After exchanging a few words with the ship's first mate, the pirates gathered in front of Cyril suddenly parted of their own accord, opening a path. A beautiful woman with long brown hair walked over from behind the crowd.
Her face was oval, her nose high-bridged, and her lips thin. Her light-blue eyes were like clear springs.
She wore neither the sailor hat nor the tricorn popular among pirate captains. Instead, she wore a beige jacket cinched at the waist, with a large, palm-sized flower-shaped ornament of white lace spreading down from the collar.
She paired the jacket with a dark knee-length skirt, its connected pleats giving it a slightly puffy look. On her feet were leather boots close in color to her hair.
She was the "Admiral of Iceberg" of the sea, the captain of the Golden Dream: Edwina Edwards.
Cyril noticed that Edwina's gaze held no surprise or astonishment.
It seemed she had foreseen this scene, or perhaps she was simply exceptionally calm and rational.
As his thoughts stirred, he took the initiative and nodded to her. "Good morning. You seem to be a very learned lady. Would you permit me to rest aboard your ship for a while?"
After a pause, he glanced down at the corpse by his feet, which was still in its "Devil Transformation." "You can have this Devil's corpse as payment for passage."
"Except for the head. I'll need it to collect the bounty. If you're curious, you can examine it. I remember that people from the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom are interested in that sort of thing."
He had planned this before boarding. The characteristic that had been extracted from the corpse was already in his possession, and he could find someone to dispose of the body for