It was later that night when hundreds of pained cries started to echo from within the slave warehouse of the Relena Company. The hundreds of slaves inside the warehouse all came down with food poisoning.
The Asura watchman screamed for help.
“Someone! Someone call a doctor!!!”
The silver-furred catgirl Atya, who was discreetly watching the warehouse that Edajima and the Japanese entered earlier, looked on as the warehouse’s watchmen were panicking.
“Didn’t think they’d go this far, meow! This is too cruel, even for me-ow!”
The black-haired girl Fatima, who was next to her, asked.
“Again, could you tell me what it is that they did?!”
“That is what happens when you eat indel-meow. For at least three to four days, you can’t help but pass liquids out of your bum-meow!”
“Pass liquids… out of the what?”
“You can’t control it, meow. Your body just does it, meow.”
Fatima’s expression turned pale, having seemingly imagined herself being subject to such a fate.
“T-T-That’s essentially social suicide… for us girls, no less?!”
“Meow, right! That’s why I said it’s a no-no fish, meow!”
“How could the Japanese do such a horrendous thing…”
It’s worth mentioning that the indelma fish has equivalents back on Earth. These are the escolar and the oilfish. Their fat is mostly made up of wax esters, which humans cannot normally digest, and so when eaten the fat is simply condensed in the intestines and passed out of the body without being absorbed. This process happens before the person could expect it let alone think of going to the toilet and so they end up unintentionally passing the eaten fat without warning. Sale of such fish is restricted under the Food Sanitation Act since they may be fatal in sufficiently high intake, but it’s said to be so delicious that many attempt to eat it despite knowing the risks—yes, it’s that good… apparently.
In any case, the doctors arriving on the scene who had no idea that that was what the slaves ate, applied the medical examination practice of ‘anticipate the worst’ and turned pale in horror.
“They must have all caught the plague! Report this to the government, now! We must cordon this entire area off!”
In that instant, the city was gripped by panic.
As a republic that built itself on trade with the outside, Tinaye has a quarantine system, though it’s comparatively primitive in control measures. When a contagious disease breaks out, entire ships and their crews are cordoned off; in the same manner, when people on dry land start getting sick, their local district is cordoned off.
Knowing that that fate would befall them, those in the warehouse district fell into panic. As the people close to the affected warehouse kicked up a fuss, soldiers were deployed to enforce the quarantine and block access in and out of the district.
However, the early stages of the quarantine were exceptionally chaotic. Soldiers at the scene struggled to maintain public order and more were called to help. Taking opportunity of the chaos, Tokushima, Edajima, and another man snuck out of the affected warehouse.
“You there! Identify yourselves!”
A group of marines who had formed a makeshift checkpoint stopped them.
“We’re doctors. We’ve come to check on the patients. We believe that it’s too dangerous for unauthorized individuals to go further from this point. Please take care in venturing further.”
Hearing this, the marines ended up drawing back.
“O-Oh, okay… Alright. Are you two with him?”
“Yes.”
Behind Edajima were Tokushima and another man, both of whom wore medical clothing.
Edajima continued.
“We’re on our way to report the situation to the government. This is a nasty outbreak of plague. If children or the elderly were to be infected, they might not last long. We must get more doctors and medical personnel to the scene! Please, let us through!”
The marines, who were mobilized out of nowhere when the emergency was declared and whose orders were simply to “get to the scene,” couldn’t challenge Edajima’s plea. One of the marines took his plea seriously, perhaps being moved out of concern for his child or an elderly relative, and allowed them to pass. Thus, Tokushima, Edajima, and the enslaved—now free, again—journalist successfully exited the warehouse district.
Bringing with them the rescued American journalist, Edajima and Tokushima headed for the pier where their ship was waiting for them. Even after ditching their doctor disguises, they were able to safely pass through the corridors and back alleys undetected due to the hysteria. At this rate, they should be able to safely reach the ship and be finally on their way home.
“That went well, sir.”
Tokushima felt at ease after failing to find curious eyes on their back.
“What did I tell you, Tokushima? Carelessness will get you in the end.”
“Y’all look Japanese… Wait, don’t tell me y’all are Japanese government agents?”
The other man with them—the American journalist—finally spoke up. Having followed the duo’s instructions, he felt that they were safe enough to start asking questions, or that he could no longer contain his curiosity.
“Yes, and you must be Edmond Chan, yes?” replied Edajima.
“Yeah, that’s me alright, News Journal’s one and only Edmond Chan.”
While he was an American, his name and appearance suggest he was Chinese-born or of Chinese descent.
“We’re from the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and we’re here on a direct request from the US government.”
Tokushima answered in the local tongue to try to calm him down. Having been in the Special Region for so long, he’s more versed in the local tongue than even English.
“Huh, alright. But this isn’t what I wanted.”
Having been in the Special Region for long himself, Chan was also no slouch in the local tongue.
“So you’d rather not be rescued? Is that what you mean?”
“I’m grateful to you for saving me, but I never asked for you to resort to such… inhumane actions.”
“That’s what you meant, huh?”
“The warehouse back there… It was terrible. You bastards must have used some sorta bioweapon, didn’t you? This is ironclad proof that the genes of the evil Imperial Japanese military establishment still run deep in your government! Mark my words: I’ll write about what transpired on this day once I get home!”
Edajima replied with his own question.
“Ah, but where is this ‘home’ of yours? The United States? Or is it perhaps the People’s Republic of China?”
“F-Fuck you mean? Of course, I meant the States! I’m a red-blooded American, I’ll have you know!”
“Good. We’ll actually be able to fulfill the US government’s request. However, to be clear with you, it wasn’t just the US government who asked us—it was the CIA. I should add that Japan is also interested in knowing what you were up to here in the Special Region, especially who ordered you to ‘get a scoop.’”
“I ain’t received no orders, but if you’re gonna force the issue then this is technically for the company.”
“Ah, but it’s already well known that the owner of News Journal is a Chinese national who has close ties with the People’s Liberation Army, yes?”
“So what? We’re a media company that’s only out to seek the truth! And FYI, I’m from Taiwan! Don’t you dare lump me with those mainlanders!”
“Then please write your article once you’ve discarded your biases. After all, we did not use any sort of bioweapon…”
“Oh? Then why was everyone back there like that, huh?”
Tokushima interjected with a smile.
“That’s because they ate indelma, which is similar to what we back on the other side of the Gate call ‘oilfish.’ Of course, we fed them the fish after getting their consent once we explained to them what would happen. In fact, they were glad to eat it, claiming it was a better fate than being pressed into the navy as oarsmen.”
“Oilfish?”
“When we get back, do look it up in Wikipedia. In any case, it was no bioweapon.”
While they were talking, they entered a narrow alleyway. From inside they could see that it led straight to the dock where their ship was. Naturally, they hurried up the pace, but all of a sudden Tokushima froze where he stood.
“Ah, it’s you…”
Blocking their path at the end of the alleyway was Oux do Vi and several men wearing dark robes.
“You sure are a troublesome bunch, pulling this stunt off.”
“Vi… But how?”
“I never once expected you to give up your search for that man. I knew I should’ve had you arrested in the first place but without any sanction from above I couldn’t, so I just continued to watch over you.”
Tokushima looked behind him. There were already several dark-robed men blocking the way they came from, and with the high walls of the warehouses to their sides, they were completely trapped like rats.
“I’m sure you could do us a favor and overlook this just this once, huh?”
Edajima, hoping to break through, tried negotiating with the boy.
“Need I remind you we are the Black Hand of Tinaye? We cannot overlook this gross attack on the Tinayan state—unleashing plague against our people, in our capital no less! Can you not imagine how many deaths you will cause?! The mere thought of it shudders me!”
Tokushima and Edajima looked at one another.
“Ahh… Looks like Vi thinks we’ll spread the disease since we’re with Mr. Chan here.”
“That was definitely our intention and it worked like a charm, but it’s definitely backfiring on us now.”
Edajima turned back to the now angry boy.
“Umm, please calm down and listen: what everybody back there is experiencing isn’t the plague…”
“So what is it, then?!”
“Actually, we put indelma in their dinner.”
Tokushima then explained to Vi what indelma does to a person.
“W-What…?”
Vi’s face turned white in horror, having likely imagined what it must be like to experience such a fate.
