Chapter 43 - Beg and Beg Again (1)

—If this is true, doesn’t that mean we have to kill a dragon?

After the Hero, the Demon Knight, and the young Thief left to wipe out the pirates, the Archmage did what she had to do.

It was the task of urging the Magic Tower, which was dragging its feet despite clear evidence because it didn't want to risk any losses.

—Is there even an expert capable of killing a dragon?

She closed her eyes for a moment as she watched the people adding their two cents through the communication crystal.

—Never mind an expert, shouldn't we be discussing how to even approach the dragon first? The Sea Dragon lives in the ocean.

—Leave me out of it. I have enough of a headache dealing with the mermen and my grandson's issues.

—Do you think you're the only one? We barely made time for this too, you know?

She had explained to the party that the Magic Tower operated on practicality, but in truth, it was even worse. Beyond practicality, there were many cases where they would only move if it piqued the interest of the Great Sages who held the decision-making power.

—Ah, right. What about the Hero? We have the Hero. Can't the Hero do it?

—Gruh Telz is close to the Main Temple. Let's dump it on them.

And that was also the reason why she was the only Great Sage supporting the Hero.

"The Hero will naturally step forward. Their companions will not forsake their duty either. And the Main Temple won't ignore this matter, of course."

The Archmage sometimes thought that the world had been at a standoff with Satan for too long.

Usually when the defensive lines, barely formed through fierce wars, were now taken for granted. Or when she witnessed those who no longer felt grateful to the warriors who laid down their lives to stop the demons.

—What, then aren't we good?

And... when she had to face mages who were busy satisfying their own interests instead of creating magic to reduce the sacrifices of those warriors.

Those were the times she ended up having such thoughts.

"How could that be enough? Just as White Wind pointed out, the Hero can only use their strength if they have a way to approach the dragon."

But she couldn't just wallow in despair over it.

"So stop making excuses and cooperate."

When the young ones were working hard without resting for even a moment, she couldn't afford to sit idle.

—Ah, wait, wait. About the Hero's companion who joined up recently. Is it true? The one who not only houses a demon in his body but also knows how to convert demonic energy into mana.

—What?? I haven't heard about that!

—Is that really okay? Shouldn't he be killed?

—If he's fine, I'd like to get a part of his body as a specimen.

"That is none of your business, so shut up and cooperate. Please."

... Looking after the well-being of the person who ended up joining them was also a task she couldn't overlook.

* * *

"Sir, are you sure you're really okay?"

'Shut up... I know already...'

"Jeez."

I leaned against the deckhouse and covered my entire eye area with my raised hand. My lower face must have looked terribly pale despite that, because DeB and the Inquisitor completely refused to leave my side.

That was even more annoying. Because of them, I had to keep being conscious of my surroundings with what little energy I had left.

"Should I bring some medicine if you're struggling that much?"

'These bastards really... I'm already struggling, don't make me act on top of this...!'

"...ost."

"Pardon?"

"I said stop making a racket and get lost...!"

They only listen when I actually throw a fit! I lowered my hand and warned them, scraping my vocal cords with a deeply scrunched face. That still worked, as the two of them flinched and backed away. They were like a pair of mutts.

"It seems he's gotten a bit better now."

"It might be because this ship is bigger than the one we rode yesterday."

"Do you get more seasick on a small ship than a big one?"

"... Do you not?"

"Of course it gives you worse seasickness since it rocks more in the waves. Look at you asking back without even knowing that."

"... You bastard!"

Rather than just backing off, the two of them started bickering again. My buddy used to act like that with his younger sister. A faint memory came to mind for a moment before fading away.

'That's just because he treated his sister so poorly; real siblings wouldn't act like that. Mmhmm. Absolutely.'

"Hey, won't you keep it down?"

Just as I was overcoming my seasickness with the illusions of an only child, someone shouted in a stern voice. With a scar on his cheek, he had an appearance that wouldn't have looked out of place on a pirate if not for his standardized soldier uniform.

"Ah, my apologies."

"So touchy."

Regardless, since we hadn't even spotted any enemies yet, it shouldn't be a crime to chat a little. I thought he was being unusually sensitive. It definitely wasn't just because those two annoying guys got intimidated that I felt that way.

