51
My Villains Chapter 51
14. Berserker (2)
The voyage that had started rather peacefully met with a crisis as the night sky darkened.
What broke the peace was none other than my shout.
"There, pirates!"
A sailboat had revealed itself under the dim moonlight.
The sailboat that appeared from the southwest had its sails folded, but—
Damn, it's insanely fast?
Dozens of pairs of long oars lined up on both sides were pushing the sea as if rowed by a single person.
My mouth gaped open at the sight of the massive ship, likely over 40 meters long, approaching like an arrow.
"To the land, go to the land!"
At the urgent voice of the scout Romet, Randel and Grania, who were on the starboard side, gritted their teeth and rowed.
The boat quickly changed direction and soon began to move towards the beach.
Although high tide had passed, the waves were still fierce, making the boat faster than expected.
But Arnal, sitting at the stern, shouted with a hardened face.
"Damn it, we'll be caught at this rate! Faster!"
The reason Arnal showed impatience was that the sailboat had started to unfurl its sails while changing direction to follow us.
But, isn't it not something to worry about? The coast is already right in front of us?
Just as I thought that,
"Uh- uhh?"
The sailboat, catching the wind, increased its speed tremendously as if it had a motor attached.
"We're going to be caught... A bit faster!"
As much as I wanted to row myself right away, I had to hold back.
The rhythm of the four who had been rowing so far wasn't bad, and if I jumped in with an impatient mind and used too much force, the boat could capsize.
Meanwhile, the distance with the sailboat was steadily closing.
Damn it, aren't we going to get run over by the bow at this rate?
If we had driven the boat closer to the shore, we could have escaped earlier, but there's no use regretting now. To begin with, the pirates appearing this quickly wasn't part of the plan either.
They shouldn't have known our plan in advance, so it must be a patrolling ship... It seems the sea blockade was tighter than we thought. Or maybe we were just unlucky.
"Tch."
As the sailboat drew closer, Arnal hissed and strung her bow.
Seeing that, I felt a chill down my spine and quickly raised the shield I was carrying. It was because I remembered becoming a pincushion in my first battle since coming to this world.
The shield I had received from the prince at my request was different in shape from the one I used before.
It was what's commonly called a 'heater shield' on Earth, a shield often used by cavalry on horseback.
It was just big enough to barely cover my upper body and light in weight, so while not entirely satisfactory, it wasn't unusable.
"Ellen, come here."
While observing the pirates standing on the deck of the sailboat, I pulled Ellen closer. She stood by my side without a word and whispered softly.
"Phoenix."
"Hm?"
"When we reach land, depending on the situation, let's escape to the north."
"...What?"
What's with this sudden nonsense, at this point?
"There's no absolute reason we have to return to South Harbor, right?"
"Why are you saying such things now?"
"Because now we don't need to worry about the lord or the prince. We have other options."
...That's true.
Not to mention the lord of South Harbor, Prince Ulkar would be busy fighting the demon riders.
Given that we've completed our assigned mission, even if we secretly slip away in the chaos, we probably won't have bounties placed on our heads.
After looking down at her blue eyes for a moment, I hesitated before speaking.
"I won't forget that we have options."
"Then...?"
"Still, let's do what we can for now."
At my words, Ellen furrowed her brow as if frustrated.
"Are you joking? There's a limit to gambling with your life, even if you do as much as you can, do you think pirates or bandits will let us go easily?"
"Put aside that meager heroism. We've done enough."
Heroism, huh.
Well, it's not wrong. The reason I can't run away is because I recognize myself as a hero, or rather, a 'player'.
Considering the scenario in the game, no matter how I think about it, the protagonist role in this world was mine.
If I run away, will another character appear to solve the scenario instead? No, that doesn't seem likely.
A vague belief that if it's not me, South Harbor, or even the world, will perish. If this isn't presumptuous heroism, then what is it?
...Sigh, suddenly feeling disillusioned.
To think I'm acting like I'm the only one who can save the world. I'm not a middle schooler anymore, I'm already thirty years old.
To be honest, I don't have the courage to traverse the Dark World to save the world.
But I don't want to run away just to save my own life either. It would be frightening to just watch the predetermined end without doing anything.
Doing something, even if it's not a big deal, to comfort myself. That's been the life of Kim Seung-soo.
"I-"
Just as I was about to answer.
Swoosh! I raised my head towards the direction of the sound, pulling Ellen close and raising my shield.
Crack!
A blue arrowhead pierced through the shield and poked its head out.
"Ugh,"
Damn it, what kind of shield gets pierced by a single arrow?
The solemn resolution was momentary, and the desire to run away surged.