“Naturally since it was us who put it in their food, we’re the ones responsible for it. However, it’s not contagious in any way; anyone who hasn’t eaten the indelma will not exhibit symptoms.”
“Really?”
“Yes. If you send anyone who’s experienced in dealing with fish to check the leftovers of their dinner, they should be able to tell.”
Vi looked behind him as if to signal something. Sure enough, one of the dark-robed men left the scene. He must have ordered him to report to the officials responding to the emergency about what Edajima just told him.
He then turned his attention back to the trio.
“B-But then as long as they’re sick, they can’t work as oarsmen! That means we’ll have to change our plans! That is a crime against the state we cannot overlook!!!”
“We profoundly acknowledge that we’ve caused you trouble, but please understand that we too have our own circumstances that are forcing our hand in rescuing Mr. Chan here. In fact, it was your government who never responded to our requests for negotiations, so part of the blame lies with you. If you’re going to blame us, then please take that into consideration as well!”
“A crime is still a crime, and I will arrest you and you will submit! That man with you is still a slave, so he’s still covered under the requisition order! What’s more, he doesn’t look sick! We’re going to get every healthy slave we can get our hands on, even if it’s just one!”
“What do we do, sir? I don’t think we could negotiate our way out of this anymore.”
“I’m out of options. I didn’t think he’d be this stubborn…”
Vi approached them with his men behind him. Tokushima, Edajima, and Chan huddled together, unable to retreat as the dark-robed men also closed on them from behind.
“Y’all are soldiers, right?! You gotta have a piece on you or something!”
Chan panicked.
“No, unfortunately.”
Just as Edajima answered him bluntly, a large number of wooden planks rolled down from the warehouses’ roofs. The planks then fell onto the men of the Black Hand, incapacitating some of them; others screamed as they were hit on the shoulder and in the back by blunt weapons. Despite avoiding being hit by the planks, Vi was caught under the falling bodies of his own men.
“What the hell?!” screamed Tokushima.
“I don’t know either, but that’s not what I was going to say,” said Edajima.
“What was it?”
“Run! Now!”
Leaving behind the wailing Black Hand members, Tokushima, Edajima, and Chan turned and fled the scene.
“Don’t you dare run away! Stop!!!”
Oux do Vi’s cries echoed into the night.
The three men were now running for their lives, but the path they were on took them further away from the Novasdis where Tōdō and the rest of the gang were waiting. With every step they took, they were getting further and further away from home.
“What do we do, sir?!”
But they can’t go back—not now. Behind them, they started to keenly feel the Black Hand closing in on them, but in front of them, a terribly exhausted Chan was starting to tire out. Tokushima took care to position himself so he could immediately help him up should he collapse.
Looking at Chan’s sorry state, Edajima concluded.
“We’ll be caught at this rate, not because we couldn’t run anymore but because they know the lay of the land. We have to find a place we could hide or blend into.”
“Where do you reckon we go, sir?”
“Let’s disappear into that crowd.”
After looking around, Edajima pointed to a torch-lit place close to the military docks. Despite it being the dead of night, a large crowd of men had gathered there. There were perhaps hundreds of them crowded near the docks and they appeared to be from all sorts of races. If they blended into a pool of such diverse individuals, it’d be very difficult for the Black Hand to find them.
Tokushima, Edajima, and Chan then inserted themselves into the crowd. Sure enough, the Black Hand lost them with their members aimlessly searching the crowd from the outside.
“Wait… Hah, hah… Lemme… take a breather… Phew, Jesus…”
Having likely calmed down now that there were no prying eyes on his back, Chan’s legs gave away. Tokushima, still behind him, caught him and supported him.
“You sure get tired easily.”
“Don’t be unreasonable, Tokushima. Mr. Chan here is just a simple journalist, after all. He couldn’t have received the kind of training needed for things like this.”
Hearing this from Edajima, Chan looked up at him with a disdainful look.
“Oh, yeah! It’s definitely not the fact that I was caught by pirates, shoved into a tiny-ass cage, and then left to rot inside a warehouse for months with barely any food! Naturally, they never let me out so I could stretch my legs either! Fuck, of course, I’d be tired easily given all the shit I went through!”
