by Hiro Ainana
“Th-that’s some serious range…”
“What’re ye waiting for? Fire back!”
“W-we can’t from here.”
“What?! But the wind’s in our favor!”
My “Keen Hearing” skill picked up the pirates’ conversation.
“They’re passing right through our anti-arrow defenses!”
“All free hands, grab yer shields and block ’em!”
Ignoring the increasingly frantic voices of the pirates, we continued to fire, reducing the numbers of their archers.
“Pirates! Please go get help from the navy!”
A voice from the merchant ship reached me with the help of Wind Magic, so I used my “Amplification” skill to call back to them.
“We’ll take care of them. Just get to the next bay!”
As the merchant ship passed us, they called out to us to turn back, but if we turned around now, the pirates would catch up to both of us easily.
The pirates’ attacks started targeting us instead of the merchant ship.
“Dammit, we can’t hit ’em!”
“Our arrows, they’re—they’re going off course!”
“They’ve got an arrow barrier! Shoot ’em with the Fire Shots!”
“Why are their attacks still hitting us?!”
The pirates’ Fire Shots flew at us along with their complaints, but our ship’s defensive barrier warded them off easily.
The high-capacity Holytree Stone engine I’d developed was working great, along with the improved barrier production device.
“The Fire Shots are bouncing off, too?!”
“Must be an intermediate barrier! They’ve got an intermediate Everyday Magic user on their side!”
“That means they’re gonna use Foundation spears! Bring out the Ultramarine Turtle Shield, boys! Those’ll pierce right through regular shields!”
Three of the pirates propped up a huge shield, obviously made from monster parts.
“Nana! They’re expecting Foundation spears, so let’s give them what they want.”
“Orders accepted, master.”
Nana fired her Foundation spears, but the so-called Ultramarine Turtle Shield warded them off easily.
“It’s our turn, Lulu.”
“Okay, I’ll do my best.”
“Helping.”
Now that we were in range, Arisa and Lulu attacked with Fire Rods. Mia stood next to them, shooting more arrows.
However, the turtle shield blocked them exactly like it had Nana’s spears.
“Look alive, mates! We’ve got this!”
The pirates seemed to be recovering their morale, so I prepared five Magic Arrows and some Short Stun shots and fired them a few at a time at the ships on the left and right.
We could always claim we’d hired a mage at the time, though I doubted anyone would suspect after the fact that I was hiding my true power.
“I-impossible! Their Foundation spears broke through the Ultramarine Turtle Shield? Do they have an advanced Practical Magic user?!”
“Captain! The other ships are done for! They must have an advanced Wind Magic user, too.”
“Tch! It must be a pirate-hunting battleship disguised as a merchant ship!”
The pirates seemed to be misunderstanding the situation, which was fine for me.
Their defense was surprisingly weak, though. Their ships weren’t big enough to carry multiple Magic Furnaces, so they probably had a mage on board producing the barrier for them.
My Short Stun bullets had opened large holes in the flanking pirate ships, which began to sink. The pirates started jumping into the water, swimming for shore.
As they swam, however, small monsters came up from the sea to attack them. It was becoming a survival-of-the-fittest situation.
The monsters didn’t seem to be too strong, though, so the pirates probably wouldn’t die if we left them to their own devices for now.
Mentally shutting out the screams of the pirates, I focused on the ones who were still fighting back.
“Some of these small-fry pirates aren’t making a break for it.”
“Wrooong?”
“They’re in chains, sir.”
The oar men of the galley ships appeared to be slaves.
I would’ve felt terrible if they drowned, so I stretched my Magic Hand as far as it would go to keep the ship from sinking.
“Scarecrow, we’re going to charge the flagship. Turn the bow’s defensive barrier into a sharp point.”
I gave an order to the figurehead golem, and its steam whistle gave off a phweeee that indicated an affirmative response.
I’d been killing time over the last few days by making a response mechanism for the Scarecrow, and it seemed to have turned out quite well. These things just didn’t feel satisfying without a good reaction.
“We’re boarding them, right?! It’s your time to shine, Liza!”
“Understood.” Liza turned to the rest of the vanguard. “Prepare for close combat.”
“They’re charging at us, Cap’n!”
“Trying to ram a pirate ship, eh? These guys have some nerve.”
“We’ll show ’em the power of our Narwhal Horn Ram!”
The pirates opted not to flee, instead facing us head-on.
“All hands, ready the Antiflash Protection Shockfield!” Arisa cried, retreating to the forecastle and squeezing her eyes shut.
It was probably a reference to a certain battleship anime, but I didn’t think “antiflash” would be necessary here.
As the ships collided, there was the sound of wood splintering.
The impact almost sent my companions flying into the air, but I kept them safe with Magic Hand.
Without the support of magic, of course, the pirates went flying across the deck, a few of them plummeting into the sea.
“Draw your swords! Let’s teach these pirates a lesson.”
“Aye-aye, sirrr!”
“Roger, sir!”
“Prepare to die in shame, you filthy garbage of the sea, I declare.”
