MTFBMP Chapter 29

“Haha! No way. With a bet of a coin like this.”

 

“Then why…”

 

“Just. I thought it would be fun to see it one last time.”

 

A dull silver coin, not shining at all, rested in Rhodon’s hand.

 

‘I can’t lose the gold coin.’

 

It was a fifty-fifty chance, but if I messed up, I’d lose Simon’s gold. I hated that. But the opportunity was too tempting.

 

“Why. You don’t want to play that way?”

 

Rhodon asked, piquing my interest.

 

‘Does it bother you?’

 

Of course, I’m nervous. It’s not a hundred percent win rate. But…

 

Hey, I’m the person who made a career out of gaming!

 

It was hard for me to allow myself to be provoked.

 

‘No way.’

 

I clapped my hands once.

 

“Okay, instead, I’ll take no bites.”

 

The crew behind me laughed out loud as the waves rippled along Rhodon. The laughter kept my nerves on edge. I ignored everything around me and focused on the coin.

 

Rhodon’s coin was nothing special, just an ordinary-looking coin. It even had a griffin embossed on the reverse, since it was the common coin of the Empire.

 

‘It reminds me of someone.’

 

I couldn’t help but picture Adelaine in my mind.

 

‘No, stop trying so hard not to think about it!’

 

I had to focus on the ordeal in front of me.

 

‘The odds are 50/50.’

 

Would luck and good fortune work?

 

“Here we go.”

 

Soon enough, Rhodon flipped the coin over his thumb. He picked it up with the back of his hand and covered it with his other hand.

 

“Heads or tails!”

 

I swallowed hard. Although, I was being really honest.

 

‘I have no idea!’ 

 

There’s no way a coin that doesn’t shine would ever catch my eye.

 

Now I have to get…

 

‘Please, please!’ 

 

If I make it here, half of my worries are gone for the rest of the voyage!

 

The moment I’ve been waiting for.

 

— Heads.

 

It was as if someone was whispering in my ear, a voice I recognized as a familiar one.

 

The pounding of my heart in my ears quickly quieted.

 

No one else seemed to have heard the voice but me.

 

“The front?”

 

I said, repeating myself. If I hadn’t been concentrating on the coin, I might have heard it, looking around for Adelaine.

 

“Hmm.”

 

Rhodon made a throaty sound, as if he was disapproving of something, and removed his covering hand.

 

“Hmph.”

 

The coin had left the griffin’s image behind and was showing its face.

 

“Front, it’s the heads!”

 

“The kid beat the big guy!”

 

Another wave of voices swept through the back as the people in front realized what was happening, and the mess was louder than ever. 

 

There must have been more people than the last time I checked.

 

“Not bad, kid… Here. Here’s your coin.”

 

Rhodon thrust the coin in my direction.

 

“What?”

 

Even though I felt a little uncomfortable with this situation, I had to take the coin anyway. I quickly collected my gold coin first.

 

“Then thank you…”

 

As soon as the coin was transferred from Rhodon’s hand to mine, it began to glow. For some reason, it seemed to shine brighter than it would have otherwise.

 

And when I looked up…

 

‘Yellow? No, red?’ 

 

His name turned yellow, then red, then yellow again.

 

Just like in my vision.

 

“Now, get your butt in line!”

 

Rhodon barked, his tone clearly annoyed.

 

“No more work for you today. Get out of here, kid.”

 

Rhodon’s name was now fixed in yellow. I missed the moment to stand up when I saw it.

 

“Kid, what are you doing?”

 

Rhodon’s hand, the size of a crackpot lid, slowly extended toward me, pointing precisely at my hat.

 

‘If you don’t stand, I might take your hat off’, as if he’s saying that.

 

The figure seemed slow, and I couldn’t move my body at all.

 

For some reason, I thought of Adelaine at that moment.

 

Not the naked Adelaine looking up at me with bent knees, but the Adelaine of my visions, in uniform and crying, looking down at me.

 

I couldn’t even close my eyes, let alone run away.

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

The voice froze my surroundings in an instant.

 

The person who stood in my way was well-dressed.

 

But for a moment, I didn’t see the person before me, I saw a scarred back flapping its brilliant golden wings.

 

💫

 

“Was the information you received today solid?”

 

Jade asked as he poured Dion a cup of tea after lunch.

 

“Yep. Looks like Simon’s journal is real after all.”

 

Dion’s voice was somber, though he should have been pleased to have received quality information.

 

“I doubt we’ll get all that information in one voyage.”

 

“…Are you going to take him to his Lordship?”

 

“No. Of course not.”

 

Dion put down the parchment he’d been reading repeatedly. It contained everything he had transcribed from what Anthele had said. The information was substantial.

 

“Once we reach the Imperial capital, we’ll release him there.”

 

The promise of safety until then was not a lie.

 

“Even with this much information, he still doesn’t know that that horrible beast is at his feet.”

 

Dion chided himself. He felt terribly inadequate in his exultation at having gotten that one piece of information.

 

He’d been thinking about his last conversation with his adoptive father the entire voyage.

 

‘Perhaps one day you will have the eyes to see the truth that is hidden.’

 

He knew that the Duke was not his father. No matter how hard they tried to keep people in the castle, it was impossible to keep free-spirited pirates from talking.

 

They’d heard about White Gold Beach, after all.

 

As the sole heir to the pirate island, Dion studied the maps and sea routes diligently. He never tired of seeing the name ‘Simon’ written beneath a map of the continents that hung large enough to fill one side of his vast study.

 

He knew he would never be such a great warrior, but he hoped to earn his father’s approval with a reputation comparable to his own.

 

It was only by chance that I found a note on a small map in their bedroom that read ‘White Gold Beach,’ which wasn’t even the official name. 

 

At the time, pirates who traveled to and from the castle had heard the name of the beach in gossip.

 

‘An inn with an endless supply of valuable information.’

 

It was a rumor that pirates would love it.

 

A rumor they could have forgotten. The note left behind by the foster father would have been dismissed as word of mouth by the pirates.

 

If not for the letter he found, and the portrait underneath.

 

“What if no one else had been on that beach?”

 

Dion held the portrait in his arms, the one he’d smuggled out of his father’s study. It was a small portrait, faded and tattered at the edges.

 

In the black-and-white, charcoal-drawn portrait stood Simon. He looked a little younger than he was, but the greatsword he wore told otherwise. 

 

Beside him sat a shyly smiling woman, who seemed to be…

 

“Perhaps this is my father’s real child after all.”

 

A very small baby was in her arms. It was wrapped so carefully in cloth that it was hard to see its face, but it was clear how precious it was.

 

The letter they received was from Simon. Dion was surprised to find the famous Simon corresponding with the Duke, but given his status as a Duke, it was not impossible.

 

For Dion, the content of the letter was more shocking than the fact that it was from Simon.

 

The letter said that the Duke’s beloved family was doing well in the seaside town. This portrait must have been enclosed with the letter.

 

The family history of the Duke of Noir was so well known that every member of the nobility knew about it. 

 

He had promised his love to one of the Empress’s maids of honor, a woman who had gone mad after losing her child in an accident and wandered off in madness.

 

It was one of Dion’s long-standing fears that the child might still be alive somewhere.

 

“If I had to guess, he could be my little brother.”

 

That was if his adoptive father would still consider him his child after he was found.