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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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BANG!
The ship rocked violently.
I instinctively grabbed Eve, who was about to fall amongst the debris.
“Th-thank you.”
“They’re firing on their own allies without a second thought.”
Even though there might be other pirates still alive, they just kept firing.
Eve and I emerged onto the deck from the captain’s cabin. Sen and Jane were already outside, observing the situation.
Sen quickly reported.
“The shelling isn’t too bad. It seems they don’t intend to sink us completely.”
As she’d said, we were surrounded, but only some of the pirate ships were firing upon us.
“They probably think there’s a lot to gain since we’re another pirate ship. Look, they’re not even aiming for the magazine.”
Not just the plundered goods, but weapons, ammunition, food, and more. Being a fellow pirate ship, they saw more to loot.
“So, we just have to withstand the shelling for now?”
Even I couldn’t deflect every incoming cannonball. Endurance seemed the priority, so I moved towards the center of the deck with the three of them.
“B-but what if we sink before then?”
Perhaps being at sea, Jane’s usual calmness had vanished. She anxiously scanned their surroundings.
Eve took her hand reassuringly.
“It’s okay. Ships don’t sink easily thanks to buoyancy. It would be dangerous if the keel broke, or if they targeted the magazine, but…”
“Then they’d return empty-handed.”
Firing the cannons was already a loss for the pirates.
Cannonballs weren’t cheap.
That’s why some hesitated, hoping another ship would do the firing.
A stalemate developed, with no one firing.
After a brief stand-off, it became a race to seize the ship. Pirate ships approached the already damaged and sinking vessel.
“Looks like they’re going for close combat.”
“I’m ready.”
After sending Eve and Jane towards the crew quarters, Sen and I prepared for battle.
“Stay close to me if you can.”
I needed to be ready to stop time if necessary. Sen, holding her daggers in reverse grip, nodded and took a deep breath, whispering,
“It’s like a ghost ship.”
“Hmm?”
“Everyone’s dead.”
Indeed.
Looking at the pirates turned into cold corpses, I wondered if the ship would become a ghost ship if it sank.
“Well, the others will probably end up the same way.”
Dozens of pirate ships were attacking, but I wasn’t afraid. Protecting the others while fighting was a slight hindrance, but…
‘It’s nothing.’
This wasn’t arrogance.
Honestly, I could confidently say no one on the continent could defeat me.
Perhaps the Dragon God, Shakarim?
I’d have to see. My specialty was fighting monsters, not humans.
Grappling hooks and ropes flew towards us.
There wasn’t a dramatic collision, but wooden planks were laid as bridges, and pirates began pouring onto our deck.
“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”
“A seafarer’s advance never stops!”
“It’s a hunt! Capture the women and kill the men!”
The pirates swarmed, humming, as if boarding a derelict vessel.
Most were human, but there were dragon-kin, beast-kin, even dwarves and elves.
Sen and I raised our swords and charged.
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At sea, there is a phenomenon known as a whirlpool.
In some places, it’s called a maelstrom. Sailors and pirates call it a wave cliff or sea hole.
Once caught in the current, escape is difficult, and the entire ship can be swallowed.
Seafarers fear it more than deep-sea monsters or sharks.
Now, Bethany, considered the coldest and most ruthless of the ten pirate executives, felt like she was looking at a whirlpool as she watched the boy.
Having lived more at sea than on land, she’d seen countless whirlpools.
“This is the smallest whirlpool I’ve ever seen.”
Yet its destructive power was the greatest.
The black-haired boy, a calamity devouring sailors, used the other pirate ships as stepping stones, steadily advancing towards Bethany.
“Ha.”
The blue-haired girl at his side, the white-haired girl from the Chokugen Faction following behind, and the Dragon Priestess.
Him rampaging while protecting his companions felt like a scene from a fairy tale.
Bethany took a deep breath and looked around.
The places where the Chokugen Faction reinforcements, sent by the Pirate Lord, had stood were empty.
