Chapter 2:
Maritime Monstrosity
What a beautiful day for a cruise.
“Hm.”
Blue waters, white clouds, the infinite horizon, the sticky sea breeze, and ultraviolet rays that might burn your skin. Now this was the ocean!
We were on a ship which the prince had chartered. Despite being a medium-sized vessel, its interior was anything but mediocre. As a ship that catered to noblefolk, its rooms and halls were lavishly decorated. It was also geared with magical machinery, right down to the very last screw, giving it significant reinforcement against the elements.
Fran was basking on the deck of the vessel this fine, sunny day. She was lounging in a folding chair as the salty breeze swept her hair. A glass of punch was next to her, its contents as colorful as the fruit it was made of. She was in true vacation mode.
What about the ship’s security, you ask? It was taken care of, obviously. Jet was our frontline defense.
Here he was, back from defending the ship against approaching fish monsters. He was quite dry despite the fact he’d been fighting literal sea monsters; he had Air Hike and Shadow Magic to thank for that. His muzzle was wet with seawater, though, since he had to pick his prey out of the ocean somehow.
Fran wasn’t goldbricking, either. If Jet was preoccupied and a monster attacked us from the other side of the ship, she would promptly take it down with a well-placed spell.
We took the liberty of relaxing during our downtime.
“Bark, bark!”
“Welcome back, Jet.”
Let me store that monster meat for you. I’ll make something delicious out of it later.
“Woof!”
It’s nice that we’re getting a decent amount of crystals.
Jet had taken down five and Fran two. Not bad for only being out at sea for a couple of hours. I couldn’t risk absorbing crystals out on deck, so I stored the carcasses away in Pocket Dimension for the time being.
The captain thanked us and considered it no small miracle that the boat had been unscathed despite the number of monsters we had run into so far.
Even the chamberlain Sellid, who had scolded Fran at first for lazing about, had to admit through gritted teeth that she was pulling her weight. Not that he actually admitted it, of course. It didn’t do much to temper his agitated glares, either.
He really was getting on my nerves, though. He wouldn’t shut up about proper manners during mealtime. He annoyed Fran so much that she used Royal Etiquette to become the perfect picture of dining etiquette. He quieted down after that. He still resented us, though.
Sellid seemed to dislike Salut and was hostile towards us because we got along with him.
“Teacher, snacks.”
My lady Fran was calling for sweets.
All right, what do you want?
“Hmm… Cookies.”
I took out the cookies we bought in Alessa. So far I had only had the chance to make her pancakes, so we bought most of the sweets in our inventory from the store. We bought these cookies from a store which catered to noblefolk, so they were all right. Still, they were no match for the delectable treats of Terra. Proper cake and pudding would blow Fran’s socks off. I’ll make sure to bake lots of it for her.
“Tasty.”
Jet whined, asking for a treat himself.
Here’s your share, Jet.
“Bark!”
The monsters attacking thus far had been easy to deal with. Fran and Jet were relaxing on deck. This was a wonderful job.
We kept lounging about until Princess Satya came to fetch us. Her blonde hair fluttered in the sea breeze as it reflected the glow of the sun. Fran’s black hair and eyes created quite a contrast between the two. The princess’s hair and facial features were much closer to the westerners from back home. Standing next to each other, they looked like the sun and moon. I was convinced the adorable princess would grow into a beautiful queen.
“Fran, we are all thinking of going fishing. Would you like to join us?”
“Sure.”
We headed to the rear of the deck to find Prince Fult and three kids enjoying themselves, each with a fishing rod in their hands. There were two boys and one girl; they were all orphans when Fran had saved them, and none of them had a family to go home to. The prince took this as providence and had thus decided to employ them as servants in his royal court. Seeing as they weren’t officially employed yet, he told them they were still free to treat him as one of their friends.
This was the reason why the kids got along with the twins so well without worrying about their difference in class. Anyone looking in from the outside at the scene would only see a group of friends having fun with each other. As long as that anyone wasn’t Chamberlain Sellid, anyway. Best not to listen to that jerk.
“Would you like to fish, too, Fran?”
“Of course. It’s my specialty.”
Really? When did that happen?
“Is that so?”
“Then, let’s have a contest!”
“We’ll eat everything we catch!”
I was surprised that the fishing rod they handed us had a reel on it. It used magic to reel in the fishing line, top shelf stuff. Even the pole itself was reinforced with magic. They really were fishing rods fit for a king.
The kids cast their lines into the sea, never suspecting the luxurious nature of their fishing tools.
Soon, they started landing fish one after another.
“Yes! I got one!”
“It’s a big one!”
“Wooow!”
They showed each other their catch, comparing sizes or the rarity of their game. The princess, who was not participating, looked on warmly with a smile on her face. Fran was the only one who hadn’t managed to catch one yet. The prince and the other kids proceeded to make fun.
“I thought this was your specialty.”
“You’re the only one without a fish, Fran!”
“I got three already!”
“It’s okay, we can share!”
Fran grinned in reply to their playful jests. “Heheh. I’m not interested in a small catch. Only the big ones for me. It’ll make you eat your words when you see it.”
“Hahaha! Looking forward to that!”
I thought Fran could’ve just enjoyed herself and fished something perfectly average. She didn’t even tell me that she wanted to land something big.
For bait, she used some of the leftover Rock Worm we hunted on an extermination quest near Alessa. The worm stank, it was tough and inedible, and its skin was brittle when it dried out. It didn’t seem particularly useful for anything other than its crystal, so we just left it in Pocket Dimension and forgot about it. I thought we could use it as fertilizer once it was all ground up.
She had chopped a meter of it and hooked it on to the appropriately gigantic hook at the end of her fishing line to use as bait. It was so big that the only things that could get hooked on it were a shark, a whale, or a monster. I guess that was what Fran was going for; all good in my book as long as she enjoyed herself.
The children carried on fishing for about an hour, enjoying every second of it. They had managed to land ten fish in total, but Fran was the only one left waiting for a catch. Although they jeered her at the start, they were beginning to look worried for Fran. The kids must have been praying that she would land a fish soon.
Fran was enjoying the friendly atmosphere, but it was hard to tell because of her expressionless face. If anything, she looked upset at not having caught a fish yet.
And then, it finally happened. Something took Fran’s bait.
“Hm!”
“Oooh! Something’s biting!”
“Look at that bend!”
“This has gotta be huge!”
Everyone cheered as if they had caught it themselves.
The pole was bending beyond belief, though. Despite knowing this was a top of the line fishing rod, it still looked like it was going to snap any second now.
It wouldn’t surprise me if a marlin were on the other side of this line.
“Mmph.”
“You can do it!”
“Reel it in!”
“Hn!”
Fran was doing her best to reel in her catch, but the fish took yards of fishing line as it struggled for its survival. It was like one of those fishing shows I used to see on television.
“Hmmphh!”
“Come on!”
“Don’t let go!”
Beads of sweat were forming on Fran’s forehead as she reeled in her fishing line with all her might. All this would be over in a second if I helped her out. It would be easy, too. I could sneak into the water and weaken or put the fish to sleep. There would be no point in that, though. Fran wanted to land this one herself.
Thirty minutes went by. The fish still struggled and showed no signs of quitting. Fran, on the other hand, was showing signs of exhaustion. Her fishing duel began to look more like a trolling operation.
Fran was getting impatient with her catch and started to use some skills to even the playing field. She used Elemental Blade Thunder to send shocks of electricity down the fishing line. She then used Water Current Manipulation to ease her catch closer to the ship. To top it all off, she buffed herself with Somatic Manipulation and Support Magic, increasing her Strength. All this to land a mere fish.
Ten minutes later, the huge shadow of a fish came rising to the surface of the water.
That’s a little too big to be a fish…
The shadow was bigger than Jet. It had to be at least ten meters in length.
“Gyaaa! What is that?!”
“F-Fran, are you all right?”
“Oh shit, oh shit!”
The kids were beginning to panic while Fran coolly reeled in her prey. The giant fish slapped the water with its tail, splashing the entire deck with seawater. Its body sparked from time to time, likely because of Fran’s Elemental Blade. This thing was putting up a fight… There was no way it was an ordinary fish!
Name: Fleet Breaker Tuna
Race: Fish Monster
Level: 29
HP: 356; Magic: 109; Strength: 207; Agility: 108
Skills: Harden 6; Water Current Manipulation 6; Swim 5; Enhanced Sense of Smell; Hardened Carapace
Explanation: It uses its head, which is as hard as mithril, as a battering ram. The Fleet Breaker Tuna gets its name from its tendency to ram into ships at high speeds to destroy them. Although its stats would classify it as an E-Rank Threat monster, it is particularly dangerous in the ocean which brings it up to a D-Rank Threat. Its flesh is quite delicious and is used in fine dining establishments.
