Chapter 285 (2/2)

Natia has the freedom to move on her own as well as a heart br.i.m.m.i.n.g with curiosity . She must have chased after me when she heard I was heading to the Federation .

「Let’s save this discussion for later . Right now we have to drive these guys away . 」

「Umu!」「Aye!」

At that moment, Messerschmitt barks .

I crouch down on reflex, causing the sword of the pirate behind me to swing at air .

My body moves before I can think, taking the man’s hand, throwing him to the ground and then stepping on his head .

「……I avoided because of my own instinct . Get it?」

「Hiiih! W-what are you talking about?」

「That worthless dog didn’t just save me . Get it?」

「I- I get it! I understand, please spare me……」

「Good!」

I crush the pirate’s head under my foot, then turn to Natia and Pipi .

「Those wearing decent clothes are our allies . The ones wearing tattered clothes and have rampantly growing beards are the enemy . Take out as many as you can!」

With Natia and Pipi partic.i.p.ating, the battle tilts in our favor .

The arrows released seconds apart don’t miss their targets .

No group of pirates wearing light armor and wielding scimitars could escape .

「Now that it’s come to this, I’ll just set everything on fire!」

「The s.h.i.+p is packed with fodder . That should burn quite nicely――」

Fighting a harder battle than expected, a pirate loses patience and approaches a pile of fodder on the deck with a torch in hand .

If we end up having to swim in the freezing weather, it’ll all be Schwartz’s fault .

Fortunately, that didn’t happen .

「What are you trying to do?」

A small pale-skinned hand comes out from the pile of fodder, grabs the pirate’s hand―――― and twists it .

「Eh? What the-?」

「You’re an eyesore . Filth . 」

The hand pokes at the man .

However the corresponding sound was not a light one at all .

The sound I heard was clearly that of internal organs and bones being broken as the pirate collapses after spraying a fountain of blood from his mouth .

「Good grief―― mgh…… it’s still daytime . Why do I have to stay inside this gra.s.s in the first place…… grumble, grumble . 」

The delicate frame of a white skinned female with gorgeous blonde hair appears while complaining in a soft voice .

The color of her red eyes, which I caught a glimpse of, changes immediately .

Oh, if it isn’t my beloved vampire…… Brynhildr .

「May I ask why you’re here?」

「When I heard you’ll be going far away, I was worr……」

Brynhildr begins to explain, then adorably clears her throat .

「I just felt like it . There’s no other reason . 」

「You hid in the fodder for no reason?」

Brynhildr visibly turns redder .

「Shut up! I don’t care anymore! I’m not saying anything else!」

She probably understands fully that there is no excuse she could give . She turns away and sulks .

「What nonsense are you spouting? You’ve done it now!」

Another pirate jumps in and attacks her .

Before I could even scream “watch out”, the man’s sword reaches Brynhildr…… only to snap in half .

「Eh!?」

He lets out a dumbfounded voice .

I don’t blame him, as a female who seemingly looks like a child in her teens grabbed the sword with her bare hands and broke it .

The pirate is stunned while Brynhildr’s expression is colder than ice .

「Sc.u.m . How dare you interrupt my conversation with him . 」

Brynhildr grabs the pirate’s arm .

The man struggles desperately to pull away, but couldn’t budge from the tight grip .

Those who are unaware of the situation may look at this scene and think the man is acting poorly .

「Disappear . 」

Brynhildr tosses the man away like he was a piece of garbage .

「Dowah!」

A gust of wind whips by me .

With the force like he was shot out of a cannon, the man skips on the surface of the water three times and disappears into the distance while breaking apart .

「That almost hit me . 」

「S-sorry . Are you hurt? I just got so irritated, I wasn’t thinking……」

Brynhildr’s slanted eyes relaxes .

「I’ll listen to what you have to say later, first we have to get the enemies…… hey, wait . 」

She calmly strolls across the deck while skirmishes are still going on, then heads inside the cabin .

You’re not going to help out?

「We’ll talk at night . Expecting me to stay in the sun, who do you think I am?」

Oh right, you’re a vampire .

