Chapter 115
“Captain, we’re at our limit.”
A pirate said with a serious expression to Geyserik who was holding a cloudy white bowl of alcohol in the tavern.
“Hn?”
“We have certainly collected an amazing horde of treasure but we only have three ships remaining, the Mother‧Elvir, Saint‧Marie, and the Breit with Ririnrara as captain ... The Saint‧Marie is in a sorry state with one broken mast and an emergency patch for the hole in the hold. We can’t tell if it can even return to the Avalon Continent.”
“Yeah ...”
Geyserik drank alcohol once more.
I wondered what was that white alcohol.
“That was alcohol made from horse and cow milk.”
Mistome-shi said.
“It was apparently the alcohol commonly consumed in the inland area of the Dark Continent. Not many crops could be grown on land so their alcohol was made from milk.”
“So horse milk can be made into alcohol.”
“It had strong acidity and the alcohol content was not high.”
The slight glimpse of the Dark Continent food situation told us that it was different from the Avalon Continent as expected. I was just slightly interested in the kinds of dishes they had.
“Your interest in that instead?”
Lit looked at me and smiled wryly.
“Ooo, I have been waiting!”
The illusion Geyserik looked in my direction and exclaimed.
A huge shadow passed through my back.
“Ah!!”
Lit’s expression changed. I could hear the sound of her fists clenching.
The appearance of the six-armed monster that walked out from behind me caused my interest in cooking to fly out the window.
“Shisandan ... !”
Standing there was the Asura Demon that murdered Lit’s teacher in Logavia and cornered Ruti in Zoltan.
Lit was releasing immense killing intent and her wolf tail was puffed up. She unconsciously placed her right hand on the handle of the shotel hanging on her waist on her left.
I placed my right hand on her hand.
Lit’s stiff expression quickly calmed over. Her tail slowly swayed side to side.
” ... Thank you, I unconsciously became like that after seeing his face.”
“You don’t have to suppress it. I am with you.”
“That’s right ... ehehe.”
Lit concealed her mouth with her bandana and laughed. She was back to her usual self now.
Lit could not hold herself back upon seeing Shisandan not only because of her wish to exact revenge for her teacher but the influence of her 『Spirit Scout』 divine protection impulse also played a role. As a 『Spirit Scout』 with the impulse to protect her companions, Shisandan was an existence that must be terminated as revenge for her companions.
But, I’m happy that Lit chose her life with me over her divine protection impulses.
Naturally, Lit’s resentment did not reach the illusion Shisandan.
Shisandan, with his height of over 2 meters, sat at the table with Geyserik and the others.
“It’s an amazing scene to see an Asura Demon appear normally in a tavern.”
“It’s probably a common scene in the Dark Continent.”
Although the majority of the people in the tavern were Orcs and Dwarves, there were a few Soldier Demons with skull-like heads and Axe Demons with axes for both arms pulling slave humans.
The underling pirates were terrified but as expected of Geyserik and Ririnrara’s courage, they faced Shisandan without any concern.
“You’ve done well.”
Shisandan grinned while looking down at Geyserik. Geyserik poured alcohol into a bowl and passed it to Shisandan.
“Drink first. This is a tavern.”
“That’s true.”
Shisandan accepted the bowl from Geyserik and drank the whitish milk liquor in one gulp.
“Not distilled liquor?”
“Ah? I didn’t say I would have that.”
“You would appear to be a poor man.”
Shisandan snickered. Geyserik unhappily called the shop attendant over.
“Ou! You! Bring the best alcohol you have here!”
“Haa, that alcohol was good as well though. To health.”
“What’s with you bastard! Nobody thinks about tomorrow when drinking alcohol!”
Geyserik clamored. Ririnrara laughed with the mouth open wide and Misufia soothed Geyserik with a bitter grin as she passed Dark Continent currency to the shop attendant.
A clear and colorless distilled alcohol was carried over. He brought a small bottle of water as well.
“What the heck. There’s no way of knowing which is the alcohol this way.”
Geyserik commented as he poured the new alcohol into the bowl he was using for the milk alcohol and drank it in one go.
“!?”
Geyserik’s face cramped. The shop attendant and Shisandan watched and grinned at his reaction.
Geyserik ignored them and finished the bowl while trembling.
“Fuahaaa, th-this is it, this is true alcohol.”
Geyserik’s face was flushed. The alcohol was probably quite strong.
“Dear customer, we usually drink this by diluting it with water.”
The shop attendant said as he poured the alcohol into the bowl and diluted it with water.”
“Ah!”
Misufia exclaimed in surprise. The colorless clear alcohol and water should have mixed together but it turned white and cloudy instead.
