"Nice gun—"
Lorne held a newly manufactured lever-action shotgun, examining it closely. The gun's body gleamed with a cold metallic luster, and the wooden stock was smoothly polished and free of any burrs.
These were the first samples Councilor Ted had given him.
The craftsmanship of the workers at the gun factory was better than he had expected. Although many traces of manual polishing could still be seen on the gun's body, the critical parts were machined, making it a significant improvement in both accuracy and reliability compared to the ripper he had crudely crafted with simple tools on the Golden Dream.
"It's a pity my ripper was abandoned at sea. I wonder if Tracy will dismantle it out of spite."
First-edition weapons often have great collection value—Lorne felt a pang of regret. Before his transmigration, a first-edition pistol crafted by Browning himself could fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction.
He sighed, pulling his scattered thoughts back to reality.
In the past two days, the factory's situation had improved visibly. Councilor Ted successfully paid the workers their overdue wages and also invited back some old workers who had left due to salary issues. Lorne, as the behind-the-scenes boss, generously announced a general weekly wage increase of 2 suile for every employee, an action that instantly ignited the workers' enthusiasm for production.
Old Kohler also officially started his new job as the factory's doorman. Although his salary was not as high as that of the frontline technical workers, the job was leisurely and not tiring, and he could live in the dormitory provided by the factory, saving a large sum of money, enough for him to live with much more dignity than before.
Everyone was happy; it was a joyous occasion for all.
"The Rosell Memorial Exhibition—is it starting soon?" Lorne's gaze fell on a copy of the Backlund Post on the corner of the table, and a prominent headline caught his attention.
He instinctively thought of Fors.
"Should I invite Fors to go see it? She seems to be a follower of the God of Steam and Machinery, right?"
"As an Author, she must be interested in such an occasion that can provide a lot of inspiration and writing material. After all, Emperor Rosell also made considerable achievements in the field of literature, although—" Lorne suddenly chuckled, "—most of his works were basically plagiarized."
"And if Xio isn't with her, I might be able to take the opportunity to glean some information about nobles from her—"
"Hmm, as a friend, inviting her to an exhibition shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Lorne tapped his chin with his knuckles, calculating the process in his mind.
"The Rosell Memorial Exhibition is still a few days away, so there's no rush for now. I should focus on business matters first."
"For new sales channels, I still have to visit Councilman Macht, I suppose—as Hazel's friend." "Sigh, being an entrepreneurial boss, there really are a lot of things to do." Lorne sighed.
"However, I can't go empty-handed for the visit. What gift should I buy that would be appropriate? Bringing something too expensive for the first visit might instead be seen as having ulterior motives—"
On the 'future', in the captain's cabin.
"Queen—Queen?!"
Cattelya stared at the figure who had appeared before her without warning, startled and springing from her chair, her face filled with disbelief.
It had been a long, long time since she had seen her with her own eyes. Bernadette's earlier task for her to keep an eye out for rosell's diary was only communicated through correspondence. Since being "driven" out of that home, this was the first time she had seen the person she once most revered and relied upon at such close proximity again.
"You—how did you come?" She instinctively reached out, wanting to cover the letter from Brando on the table, her voice trembling slightly from nervousness.
Even though she had longed to see the other party again in countless dreams, when this moment truly arrived, what surged in her heart was a complex emotion mixed with joy, fear, and grievance.
She pressed her lips tightly together, waiting for the other party to speak.
"It's been a long time, Cattelya," Bernadette's tone was as gentle as ever, her soft gaze falling upon her, "You've grown a lot."
"I—" Cattelya opened her mouth but didn't know what to say.
Should I be happy? She praised me—this proves that I can live well even without her. She acknowledged my growth—but why does my heart feel so sour?
An indescribable emotion churned within Cattelya's heart.
"How did you—suddenly come here?" she hesitated, finally asking.
"Prophecy." Bernadette parted her cherry lips, uttering a single word.
"Prophecy?"
"Hmm," Bernadette explained, "Do you remember the task I asked you to help search for clues related to him—and my father's diary?"
Cattelya immediately nodded: "I remember."
"I found some clues and locked onto a target." At this point, she sighed softly, "But the other party seems to have a certain peculiarity; I cannot directly pinpoint him through divination, only predict things related to him to indirectly obtain his location."
Her tone was calm, but Cattelya could sense the unusualness within it. A target that even the Queen couldn't directly pinpoint?
