“…….”
“…….”
A suffocating silence fell.
And then.
“……M-Master……!”
A frail little whisper slipped out through the silence, trembling.
“……Fuck.”
Salva was the first to come to his senses and immediately swung one of his pot-lid-sized hands.
Whack.
Peter sprawled flat on the floor.
“What the hell are you doing, bastard? Who’s whose master?”
“Gasp. H-Huh? S-Sorry, Vice Captain! Something stirred inside me without me realizing and I just……!”
“I-I understand, Peter Hyung.”
“Me too…….”
“Shut the fuck up, you perverted bastards!”
Damn it!
And he was supposed to call these things his subordinates.
Salva raked his bangs back irritably and ground his molars together.
What that alien woman had just said.
As infuriating as it was, honestly, none of it had been wrong.
Once a brand had been stamped, it could not be erased without a [Repentance] ritual performed by a priest.
And even that required the owner’s consent.
Whenever someone happened to brand a pirate, it was standard practice to run straight to the nearest temple and hand the stamp over in exchange for a large sum of money.
In the rare case someone didn’t, the heresy inquisitors came in person to carry…