“Ahh, I see. Well, please catch your breath while we still have time. We need to move out soon.”
“Alright, alright…”
Shutting his mouth to save his breath, Chan then squatted on the ground. Looking closer, his shabby clothes, which looked like they were bought from some shady secondhand goods store, were also dirty and quite baggy. He must have been plump before but his unforgiving life under the slavers must have caused him to lose a lot of fat. This also means that it’ll take a while for him to regain his energy.
“What’s up with this crowd, anyway?”
Tokushima wondered as he looked around him. Then, he noticed that the crowd had formed in front of a raised platform where someone appeared to be addressing the crowd.
“Thank you all for coming, lads! As you all are well aware, our republic currently faces a life-or-death crisis thanks to those blasted pirate scum! It is our duty as the Navy to purge the seas of those rats, return the Blue Sea to its peaceful state, and bring glory to our republic!”
It seems that this was the gathering place for people hoping to join the navy and the man speaking on the platform appears to be the commander of a newly formed battle fleet. His attitude and voice both commanded authority and respect but the men on the ground didn’t seem to be impressed. In the first place, most of them were whispering amongst themselves and weren’t paying attention.
“Hey, d’ya hear?”
“Hear what?”
“They’re pushin’ back the deployment!”
“The fuck? Weren’t we already supposed to go tomorrow mornin’?”
“Sounds like they couldn’t get their hands on slaves to man the oars.”
“Why’s that?”
“You didn’t hear the shit that went down at the slaver warehouses? That some dumbass poisoned their food and shit?”
“D’ya think it’s the pirates’ fault?”
“Seems like it.”
“Fuck… Scum will be scum, but so are our bigwigs! How dare they make us wait for our big chance to fight those bastards! Now it’s come to this! Dammit all…”
While they were whispering amongst each other, the man on the stage finished his address. Then, a man came up to replace him and he announced that they would now be dividing the crowd into groups of three to man the three warships that were part of the new fleet.
“It’ll be bad if we stay here any longer. How’re you doing, Mr. Chan?”
Realizing that they would soon be pressed into service with the Tinaye Navy, Edajima was rearing to leave.
“No… I still can’t.”
But Chan still seemed to be tired and was in no shape to stand.
“But by staying here, we’ll be pressed into service onboard a Tinayan warship; we’re putting the cart before the horse. We’ve crossed many bridges to get you, Mr. Chan, out of slavery and out of that warship, and yet by staying here we’ll just be back to where we were. Please, we must move.”
“No! I already told you, I can’t move! And they’re not exactly leaving anytime soon, yeah? We can just pretend to be sailors ‘till then so that our pursuers could also give up. Then we can just slip away, yeah?”
“‘Slip away,’ huh? That’s easier said than done.”
“I think I’ll have to agree with him, sir. The Black Hand is still swarming around the crowd.”
While they didn’t seem to have come to the idea that the trio were inside the crowd, Vi and his men were still swarming the fringes of the crowd, perhaps believing that they were somewhere in the area. As such, it probably isn’t a good idea to try and slip out of the crowd at this point in time. However, that also meant that they were going to be pressed into service with the Tinaye Navy and brought aboard one of their ships.
The community aboard a Tinaye Navy warship was split into two strata: the officers and the enlisted. At the very top of the social pyramid was the captain, who was also endowed with the authority to command every aspect of the ship. However, since in reality, they cannot be tasked with overlooking every aspect of the ship and making minute decisions every single time, the vice-captain and the succeeding officers are there to advise him and take charge of operations under their jurisdiction. Then there are the officer cadets, who learn their duties as officers by being given such responsibilities.
As for the enlisted sailors, they were further divided into common sailors and petty officers according to their experience and skills. Because the petty officers tend to micromanage and be particular in their oversight of common sailors, the common sailors were actually more scared of them than they were of their captain and officers, who were distant enough in terms of rank. There’s also the boatswain and the quartermaster, who tended to be the most senior sailors aboard and were thus more respected than even the captain.
A petty officer standing guard started to shout orders.
“Line up! I said, line up! Don’t make me say it again, dammit!”
