kscans

Chapter 115 - The Battle at Sea and the Second Strategy (Part 1)

Mizuki and I scrambled back to the carrack using the ropes, and the lines connecting us to the sinking galley were immediately cut. Our ship began to slowly drift down the river, but the detached galley didn't move from its spot. After watching for a moment, I regrouped with Aira. Cecily was with Marmi, her hands held out toward the floating Crystal Core, maintaining the magical defensive barrier. Wake was guarding them. I scanned the deck and found Avea. Doris was beside her, apparently tending to those injured in the mutiny.

"The rebellion is dealt with. Looks like you let yours get away,"

she said. She must have seen Takamura flying toward the galley ship.

"I cut off his arm. He won't be able to fight anymore."

"Did you let him go on purpose? He'll report our detailed situation. You're too soft,"

Avea sighed, exasperated. But whether they knew our situation or not, we were out of options.

"I made a deal. I'm hoping he'll become an ally one day."

"Hmph."

She snorted at my words.

"Anyway, come on. It's time for a strategy meeting."

I followed Avea from behind.

The group that assembled consisted of myself, Myra, Aira, Claire, Mercedes, Avea, the captain, a few crew members, and Wake.

"Wasn't the plan to pull ashore and escape onto land?"

Wake began. His expression seemed calm, but his tone was tinged with irritation.

"It's too shallow. This ship is loaded with cargo, so her draft is low. We'll run aground before we reach the bank,"

the captain said, his voice thick with unconcealed anger. He seemed pretty on edge, too.

"We were aiming for that spot."

The captain pointed. Far in the distance, I could see a break in the riverbank. There was no way to avoid a battle with the pirates before we reached it.

"How's the magic barrier?"

Avea asked. It was a powerful ward that stopped arrows, cannonballs, and even the balloons. If we could maintain it, we could escape to land.

"Mo-sama said she'll be at her limit soon,"

Wake answered. I looked over at the enemy galley. We were already within crossbow range, but the only reason a firefight hadn't started was thanks to the magic barrier. Marmi and Cecily were extracting magic from the Crystal Core to create this barrier. Was the limit with their abilities, or the Crystal Core's mana?

"The moment it drops, they'll fire those cannons, and it'll be over,"

Avea sighed.

"About that, I made a deal with the balloon man. There probably won't be any cannon fire."

"Are you sure? Our men were loosing a lot of arrows at him..."

Avea said.

"I-I'm pretty sure it's fine."

Takamura wouldn't try to take my life until he could confirm whether what I told him was true or not. I wasn't certain. But since he'd returned to the galley, the oars that had been moving like a centipede's legs had stopped. Now, just like our ship, it was drifting with the river's current. They were maintaining a fixed distance from our carrack. Had Takamura's return prompted them to devise a new plan to sink us? I could only hope my words had resonated with him.

"..."

The others exchanged glances, trying to decide who would be the first to complain to me. I had things I wanted to say, too. I'm an amateur. I can't read people's minds. I had to bite back the urge to tell them that the experts should be the ones coming up with the plan. The fact that I'd formulated a strategy premised on using [Goddess Summon] from the start—and that it had worked perfectly—was the reason I was being so overestimated. Joe's backup fleet was nowhere in sight, which probably made them want to cling to me even more.

"...Well, if you say so, I'll believe you..."

the captain said, his words trailing off hesitantly.

"Maybe Laciel-sama will..."

one of the sailors muttered.

"She's not coming."

I wasn't about to let them get any funny ideas. I said it definitively.

"Either way, a fight is unavoidable,"

Avea said, stroking her chin. Just then, a balloon rose from the galley ship. It drifted away as if escaping, but a volley from the crossbowmen seemed to destroy it, causing it to fall.

"Did the person hanging from it fall?"

I asked Myra, and she nodded. "Just one? Or..."

"Two. It looked like there were two people,"

Myra answered. It seemed Takamura had left the galley with his fellow Otherworlder. With that, we no longer had to worry about cannon fire.

