Skeleton Knight in Another World Vol. 5

by Ennki Hakari

  We quickly started pulling away from them, making their surprise arrival all for naught.

  “I’ve heard that the humans operate under the guise of pirates in order to get their hands on elven ship technology. But it looks like we can probably just ignore them.” Ariane shrugged as it became apparent that they were no match for us.

  The “pirate” ships were nothing compared to our vessel, though they were clearly a step above the kinds of ships pirates might usually command. They looked to be more in line with the countless ships I’d seen docked back in the port town of Lamburt.

  Before I could dwell on it further, my thoughts were interrupted by two thunderous blasts that rocked the ship. I looked over and saw that two of the large cannons on the deck had just fired on the pirates.

  A loud whistling sound cut through the air. The next moment, a large splash erupted near one of the pirate ships.

  The first shot missed, sending a pillar of water high into the air. The next shot, however, struck the ship’s mast, smashing it in two. Even at a distance, I could hear the crew shouting aboard the injured vessel.

  I remembered hearing once that naval combat was incredibly difficult, since the slightest wave could rock the ship and dramatically alter its aim. However, direct hits weren’t necessary when you were using explosive rounds—they would destroy everything in their vicinity. In that respect, they were a lot like the Burst Spheres I’d seen in the Houvan uprising.

  With one of the ships taken out of the fight, the other immediately reduced its speed to assist its companion. The Rievbelta began picking up speed again, leaving the two ships in its wake.

  I was truly impressed at the sight. “Those human ships are no match for the likes of a mana cannon…”

  “Well,” Ariane replied, “they’re generally meant for fending off monsters, not fighting off pirate ships.”

  “Oh?”

  It wasn’t until she said that that I realized there might be monsters in the ocean. I supposed it only made sense that things would be much the same on the water as they were on the plains and in the forests.

  The early morning light reflected off the expansive blue sea, broken only by the occasional whitecap. I placed my hand right above my eyebrow and squinted my eyes, looking out at the endless ocean and sky, but couldn’t see anything among the waves that looked like it could pose a threat to the Rievbelta.

  Back on land, I’d run into grand dragons, massive stone frogs, and even a Dragon Lord. It stood to reason that similar monsters lived out here in the ocean.

  While I was doing my best to enjoy the scenery, I decided to ask Ariane for more information. “What kind of monsters require such powerful weaponry?”

  Goemon’s ears perked up at this, apparently intrigued as well. Whatever it was had to be enormous in order to necessitate those massive cannons.

  Chiyome looked up from where she stood at the edge of the deck. “Probably the most well-known and dangerous monster out here in the South Central Sea is the kraken. I haven’t actually seen it myself, but it’s said to be so massive that it could swallow a ship whole. It has a large head, with countless tentacles stretching out from it…or so I hear.”

  Chiyome focused her azure eyes off into the distant waters, her arms resting on the ship’s railing. She wasn’t one to get easily excited, but judging by the way her tail was swishing back and forth, there was something about this seafaring voyage that made her more animated than usual.

  While I gazed at the young cat girl, I tried conjuring up the mysterious kraken she’d just described.

  “Larger than a whole ship, and a head connected to countless tentacles, huh?”

  When I thought of a kraken, I imagined something like a giant squid, octopus, or mollusk. If one assumed that everything from the eyes of a squid up was its head, then I supposed it fit the description.

  I shook my head to rid it of the image of a monster big enough to smash the Rievbelta in two. The thing would have to be at least a hundred meters long in order to be a match for this ship.

  “I’m betting human ships without armaments like this don’t stand a chance against a kraken.”

  I wasn’t sure even cannons would be enough to properly fight back. In the case of humans, who didn’t have such technology, their bell would pretty much be rung the moment they ran into the kraken…unless they had some sort of other long-range weapons.

  Chiyome looked up from the water. “The story of the kraken really began spreading back during the military campaigns that preceded the Revlon Empire splitting in two. The empire sent out a great fleet to expand its lands on the southern continent. Every single ship was wiped out by the kraken.”

  As Chiyome spoke, I recalled the story about how the Jinshin clan’s founder, Hanzo, operated behind the scenes as the empire began falling apart. She’d mentioned this before our attack on the Etzat slave market, back in the capital of the Rhoden Kingdom.

  It was partially thanks to Hanzo’s string-pulling that the various factions had broken off over who would assume the imperial throne, leading to the empire eventually splitting into two.

  After digging up this long-forgotten memory, I turned my attention back to Chiyome.

  “You mentioned before that your founder, Hanzo, got caught up in some…activities, in an attempt to relieve his people of their role as imperial spies. Was the failed southern campaign the impetus for that?”

  She nodded. “They actually sent two large fleets, but both met with complete disaster, causing the seated emperor to lose influence.”

  I had no idea how much these fleets might have cost, but even a single boat was hardly cheap. Losing two fleets on campaigns in foreign lands would have been more than enough to rob any ruler of their influence.

  The kraken had been the tipping point that caused an entire empire to split in two.

  And yet…

  “That had to have been quite a streak of bad luck for the emperor.”