「It’s even worse since we’re on the river . Flowing water is a vampire’s natural enemy and I may die if I fall inside . 」

「That’s the first time I’ve heard that . Sorry then, go hide inside . 」

Brynhildr withdraws to the cabin and I think to myself, “wow she got on the boat for me despite the risk to her life” .

Now there’s even more reason I can’t let this boat sink .

First, I need to get rid of the enemies in front of us . I’ll overcome them quickly .

I charge toward the stern of the boat where enemy and ally are fighting fiercely .

「Move . 」

「Eh?」

I make my way past allies and rush out in front of the enemies where I swing my sword horizontally with one large sweeping motion .

Although they try to guard against my attack, their swords aren’t suited to defending and so are unable to stop my dragon longsword .

「Guwaaah!!」

「Wh-what is…… gubh……」

The four pirates within range of my longsword get cut in half through the chest and all of them collapse on the spot .

I take out the Dual Crater with my left hand and slash diagonally at one more enemy who I missed with my first attack .

「H-huh? My body is sliding?」

The extremely sharp blade of the Dual Crater slices the man in two without him even knowing what was happening .

My sword enters from his right shoulder and exits from the left side of his stomach .

「Incredible…… he’s a one man army . Everyone is getting ma.s.sacred……」

「There are still some alive . 」

I re-grip the longsword with both hands, holding a stance with the weapon ready to shoot out from my waist, then I inhale deeply .

The pirates climbing aboard the s.h.i.+p have no clue about the changing battle state on the deck .

When I see the end of a rope move and five more pirates pop their heads up――

「Hmph!!」

I swing my sword sideways and spin around 360 degrees with the blade still held out .

Time seems to stop briefly for ally and enemy alike .

Then all of a sudden, the pirates’ heads are sent flying off .

Each of their heads were instantly destroyed, meaning no screams or deathroes were let out, and the decapitated bodies just fell lifelessly back into the water .

The screams actually came from the small boats below us .

「Hiiiiiiih――!! Bodies-, bodies are falling!!」

「Everyone is dead!? What on earth is going on!?」

It sounds like there are more in the boats .

I grab the collar of a pirate who lost his leg and pull him over the side of the s.h.i.+p so his head sticks out .

「Woah . 」

I grab the arrow which flies at me out of nowhere with my left hand, then raise my right hand with the pirate in my hand .

「I-I’m sorry . My leg got cut off! Forgive me, please――!!」

「Don’t worry . I’ll return you back to your s.h.i.+p . 」

After a sly grin, I throw the man with all my might back down into the boat under his eyes .

「Gyaaaah!」

Even though the pirates are lightly equipped, each of them probably still weigh a good 70 kilograms altogether .

That pirate’s body crashes into the boat .

The man who fell head first died instantly, while the boat submerges into the water once from the impact before breaking in half right in the middle and sinking down below the water’s surface .

The other pirates flail about in the icy water .

「How many are left, three or four?」

As I was about to peer over the side of the boat to count, the remaining small vessel hastily distances itself from the Surov .

「Oh, they’re running away . I guess now is a good time to take that net off our s.h.i.+p?」

I don’t know much about what to do on a boat . I’ll leave the rest to the captain .

「……ah! Y-you’re right! Turn the rudder left and right to see if you can remove the net!」

「It’s tangled too tightly and won’t come loose! It looks like running into it at high speeds made it worse……」

「Fumu . 」

I peek down at the water from the deck and as if answering my nonexistent call, a head emerges from the river .

It was Mirumi, who has a puzzled look on her face .

On closer examination, I see countless of her children swimming around under the water too .

They seem to fighting over something that looks similar to the pirate I threw overboard earlier, but I’m sure that’s just my imagination .

「What’s wrong? I’ve been hearing a lot of rattling sounds for a while now . 」

「A net is tangled in our boat . Can you do anything to help?」

Mirumi smoothly dives in the water and heads for the bow of the s.h.i.+p .

「Uwah, it’s really tangled . It’ll be quicker if I had something to cut it with . 」

「Alright, wait here . Careful you don’t cut yourself . 」

I gather the swords of the fallen pirates and dump them into the river .

Each sword gets taken by two children and they swim off excitedly .