The sailors hurriedly lined themselves along the deck in perfect formation. Naturally, having embedded themselves in the crowd of sailor hopefuls, Tokushima, Edajima, and Chan also fell in line. Despite being drilled as sailors with the MSDF, neither Tokushima nor Edajima were well-versed in how things were done in the Tinaye Navy, so it was best for them to be like Chan and pretend to have no experience.
“Fuck… Why did I even agree to this…”
Chan was already regretting what he said earlier, but Tokushima chided him.
“Shh! Please, not now! The petty officers are looking at us!”
Maybe Chan just hated being ordered around or maybe it was a reaction from experiencing the life of a slave. In any case, it was obvious just from his appearance that he was discontented. Already the petty officers were looking at him, puzzled that he was being sulky at the prospect of being given clean clothes, a job, and a place to sleep, all of which came with service aboard a warship.
“Do try to suck it up, at least until we can escape.”
“Fuck. Like hell, we could just escape from here.”
It was too naive for him to think they could just escape once they were onboard the ship. Once they were aboard, the only ways in and out of the ship were manned by someone taking record of everything and everyone coming in and out of the ship. Just that simple fact meant that there was no easy way to escape once they were on the ship itself. Of course, they could always just jump into the sea, but then the Black Hand members, who were still patrolling the docks, would notice them and they’d be back where they were. This left them with only one option: suck it up and pretend to be a sailor.
“Captain on the deck!”
A petty officer blew the whistle as the captain went up the gangway and onto the ship’s deck.
Lines had formed to meet the captain which consisted of all 204 of the crew. To list, these were the vice-captain, the officers, the navigation officer, the chief paymaster, and the chief surgeon, then behind them were the petty officers such as the boatswain, quartermaster, the chief oarsman, the sailmaker, the head steward, the shipwright, and then finally the common sailors. Naturally, the ship’s guardian protector Avi, Odette, was there as well.
However, the man who triumphantly climbed onto the deck was not the broad-shouldered grandpa with the beard that they were expecting but a lanky man no older than many of the common sailors. Seeing this, the sailors hushed amongst themselves.
“Look! It ain’t Cairipinya!”
“The fuck? They weren’t being straight with us!”
Many of the hopefuls signed up because they heard that the Cairipinya em Ruyter was taking the captaincy again, so they were naturally reacting negatively. However, one resounding shout from the petty officers silenced the murmurs.
Stepping onto the deck, the lanky man puffed his chest to try and project authority.
“I’m Lieutenant Curaçao no Orange and I’ll be your captain as per the Department of the Navy!”
The navigation officer went forward and asked him the question that was on everyone’s mind.
“With all due respect, sir, but we were expecting Captain Cairipinya em Ruyter to be the captain of this ship. In fact, it was under his captaincy that we fitted out and conducted sea trials.”
“The captain who oversaw the fitting out of the ship becoming its captain upon service is nothing more than a custom.”
“A custom we ought to observe, nonetheless.”
“But it is I who was formally given the captaincy! Here, courtesy of the Secretary of the Department of the Navy himself!”
Curaçao produced the order from the department and read it out loud for all to hear. It did sound like an order written by the secretary and it names him, Curaçao no Orange, to be the Odette’s captain.
“The Odette, under my captaincy, will be deployed with Fleet Eral and assigned a mission to be issued shortly. Now, Odette, do you accept me as your captain?”
Curaçao asked Odette, who was watching the proceedings from the sidelines. All attention fell on her. Should she refuse him, he will not become the captain. While a guardian protector exercising their authority to deny someone a captaincy was rare, there was still precedent. Furthermore, everyone was hoping that she would use her authority to do precisely that. However, it wasn’t as straightforward for her; with Primera suffering a direct attack on her person, she couldn’t stay in Nasta any longer. She must be brought to Schilaff at once and it was the Odette—her ship—that would fulfill that mission.
“Yes, Captain Curaçao.”
Odette made clear her acceptance of Curaçao’s captaincy, triggering a silent yet disgruntled response from the sailors. But that didn’t matter to Curaçao, who reacted with glee and promptly issued orders.
“Vice-captain and navigation officer! Come with me to my quarters! I’d like to clarify the preparations for Her Highness’s arrival! The rest of you, get back to work!”
With their orders issued, the petty officers jumped into action, taking with them their respective sailors.
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