  Ariane shook her head firmly, finally breaking her silence. “The kraken saw the shadows of the ships on the sea floor and mistook them for a school of fish. If you take a fleet into the kraken’s waters, it’s only a matter of time until it’s littering the ocean floor. That’s why ships out here always travel alone.”

  “Huh. I see.”

  Ariane let out a dramatic sigh and shrugged her shoulders. But judging by the interested looks on Chiyome and Goemon’s faces, this was all new to them. I decided to follow suit and nod along as well.

  Given that our ship was far larger than anything the humans sailed, it struck me that we were a rather conspicuous target compared to most ships that made the voyage alone. I asked Ariane about this, but she simply cocked her head, then looked over the side of the ship at the water below.

  “I don’t know the specifics, but maybe this ship’s too fast? Besides, the human vessels didn’t have any weapons capable of fending off the kraken.”

  While Ariane was talking, a strong wind blew across the ship, whipping Ponta’s tail into the air and sending my furry companion into a panic.

  “Kyii! Kyiiiii!”

  As if on cue, the ship’s bell began chiming.

  An elf standing watch in the crow’s nest atop the ship’s highest mast started shouting, pointing toward something near the front of the ship.

  A moment later, a man’s voice boomed all around us, echoing through a metal tube installed throughout the ship. He issued a simple warning to the whole crew.

  “The kraken has been sighted off the ship’s bow! I repeat, the kraken has been sighted off the ship’s bow!”

  The man began issuing orders, and silence enveloped the ship as the crew moved to their stations with a cool confidence.

  I looked where the man had been pointing and focused my eyes on the vast ocean that spread in every direction. I couldn’t believe I was about to see the kraken that Chiyome had told me about only moments before.

  However, all I could see was the unending ocean. I pushed myself up onto
the ship’s railing in order to get a better look, but I still couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. I decided to ask if Chiyome was having any better luck.

  “I don’t really see anything that looks like a kraken over here. How about you, Chiyome?”

  She gave her head a firm shake, apparently also coming up empty. “Nope, nothing here, either.”

  Goemon cast a stern gaze across the waters, but also seemed to be coming up empty-handed.

  The ship started taking evasive maneuvers, swerving through the waters like a snake and tilting drastically from side to side. Above us, I could hear the slapping of the sails as the wind buffeted them with incredible force.

  I glanced across the ship and noticed that all of the elf crew members and passengers were staring starboard. The mountain people, all the other passengers, were frantically looking around in every direction. I wondered if maybe…

  I turned my gaze toward Ariane, who shot back a brief smile and nod before returning her attention to the sea.

  “Can you sense it, too, Arc? Whenever the kraken breaks through the surface, it summons up a gust of wind to serve as cover. At this distance, there’s no way to spot it. Only elves are able to pierce its veil, thanks to our ability to see mana.”

  I once again looked starboard and squinted hard.

  As an elf myself, technically, I could do the same, but it seemed like my ability to see mana was weaker than even that of dark elves, which was already inferior to other elves.

  Maybe it was just too far off, but for some reason or other, all I could see was the endless blue sea.

  “By blending into the scenery, you won’t even know it’s on you until it’s too late…” I was stunned to silence as I realized just what kind of power the kraken had.

  Chiyome made no effort to hide her surprise. “I didn’t know the kraken could do that…”

  The kraken must have had some sort of camouflage. I knew that squids, octopuses, and the like were able to change the colors of their bodies to blend into their surroundings, but the type of active camouflage at play here seemed like something entirely out of this world.

  …Or maybe not. The fact that people who could see mana were able to see through the illusion implied that this was some sort of magical beast using a magical ability to pull this off.

  “We don’t know what brings the kraken up to the surface, but it’s the elves’ job to spot it as soon as they can, even when it’s hiding in plain sight. This one’s pretty big, almost like a mountain peeking out of the ocean.” Ariane sounded rather proud of her people as she spoke, though her surprise was evident in how wide her eyes went as she estimated the size of the as-yet-unseen kraken.

  A part of me was disappointed that I wasn’t able to see this rather impressive spectacle unfolding before us. I let out a sigh and put my chin on the ship’s railing, hoping we’d make it through this safely.

  The other non-elven passengers moved uneasily about the ship, looks of disappointment on their faces as they returned below deck.

  “Is the kraken not going to take up the chase?”

  I stared blankly out at sea as I watched the deck slowly clear out of the corner of my eye.

  Ariane stretched out her back and knocked on the ship’s railing. “A kraken can’t keep up with a ship this fast, at least…not one that’s older than a youngling. And running into one of those is incredibly rare.”

  Before she’d even finished this sentence, Ponta began fidgeting atop my head. A moment later, the ship rocked violently, and the cottontail fox slid backward down my helmet.

  “Kyiiiiii!”

  “What was that?”

  I pushed Ponta back up and scanned our surroundings. Goemon was looking at the rear of the ship with a hard stare, evidently having picked up on a strange presence.

  I heard a shout from the stern.

  “Youngling kraken spotted portside!”

  Everyone on the deck froze.

  A moment later, I heard a loud, eerie screeching noise as the monster struck the ship. It sounded almost like a cry of joy.

  “Everyone, to the aft of the ship!”

