Settlement Rewards

Dark clouds hung heavily over the sea, and the air was thick with dampness and oppression.

Van's limbs felt as heavy as lead, his chest so tight it felt ready to burst, his throat full of bitter seawater.

Just as his consciousness was about to sink completely into darkness, a cool, soft sensation suddenly touched his lips.

It was not a stiff collision, but a somewhat clumsy, cautious attempt.

Soft lips pressed gently against his, the movements awkward yet earnest, breathing air into him bit by bit.

The suffocating pressure in his chest suddenly dissipated. Van coughed violently, seawater spilling from the corners of his mouth as his consciousness returned.

He struggled to open his eyes, and his vision gradually cleared.

"You're awake?"

The mermaid girl's pretty face was bright red. As if startled, she quickly pulled away.

"Cough, cough!" Van asked weakly, "Were you saving me?"

"Mm."

Blue Moon avoided his gaze, looking secretly delighted yet guilty, as though she had done something she should not have.

Van raised a hand and wiped the water from the corner of his mouth, smiling. "Thanks for your hard work."

"As long as you're all right, sir."

Blue Moon licked her lips and lowered her head shyly.

Van had wanted to tease her, but the weather refused to cooperate. Raindrops as large as beans began falling without warning.

He could only suppress the distracting thoughts in his heart and ask instead, "Where are we?"

"I don't know." Blue Moon shook her head.

Are you bad with directions too?

Thinking of his own oversight and her recklessness, Van sighed and turned to look toward the higher ground of the island.

As far as he could see, there were only bare rocks, without the slightest hint of greenery or life.

A deserted island?

If so, that meant they could not build a ship and could only keep swimming toward the next island.

Van frowned and asked, "Did you see any ships or people when you came here?"

"There was a ship! I saw one in the sea and thought human ships would go where people lived, so I followed it here."

Blue Moon pointed toward the sky above the island and continued, "The ship is docked on the other side. I was worried there might be bad people, so I didn't dare get close."

"It was right to be cautious!" Van patted Blue Moon on the shoulder in encouragement. "Wait here for now. I'll go over and check things out."

"I'm coming too!" Blue Moon said anxiously. "If something happens, I might be able to help."

After thinking it over, Van felt that was indeed necessary and agreed.

He had originally planned to cross the mountains to reach the other side of the island, but to accommodate Blue Moon, who had to swim through the sea, he could only follow the coastline.

Fortunately, the island was not very large. In less than two hours, he spotted a ship by the shore.

There was only one large ship. Nothing about its appearance stood out, and it looked like a cargo vessel.

On the shore not far from the dock, the ground was very flat. Four parallel railway tracks stretched toward the depths of the island.

Farther inland stood rows of houses, uniform in style and neatly arranged, unlike any normal village.

The mountain blocked the view, so he had to get closer to the dock to see more, but that would make it easy for others to spot him.

"People actually live in a godforsaken place like this, and there are even railway tracks. Are they mining?"

After thinking for a moment, Van backed away and waved Blue Moon over.

"Sir, is there danger?"

"Not for now. I'll sneak in and take a look. You wait here."

Van did not waste any more words. As soon as he finished speaking, he headed back and activated his Operation Room from the place he had been observing, transferring himself between the mountains.

From here, he could see the entire residential area without exposing himself.

The sky was dark, and the rain poured down in sheets, so no one was walking outside.

"Most of these houses are empty, but there are five people in the small building at the very edge. Is that a guard post?"

"There's also a faint presence over there... that's you."

After searching with Observation Haki, Van locked onto a house and quickly rushed over.

He did not force the door open. Instead, once he approached, he activated his Operation Room and teleported directly inside.

The room was sparsely furnished, like some outdated student dormitory. All sorts of smells mingled together, nauseating enough to make one vomit.

A middle-aged man lay on his side on the bed, twitching from time to time as though he had some serious illness.

Van curled a finger, and the man's body moved against his will, forcibly turning over.

"Ah!"

As though he had seen a ghost, the middle-aged man screamed, then begged in a trembling voice, "D-Don't... don't kill me!"

"Not kill you?" Van said noncommittally. "First tell me where this is. Whose territory is it? And who are you?"

"This is Sulfur-Iron Island, controlled by the Donquixote Family. I am..." The middle-aged man paused. "I'm a miner. They captured me and brought me here."

"The Donquixote Family?" Van grinned. "How many guards are on the island? Who's in charge?"

"There are more than thirty. Lord Bareno is in charge."

As though sensing Van's hostile intent, the middle-aged man added, "We received notice yesterday that Lord Diamante would be coming today. I don't know whether he has arrived yet."

"Is that so? Then thank you very much."

Van suddenly raised his hand, his two fingers stabbing out with a burst of force that pierced through the middle-aged man's throat.

"W-Why?"

The middle-aged man covered his neck and staggered backward, his eyes full of disbelief.

"You know too much!"

Van reached out, and a blade vanished from beneath the blanket and appeared in his hand.

"A miner carrying a knife, and able to recover alone in here? Did the Donquixote Family suddenly grow a conscience?"

"Lord Diamante would never—"

Before the middle-aged man could finish, Van beheaded him with a single slash.

"Perfect. I didn't want to let him off either!"

Under the control of the Op-Op Fruit's power, the corpse and splattered blood inside the room all disappeared. Outside, some dirt appeared out of thin air, quickly washed away by the torrential rain.

"Lord Van! Are you all right?"

When he returned to the agreed-upon stretch of shore, Blue Moon immediately swam over.

"I'm fine! Let's get some sleep first. We have something important to do later."

Van raised the bag of food in his hand, then activated his Operation Room and opened a concealed cave within the mountainside.

"Ah?"

Blue Moon's pretty face flushed red. Before she could ask what he meant, she found herself on a stone bed.

"Settle the rewards for the Redemption event!"

Van tossed the food in his hand onto the bed, then sat cross-legged. As he ate, he issued the settlement command to the system.

It should not have been settled this soon, but Monet and Sugar had already been lost, and they would be difficult to find again. There was little point in dragging it out any longer.

[Ding! The Redemption event has ended. The system is beginning to analyze the impact caused by the host...]

[Bellamy: Died young, future completely severed. Evaluation: S-. Reward: 3500 points.]

[Sugar: Future uncertain, able to turn back from the wrong path. Evaluation: B-. Reward: 1200 points.]

[Monet: Future uncertain, able to turn back from the wrong path. Evaluation: B-. Reward: 1200 points.]

[Overall event evaluation: B+. Reward: 1800 points.]

A string of notifications rang in his mind, and Van could not help frowning.

"Bellamy's evaluation was only S-, and there wasn't even a special ability reward. Was directly killing him not enough? Or did killing him too early lower the evaluation?"

"Able to turn back from the wrong path... what's going on with Sugar and Monet? Low evaluations are one thing, but could they still go astray?"