"In the process of searching for him, I also encountered a Demoness and suffered a slight injury."
At this point, Bernadette's gaze fell on Cattelya again, becoming somewhat profound:
"I prophesied that clues related to that target are on the 'future'."
You came for me—just for this reason?
An unspeakable disappointment surged in Cattelya's heart. She instinctively pressed against her chest, where it seemed to be faintly aching. But soon, she also detected something amiss in Bernadette's words.
The Queen said there were clues about the target on the 'future'? But everything on the 'future' was normal. Could it be—
Her gaze involuntarily drifted to the letter on the table, covered by her palm.
"Queen," Cattelya's voice was a little dry, "Who is that target?"
Bernadette noticed her unconscious small movement, gave her a meaningful look, and slowly uttered a name:
"Monqi Brando."
A famous adventurer on the sea recently.
"Do you know him?"
"I—" Cattelya's eyes unconsciously darted to the side.
Should I say I know him? Why would Brando become the Queen's target? Wasn't he with me during his last period of time?
Could Brando really have some secret?
Cattelya recalled how Brando had shielded her behind him to confront Blood Admiral Senior. He had remained unmoved by Senior's threats and inducements, always protecting her.
Although she was very touched at the time, now, thinking about it calmly, there were indeed some suspicious points.
Facing Senior, a Pirate General whose strength was no less than his own, Brando, whose Sequence was clearly lower than the opponent's, not only won but also seemed to have suffered little injury.
If it were all attributed to luck, it would seem too far-fetched—
She looked up, her expression somewhat uneasy as she met Bernadette's gaze.
Bernadette, meanwhile, narrowed her eyes and gave her a playful look.
The Queen seems to have discovered my connection with Brando. But, she probably won't do anything to Brando, right—
After a moment of hesitation, Cattelya tentatively asked: "Is it Monqi Brando, the one with a private bounty of ten thousand pounds?"
"Hmm." Bernadette nodded.
She looked at her adopted daughter, who was full of hesitation and seemed to have something on her mind, and seemed to understand something, so she added a detail: "As far as I know, he was put on a bounty by Vice Admiral of Disease Tracy because he played with her feelings."
"What?!" Cattelya looked horrified.
Brando played with Tracy's feelings?!
Problematic ad?Report it here#242Chapter 242: Brando's Damaged ReputationAI Model: gemini-2.5-flash
Chapter 242: Brando's Damaged Reputation
Watching Cattelya's astonished expression, Bernadette's lips curved into an arc, and she asked softly, "What? You don't believe it?"
"I—I—" Cattelya's lips trembled, wanting to say something, but the words caught in her throat and she swallowed them back.
To say that Brando was a scoundrel who toyed with people's feelings and then abandoned them, she would never believe it.
Although they had spent a very short time together, having sailed the seas for so many years, she believed she had a basic eye for judging people.
Brando was completely different from those glib and frivolous playboys on the sea. He was very respectful towards women, had no bad habits, and his words and actions exuded a just-right sense of detachment and politeness.
Although he had a close relationship with Iceberg Admiral Edwina, Cattelya could sense that he didn't seem like someone with extensive emotional experience. No, compared to other men who messed around on the sea, he was as pure as a blank sheet of paper.
The most direct evidence was that when she had fainted due to the Hidden Sage's ravings and was utterly defenseless, he hadn't taken advantage of her.
Of course, there was another frustrating possibility: that in Brando's eyes, she had no feminine charm whatsoever, which was why he had no thoughts about her. But this thought was quickly suppressed by Cattelya. She had basic confidence in her knowledge, ability, and appearance. Moreover, Brando could get along well with a knowledgeable woman like Edwina, indicating that he at least appreciated intelligent women.
But if that was the case, why would the Queen say such a thing? Was it simply a misunderstanding, or was there another hidden reason?
"Queen," she hesitated repeatedly, defending that Lorne, "Brando, he—he's not that kind of person."
"Oh?" Bernadette, far from being surprised, let out a soft laugh after hearing her, "So, you do know him."
"I—" Cattelya was instantly speechless. "You seem to care a lot about that Brando, don't you?" Bernadette narrowed her eyes and pressed further.
"I—"
Cattelya subconsciously lowered her head, her soft black hair falling, covering most of her face, making her expression unreadable.