Crystal Location: Head
Fran, that thing’s a monster! It’s strong, too!
“Hm!”
Fran yanked the Fleet Breaker Tuna out of the water with the help of some wind magic and elbow grease. Its gigantic body flew majestically through the sky.
“Whoaaa!”
“Kyaaa!”
“Oh my God!”
The giant sea monster was on a straight course to land right on the boat. Everyone started screaming, children and deckhands included.
Well, everyone’s panicking.
Fran, I don’t think the ship can take that thing landing on it.
Having that giant tuna flap about on the ship would illicit heavy damage on the vessel. The impact of its crash might be enough to cause some cracks.
“I’ll take care of it!”
Fran took me in hand and brandished me. She used Mana Sense to locate the creature’s crystal and threw me right at its head.
Woo-hoo!
“Giiii!”
Having been accelerated with Wind Magic, I pierced right through the Fleet Breaker’s crystal. Its scales might have been tough, but they were no match for my blade. With the creature dead, Fran softened its landing with Wind Magic.
The tuna was more than ten meters long. It was wider than the ship, and its tail ended up hanging out of one side. Imagine catching a large whale shark and landing it on your boat. This was not something you could see back on Earth.
“I guess I win the fishing contest.”
“Okay… But…”
“Now’s not the time…”
“Hm?”
Fran paid no attention to the panic unravelling on deck. She was far more concerned with the taste and freshness of the tuna.
Uhh, Fran?
Hm?
She was already disassembling the monster. First, she cut off its head and then took out its guts and filleted it. It took less than a minute with the skills she had. I had once watched an exhibition where a sushi chef made tuna sashimi starting with a whole tuna, but this was a hundred times more impressive.
Why are you taking it apart?
We promised to eat everything we caught.
Aah… Of course.
Disassemble was one hell of a skill if it could take apart something this big this fast. The ship’s crew members gathered around Fran and watched her with awe. We should share our catch with everyone on the ship once the commotion died down. Consider it grievance pay for the panic we caused. I wasn’t sure when the panic would die down, though.
This thing was so huge we could make nigiri sushi for several hundred people out of this one fish monster. Seeing gigantic slabs of meat in the marketplace and a chicken egg one meter in diameter was exciting, but they were nothing compared to seeing so much tuna in one place. This thing could yield a hundred servings of fatty tuna at the very least.
Seeing the white marbling on the gigantic slab of tuna made my Japanese blood run—if I had any blood, that is. The tuna-loving spirit of a Japanese man had been permanently imprinted in my soul, and it persisted through my reincarnation.
The Fleet Breaker’s head was so huge that you’d need an entire furnace to grill it on. You could pass it off as a tent.
“What are you up to, little lady?”
One of the crew members asked her the exact same question I did, and she gave the same answer, “We’re eating everything we caught.”
The crew member nodded and fell silent. He joined the rest of the crew in watching Fran’s high-speed disassembly of the Fleet Breaker. They were quiet, either with awe at Fran’s bottomless belly, or because they figured this was a once in a lifetime opportunity for the girl to have some top-grade fish.
Fran stored the Fleet Breaker’s head and tail away, and made sushi and sashimi out of the rest of its body. Things had quieted down by the time she was done.
…Only for it to be followed by a commotion at how good the fish was.
“This is great!”
“S-so this is Fleet Breaker Tuna?”
“This is enough to last a lifetime!”
“I knew you were strong, Fran, but this is…”
“You really are stronger than Salut. That was amazing.”
The ship was in a melodious uproar once all hands were fed with Fleet Breaker. It was a wonderful commotion, unlike the desperate panic that had transpired several moments earlier. It was to be expected; none of the shiphands ever thought they’d be treated to such fine dining this day.
The food was good enough to put a smile even on the royal twins’ faces. It must have tasted amazing. I felt so jealous that I wasn’t able to eat it.
“My goodness, you’re going to throw in a free meal for us, too?”
The captain took his time to thank her personally. “My name is Rengill. Might I ask for yours?”
“Fran.”
“Are you an adventurer?”
“Yeah. D-Rank.”
Fran showed Rengill her guild card, eliciting gasps of amazement from the rest of the crew; an understandable reaction, considering her age.
“Very impressive. Although, to be expected considering how you took down that Fleet Breaker by yourself. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were of a much higher rank… I am very fortunate to have met you.”
Captain Rengill took something out of his pocket and gave it to Fran.
“What’s this?”
“That is a coin that bears the seal of the Lucille Trade Association of which I am a member. We are based in Bulbola, and you can get many benefits if you show that coin.”
“That’s amazing! The Lucille Trade Association is one of the biggest trade associations in all of Granzell. Captain Rengill is one of its executives.”
This coin was a big deal judging by the prince’s reaction. Having the backing of a great trade association would come in handy. I had to hand it to Captain Rengill; he had a great eye for talent.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. It is a pittance for associating with a budding great adventurer.”
The captain’s words caused another stir of astonished murmurs among the crew. Rengill didn’t say this to just anyone.
“The captain’s got his eye on her!”
“She’s a D-Rank, and she’s what, twelve? Of course he does!”
“Did you see the way she took down that Fleet Breaker?!”
“And she’s so cute.”
“Never knew you were a kiddie fiddler.”
“A-am not!”
“We would love it if you would visit our head office once we reach Bulbola.”
The captain bowed his head and took his leave. It was the crew members’ turn to thank her now, and they all took turns in expressing their gratitude. The other kids looked at Fran with a longing jealousy.
“You’re so cool, Fran!”
“Heheh. Of course.”
“I wanna be just as strong as you are one day!”
“Good luck.”
“Show us the coin!”
They all got along so well! If only this moment could last forever… We would have to part ways with them once we got to Bulbola in a few days. Such a shame.
My sentiments would be betrayed, however.
There was a storm that night, so big that the mere act of standing proved difficult.
Whoa, the ship’s rocking hard.
“Yeah. It feels like I’m gonna roll over.”
“Awoo.”
Fran and Jet swayed in time to the ship’s rocking. We weren’t able to go on deck during a storm like this, and we were forced to remain in our quarters.
I really hope it stops soon…
We weren’t going to sink or anything, were we?
Dawn.
Our ship rumbled as the violent storm continued to rage outside. Waves crashed against the hull, tossing our ship as it creaked incessantly. The noise was distressing, to say the least. At one point, the rocking got so bad it felt like one of those pirate ship rides in the amusement parks back home.
This was still better compared to last night, though; the rocking and the noise had gone down by about half. It was no longer raining outside, either, the wind being the only thing left that still assaulted us. Compared to the full blown typhoon we had last night, this was a small mercy.
“Zzz.”
Which was why I found it amazing that Fran could sleep through all this. She really was cut from a different cloth.
Suddenly, Fran’s eyes shot open, and she sat up. Jet woke up at the same moment she did.
It was still dawn, what was going on?
Fran? Jet?
“Something’s coming…”
“Grrr…”
What is it?
I expected someone to come into our quarters, but that wasn’t what Fran was talking about. A few moments later, I felt the presence that had alerted them.
A gigantic sea creature, fast approaching the ship.
Fran and Jet had felt it sooner despite being asleep… Their animal instincts surprised me.
Wait, now’s not the time to be impressed!
What the hell is that thing?! Why is it so big?!
It was much bigger than our entire ship.
A whale… No!
A whale would be too small.
The approaching giant creature made me tremble in fear. It was slender—if you could use “slender” to describe something that gigantic. Its shape resembled that of a worm or a snake with its girth being roughly the same length as our ship. I couldn’t quite sense how long it was. My guess was that it had to be over a hundred meters long.
What I did know was that the beast had its sights on our ship and was coming in hot.
This is bad! We have to warn the others!
“Right!”
“Woof!”
Fran and Jet bolted out of the room. Jet galloped down the living quarters, howling as loud as he could to wake everyone up. Meanwhile, Fran made a mad dash to the captain’s quarters. There was a mana-powered voicepipe there we could use to announce the emergency to the rest of the ship.
Fran banged against Captain Rengill’s door.
Wow, she didn’t just barge in for once. She’s gained a level in politeness!
“Wh-what is it?”
A surprised Captain Rengill responded from the other side of the door. He was awake.
Fran opened the door, yelling without waiting for the captain to let her in. “Captain, sea monster!”
We were in a state of emergency, after all. Cut her some slack.
“Fran? A sea monster, you say…?”
“Yeah! It’s bigger than this entire ship! And it’s headed this way!”
