Surviving as the Captain of a Mad Cthulhu Deep Sea - Chapter 9

chapter 9

The Return

Chapter 9: Returning Home

Chapter 9: Returning Home

The monster’s corpse drifted on the pitch-black sea, carried by the waves. As it sank and rose, threatening to settle at the bottom, a steamship two-thirds larger than the Old Rat passed alongside.

A massive net with hooks was cast from the deck, easily covering the creature.

“Boss, look at this! I caught a giant squid! Its tentacles are still moving!”

“Squid? Pete, are you blind? Boss, it’s a starfish!”

“Everyone back up. What’s so interesting about a big octopus? Mmm, it looks delicious. Pete, take this to the kitchen and tell the cooks to make it well.”

“No problem, Boss!”

When Charles awoke, his head throbbed as if being pierced by needles. The empty bottle slipped from his grasp and shattered on the floor.

Without even glancing at the glass shards, Charles immediately pushed open the door and stepped outside.

The crew of the Old Rat let out collective sighs of relief at the sight of Captain Charles returning, his face impassive. Strangely, they felt safer with their captain wearing such a stern expression.

“Captain, we’ve already returned to safe waters,” Dip, who was at the helm, reported to Charles. “At our current speed of 15 knots, we’ll reach port soon.”

“How’s Bandages?” Charles asked.

“His wounds are healing remarkably quickly, and he’s no longer running a fever. He’s still unconscious, but he seems to have weathered the storm.”

Hearing this news, Charles’ gloomy mood lifted slightly.

“Don’t let your guard down. I’m going to see him.”

Only the captain had a private cabin on the entire Old Rat. First Mate Bandages, like the other crew members, slept in the crew quarters.

When Charles arrived at the cabin, he saw Bandages slowly opening his eyes. He hurried over and approached him.

“Don’t move. Just lie still. Your wounds haven’t healed yet.”

Charles said, pressing Bandages down as he struggled to sit up.

“Captain… Anna was a monster… She tried to eat me…”

Charles’ heart ached at these words, but he forced a smile and tried to comfort him.

“Don’t worry. That monster is dead. It’s all over.”

“Th… that’s good…”

Relieved, Bandages slowly lay back down.

“Get some rest. We’ll be home soon, and you’ve completed your mission.”

Charles glanced at Bandages’ empty lower body beneath the bandages and knew his sailing days were likely over. No matter how skilled a navigator he was, no ship would want a first mate with only one leg.

“Ah…”

Bandages said no more.

Charles wanted to comfort him, but he was terrible at it. In the end, he patted Bandages’ shoulder and left the room.

After that, the voyage proceeded without further incident, and the Old Rat returned safely to the Coral Archipelago.

As if the Cannonball Believers possessed foresight, Charles saw Hook waiting with a group of his followers before the Old Rat had even docked.

“Captain Charles, have you brought the Relic?”

Hook couldn’t contain his excitement as the golden Shell God Statue emerged from the wooden box. He danced with joy, leading his followers in a bow to the statue.

“Where’s my money?” Charles asked.

Flustered, Hook hastily stood and pulled a trembling piece of paper from his coat. “This is the contract from back then. Quickly! Give me the Relic!”

After checking the paper, Charles tossed the golden statue to Hook.

Watching Hook embrace the statue with ecstatic fervor and attempt to leave, Charles frowned.

“Hey, didn’t you forget something?”

James, tall and burly, walked forward carrying Bandages.

“Assistant Priest… I… I completed the mission…” Bandages reported to Hook.

As if he hadn’t heard Bandages speak, Hook’s gaze remained fixed on his leg.

“What happened to your leg?”

“It… it was eaten by a monster…”

Hook wrinkled his nose in disgust, then lifted his chin. The two Believers behind him stepped forward to take Bandages away.

“Well done, Bandages. On the next prayer day, you will have the honor of becoming the sacrificial offering.”

“Th… thank you, Assistant Priest…”

“What?! A sacrificial offering?!”

A look of shock spread across the faces of all the crew members of the Old Rat.

Charles suddenly raised his hand to block the two Believers, glaring at Hook. “Is this how your Cannonball Cult treats its own?”

Charles didn’t want to get involved in these madmen’s affairs, but Bandages had been through life and death with him, and this slow-witted friend was practically a brother. He couldn’t stand to see his friend thrown into the sea to become fish food.

“Captain Charles, sacrifice is considered an honor within our Order.”

“Then why don’t you embrace that honor yourself? Bandages is my First Mate. He can’t leave for now. There are still handover duties to complete.”

Charles winked at James, and the burly man, holding the bandages, stepped back.