Bernadette was also seeing her usually calm and composed adopted daughter display such a nearly "shy" demeanor for the first time, and she found it very novel. She was silent for a moment, finally sighing softly in her heart, and said in a gentler tone:
"What I said isn't entirely false. Tracy indeed has a deep entanglement with that Brando. At least, Tracy's feelings for Brando are very deep; otherwise, she wouldn't have been crazy enough to issue a 10,000-pound bounty."
"But, this—Queen, do you know something?" Cattelya suddenly looked up, her face full of eagerness as she looked at Bernadette.
"Hmm." Bernadette nodded and recounted everything she had heard from the pirate named Alger, whom she had rescued from the Black Death.
This included Tracy's breakdown when she saw Brando's "corpse," and the subsequent overwhelming rage.
Bernadette also mentioned Alger's personal speculation.
At least in Alger's opinion, there was definitely a private affair between Tracy and Brando. Considering Brando's eventual "escape," Alger was more inclined to believe that Brando was a clever emotional con artist. He toyed with Tracy's feelings, gained her trust, and then at some point chose to betray and escape, which then triggered a series of subsequent events—
"Impossible—"
"This is slander! Absolutely slander!" Cattelya denied it flatly without thinking, her tone even carrying a hint of indignation she hadn't noticed herself, "This is all slander from that Alger. Brando is definitely not that kind of person."
"Heh—" Bernadette let out an ambiguous chuckle and did not immediately refute.
—
Seeing this, Cattelya immediately realized her reaction was a bit excessive. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down, but the heat on her face wouldn't subside.
With the atmosphere thus set, Bernadette took the opportunity to say, "It seems a lot has happened between you and that Brando too. Can you tell me about it?"
"I—" Cattelya knew that before the Queen, she could no longer hide anything. She hesitated for a moment, then simply recounted the entire process of how she met Brando.
"So that's how it is—" Bernadette nodded slightly, a hint of understanding flashing in her eyes, "From this perspective, this Brando is indeed a very interesting person."
"That Alger's words were indeed biased." At this moment, Bernadette's interest in the "Brando" she had never met grew even stronger.
A person with myriad connections to her father Rosell's diary, a young man who, at Sequence 6, could navigate between several major forces and experience so much on the high seas—this inevitably made her even more curious.
"This matter cannot be left at that! If such a fallacy were to spread—" Cattelya subconsciously clenched her fists, her knuckles turning white from the effort.
First, Brando was her savior, and she did not want his reputation to be damaged because of this.
Secondly, there was also a deeper reason, one she herself was unwilling to delve into—Iceberg Admiral Edwina, Vice Admiral of Disease Tracy, and now herself—Brando had actually become entangled with three female pirate generals.
Some matters might not have a conclusion for now, but at least for now, she did not want Brando to be labeled as "Tracy's." Otherwise, once people spoke of Brando, they would associate him with Tracy, as if he were merely one of Tracy's "possessions" or an "escaped prisoner."
This was something Cattelya could not allow.
"Not necessarily, there might be another possibility." Bernadette analyzed, "If that Brando is truly as you say, perhaps Vice Admiral of Disease Tracy developed a unilateral affection for him, but Brando was unwilling, so he chose to escape, thus triggering a series of events."
"This—could it really be like this?" Cattelya pushed up her glasses, feeling that things shouldn't be so—dramatic.
Moreover, she had met Tracy. Although she didn't want to admit it, in terms of pure feminine charm, she was indeed inferior to the other woman. What reason would Brando have to refuse her?
"For a Demoness, anything is possible." Bernadette's tone was calm, stating a fact.
Her gaze fell on the letter on the table, and she asked, "Is this Brando's letter?"
"Hmm."
"May I see it?"
After a moment of hesitation, Cattelya still nodded. In the field of mysticism, the Queen was far more professional than her; letting her see it might reveal more clues.
Bernadette picked up the letter and read it carefully.
"Hmm—this is indeed a Worm of Time," she murmured, looking at the description on the letter, her expression becoming serious, "As for the Full Moon Ravings, it should be related to the Abraham family. My father—he once told me some things about those ancient families."
Soon, her attention was drawn to the address on the letter.
"Monqi Brando is in Backlund, right?"
Without waiting for Cattelya's answer, Bernadette continued on her own, "People from Oravi Island sent word that there will be a commemorative exhibition about Rosell in Backlund soon."
She looked up, a hint of nostalgia flashing in her eyes.
"I can take this opportunity to visit Backlund."