The days passed by with the Redflower crew practically facing no danger or setbacks. Instead, they continued to make progress as they further established themselves as a true crew.

The current positions of the Redflower Pirates were Roseus as Captain, Dawn as his First Mate, Blodwen as his Second Mate, Silius as Navigator, Kruger and Adriana as Shooters, Jackson and Petyr as Fighters, Pip as an infiltrator, and Lavender as a Scholar.

Of course, since the crew was still incredibly small, sometimes others were required to perform jobs they weren’t assigned to.

This would change as time passed, and their crew grew.

As for their supplies, they still had plenty left, due to Roseus’s skill in Ship Management: Efficient Metabolism.

They were only ever attacked by fodder creatures during this time, and once they were attacked by a small horde of Suckers. However, with their strength, they were easily able to take them down.

A few of the crew members had levelled up certain skills, such as Dawn. Her Hardened Hull skill was now Level 2, which strengthened the ship to a moderate level. There was no way to test this skill, however, as they didn’t wish to accidentally damage the ship.

Lavender had still yet to awaken her Sailor System, which meant that they still did not have access to Ship Modifications.

This didn’t bother Roseus, as he had a feeling that she would awaken during the next part of their journey.

They now neared the Maze Sea.

...

Roseus stood beside Silius, the man with neat brown hair and glasses over his eyes, as they both scanned the compass.

For a while, the Needle of Ruin had been pointing behind them. Now, it faced directly ahead.

Silius scratched his head in thought, but Blodwen soon came over.

"Ease your worries. Soon, we enter the Maze Sea."

Everyone on the ship suddenly had their attention piqued. They shuffled their way over towards the Second Mate of the Redflower crew.

Roseus noticed that the man was staring out into the ocean. "How do you know?" he asked.

Blodwen closed one eye, activating his skill, Mariner’s Third Eye. Then, he spoke roughly.

"One, because the seas have become slightly darker, to the point where they seem brown. This is a common sign of the Maze Sea. My guess is that we’re roughly ten nautical miles away, and it will only get darker as we get closer."

Silius nodded his head with intrigue. "Ten nautical miles... Assuming we’re travelling at a speed of roughly six knots, it will take us about one and a half hours."

...

No one else was so knowledgeable on such matters, so they ignored it, leaving the speed and distance calculations up to the navigator.

"What’s the second sign?" Roseus asked.

"I can see a wrecked ship in the distance. Further ahead there is another, and they continue sailing ahead at a steady pace."

A sailing ship...

Roseus wasn’t too focused on the wrecked ship, as he realised something. Since his few weeks out at sea, they had yet to meet another pirate ship.

The reason for this was simple. The First Ocean had the most navy ships sailing its seas, so pirates often tried to rush to the Second Ocean, where it was harder even for the navy to reach.

Since the navy headquarters was on land, the further away you got from land, the further naive pirates believed they were from the dangers of the empire.

"So, do we sail around them, or keep going straight?" Dawn asked, currently steering the wheel.

"We keep going straight," Blodwen responded immediately. "A wrecked ship means potentially dropped treasure. Considering that it was the Maze Sea that sank them, no one would have had time to plunder the treasures and supplies that might have drifted off into the safer parts of the waters."

Dawn thought for a moment.

"And what if the Maze Sea didn’t sink them?"

The possibility hadn’t even crossed Roseus’s mind.

"Well," Blodwen shrugged, "I guess we’ll soon find out."

...

An hour and a half later, all members of the Redflower Pirates could see the wrecked ship clearly.

It was a sloop, not much larger than their own, though in far worse condition. Several of its sails had been torn to shreds, and parts of the hull were splintered through with holes. One of its masts had been ripped clean from its mount, leaving the wood around it damaged. Yet somehow, the vessel still floated atop the water.

Their flag was torn, leaving no sign of which crew the ship once belonged to.

As Roseus stood by the helm with Dawn by his side, he found himself strangely intrigued.

"Why has the ship not been completely destroyed?" Dawn asked.

Blodwen joined them on the deck with one eye closed. There was a sceptical look on his face.

"That’s before the entrance to the Maze Sea," he grunted.

Before the entrance?

"Doesn’t that mean..." Roseus’s voice trailed off. Blodwen nodded his head, confirming the captain’s thoughts.

"That ship wasn’t wrecked by the Maze Sea. It was likely done by the ship that sailed ahead."

Roseus knew that he shouldn’t have been surprised. Most pirates were rivals with one another. Although they did not bother trying to claim the bounties of their fellow sailors, they did plunder and steal their loot, kidnap their women, and reap souls for experience.

The thought of it sent a chill down Roseus’s spine.

Then, he heard something.

"Help! Somebody help me! Don’t leave me to die on this thing!"

A voice called out from the ship ahead.

Clinging to the top of the mast where the sails were supposed to hang was a figure, waving a hand out at them.

The figure was too far away to make out any of its features. However, one thing was certain to the crew.

"There’s a survivor!" Pip shouted excitedly from the crow’s nest.

However, Roseus didn’t share her excitement at the moment. The more important question in his mind was whether or not this survivor was someone worth saving.

He had already adopted the mindset that nobody could be trusted out at sea.