Trash of the Count's Family Vol 2. Chapter 500: The Prince and the Father (5)

The leader of Island 16, and one of the generals included in the Council of Seventeen.

Ferry.

There were many ways people referred to her.

“Righteous.”

“Trustworthy.”

There were many favorable expressions.

But there were also many words carrying meanings that were not so pleasant.

“Stickler for principles.”

“Stone wall.”

“The great general’s gatekeeper.”

After the great general collapsed, more and more people used the unpleasant ones when referring to her.

“Elder Sister. Do not worry.”

Even at her younger brother’s words, Ferry answered with an expressionless face.

“You must complete the mission without fail.”

“Yes. I will do it even if I must stake my life on it.”

Grin. Her younger brother smiled.

Ferry closed her mouth for a moment.

His life.

Her younger brother truly might have to stake his life today.

But she could not tell him not to.

“Of course, there’s no need to go so far as staking my life just to check on the pirates nearby.”

Her younger brother spoke playfully, shrugging.

She recalled the conversation she had secretly shared with him the previous night. To be precise, she thought of the things he had said.

“Island 19’s Pirate Shark is not behaving normally, Elder Sister. We cannot miss the timing any longer.”

“Tomorrow, around sunset, I will drive away the pirate ships nearby under the pretext of guarding the entrance.”

“Then, once the sun sets, I will head for Island 7 immediately.”

Her younger brother would take Ferry’s carrier pigeon note and go to Island 7.

Because the Seventh General, who was currently striving with Ferry to carry on the great general’s will, was there.

“Elder Sister. We must request support from the Seventh General. We cannot hold out any longer either. Food supplies are running low, and above all, the pirates—Island 19’s Shark bastard—will try to kill us.”

“And Elder Sister, you know what happens if our island collapses, don’t you?”

The decisive words her younger brother had offered to Ferry as she hesitated.

“If this place, the entrance, collapses, then truly, only chaos without even the bare minimum of rules will remain in the sea.”

He was right.

People mocked Island 16, one of the islands within the Council of Seventeen, saying all it did was act as the great general’s gatekeeper.

But Ferry knew.

“If the entrance collapses, the castle collapses.”

The central sea.

She had to protect at least the entrance to that vast place that had turned into a battlefield.

At least she had to uphold the rules the great general had established.

Because of that—

“Elder Sister. If I take many ships, Island 19 or the other central sea bastards will definitely notice.”

“Three ships. I will take three fast ships and return. You know my skill, don’t you?”

Her younger brother said he would move with only three ships.

Avoiding the pirates of Island 19.

Avoiding the brutal people located in the central sea beyond the entrance.

And Ferry—

“Even a small mission must be carried out thoroughly if it is important to protecting the sea.”

She had to drive him toward death.

Even if the possibility was far too small. Even if the chance of her younger brother reaching the Seventh General was extremely slim.

“Elder Sister. There is definitely a spy inside the island. Otherwise, how would Island 19 know our patrol routes?”

“And there is definitely someone behind Island 19.”

“Elder Sister. My subordinates and I will go.”

She had to trust her younger brother and entrust it to him.

“Yes, Elder Sister. I will carry out the mission thoroughly without fail.”

“Good.”

Ferry spoke with an impassive face.

“One who bears the duty of protecting the sea must never neglect that duty.”

“Yes, of course. Elder Sister!”

She placed a hand on her younger brother’s shoulder as he smiled playfully.

Tap. Tap.

As she patted that shoulder, she took in the ships her younger brother was preparing for departure at sunset today.

“Island 19 and countless other pirates are currently committing piracy in the sea near the entrance.”

Ferry and her younger brother.

The naval officers of Island 16 who stood around them looked at her.

All of them had the eyes of men prepared to die, but among them there was surely a spy who had joined hands with the pirates of Island 19.

“Today, we launch a large-scale pirate subjugation.”

For the first time in many months, Island 16 had decided to use most of the warships on the island to subjugate the pirate ships around the entrance.

It had been months since they had carried out an operation on this scale.

“Island 19 will certainly jump into it. So prepare thoroughly before you set sail. Understood?”

“Yes, General!”

“Yes, General!”

To draw Island 19’s attention, they had openly filled the southern port with warships.

Tap.

Ferry patted her younger brother’s shoulder, the shoulder of the man responsible, one more time, then removed her hand and turned to walk away.

A gentle hill at the center of Island 16.

The central castle located atop that hill.

She had to remain there.

She could not leave this island.

“Mm.”

But she stopped walking.

“Head of the family.”

Then, without answering the call of the close steward who had addressed her, she turned around.

SPLAAAAASH—

She could hear the sound of a ship approaching as it cut through the water.

As an islander, as a person of the sea.

There was no way she would miss this sound.

A pirate subjugation.

Pirate ships would never approach Island 16 while it openly made a show of launching such an operation.

“That is—”

She looked at the approaching ship and recalled the urgent report she had received a short while ago.

“The mist.”