“U-understood!”
Taking the little girl’s words at face value, the captain immediately scrambled for the voicepipe. He had no reason to doubt Fran after seeing how easily she took down a Fleet Breaker Tuna.
Captain Rengill’s voice rang throughout the entire ship.
“Emergency! Giant sea monster is approaching the ship! I repeat! Giant sea monster is approaching the ship! All hands on deck!”
As soon as he had made the announcement, a large shock wave rocked the ship.
“Urgh!”
“Hm?”
If Fran and the captain hadn’t leaned on the walls for support, the shock wave would’ve swept them off their feet.
Was that the monster?
The ship’s crew were screaming from below us. The monster had punched a hole into the ship’s side, right into the galley. Our stored foodstuff leaked into the ocean, including highly odorous fish sauce. The creature passed us for now, but that might have been what attracted it to our ship in the first place, especially if it had a strong sense of smell.
Come on, Fran!
“Hm!”
We ran to the deck of the ship. It was still dark outside, the morning sun only beginning to rise from the horizon. We were about thirty minutes away from sunrise.
There it is!
About fifty meters from the boat was the giant monster which looked like it slithered through the water. We failed to notice it before because of how dark it was and how high the waves had been. Our ship was still shaking like a leaf in a river, and we were dealing with a monster many times the size of it. We would be goners if we took another direct hit.
“F-Fran, what is going on?!”
“Captain, over there.”
Captain Rengill took one look at the thing Fran was looking at and turned deathly pale.
“M-Midgardsormr…”
“What?”
“They call it the Maritime Monstrosity. A giant beast of a monster!”
That sounded menacing. It might be a bad idea to draw unnecessary attention to ourselves by attacking it.
“They call it the Living Natural Disaster. Once, it obliterated the naval forces of an entire country by itself…”
“Is it too late to run, Captain?”
“Not with these waves. The Midgardsormr is much faster than we are.”
Does that mean we have to fight it?
The Midgardsormr was coming closer as we discussed our options.
“It looks like it has its eyes on our ship.”
The beast’s head was indeed pointed in our direction.
No running away, I guess…
Fran, it looks like we’re in for a fight.
“It’s a really big catch.”
That’s the spirit! We’ll open with our strongest attack!
“Hm!”
Could our attacks even hit underwater targets? Even if it could, much of our impact and heat would be absorbed by the sea’s surface, rendering our attacks next to harmless by the time it reached the sea serpent.
Jet, can you provoke that thing and draw it out to the surface?
“Grrr!”
He was up to it. Jet loved fighting as much as his master did. In the meantime, Fran and I had to prepare our attack. There was no reason to show that giant monster any mercy.
I’ll use my finisher, Telekinetic Catapult. Fran, I’ll need you to reinforce me with wind magic and Elemental Blade.
“Roger that.”
I used Transmogrify to change my shape into something more destructive. I had the picture of a bullet in my mind, I got rid of any unnecessary parts and carved grooves into my blade. The result looked less like a bullet and more like a long needle, which still had high penetration capabilities. It would have to do.
I then activated Elemental Blade Flame, Wind Magic, Supersonic by way of Wind Manipulation, and Harden. Double Mind made it easy to cast all these complicated spells at once. I was burning through my mana pool, but this was no time to be stingy.
Are you ready, Fran?
Whenever you are.
All right!
I was prepped and ready to go. Seeing Fran ready to leap into action, the captain called out to her with dread in his voice.
“Fran! What do you think you’re doing?!”
But his face practically did all the talking for him.
You’re not really thinking of fighting that thing, are you?
Fran nodded. “I’ll take out that squirmy thing.”
“A-are you serious?”
The thought of challenging the giant sea monster never once passed the captain’s mind. To him, fighting the Midgardsormr was akin to fighting a natural disaster. It was common sense.
Fortunately, we lacked that particular bit of common sense. Monsters get killed. Simple as that.
Fran answered Captain Rengill with a nod.
And then it happened.
“Gyagagooooo!”
“Good job, Jet.”
Jet’s harassment of the creature worked. The creature drove its head out of the water to chase down Jet who was hopping through the air using Air Hike. The gigantic sea monster looked like it was big enough to swallow a blue whale whole. The Midgardsormr was shaped less like a serpent and more like a worm. Its grotesque maw was lined with rows of teeth like formations of anemone.
“Let’s go!”
Yeah!
With the Midgardsormr’s head clearly exposed, Fran used all her skills and magic to launch me as hard as she could. The force of this throw should be strong enough to pierce the entire length of a Lesser Wyvern.
I amplified my acceleration by focusing even more energy into Telekinesis.
Uoooh!
Instantly I made contact with the creature’s body. Whether it was his head or neck, I couldn’t tell, but I did manage to leave a crater, about ten meters in diameter, somewhere around its head.
I was hoping to penetrate it completely, but its wall-like thick skin absorbed most of the impact of Telekinetic Catapult.
Did that do it?
The recoil of my crash landing sent me flying away from the Midgardsormr. My blade was half gone, the remainder severely cracked. It couldn’t take the pressure of fully charged skills and magic.
Unfortunately, my kamikaze attack proved ineffective, at best.
What the hell…?
I was shocked by the subsequent Identify.
Name: Midgardsormr
Race: Sea Serpent
Level: 60
HP: 35991/38709; Magic: 531; Strength: 4019; Agility: 302
Skills: Absorb 2; Regenerate 2; Predator
Explanation: The Maritime Monstrosity is said to be capable of infinite growth. Possessing little to no intelligence, it lives entirely by instinct alone. Possesses no special powers other than its massive size, which is more than enough to make it a dangerous threat. Legend has it that it is capable of swallowing islands whole. Possesses multiple hearts which makes it difficult to kill. Threat Level A.
Crystal Location: Heart
It has more than 30,000 health?! My best attack barely left a dent in that thing… It’s an A-Rank Threat, too?
Although the Midgardsormr had the skill variation of a low rank monster, its gigantic size was in a league of its own.
Dammit! This thing won’t stay still!
“Gyuoooooo!”
The Midgardsormr turned its head in my direction. I couldn’t tell where its eyes were, but I could feel its gaze. The thing understood that I was the one who had damaged it.
We stared at each other despite our lack of eyeballs.
Goddamn, this thing’s huge…
Its exposed length was easily over thirty meters long.
I continued to observe the sea worm as I waited for my blade to recover.
Its wounds are already starting to heal.
The Midgardsormr was recovering large chunks of its health despite its Level 2 Regenerate, probably owing to the fact that its health pool was so huge to begin with.
“Gygruooooo!”
Whoa!
Suddenly, it spat something at me. Apparently, it could launch its stomach acid as a projectile. It was quite accurate with it, too, and I had to quickly dodge out of the way to avoid being covered with it.
Lively as ever, I see.
It was far from crippled despite having a large hole in the side of its head. As far as I could tell, it was still nimble and sharp. Chipping away at this thing’s health pool was going to be difficult. Still, I imagined that wasn’t the only way of beating this thing.
Perhaps I could go after its weak point.
Destroying its crystal would be the easiest way to go about it, but locating it would take at least several hours, if not days, with how big the Midgardsormr was. Well, I would just have to start with the weak point that I could see.
I’ll blow your brains out!
I overcharged my mana and launched myself with another Telekinetic Catapult. The impact overwhelmed me, and I cracked my blade yet again, but at least I managed to leave another crater in its head. It wasn’t as powerful as my initial attack without Fran’s support, but I left a five-meter-wide hole in the creature’s head.
How do you like this?!
“Grooooarrr!”
Dammit, it’s still moving.
A war of attrition it is!
I charged up Telekinesis while waiting for my blade to recover. I had about seventy percent mana left, which would get me five more fully charged catapults.
Take this!
“Graaargh!”
Haaa!
“Kyoooo!”
Raaaah!
“Groooo!”
The Midgardsormr was a tough son of a gun, that’s for sure. It was missing half of its head at this point, but it was still moving about, barely phased. I scanned it again and found that its health was still at eighty percent. Was its head not its weak point?
I’ll try attacking it a couple more times just to be sure.
Just die!
“Gyogyaaaaa!”
The Midgardsormr’s head was obliterated now, its head and brains completely gone. And yet…
How are you not dead?!
It was still moving about. It was slower now, but it showed no signs of expiring. Worse, the stump where its head used to be was already beginning to regenerate.
What is it with you fantasy creatures?! I blew up your head so at least have the decency to die!
The grim realization dawned on me as I witnessed this giant worm regenerate itself.
Is it immortal…?