  “Anyone who isn’t at their station loses his share!”

  “We’ve been waiting for this moment, kraken!”

  The mountain people, who just moments before had been forlornly heading back down into the ship’s holds, were now scrambling back up to the deck, armed to the teeth and racing toward the aft of the ship.

  The sight was almost beyond belief. They were running like the doors had just opened at a department store during a closeout sale.

  The elven crew and passengers, however, looked on with more than a bit of confusion at the scene unfolding before them. A trait shared by these both species was that neither of them appeared to be overcome or surprised by the sudden monster attack at sea, something that, under normal circumstances, could be a tragedy in the making.

  “It feels almost like a festival is about to start. I guess maybe we should join in too?” I spoke aloud, to no one in particular, as I drew my Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg and took off toward the aft of the ship. Goemon followed closely after me, clanging his gauntlets together as he ran.

  Once I arrived, I was confronted with a hellish scene. The mountain people were doing their best to attack what looked like a massive, ten-meter-tall squid. For what was supposedly a youngling kraken, it certainly seemed more than big enough to pose a threat. However, with all those heavily armed mountain people moving about, it looked like a field of flowers being trampled by a herd of cattle.

  Still, it certainly deserved its reputation as a demon of the sea. I watched as it used its huge tentacles to slam the mountain people into the ship’s deck. That didn’t stop them, of course. The mountain people pulled themselves up, wiped the blood from their faces, and rushed back into the fray with their weapons raised. It was quite an inspirational sight.

  One mountain person—a wolf perhaps—severed one of the kraken’s thick tentacles and let out a piercing howl. I caught sight of another of the kraken’s long tentacles coming in toward the wolf’s back, but before I had time to react, a large figure brushed past me.

  It was Goemon. Just before the tentacle could strike the wolf, Goemon caught her and yanked her down to the deck with one arm, the tentacle slicing audibly through the air over their heads mere moments later.

  I closed in after Goemon and swung my sword in a clean, upward motion, cutting the tentacle in two. It slammed down hard on the ship’s deck with a dull thud.

  “Don’t let your guard down!” I called out to the wolf, whose forehead was starting to turn red from where Goemon had slammed her into the ship’s deck. I shook the water off my blade.

  “Th-thanks for the save!”

  Goemon caught my eye as he stood up. I could see a smile forming on his lips as we each threw out an arm, our fists connecting.

  I heard a cheer and turned my gaze back toward the mountain people, who were already cheering as they closed in on the rapidly weakening kraken. I slid my sword back into my sheath.

  “That was a lot easier than I expected.”

  The wolf we’d saved walked over to me, carrying with her the severed tentacle. She tossed the unwieldy appendage to me. “This is all yours! What will you do with it?”

  Judging by everyone’s cheers and how they were acting, I could only come to one conclusion. “You don’t actually…eat it, do you?”

  While the kraken might be considered a monster, it was, at the end of the day, a giant squid. Cooking and eating it was the only real use I could think of.

  Apparently, I was spot on.

  “That’s right! It’s mighty tasty when it’s fresh like this, maybe with just a sprinkle of salt. Or you could always roast it up and have it with some liquor. It’s absolutely magnificent!”

  “Kyii kyiiiiii!”

  “…”

  Ponta was quick to respond to the wolf’s recommendations. Though Goemon responded in his usual, stoic manner, he see
med to be keenly eyeing the tentacle.

  Ariane and Chiyome finally arrived just as the wolf was finishing up her long speech on the many ways to eat a kraken. I held the tentacle up in their direction and asked if they were interested, though their reactions were split.

  Ariane, for her part, shook her head quickly and stepped away, while Goemon and Chiyome closed in toward me, the latter’s tail wagging about excitedly.

  I could feel Ponta smacking its paws against the top of my helmet, demanding attention.

  “Fine, fine. Calm down, Ponta. I’ll make sure you get your share.”

  “Kyiii!”

  Now that the battle was won, the crew were busily spreading out, cutting up, and preparing their take of the kraken right on the deck of the ship. The once-massive ten-meter squid was now gone. In its place were large pieces of meat strung up by the ropes that held the Rievbelta’s sails in place. They looked almost like macabre flags fluttering in the wind.

  After talking it over, Goemon, Chiyome, and I decided to roast it as the wolf had recommended. But before we could cook the meat, we’d need to let it dry. After washing away the blood with some sea water, I cut the flesh into thin slices to help it dry out easier. It was all a rather simple affair, but my mouth watered at the thought of our upcoming feast.

  The very idea of roasting squid immediately brought to mind the taste of soy sauce and sake, but unfortunately, even the elves didn’t have any good substitutes for those. Besides, it wasn’t really the time or place to complain about the lack of creature comforts.

  Ponta and Chiyome’s tails swished back and forth in sync as they looked up at the drying kraken meat. It was a rather heartwarming sight.

  After digging through my bag for a bit, I pulled out my waterskin, slid a straw through the opening, and took a sip of the water I’d again taken from the hot spring at the base of the Lord Crown that morning. I then pulled the drawing supplies I’d bought in Landfrea out of my bag. We still had some time until the kraken would be ready to cook.