Gray mist was approaching the southern port.

SPLAAAAASH—

Along with the sound of a ship cutting through the water.

“Head of the family. It appears to be the mist ship we received the report about a moment ago.”

The presence of one ship, hurriedly reported by Island 16’s pirate-disguised vessel that was watching pirate movements outside the entrance.

Ssssss—

The mist cleared.

A ship approached the pier while avoiding the numerous warships that filled one side of the southern port.

“Disaster.”

The pirates were said to tremble in fear after seeing the mist ship and call it a disaster.

General Ferry did not fully trust that report.

But one phrase given by the naval soldier who had been disguised as a pirate stayed with her.

“We only watched from a distance. But every ship that touched the mist stopped.”

It was not the vast and perilous central sea.

But the pirate ships circling outside it were by no means weak.

And that ship had made all of those ships stop?

“General. What should we do?”

At the words a subordinate approached and offered, Ferry began walking.

“Launch a boat.”

The operation that would be carried out with even her younger brother’s life at stake.

For the completion of that operation, variables could never be tolerated.

“I will go myself.”

One small boat was launched onto the sea and left the pier, heading toward the ship that was slowly dispersing its mist.

“......”

Ferry silently looked at the ship approaching without a flag, and without any proper sailors.

It is magic.

A ship approaching by creating wind with magic and moving its sails.

The mist over the ship had not yet fully cleared, so she could not clearly see the faces of those standing aboard it.

But she saw the person standing at the very front, at the bow, looking at her.

A red-haired man.

He was the owner of that ship.

The moment she recognized that—

“......!”

When the remnants of the mist that had not all vanished touched her as she stood at the bow.

When they swept past her and touched the others as well.

“...Stop.”

She raised her hand and stopped the boat.

No, the boat had already stopped.

“......”

She fell silent.

It was faint.

It was disappearing little by little.

But she had definitely felt it.

...Pressure.

An enormous aura had brushed past her for a brief instant.

Ferry’s eyes, which had held no emotion, trembled finely for the first time in a long while.

It was not simple pressure.

This was the aura of a ruler.

It was the aura of someone who could seize another person’s lifeline merely by existing.

He is strong.

The owner of this aura was the red-haired man.

He was strong.

Perhaps emitting this kind of aura is his ability, and his actual strength may be weak.

But was that truly the case?

“Haaah. Hah.”

“Hrrk.”

Though the boat was small, she had brought elite naval soldiers in their own right, yet she could see her subordinates unable to endure even that instant.

“......”

She could not blame them.

Because she, too, had barely managed to keep standing.

And even that must be because the aura has disappeared.

The aura had vanished upon touching her boat.

Because of that, she could at least stand.

Her back was damp with sweat, and her mouth was dry, but at least she had endured.

SPLASH—

The mist ship stopped, and her boat had already stopped as well.

With a certain distance between them, the two bows pointed at one another.

“......”

The mist had all cleared, and the people aboard the ship looked down at her.

Because General Ferry had come out on a small boat, she had to look up at them.

They are not easy.

Of those she looked up at, there were very few she could gauge.

These people—

They are strong.

She had an important operation ahead today. And yet such people had appeared at a time like this—

Her vision went dark. Even so, Ferry looked at the red-haired man again with unwavering eyes.

Then she opened her mouth with an impassive face.

“Who are you?”

She continued.

“Please state your purpose in arriving here.”

Island 16. As the gatekeeper of the central sea, she treated these unidentified people according to the rules a person of the sea from Island 16 had to follow.

Who are you?

For what purpose are you heading to the central sea?

Ferry swallowed her tension inwardly.

They were questions now made virtually meaningless by the war in the central sea.

Because of the endless flood of pirates, because of the need to keep Island 19 in check, because of the need to deal with outsiders recklessly heading into the central sea.

Only insults toward Island 16 were widespread, saying they simply remained on the island and acted as gatekeepers without fighting.

Weak cowards, or foolish idiots.

Despite hearing all sorts of words, Island 16’s captain, Ferry, always had the rules of Island 16 conveyed to everyone who came to the central sea.

Who are you?

For what purpose are you heading to the central sea?

They had to be asked.

Because—

“Hello.”

At that moment, the red-haired man greeted her brightly with an amiable smile.

His light manner did not suit that mighty aura, and Ferry grew even more tense.

“We greet the guardians.”

He bowed toward General Ferry, and toward the naval soldiers on the boat.

“......!”

A powerful ripple rose in General Ferry’s eyes for an instant, then sank away.

Guardians.

It was a form of address she had not heard in far too long.

“General Ferry. You are one who protects this sea, the entrance to the central sea. If the entrance collapses, everything collapses.”

“Island 16 and you are the guardians who protect the castle that is our sea.”

The words the great general had said to her when she had just become a general.

Words that had now been forgotten.

“......”

“......”

The expressions of the elite naval soldiers on the boat changed.