「Is there anything else I can help with?」

「Well, now that you mention it――」

「Hardlett-sama? Who are you talking to!?」

The captain calls out from behind me . Mirumi hurries back into the water .

Well, everything should be fine since the important information was communicated .

「The pirates’ mothers.h.i.+p is heading our way . Since we can’t untangle the net, we have no choice but to repel them here . 」

Now that I look, the smaller boats have been pulled back up and the two mothers.h.i.+ps are approaching us .

The decks of their s.h.i.+ps are filled with fully armed pirates .

Despair is was.h.i.+ng over the faces of the crew members .

「How do you plan on fighting that?」

「……we’ll have to do the same thing we did earlier and defeat the enemies who climb aboard . It will certainly be disadvantageous but there is no other option since the boat can’t move . 」

I shake my head .

「That’s going to be impossible . They have several times more men even at a rough estimate, plus several of our already small number of crew suffered injuries . We can’t fight like that . 」

The captain makes a slightly huffy face .

「Then do you expect us to surrender?」

「Of course not, I’m saying that we’ll lose if they get on our s.h.i.+p . We’re going to jump on theirs . Get Schwartz on the deck . 」

The shocked faces of the crew members and captain are hilarious .

Celia, don’t make that troubled face .

「Still, our allies are not in any condition to board their s.h.i.+p!」

I smile and lightly pat the captain’s shoulder several times .

「I’ll go by myself . I have reinforcements . 」

Natia nods, while Celia’s face tells me she’s feeling reluctant .

「T-that’s too reckless . Look how many of them there are! ……actually, who are those people anyways?」

「I’ll explain later . Do you have confidence you’ll win if you just stay on the defense?」

The captain doesn’t say anything . You see, so we have to attack either way .

「Besides, I couldn’t really fight with my full strength earlier because I was afraid to break the s.h.i.+p . If it’s an enemy s.h.i.+p though―― you don’t mind if I destroy it, right?」

「Haah? You couldn’t fight properly?」

The captain is at a loss for words and the other crew members are also dumbfounded .

「You hear that…… he said he couldn’t fight well before . 」

「n.o.bles just drink wine and dance at b.a.l.l.s, right? They’re not muscleheads who swing giant swords, right? I don’t know what’s what anymore . 」

I’ll have to meet my allies’ expectations and go even wilder .

I glare at the nearing pirate s.h.i.+p .

Protagonist: Aegir Hardlett . 24 years old . Winter .

Status: Goldonia Kingdom Margrave . Great Feudal Lord of Eastern Area . Mountain Legend . Friend of the Dwarves . Friend of the King of Aless . Dragon Slayer Hero .

Elf Mediator .

Accompanying: Celia (escort, a.s.sistant), Marta (aide, bedmaker), Natia (stowaway elf)

Pipi (archer), Messerschmitt (worthless dog), Brynhildr (vampire)

Arbakin (Federation amba.s.sador)

Family:

Nonna (legal wife), Carla (concubine), Mel (concubine), Miti (concubine, expecting), Maria (concubine, expecting), Catherine (concubine, expecting)

Melissa (lover), Kuu (lover), Ruu (lover), Mireille (lover), Leah (???)

Casie (ghost), Rita (head maid), Yoguri (playwright), Alice (fainting in agony magical girl)

Marceline (pregnant lover), Daughters – Stephanie (lover), Bridget (lover), Felicie (lover)

Sebastian (butler), Dorothea (capital mansion supervisor), Claudia (giant meatball), Clara (female attendant)

Felteris (virgin eating)

Non-humans:

Lammy (plant caretaker), Mirumi (mermaid), Alraune (can move), Pet.i.t Roper (enlarging)

Pet:

Pochi (left behind)

Subordinates:

Irijina (commander), Luna (commander), Ruby, Myla (security officer)

Gido (escort unit), Polte (refugee case worker), Gretel (wife-dog-to-be)

Leopolt (staff officer), Adolph (domestic affairs official), Tristan (domestic affairs a.s.sistant, being overused)

Claire & Laurie (official merchant), Schwartz (horse), Lilian (actress), Kroll (servant), Alma (servant)

a.s.sets: 13,600 gold

s.e.xual Partners: 438, children who have been born: 55 + 555 fish