After the heavy silence descended over the blood-soaked deck, Charles forced his screaming body to stand.
He leaned against the stained main mast, his gasping breath forming white puffs in the cold night air.
With vision still slightly blurry, he walked staggering toward the hatch, each step leaving a bloody footprint on the wooden planks.
He descended the rickety ladder, the metallic tang of death clinging to his clothes mixing with the musty and salty smell in the ship's hold.
There, in the dark corner, the merchant family still huddled in fear.
When they saw Charles's figure emerging from the darkness—his face pale and smeared with blood, his eyes glinting with remnants of battle madness—they huddled even closer.
The father reflexively positioned himself in front of his wife and child, his body trembling violently, his eyes wide with horror.
In their eyes, Charles wasn't a savior; he was a monster who had just slaughtered other monsters, and now he was coming for them!
Charles looked at them with a cold, expressionless face, a mask to cover the immense pain from his reopening wound.
Without a word, he raised the blood-dripping tanto in his hand and with one strong swing, he shattered the rusted lock on the cell door.
The sound of breaking metal echoed in the silence of the ship's hold, making the family jolt in surprise. He kicked the cell door open, then turned away without looking back.
At that moment, a cold and familiar blue light appeared before him again.
CONGRATULATIONS ON COMPLETING YOUR SPECIAL QUEST!
YOUR ACHIEVEMENT IS OUTSTANDING.
TAKE YOUR REWARD: LEGENDARY CRATE, COMMON CRATE, AND +250 EXTRA EXP.
Charles stared at the notification screen for a moment, then turned back to the captives still frozen in the cell.
"I've saved you," he said, his voice hoarse and flat. "In return, do something with this ship." He paused, glancing slightly at them. "I want to go to Inazuma."
As he uttered the word 'Inazuma', a thin and odd smile etched onto his lips. That smile, on his blood-smeared face, made the captives even more terrified.
Charles then turned and climbed back to the deck, leaving them in a silence full of fear and confusion.
On the deck, under the full moonlight, he began looting the belongings of the dead ronin. Among piles of Mora coins and sake bottles, he found something that made him pause.
A single revolver bullet, made of gleaming brass. He picked it up, feeling its weight in his palm.
After that, he walked to the captain's cabin, kicking its already damaged door open, and sat in the captain's chair made of polished dark wood.
The air in the cabin was filled with the aroma of expensive sake, old maps, and faint traces of cheap perfume.
With calm and methodical movements, he pulled out his empty revolver from inventory and inserted the single bullet into its cylinder.
A satisfying 'click' sounded as he closed it.
Only then was he ready to check his mission rewards.
He opened the Common Crate first.
From a flash of light, a small object fell into his hand. It was a baby's rattle made of tarnished and worn silver. Its surface was adorned with carvings of small faces crying and laughing, the pattern seeming to change depending on the angle viewed. If shaken gently, it made no sound at all, feeling heavy and dead in his hand.
Item name: The Jester's Rattle
Description: When shaken toward a target, this rattle emits an inaudible psychic frequency that drastically amplifies all self-doubt, regret, and self-loathing the target possesses, flooding them with an artificial urge to end the suffering. As the price for imposing absolute despair on others, the user is cursed with misplaced amusement. They lose the ability to feel seriousness in any situation. Tragedy, love, horror, even their own suffering will always feel empty and slightly funny, isolating them from all genuine emotions and human connections.
Charles read the description, and a cynical smile etched onto his lips. He stored it in inventory without hesitation. Then, he opened his main reward, the Legendary Crate.
A warm golden light enveloped the cabin for a moment, and in his palm appeared a small inkwell of dark opaque glass, accompanied by a pitch-black raven feather quill. The ink inside looked like swirling liquid silver, as if containing galaxies within.
This item felt cold and held dense, calm energy.
Item name: The Poet's Inkwell
Description: A single-use inkwell and quill set. By using its ink to write a "property" or "fate" on an ordinary object, the user can imbue it with permanent magical power related to the writing. To grant a property to an object, the user must lose the same property from within themselves. For example, giving a cloak the ability to not attract attention will make the user highly noticeable. Giving a sword the property of never missing will make the user's hands clumsy and inaccurate.
After reading the description, the smile on Charles's face turned into a wide grin full of excitement. Isn't this a jackpot??? I can use this to upgrade my revolver, making it as powerful as other items!
Though… the side effects might be very detrimental to me. He immediately pulled out his now fully loaded revolver.
He opened the inkwell's lid. The air around him felt even colder. With a steady hand, he dipped the tip of the raven feather quill into the swirling silver ink. The quill tip immediately glowed with a soft white light.
