Yuu Tanaka Read online

  lack of a catch. Relaxation was our primary motivation today, so we didn’t mind that

  the fish were slow to come. She periodically gave her rod a tug, taking donuts and

  biscuits out of Pocket Dimension.

  The sailors were anxious about how she was perched, and warned her again and again.

  “Please get off the railing, miss!”

  But after she demonstrated her expertise with Air Hop, they finally let her alone.

  Jerome just laughed it all off.

  “There’s no end to the ocean.”

  Yeah.

  The horizon seemed endless, its stillness broken only by the occasional flying fish and

  dolphins. Eventually, Fran got tired of sitting on the rail and took out a deck chair to

  laze in. Our guard duty was feeling more like an all-expenses-paid cruise. The other

  adventurers came up for their rounds, but they left her alone. Honestly, I thought it

  was because Mordred chose not to comment on her actions, or lack thereof. He was

  confident that Fran was still on the lookout for hostiles, despite looking like she was

  slacking off. If this continued, the whole contract might end up being little more than

  a comfortable cruise.

  Maybe that was what triggered what happened next. Around the afternoon, the

  stillness of the ship was finally broken. Alarm bells sounded four times. That meant

  pirates were inbound.

  Pirates!

  “Let’s go!”

  Fran grabbed me and rushed out of her room. The crew was getting into battle

  positions when she arrived on the top deck. Mordred and the others were already on

  the scene, and they all looked southbound.

  “They’re coming in hot.”

  “Where are the pirates?”

  “Over there.” Mordred pointed to a shape on the waters.

  It was still too far away, and I couldn’t make out what it was. Honestly, I didn’t know

  how they figured out it was a pirate ship.

  “That’s a ship?”

  “No doubt about it! I can see their flag from here!” Jerome declared.

  His eagle eyes amazed me until I turned to him and saw him looking through a

  telescope. That made more sense.

  “Can we outrun them?”

  “Doubt it. Those small vessels can move fast, and the winds aren’t in our favor. We

  should make contact in about an hour.”

  “So we’ll fight.”

  “Count on it. They won’t let us leave without one.”

  That small ship was going to take on this veritable dreadnought? Even if they managed

  to come within boarding range, I still didn’t see how they were going to scale the

  Algieba’s hull. I was sure the pirates must’ve had a plan.

  “That boat’s equipped with a naval ram. They’re going to punch a hole in our side and

  board from there.”

  A battering ram attached to the bow of the ship. Pirates used it mainly as a boarding

  method. Their naval ram was hollowed out, so once it had punched through, the

  pirates were free to board. The bigger the target, the better it worked. A pirate fleet

  would surround a ship and ram into it to stop it in its tracks before boarding like ants.

  It was much safer and more effective than conventional rope ladders.

  “So what’s the plan?”

  “We’ll try to blow them out of the water first with spells and cannons.”

  Sinking ships was the basic form of naval combat. The closer the pirates got, the more

  likely they would be to put a hole in our ship. Still, I thought this was a good opportunity

  to capture the pirates and turn them in for bounty. Not to mention raid their ships.

  Jerome shook his head. “That’s a pain in the ass.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Think about it. We have to escort said pirates all the way to port and throw them in a

  prison where they’ll be well looked after. As for their ship, I would have to put some

  of my crew on there to take it home.”

  But pirates had treasure, which was presumably on their ship.

  Again, Jerome corrected us. “The fact that they’re even bothering to attack us is proof

  that they haven’t dug up anything of value yet.”

  “I see.”

  Fair enough. There was no reason for them to load up on treasure when they had just

  left port.

  “If we were dealing with a large ship, then maybe it’d be worth the trouble. The

  propulsion systems they have installed are worth a lot of money.” Jerome was dead

  serious. The prospect of a merchant vessel plundering a pirate ship was terrifying.

  “Now, the propulsion system on that little dinghy isn’t worth jack squat. If only it was

  a bit bigger. Shame.”

  “So we’re going to blow them up?”

  “They’d cause more trouble if we didn’t.” Jerome didn’t recognize the pirates’ flag. “I

  know most of the fleets that operate in this region.”

  The pirates coming to attack us were no two-bit operation. They had a big enough

  armada to sink a large ship.

  “Probably newcomers from either the north or south.”

  This route was dotted with many small islands ideal for making port, along with a

  healthy traffic of merchant vessels. No wonder this region was highly contested among

  the pirates.

  “Risky business even for them. All the merchant vessels using this route know what

  they’re getting into.” Jerome smiled fearlessly.

  When he put it that way, it was much riskier for the pirates than for the merchants.

  The spats over territory forced the pirates to form a federation as a method of survival.

  These newcomers had probably kicked out the previous federation ruling the route

  and were on their way to becoming the next king of the hill.

