Chapter 40: The Truth and Poaching
Translated by: Chua
Edited by: I and Elkassar
From the legends, this was the first valuable and most precious object amongst Cortes’s treasure: ‘Endless Gold Pouch’. Furthermore, within Cortes’s treasure the other legendary object was the ‘Fountain of Youth’ that was rumored to grant immortality. The ‘Treasure Island’ that was filled with danger and riches was hailed as the third legendary object! Rumour has it that the endless gold pouch would generate a fixed quantity of gold daily, this undoubtedly was the pinnacle of alchemy! Not one alchemist was able to reject such an enticement, not one alchemist would not tremble with ecstasy upon seeing this legendary treasure!
“Fulfill my wish, then your wish will also be fulfilled!”
Little Lord Fokke’s voice echoed within the entire room, it carried a grimly deep and imposing tone. Yet, Alchemist Peigan no longer cared about all these, frenziedly opening up his case. What was astonishing was that the space within this case seemed to be infinite, as he hastily assembled together a wide experimenting platform. Above it was an ignited spirit lamp, disarrayed test tubes and a clutter of books. He hurriedly allocated and mixed different chemical compounds, following that Peigan increased the intensity of the spirit lamp, finally he poured a colourless liquid from the test tube onto the lower belly of the corpse. He then leaned forward to examine it closely, after confirmations, he adopted a professional tone as he offered his first deduction.
“Before dying, she was raped by someone.”
After saying this sentence, an echo resounded in the room, the echo sounded similar to a layer of ice being cracked open. Peigan spun round in surprise, he could feel that the cold air of the room had intensified a little, sweeping slightly with his suspicious eyes, he once again focused onto the dead body. At the point, Little Lord Fokke seemed to be resisting something as he struggled to speak.
“You sure?”
Just like any great master when their professional skills were being questioned, Peigan indignantly raised his voice.
“Lord! I just used a reagent produced from mixing Rier grass extract and cuttlefish ink, not only does this reagent provide great benefits for the male prostate, it has another unknown property. That is when the liquid comes into contact with a male’s semen, it will turn scarlet, just look at that part of her!”
Little Lord Fokke slanted his head, after a while he softly said.
“The cause of death?”
Peigan raised his brows as he observed, he then bluntly put on his gloves and examined the corpse, giving out his answer.
“There is no obvious wounds, it should be choking. Oh, look at her neck bone! When a normal person dies, it is impossible to demonstrate such a posture, she should have been choked to death. Either that or the murderer strongly snapped her neck!”
“Oh, wait.” Peigan continued to rummage through the body, prying apart her hand. An incomplete necklace dropped to the floor within her palm, giving out a sharp metal collision sound. “She should have been holding on to this before her death, it looks like an important item to this poor lady. Could it be a memento from her family?”
Little Lord Fokke marched forward with big steps, snatching the necklace and raising it to eye-level. His voice was like a thunderous echo resounding throughout an emptive cave.
“Impossible! This is a shoddy brass necklace, her personal accessories would have been of better quality! Right, she should be wearing a gold pearl ring on her finger! That is the only treasure of its kind in the Caribbean sea, did you discover it?”
“My apologies, I only discovered this necklace.” Peigan very composedly continued. “Looks like this matter is clear, this lady’s valuable accessory had attracted the covetous look of a greedy brat, after being brutally raped she was murdered. Before she died, she probably grabbed onto the murderer’s necklace while struggling and tightly held onto it.”
“Find him.” Little Lord Fokke hysterically howled in anger, his voice even caused the surround ice walls to vibrate. “Find him. Immediately!”
“Calm down, Calm down, Calm down!” Peigan hurriedly replied, he wasn’t afraid of him, it was just that Little Lord Fokke’s left hand was still tightly clutching onto that pouch. That ‘Endless Gold Pouch’ representing the ultimate treasure of an alchemist. He then adopted an assuring tone.
“I swear to you that I will surely find him. Just give me 10 minutes! First please let go of the ‘Endless Gold Pouch’, seeing you pressing it with great strength is causing my heart to twitch violently, this will affect my working efficiency.”
