Chapter 84
“Johnny! Do whatever you can — pull your arm out!”
“Damn it, how am I supposed to pull it out when it won’t come free!?”
“Cut his arm off! We’re gonna get dragged in and die if this keeps up!”
At that moment, Scarlet — who had been trembling in the corner — ran forward without thinking.
She clung to the engine and shouted, “Bring me a toolbox!”
“W-where would we even get something like that!?”
“Then make one and bring it here if you have to!”
Scarlet shouted as she pried a splinter off the old wooden wall. She fed the fragment through a tiny gap in the grinder toward the youth and said, “Stick it into the place with the white paint up there.”
“Y-yes, yes!”
The young man jammed the wedge into the white-painted spot as fast as he could. The turbine began to rattle and slow down a little.
It didn’t stop, though — the screw that had reached the front was slowly coming back toward where the young man was.
“Make a tool and bring it here, I said!” Scarlet yelled.
“I-I brought one!”
The young men scrambled out and, fortunately, returned with a toolbox from a nearby shop. Scarlet didn’t have time to wonder whether it had been stolen.
She opened the toolbox and quickly started disassembling the engine. Then she began repairing the engine that had been ruined when hay had gotten stuck earlier.
Scarlet always became serious and intensely focused when handling machines. She knew it was her greatest talent.
With quick hands she pulled out the lodged hay and spliced together the wires that had melted from heat by pressing them together. Sparks crackled and popped.
“Flip the switch,” Scarlet said.
Harold hurriedly switched off the grinder, and at the same instant the roaring machine ground to a halt.
“It— it stopped…”
“Damn it, Johnny! What are you doing!? Get out here, now!”
When they shouted from outside, Johnny — who had been trembling and crying on the grinder’s floor — grabbed the screw blades and scrambled up.
As soon as he crawled out, Johnny curled up on the ground and began sobbing. The other pirates collapsed in their seats as well.
Sean, who had slumped down with his hands covering his face beside them, told Harold, “…See? If I hadn’t brought that mechanic girl, this whole factory would’ve blown apart.”
“Are you proud of that, you idiot!?” Harold slapped the back of Sean’s head with a palm the size of a pot lid and got to his feet. When he walked over to Scarlet, he saw blood dripping from her hands. She had cut herself prying out the wedge, and seemed to have picked up a few other injuries while patching the engine.
“M-mechanic girl! There’s blood!”
Scarlet muttered when she noticed the blood on her hands late. “I’m suddenly so tired…”
After she said that, Scarlet collapsed to the floor.
When she came to again, she immediately realized where she was lying: inside that huge vat where they’d been drying herbs. The heat was still there, so it was warm.
Scarlet propped herself up on the floor and noticed bandages wrapped around her hands. She didn’t have the strength to move and lay back down.
A girl about her age suddenly dashed in. She also had golden eyes.
“Miss, drink this. You’re dehydrated,” the girl said.
Scarlet reached out weakly and took the cup. When she’d heard the commotion earlier, she’d caught the girl’s name: Aesha.
Scarlet sipped the water to moisten her parched mouth. Aesha said, “Victor Dumpfelt is out there negotiating — he sent his men.”
“Ah…”
Scarlet answered and took another sip. The water was cool and sweet.
Noticing Scarlet’s expression, Aesha added, “It’s water we brought from our island. It has power, too.”
“This water tastes good,” Scarlet said.
“It’s good for healing wounds,” Aesha said, demonstrating by opening and closing her hands.
Scarlet wrapped her hands around the cup and said, “There are really a lot of strange medicines on Pirate Island…”
“Speaking of Pirate Island — Miss, since we kidnapped you, I feel weird saying it, but do you know why we became pirates?” Aesha asked.
Scarlet shook her head. Aesha explained, “We mostly lived on islands south of Bestina. But those Bestina bastards occupied all the southern islands and enslaved the people who lived there.”
“Ah…”
“Those who escaped came to the islands of Salantie, where the navy was weak… After that, there was constant fighting between the islanders and outsiders.”
Scarlet nodded.
“So when everything was about to be lost, we made enemies of outsiders. If men went out to pillage as pirates, there would be fewer fights at home,” Aesha continued.
“Hm…”
“I’m not saying you should understand or forgive our piracy, though.”
Scarlet gave a small smile and asked, “What about that Johnny from earlier?”
“He’s okay, thankfully. He lost two fingers, but he nearly got torn apart — so considering that, he’s lucky.”
“That’s a relief…”
“By the way, he’s my brother,” Aesha said, awkwardly.
“He’s not much use for anything, but still — thanks for saving him.”
At her words, Scarlet gave a weak smile and lay back down on the leaves. The softness comforted her and she asked, “What kind of herb is this?”