  “Letting those five recon ships go would reveal our location and armaments. We need

  to take them out before they can make their report.”

  “I see.”

  But what did that mean for us? Could we join the fight? It was a good thing we had a

  veteran adventurer standing by.

  “What now, Mordred?”

  “We’ll start with a volley of cannon fire. If they come closer, we’ll start attacking with

  spells. All spellcasting adventurers will attack from the top deck.”

  Cannons could reach farther, but if we could hit them, wouldn’t they be able to hit us?

  We asked Jerome and Mordred about the possibility of casualties, but to them it was

  expected. Fortunately, we had another solution.

  “Hey.”

  “What?”

  “Leave this one to me.”

  “What do you have in mind?” Jerome asked.

  “Hm. I’ll go take them out.”

  “Kid, I appreciate the gusto, but can you really do it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I won’t allow anything reckless. We’ve got a long voyage ahead of us, and we still need

  the Black Lightning Princess on board.” Jerome turned to Mordred for help. He

  couldn’t tell whether Fran was kidding.

  The other man gave him a reassuring nod. “You know how A-Ranks aren’t strictly

  human? Well, anyone who can beat an A-Rank is pretty much in the same category. I

  say go for it.”

  I looked at Mordred to see if he was being sarcastic, but there was no trace of flippancy

  on his face. He thought highly of Fran’s abilities. I suppose monstrosity was a word of

  praise in adventuring circles.

  Captain Jerome accepted his counsel. “Alright then. You’re free to do what you want as

  long as you don’t damage the ship.”

  “I won’t. I’ll be off then.”

  “Off?” Jerome tilted his head in confusion—a gesture that didn’t make the middle-aged

  man look any cuter. He probably thought Fran was going to blow them out of the water

  with a big spell, or draw their attention and destroy them.

  “Off to send them to the bottom of the ocean. Jet.”

  “Woof!”

  “Whoa! Was that wolf always this big?!” Jerome and his crew were startled at Jet’s

  actual size.

  Even Mordred took a step back. “Well, well… I’m not sure if I can beat that…”

  Jet crouched to let Fran climb onto his back.

  “Go.”

  “Bark!”

  “I-It’s flying?”

  “The wolf is flying…!”

  “What the hell, that’s crazy!”

  The Algieba’s crew sent us off with cries of astonishment.

  Let’s go higher.

  Cannonballs had a long effective range, but even they were bound by the law of gravity.

  “Got it.”

  “Woof!”

  Jet cut through the sky and moved above the pirate ship. We stopped there for a while

  and observed the pirates. They were looking up at Fran in shock, but they soon

  returned to their senses and readied their arrows. They were aiming for Jet, but our

  direwolf dodged easily. We now knew for sure that these were hostiles.

  Let’s get in there!

  “Hm!”

  We were up against a small fleet of pirates, but the fact remained that their ships were

  quite
small. Barraging them with spells from this height would be easy enough, but

  this was our chance to experiment.

  Let’s try to figure some stuff out.

  “Like what?”

  Like the best way to sink a ship. There’s five of them down there, so let’s use a different

  method to dispose of each one.

  Fortunately, I didn’t feel any strong auras from below. There was no way for these

  pirates to retaliate, making them the perfect test subjects.

  We’ll try out some thunder spells to start.

  “Alright.”

  The last time we were faced with pirates, the best we could do was drop a boulder on

  their ship. But we had grown stronger since then.

  “Kanna Kamuy?”

  No, that would be overkill. It might wipe out all five ships at once.

  That spell was our ace in the hole. It took up so much of our energy that we couldn’t

  cast it over and over. The five-boat fleet was grouped together closely, too, so there

  was a possibility of the lightning pillar electrocuting all of them at once. I wasn’t

  willing to risk it.

  “What about Thunder Bolt?”

  That would be too weak.

  Thunder Bolt was the enhanced version of Stun Bolt, which launched a paralyzing

  electric shock. While highly effective against biotics, I doubted if it could do much

  damage to a boat. Even if it could incapacitate the crew, the ship would still be afloat.

  Maybe a few bolts would be enough to sink it, but the fact remained that it was

  ineffective.

  “Which one, then?”

  I’ll go first. There’s something I want to try…

  I concentrated the powerful spell. While not on the level of a Kanna Kamuy, this spell

  was still highly advanced. I used it against a couple of monsters when I first got it, so I

  was curious how a pirate ship would react to it.

  Here goes!

  “Hm!”

  Ekato Keraunos!

  A gigantic magic circle appeared in the sky, gathering countless bolts of lightning

  together. Once charged, it came down on the ship, exploding it to splinters. Not even

  the mast was left behind, just tiny wooden chips floating on the water.

  Hmm… maybe that was still overkill.