“Were you people born in the Under Deep or from the West Jade? I seldom see rich people who have never seen Alhi before.”
“Yes, we come from a faraway land. Thank you, I will take my time to savor this.”
Misufia took a sip and she seemed to like it as she broke into a smile.
For some time, the shop attendant conversed with Misufia and Riranrara while Geyserik laughed loudly and Shisandan observed the pirates with with interest while tilting his bowl.
It somewhat ... looked like a peaceful scene.
“Now, Shisandan is a general for the Demon Lord Army while Geyserik is the King of Veronia. It sure is strange.”
“At that time, Geyserik was a pirate and Shisandan was just an Asura Warrior. Moreover, Shisandan ...”
The illusion Misufia continued Mistome-shi’s sentence.
“The weapons are in the hideout. As long as you all help to defeat Demon Lord Satan.”
Demon Lord Satan?
The current Demon Lord was the Asura Demon Taraxon. Furthermore, Shisandan was on the side of defeating the Demon Lord?
The conversation happening in front of me seemed to be important. However, it was ironic that us, the ones listening to it, no longer have the intention of fighting the Demon Lord.
“Our preparations are done as well. Although we will not be able to participate in the battle with the Demon Lord.”
“Getting weapons is more than enough. As promised, we have determined the location of the hidden dock. We will transfer two Asura Warriors to you. I don’t mind even if you bring them to the Dazzling Continent. I informed them to return by blending in on a trade boat once they reach there. If your plan works, it will have a large impact on our war so use them as you see fit ... but you are a bold man.”
Shisandan stared at Geyserik, who was drinking the alcohol called Alhi, with interest as his lips distorted into a grin from admiration.
“To snatch the Demon Lord’s flagship ‘Wendy Dirt’. I will lend you a map and subordinates but ... the Golem-users under Desmond of the Earth of the Four Heavenly Kings guards it. You people seem to have some skill but there is no chance. You still have time now to give up on it.”
In response to Shisandan’s probing tone, Misufia grabbed the bowl in front of her, drank it in one go and slammed the bowl on the table.
“You can’t be a pirate if you flee in fear despite there being treasures in front of your eyes! If I quote a certain someone.”
Geyserik laughed and slapped his knees after hearing Misufia’s statement.
☆☆
Half a month later. Demon Lord Army hidden dock.
“Oi, it’s about time for the change in shift.”
“Hn, yeah.”
On watch were the Demon Lord Army’s regular soldiers, Soldier Demons in full plate armor. Not the Orc soldiers which the majority of the invading force of Avalon Continent was comprised of.
And.
“Is that the Demon Lord’s ship?”
Portrayed in the illusion was a huge ship that I had never seen before.
I was surprised as well when I was shown the flying ship that Ruti rode but it was still within the category of ships that could be seen in the Avalon Continent and can’t be said to be oddly constructed.
Even the largest galeas ship on the Avalon continent was around 50 meters in length but the Demon Lord’s Wendy Dart was more than double that, with probably about 120 meters in length.
In contrast with the huge body, there were only two masts. But for some reason, there were no sails. There were huge water wheels on the sides and the rotation of the wheels seemed to provide for the driving force needed.
There were two chimneys in the center of the ship and catapults were lined on the sides.
However, the most abnormal feature ... was that the whole hull seemed to be made of metal.
Lit who was born in the inland country of Logavia didn’t seem to notice the irregularity but Ruti and Ugeuge-san seemed to be extremely shocked and they were busily conversing about something.
... Wow, Ugeuge-san is knowledgeable about ships as well. It seriously is a high-specification spider.
The situation proceeded in another direction from our surprise.
“Hey, a ship is coming.”
“In the dead of the night? There’s probably none scheduled ... furthermore, what kind of ship is that? It looks like an antique brought out from a museum. Are they performing some kind of a ceremony?”
A carack ship charged directly toward the dock without lowering its speed. Immediately, three small ships exited the dock. They were wooden ships but they had the same strange design with spinning outer wheels and smoke coming out from the chimneys.
There were large ballista near the bow of the ship with siege-size arrows called gate breakers already strung up.
The fired arrow pierced into the hull of the carack. Seawater rushed into the hole in the hull.
Furthermore, a rope was tied to the arrow and in spite of the small size of the three Dark Continent odd ships, they completely stopped the propulsive force of the larger carack.
The next moment, a loud explosion happened along with a fiery flash.
“Wh-what!”
“The ship exploded! It took the three ships with it!”
The bell for emergency assembly sounded. The soldier demons left the area in a rush.
Misufia and Ririnrara who were watching from the shadows, along with the underling pirates, grinned widely.
“Now then, let’s help ourselves to the Demon Lord’s ship.”