting unreasonably here!”
“He’s right. The righteous code of the world dictates that a murderer must be handed over immediately.”
Spoke Alice Wonder Land and Blue Queen in cold voices.
But despite their protests, Commander-in-Chief Pierre remained unmoved.
Any reasonable person would agree that when someone dies, it’s only natural to handle the aftermath and at least offer a formal apology.
But this arrogant parachute noble of Franz Kingdom, this damned Commander-in-Chief, continued to hold his high nose in the air without acknowledging even a sliver of wrongdoing.
He had no interest in turning his troops upside down just because some lowly Pirate had died.
Even if the killer was found, he had no intention of handing them over.
From the beginning, he had never once considered the pirates his comrades. They were merely tools to be used.
Because of that mindset, his attitude remained as unyielding as steel.
On the other hand, Alice and Blue Queen, faced with Pierre’s unrelenting stubbornness, couldn’t push back too strongly.
‘Damn it… because of the Vanguard issue, we can’t push this further…’
‘You dirty snail bastard! Just wait. I’ll get my revenge later…’
As disgusting and petty as it was, they feared that if they pushed too hard, this man might just get offended and refuse to lead the vanguard, turning their successful bomb-passing scheme into a wasted effort.
In the end, despite making valid arguments, they had no choice but to back down with a reluctant, “Tch… guess there’s no helping it…”
And so, at the upper levels, the so-called “Higuma Murder Incident” was brushed under the rug and resolved vaguely.
However…
“Damn it! What the hell is going on? Are they really going to let this end without even an apology?”
“A person died! I know we’re pirates, but how could they treat an ally like this?!”
Even if the upper echelons had concluded matters,
The aftermath of this mishandled situation began to spread far more severely than anyone had expected.
Despite the fact that a comrade had been wrongfully killed, there was neither a proper investigation nor a sincere apology.
And since Higuma was somewhat respected among the pirates,
His unjust death only fueled the growing fury of the White Shark Pirate Group and their allies, the Blue Shark Pirate Group.
What made things worse—
Was the fact that after this incident, the arrogance of the Franz Kingdom Navy had grown even more unbearable.
“So what? I heard a pirate died and people made a fuss, but nothing happened in the end, right?”
“Seriously, what could those pirate scum even do? They’re destined for the gallows anyway. Once this mission ends, we can just kill them all—who’d care?”
Human beings may possess intellect, but fundamentally, they’re not so different from beasts.
Just like how a puppy that isn’t properly potty-trained ends up soiling the whole house—
When people aren’t punished when they should be, they start crossing lines more and more.
And so, as the idea that “nothing happens even if you mess with pirates” began to spread,
Franz Kingdom’s Navy started provoking the pirates more frequently.
“Gahk!”
“You bastards, what the hell are you doing?!”
“A pirate… talking back?”
“Hey! Stomp ‘em! No one cares if you kill some dirty pirate anyway!”
And so, following the Higuma Incident, confrontations between pirates and Franz Kingdom Navy became increasingly frequent.
Even though it was clearly the Navy that was picking fights,
The outcomes always favored Franz Kingdom in a one-sided fashion.
It wasn’t about justification or moral high ground.
The Navy’s fleet might’ve been a joke,
And their ranks filled with forcibly conscripted Army personnel, barely bolstering their headcount.
But this wasn’t the sea—it was land. An island.
And Franz Kingdom’s Army possessed some of the best ground combat capabilities on the continent.
With superior numbers and overwhelming power on land,
They could easily pick fights and beat the pirates down without much trouble.
At least, thanks to their superiors’ orders to avoid further trouble, there had been no additional murders.
However, the injustice of these one-sided beatings only further worsened the tension between both sides.
The only way to resolve this—
Was to hurry up and finish the mission, execute the Subjugation Operation cleanly,
And part ways with a “It’s been filthy working with you, let’s never meet again.”
Thus, though it was far from ideal, the coordination between the Privateers and Bennessa’s Navy was finally nearing completion.
And this wretched, meaningless conflict seemed to be coming to a close under the name of “Deployment.”
That’s how it should’ve gone—
-BOOM!!!
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