Pirates gathered at the bow of the sailboat and unleashed a rain of arrows. Most disappeared into the water with a 'plop' sound, creating small foam, but some arrows managed to stick into the boat.
"Damn it, raise your shields!"
"No, just a little more and we're there! Keep rowing!"
Romet, who was drawing his bow, shouted as if in desperation.
But arrows shot from behind were landing at our feet. In this situation, rowing while looking forward was nearly impossible.
When the soldiers threw down their oars and raised their shields, Grania, who had been holding her position alone, had no choice but to let go of her oar as well.
Naturally, the speed slowed down and the distance with the sailboat narrowed, and the number of arrows striking the boat increased dramatically.
Even I, who had been blocking arrows while looking up at the night sky intently, had to bury my head while hugging Ellen.
The fortunate thing was that the boat, which had gained speed, reached the beach before being trampled by the sailboat.
The unfortunate thing was that during the brief shooting exchange, Mayer, the prince's personal guard, the middle-aged scout Romet, and Arnal were hit by arrows.
"Ro-Romet sir!"
"Urgh."
Romet, who had been shot in the middle of his chest, died without even being able to scream properly.
The boat's railing was scratched and his nails broke as it flipped over, but he seemed to be in too much pain to notice.
"H-how can this..."
Ivo, the acne-ridden scout, touched the dying archer's wound with a bewildered expression.
"It's already too late! Move!"
Only after Mr. Randel shouted while kicking his bottom did Ivo gather his wits.
Arnal, whose right forearm had been pierced by an arrow, was in a relatively better situation.
"Arnal!"
"Ugh-"
She broke the arrow shaft with Grania's help and then screamed.
"What are you all doing! Run!"
As if Arnal's shout was a signal, we immediately jumped off the boat.
The waves crashed at about knee height, but the group desperately moved their legs and stood on the sandy beach.
Nearby, a strangely shaped ship was stranded with its sails broken. I glanced at it briefly but didn't sense any human presence, and given the urgency of the situation, I quickly lost interest.
Meanwhile, the pirate sailboat couldn't get close to the beach because its hull was deep and pointed.
Thanks to that, we thought we might catch our breath for a moment, but it was short-lived as the half-naked pirates put knives in their mouths and all jumped into the sea at once.
The ones wearing iron masks either rode on small raft-like things lowered from the sailboat or swam towards the beach relying on oak barrels.
At a glance, even the ones who had been rowing were throwing themselves overboard with weapons in hand. A rough estimate put their number at over fifty.
Hah, they're quite persistent.
I led the group up the shore. Only after climbing a small rocky hill and surveying the surroundings did I realize where we were.
"Damn it."
The stream flowing on the left side of our group was clearly the Salt River we had encountered after coming out of the secret passage.
We had painfully rowed for over two hours to cover a distance that would have taken less than 20 minutes on horseback.
Well, it wasn't entirely meaningless. Just crossing the Salt River without being detected by the demon riders was a significant achievement.
Of course, it wasn't much consolation given that we had a bunch of pirates on our tail.
"Ugh, this won't do."
The one making the pained noise was Mayer, the middle-aged personal guard.
Shot in the thigh, he shook off Randel and Ivo who were supporting him and shook his head.
"It's impossible to run any further."
"Randel, I entrust the mission to you. I'll find my own way to survive, so go on ahead."
Of course, the idea of an injured person finding their own way to survive in a place crawling with bandits was nonsense.
Mr. Randel, who couldn't have missed this, just silently nodded. If they delayed any longer, they would be caught by the pirates.
I felt my stomach twist and looked back at the beach.
The number of pursuing pirates seemed to be about 60 or 70. It looked like none of them had bows, as they were swimming.
Honestly, it seemed like odds we could handle. If Ellen supported with magic, we at least wouldn't die.
If the rest of the group could properly protect Ellen, we might even win. In a pinch, Mr. Luke could use the 'Abyss Scream’ spell.
"Phoenix."
As if sensing my thoughts, Ellen tugged at the hem of my cloak. When our eyes met, she furrowed her brow, as if telling me not to do anything foolish.
Right, it's an absurd thought. Now was the time to run, not fight.
"Let's hurry."
"...Okay."
After glancing at Mayer, who was sitting on a rock with a hole in it, I moved on. The sound of six pairs of footsteps following behind weighed on my shoulders.
After running for about 20 minutes?
For now, it seems we've put some distance between us and the pirates.
They seemed to be chasing relentlessly on the beach, but after running along the Salt River for a while, they were suddenly out of sight. Well, they might still be following from afar, but it didn't seem like we'd be caught immediately.
