As far as Eden could tell, the contract had not been broken when he broke the first clause, so Morgan should not know anything had happened yet.
Eden had also tried to bait him into revealing himself after killing Alex and his subordinates, but he had never appeared, so Eden assumed that he was still in his mansion, waiting for the news of his death.
Alex had said they would wait until noon before assuming he was dead, meaning Morgan should have no idea something went wrong until at least then.
Still, Eden was not so keen on tempting fate and hurried to the port.
The port was packed to the brim with ships, most of which were pirate vessels. There were also some belonging to the Navy, but they were in the vast minority.
Followed by the silent Guardian, Eden walked around the port, searching for Barbossa. He might not know what the Cobra looked like, but it did not take Eden long to find Barbossa's crew.
As he approached, he saw them all look at him curiously. Eden could hardly hide his missing arm after all, or Guardian for that matter.
Having retrieved the Skull and the Necronomicon in his inventory, directly addressed Barbossa, "Good morning, Captain."
Barbossa looked at him in disbelief, before laughing, and replying, "Something tells me yours wasn't!"
Eden smiled faintly, noticing in his peripheral vision that Drakon, who had also arrived, was looking at him with suspicion etched on his face.
Ignoring him, Eden gestured toward Guardian with his remaining hand and said, "Better than you would think. I may have lost a left hand, but I gained a new right one."
Following Eden's mental command, Guardian stepped up next to him, his form towering over the entire crew as Eden added, "This undead was the one to maim me, but I subdued it, and it now listens to my commands. Unconditionally."
Everyone, including Barbossa, looked intimidated by Guardian. It was not every day that they saw a giant clad in heavy armor, after all.
Pintel, one of the men who had been with Barbossa in the bar, asked, "Won't he sink like an anvil if he falls in water though?"
Guardian leaned forward ever so slightly, causing Pintel to jump as Eden snorted, "Why would he fall in the sea? Besides, this is a zombie; it is strong enough to rip you in half, so swimming wouldn't be a problem."
Pintel's face had turned pale, and Barbossa, who was usually harsh on his subordinates, decided to step between the two, diffusing the situation as he gave a rotten smile, "Of course we trust you, Mr. Ozymandias."
He turned to the rest of his men and hollered, "Since everyone is here, let's move out! First come, first served!"
His words instantly energized his men as they swiftly boarded the Cobra. Eden took the opportunity to scan them, first to check for any other Players, and second to see their attributes.
As expected, Barbossa was exceptional as his men only had stats that hovered around 7-8. This was already very high for regular humans, but considering that these were the crewmates of a main character, the pirates on other vessels should only have stats around 5, which is regular humans.
Boarding the Cobra himself, Eden followed Barbossa, while Drakon followed him, obviously eager to ask questions.
Before he could do so, Eden asked Barbossa, "So, we have a target?"
Barbossa, at the helm, nodded toward Drakon, informing him, "Your friend had some intel on a few merchant ships holding a large bounty of ivory."
Raising an eyebrow, Eden looked at the other ships anchored and commented, "If their cargo is so precious, they are bound to be well protected. I doubt we can take them on our own."
Eden knew that they would not attack alone. Drakon had already told him there would be a big battle between the pirate and Navy faction, and the Rogues would come to pick the remains.
As expected, Barbossa scowled, unhappy he would have to share the cargo with others, as he said, "That's why we won't. These bilge rats are too scared to attack first, so we will be the vanguard. The plan is to attack swiftly and take the lion's share!"
Eden replied passively, not feeling anything towards the treasure, knowing it would inevitably end up with the Rogue pirates. Besides, he had more pressing matters to care for.
Stepping aside, Eden reached into his coat's pocket and took the Necronomicon out of his inventory. Seeing Drakon approach to talk to him, Guardian moved between them, and Eden said, "Give me a second, this is important."
Drakon frowned, clearly unhappy, but he stepped back nonetheless, leaving Eden alone.
