“Nice job, kid!”

Tal patted Percy on the back. Percy was being pushed forward with each pat, but he would regain his balance every time.

“Now we just need to group with Scarlett and get out of here,” Tal said with a sigh.

“What do we do about the kid?” Lewis asked.

He still had Mun’s daggers on his chest. They were stuck on his chest plate. Chris pulled them out the moment we got close enough.

My back still hurt at the moment, but I was able to walk without any assistance now. For now, I was only happy all of this was over with.

“I want to take Percy to Scarlett,” I proposed. “There’s someone there I want him to meet.”

I didn’t want to specify who he was to meet. I wasn’t sure whether Tilly and Percy were actually related, but I wanted to make sure of that by just having them meet.

If they did end up being related, I had to make sure they would reunite.

I didn’t mention that he might be meeting his mother because I didn’t want to raise his hope and then lower it if it turned out that she wasn’t actually his mother.

Percy seemed confused so I reassured him, “Don’t worry. Scarlett isn’t like Frankie. She’s a good person. Okay, are we all ready to go?”

I turned around to check on everyone and then noticed Mun, who was kneeling on the ground. She was picking up something over there.

“What are you doing, Mun?” I asked.

Tal walked over to check on her, “The gold coins!”

Along with his sister, he rushed over to the gold coins Frankie had thrown during the fight. From the looks of it, there were only about 20 gold coins, I didn’t know what the big deal was.

As if Lorelei had read my mind, she said, “It might not be much, but we aren’t really carrying a lot of coins to begin with. It will help down the road.”

She was right. The only coins I had with me were ones I had in my pouch the day of the Ace knight ceremony and what Paro had given me when I left Sebraten, which was about 30 gold, 20 silver, and a handful of copper.

—On our way to meet with Scarlett, we had to go up against many pirates and angry citizens.

I was glad Lewis was fighting with us as he was able to knock out most of them with ease. Tal and Mun were on standby just in case they got past both Lewis and me. Chris’ job was to make it easier for the two of us to knock someone out without having to kill them. Her darts really came in handy.

Most of the citizens of Lanport were near the large crop fields, making conversation or just watching the houses burn from afar.

Were they used to this? I wondered.

“Scarlett!” I called out when she came in view.

She turned and then said with a wide smile on her face, “Look who we caught here.”

In front of her was the dead body of Frankie. Through his chest was Scarlett’s dagger. Lorelei gasped at the sight, but I wasn’t shaken up by it.

“How did it go with Crowell? Judging by how you’re all here, I presume it went well?”

“It was complicated, but yeah, we managed to get the Spirit item.”

“Then let’s head back to the ship. We’ll rest there for the night and then head off for Aegis early in the morning,” Scarlett instructed.

“Oh before that! Is Tilly around here?” I asked.

“Hm? Yeah, she’s by the boats.”

“Thanks!” I thanked as I motioned for Percy to follow me.

I went over to the boats and there she was, along with Agnes and Ralphie.

Ralphie greeted us with an energetic wave, “Good to see you again, Din!”

“Hey, Ralphie.”

Now that I had Percy and Tilly near each other, I had no idea how to bring up the idea that they might be related.

But thankfully, the moment Percy noticed Tilly, he walked over to her.

Tilly seemed to recognize him immediately, “Percy!”

She knelt down beside him and hugged him tightly, tears in her eyes.

“Huh, w-wait, what’s going on?” Ralphie looked at me for answers.

“They might be related,” I answered with a slight grin.

So I was right. I was happy for them.

“Did you know they were related?” Lorelei asked.

I nodded.

“I missed you so much. And I’m so sorry I left you here…”

“Mom… mom…”

Everyone else from Scarlett’s crew gathered around, each wondering what was going on.

Scarlett stepped forward, “So that’s him, huh. Little bastard’s been alive for this long by himself. Impressive. We’ll have to squeeze tight for the trip back. It looks like Din and his pals forgot to bring their boats with them.”

Oops.

“That won’t be necessary,” Tilly said as she stood up. “I think I’m going to stay in here in Lanport.”

“What?” Scarlett said with an authoritative tone.

“The life of a pirate isn’t fit for a child. I can’t bring Percy with me on our journey. I’ll stay in this city and raised him property here.”

Scarlett didn’t agree nor disagree.

“Please, I want to make it up to Percy for deserting him. Let me stay in this city.”

With a click of her tongue, she walked towards the boat, “Suite yourself.”

Tilly only looked at the beach floor as Scarlett walked past her. She seemed more depressed than happy even though she got what she asked for.

Percy walked over to me and took my hand. He then placed the ruby earring into my hand.

“Huh?”

“You can have this. As thanks for letting me meet my mom again,” Percy said with a smile.

“Percy…”

“Nice job, Din. What wish are you going to make?” Tal asked.

What wish did I want?

Could I wish for Lorelei to get her body back?

“Din…”

I turned to Lewis. He continued, “Din. Please use that wish to make Lanport a better place.”

Tal pushed past me to be in front of Lewis, “Lewis! You can’t be serious here. We’ve already been through this. Lanport is done for. It’s not a place that deserves the wish from a Spirit item.”

Lewis ignored Tal, “Din, please. Give the earring back to Crowell. He’ll make Lanport into a good city again. He’ll make it into a good city for everyone.”

Crowell had taken over the minds of those that were aggressive to make them become more peaceful.

Was controlling people really the right way to achieve peace?

“I know he ended up using the power against us as well, but he was trying his best to do what was best for the city. Because we were involved in the bar fight the moment we came back to Lanport, he must’ve thought we would cause further trouble if he didn’t intervene.”

Lewis pointed towards the city.

The fire had already done its damage to the buildings. The only thing we could see now were the smokes leaving the buildings. The mist had become thinner now, so we had an almost clear view of the aftermath of the fire.

“If Crowell was still under control, we wouldn’t have that kind of damage. The moment Frankie took the earring off of him, Lanport turned into the shithole it was before I had left. Please, give Crowell another chance. I will come with you on your journey to Aegis and help you out on your journey.”

He got down on his knees and begged, “Please, Din. Please!”

I turned to look at everyone’s expression. I wasn’t entirely sure what to do. And it seemed to be the same for everyone else. They all avoided eye contact as I scanned around.

When I turned to Lorelei, she shook her head, “I’m sorry. I don’t know what you should do either.”

I sighed as I looked up at the sky.

What would Katherine do?