I could attack it all day, and it would probably carry on like nothing happened to it. The situation was getting worse, so I opted to return to Fran for the time being. I had thought of a way that might just defeat the creature… I never wanted it to come to this, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
I flew back to the ship, carefully placing myself in Fran’s hand to make it look like she was controlling me the whole time. I was still hiding the fact that I was an Intelligent Weapon.
How’d it go?
A fully charged Telekinetic Catapult couldn’t beat that thing.
It would take at least a couple hundred Catapults to kill that immortal supermonster.
That strong?
Fran was shocked. The Lich had been the only creature we hadn’t been able to beat with a fully charged Telekinetic Catapult. The realization that the giant sea worm was at least on par with the Ghost King himself alarmed her.
I have a plan.
Shoot.
…
Teacher?
We need Instant Death. We have to use Death Gaze…!
I see.
Name: Death Gaze
Attack: 880; MP: 600; Durability: 400
Mana Conductivity: B+
Skill: Instant Death (3% chance of inflicting Instant Death on an enemy)
Death Gaze should be able to kill anything regardless of health or physical size as long as Instant Death triggered. Granted the chances of it triggering was low, but as long as it cut enough times it should trigger at some point.
Using it was the toughest decision I had to make…
I didn’t want Fran to use any sword other than me!
As a sword, I felt defeated. Just as a master chef would only let his daughter marry a more skilled chef, or a brain surgeon who would only let a master cardiologist perform open heart surgery on his parents.
Still, now was not the time to worry about such petty things.
This is our only way out… Face it!
Here you go, Teacher.
Fran took Death Gaze out of her Pocket Dimension. The ship’s crew members swallowed at the sight of it.
“Wh-what is that?”
“I feel cold all of a sudden…”
Vein-like crimson lines ran down the blade, which itself was blacker than the darkest night. Its cold steel looked absolutely ominous.
“Death Gaze. It has Instant Death on it.”
“I see. You plan on using that to kill the sea worm.”
And yet Captain Rengill still looked doubtful. Why?
“I’m not sure if Instant Death would work on that monster.”
“Why not?”
“Legend has it that the Midgardsormr has many hearts. If this is true, Instant Death might not be enough to take it down.”
The Identify description had mentioned that earlier. We didn’t know how effective Instant Death would be, but it wasn’t like the thing had thousands of hearts. The only way to know for sure was to attack it until it died.
Let’s go.
All right.
And so I departed on my second raid of the Midgardsormr. I made sure to make it look like Fran was controlling me, of course.
“Blade Dance.”
“Oooh!”
Fran held out her arms and called out the name of a random move. She made it look like she was in deep focus, even adding in the occasional grunt of concentration. It was all an act, of course, and I flew towards the encroaching sea worm taking Death Gaze with me.
To an outsider, it looked like Fran was controlling two swords at once using some mysterious skill. In fact, she was next to defenseless. I left Jet behind to protect her.
Good luck, Teacher.
“Woof.”
No problem!
My immediate plan of action consisted of little more than cutting the Midgardsormr with Death Gaze until Instant Death triggered.
You forced me to swallow my pride and use another sword… I’m going to kill you, you fat bastard!
“Gyaaaooaaaa!”
Damn it. Simple slashes weren’t enough to cut through its thick skin. I needed to put extra energy into my Telekinesis; not that I had to put Telekinetic Catapult levels of mana into each cut.
Death Gaze finally glowed a deep crimson somewhere around the twentieth cut. Instant Death had triggered.
“Gyaaaaaa—”
The Midgardsormr let out a roar which was loud enough to make the steel of my blade vibrate.
Finally, the sea worm stopped moving.
I killed it!
But my celebration proved premature.
Damn it, why’d you have to raise my hopes like that?!
“Gugaga!”
How are you still not dead?!
“Gyaoooo!”
Captain Rengill’s concern was well warranted. Instant Death wasn’t enough to kill a creature with multiple hearts.
Then I’ll just have to take out all your hearts! Bring it on!
“Gyoooo…”
What’s wrong? I’m right here!
“Gyaooooouu!”
The Midgardsormr ignored me and was now swimming full speed towards the ship.
You fat bastard! Fight me, come on!
I continued my onslaught of slashes with Death Gaze, but the Midgardsormr would not turn to face me.
I suppose it was because I was only a piece of metal for the sea worm. It would much rather go after easily hunted living prey than a dangerous metal object.
After several more strikes, Death Gaze triggered again. The fat bastard immediately stopped moving but started swimming again after a few minutes like I hadn’t taken out one of its hearts. It was moving fast, too. The ship was sailing full speed away from the Midgardsormr, but it would catch up to it soon at this rate.
Damn it, what now? I don’t think I can poison it to death.
I thought about joining the fray with my own Venom Fang, but it didn’t look like the creature could be poisoned. It didn’t have Poison Resistance, but the sheer size of the sea worm meant it would take hours for it to succumb to the poison, no matter how strong the poison might be. Its gigantic size still proved a problem even now.
Fran’s on that ship! I won’t let you hurt her, you fat bastard!
I launched myself with Telekinetic Catapult in frantic anger. My half-recovered blade jammed itself into the Midgardsormr’s head.
Hey, don’t ignore me!
I continued stabbing the Midgardsormr over and over. I went red with hate, anger and frustration fueling my assault. I could imagine the mana running through my blade being pitch black. I let the spiral of emotions guide me as I thrust what was left of my blade into the sea worm.
Goddamn it!
I managed to punch the biggest crater during this fight so far into the creature’s head, although the recoil caused my blade to shatter to pieces.
Even then, it ignored me completely.
Is there… Is there no other way?
I need to slow it down… But it heals whatever damage I inflict on it in seconds… Can I put some kind of weight on it to slow it down?
Think! I know I don’t have a brain anymore, but put that gray matter to work!
And then, I had an idea.
I might be able to use that.
It was a long shot but I was willing to try anything at this point.
Mana Barrier at full power! Telekinesis!
I circled around to the front of the Midgardsormr and launched myself with Telekinetic Catapult. My target wasn’t its body this time, however. I was going right into its half-regenerated mouth, right into his guts.
I call this one: Into the Belly of the Beast!
If attacking it from the outside wasn’t going to work, then I would just have to take it down from the inside.
Ew, gross!
The Midgardsormr’s guts were appropriately grotesque and very much disgusting. It also depleted my Durability at a rapid rate, the entire length of its body secreting digestive acid. If it weren’t for my fully charged Mana Barrier, I would’ve completely melted by now. I wanted to go on a rampage inside its belly, but decided against it. I needed to accomplish what I came here to do and get out quick if I didn’t want to be digested by the sea worm.
Still, my plan behooved me to go deeper so it could work its full magic. I put more mana into Telekinesis and charged ahead through the creature’s guts. My durability was down by half now, I had wanted to go deeper, but this would have to do.
Try this on for size! Activate Pocket Dimension!
I took out the giant boulders—the fallen remnants of the Undead Haunt—out of the Pocket Dimension and left it, one after another, in the creature’s stomach. The Midgardsormr could’ve thrown up the boulders if I had left it closer to its mouth, which was why I was adamant on going as deep as I could. Its gag reflex couldn’t save it now!
I decided not to use the poisonous swamp water I drained once upon a time. Although its total volume was a literal drop in the ocean, I wasn’t going to take my chances.
Oh shit, my durability! Short Jump!
Between the Midgardsormr’s stomach acid and the peristaltic movement of dungeon rubble, I came within an inch of my durability’s life. I hurriedly cast a Spacetime spell to get out of the creature’s belly.
Phwoosh!
I warped right out into the ocean. I only had a hundred points of durability left; that was too close.
Shame I couldn’t burst that thing’s stomach to shreds.
A section of the Midgardsormr’s length had bloated to ten times larger than the rest of its body, and it still didn’t show any signs of rupturing. I suppose if snakes could swallow prey several times its size, the same would apply to a giant gluttonous sea worm.
Having that many rocks of that size in its body slowed it down, though. As I floated over the ocean, I could tell that it was swimming at a much slower speed compared to last time. All the ship had to do now, was get away before it completely digested those boulders.
All right, time to go dry off!
Dear reader, how familiar are you with the phrase, “When it rains, it pours”? What about “Out of the frying pan and into the fire”?
Because these sayings perfectly described our current situation.
“Pirate ship!”
Our lookout cried out from the crow’s nest as he rang the alarm bell.
We were heading northward in the direction of the island kingdom of Seedrun. We were supposed to go south, but our ship was in dire need of repair and supplies. The Midgardsormr’s attack had left a huge hole in the hull of our ship, and we lost most of our food and water, too.