Slowly, the ship left the harbor of Munro Island, and as suddenly as the first clause, the third clause was broken.
The connection between Eden and the contract flared, and the second punishment, Instant Death, was transmitted over.
[Wisdom Check…]
[Wisdom Check overruled by Soul Overlord!]
[Side Mission 'Explore the Cave' Failed!]
Eden released the breath he had been unconsciously holding as his head dropped.
His bet had paid off.
Chuckling to himself, Eden put the Necronomicon in his coat's pocket before turning around. Leaning against the back of the ship, Eden looked at Drakon, who had been closely observing him, with a leisurely smile, and asked, "So, you wanted to speak to me?"
Eden did not bother to hide his relief and joy, which got Drakon curious. Raising an eyebrow, the tank of a man, with a build quite similar to Guardian's now that Eden looked at it, approached and asked, "What got you in such a good mood?"
Eden raised his left arm, observing his burnt-off stump, and said, "What do you mean, good Sir, I lost a hand. I am mortified!"
Drakon was not amused and did not beat around the bush. He looked at Guardian as he asked, "Guardian of the Underworld? What the hell is that, and how did you get a servant with such high attributes?"
"What makes you say I did not have him before?"
Drakon frowned, but did not refute him. Eden was lying, but he had also made his message very clear: he was not going to speak about it. Not to him, at least.
Seeing Drakon did not press, Eden asked a question of his own, "Say, how many Players are there at a time in a mission world?"
Drakon narrowed his eyes at Eden, lying against the railing just like Eden, keeping silent. If Eden did not talk, then he would not either.
Eden did not mind.
Smiling, Eden spoke his mind, "I may have only seen a glimpse of Dreamland, but there were thousands of players moving in and out of the Training Ground at all times. Considering most stay in there for extended periods, I'd gander that the realm has hundreds of thousands of Players, if not millions. The size of the Nexus would suggest even more, but I'd figure high-level Players capable of razing cities with a single attack would get big buildings, so I'll stick with millions."
Drakon watched with a stone-like expression for a couple of seconds before grumbling, "More or less."
"Following simple survival of the fittest logic, the higher the level, or Tier I suppose, the less the Players will be in said Tier. But this is also built like a video game, and the first Tier, Tier 0, which we're in, is probably easy to pass, so the majority of Players are probably in middle-level tiers. Still, with new arrivals, cowards, and sheer numbers, we should have tens of thousands of Tier 0 Players at a time. And that's counting the restriction to enter a world once a week.
"I don't suppose Dreamland would create hundreds of different worlds at a time, considering it has a whole wide world to throw Players in, I'm sure there's enough Quests to go around for at least hundreds of Players."
Drakon waited for him to continue, but seeing him pause, he scoffed softly, "You're basing yourself on estimates and conjectures. Is that why you felt the need to ask me?"
Saying so, he sent a furtive glance at Guardian, always feeling on guard. The Guardian may not be moving, but it was intimidating nonetheless. One might even argue that its stillness seemed unnatural, and made it even more frightening.
Eden looked back toward the island, where other pirate ships were leaving harbor, and neither confirmed nor denied, choosing to continue his conjecture instead, "Munro Island certainly is interesting, with many points of interest, I'm sure. But not enough for hundreds of Players, let alone thousands."
Drakon wanted to jump in, but he held himself back, seeing the bait for what it was.
Smirking at Drakon's actions, Eden added, "But no, since you've asked," Drakon gave him a somber stare, "I do not think there are so few Players. That is because you mentioned an overarching series of missions, centered around the Rogue Pirates. Considering the setting, I'm sure this will involve parties from all over the Caribbean, if not more, which brings me to my theory: there indeed are many Players, and they have been sent all over the world. How am I doing?"
Drakon continued staring for a moment before smirking, "Wouldn't you like to know?"
Eden's smile did not slip, not minding Drakon's lack of confirmation. Although, as Drakon had pointed out, Eden's argument had several conjectures, he was still pretty sure he was right, simply because of the nature of Dreamland.
That he was right was a good thing, was another matter entirely, though. Eden did not mind the competition, but it might just mean more people after his bounty.
He had not interacted much with other Players back in Nexus, but going by the stares he had been receiving, he figured most Players knew about it.
And why would they not? The reward for his head was outstandingly high; it was nearly as good as Eden's excellent Tutorial, and that for a newcomer?
Eden did wonder about one thing, though. If he was right about those numbers, how had no one noticed anything back on Earth? There weren't just millions of people missing, as that did not count the deaths. And considering they
had to complete a mission per week, the sheer number of disappearances should have been noticed.
Seeing he would not be getting anything from this conversation, Drakon silently walked away.
As he left, Barbossa, although he had not heard the conversation, was still close enough to see their expressions clearly, being at the helm. He looked at Eden and teased, "Trouble in paradise? Is he angry you found a new bodyguard?"
Eden glanced at the retreating Drakon, then at Guardian, and clarified, "Drakon was only a business associate. I do not know him any more than you do; I only introduced him because he had interesting intel."
Barbossa shrugged, seemingly indifferent to their relationship, and changed the subject, "Speaking of this intel, I must admit, I was surprised a figure such as yourself would agree so readily to raiding merchant vessels. I was under the impression that Monster Hunters were righteous pricks with brooms up their arses!"
Eden looked at him unimpressed. Of course, he was not offended; he was only a Monster Hunter in name, but it was a good way to gauge the pirate. And Barbossa grinned confidently, not showing any signs of nervousness at possibly offending a famed Monster Hunter.
"Monsters hunt people for a living. Killing one, thus, means saving people. This leads the saved people to think we are saviors."
Barbossa pursed his lips, holding back a comment. Eden stopped there as well, turning to look at Munro Island. His time there had been brief, but extremely eventful.
Quickly, the island turned into a speck on the horizon. The fleet of pirate ships, numbered at an impressive eleven ships, had also assembled into a semblance of a formation, spearheaded by the Cobra, and were now going full sail to intercept the merchant ships containing the ivory.
Seeing Barbossa had his spyglass out and looked somewhat troubled, Eden pushed himself off the railing and asked, "Anything on the horizon?"
His eyes not leaving the spyglass, Barbossa clicked his tongue, saying, "We are being followed."
"By whom?"
"The Spanish Navy, and unaffiliated ships."
The Spanish Navy was surprising, considering the Navy on the island had been French. From what Drakon had said, the merchants would be protected by the French, too, meaning the Spanish might be another faction.
As for these unaffiliated ships, the most likely guess was that they were the Rogue Pirates, although Eden did find it suspicious that they would be clumsy enough to get themselves spotted. They were supposed to be a secret organization.
But considering they never left any survivors behind, maybe they simply did not care enough to properly hide themselves.
Still, the Rogues and the Spanish Navies meant there would be at least four factions fighting, so Eden asked, "Are we still attacking?"
Barbossa finally lowered his spyglass, grinning as he laughed, "These cowards wanted to stay safe in the back, now they're going to stall the Spaniards for us!"
Eden did not argue, although he knew things would not go so smoothly. Not that Barbossa would listen to him in any case, considering how his face shone with greed. He was a pirate, after all.
"How long until the attack?"
Barbossa gave a brief look to the sky before replying, "If Drakon's intel was right, then we have about six or seven hours."
Eden nodded and retreated to his 'quarters', that being a large room filled with hammocks shared by the whole crew. Only the Captain had his room.
It was empty at the moment, since it was dawn and they had just set sail, but it was still a lackluster environment to train. Any spell might be spotted by someone else, and he could not take out the Skull.
Fortunately, Eden had no intention to train, and the moment he entered the room, he threw himself into one of the hammocks and promptly fell into slumber.