Charging onto the pirate ship along with the beastfolk girls, Nana used her “Taunt” skill to insult the pirates.
Scrambling to get up from the deck, the pirates responded to the taunt, drawing their cutlasses to attack Nana.
“Useless, I inform.”
Since Nana had her large physical shield combined with Foundation shields, it was all but impossible to break through her defenses.
And Nana wasn’t alone.
“Your guard’s dooown?”
“You’re supposed to watch your footing, sir.”
Tama and Pochi stayed low as they zipped around the pirates, slicing at their ankles with Sharpness-enhanced Magic Swords.
“Yaaargh, there be monsters at our feet!”
“No, they’re nothing more than a couple of brats with Magic Swords!”
“Quit running around so fast, damn ye!”
The pirates cursed, visibly shaken.
Tama and Pochi were making quick work of them, but because of the violently rocking waves, the pirates managed to land a few attacks.
Fortunately, none of them seemed strong enough to break through the Enchant: Physical Protection spells I’d placed on them. Even if they had, they would’ve just been met with whale-hide armor anyway.
“Arr, what’re ye doin’, letting these little rats get the best of ye?!”
The pirate captain, the only one of them with a high level, charged forward with a broad cutlass and a parrying dagger.
Liza, who was crushing the pirates near Nana, moved to intercept him.
Liza’s Magic Spear left a trail of red light as it streaked toward the captain, who caught it with his parrying dagger and swung a counterattack with his cutlass.
“Useless, I exclaim!”
Nana blocked the cutlass with a Flexible Shield and used her “Taunt” skill as she struck the pirate captain with her shield.
“Tch, so the Practical Magic user is on the front lin
es now, eh?!”
The captain dodged Nana’s shield with a backstep, but Tama and Pochi were waiting in the wings to slash at his legs.
It looked like they’d finished dealing with the weaker pirates.
“Back off, ye brats!”
Seeing his men lying at his feet, the captain kicked a few of them at Pochi and Tama.
“Be careful, sir. I almost cut him in half, sir.”
Pochi nearly sliced through the pirate who came flying at her, but she stopped in the nick of time.
“Don’t worry, be happyyy?”
Tama, on the other hand, dodged hers easily and managed to land another light cut on the captain’s leg.
“Urgh! That was damn dirty!”
The captain cursed as he swung his sword toward Tama.
“That seems rich coming from a pirate.”
“I agree with Liza, I declare.”
Liza’s Magic Spear and the vanguard’s Magic Swords swung toward the captain at the same time.
Despite the injuries on his legs, the captain managed to protect himself from all four of them. It was probably due to the difference in level, or maybe the pirate captain was accustomed to fighting solo against a group.
“Awfully stubborn, aren’t you? Jamming Field!”
Arisa’s Space Magic hit the captain, throwing off his balance.
“Now.”
“Right!”
Mia’s bow and Lulu’s Magic Gun pierced the pirate captain’s shoulders, causing him to drop the cutlass and parrying dagger, and the vanguard quickly knocked him out.
Having arrested the pirates, we loaded up the near-sinking galley with people and headed to the nearest harbor.
We had a bit of trouble getting permission to enter at first, but one of the slaves we’d rescued turned out to be something of a celebrity in the port city, so we made it through somehow.
“Now, are you quite certain you wish to release these slaves without any compensation?”
“Of course. They are victims who were captured by the pirates, after all.” I nodded at the official.
The pirates had pretty hefty bounties, and since their levels were relatively high, they earned a good price as criminal slaves as well.
The handful of Fire Rods they had were pretty priceless, too.
“Sir Pendragon, we intend to strike the pirates’ base next. Perhaps you would like to join us?”
“No, I’ll leave that in your capable hands, thank you.”
The baron of the guard, who was already armed and ready, left with his subordinates in tow.
He’d probably invited me along because they had high expectations for the treasure hoard they would find in the pirates’ hideout.
Later that day, we were invited to the mansion of the celebrity we’d freed from slavery for a lavish feast.
There were even a bunch of fantasy-style hostess ladies, but thanks to the iron-wall pair of Arisa and Mia, I wasn’t able to get anywhere near them.
As for the other slaves we’d freed, the celebrity took the lead by starting a new trading company and hiring all of them.
To commemorate the start of their new lives, I presented them with the galley we’d stolen from the pirates.
The newly minted president of the company was very moved and modeled the company’s crest after my surname: a sea serpent wrapped around a spear-like pen. The company even ended up being named the Dragonwrit Trading Company.
“All right, shall we start heading south?”
The next day, I saw that the Weaselman Empire ship tailing us had also turned back toward Sutoandell.
I guess they weren’t planning to follow us all the way through the territory after all.
We spent about half the day heading west on the southerly ship route, until there was no longer anyone around us, at which point we switched to flying mode and started heading south.
“Ahhh, I definitely like the flying mode better.”
“Mm. Pleasant.”
Arisa and Mia seemed pleased that the ship had stopped swaying.