"Let's drop the magic barrier for now. And then, we'll fortify our position."

The magic barrier enveloping the ship disappeared as Cecily and Marmi dispelled the spell. Marmi still looked fine, but Cecily was completely drained and leaned against me.

"An incredible amount of mana just flowed through my body. My head is spinning. I feel sick..."

Was it a similar feeling to when I used [Goddess Summon]?

"Mana exhaustion?"

"...Yes. Cecily has used up almost all of her own mana,"

Marmi answered for her.

"Didn't you use the Crystal Core's mana? I see, you still seem fine, Marmi."

"...I'm an elf, so I have far more mana than Cecily. We need our own mana to convert the Crystal Core's power into a form we can handle."

"I see."

I didn't really get it, but I nodded anyway.

"Cecily, I'll give you a mana recovery potion. Mouth-to-mouth."

"Okay."

Was her mind hazy? Normally she'd make a fuss if I did something lewd in front of people, but today she offered no resistance. While I was at it, I decided to casually touch her butt. As I was caressing her rear and taking a mana potion out of my storage, Aira snatched it away.

"I'll do it."

"No way. Cecily's mine!"

"And yet she's given you an ultimatum until Miglutt!"

Aira didn't hesitate to twist the knife right where it hurt most.

"Mash, you can do it for the tiny one over there. She probably won't resist."

Aira pointed at Marmi.

"No. If I did that here, it would cause a lot of trouble."

She was a child, and the daughter of one of Miglutt's Four Regent Families. More than anything, I didn't want to do anything that Famu would resent me for.

"Then why not take her to a cabin?"

"It's the same thing! Just give it back!"

"Then let's do it together. First, Mash, you take the potion and pour it into my mouth. Then I'll give it to Cecily."

"...It seems pretty pointless for me to be involved, but fine. Let's just do it."

Just as I was about to reach for the mana potion from Aira, I found Patricia standing there before I knew it. And then, she punched me with her fist. Aira was next.

"Please don't do anything indecent in front of Mo-sama."

Patricia smiled sweetly.

Preparations for our shipboard siege were steadily proceeding. We cut the galley ship loose from our port side. Then, to prevent anyone from circling around to port, we moved the carrack to the edge of the shallows, dropped anchor, and secured our position. We furled the sails as well. The detached ship would be used as a defensive wall to prevent a rear assault. We ran it aground in the shallows behind us, perpendicular to the bank. And to prevent anyone from boarding it and firing down on our deck, we tilted the hull. We anchored the ship on our starboard side a short distance away so they couldn't board us directly, then opened holes in its hull and sank it. Like the ship that had caught fire from the cannonade, its hull didn't sink completely, leaving the deck above the water's surface. To prevent the sunken ship from being moved by ramming or towing, we left the ropes connecting it to our carrack intact. Now, to board our ship, the attackers would have to either get onto the sunken ship first or swim. All we had to do was hold out until night. Survive until night, and escape under the cover of darkness. I checked my phone; it was almost 3 PM. Nearly six hours had passed since the battle began. The crew was exhausted. About five hours until sunset, plus the time it would take to escape. Could we hold on? Fortunately, the sixty people who had been captured as slaves had agreed to join the fight. Even so, the enemy still had more than double our numbers. I desperately hoped this makeshift fortress would work. By the time we finished our preparations, the enemy galley had started to move. We were already within crossbow range, but they weren't firing. We held our fire as well. The wind died down to a calm, and silence enveloped the waterway. The members of Levante were positioned near the bow. Fang, Avea, Marmi, and Wake were nearby. The area ahead was also shallow. If the pirates were to ram us, it would be through the gap between the shallows ahead and the starboard galley, or the gap between the grounded galley in the rear and the starboard galley. My eyes met Cecily's.

"Are you okay? You can stay holed up in the cabin with Claire and the others, you know."