Little Lord Fokke snorted, inhaling in a few deep breaths, he finally managed to suppress his inner fury. Peigan fished out a crucible from his case, once again forming a stove on the ground. Following that he filled the crucible with a certain liquid, then placing it on the stove, he ignited the wood beneath setting up a bright yellowish flame as it cheerfully lick against the bottom of the crucible. The dry twigs crackled inside the makeshift bonfire, as the spiralling smoke from the combusting resin blended with the pungent chemical aroma. It gave off a strange sensation, and finally everything returned to quietness. Peigan gaze steadily at the crucible, even though the flames below were huge, the liquid looked like it solidified, making no movements. Little Lord Fokke paced about back and forth impatiently like a trapped beast, sinking into an endless wait.
……
At this time, Sheyan had entered a bar that was closest to Tortuga castle. Because once that gap appeared in his previous scheme, staying on the ship would allow his pursuers to simply chase up and catch a turtle in a jar (Chinese idiom meaning set oneself as an easy target). Furthermore, Tortuga port on the island was average sized, it did not have the complications due to certain regions being closed off, hiding someone in a short period of time is still roughly manageable.
Sheyan settled on a position adjacent to the street on the second floor of the bar. Because of this he once again paid an additional fee of 1 pound sterling, but over here he could casually observe the movements around Tortuga castle. Once he notices that the patrol guards started flocking out like ants that got stabbed, the first thing would be to flee deep into the island. Chris’s party had proven a fact, that was that even though the Tortuga patrol guards were relatively valiant when congregated together, the contestants that fled to the depths of the island was beyond their reach, unable to do anything about it.
Just as he was engrossed in the exterior movements, the bartender suddenly came up, placing a glass of cocktail that was still blazing with flames. This drink was called ‘fiery red lips’, probably the bar’s trademark cocktail. Its selling price was also relatively high. Sheyan suspiciously raised his head and said.
“Sorry, I think you got the wrong table.”
The bartender shook his head in reply.
“This drink has already been paid for.”
Sheyan was stumped for words, filtering his thoughts rapidly in his mind, yet he could not connect a person to this. However once he raised his head again, a red bandana met his eyes. A man with two tiny flinging and pretty beard started ascending the stairs, elegantly poised as he toasted to Sheyan with a smile. Sheyan’s heart fired up, but he only took in a deep breath as he leaked out a smile and toasted back.
“Good morning, Captain Jack Sparrow.”
Upon hearing that, Jack Sparrow expressed an amazed look, shrugging his shoulders as he laughed.
“Oh, I did not recall getting a promotion, but that should be an inevitable fact.”
Due to having done such a shameful deed by using his lover to set up this main lead, Jack Sparrow, Sheyan felt guilty and thus momentarily forgot that Jack’s father was still healthy and had not retired. Thus, he committed the error of calling Jack a captain. Instead he very quickly composed himself, and started chatting up with Jack.
One had to admit, Jack Sparrow was a character with exceptional charm. His eloquence coupled with exaggerated hand gestures and expression, his smart words were like a string of pearl (Chinese idiom it means endless witty remarks), it gave one the cleansing feeling of a spring wind. Unconsciously getting intoxicated by him. After a short chat, they were both fairly agreeable, borrowing this fairly amicable atmosphere, Jack Sparrow told Sheyan his reason for visiting. It was obviously to poach Ammand’s croner and invite Sheyan to join the Black Pearl.
Currently, Sheyan’s reputation had reached an amicable 913/3000 amongst the pirates. He was definitely not an intricate nameless thug. Furthermore, facing the impending storm previously, Sheyan took over command and he actually managed to rally a group of drunkards with an astonishing success. Thus, enabling the Bell and Mug to take the lead in leaving. This capability was seen by everyone on board the Black Pearl, after a series of investigations they decided to carry their poaching action.
Of course Sheyan’s qualifications were still pretty superficial, if he went over, he could only be a bottom class member at the Black Pearl. However Jack Sparrow sincerely promised, saying that the third officer was going to retire after one last voyage, he would then raise Sheyan’s position. Following logic, encountering such a good opportunity Sheyan should have immediately agreed, but his scheme had just started to take effect. If he went to the Black Pearl now, he would be able to successfully complete his mission, however that would mean sacrificing too many things.
More importantly, Sheyan had already committed the crime of framing this handsome and charming Jack Sparrow behind his back. Although the chances of being exposed were low, there was still a relatively immense pressure on his heart. Even though there was no such lie detecting device, there was still alchemy, the voodoo cult and its witchcraft. Afraid that even a dead person may not keep a secret. Therefore, Sheyan tacitly replied that he needed time to consider, exposing a suspicious expression giving an appearance that his thoughts and his expression were conflicting.