The ten members, boasting they’d infiltrate and assassinate, had become shark food.
“Haa…”
How much effort had she put in to become one of the ten executives?
How much money had she poured into her magic ship, the Deep Royen?
If she’d known, she would’ve spent it on wine, women, and song, Bethany thought with a hollow laugh.
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“Wow.”
Sen spun the ship’s wheel like a toy.
It didn’t turn as sharply as a carriage, but the ship lurched slightly.
“This is really fun.”
“Hey, stop that.”
When I warned her, Sen reluctantly hopped off and ran to the deck, wanting to see the ocean.
“Such an innocent girl, and just a moment ago…”
Jane, still pale from seasickness, blanched further, remembering Sen’s ruthless efficiency in dispatching the pirates.
“Maybe not all dragon-kin are weak at sea. We saw some among the pirates.”
I tried to be encouraging, but Jane seemed to find my words unsettling.
“Those dragon-kin…”
She rested her right arm across her left shoulder, as if comforting herself.
“Why did they become pirates?”
A truly ironic question.
Each would have their reasons, but I could offer a general explanation.
“Most pirates are commoners. Nobles rarely abandon their lineage for the sea.”
There was a fundamental class divide. Commoners would naturally outnumber nobles.
“Money’s the main reason. Farming and fishing weren’t enough to survive, so they turned to piracy. It’s harder to be caught than bandits, and they’re less likely to be on wanted posters.”
Bandits were easily dealt with once their numbers grew large enough to attract attention.
Pirates were different. Unless docked, they were difficult to catch.
“The difficulty of capture is another draw. Or maybe some genuinely enjoy the thrill of it all, the bloodlust, the smell of the sea.”
“…”
“Ultimately, they kill to survive.”
Did my answer help?
Jane sighed heavily and leaned forward.
She looked like someone carrying a heavy burden, taking a moment to rest.
“Human or dragon-kin, the reasons aren’t so different.”
“True. It might be even harder for the dragon-kin. They hate the sea, yet they’re on a ship.”
“…I still have much to learn.”
Left alone, Jane looked as if she might crumble. I couldn’t leave her like that.
“You’re not a god. You were the Dragon Priestess, but you’re just another official, a cog in the machine.”
A large cog, but still just a cog.
“It’s arrogant to bear all the responsibility yourself.”
“I know.”
My words didn’t seem to console her. Jane stood.
“I need some air.”
Saying this, she left. Her empty seat seemed strangely shadowed.
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“Is this where the Dragon God lives?”
“Yes, it doesn’t have a name. We wouldn’t dare name the Dragon God’s dwelling.”
Jane answered Eve’s question, taking on the role of a tour guide.
“We have to go deeper inside. We can’t meet him immediately.”
“Hmm, the Dragon God is more wild than I expected.”
“W-wild?”
Jane started to approach Eve, about to ask what she meant, but Eve, scribbling notes in her notebook, began to jog ahead.
“Daniel, something feels ominous here.”
“…”
Sen, ever sensitive, had picked it up immediately.
A palpable sense of pressure, unlike anything she’d felt before, hung heavy over the entire island. It wasn’t just a warning to intruders.
Subtle unease lingered beneath the dragon’s warning, too sharp to be mere wild animals.
I could guess their identity.
They were Chokugen Faction members.
They were already on the Dragon God’s island, ahead of us. Not just ordinary members, but elites.
That’s why even Sen hadn’t fully grasped their presence, only sensing a vague unease.
‘I could fight them now…’
But that might displease the Dragon God and prevent him from waking.
I feigned ignorance and followed Jane and Eve, gently nudging Sen along.
‘They don’t seem to intend to kill us.’
In fact, they seemed to shrink back and hide further with our arrival, as if they hadn’t achieved their objective yet.
“Don’t go too far ahead.”
I cautioned Eve and Jane, who were now practically racing each other.
There was a path.
Not one made by the dragon-kin, but a natural trail formed by countless footsteps.
