The Traitor's Smile
After Simon felled the pirate captain Gale, the navy and townsfolk worked together, binding the fallen pirates hand and foot with rope.
"All of Blue Harbor owes you a great debt! We don't know how to thank you properly...."
The naval officer bowed again and again in gratitude. Simon waved him off with an awkward smile.
"No need to make such a fuss on my account. But if you don't mind, might I interrogate the pirates myself?"
Some of the things he'd heard from Gale's own mouth were nagging at him. He couldn't push on to the next location just yet—his stamina was near its limit—so he wanted to rest a few minutes and pull information from the captain's underlings.
"Of course. Though I doubt those brutes will talk willingly."
"Leave them to me."
Before long, the navy brought three rope-bound pirates and knelt them before Simon.
"I have a few questions for you."
"......."
They looked entirely unwilling to cooperate. One glared at Simon with murderous intensity, while the other two stared off in different directions, feigning indifference.
"With your captain Gale captured, you have no hope left. You know how heavy a pirate's crimes are, don't you? Cooperate nicely, and I might personally plead for reduced sentences."
He tried the carrot. The pirates didn't so much as blink.
Their defiance puzzled Simon. Normally, once a captain was taken, the crew's spirits broke and they scrambled to save their own skins—but not a trace of that could be seen here.
Do they have some ace up their sleeve?
"Question. We've confirmed you've been colluding with someone connected to Blue Harbor. Name that person."
"F*** you, you brat! The moment these ropes come off, I'll tear you limb from limb!"
The first pirate roared with venom.
"Gwaahk! Ptooey! A whelp whose scalp hair hasn't even dried yet wants to interrogate ME? Huh? If I'd only gotten married, I'd have a son your age!"
The second pirate erupted in fury.
"You're making a mistake right now. Do you know who I am? I may be a pirate these days, but the truth is I have a tragic past I can't speak of—"
The third pirate spouted nonsense.
Not one of them has any intention of talking.
There were gentler methods, but with time pressing, Simon made his choice.
"Boys."
At Simon's word, three skeletons stepped up behind each of the pirates. Only now grasping the situation, the pirates' faces froze.
"Feed them."
The skeletons immediately seized the pirates by the hair, wrenched their heads back, and forced potion bottles between their lips. The men gurgled and groaned in misery, but with their noses pinched shut, they had no choice but to swallow as the contents poured down their throats.
All three downed the potion in one gulp.
"Koff! Koff!!"
"Damn it all! What did you do to my body?!"
The pirates felt their vision spinning as though they were riding a carriage at full gallop.
"I am a necromancer, you see? What you just drank is a lethal poison. It spreads through your entire body within fifteen seconds, and in exactly five minutes, you die—more painfully than anything you could possibly imagine."
Simon then drew a fresh bottle from subspace. Inside swirled a blue liquid.
"But if you drink this antidote before then... well, that would change the story, wouldn't it?"
"......!!"
Their faces drained bone-white.
"Now then, talk."
Hesitation flickered across all three faces, but still the words wouldn't leave their mouths.
"Well, if you'd rather not, that's that."
Simon turned away without waiting thirty seconds, let alone five minutes.
"Officer! Bring in the next group, please."
"Yes, sir!"
"As for these men, just dump them somewhere. They'll wriggle around a bit and die on their own."
Simon raised his foot. And the moment he was about to crush the antidote bottle on the ground—
"Finch Nikiman!"
The middle-aged man among the three shouted. The other two whipped around to stare at him in horror, and Simon smiled.
"The necromancer Finch Nikiman is in league with your captain!"
"You'd better not be lying."
"My life's on the line—why would I lie? Quickly! The antidote, quickly!"
Crack!
Simon brought his heel down and shattered the bottle on the spot. All three stared in dumbfounded disbelief.
"You piece of garbage!"
The pirate on the left bellowed.
"I told you the truth! You think it's fun playing games with people's lives? Huh?!"
"Whatever do you mean?"
Simon smiled brightly and turned his back.
"That wasn't a lethal poison. It was a motion-sickness potion. Give it two hours and you'll be right as rain."
"......!!"
"Thanks for your cooperation."
Simon waved over his shoulder as he walked away. The three pirates screamed and thrashed in desperation until the navy subdued them and dragged them down.
That confirms it. I need to hurry.
He'd recovered enough strength to move. Simon immediately sprinted for the mansion.
Crossing the town center, Simon arrived at Shun's estate—and froze in shock. The mansion was already under attack, flames licking up from buildings scattered across the grounds.
Ku-ku-ku-KUNG!
An annex had burned to nothing and was collapsing in on itself. And beneath the roar, faint but unmistakable, came the sound of steel clashing against steel. The battle with the pirates had already begun.
Please, please, please—!
Simon stomped down on his Jet-Black and vaulted clean over the fence and into the estate.
KAANG! CLANG!
Against the backdrop of the burning mansion, the household staff—armed to the teeth—fought furiously against pirates swarming in from every direction. Through the melee, Shun, the head butler, and the maids slipped out of the house in a crouch, moving low and fast.
"There's the Count!"
"Grab him!"
Two pirates charged straight through the line of butlers. Simon thrust out his right arm in desperation.
Bone Armour!
The bones came flying as if they'd been waiting for the call.
While everyone else huddled down, two maids who had bravely stepped forward clutching broom handles found themselves clad in bone armor.
"Fight!"
Simon shouted. When the startled maids froze in confusion, the skeletons took matters into their own hands, physically moving the maids' bodies to knock the pirates flat.
