Wolf Tail

Sig awkwardly tossed two 500-Beli coins onto the table and was just getting up to leave when the bartender reminded him, "Two glasses of orange wine and two beers come to 1,200 Beli in total, sir."

"You never gave me change for the beers earlier!" Sig said righteously.

Bartender: ...

Having thwarted the swindler, Sig left the tavern and carefully began tailing them.

He still hadn't mastered advanced skills like Psychological Invisibility, but at least his Telepathist ability meant that when he observed others, he could do so without easily arousing their suspicion.

Night had fallen, and Sig followed nimbly without being spotted by Bekal.

"Damn it! Are there really no other warships we can deploy? They sent Rear Admiral Kuri all the way out here to capture those Fish-Men..."

"Damn Fish-Men, damn pirates! They cause trouble everywhere. If we miss our chance this time, who knows when we'll get another shot at taking down the Two-Headed Wolf!"

Sig listened, pursing his lips. You're angry, huh? Getting angry, huh? Once I get the information about the Two-Headed Wolf, I'll kick you flying! That ass is so perky, it'd be a shame not to give it a kick...

"Have you heard? Apparently, someone in the Navy has some kind of connection to the Two-Headed Wolf..."

"Shut up!" Bekal stopped the two lackeys before they could say anything dangerous.

After another round of arguing, Bekal finally sighed and relented. "All right! Go back and pack up. Dismiss all the underlings you recruited here."

"Sergeant, what about you?" one of her lackeys asked worriedly.

They all knew their Big Sister tended to get carried away. She'd been assigned to investigate the Two-Headed Wolf's secret base because she'd offended a superior, and after more than a year, she'd actually made some progress.

Unfortunately, just as they were about to close the net, the main force responsible for the raid couldn't make it!

Who knew how long it would be before they could pick up the Two-Headed Wolf's trail again...

"I'm going to check on the orphanage." Bekal said, already turning away and waving.

Sig followed Bekal all the way to a somewhat run-down orphanage outside the village.

"Aunt Bekal's here!"

"Aunt Bekal, I didn't cry today..."

Seeing the children rush to welcome Bekal, Sig could tell that although the orphanage looked shabby on the outside, it was warm and welcoming within.

Just then, a young nun stepped out of the shadows and greeted her with a smile. "Bekal, here to see the children again?"

Sig immediately furrowed his brow. Nothing seemed amiss on the surface, but his Telepathist ability sensed that there was something... off about her smile!

Bekal clearly noticed nothing unusual. Forcing a smile, she said, "Yes... Here, take this money. I might not be able to come by for a while."

The nun asked in surprise, "Has something happened?"

"Nothing much. Just a little trouble with the gang." Bekal tried to sound upbeat.

According to Bekal's investigation, Machu Picchu Island was indeed the place where the Two-Headed Wolf Slaver Squad met up every year. But... rabbits didn't eat the grass near their burrows, and there had been no reports of children going missing on Machu Picchu Island. On the surface, it seemed like an ordinary island.

By chance, Bekal had discovered the date the Two-Headed Wolf Slaver Squad would meet this year, but she hadn't investigated which of their undercover agents were still on the island.

All she knew was that the insider watching the island was part of the Two-Headed Wolf Slaver Squad, using the codename "Wolf Tail."

"If you're in trouble, then you should keep the money..." The nun tried to refuse Bekal's donation.

"No, it's nothing serious, and money can't solve it." Bekal shook her head.

Seeing Bekal in such a hurry to leave, the children were reluctant to let her go. But the nun gently stopped them and told them to say goodbye to Aunt Bekal properly.

"Aunt Bekal! Will you come back?" a little blue-haired girl asked in a babyish voice.

"Mm-hm! I'll be back soon!" Bekal wasn't lying. She planned to return and demand an explanation from her superior for why the operation had been called off, then come back with reinforcements.

Even though they'd alerted their enemies, it would still be good to eliminate the Slaver Squad's local agents on Machu Picchu Island. Otherwise, once the Two-Headed Wolf learned they'd been exposed, they might take their anger out on the island.

"Take good care of the children. If you run into any trouble... I'll be back before long." With that, Bekal turned and left.

"Say goodbye to Aunt Bekal," the nun prompted the children.

"Goodbye, Aunt Bekal!" the children said in their childish voices.

Bekal forced the gloom from her face and turned to wave at them...

BANG—

Bekal's expression went blank, and the children fell silent. Hidden nearby, Sig's eyes suddenly narrowed!

The nun had kept up her seemingly kind smile while using the children's voices to cover the sound of her movements. She pulled a flintlock from her clothing and shot Bekal in the waist, immediately drawing a gush of blood...

Screams and sobs erupted. Two or three dozen children scattered in panic, staring in shock at the nun they barely recognized.

"Now that we've said our goodbyes, it's time for you to make your exit... Bekal—no, Sergeant Bellemere." The nun knew not only that Bekal was a Marine, but even her real name.

Even the Navy's files hadn't given Sig such detailed information!

While some children wailed where they stood, others collapsed to the ground in disbelief, and still others tried to flee in every direction. A dozen men in cloaks, carrying flintlocks, appeared around them.

If the nun might have passed for an ordinary person, these men practically had "I'm a villain" written all over their faces!

"Sis Tail, that's all you've got? Doesn't quite live up to your status!" A bearded man lightly kicked the blue-haired girl as she tried to run back into the house, sending her flying back. His tone sounded mocking, but was really full of praise.

"Tch. Save your sarcastic remarks. We're moving next year anyway. We might as well uproot the grass growing right under our feet while we're at it." As she spoke, the nun pulled off her nun's hat, revealing gray hair that looked like a wolf's tail.

"You..." Bellemere gritted her teeth and forced herself to stand. She pulled the blue-haired girl who'd just been kicked behind her.

"So this is the little brat who's made us move next year... You think you've done some great deed? You really thought you'd catch us?"

"Heh heh heh. After taking all that money from us... Was Rear Admiral Kuri transferred away under some other pretext?"

"The only thing you've managed to do is expose Machu Picchu Island, so there's no need to keep up the cover here anymore. We can sort these few dozen kids into groups and sell them off!"

"Tsk, tsk. They might've grown up serving as our cover, and the ones with the coldest hearts might even have joined us. But now... their fate depends on their luck at the auction house."

The slavers mocked Bellemere.

At the same time, a commotion rose from the direction of the distant town, and flames flickered against the sky!

Bellemere tried to draw the short flintlock at her waist, but the moment she got hold of it, the nun—or rather, Wolf Tail—shot it from her hand. It seemed that she had already grasped the rudiments of Observation Haki.

Though Bellemere quickly drew a long dagger from her high boot, she was still badly outnumbered. The slavers clearly didn't take her attempt to fight back seriously.

But just then...

"All right, hurry up and finish her off. We've still got..." Wolf Tail's voice trailed off.

The incongruity made the slave traders turn around. A young man had appeared at some point, standing in front of Sis Tail with a strange-looking short flintlock in his hand. Its muzzle was nearly pressed against her face.

The night wind whipped at the young man's open shirt, revealing a corner of the sun on his back. In the bright moonlight, the skull flag on his arm gleamed...