"Hey... Brando."
Just as Lorne was lost in thought, Tracy suddenly asked another question. "What are you planning to do after you get back to Bayam?"
Miss, since when did you become such a chatterbox...? Lorne grumbled inwardly.
A moment later, though, he understood. Sailing was boring. Compared with sitting in silence as they had before, chatting like this wasn't bad.
"Sell those materials, of course," Lorne said casually.
"And then? Keep working as an adventurer at sea?"
"No." Lorne shook his head.
"After going through something like this again, I probably won't keep doing it..."
"Then would you consider changing careers?" A hint of eagerness crept into Tracy's voice.
"Changing careers?" Lorne was a little surprised, then gave Tracy a thoughtful look.
"Becoming a pirate?"
"Yes." Tracy nodded nervously.
"No, thanks." Lorne declined with a smile. Honestly, he hadn't expected Tracy to invite him. Although he had guessed long ago that she was probably a pirate, neither of them had broached the subject.
Now, however, Tracy's words had brought it into the open. Lorne couldn't tell what she was after-whether she was genuinely inviting him or, in some sense, threatening him...
Besides, when it came down to it, he really didn't want to be a pirate.
"Why?!" Tracy's voice immediately grew sharper at his refusal.
"It's too dangerous at sea."
"Dangerous? So as long as I keep you out of danger, it'll be fine?" Tracy stared at Lorne with shining eyes. She now had another reason to put him completely under her "protection."
She just had to lock him up and protect him, keeping him from getting hurt.
"Well, you can't really put it that way." Her stare unnerved Lorne, and his mouth twitched. "Life at sea just doesn't really suit me..."
A trace of unease stirred in him,