The storm and the sea worm had rendered us far off course. Returning to Dars was not an option, so the captain decided to make a stop over at Seedrun.
The island nation was located in the middle of the three continents. The continent of Jillbird which housed Granzell, the northern continent of Brodene, and the continent of Chrome which lay to the west of Jillbird. Seedrun was located in the southwestern part of the enchanted sea between Jillbird and Brodene. From where we were, it lay a little bit to the north.
What bothered me was the fact that slavers were using Seedrun as a kind of stopover… But it wasn’t like the entire country was complicit so I should stop worrying about it.
“All hands on deck!”
Captain Rengill called out to his crew members, and they all scrambled into position. They were just in the middle of enjoying Fleet Breaker sushi to celebrate their escape from the Midgardsormr’s maw. The children’s countenance fell, including Prince Fult and Princess Satya.
Crap! Fran was enjoying her time with her friends, you damn pirates!
Captain Rengill and Salut came to the twins to explain the situation.
“We have been surrounded by the pirate fleet.”
“Fleet? How many of them are there?”
“Four vessels in all.”
“Any chance of us escaping?”
The captain shook his head.
“That would be impossible given our current condition. We are unable to go at full speed.”
“Then we must fight,” the prince declared.
Salut rejected his proposal, however. “No. A naval battle puts us at risk of being sunk. It is said that pirates won’t kill anyone who gives up, except in some cases. Is that right, Captain?”
“Yes. These pirates are thugs. They attack ships at sea and kill any who resist. However, they will not harm anyone who surrenders to them.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. A naval assault carries with it a huge risk; they never know what their target might be carrying with them. They might have adventurers or military personnel on board as guards.”
Good point. Plundering passing ships at random might end up incurring more cost than profit.
“Which is why they usually opt to take captives hostage and demand a ransom. Less risk, more profit. In exchange, they guarantee the safety of their hostages. Trusting pirates might seem odd, but they still want that ransom in the end.”
“I see.”
“Regarding our current situation…” The captain’s expression darkened.
“Is something wrong?”
“We are way off course. Pirates usually lie in wait in waters with more traffic in them. There is no reason for them to be out this far.”
“Which means?”
“There might be a chance that these pirates are not open to negotiation. We don’t know if they would let us go unharmed after paying their ransom.”
We were stuck between a rock and a hard place. Flying into open battle was dangerous but so was giving up. Both options put the royal twins’ lives at risk.
“Your Highness, you must get on a lifeboat and evacuate immediately.”
“And can everyone fit into these lifeboats?”
Salut shook his head.
“There are enough lifeboats, but someone needs to stay to fight the pirates as a distraction. The only ones going on the lifeboat are Your Royal Highnesses, the children, some of your caretakers including myself, and a crew member to operate the lifeboat.”
Seedrun was a stone’s throw away, so even a small boat might be able to reach there within the day.
The prince and princess refused. “And what of the others?”
“No need to worry. They will surrender once we are a safe distance away.”
The prince frowned at Salut’s attempt to console him. I didn’t think the pirates would accept the crew members’ surrender that easily, either, especially when they had put up resistance in the beginning. The pirates might just kill them as an example.
“No, I refuse to leave my men behind.”
“Yes. We must all escape together.”
Such kindness from the royal twins. It was common sense for the royal family to use their retainers as human shields to make their escape; you could even call it the duty of those with a royal bloodline. These kids were too naive.
They were naive, but they were also kind. I liked these two royals quite a bit.
“I cannot agree to that, either.” Selid the chamberlain had joined the conversation at some point.
“You think we should all escape together, Sellid?”
“No, I’m saying we should surrender.”
“You old fool! Did you not hear a word of our discussion earlier? We don’t know if they will accept our surrender!”
“Perhaps not, but I doubt our chances of surviving out in the ocean is much greater, either. We should surrender, and tell them who exactly it is they are mugging. I doubt that they would want to make an enemy of an entire kingdom. They should let us pass as long as we pay them their toll. On that note, we shouldn’t put up any needless resistance, either. We don’t want to aggravate these pirates and close any chances of negotiating with them.”
I saw his point…but I wasn’t sure if it would go that smoothly.
“I object!”
“Know your place, Salut. A knight should not be sticking his nose into this business.”
“I am their guardian! This is precisely the kind of situation where I must practice discretion!”
The knight and the chamberlain were at odds again.
“You have let your position as a mere bodyguard get to your head!”
“I have not! My duty is to protect the prince and princess with my life! I have dedicated my entire being to it!”
“You are nothing more than an outsider who the queen happened to take a liking to! I have every reason to doubt your words!”
“Sellid! Are you accusing me of treason?!”
“Anyone would with the way you are deliberately leading Their Highnesses into danger! I don’t even know for sure whether you’ve absconded your kingdom of Raydoss! You’re likely a spy sent to steal our Divine Sword!”
“You have a Divine Sword?” Fran interrupted the gentlemen’s argument when she heard the words Divine Sword.
“Y-yes. Our kingdom happens to be in possession of a Divine Sword.”
“You don’t get to call Phyllius your kingdom, Raydossian!”
“What?!”
And they were at it again. Their argument was going nowhere and was mostly a waste of time.
Fran, this is getting annoying. Let’s just go take care of things, and we can ask them about their Divine Sword later.
All right.
We were in the middle of our meal, too.
The sushi’s good.
Jet, you stay here and look after the prince.
Woof!
And save some sushi for me.
Awoo!
You like it that much?
Yeah! This is the second greatest dish since curry.
Curry was still the undefeated champion.
Fran made her way to the ship’s edge.
Prince Fult called out to her when he noticed this. “Fran, where are you going?”
“Hm? I’m going to go sink them real quick.”
“Wait! Don’t be rash!”
The prince tried to stop her, but she pulled her hand away from him and continued to make her way to the edge.
“I’ll be back.” She jumped off.
“Kyaa! Fran!”
“Fran!”
The children hurried to the ship’s edge and looked over the railing, thinking she had jumped into the ocean. No matter how strong Fran was, it would take some time for her to swim all the way to pirate ships.
What they saw when they looked over the deck was not a Black Cat beastgirl being overwhelmed by the waves, but Fran who was mysteriously skipping through the air. She threw me out in front of her and hopped on to my blade.
“Wow!”
“That’s so cool!”
“She’s flying through the sky!”
Fran proceeded to surf through the sky with my Telekinetic Air Ride.
She reached the first pirate ship in a little under thirty seconds.
They have a skull and crossbones on their flag. How cliché can you get?
“Yeah.”
It might be out of place for me to say this, but the sight of their banner excited me.
The pirate ship was rundown. It looked beat up as if it had seen its fair share of battles. Upon further inspection, I found no catapults or cannons. There weren’t even holes on the side of the ship to fire cannons out of.
The vessel bore no resemblance to any battleship. In fact, its shape reminded me of something else.
This ship looks like it used to be a fishing boat…
I identified the pirates and found they weren’t Pirates at all. Most of them were Fishermen or Boatmen. Even their skills were limited to Fishing and Net Fishing; a far cry from the battle oriented Throwing Weapons and Javelin Throw.
What is going on?
“Beats me.”
Well, they’re still pirates, and they do have weapons. We can’t just ignore them now that we’re here.
“Should we leave the biggest ship and sink the rest?”
I don’t know about that… They might claim to be pirates, but they’re really not…
“I’ll hold back and not kill them.”
Yeah, let’s go with that.
“Hm.”
Fran flew over to the flagship. The pirates stood with their mouths agape at the sight of her.
“Let’s go.”
Right. Don’t kill them, now.
“I know.”
Fran jumped off my blade, and I flew into her hand as she fell towards the pirate flagship.
“Huh?”
“Wha?”
The sudden appearance of the beastgirl left the pirates in a state of shock. As they stood around her, dumbfounded, Fran began swinging me at them, albeit without unsheathing me so as not to inflict damage.
I felt myself smash into the pirates’ faces, and I was pretty sure I broke a couple of arms and legs, too. In a few moments, most of the pirates had crumpled to the ground, and all of them were no longer in any condition to fight.
“Gyaaa!”
“Guuuh!”
I told her not to kill them, but I never said anything about heavily injuring them. At least they were getting away with only a few broken bones.
“What the hell…”
These pirates weren’t very good at their jobs. They couldn’t respond to the situation at all. None of them got into fighting position, and they all stood there watching their friends’ faces getting smashed in like a deer in headlights. We proceeded to wipe the floor with them.
The pirates finally started retaliating after several more of their friends fell to Fran’s sword club. They shot arrows at us, which were unfortunately deflected by her Mana Barrier. Fran turned her attention to her attackers and took them out instantly.