Eve looked around in wonder, murmuring,
“There’s a book containing scholars’ debates on the Dragon God’s location. The scholar who claimed he was on an island was right.”
“Such a book exists?”
Jane’s eyes twitched, displeased that discussions about the Dragon God were taking place elsewhere.
Eve slowed her pace, falling back beside me.
“Some claimed he was hidden in Dragon’s Rest, others said underground, and some even claimed he was… already dead. Humans love to gossip.”
“…Indeed.”
Jane seemed to have much to say, but she held back, mindful of our presence.
No further conversation followed.
Eve looked around in wonder, while Sen, bothered by the faint but persistent killing intent, occasionally jerked her head around.
“Here we are.”
A cave, hidden behind a large rock covered in thick vegetation.
It was easy to miss.
Jane placed her hand on the rock and channeled mana into it. The rock smoothly rolled aside, revealing the entrance.
The killing intent surrounding us vanished. They must have been searching for the entrance.
“I’m sure of it, someone’s there.”
Sen, now certain, reached for her daggers, but I placed my hand on hers and put a finger to my lips.
“You knew.”
“Let’s go quietly for now.”
“…Alright.”
The Chokugen Faction could be dealt with later. The priority was not to cause a disturbance.
That was the only way the Dragon God might agree to talk.
The cave was deeper than expected, but the end was visible. A faint light emanated from within, illuminating the passage.
“I feel like an explorer.”
Eve, an avid reader, couldn’t contain her excitement and followed close behind Jane.
So close that her… ample chest might brush against Jane. Perhaps it did, because Jane glanced back at Eve before quickly turning away, her lips pressed together.
“Hmm? Is something wrong?”
“…No. Let’s go.”
Jane turned back towards the light at the end of the tunnel. Sen, watching this, murmured with a straight face,
“I know that feeling of defeat all too well.”
“…”
A rather random comment, but in any case…
Emerging from the cave, we were greeted by sunlight and a biting chill.
Colder than inside the cave, the snow that had melted elsewhere still lay thick here.
The island was a flat basin surrounded by mountains.
Its massive form was visible even from afar.
A colossal being, curled up, occupying the entire plain.
Existing alone, majestically, as if the entire world, not just this island, revolved around it.
The only being on this continent bearing the name of god, yet rooted to the earth.
The Dragon God, Shakarim.
Its massive, golden body lay still, as if in a deep slumber, yet its faint breaths rustled the surrounding grass.
“I’ll go first. Please wait here.”
Jane, as the Dragon Priestess, would naturally go first. Keeping a respectful distance, Eve and Sen whispered, wary of disturbing the dragon.
“Dragons truly are magnificent. I can see why the dragon-kin worship them as gods.”
“To me, it just looks like a slightly larger lizard.”
“Sen! Be careful, the dragon might hear you.”
“…Lizard.”
Ignoring their hushed bickering, I kept my eyes on Jane.
She approached Shakarim, knelt respectfully, and began to speak, her voice barely a whisper.
‘Now, what will happen?’
The Dragon God occasionally spoke with the Dragon Priestess, I had heard.
I assumed Jane was explaining our reason for coming.
Crack!
Suddenly, the dragon’s immense eyes snapped open, and its massive jaws unhinged.
It swallowed the Dragon Priestess whole.
The greatest advantage of my ability to stop time was its usefulness in emergencies.
When we seized the pirate ship, I had protected Eve and Jane by freezing the pirates who’d attacked them.
This situation was no different.
BOOM!
“Kyaa!”
The dragon’s jaws slammed shut.
A simple opening and closing of its mouth, yet the force of it sent a gale-force wind sweeping outwards.
I shielded Jane, who was now in my arms, with my back. She stared up at me, dazed, unaware of what had just happened.
The Dragon God, Shakarim, seemed displeased that the morsel of a woman it had held on its tongue was gone. It rolled its massive eyes.
“Ugh!”
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