Hook looked somewhat impatient. As if the statue was the most important thing in the world, he glanced deeply at Charles before hurrying away.

“That’s it. One cripple—Captain Charles, if you wish, we’ll simply give him to you.”

As they watched the group leave the dock, Dip, standing nearby, rushed to Bandages’ side and exclaimed, “First Mate! What were you thinking?! He tried to throw you into the sea to feed the fish! How could you thank him?!”

Bandages remained silent.

“Do you even know what it means to be sacrificed to the Shell God? Why did you agree?” Charles stepped forward and asked.

If Bandages continued spouting nonsense about the Cannonball Cult, Charles had planned to send him to a mental asylum for treatment.

“I… I don’t know. I… I think I want to be sacrificed. I’ve forgotten so much… I can’t remember…”

Bandages gave an unexpected answer.

Charles paced back and forth for a moment, then stopped and looked into the eyes hidden behind the bandages. “Say no more. My new ship needs a first mate. Will you come with me?”

Bandages remained silent for a few seconds.

“But I don’t have any legs…”

“Just one leg is missing. That’s no problem. We can install a chair, and you’ll be perfectly capable of steering.”

Seeing Bandages nod, a satisfied smile spread across Charles’s face. Having finished recruiting the new First Mate, he looked up at his crew. After a moment’s thought, he spoke.

“You all know what this means. We’ll be getting an Exploration Ship—a much larger one than the Old Rat!”

Excitement lit up every face at the captain’s announcement. The potential profits from finding habitable islands were immense, but even the pay for the same position on an Exploration Ship was nearly three times higher than on a cargo vessel.

As for the risks that came with such immense rewards, the men who made their living from the sea feared nothing.

“Then, Captain, should we head to the shipyard right away?”

As soon as Dip asked, he saw the Captain shake his head.

“I’ll handle the ship repairs myself. You all have your own tasks. James, you’re the new Chief Engineer. During this time, find a way to recruit a First Assistant Engineer and a Second Engineer.”

The burly man, his body rippling with lean muscle, shook his head repeatedly in surprise and dismay.

“No, Captain. I can’t… I really…”

“Don’t say you can’t. There are professional employment agencies in the port. Just go and choose. This is your first mission as Chief Engineer.”

Without even listening to James’s explanation, Captain Charles turned to the enthusiastic young man.

“Dip, you’re the Boatswain. Recruit four Deckhands.”

When told he would now be managing so many deckhands, the boy showed no hesitation. Instead, he was thrilled.

“Now I can manage five people! This is so exciting!”

“Fred, with so many people, you won’t be able to handle the kitchen alone. Find yourself a kitchen assistant.”

“No problem, Captain.”

The group dispersed at the port to begin their tasks.

Charles went to the bank to deposit one million Echo into his account, then hurried to the shipyard.

His heart pounded all the way there. It had been a long time since he’d felt this way—like the thrill of confessing his love for the first time.

In the all-steel shipyard, Charles was greeted by an old man with two attendants. He was the shipyard’s owner.

“Welcome, sir. What can I do for you?”

“I need an Exploration Ship.”

The old man’s face lit up with surprise when Charles said he was looking for an Exploration Ship rather than a cargo vessel or a fishing boat.

“Sir, are you sure you mean an Exploration Ship? Have you applied to the Explorers’ Association?” he asked, hesitating.

“Not yet. Can’t I buy a ship without applying?”

Sensing a hint of irritation in his tone, Wood quickly explained, “Oh, no, no! Of course you can! I was just asking for confirmation. After all, adventurous souls like you are becoming increasingly rare these days.”

Exploring a new island could bring immense profits, but behind every success story stood thousands of failures.

The advent of the turbine engine allowed humanity to venture into more uncharted waters, enabling them to more efficiently search for new homes. They once believed they would conquer these seas.

But alas, humanity was not the true master of this domain. Only a handful of islands were easy to explore; most tested them harshly with their extremely dangerous environments, bizarre indigenous peoples, and the treacherous deep-sea currents.

As more and more exploration ships vanished, families lost husbands and children. Death finally cooled humanity’s ambition, and gradually, people stopped revering exploration ships as heroes, instead calling their crews fools who went to die.

Wood remembered that the last person to buy an exploration ship had been five years ago, and that person had, predictably, perished at sea.

“Customer, what kind of ship would you like? Please specify.”

“Nothing too large, no more than 70 meters in length. It must have top-of-the-line turbine engines, and the forward cannon must be a 125mm rifled cannon.”

Charles rattled off the specifications without hesitation.

He had been preparing for this journey home for too long. The specifications for various Exploration Ships were already ingrained in his mind.