I continued dining with Veronica in silence.

Through the windows of the restaurant I could barely see the eclipse.

The waiters were keeping distance, and only approached to bring new dishes, or to clean the table.

Everything was silent around us, as if it was respecting the atmosphere. The only sound that was breaking this eerie silence was coming from the utensils colliding.

The girl was mad at me for quite some time but suddenly I had a spoon of salad in front of me. Veronica turned her head away.

“Playing hard to get~?”

“Hm.” (V)

“Itadakimasu~!” I gulped the salad, and tried to give her a spoon of a liver I was eating.

Veronica pushed the spoon away, and grumbled.

“Whatever, that should be more for me then.” The girl was either full already, or was too mad at me.

My own mood to eat was already gone, so I started looking through the files.

---

“You guys…” I had no words.

After a single glance-through, I learnt more about what was going on, than I knew. And I am one of the main actors of this circus.

The exact amount of ships the pirates have, the smuggling routes, the pirate patrols.

The estimated construction of the renovated ‘Black Demon’, the estimated construction of the Western ship.

They even knew how many soldiers the pirates have deployed all over our small territory.

It was a sobering read.

It helped me cool my head before I read the last file.

The planned attack of the last fleet Benezio has accumulated.

When I looked at Veronica, the girl looked at me, as if saying ‘any questions?’.

The Ice queen received a firm negative.

[Just the fact that everything is known should help us a lot.]

Veronica kept on looking at me, waiting for me to finish.

I lost all of my appetite, and returned the files.

Without saying a word, the girl stood up, and led me somewhere.

---

As it turned out, we were heading to the port. I headed to the ship, and in front of the ramp I decided to wave her ‘goodbye’.

When I turned around, Veronica had the rapier aimed at me.

“Seriously…?”

[“All hospitality comes at a price.”]

I subdued the screams I had, and asked the ‘puppeteer’.

“You invited me?”

[“No.”]

“Erhm… Thanks for everything… I’ll be going then…?”

[“Do not hurry.”]

Veronica started approaching. With every step my back was feeling colder.

[“Remember, you must protect this vessel. With your life included.”]

As she continued approaching, my tail glued itself to my belly.

“What do you mean…?”

[“There can be no different interpretation.”]

The girl’s short steps were bringing her closer.

“Why? Why must it be me?!”

[“Because… I said so.”]

‘Pierce’

When she was in 6 steps, she flashed at me.

The last thing I saw was the guard of the rapier in front of my face.

---

“GAH!?AH!?AH!? KHA-KHA-KHA…!”

I woke up on the ship.

It was already morning, and San Marco’s port was busy. There was a small queue of ships at the roadstead.

I undocked, and set sail away from this accursed place.

Usually I would steam at 20-25 knots but this time I have an urgent information. I set ‘full speed ahead’ at 35 knots.

When I returned to the pirate main base, I was relieved.

The Benezian fleet was yet to arrive. The destroyer squadron was safely continuing to monitor the surroundings.

When I docked, I immediately headed to Alba.

The woman met me immediately.

She was sitting at an armchair. Emmanuel and Yuriko were playing chess at a table nearby. Patricia was making tea.

Patricia was about to go greet me but I went straight to Alba.

“They know everything about us.”

Alba blinked a few times.

“Pfft!” She barely tried to suppress the laughing.

“You silly girl! You only found that out?” Alba said between the laughs.

“I have no idea why it’s funny.”

“You can’t keep the spies away forever but you can try feeding them lies too. Whatever that fool knows, we took some measures to lower the impact. Is that everything?” The woman calmed down.

“They are going to send their remaining fleet.”

“Remind me to thank Veronica, before knocking her brain out of head.” Alba chuckled, and glanced at Emmanuel.

Everything now is up to the Western fleet’s arrival.