“Wh-who are you?!”
“An adventurer.”
“Shit! This wasn’t part of the plan!”
“Die!”
“That’s my line.”
We’re not killing them, Fran!
“Gyaa!”
“Eeergh!”
Soon, only the captain was left standing.
“M-monster!”
I don’t like this. I don’t like this one bit.
You seem disappointed, Teacher.
I mean, look at him!
“Hm?”
A pirate was supposed to have an eyepatch and a hook for a hand. At the very least a hat with skull and crossbones on it. Ideally he would look like Captain Hook, with Jack Sparrow being the next best thing.
He looks like a regular middle-aged guy!
The captain was wearing a helmet you could find anywhere. He didn’t look the part at all! If I hadn’t Identified him earlier, I would never have figured out that he was the ship’s captain.
“Let me go! Let me go, damn it!” yelled the captain as Fran subdued him. Seeing the petite Fran seize the bigger man was an odd sight to behold.
Time to start asking questions.
Where should we start?
Ask him if he’s the boss of this fleet.
Question time. My job was to verify the pirate’s statements with Essence of Falsehood as Fran interrogated him. Was anyone else in on this? Where was their hideout? We had lots to ask.
However, we had to delay our questioning since the other ships were bombarding us with cannon fire. They sure were eager to sink their boss’ ship.
“Those traitors!”
Was this one of those “If the boss dies, I become the new boss!” situations?
Let’s go beat up the other ships for now.
“Sure. Ha!”
“Gyuge!”
Fran delivered a chop to the back of the captain’s neck. The sound he made was not reassuring. She had rendered him unconscious, but now he was foaming at the mouth.
What was that about?
“Hm? Something cool. A karate chop to the back of the neck to knock him out. It worked.”
Well…he’s still breathing, I guess. Let’s tie him up.
“Okay. Let’s go.”
Fran carried the now tied-up captain on her side and rode me. Cannonballs were flying in our direction, but we were too small of a target for them to hit.
“Here I go.”
She then incapacitated the pirates on the rest of the other ships. All in all, it took a little under five minutes for her to subdue all four pirate ships. She knocked them out and left them sprawled out on their decks.
Let’s take the pirate captain back to our ship.
“Hm.”
“Do you know what you have just done?!”
We had successfully captured the pirate captain and Sellid decided to welcome us back onboard with angry yelling.
“Hm?”
“Who gave you the order to attack?!”
“I got all of them. No problem.”
“You are supposed to guard the prince and princess, not go out raiding pirate ships! What if they launch a counterattack?!”
The old chamberlain wouldn’t be pleased no matter what Fran did. Could it be that he was trying to downplay her accomplishments? It wasn’t like Salut was on our case, either.
Just apologize for now.
People like Sellid were easily appeased with such formalities. If he still insisted on raising complaints, we might have to get drastic.
“Sorry.”
“Hmph, as long as you understand!”
Look at him being all smug. What I’d give to smash his face in…
“Bwuh…?”
“Are you awake?”
Our loud argument seemed to have woken up the unconscious pirate captain.
“Y-you! Where am I?!”
“On a boat.”
“What did you do with my men?”
We should apply some pressure on him now. He might get cocky if he found out we hadn’t killed anyone.
Fran, lie to him and tell him you sank all his ships.
“Napping with the fishes.”
Sleeping with the fishes!
“Sleeping with the fishes.”
“N-no…”
The pirate fearfully looked at Fran. He knew what she was capable of since he had seen her beat down his crew first hand. Rengill and Salut kept quiet, knowing that Fran was trying to gouge information out of the pirate captain.
“Answer my questions and you won’t have to join your friends.”
“G-good luck with that!”
The pirate’s face turned pale despite his haughty display; he really was afraid of Fran. Just a little more pressure and he should start talking.
Or he would have, if someone had kept his mouth shut.
“What nonsense are you talking about?! Their ships are right there, and their crew members are very much alive! Just torture him and get it over with!” Sellid angrily interrupted Fran’s questioning of the pirate.
This idiot… Maybe we should toss him overboard to show the pirate how serious we were.
Knowing that his friends were alive and well, the pirate relaxed and looked down on Fran. He was less fearful now that there was a chance of him making it out of this alive.
I really didn’t want to resort to torture if we didn’t have to, but Sellid’s needless complaint had forced our hand.
Fran, it’s gonna be rough, but there’s no way around it.
“Hm. Salut, take the kids downstairs.”
“…Understood.”
Salut knew what Fran was about to do. He took the prince and the princess along with the children down into the bow. As a royal, Prince Fult understood the necessity of such methods, so he left Fran to her discretion.
Now we could begin our questioning with no reservations.
“Well then…”
“Wh-what?!”
The pirate’s face stiffened as soon as Fran started threatening him. If you didn’t know Fran well enough, she looked like a cold-blooded killer.
“How many of you are there? Where’s your hideout?”
“I-I’m not telling you jack squat!”
“All right.”
Fortunately, Fran’s torture session was over before it even began. She ordered Jet to return to his full size, and a single cut across the pirate’s cheek was enough to make him subservient.
These men weren’t pirates at all, as it turned out. They were originally Seedrunian fishermen, driven out of house and home because of extortionate taxation. They had no base to speak of and instead hopped around the surrounding islands to make a living from fishing and piracy.
Captain Rengill grunted as he listened to the pirate’s explanation.
“I know Seedrun is in a state of chaos because of the power flux…but I didn’t think it would be so bad that its own citizens would run away from it. You’re saying the government imposes heavy taxation on all its citizens?”
“Y-yeah. The crown prince is taking advantage of the transition period to impose all sorts of weird taxes on us. If we don’t pay up, the military comes knocking on our door.”
“I’m surprised you haven’t revolted.”
“How do you suppose we do that? The crown prince basically owns the military; they’re his lapdogs. Even if we were to take arms and rise up, we would be crushed in no time.”
The pirate sat cross-legged, his expression growing grim as he cursed his kingdom. He really wanted to get this off his chest…
“Still, that doesn’t excuse you from being a pirate.”
“Shut up! Damn it all! If only the princess were still with us…”
“And who is this princess?”
“The firstborn princess Sellimea, of course! She was a friend to us, the poor! One day she just disappeared without a trace…”
The firstborn princess was known throughout the kingdom for her compassion. She set up multiple relief policies for the oppressed, but she didn’t stop at giving handouts. She also made facilities for free medical consultation and offered aid for fishing boat repairs, among other social policies.
However, she went missing as soon as the current king took the throne, and there were rumors going about that she might have been assassinated. The current king had gotten rid of most of her social policies and reallocated the budget to the military.
“I would think conducting piracy so close to the capital would be a risky venture. Aren’t there patrols?”
“The navy doesn’t care as long as we give them a piece of the action.”
“You’re saying the military are rotten to the point that they would take bribes from pirates…”
We had gotten most of the information we wanted. We asked if they had supplies wherever they set up port, but the pirates were low on food, too. Granted, I was the only who could verify his statement with the help of Essence of Falsehood.
We set our course for the pirate’s haven just to be sure.
“What if we don’t find food and water there?”
“That is a very good question…”
Captain Rengill answered with a worried look. He was thinking about whether it was in our best interest to make port at a country that was in such chaos; so much chaos that its own citizens chose to run away from it.
With the prince and princess on board, the decision became even more difficult to make.
“What I do know…is that we need supplies if we are to continue our voyage.”
If worse came to worst, the captain was ready to make port at Seedrun. We bound the remaining pirates and boarded them onto the ship. We would hand them over to the authorities if we made it to Seedrun.
I felt sorry for them since they were only escaping severe taxes, but resorting to piracy was their choice. They were also fully intent on targeting us, so I had no sympathy for them there. We could score some points with the Seedrunian government by handing them over, too. In any case, Captain Rengill was prepared to do everything to ensure the safety of Their Royal Highnesses.
One hour later.
We had made port on one of the small islands which the pirates used as their hideout and came away sorely disappointed. Captain Rengill slumped his shoulders.
“So much for that idea.”
“We might have to resupply at Seedrun…”
We found little food and even less water.
Suddenly, one of our crew members called out to Captain Rengill in a panic.
“C-captain! Incoming ship!”
“Where from?”
“Northward, sir! From Seedrun! It’s a larger vessel so we have reason to believe it might be part of the navy!”
“I see… Get ready to disembark! Make it quick! We don’t know who we’re dealing with so keep your eyes on that thing!”
“Sir!”
The deckhand left us. The captain now turned to face Fran.
“Fran, we need you to be on guard as well.”