They had been steadying their breaths after that immense aura had swept past them for a moment, but unlike pirates, they had shown no fear or terror and had swallowed it inwardly.

Their gazes turned toward the one who held the dominating aura, toward Cale.

Cale answered them in their own way.

“We are people going to have ourselves a bout with the sea.”

Gatekeeper.

The one who stood before the entrance to the central sea had not opened the door to certain people.

Those who would harm the sea.

Or those who would commit piracy.

Those who would break the rules of the sea that the great general had made.

Although the central sea was rough beyond measure and never free of disputes large and small—

To preserve its own form of peace, the guardian could not permit just anyone into the central sea.

“......”

The corners of Ferry’s impassive mouth rose slightly.

“We are people going to have ourselves a bout with the sea.”

Those words were famous.

Because those were the words islanders always spoke when they challenged this capricious, endlessly rough sea.

Furthermore, these people knew and respected the ways of the Oceanic Alliance.

Because of that, she returned to her impassive face as though she had never smiled and spoke.

“The sea is in chaos right now. Will you still go?”

A gatekeeper had to open the door for one who wished to challenge.

The central sea was a kind of castle.

But at the same time, it was also a fighting arena spread open for those seeking the opportunity called the sea.

“Do not worry, Guardian.”

Still wearing that amiable face, Cale looked at General Ferry before him.

“General Ferry of Island 16. Officially, she and the Seventh General are the only ones who still follow the great general.”

“Since she guards the entrance, she should know the current state of the central sea better than anyone. If we can secure a route through her to safely reach Island 1, where the great general is staying, things will become easier.”

“Above all, Island 1. We may gain a way to enter it.”

Island 1.

The reason the unconscious great general had not yet been assassinated and could remain on that island.

“They said it was an incredible magic circle. And that it included even a formation from the martial world.”

With Raon and the Heavenly Demon, it would probably be possible to slightly breach Island 1’s defensive formation and infiltrate.

But it might be easier through General Ferry, one of the great general’s closest aides. There was a high chance that she knew a way to enter that island comfortably.

“Even if that does not happen, gaining the gatekeeper’s favor will bring many benefits.”

Recalling what Ron had told him, Cale revealed his intention to the impassive woman.

To her, who was concerned because the sea was in chaos.

“The sea will soon grow calm.”

It was the most appropriate thing he could say.

Cale and Alberu intended to make the Oceanic Alliance their ally while they were at it, since they were looking for His Majesty the king anyway.

“It will become so soon.”

“......!”

General Ferry’s eyes widened as she realized the great meaning contained in those words.

At that moment, Cale offered the one proposal that would leave her no choice but to invite him onto the island.

“There should be two ways for the sea to grow calm.”

First.

“Either a ruler of the sea whom everyone acknowledges appears.”

Cale’s gaze turned toward Witira.

Hm?

And he was surprised. Because Witira was already grinning as she looked at him.

Why is she looking at me like that?

Wouldn’t Miss Witira of the Whale Tribe suit the role of ruler of the sea?

Anyway, the other way was—

“Or the great general officially appoints a successor.”

Unlike the former, the latter carried quite a large risk under the current circumstances.

Because the great general was unconscious, and even if he appointed an official successor, there would be plenty who would rush in after a brief peace.

“......”

Ferry said nothing.

If that were possible, none of this would have happened in the first place.

Both options were currently impossible, which was why the central sea was a mess.

At that moment, Cale smiled brightly and casually slipped in his next words.

“General Ferry. I heard that you have one powerful authority as a guardian.”

A powerful authority she had obtained because she guarded the entrance to the central sea.

An authority that only she could use, aside from the great general.

As if it were nothing, as if he were asking after her well-being, Cale asked.

“Convening the generals’ council. You can do that, can’t you, General?”

The central sea was in chaos.

The atmosphere had reached its extreme, with everyone rushing to kill one another.

At a time like this, only General Ferry could convene the generals’ council.

“...With what intention are you saying this?”

Ferry’s expression hardened, and while her mind grew complicated, Cale answered with a relaxed smile.

“I was just curious.”

“......”

At his completely unreadable manner, Ferry could say nothing and could only look at this strong person who had suddenly arrived.

At that moment, Cale spoke with a leisurely smile.

“But, General.”

“?”

“Can we enter the island first?”

He rubbed his stomach.

“I am hungry.”

He truly was hungry.

After spending the entire night watching things get smashed apart, he had grown even hungrier.

“Ah—”

As she let out a small sound at that sight, Cale added,

“And we can stay the night, right? We can pay the lodging fee. Ah, we will be heading to the central sea tomorrow. You will open the entrance for us, yes? And for reference, all of us can prove our identities. Haha!”

General Ferry silently looked at Cale as he smiled amiably, and in the end, she had no choice but to nod and permit them to enter port.

Even if they were extremely strong and impossible to gauge—

At the very least, they had kept the etiquette of this place.

“After completing identity verification at the management office, please rest comfortably. Before departing tomorrow, you will recei