"I see ships engaged in combat!"

But it wasn't long before an incident reared its head. When I somehow narrowed my dizzy vision, I saw two ships resting on the horizon.

The smaller one was running away from the larger one, making it look more like a pursuit than a battle.

"Chase them!"

Three fast ships hurriedly adjusted their sails and headed in that direction. I wondered if the other side would just run away like this, but I figured sailors had their own ways of dealing with it.

"Are they pirates?"

"The carrack definitely belongs to the Bipurit Pirates, and the caravel looks like... a civilian ship!"

However, the tailwind didn't do anything to ease my seasickness. I forcefully swallowed my nausea.

*'If you turned my brain into mush and shook it, it would probably feel something like this.' * I had already swallowed that kind of complaint over five times.

"Sir, are you sure you can fight?"

'I don't even know anymore. If I'm already like this, how the hell am I going to hunt a dragon?'

Slowly realizing my limits, I took a deep breath. The salty air traveling through my nose and reaching my lungs made me feel slightly better, only to immediately make me feel worse with the subsequent rocking of the boat.

'I want to become seaweed in the ocean.'

"... You just worry about your own body."

Still, it wasn't so bad that I couldn't get up like yesterday.

I didn't know if it was because the ship was bigger, or because the waves were rougher on the northern coast than here. But since my condition was even a little better, it felt like I could move.

So I delivered a line fitting my concept—though I wasn't entirely sure if it fit, since I didn't have the mental capacity to review it—and pushed my back off the wall I had been leaning against.

THUD.

My legs almost gave out for a moment. If I hadn't quickly put my back against the wall again, I might have fallen to my knees once more.

"..."

Even though my eyes were covered by my hood, I could somehow tell that DeB was looking at me with pity.

"... Look away."

"Yep."

'... I did want to change my concept to something a little lighter, but I didn't want it to shatter like this...'

「A hostile target exists within a 30m radius.」

"Prepare for combat!"

In the meantime, the distance between our warship and the engaged ships had closed.

The carrack must have finally lost the caravel, as it was left all alone, turning right to avoid us. The caravel was turning left, moving further away from us.

"Seeing them run away, that other ship might be pirates too."

"Looking at the speed and the shape of the ship, I think it's the Windhand."

"Privateers are pirates too. Tsk. If only they were closer."

"Should we signal the ship in the back to chase them?"

"Just send one ship. Though if it's really the Windhand, we won't be able to catch them anyway."

The ship we thought was a civilian vessel must have actually been something infamous, because the commander of the warship chewed on a curse.

Of course, he didn't ignore the pirates that had practically rolled right in front of him just because of that.

"Catch that carrack!"

With only one of the three warships breaking formation, the remaining two ships began attacking the carrack in earnest.

"Throw it!"

Our ship, positioned at the front, was the first to throw its grappling hooks. The hooks tied to the ends of the ropes flew through the air by the hands of veteran sailors and latched onto the railing of the pirate ship.

「Pirate | Marauders wandering the sea. Freedom and romance have fallen before greed.」

The system, which hadn't worked during the Dragon Tooth Warriors incident, was actually doing its job today.

"Reinforcements!"

"Kill them!"

"We win if we hold out!"

"We'll be hanged if we get caught anyway!"

"Fight back!"

The pirates didn't just sit back and watch. Hacking at the ropes with dull blades, they desperately tried to stop us from boarding.

Since pirates were said to be executed on the spot without trial—either by hanging or beheading—that meaningless flailing was likely their own struggle for survival.

However, the two ships were now perfectly connected, even if only by ropes. The pirate ship had nowhere left to run.

"Phew. It's finally a fight."

"I shall definitely punish them."

Just as those two said, it was our turn now. We came here to fight, after all. Which meant I had to cross over and fight now too...

I covered my mouth and braced myself against the deckhouse wall. Seeing my slightly stumbling legs, DeB swore and tried to support me.

"What the, Sir, you're not okay at all!"

'Yeah. Honestly, fighting with a face pale as a ghost probably isn't a wise choice.'

'But backing down here, that's just not right. Losing to seasickness, of all things, just wouldn't look good.'