For some reason, he didn’t think they were here to help. It didn’t help that we didn’t know how Seedrun would choose to approach us, especially now that we knew their government was imposing extortionate taxes on their people. We definitely needed to keep an eye out for them.
“Okay.”
“And please. Please, do not attack them. All right?”
“I know.”
“Good.”
We hadn’t known each other for very long, but the captain knew about Fran’s aggressive tendencies. But even Fran wouldn’t be so reckless as to provoke a naval fleet.
Really, she wouldn’t.
“Hm?”
Nothing. Just don’t attack and get ready to go on defense.
“Yeah! I know what to do.”
You too, Jet.
“Woof!”
Fran and Jet’s excited replies worried me…
The mysterious ship drew closer to the island. Its coat of arms was a seven-headed dragon. The vessel definitely belonged to Seedrun.
“Let’s see what they want.”
Twenty minutes had passed since the appearance of the naval vessel.
“I’m telling you, we are not pirates!”
“Blatant lies! If you’re not a pirate, what are you doing in a pirate’s hideout?”
“We had captured one of the pirates and they told us of this place.”
“So you’re selling your friends out to save your own skin. How loyal of you.”
Captain Rengill and the man in charge of the naval ship had been having this argument this entire time.
His name was Dwight. A short, stout man who somehow managed to resemble an orc. He had the understanding of an orc, too. He absolutely refused to listen to our explanation of why we were here.
At first, I thought he was just playing it safe by assuming we were pirates, but that didn’t seem to be the case. He was dead set on making us to be pirates whether we liked it or not. Nothing we did could change his demeanor, not Captain Rengill’s handing over of the real pirates or Chamberlain Sellid’s declaration that he was a retainer of the kingdom of Phyllius. The old noble even gave the Seedrunian captain his best condescending glare.
Dwight ignored all of Captain Rengill’s attempts at reasoning with him with a hateful smirk on his face.
We didn’t know how the Seedrunian navy would treat us, so we kept the fact that we were carrying Phyllian royalty a secret from them. Sellid had spiritedly explained to the captain how he was part of nobility, but Dwight stood unbending to him.
Captain Rengill hinted at offering Dwight a bribe, but he ignored that, too.
“I have no intention of negotiating with pirates! Even if you are really Phyllians, piracy is still a crime!”
“I’m telling you, we have the proper permits to land in Seedrun!”
“Counterfeits!”
Anyone could tell he was set on arresting us as pirates. I couldn’t help but feel that he was being overly pigheaded, though. Demanding money from a noble who happened to be on one of the ships you raided sounded like a plan that would eventually bite you in the ass.
Maybe he was thinking of silencing his victims even if they were nobles. That was a risk, though. Dead men tell no tales, as they say back on Earth, but the Phyillian royal family would raise their eyebrows if one of their retainers failed to return home. What if they called upon the spirit of the dead and asked them what happened? A scandal would break out between the two kingdoms. It might even turn to war.
I dunno… Dwight might be that stupid…
I didn’t know what else was going on, but I really wanted to get out of here as fast as we could and leave Seedrun behind.
Fran’s safety was my utmost concern. I thought of cutting Dwight down and attacking the enemy ship in the ensuing chaos. He wasn’t that strong when I Identified him; he only had basic Sword Mastery and Wind Magic as his combat skills. We could kill him, no problem.
International relations? Not my problem!
At least that’s what I thought we would do.
“Don’t move.”
“!”
It was the fighter who had been at Dwight’s side. He had snuck up behind Fran and was pressing the tip of his sword against her back as a warning.
Wha?! When did he…?!
The man wore a dull-colored cloak over his kung fu garb; he looked like an adventurer you’d see anywhere. The only thing that set him apart from the rest of Dwight’s guards was that he used a sword instead of a spear. Also, unlike the Seedrunian soldiers whose skins were a tanned copper, his was a lighter shade of yellow.
His long gray hair was tied into a ponytail. His eyes were squinted as if half-asleep, accenting the stubble growing around his jaw. His cheeks looked sunken, making him look weak, but I knew he was stronger than he looked.
Increasing the level of our Advanced Sword Mastery had allowed us to sense the strength of other sword masters, and this man definitely felt dangerous despite looking like a low-rank adventurer.
Our past victories against great monsters had gotten to our heads. Well, no more. Being held up by this man was enough to make me break out into a cold sweat.
Fran, don’t make any sudden moves.
Right.
His gear looked like they were mass-produced, but I could feel mana coursing through them. His equipment was handcrafted from monster materials and had enchantments cast on them.
Name: Valuza
Race: Human
Class: Flash Knight
Level: 45/99
HP: 309; Magic: 135; Strength: 217; Agility: 251
Skill: Dodge 8; Bow Arts 2; Bow Mastery 4; Presence Detection 7; Sword Arts 2; Sword Mastery 10; Advanced Sword Mastery 2; Flexibility 6; Flash Step 7; Swim 6; Water Strider 5; Swashbuckler 7; Throwing Weapons 5; Climb 5; Poison Resistance 4; Heightened Reflexes 5; Paralysis Resistance 5; Spirit Manipulation; Numb Pain; Reflexes
Class Skill: Flash Sword
Title: Knight Captain; Murderer
Equipment: Enchanted Water Longsword; Sea Dragon Hide Armor; Sea Dragon Leather Boots; Monster Whale Mantle; Choker of Underwater Breathing; Hawkeye Ring
I was right in my assumptions. He even had Advanced Sword Mastery. We were much stronger in a battle of pure stats, but Valuza had the upper hand in combat experience. He had control of the situation; one wrong move from us and all he needed to do was stab Fran in her back.
This was the strength of a human, not a monster. A strength achieved through much study, practice, and experience. He hadn’t used any particular skills to get the jump on Fran, either. He must have practiced how not to make a sound all his life; there were no wasted movements. Adding to this, the man wasn’t nervous at all, and this was the main reason how he had slipped past our defense systems.
Wow…
Fran?
I barely had time to react. Wow.
Fran was disappointed, but she was also impressed by the man’s skills. Not admiring your foes was difficult when they were this good. Sneaking up on us like that wasn’t something that we could do.
We could probably take him on since he didn’t know about my existence yet. However, we needed every bit of advantage we could get against an opponent with so much experience. Not to mention Swashbuckler, which made him deadlier when he fought on a ship. Furthermore, Fran was still exhausted from our encounter with the Midgardsormr, decreasing our chances at victory.
We would need to be at full strength to take him on. Hell, we might even need to sink the entire ship if it came to it. If we held back and failed, the Seedrunians would treat us as pirates and might end up killing the prince and his entourage. Our best course of action was to comply and remain quiet.
Although, there was still a chance that Fran might leap into action at the first sign of danger.
“What is going on?”
“Ah, Prince Fult.”
Prince Fult came up on deck with Salut, probably alerted by the loud argument that had been going on. I just hoped the situation wouldn’t escalate any further.
“We have made contact with the Seedrunian navy. However…”
“Hey! What are you people plotting?!”
Dwight shouted down Captain Rengill as he was explaining the situation. Salut didn’t take kindly to it and returned the favor.
“Mind your manners, knave! You are in the presence of His Royal Highness, Prince Fult of Phyllius!”
“Prince, you say…? What is a prince doing on board a ship which doesn’t even bear his own nation’s coat of arms?”
“The prince did not wish to attract attention to ourselves while on this voyage.”
“A likely story… but can you prove that this boy really is the Prince of Phyllius?”
“Here!”
Salut presented a small card, gilded with gold: a unique form of identification reserved for the Phyllian royal family. Dwight glossed over it and dismissed it with a smirk.
“I suppose it looks real…”
“Because it is real!”
Dwight’s suspicion aroused Salut’s anger. I inspected Dwight’s intentions with Essence of Falsehood and found that he did understand the identification as the real article. He was clearly trying to provoke us by putting up this act of arbitrary skepticism.
Now that the prince was on deck, Sellid attempted to use his identification as a negotiation tool.
“The future king of Phyllius is aboard this ship! Do you want to start an international scandal?!”
Sellid had his noble speech on point. Unfortunately, Dwight remained unfazed.
“That’s my line. Even if you were part of Phyllian nobility, we have not received reports of your arrival. Coming into our waters without a permit is considered an act of territorial intrusion!”
“I’ve been telling you from the start that our permits are in order!”
“Our kingdom of Seedrun has ceased all talks with the kingdom of Phyllius. Even if this vessel possessed documents which allowed to cross over Seedrun, said documents would not apply to members of the royal family!”