Of course, this wasn't a situation where we could let our guard down.
The plan I'm about to execute is - maybe 'Plan B-4'? Although I hadn't discussed it separately with the group, it was a case I had privately thought might happen.
We were running towards the secret passage.
"Arnal, are you okay?"
"Huff, huff- yeah."
She nodded while breathing heavily, but Arnal's face had already turned pale.
The arrow stuck in her arm had its shaft broken so it wasn't getting in the way, but because it hadn't been properly treated, it was continuously bleeding.
With the intense movement on top of that, it was reaching a level where we should start worrying about excessive blood loss.
I glanced at Ellen.
Perhaps due to her overall increased physical stats? She was somehow keeping pace with the group, albeit with difficulty. Her breathing was very rapid, but not to the point of collapse.
As soon as I confirmed Ellen's condition was tolerable, I piggy-backed Arnal.
"Ugh, damn it. Let go-"
Arnal mumbled something for a moment and twisted her body, but soon grabbed her wound in the piggy-back position. I was glad to avoid unnecessary bickering.
In the distance, I could see the small hill we had climbed to avoid the poison fog. The secret passage was getting closer, and along with it, my anxiety was surging.
Unless the demon riders were fools, they wouldn't have left the secret passage empty. It would either be swarming with troops or guarded by elites.
Could we break through them?
What if they had completely collapsed the passage? We couldn't exactly start digging with enemies all around...
As I was thinking this and looking ahead-
Huh?
"Wait, stop!"
At my low cry, the group came to a halt all at once. Ignoring the group's questioning gazes, I carefully lowered Arnal to the ground.
Only then did the group members notice the scene on the hill and mutter in surprised voices.
"What on earth is this..."
"How dreadful."
On a low hill by the riverbank, countless corpses were strewn about. Judging by the traces, it seemed the battle had ended not long ago.
Most of the bodies were those of bandits, but at a glance, there were also a few people mixed in with exotic appearances and attire.
The most striking was a woman leaning against a tree trunk with an arrow in her neck. She wore a hat decorated with flowers and grass, and a coat engraved with geometric patterns. Her lips were painted red, her face white, and a long black line across her forehead, eyes, and cheekbones gave her a somewhat eerie impression.
There were also several men with long black hair braided like pigtails. They all wore armor made of leather or bone, and their reddish skin and low noses indicated a race never before seen in this world.
The last was a man so old it was impossible to guess his age. The old man, with a long gash in his side, opened his eyes wide and said, "Ugh, you startled me!"
This old man, he's still alive?
"Are they barbarians from the west?"
"The west? But in the west—"
"They say that beyond the highlands, Mittergerant, and the corridor region, vast grasslands stretch out. I've heard that the barbarians living there dress exactly like that."
Leaving Mr. Luke and Grania's conversation behind, I approached the panting old man.
The old man was leaning against a small tree, blood flowing from his mouth, with a long gash in his side.
It was a horrific sight, with his bloodied hands trying to hold back the intestines threatening to spill out, but his eyes were as fierce as a tiger's. Deep wrinkles and sagging skin were covered in black tattoos, and on his head, he wore an elaborate hat.
The reason I stopped in my tracks was because that hat was an item I had seen so often while playing Dark World that it was almost tiresome.
A battle hat about one and a half spans long, with dozens of feathers strung together and hanging down, known as a 'Warbonnet'.
This strange object maintained its colorful appearance and grandeur even as its owner was in tatters.
But why—why was a dying old man wearing this?
The old man looked up at me with wrinkled eyes and spoke.
"Are you a thief too?"
As I heard those words, a strange feeling swept through my mind. Though it was clearly a language I had never heard before, I understood it as if it were natural.
This is 'Gelant language'.
"No, I'm a mercenary."
"Cough, a mercenary?"
"Yes. I'm on a mission to save the city from thieves."
Randel, who had followed behind me with the others, spoke in an urgent voice.
"I don't know what conversation you're having, but it's already too late for this person. We need to move quickly."
"Wait. Just wait a moment, please."
I quickly asked the old man a question.
"That hat. Is it originally yours, sir?"
"Heh, of course."
The old man coughed dryly a few times and then closed his eyes.
"Who else but me, the 'Hatanka of Likuwa', would be the owner of this object?"
The 'Hatanka of Likuwa'? This old man?
...That can't be. The name 'Hatanka' is surely—
"Aqun-ta!"
A roar erupted not far away. It sounded more like thunder than something from a person.
"Oh."
The group involuntarily shrank back, and I turned to look at the owner of the voice. Then my jaw dropped.
The Hatanka I knew was there.