Removing his hat and gently nudging his tinted glasses with a finger, Dean Wengris greeted her with a smile. "Good evening, Captain."
He addressed her as neither sir nor madam, which actually put Tracy at ease.
This Hunter demigod offered neither mockery nor provocation.
That meant he bore no hostility.
Tracy gestured for the other pirates on deck to disperse, lest they cause the demigod before her to misunderstand.
Then she invited him in. "Your Excellency Dean, please come inside."
They entered the captain's cabin.
After closing the door, Tracy looked at the demigod and waited for him to continue.
Dean Wengris casually picked up a sextant and toyed with it, smiling as he said, "Our operation in Backlund has ended. Although the outcome wasn't quite what we hoped for, our agreement still stands."
He took a folded sheet of paper from his pocket and handed it to Tracy.
Tracy unfolded it and saw that the entire sheet was orange-yellow, covered in symbolic markings, some of which represented the Sun.
In a blank area enclosed by these symbols and markings, some information had been written.
"Iron-blooded Knight potion formula: the heart of an adult Steel Dragon, the gland of a Lava Devourer. Supplementary ingredients: three scales from a Steel Dragon, 200 milliliters of Lava Devourer blood, six Mutated Bergamot leaves, and 10 grams of magma heart powder.
"The advancement ritual is as follows: assemble a team of at least thirty people, cultivate deep bonds of comradeship with them, and help them grow stronger one after another. Develop seamless coordination, so they can understand your intentions through your gaze and movements, until you are almost one entity. Then have them form the ritual.
"I guarantee that the potion formula and ritual above are genuine and accurate."
The paper gave Tracy a