Gloriosa did not argue with Streusen. Instead, she leaned a little closer to Annika.
This time, she covered her mouth with her hand, lowered her voice, and whispered into Annika's ear, "See? People like him are the most narrow-minded. They can't stand anyone saying anything bad about them."
Annika nodded gently, a serious "I understand" expression written across her face.
Streusen: "????"
Although he could not hear what Gloriosa had said this time, that disdainful look and those sneaky movements were enough to tell him it certainly was not anything nice.
"Hey, Gloriosa, you bastard, don't go teaching her bad things." Linlin stepped forward and spoke up for Streusen.
Streusen whipped his head toward Linlin, a trace of gratitude in his eyes. Linlin~ You're finally willing to stand up for me.
"Streusen might be short, look rather sleazy, have no real skills, and be only so-so at cooking, but he's still a decent person," Linlin continued.
The gratitude on Streusen's face froze before it could fully bloom.
He turned his neck stiffly and stared at Linlin in disbelief. Only after a long while did he squeeze out a sentence through gritted teeth. "Linlin... you bastard, you're in on this with them, aren't you?!"
Just as Streusen finished speaking, a figure leaped up from below and landed on the deck with a dull thud.
All the arguing stopped at once, as though someone had pressed pause.
Then they turned their heads together, their gazes converging on that figure.
"Stussy?"
"Why are you back?"
"Where are Rocks and the others?"
Stussy brushed the snow off her clothes and said casually, "Rocks? They stole Harald's treasure, and now Harald's chasing them down."
"Treasure???"
The moment the word "treasure" came out, most of their eyes lit up.
They exchanged discreet glances, checking the movements