"It's not easy to spot on its own, but those remaining steel structures were fairly obvious. Once I adapted to the environment down there, I found them right away.
"They've completely collapsed and decayed—you can't even imagine what they used to look like. But you can tell they must have been quite large-scale back then. They've just shrunk down a lot since."
When Nina said this, she let out a couple of light laughs, her gaze sweeping over the men present.
A real female pirate really is something else... Klein immediately sighed to himself.
In his view, whether it was "Star Admiral" Candela, "Iceberg Admiral" Edwina, or "Disease Admiral"
After Nina finished laughing, Candela pointed at the corroded thing in her hand that could barely be called a metal bar: "This is part of those steel structures?"
"Yes, Captain. You know I don't know much about history or mysticism—I could only bring some back for you to study. You're the expert in that area." Nina smiled as she handed the "metal bar" over.
Then she pointed at the remaining chunk of black earth whose surface was covered with honeycomb-like patterns: "Not far from the steel ruins, I found that well. It really isn't big—if even that can be described as 'huge,' then I must have seen plenty of enormous cannons.
"Those drunken adventurers are even better at bragging than us pirates!
"This is the inner-layer soil from that deep well. I simply cannot imagine how these traces were formed!"
Nina's finger repeatedly tapped the honeycomb-patterned spots on the black earth.
Klein had initially thought these were marks left by dense, small projectiles, but after careful observation, he suspected they were residual "patterns" from something having corroded the surface: each spot was quite shallow, with edges spreading irregularly outward in slight tendrils.
As Nina handed the black earth to "Star Admiral" Candela, she continued describing: "That well is really tiny—even if you brought a child from Nass, they couldn't squeeze through it.
"It's incredibly deep—I even felt it had no bottom. In that environment, its interior was pitch-black, as though something was slowly calling to me. Yes, slowly.
"I picked up a few rocks nearby and threw them in, but there was no response at all. In short, it's completely filled with water."
Candela held the "metal bar" and the black earth up higher, carefully examining them through the thick glass of her spectacles, then said: "Since the well opening is too small for humans to enter directly, there's no need for us to begin exploring right now—it would be far too dangerous.
"Once I've figured out the secrets hidden in these two items, and whether that ancient well is valuable enough to warrant the risk, we'll come back here and try."
"Aye, Captain!" The drenched Nina shivered from the cold wind, swaying in a way that made the surrounding pirates' eyes go wide.
Candela pushed her glasses up and said to Nina: "You may have a bottle of Suenya blood wine today. Everything else is unlimited."
"...Long live the Captain!" Nina cheered as though she had reached the peak of joy.
An ancient seabed well that humans cannot enter... Klein silently summarized Nina's description, having no desire to explore it himself.
Suddenly, a peculiar thought struck him: Just because humans couldn't enter that seabed well didn't mean non-humans couldn't!
Many deep-sea fish weren't necessarily that large in body size—there was a decent chance they could fit through the well opening.
And as the "Sea God," wielding the Sceptre, he had plenty of ways to command marine creatures!
No rush—let's see what "The Hermit" lady can uncover from these two items first. After that, he could decide whether to explore when making the return trip. Otherwise, he might provoke some absurd danger... With insufficient information, there was no way to divine about this sort of thing... As his thoughts raced, Klein kept his expression outwardly unchanged.
At that moment, "Star Admiral" Candela did something rather strange—she tilted her head and glanced at him sideways, then retracted her gaze without a trace.
Why did she suddenly look at me? What does she want with me? There's no way she could know I have the "Sea God's Sceptre" and can command marine creatures... Wait, she does know—but what she knows is that Mr. Fool possesses the divine sceptre left behind by the sea serpent Kavitua, not that "The World" does... Unless she's seen through the fact that "The World" is "The Fool"... But that's even more impossible. Even Mr. Hanged Man still thinks "The World" is a blessed one—she hasn't even figured that much out...
Let me think about it from "Star Admiral's" perspective... She is someone pursued by knowledge, has followed the "Queen of Mysteries," serves the "Mysticism Pursuers," has roamed the seas for years, witnessed and experienced all manner of things—it wouldn't be strange at all for her to know that the "Sea God" domain includes the Beyonder power to command marine creatures...
So after discovering that humans couldn't normally pass through the ancient seabed well, she naturally thought of the Sceptre in Mr. Fool's possession, intending to request his help in the future? And she's looking at me to observe whether "The World" also has this information, whether "The World" has similar thoughts?
Klein's mind raced through many possibilities. Using the Clown's ability, he forced his expression to remain indifferent, with no abnormal reaction whatsoever.
When Nina went to collect her Suenya blood wine, Klein tipped his hat and headed back toward the cabin entrance.
As he neared the door, a sudden image surfaced in his mind: