Chapter 32

I chuckled to myself as I remembered that I still had two more people to meet. With a sigh, I turned back toward the gate, pushing it open once more.

Inside, near the lake, I spotted the pirate. She was sitting against a tree, her back pressed to the rough bark, gazing out at the river with an unreadable expression. The wind played with her hair, and she seemed lost in thought, musing about something only she knew.

For the first time, I decided to speak in English, the native language of Earth. “So, what’s your name, pirate?”

She didn’t flinch at my sudden words. Instead, she tilted her head slightly as if amused, then patted the ground beside her. “Come, sit.”

I obliged, settling down beside her, waiting for her to speak.

“My name was Sarita Gosal, once,” she finally said, her voice carrying a hint of nostalgia. “But that life is long gone. Now, I am known as Angela the Privateer. I arrived in this world about a year ago, but my journey didn’t exactly start on a high note.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What happened?”

Angela scoffed, her eyes darkening. “I failed the test of Eterna.” She paused, as if the memory still stung. “And failing that test comes with consequences. My punishment? I was sent to the Forgotten Isles.”

I had heard of the Forgotten Isles—a place where the discarded and unwanted were sent to fend for themselves. It was a lawless land, a hell of its own making.

Angela’s lips curled into a bitter smile. “When I woke up, I was chained below the deck of a ship. The captain—let’s just say he was a disgusting excuse for a man. A pervert of the worst kind.” She clenched her fists. “We were treated like slaves. When near the shore, we were forced to row the ship, and when not, we were locked in the darkness below deck, forbidden from seeing the light of day.”

Her voice turned colder. “He would come down, pick a girl, and make her ... serve him.” She spat the words as if they left a foul taste in her mouth. “I was beaten for months because I refused. But eventually, he believed he had broken me.”

I remained silent, listening intently as she continued.

“What he didn’t know,” she said with a smirk, “is that we Earthlings know how to play the game. I acted the way he wanted. I flirted, teased, led him on just enough to make him think I was his prize.” She let out a small, dry laugh. “And when he finally took me to his quarters to claim his reward, I showed him just how much of a fool he really was.”

Angela leaned back, her smirk widening. “His dick was smaller than a pinky finger. I almost laughed out loud.”

I snorted despite myself. “And yet you still went through with it?”

She shrugged. “I gave him an Earth-style blowjob. Not just the half-assed sucking the other girls were forced to do. I made it ... special. He liked it so much that he chose me—three times a day.”

I nodded slowly. “You made him addicted to you.”

“Exactly. He became obsessed. And one night, after I had drained him completely, he passed out without tying me up.” Her voice turned deadly. “That was the last mistake he ever made. I slit his throat and took control of the ship.”

There was a moment of silence before I asked, “And what happened after that?”

Angela exhaled sharply. “In my arrogance, I got rid of the original crew and replaced them with the prisoners. At first, things were going well—I raided three merchant ships successfully. But on the fourth raid, I got cocky. I forgot that this was a world of magic.” She shook her head. “The ship was a decoy. A well-prepared adventure group was waiting for me. They took me down before I even realized what was happening. I woke up in anti-magic cuffs, and well ... here I am.”

I took a moment to process everything. “So, when you were given a chance to ask for powers, what did you choose?”

Angela grinned, as if recalling something amusing. “I was so overwhelmed that I didn’t think things through properly. I made three requests. First, the ability to create magic stones from rocks, with the power to resize them. Second, an ‘online shopping’ ability—though I forgot to specify that it should be connected to Earth. Now, I can buy anything from this planet, and whatever I order just appears in front of me.”

I raised an eyebrow. “And the third?”

Her expression turned slightly more serious. “Weapons and armor crafted by Earth’s finest designs but using this world’s materials.”

I nodded in approval. “That’s actually pretty useful.”

Angela’s gaze shifted downward. “There’s one more thing. The previous owner of this body was an appraiser. But since I failed Eterna’s test, I didn’t receive a blessing—I received a curse.”

She pointed to the piercing on her body. “This is my cage. Inside, there’s a seed. A cursed object. That tree over there told me that only someone ‘worthy’ could remove it. Until that happens, my age is locked at eighteen.” She gave me a meaningful look. “And imagine my shock when it reacted to you.”

I exhaled, absorbing everything she had said. “So, that’s your story. Interesting.”

Angela smirked. “Now tell me yours.”

I told her everything—from my birth to the present, leaving no detail hidden. She listened quietly, occasionally nodding or asking for clarification. When I finished, she leaned back with a grin.

“So, you’re saying that if I want to stay with you, I have to become your concubine? Get branded and all that?”

I shrugged. “Only if you want to.” Then, curious, I asked, “By the way, what did you do on Earth? What were your hobbies?”

Angela’s smirk widened. “I worked in a sex toy factory. And in a brothel in China as a dominatrix.”

I blinked. “Well, that explains a lot.”

She chuckled. “Yeah, I’ve always had a way of making men weak in the knees.”

I pushed myself up from the ground. “We can chat later, but for now, I have to ask—do you want to stay hidden on my planet, or do you want to join me in the outside world?”

Angela stood, dusting off her clothes. She stretched lazily, then gestured for me to move forward.

“Let’s go,” she said with a smirk. “I think it’s time I see what the world has to offer.”

I smiled. This was going to be interesting.

First, we traveled to the island section of my planet. There, I removed the seed from Angela’s womb and planted it on its own isolated island. As soon as it touched the soil, I channeled my nature magic into it. Slowly, the seed responded, sprouting and growing at an astonishing rate.

For nearly an hour, we watched as the tree expanded, its roots anchoring deep into the ground, its branches stretching toward the sky. When it finally reached its full size, Angela stared at it with wide eyes.

“I’ve seen something similar before,” she murmured. “There was a tree like this on one of the islands in the Forgotten Isles ... but when I found it, it was long dead.”

We sat and rested for half an hour, chatting idly. I could tell Angela was still processing everything that had happened to her—the removal of her curse, the growth of the tree, and now the promise of a future beyond the Forgotten Isles.

Then, as if sensing its purpose, the tree blossomed, and long, shimmering silk strands began to grow from its branches.