“Ceased talks…? I suppose the new trade deals have made it difficult to negotiate,” Sellid muttered. The coronation of the new king of Seedrun seemed to have strained relations between the two countries. If the current king really were as cruel as he sounded, he would force unreasonable trade deals on his neighboring countries. As long as no deal was made, both kingdoms were at a stalemate.
“B-but this is an emergency situation. Surely we can take refuge in Seedrun?”
The sea was an unpredictable place. The slightest accident could knock out a ship’s entire navigation system. There was an unspoken agreement among kingdoms that they would help each other’s boats if one of them were in trouble in their territory, enemy or not. It was hard to imagine the Seedrunians, itself a maritime nation, would be unaware of this unwritten rule.
“How shameless of you.”
“We would not ask Seedrun for help unless we absolutely needed to. But I promise you that the Lucille Trade Association will repay its debts. I will see to it myself that you are handsomely rewarded, Captain.”
“Oh?”
Captain Rengill had piqued Dwight’s interest. His approach seemed to work until Dwight opened his mouth.
“You’re trying to bribe me, aren’t you?”
“What?”
“Do you really think that you can buy the admiral of the honorable navy of Seedrun for a paltry penny…? You, sir, have made a grave mistake!”
“W-wait, please! I mean that I was only going to repay you for your kindness!”
That was the only thing Captain Rengill could say. What else could he say? “Please accept our bribe and let us go”?
Dwight grinned and ordered his men, “Arrest these people! Use lethal force if they resist, no matter who they claim to be!”
The Seedrunian soldiers drew their weapons and boarded our ship. Just as the one of the Phyllian soldiers reached for his sword, Valuza instantly cut him down. It happened too fast for anyone but Fran to see. He was fast as he was remorseless. It didn’t seem to matter to him who he killed, even if they happened to be the children of the Phyllian royal family.
Valuza’s display of strength was enough to deter everyone else from further resistance. His grim expression and cold eyes brought silence upon the deck. The only ones unaffected by his intimidation were Fran and Prince Fult.
The prince rose up against Valuza. Whether it was because of his pride as a prince or from sheer boldness, I don’t know.
“What are you doing?!”
“Applying lethal force on any who resist.”
“Th-that doesn’t mean you can draw your sword without warning!”
“Does it not?”
“You—” Valuza’s hand was nearing the hilt of his sword as the prince objected.
Crap, we need to stop this.
Before Fran could step in between the two, Captain Rengill’s voice rang throughout the deck.
“A-all right! We surrender! We’ll turn ourselves in! Just don’t hurt them!”
He knew the prince was moments away from being cut down. The captain put up his hands and surrendered himself to Dwight.
“No one would’ve needed to die if you had just done this sooner. All right. Don’t try any funny business until we get to port.”
“Everyone, listen to me. We will need to do exactly as this man says. Do not object and certainly do not put up any resistance. That goes for you, too, Fran.”
“Hm.”
“Have I made myself clear, Sir Sellid?”
“Blast it all! I know!”
“Well and good. If our honorable knight would comply we might be able to get out of this alive.”
“Sir Salut, please! You must stand down.”
Salut had no intention of putting up a fight, I’m sure. But the sight of the prince being carried away by armed guards caused the knight to reflexively reach for his sword.
“Salut, there will be bloodshed if you fight them now. Stand down.”
“…Yes, Your Highness.”
He quietly handed himself in according to his prince’s request.
“There are children on board. Please do not be violent with them.”
“As long as they remain quiet, I’ll think about it.”
There weren’t enough handcuffs and rope to go around, so at least we weren’t treated like freshly minted slaves. We were still vigilant in case things took a turn for the worse but otherwise complied and turned ourselves in.
Later, Fran was thrown into a room together with everyone on board of Captain Rengill’s ship. They pushed all of us—crew member and Phyllian entourage and royals alike—into the same large room. I expected them to split us up into smaller groups to keep a better eye on us, but Dwight had other plans. The room only had one exit, which was guarded by Seedrunian soldiers, but Valuza was keeping watch, as well. This made it easier for them to threaten us if we showed any signs of revolt. The packed room also made it impossible for us to escape, let alone plot. This was, in fact, the safest way of locking all of us up.
I carefully observed Valuza, taking care not to be noticed, and found that he was staring at us, too. He knew that Fran would be a problem if he let his guard down. He kept an eagle eye on her through that unchanging face of his. Standing out now would make things more difficult for us. Fran needed to lay low. With a title like Murderer, it was best to steer clear of him.
Two hours later.
A small commotion arose from within the military ship. We seemed to have made port at Seedrun.
“Come this way.”
Valuza opened the door where we were locked away and led us out onto the deck.
We faced a gigantic port, built with boorish, gray stone, absent of any unnecessary decoration. Large military vessels were docked all around us. I guess we were in a naval port.
Dwight came out to greet us then.
“We will now proceed to listen to what the Phyllians have to say.”
“All right.”
He had his obnoxious grin as always.
“Where are you taking us?”
Salut asked out of his duty as the guardian of the royal twins. Or perhaps he was just nervous. It would be the worst if they threw us all in jail at this point.
“We will treat you as nobility until we can verify your identification.”
The prince and his entourage were taken to an interrogation room for nobles. Discouraging as it was, we could all be released if the negotiations went well.
The only ones left on deck were the ship’s crew members, the Phyllian guards, Fran, and the children. Just as I wondered what would happen, the soldiers were ordered to take us in. I was prepared for the worst given our dealings with the Seedrunian military so far. Their obnoxious attitude as they ordered us around did not disappoint.
We meekly followed their orders, and I fully expected us to be sent into a waiting room. Instead, the Seedrunian guards led us to a building to the side of the port.
The stone building looked dull and intimidating; maybe it was a guardhouse of sorts. I didn’t think it could accommodate all of us, but perhaps they were going to have us wait here.
I was sorely mistaken, of course. Seedrun was run by a corrupt government, after all.
The guards led us down to the basement where plenty of rooms were waiting for us, each with its own set of steel bars.
“Get in.”
“Wh-what is this place?!”
“This is a prison cell! We’re not criminals, damn it!”
One of the crew members protested, although the guards’ treatment of them didn’t change one bit.
“Be quiet! Do you plan on fighting back now?”
“We’ve been given permission to use lethal force to deal with any and all resistance. If you cause any more trouble, consider your life forfeit.”
“Or do you want us to kill you?”
“Damn it.”
He had seen how one of his friends had been killed in cold blood earlier, so he knew the Seedrunians meant business. The crew member’s protests were soon quieted after being surrounded by pikes.
“Hmph! You should learn to stay quiet, fool!”
“Next time you won’t get off so easy!”
“Gah!”
The guard struck the crew member, making him fall to the ground. Another kicked him in the gut for good measure. The example was enough to quell any feelings of resistance among the crew members. That could very easily have been one of them.
“Hand over your weapons.”
They confiscated our weapons, as procedure demanded.
Crap, I stick out like a sore thumb! Anyone can tell that I’m an amazing sword!
It was too late to hide now.
Fran, we have to get out of here. It’s not too late to warp out.
No.
But you’ll be left alone in this cell…!
I can’t leave Fult and Satya behind.
I know, but…
Just no.
Convincing Fran was hard when she had made up her mind.
Even if we had used Space-time Magic to get out of jail, we still faced the problem of leaving the island of Seedrun itself. The island nation was quite small, and it wouldn’t take long for us to be surrounded by the military if we got out.
I discovered from a quick observation of the prison that it wasn’t equipped with any magical installations. But even if we did escape, we’d end up running in circles all around the city…
It couldn’t be helped. I would have to hand myself in to the guard and leave Fran by herself.
Don’t do anything drastic.
I won’t.
Jet, you stay with her.
Woof!
Jet was still concealed in her shadow, but I gave him a direct order anyway just to be safe.
And try not to use any magic if you can help it. Make them think you’re an ordinary Swordsman.
When I had finished advising Fran, a guard was standing in front of her.
“You, hand over that sword.”
He ordered obnoxiously. Valuza was still observing us, though. He had positioned himself so he would always have Fran within his sights. He was careful, all right.
“Hm.”
Fran hands me over without a fight.
“Well, well. What a fine sword… Are you seeing this, Sir Valuza?”
“I am.”
The bastard Valuza inspected me with his cold pokerface, though I didn’t seem to spark any life in his eyes. Still, as a seasoned swordsman, he couldn’t take his eyes off me.
In the end, they threw me into a storeroom with the rest of the confiscated weapons. It was a good thing, too. I wouldn’t have been able to escape if they had somehow sealed away my magical powers. Here, I had some freedom of movement.
I overheard some of the guards talking about pawning me off. That would be my opportunity to reunite with Fran.
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