  Ekato Keraunos was a Level 9 thunder spell. It cast a hundred bolts of lightning over a

  given area, although you could focus all of them into one spot once you were used to

  it. Although its power was only a tenth of Kanna Kamuy, it was more than enough to

  obliterate a small naval vessel.

  The pirates stopped what they were doing as soon as they saw us destroy the first

  ship. Their blood ran cold. Many of them thought it was a freak accident—that there

  was no way Fran was the immediate cause of such destruction. From their perspective,

  it looked like one of their ships was the victim of an act of the gods.

  “My turn.”

  Go for it.

  “Hm.”

  The pirates were about to learn that Fran was indeed the source of their misfortune.

  “Thor’s Hammer!”

  Fran formed a medium-size magic circle on top of the next boat. The circle was ten

  meters in diameter, much smaller than the one I’d summoned for Ekato Keraunos. This

  was the Level 8 thunder spell that Phelms had managed to disperse during the fighting

  tournament.

  BOOOOM!

  With an atmosphere-splitting rumble, a powerful bolt of lightning crashed down on

  the ship. The hull split in two, and the debris burnt to ashes. As its name suggested,

  the effect was much like the hammer of an angry thunder god. The split ship charred

  and smoked before sinking to the seabed.

  That worked great.

  “Hm.”

  Thor’s Hammer was perfect for this occasion. It sank the ship without being overkill,

  which was exactly what I was looking for. The sight of the sinking ship reminded me

  of how perfectly Phelms had rendered it ineffective. High-rank adventurers really

  were monsters.

  Let’s go lower this time.

  “What will we do?”

  Put a hole in one of them, it’s the basic way of sinking an enemy ship.

  “Really?”

  Yep. So here’s what we’ll do.

  I cast Flare Explode, a Level 4 flame spell, under the surface of the sea.

  KABOOOM!

  Well, that didn’t go as expected.

  “You made a hole in it, though.”

  No, I didn’t go low enough. That hole won’t make it sink.

  The spell didn’t work as it should underwater. Then again, I guessed Flame Magic and

  water were never meant to go together.

  “What now?”

  Let me try something out.

  I cast another Flare Explode, but this time I used a wind spell to wrap the fireball in

  air and prevent it from coming into direct contact with the water. A loud explosion

  soon followed, and as expected, a hole appeared in the bottom of the ship. I thought I

  was on to something with underwater flame spells, but it didn’t look like it was going

  to work out. Odd, because I remembered watching a documentary in my past life

  about how explosions were far more potent underwater… Perhaps magic didn’t follow

  conventional physics.

  I’d targeted the ship’s propulsion system, so it should be toast by now. While it wasn’t

  sinking, it could no longer move, and it was only a matter of time before it went down.

  The problem with this method was that it allowed the crew time to run away.

  I’ll fire a couple more.

  “Sure.”

  I launched five more Flare Explodes to obliterate the hull. The more holes in a ship,

  the faster it sank. Soon, ship number three was no more. Flare Explode wasn’t the most

  effective method—we had to get close to the enemy and it took too much time. It was

  nearly impossible to defend against, but Thor’s Hammer was definitely faster.

  Next.

  “What’s the plan now?”

  Let’s try Telekinetic Catapult. I haven’t gone all out in a while.

  “Sure.”

  I focused my energy into Telekinesis and wrapped myself in multiple Elemental

  Blades. This full-power Telekinetic Catapult was further boosted with Fran’s Wind

  Magic. I used as much mana as I could, ignoring the damage I was taking to my blade.

  I was curious to see how much havoc I could wreak when it was fully charged.

  “Ready?”

  Ready! Let it rock!

  “Haaaa!”

  Fran cast her wind spell and threw me with supersonic speed. I used Telekinesis to

  accelerate even further. I hadn’t moved so fast in a long time!

  Yahoo!

  I sped toward the pirate ship with the trajectory of a falling star. I went through one of

  the masts, causing it to crumple, then punched a hole through the bases of the other

  masts. I charged on through the pirate ship, piercing every pillar and wall that stood

  in my way.

  Raaaargh!

  Eventually I shot out the other side, leaving behind a sizable exit wound. I could only

  see the damage I had done in hindsight. I only remembered being thrown by Fran and

  breaking through a mast. Next thing I knew I was underwater.

  I returned to Fran’s side, and we surveyed the damage. There was a large hole through

  the center of the ship and down into the blue waters below. I’d done a lot more damage

  than I’d thought. Still, overcharging Elemental Blades had cost durability, and it was

  going to take a lot of mana to recover.

  “Last one. What’s the plan?”

  They’re getting away, so we should sink them as soon as possible…

  What else could we use? Maybe a strong gust of wind from the opposite direction. We

  could capsize it if all went well.

  But Fran had another idea. “Can I take this one?”

  Sure. What do you have in mind?

  “You’ll have to help me.”

  Oh. Well, alright, then!

  “So—”