“So a big cut of ootoro is waiting for us in this Ishrallie place, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
Technically, ootoro was a specific cut of the underbelly of the tuna, but there was no point correcting her.
We’d turn them into cuts of meat in no time anyway.
Since there was finally nobody around to see us, we zipped along above the sea at a fast clip. In no time at all, our ship passed out of the Ganika Marquisate area and into monster territory.
“They’re not here…”
For some reason, the tuna I’d been promised didn’t show up on my map search.
“Maybe they’re farther ahead.”
“Yeah.” I nodded.
Arisa was right. If they weren’t here, we just had to keep going until we found them.
They couldn’t escape from my map search, after all.
“Bored.”
As Mia grumbled, Nana was teaching the Shigan language to Rei.
“Larva. Repeat after me, I instruct.”
“Larba.”
“Pay careful attention to the movements of my lips, I request. Larva.”
“Larva.”
She seemed to be teaching Rei some unusual words, but Mia would intervene if it went too far, so it was probably fine.
“So peaceful…”
“Mm.”
Watching their language lesson, Arisa sighed listlessly and flopped onto one of the cushions on the deck. Mia promptly dropped down next to her.
“Peace is a good thing, though.”
“Exactly.”
I nodded in agreement with Lulu.
Tama, who was crawling around on all fours on the deck, looked up at me urgently, so I gave her a signal not to worry the others about it.
She was the only one of the group besides me who’d noticed the level-52 squid kraken charging up to attack us, along with a school of torpedo squid, but I promptly wiped them all out with my new Remote Harpoon spell.
I then stretched my Magic Hand as far as it would go to recover the corpses, but since they were underneath us, I didn’t think anyone noticed.
Like Remote Arrow, the Remote Harpoon spell could fire up to 120 shots at once, so it had no problem making quick work of a level-50-odd monster.
Sadly, the squid kraken didn’t taste particularly good; it had a strong scent of ammonia that no amount of cooking or preparation could wipe out. I could probably use its parts to make armor, ink, and things like that, so I decided to use it that way instead.
On the other hand, the torpedo squid were pretty tasty, so we wound up having squid prepared in all kinds of ways for lunch.
“Delicious.”
“Fried is yummyyy?”
“The boiled squid rings are chewy and good, too, sir.”
The beastfolk girls seemed particularly fond of the fried squid and boiled teriyaki squid rings.
“The sashimi’s pretty good, but squid somen is still my favorite.”
“Yeah, it’s very good. Since the fish is so fresh, it’s nice and jiggly.”
“Yes… It’s very…
Normally, Arisa and I were the only ones who would eat sashimi, but this time Rei was joining in, too.
“Larva, you will get a stomachache, I warn.”
“Mm. Parasites. Danger.”
Nana and Mia tried to steer Rei away from the raw squid.
Unfortunately for them, I’d already checked that there were no parasites or eggs inside.
Silently resolving to make sushi once we finally caught some tuna, I spent the rest of the afternoon working on a tuna knife.
“Satou… Is this…
Rei was still practicing her Shigan as she asked me a question.
I nodded. “
I had forbidden the others from coming to the front part of the deck as I used Elvish alchemy equipment to make orichalcum ingots.
&
nbsp; Rei entered her trance mode for the first time in a while.
“<…Orichalcum. A sacred, mysterious metal that can only be made by the gods and the elves. The technique is so top secret that even the Lalakie dynasty could not replicate it through experimentation.>”
After a few moments, her eyes returned to normal.
“
“
“”
Her amnesia seemed to be slowly wearing off.
“
Rei seemed to want to say something else, but she simply closed her mouth and walked back over to Nana and the others.
I was curious about what she’d wanted to ask, but I didn’t plan on forcing her to say it, so I just went back to work on my tuna knife.
I wasn’t adding any magic circuits to this one, so the work went by fairly quickly.
“They’re not here, either…?”
I finished my tuna knife not long before we entered the next area, but there weren’t any tuna there, either.
We might have to go all the way to Ishrallie to find them at this rate.
Instead, we found something else…
“Whoa, it’s Nessie! A real live Nessie! I wonder if it’ll go pii, pii?”
The sea monster that emerged from the depths looked exactly like a plesiosaur. It seemed to be a related species to the mosasaurus-type creature we saw in the Seadragon Islands.
Since it also resembled a certain cryptid, I sort of understood Arisa’s excitement, but I wasn’t sure why she was quite so worked up.
And where was this pii, pii thing coming from?
“Broiled eel! Prepare to fall into my stomach, I vow!”
Nana seemed to think any sea creature with a long neck was simply an eel waiting to be broiled.
HROOOOARRR!
Reacting to Nana’s taunt, the monster let out a roar that sent tremors through the air.
“Th-that wasn’t a pii at all!”
I didn’t know what exactly Arisa was talking about, but she explained that it had reminded her of some heartfelt story about a child becoming friends with a plesiosaur.
As she did so, she became teary-eyed and tore at a handkerchief with her teeth.