'Besides, if the main quest ends up involving the sea, how am I supposed to progress then? I'm not a big fan of the "effort solves everything" mindset, but if it's my only option, I have to try.'

I swatted away the hand trying to support me and somehow stood firmly on my two legs. Then I took a deep breath to clear my lungs, and immediately stepped forward.

*Thump*, went one step. *Thud*, went the second step. *Tap*, went the third step, which was the sound of me stepping onto the railing.

"..."

"Demon Knight!"

*CRUNCH! * The railing failed to withstand my leap and shattered. In exchange, my body was already soaring through the air.

THUMP.

After jumping the distance between the two ships in a single bound, I stepped onto the rope. The balance only needed to not heavily collapse to one side. With momentum, the center of gravity is surprisingly easy to maintain.

CREAK.

Because of the sudden addition of weight and impact, the grappling hook supporting the rope twisted, but it didn't come loose easily. My body sprinted across the rope and reached the pirate ship in an instant.

"Kill hi—?!"

'Moving around this much actually feels a bit better. At least my body, which didn't even feel like my own, is moving exactly as I direct it.'

I let those stray thoughts wash away and lightly bounced up. *THWACK! * A pirate's blade embedded itself into the railing I had just stepped on, and my leaping body stomped right into the face of the pirate who swung the sword.

And while still in a high jump, I slammed straight down. I didn't use my sword. If you envelop your body with energy, you can still replicate the form of a skill.

Breaker. The skill executed through my leg struck the center of the pirate ship's deck.

CRASH!

A spectacular crack, or rather, a luxurious fissure, was carved into the wooden deck. It was a crater that caved in layer by layer starting from the impact zone.

The ship lurched violently a couple of times.

"Hoo."

'Ah, the shaking is bringing back the nausea.'

With the back of my hand against my mouth, I stood with my feet spread as wide as possible. The dust trapped between the deck planks and the sawdust generated by the shattering wood rose in a hazy cloud around my ankles before settling back down.

"A k-knight?!"

"Dammiiiit! What are you doing! Kill him!"

'Since our allies haven't crossed over yet, is it just pirates on this ship for now?'

'Good. Honestly, I wasn't confident in distinguishing friend from foe in a melee, so this works out perfectly.'

I focused on the immediate task at hand to ignore the rising urge to vomit. The most pressing matter was dodging the approaching blade.

Perhaps dizziness dulls in the face of survival instincts, as I easily dodged the first blade.

Because I dodged by spinning, my fluttering hem brushed past the pirate as my forearm smashed right into the back of his neck.

THUD!

When one guy falls, the next enemy approaches. A blade was slashing downward from above to cleave me in two.

I quickly drew my sword with my right hand—even in a reverse grip—and tilted it diagonally to block the blade. *CLANG! * A crisp, sharp metallic ring echoed out as a thrusting attack closed in from my flank.

"Hup!"

If there was no angle to dodge, I just had to make one. I stepped forward and shoved the enemy away. If I poured mana into my legs to reinforce them, pushing an opponent away was child's play.

I also deflected his sword upward to knock it away, and then accurately planted my left fist into his wide-open body.

SMACK!

Struck in the solar plexus, the enemy folded like a flip phone and flew away.

CLANG!

I consecutively readjusted my grip to a forward hold, quickly lowering my arm to block another incoming attack.

Suddenly, the ship lurched and ruined my balance, but it was actually a boon for me. Like I was bouncing, I took another step with my foot that was leaning forward and smashed my fist into the pirate's head.

It was a devastating blow.

"Urp."

'It would have been even better if the seasickness hadn't immediately hit me. Uaargh.'

I hurriedly covered my mouth and tried to maintain my posture. It was only natural that the other pirates aimed for that brief opening.

So I was thinking of at least attempting a Ground Crash by jumping up and landing again, but...

SLASH.

"You always seem to leave your back wide open, Sir."

It seemed there was no need for that. DeB, who had crossed over at some point without me knowing, slit a pirate's throat with his kukri.

CLANG!

"Or was that unnecessary?"

'It wasn't to that extent, but it wasn't something worth praising either.'