“Oh, this…” Aesha cleared her throat and, in a small voice, said, “It… gives you strength.”
“What kind of strength?”
“Like strength in the lower body, I guess.”
“Lower body?”
Scarlet tilted her head, and Aesha said, “Anyway, it sells pretty well.”
“Oh… The medicine my brother makes doesn’t sell well?”
“Not many people go blind, you know.”
“True… Any other medicines?”
“Various kinds. Hallucinogens, sedatives… there’s even a medicine that helps memory.”
“…Memory?”
Scarlet froze, then asked, “It helps memory?”
“Yeah. If you take it, even things you’d forgotten come back to you.”
At that, Scarlet’s face brightened. “I think I took that medicine once.”
“Really?”
“Yeah! One day I woke up after losing my memory and suddenly all my childhood memories came back in detail.”
“Aah — memory loss is actually a side effect of that drug. You took too much,” Aesha said.
Scarlet couldn’t say anything to that. “There’s really a drug like that…”
“Yeah. There is.”
Remembering that she had no recollection of being at the Royal Police Headquarters and that, afterward, her childhood memories had come flooding back, Scarlet felt certain.
“Is there any way to check whether I took that drug?” she asked.
“Uh… I don’t know the details. Do you need to know?”
“I want to know.”
Aesha scratched the back of her neck as if bothered and said, “Like I said, my brother’s useless — he doesn’t know much and crawled into the grinder like an idiot.” But then with an awkward look she added, “But if it was our late mother, she’d be grateful. I’ll return the favor. How about I give you information about that drug in return?”
“Yes. I want information about that drug.”
“Okay.” Aesha answered readily. Then she stepped lightly up the side of the vat and ran out of the place.
Scarlet watched, wide-eyed, and tried to climb herself, but it was too slippery and she couldn’t get any traction.
Aesha left the vat, drew a dagger from her waist, and said, “That mechanic girl saved my family. If anyone lays a finger on her, I’ll cut their throat.”
Then she dragged Johnny — his finger wrapped in bandages — to the front of the vat and plopped him down.
Johnny slumped down and said, “You’ll have to fight me.”
At the siblings’ words, the pirates backed off. Fighting those two would be more trouble than it was worth.
Meanwhile, Sean, who had ordered Scarlet’s kidnapping, found his thoughts muddled by the unexpected variables. Now that she’d been brought this far he couldn’t just let her go. If he returned Scarlet, he had no idea what Victor Dumpfelt might do.
Sean remembered Victor Dumpfelt’s composed gesture on the pirate ship — the man motioning for his navy to tie up alongside theirs — with a blank face.
He couldn’t figure out what Victor was thinking, and didn’t want to know. The pirates who imagined Victor at sea were greatly troubled when they met him after he’d disembarked.
He didn’t seem like a decent human being, they thought. But in the capital he’d been nothing but gentlemanly. It wasn’t clear what relation he had with his whole household, but whatever it was, it was more family than his parents.
Even a woman who’d betrayed him, they were sure, wouldn’t be ignored by him out of concern for his honor.
When Sean had first seen Scarlet’s face in a newspaper and decided to abduct her, he meant to kill her openly and take vengeance on the captain of the Rubid, Victor Dumpfelt, who’d driven his clan to ruin.
But Harold had been right. If they touched Scarlet the wrong way, even the remaining pirates might be slaughtered by Victor’s hand.
Sean regretted kidnapping Scarlet in a fit of temper, but now he had to achieve the best possible outcome.
Outside, watching the situation, Sean suddenly saw the navy surround the factory. The gunners from the Rubid were aiming their guns.
Sean cursed and said, “Bring Scarlet Crimson here for now.”
“Aesha…”
“Bring her here somehow!”
At Sean’s shout, the young men hurried into the factory. But persuading Aesha was no easy task. Johnny, too, had instantly taken to Scarlet after she had saved his life.
The men following Sean said, “We won’t touch that mechanic girl.”
“Right, Aesha. Sean said he’ll just negotiate and send her back. Why would Victor Dumpfelt do anything if we killed her?”
“If we don’t negotiate now, we’ll be stuck here. She wouldn’t want to stay, would she?”
“If we treat her well, she might stay.”
“So you want her to stay here? Ask her yourself.”
Aesha scowled, pounded the vat where Scarlet lay and asked, “Mechanic girl! How about living here forever!?”
“Sorry, but I can’t do that…”
When Scarlet answered, Aesha’s face turned dissatisfied. But true to their words, Scarlet didn’t want to be kept there.
Aesha frowned and said, “Take her. But if you do anything to her, I won’t forgive you.”
At Aesha’s threat, Johnny nodded from behind.