"...It's fine. I don't want to wake up to find we've lost and been taken prisoner."

"Can you use magic?"

"For some reason I don't feel like it, but I'm fine. If it comes down to it, I'll launch a fireball."

It was the same assertive Cecily as always. I couldn't help but smile.

"Hm? What is it?"

"Nothing. It's just that, because of Aira, I missed my chance to kiss you earlier."

At my words, she hugged me and pressed her lips against mine.

"Mash, let me stay with everyone."

There was no sign of the enemy ship preparing to attack.

"An interesting strategy,"

Wake said, watching the enemy just as I was.

"But it's not exactly laugh-out-loud funny."

I wanted to tell him that as a military man, he should be the one coming up with the plan, but I kept my mouth shut. After all, it was on his master's orders that we were all trembling behind these shields.

"Sailing with a single ship to lure the enemy into a false sense of security and then defeat them. Crushing the trump card of the fleet that appeared as reinforcements. And now, showing a readiness for total war to break their spirit. The pirates are probably used to surprise attacks and fighting fleeing ships, but I doubt they have much experience fighting an enemy that's waiting for them. They won't be able to easily challenge this ship that has already sunk three of theirs."

Were they formulating a plan? Peeking through a gap in the fixed shields, I saw the enemy galley was now further away than before. It was likely to avoid being sniped from our position. They were rowing backward to keep from drifting downstream. A rather skillful bunch. I thought of a man from my original world who had risen from a pirate to an admiral leading a fleet, eventually leading that grand fleet to victory. I could only pray there was no one with that kind of talent among the enemy.

"Is there any chance they'll just leave?"

I asked Wake.

"There's a chance. They should be calculating the potential losses if they board this ship now. They'll likely avoid a battle that would cause such heavy damage as to make their return to the Demon Kingdom difficult."

I hated fighting. Too many people had died today. It was enough. I wanted them to leave, but if they did, we'd have to fear their attacks every step of the way. I hated that idea too.

"In Miglutt, we have an institution called the 'Total War Research Institute' in preparation for the war with the Demon Kingdom. I'd like to scout you for it,"

Wake said. I glanced at his expression, but I couldn't tell if he was joking or serious.

"Absolutely not!"

The name sounded like an organization whose only job was to have its armchair theories dismissed after countless hours of research, only to be berated for not accounting for unexpected factors. As I was thinking about such things amidst the tense standoff, the enemy galley began to move downstream. I leaned out instinctively to watch the scene. The other crew members were also watching the departing enemy galley. It seemed the enemy had given up the fight.

"We held them off!"

Cheers erupted from the crew. Laciel's name was chanted over and over. It was at that moment I saw something flying from the western sky, backlit by the sun.

"A dragon?"

There were four massive shadows. The shadows gradually descended, passing in front of us at considerable speed. They were the carracks that were supposed to be our reinforcements. Below the bow of each carrack was a ram, an armament for ramming enemy ships. Their flight was likely due to a special skill from either Joe or Becky.

"It's a special skill for flying, but it's completely different from the balloon man... I mean, from flying with a balloon."

Mizuki murmured what I had been thinking. They were similar types of abilities, yet the difference in performance was too great. Still, Takamura was handsome enough to be called good-looking and appeared young, but I guess to Mizuki he was an 'old man'? The thought of how she saw me was terrifying.

"Mizuki, want to play that luxury liner game at the bow of that carrack? You'll really feel like you're flying."

"No way. I just want to feel a little thrill and exhilaration with you, Mash, like the suspension bridge effect or whatever. I don't need anything actually scary!"

The flying carracks landed near the departing galley, kicking up spray as they slid across the water's surface and rammed into the galley's hull. The loud sound of the collision echoed. It seemed two ships had latched onto each enemy vessel. Before they could even exchange crossbow fire, a boarding action and melee combat began. The enemy side must have been disarmed and acting as rowers. It would be a one-sided battle.