Instead of answering, I sprang forward again toward an approaching enemy. It was time for my cumbersome longsword to go into its scabbard for a moment.

SWISH.

I lightly leaped and stepped on the enemy's arm.

The hand of the enemy thrusting his sword forward plummeted downward as it was crushed by my combat boot, and then his face was immediately smashed by my knee.

*Tilt. * The enemy and my body fell over at the same time.

I dodged the blade coming in a horizontal slash next by bending my waist, then struck his flank with my fist. That caused the enemy's waist to bend slightly, creating the perfect angle for me to strike his head as I raised my upper body.

SMACK!

The pirate immediately tumbled backward from a single punch.

"These bastards!"

After taking out a few more guys like that, the pirate ship and the warship had almost completely drawn together. It was a matter of course that the Inquisitor, who hadn't been able to cross over due to his relatively sluggish body—or perhaps his weight—was now preparing to come over.

"Face, your judgment!"

With the Inquisitor crossing over, the tide of battle completely shifted to our side. Divine radiance rained down upon the pirates.

It was a moment where neither the city guard nor the other adventurers participating in the request even got a proper taste of the action.

* * *

"Always so pointlessly strong."

The deck, which had already been half-destroyed by my kick, now had a massive hole blown through it by the Inquisitor's fiery mace swings.

I worried that the ship might sink, but fortunately, it didn't go that far.

"What did you say?"

"I said you're strong?"

I began to reasonably suspect that DeB lived for the thrill of making fun of the Inquisitor. Right around then, a pirate on the verge of execution screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Lord Bipurit will cut off your wrists someday and throw you into the sea as fish food!"

The reaction to those words was as follows.

"Bipurit will what? Cut off our wrists and serve us as fish food?"

"If he has that kind of capability, tell him to take back the island he lost to his brother first!"

"Ahahaha!"

Wahaha. The sailors' mockery immediately followed.

"Bipurit? Who is that?"

"What, you don't even know that?"

"... Right, I don't know. Do you know something?"

"Hah, of course I know. Wouldn't you be an idiot not to know?"

At DeB's jab, the Inquisitor looked furious. The problem was... I didn't know either. *'What is it?' *

"He's the former lord of the Yabad Region, the massive island separated from the mainland."

'... And where the hell is the Yabad Region?'

When I peeked at the Archmage's map last time, there was a massive island at around the seven or eight o'clock direction if going clockwise. Was it that one?

"The lords over there secretly permit privateers, but he operated pirates way too openly and bought people's backlash. That's also why he had his castle taken away by his brother."

While I was pondering Yabad's location, DeB continued his explanation. It was foundational knowledge required to understand the sailors' mockery.

"So you're saying he was kicked out."

"After that, he just straight up called himself the Pirate King and is now going around robbing every merchant ship he sees."

"The Yabad Region is much further south than here. There shouldn't be any reason for him to come all this way."

"How am I supposed to know how pirates think? Maybe they ran low on food because of the Sea Dragon issue."

'Well. Unlike the northern coastline, the aftermath hasn't heavily impacted Gruh Telz yet. Considering that, wouldn't the Yabad Region, which is further south—presumably—be even more intact?'

"Or maybe they were targeting that ship from earlier. The Windhand is a famous privateer captain."

"Hah, can trash even be famous?"

"They say his navigation skills are so excellent that rumors go around about him controlling the sea, so he could be famous. Among sailors, he's apparently considered a descendant of Soldini, the War God of the Sea."

DeB said that and pointed to one side. It was our warship that had received orders earlier, broken formation, and chased after the caravel.

Given that the ship was completely undamaged, it seemed they had lost them.

"At the very least, he seems skilled enough to shake off a warship. Assuming that caravel really belongs to the Windhand."

"Even so, trash is trash."

At the Inquisitor's hardline words, DeB merely shrugged as if he knew he'd say that. However, my attention was drawn to one part of what DeB had said.

A captain with navigation skills so excellent that rumors said he controlled the sea. I didn't know who Soldini was, but an individual considered the descendant of the War God of the Sea anyway.

'Somehow, isn't it completely obvious that we'll need him for the Sea Dragon raid?'