Wham!
THWACK!
Watching the pirates go down under the maids' own fists and kicks, the maids' eyes went round as saucers.
"Look over there!"
"Simon!"
One of the maids shook Shun's shoulder.
"My lord! Look! Simon has come!"
"Huh? Simon hyung?"
Shun poked his head out. There was Simon, directing Bone Armour to assist the fighting in five different places all at once.
"Simon hyung!!"
Simon glanced toward Shun, then shouted urgently.
"Shun! Are you hurt anywhere?"
"I'm fine—! Ah! Look out!"
CRASH!
Behind Simon, two pirates burst through the mansion's glass window and lunged at him.
Simon tilted his weight back with fluid ease, dodging the thrusting blade, caught the man's arm, yanked it forward, and drove his left elbow up into the pirate's nose.
Crack!
The pirate crumpled like a rag doll. Flowing straight into the next movement, Simon ducked under a spear swinging in from behind, planted his hands on the ground, spun, and swept his rising leg in a kick.
THWAAAACK!
The second pirate took the heel to the skull and collapsed backward through the very window he'd come in. Simon rose, panting hard.
"Kyaaaaa!"
"Simooon!"
The maids, beside themselves with relief, hopped up and down on the spot.
Ugh, that aside—I'm completely wiped.
The exhaustion from his fight with Gale still weighed heavily on him. Simon was drawing a long, slow breath when, with a BOOM!, the third-floor wall of the mansion gave way and people began to fall.
Bone Armour—hurry!
The legionified skeletons broke apart into shards of bone and flew out, snapping themselves around the falling figures. The Bone Armour absorbed the impact in their place, and everyone touched down safely.
"Whew."
Simon wiped the sweat from his brow and looked up at the man standing against the ruined third-floor wall—a huge, hulking figure. His fat-stuffed frame strained against skin-tight armor, and an enormous mace was slung across his shoulder.
The man, staring down at them, suddenly leapt off the edge. His trajectory was aimed straight at Shun.
"Shun! Move!"
Shun and the maids spotted the falling man and scrambled back just in time.
KWAAAAAANG!
A massive crater opened in the ground. Unfazed by the impact, the man raised his head without a scratch. Magic power rippled along his mace in waves.
Aura!
"I am Valdez, the vice-captain."
The man grinned down at Shun sprawled on the ground.
"You'll have to come with me, Count."
Just as the man's arm stretched out toward Shun, a gleaming fragment of Bone Armour flew in and clamped itself onto his arm.
Click! Clunk!
In the same breath, Bone Armour latched onto his right leg and left foot as well. Simon sprinted toward Shun while issuing an Absolute Order.
Stop him!
Keeeeeee!
The Bone Armour began moving on its own.
"What the hell is THIS?!"
It was as if Valdez had been strapped into a set of restraints. He staggered and thrashed, and finally began grunting and straining to tear the armor off with his bare hands.
Meanwhile, Shun, who had been crawling on all fours, scrambled to his feet and started running toward Simon.
"Simon hyung!"
"Shun!"
The two ran toward each other. Having pried the Bone Armour off by brute force, Valdez staggered after them, a step behind.
Just a little closer—!
The very moment their fingertips were about to touch—
FWOOSH!
Their hands swiped through empty air, and Shun's body yanked upward, dangling upside-down in midair.
"Waaahhh!"
"Shun!"
Simon and Valdez stopped dead in their tracks. And then—
<Fierce Dragon Acid>
CHAAAAAAA!
Valdez, still charging after them, slammed into a serpentine green dragon made entirely of liquid.
"G-GAAAACK!"
The vice-captain's upper body melted and ran off him in rivulets. Within moments nothing remained but bone, clattering onto the ground—a sight so grotesque that the maids began to scream.
"Didn't I tell you before?"
Simon turned his head.
"What good is a bodyguard who keeps taking his eyes off his charge?"
"......!"
Finch Nikiman was approaching. His arm, transformed into liquid, was gripping Shun by the leg.
"Uncle Finch!"
Shun threw both hands into the air and cheered.
"It's Sir Finch!"
"We're saved!"
The servants let out sighs of relief or embraced one another in joy.
But amid the celebration, one person alone—Simon—wore an expression twisted cold.
"Everyone, please rest easy. I have arrived."
"Sir Finch!"
The head butler came rushing up, breathless.
"Why is the family necromancer so late?! The mansion was attacked, and the Count himself was nearly endangered!"
"I am ashamed, Head Butler. I was occupied sinking two of their pirate ships on the way."
Having said that, Finch turned his gaze on Simon.
"Hmm? And why do you look so tense, might I ask?"
"......."
Grind.
Simon gritted his teeth.
"Put the Count down. Now."
Finch smiled an enigmatic smile.
Shun, still dangling upside-down, righted himself into a proper posture—but Finch's hand did not release him.
"I'm afraid I can't do that. I cannot trust you. A bodyguard who abandons the Count's side to leave his post? I intend to file a formal protest with Kizen."
"Don't scold him, Uncle! Simon hyung only left because I ordered him to!"
Finch looked at Simon with a stony face.
"When it comes to guarding the Count, I can make no compromises. From this moment, I will guard the Count personally. You—go north and deal with the pirate remnants—"
"Finch Nikiman."
Simon drew in a long, deep breath.
People were dying. Dragging things out longer, playing mind games—none of it meant anything anymore.
"Why did you betray the Count?"