I WAS The Rank–1 Hero-Chapter 146: Vanilla City [2]

"A new pirate group, 'Red Skull,' is rising after the Black Bullets fell!"

"Read the whole news only in 'Today's Time'!"

So it's breaking news, huh.

Hearing it all, both Ruby and I stayed quiet.

"Is she sleeping?" I asked, glancing at the gap in her cloak.

She nodded, looking down.

"No, she is awake. I can feel her move around. I want to hold her and let her see this beautiful place, but..."

That's the problem.

If we bring her out, she will attract way too many eyes — even more than Ruby is getting right now.

"Oh, she seems hungry," said Ruby, glancing down at her cloak.

"Alright, do you want to go to a café first?"

I asked calmly.

Ruby and Lily had arrived an hour earlier than me, and waiting for my arrival, they hadn't eaten anything until now — which made me feel really guilty.

In fact, according to Ruby, Lily was really picky when it came to her meals. She doesn't know how to talk yet, so Ruby had to try various dishes on her to figure out what she hated and what she liked.

"Lily and I are fine with anything."

"Alright, I know a good place."

Saying that, I gestured for Ruby to follow my lead.

Before coming here, I had done my fair share of research about Vanilla City. From small shops to big restaurants, I knew it all.

'Yeah, that's because I suggested you do it beforehand,' said Sera in an annoying tone.

"Yeah yeah," I mumbled, but Ruby seemed to catch it.

"Sorry?" she asked, turning her head toward me. "Did you say something?"

"Not you, it's Sera," I answered directly.

Ruby paused for a moment before matching my pace and commenting,

"Oh… I want to meet her. Lily would love it too, meeting someone similar to her."

With a bitter smile on my face, I nodded.

"Yeah, Sera would love it too, but… for now, it's not possible for others to communicate with her. But maybe in the future, I can make it happen."

Sera didn't say much after that, and we both entered a café.

Taking the table at the back right beside the window, I pulled a chair out for Ruby to sit.

"After you."

She accepted it, chuckling politely. "My, thank you."

Seating myself in front of her,

I browsed through the menu and decided to order a roasted milk coffee for myself and a plate of white pasta.

Looking forward toward Ruby, I asked,

"What do you want?"

Closing the menu, she suggested,

"I heard that the fish crackers here are the best in the world, so I'll take those and a cup of espresso… As for Lily, just order a warm cocoa milk and a cheese sandwich."

She said this while looking inside her cloak before smiling softly.

After telling the waiter our order, I waited quietly for it to arrive.

'I want cake!'

Of course she does.

I nearly forgot about her.

Calling the waiter back, I ordered three different flavors of cake.

"Sighh…"

Seriously, I wanna see her and Aria in a cake-eating competition.

Thinking about that, I let out a bitter sigh. Then, I called out to Ruby,

"Hey, Ruby."

Ruby turned her attention from Lily to me.

"Yes?"

"...you sure you're going along with me to meet 'him'?"

There was an immediate change in Ruby's expression before she composed herself and said,

"Yes. Didn't I tell you, I'll be with you in every situation?"

With a bitter smile, she continued,

"You don't have to fight with them all alone. Just ask me, and… I'll be there for you."

"Mhm…" I nodded, feeling slightly embarrassed.

I still had no idea if meeting with God would change anything in my life.

But I'll make sure it never causes her any trouble.

Glancing once again at me, she asked,

"Are you sure we'll go see that underwater temple first?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "I'm still unsure about 'his' invitation, so it's better to be cautious. And it's not like 'he' told us not to visit that place."

There wasn't a single word forbidding us from visiting the underwater temple.

It's purely a coincidence.

Yeah. That's what I'll tell myself.

Turning my attention from Ruby to her cloak, I saw a tiny hand peeking out.

"Hehee," Giggling slightly lightened the mood. "She wants to come out, I think."

Following my action, an audible sigh came from Ruby's side.

"She indeed does. She wants to roam around."

"Is that so…"

I don't know how Ruby understood her.

Maybe it's because she had spent the most time with Lily compared to me.

And I think it's a great decision to let Lily live with her.

Recalling something, I hurriedly took out a piece of paper from my inventory ring.

"By the way, take a look at this."

The paper contained the detailed location of the underwater temple, along with instructions on how to reach it.

Unfolding the paper, she looked at its content.

Her expression turned serious.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked, folding the paper back.

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"Yes."

Reaching the place wasn't the problem.

The real trouble would start after we got there.

Due to the death of the 'Black Bullets,' other pirates were now investigating the area.

Right now, more than a dozen pirate groups were flocking around that location.

"So…" Ruby asked seriously, "how are we going to get there?"

Smirking and folding my arms, I answered,

"Just like they did."

"...hm?"

Pirates had easy access to that location.

None of the officers or common people would stop them — everyone knew messing with pirates was a one-way ticket to the graveyard.

Realizing my plan, Ruby gasped in surprise.

"You're saying, we—"

"Exactly," I continued, "we're gonna hijack a pirate ship and let it lead us to that location."

It was easier that way.

Considering we were both single-rankers, hijacking a pirate ship would be child's play for us.

After reaching there, we'd disguise ourselves as pirates to move around freely.

That way, I could avoid getting into an all-out fight with the dorzon pirates and drawing unnecessary attention.

"And whose ship are we hijacking exactly?"

To her question, I took out a poster from my left pocket and passed it to Ruby.

"This one."

Her eyes widened when she saw the name written on the poster.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[ WANTED ]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Name: Red Skull

Affiliation: Pirates

Crew Members: 47

Ships Owned: 4

Difficulty Rank: A

Reward:

Captain: 200 Million

Crew Members: 100,000 each

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"You're insane," she whispered, leaning forward toward me.

"It's not insanity. It's supremacy," I smirked.

"..."

"Just think about it, who's going to doubt them?"

Gesturing dramatically with my hand, I explained,

"If a Red Skull's warship enters the location, none of the other pirates will dare bat an eye at us. Heck, they'll even clear a path for us."

I justified my plan with a confident grin.

Ruby fell into deep thought, glancing occasionally at me and then at the wanted poster.

"Alright. But don't pull any fancy moves in excitement," she sighed, finally agreeing.

"Don't worry," I assured her, raising my hand and waving it in front of her face. Grinning from ear to ear, I said,

"I've got it all planned out. After all… Nightmare can be a little brutal for them."

A new place, a new face.

I'll leave a deep mark on Aquadore's history.

And before I leave, the whole city will be talking about it.

"Ugh…" Ruby pursed her lips. "Please never make that face. You're scarring Lily."

"..."

I stared at her after that comment.

Lily peeked out from Ruby's cloak, only to immediately flinch like a frightened squirrel when our eyes met.

She even ducked back inside like I was some kind of monster.

"...!"

My heart shattered into tiny, invisible pieces.

Was I really that scary?

Maybe I should smile more.

But when I tried smiling, Lily's flinch got even worse.

Yeah.

Maybe smiling isn't for me.

"Sigh…"

I worry about my future…