At sea, in a private pirate port near Bayam.
The Future was docked here, preparing to take on a new round of supplies.
"Sigh—"
Inside the captain's cabin, Cattleya put down the ancient notebook in her hand and let out a faint sigh that was almost inaudible.
It had been a long time—a very long time had passed.
Since that last correspondence, Brando had never written her another letter, as if he had completely vanished from her world.
"Should I... not have told the Queen about Brando directly?" Cattleya murmured to herself, her tone carrying a trace of imperceptible regret.
The reason the Queen had approached her before was to establish contact with Brando. And now, they had likely successfully established a stable cooperation—
Because the Queen hadn't shown any ill intent toward Brando and simply wanted to cooperate with him regarding Emperor Roselle, and since she was her adoptive mother, Cattleya hadn't thought much about it before giving her Brando's mailing address.
As a result, Cattleya quickly discovered a particularly awkward point.
With the Queen around, Brando seemed... to no longer need her. The Queen was a complete superior replacement for her in every aspect.
Although she had always prided herself on being the most knowledgeable among all the pirate admirals.
But... that was only at the "Admiral" level. Bernadette was a "Pirate King"!
Everything she knew about mysticism, the Queen knew; secrets she didn't know, the Queen was equally well-versed in. Even the knowledge she took pride in had its initial enlightener and teacher in the Queen herself.
Furthermore, in terms of intelligence, the Queen, with her vast information network like Oravi Island, was certainly much stronger than her. Suddenly, Cattleya felt some regret. Not for connecting the two, but for being too "straightforward" back then. She shouldn't have given Brando's address to the Queen so directly.
Brando wasn't the type who liked people disturbing him casually. She had simply lost her composure for a moment upon hearing about the bounty on "Vice Admiral Disease" Tracy.
If she hadn't given the address directly but had chosen to act as a middleman between the two, she could have used the opportunity of passing messages to maintain close contact with both of these people who were very important to her.
But now—Brando seemed to have "skipped" her entirely.
"Sigh—" She reached out and rubbed her brow.
"Forget it... If Brando isn't contacting me, he probably isn't contacting Edwina Edwards either." She could only comfort herself this way.
In terms of knowledge, compared to "Vice Admiral Iceberg," who was suspected of having a background in the Church of Knowledge, she might be evenly matched. But since Brando wasn't contacting her, there should be no need for him to contact her either—
She looked up and out the window. The weather was fine today, with calm winds and waves.
Recently, the Church of Storms' control over the Rorsted Archipelago had loosened considerably. She planned to take this opportunity to go ashore and gather some intelligence herself.
Wiz Antique Shop.
"That batch of shotguns sold quite well—can you get another batch?" Cezar asked, looking at Danez sitting across from him.
—
"That's easy, easy—" Danez was in a good mood, picking up the black tea on the table and taking a blissful sip.
He hadn't just sold off the conspicuous batch of "rippers" Brando had sent; instead, he chose to sell them to "Four of Spades" Cezar, with whom he had collaborated before.
The other party's businesses spanned all of Bayam, including several high-end weapon specialty stores. Selling Brando's well-designed weapons in those shops didn't seem out of place, and Cezar had plenty of ways to deal with various official inspections.
Because of Vice Admiral Iceberg Edwina's guarantee and their previous good working relationship, the transaction between the two went very smoothly.
Just as Cezar handed a chest full of gold pounds to Danez, who was happily counting the final payment, a mixed-race apprentice gently knocked on the door, informing Cezar of a distinguished guest's arrival.
Hearing there was a guest, Cezar immediately gave Danez an apologetic look. Danez understood, closed the chest, and prepared to take his leave.
Just as he put on his peaked cap for disguise and picked up the heavy chest to head downstairs.
"Blazing?"
A cold, slightly raspy female voice suddenly called out to him.
Danez turned around in surprise and found a lady with long black hair and a pair of glasses standing before him. It was a completely unfamiliar face; he was certain he didn't know her at all.
"Who are you?"
As soon as the words left Danez's mouth, he wanted to slap himself. It was a dead giveaway, effectively admitting his identity.
Cattleya glanced around and slightly lifted the illusion magic applied to her face.
"Admiral of Stars?"
Danez was somewhat surprised; he hadn't expected to encounter a pirate admiral here.
However, he also breathed a secret sigh of relief. Given the friendship from having helped her before and Cattleya's reputation at sea, she likely wouldn't act against him.
"How did you recognize me?" Danez asked curiously.
"Your disguise was too mediocre," Cattleya replied in a matter-of-fact tone.
Hearing this, Danez's face darkened, and he couldn't help but remember that Brando had also bluntly criticized his poor disguise before. Did all these people have such sharp eyes?
"Since we've met, I have some things I want to ask you." Cattleya wanted to gather some information about Brando from Danez and, in passing, confirm the suspicions in her heart.
"You two... know each other?" Cezar's voice came from behind.
"Could you find a quiet room for us?" Cattleya glanced at Danez beside her and then looked at Cezar.
"Of course."
Although Danez was a bit confused, he didn't refuse. He also wanted to take this chance to hear some recent news from the sea from this peer.
The two went to the study and first symbolically exchanged some basic intelligence. Then, Cattleya shifted the topic to Lorne.
"Brando—he contacted you too?" Hearing the name mentioned, Danez asked back curiously.
"Too"? Cattleya's gaze lowered slightly.
"Yes, some time ago, he consulted me on some questions about mysticism. What about your side?"
"Him? He often writes letters to our captain to ask questions," Danez answered casually, his tone even carrying a hint of familiarity, as if saying "this guy really doesn't treat himself as an outsider."
"Often?" Cattleya keenly caught that word.
The way things were unfolding seemed... completely different from what she had imagined?
After having a more convenient intelligence channel like Queen Mystic, Brando was actually still maintaining frequent contact with Vice Admiral Iceberg?
"He... often writes to your captain?"
"Yeah, he's already written several times before."
Several times? That meant at least more than twice... Cattleya subconsciously pushed up the glasses on the bridge of her nose.
"It's been quite frequent lately too. Because the captain and I are helping—" Halfway through, Danez stopped himself just in time.
Firstly, helping to smuggle arms was an absolute secret that could not be known by any outsider. Secondly, he felt the atmosphere in the room suddenly turn a bit strange—
He looked at the expressionless Admiral of Stars across from him and asked cautiously, "Madam?
Are you... alright?"
"Strange, when did those two get acquainted?" After seeing off Cattleya and Danez, Cezar returned to the study, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
Before leaving, Cattleya had bought some intelligence from him. Professional ethics kept him from asking about private matters, but as an intelligence merchant, he still had basic curiosity.
Not long after, the apprentice brought news again that another guest had arrived.
Seeing the enchanting figure with curly black hair being led into the parlor by his apprentice, Cezar was slightly surprised.
"What a rare guest—Madam Tracy."