I woke up the next morning with my head nestled in Odeta's bosom, the Amrap hugging me close to her chest while she continued to sleep, blowing a soft bubble from her nose.

Ehehe~ Waking up like this isn't bad either.

I reached up and poked her cheek, marvelling at how soft her chocolate skin felt despite the rest of her muscular frame.

"Mnnff… Sister Aster…"

I paused, looking up at Odeta fully expecting her to be awake, only to see that she was still asleep.

"Sister Aster… Mnngghh… Flower pretty… Mwehehe…" She mumbled.

Sooo cute~

"Odeta~ It's time to wake up~" I whispered, giving her cheek a few more pokes.

"Mwehhh… Mnnn… Sister Aster can have my sweets…"

"Ehehehe~ Then does Odeta want a head pat from me?"

"Mwehehehe~ Sister Aster's pats~"

Ok, as cute as she is, I do need to get up since I need to meet with that smuggler Merrick in that basement with Emilia.

I poked her a few more times until Odeta finally cracked open her eyes, letting out a loud yawn.

"Mnnn… Sister Aster?"

"Good morning sleepyhead. We need to get up now."

"Mmm… Okayyyy…" She groaned, only to hug me tighter to her chest.

I poked her cheek one more time, "Odeta… I need to get up."

"Mnn… I wanna stay with sister Aster a little longer…" She whined.

Before I could say anything more, the flap of my tent was pushed aside and Emilia stuck her head in through the gap.

"Aster! Are you up yet?! Merrick should be coming soon!"

Odeta tilted her head to look at her while burying my head into her chest, "Sister Aster is still sleeping. Go away."

"Come now, she's clearly awake. Let's go."

"Meeeh… Why does sister Aster have to go anyway? I haven't been spending a lot of time with sister Aster at all, you know? I wanna be with sister Aster more!"

Oh my, could she be jealous of the attention that I've been giving the others so far? Oh nooo… I'm so sorry, Odeta! I promise I'll give you lots of headpats and squeezes on your abs later!

I peeked out from Odeta's chest to see Emilia rolling her eyes, "That's because Lady Aster is the one who found all of that loot. It would be really rude of me to make the deal without her present to see it. Unless that is what Lady Aster wants?"

As much as Emilia liked money, she's at least fair with it.

Since she was going through all the effort to do so and even made sure we got our fair share of it when she could easily just screw us over without us knowing, I decided to go with her as well.

I tapped Odeta's arm to let her know to release me, which she did, though she still left her arm around me to give just enough space for me to push myself up on my elbows.

"Sorry Odeta, but I promise I'll give you lots of pats later, ok?"

She pouted at me, "Promise?"

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

I nodded.

Satisfied, she finally let me go and I went ahead to change out of my nightgown to join Emilia outside my tent.

I made a mental note to spend more time with Odeta as I exited the tent, the Nekomata having stayed outside to wait for me to finish changing.

"It's hard being popular, isn't it?" She quipped.

I have a feeling she knows what was going on between the Sirens and myself as well from that look on her face so I just shrugged, it's not like we were doing a really good job on hiding it anyway.

She led the way to the basement of her ruined cabin where we waited for Merrick to show up.

Soon enough, a head popped out of the water before diving back down again.

"I take it that the deed is done?" Merrick's voice echoed from the tube.

Emilia crossed her arms, "Do you even need to ask? I'm sure you already sent some of your people to go and check that island before coming here, right?"

"I was being considerate, Emilia… I never got to ask this but who's your friend?"

The Nekomata turned to me and I got the message that she was letting me introduce myself.

"Hello, I'm Aster. You could say I'm an associate of Emilia's."

There was a short pause from the tube before he spoke again, "My condolences for getting yourself involved with her, Miss Aster."

"What was that supposed to mean?" Emilia huffed.

Instead of answering her, Merrick went ahead to change the topic, "So do you have the things?"

Emilia went towards the other side of the room where several crates and chests were stacked on top of each other. That was when I realised she had also brought some of the loot I had taken from those smugglers down here, which I assumed were Merrick's share of it.

"Eight boxes of Grey Powder and the agreed loot from those smugglers minus our share. Although I have to ask why you did not mention about a certain strong opponent there?"

"Ah… That Wrunch huh? It may have… Slipped my mind. I apologise. I hope he was not a problem?"

Emilia looked at me and I shrugged.

She turned back to the tube, "It's fine. But I expect a bonus for that. Tell me who were the ones who plotted against me?"

"... Your right hand man and his groupies of course. Who else could pull off something like that?"

"Tch… That's what I thought… You got the money?"

"I do, could you send down the stuff and let me check them first?"

Emilia frowned, "What's this? Are you doubting me?"

"No but you have to understand… You've been away from this place for a long while, Emilia. I'm not sure if you still know your stuff…"

"You act like I never dealt with you after I took over my ship. Please, I know how to recognise Grey Powder."

"Just for my ease of mind, Emilia. Eighty thousand Creas is no small amount of money."

Emilia scowled at the tube but still went up to pull a lever on the wall.

The floor that the crates and chests had been on slowly lowered down into the ground, revealing it to be a movable platform that could submerge itself into the water.

The tube went silent and I assumed he was busy checking the boxes, though I wondered just how he was checking the contents underwater.

A good few minutes passed and Emilia started getting impatient, "Hey?! Are you done yet?! I've still got places to be, you know?!"

We waited but no response came from the tube.

Emilia took a step towards it before Odeta appeared at the stairs behind us in a panic.

"Sister Aster! Sister Aster!! The ship! The ship is on fire!"

I blinked at her, "Are you talking about our ship?"

"Yes!"

Emilia rushed past me and climbed up the stairs, pushing past Odeta on the way up.

I followed behind her and ascended the stairs as well, climbing out from the basement to be greeted with the sight of both ships anchored at the harbour up in flames.

Emilia was staring at it with wide eyes, as though having a hard time believing what she was seeing.

I was about to ask if we left the stove on or something that resulted in such a calamity when Emilia rushed past me to descend to her basement again.

Feeling a bit confused, I went after her to see her pulling the lever on the wall which made the platform ascend from the water, only that now it was empty instead of being filled with the crates and chests from before.

Emilia immediately rushed towards the tube and grabbed it with both hands, "Merrick?!! How dare you?! How fucking dare you?!!"

His voice came from the tube sounding a little tired, "Emilia, Emilia… Do you not know? There's a really big reward on your head right now in the underworld. Your former subordinates are paying a lot of money to ensure that you stay dead. A lot more money than eight boxes of Grey Powder is worth, I might add."

Emilia shook the tube angrily, "You bastard!! Have you forgotten who helped you get to where you are in the first place?! Without me, would you even enjoy the luxuries you have right now?!!"

"For that, I am always thankful, Emilia. That's why I'm leaving you to live out the rest of your days on this island where you shall be cut off from the rest of the world and maybe die of hunger in a few weeks? Unless you do the sensible thing to end your life of course. No hard feelings I hope? This is just business."

"Business?! You call this business?!"

"Don't pretend like you've never done this before, Emilia. Anyway, I have to go now. Good luck with your new life."

"Merrick?! You better not run away, you hear me?! Are you there?! You come back here you bastard! Merrick!! You piece of shit! I'm going to find you and I'm going to kill you!!"

Unfortunately, no response came from the tube anymore.

Damn… Looks like we got double crossed… What do we do now?