On the revolver's cold body, he began writing one word: 'Reset'. The writing left no ink mark. Instead, the word glowed so brightly it was dazzling, then slowly absorbed into the revolver's metal and disappeared.
After the writing was fully absorbed, the remaining ink in the well evaporated into silvery smoke, and the quill in his hand crumbled to dust.
His revolver now felt different in his hand. Besides looking like a standard well-maintained steel revolver, without ornaments or engravings. The revolver also felt heavier, more alive. And, the only oddity was a very faint handwritten inscription on the barrel, as if absorbed into the metal itself, reading, "Time shall fill what is empty".
Without hesitation, he aimed it at the cabin wall and pulled the trigger.
BANG!
The gunshot was deafening, filling the room with the sharp smell of gunpowder.
Outside, the captives who were cleaning the deck with trembling hands jolted in surprise at the sound of the shot. They exchanged horrified glances, thinking the slaughter would start again, before finally resuming work even faster.
Three minutes later, the fired bullet returned to the cylinder.
Only then did he read the information about the upgraded revolver.
Item name: ???
Description: A revolver that magically "resets" its ammunition count. Exactly every three minutes, the number of bullets in its cylinder will return to the condition three minutes prior, effectively making it never run out of ammo in prolonged battles. To grant the "reset" property to an inanimate object, the user must lose the concept of "completion" in their life. This manifests as Resolution Amnesia: The user can remember actions they performed, but they lose all emotional satisfaction or sense of achievement after completing them. They can win a fight, but feel no relief. They can eat until full, but feel no satisfaction. They can complete an important conversation, but feel nothing is resolved. Their life becomes a series of endless actions that feel like constantly being "reset", trapping them in a psychological cycle where nothing ever feels truly finished.
The side effect is quite troublesome, but still within tolerable limits, anyway it doesn't kill me.
Hmmm… why doesn't this revolver have a name? Has Melania never named this revolver even though it's valuable to her?
Should I name this item?
But what would fit? Charles thought for a moment before nodding. I'll name this…
Sinner.
Charles smiled satisfied, storing his new revolver in inventory and heading back outside.
He found the captives had managed to clean most of the ronin corpses and were starting to repair the torn sail.
They immediately stopped and stared at him in fear as he appeared, now with an apple in his hand that he bit casually.
"If this ship is ready, we're heading to Inazuma now."
An old man, the merchant who was the father of the family, mustered the courage to answer, his voice trembling. "Yes… Captain!"
…
The day was already morning approaching noon. However, their journey to Inazuma was a journey toward hell.
A few hours after they set sail, the previously clear sky suddenly turned pitch black, covered by swirling dark purple clouds like a massive vortex.
The wind began to howl, its sound like the screams of thousands of tormented souls. The once calm sea now raged, creating mountain-high waves ready to swallow their ship at any moment.
This was the eternal storm protecting Inazuma, a manifestation of the Raiden Shogun's wrath!
Rain began to fall, not just ordinary rain, but a torrential downpour that felt like thousands of ice needles piercing the skin.
Purple lightning flashed around the ship, each strike illuminating the terrifying scene: towering black waves ready to crush them.
The wooden ship groaned and creaked, as if it would shatter into pieces at any moment. The newly freed crew now fought desperately to survive, their shouts swallowed by the storm's roar.
They tied themselves to the ship's masts, struggling hard to control the rudder constantly wrenched by the waves, and bailing the water flooding the deck.
Amid that total chaos, Charles just stood on the forward deck, his back straight, his cloak flapping wildly in the wind.
He didn't help.
He just stood there, staring straight into the heart of the storm, his face wet with rain and seawater, a thin indefinable smile fixed on his lips.
Finally I've arrived in Inazuma… wait for me Raiden Shogun, no, Ei. I'll knock on the door and greet you soon….
His calm and unaffected presence amid nature's fury, somehow, became a strange source of strength for his crew.
They fought harder, driven by fear and respect for their mysterious and terrifying new captain!
After a struggle that felt like forever, after their ship nearly shattered multiple times, they finally saw a glimmer of hope.
Ahead, beyond the curtain of rain and lightning, a calm light appeared.
With their last remaining strength, they directed the ship toward that light. With one last hard jolt, the ship seemed to pierce an invisible wall.
Instantly, the storm's roar vanished. The sea became calm. And the sky cleared again.
They had succeeded in passing through it!
Before them stretched the land of Inazuma, shrouded in a soft purple hue.
…
A/N: I hope there are still people reading this story... it seems too far-fetched.
Btw, I'm still expecting comments!
If you want to read the 7 advanced chapters with a faster update frequency than the webnovel, you can read it on my patreon whose link is below:
https://www.pâtreon.com/Junxt
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