The Incompetent Hero and Pirate Suppression (3)
"...Did you not sleep properly?"
"Ah, no, it's nothing like that... I slept fine, so don't worry about it."
The morning after enjoying a long-overdue night of passion with Baekryeon.
True to her nature as a White Tiger beastman overflowing with tiger vitality, Baekryeon had risen early despite the countless climaxes of the night before. I was carrying her breakfast over—yet at the table...
Nod... nod... nod...
"Hey. If you're gonna sleep, sleep. If you're gonna eat, eat."
"Hah... s-sorry. I'll eat."
What should have been a refreshing morning meal found Seollin dozing off with a hollow, sleep-deprived look on her face. She was picking at the breakfast set before her more than actually eating it, so when I called her out, she startled in a way most unlike her, flushed red, and hurriedly shoveled the rest of her food down.
"What's with you? Having more trouble making the poison than you expected?"
"Ah, no? I'm totally fine..."
"Lady Seollin. If the burden is too great, there is no need to force yourself to take it on."
"I-it's not like that, so stop fretting over me..."
Whether it was my words or Baekryeon's worried remark, Seollin shook her head and insisted she was fine. Then she finished her breakfast even faster and fled the table in a flustered rush.
"...What's her deal?"
"Hmm. This one is not certain either, Doryeong."
For the record, Baekryeon's cooking was classic Korean home-style fare. Of course, with Yeom Kingdom ingredients being what they were, it wasn't perfect Korean food—but whenever homesickness for a proper home-cooked meal hit, eating it still left a warm, aching feeling in my chest. Sure, chicken, pizza, and burgers are great, but sometimes you need a proper rice-and-side-dish spread to get your strength back.
"It's delicious today too."
"Heh. Shall this one serve another bowl?"
"Yeah. One more, please."
Seven days later.
Off the coast of Dandong.
Among the laborers hauling cargo onto the ship, Hwa Mirim in her flamboyant attire and Yeo Gibuk in his crimson military uniform stood watching a single man.
"We'll be setting off, then. You've memorized the signal, right?"
"Yes, I've committed it firmly to memory, but... is this truly possible? That..."
"What? Worried it won't work out properly?"
"N-no, it's not that, but... realistically speaking, splitting the sky itself..."
Yeo Gibuk cleared his throat and looked away.
This guy really has no faith in people.
"...Hand it over."
"Pardon? H-hand what over?"
"The signal flare. You brought one, didn't you?"
At my words, Yeo Gibuk flinched, then produced a signal flare and a flint from his coat and handed them over.
"You know how to use it, I trust?"
"Don't worry. I know. The important thing is that you lot don't get spotted by them. Keep that in mind."
"Understood. We will move with the utmost stealth."
I pretended to tuck the signal flare and flint into my coat, stashed them in my inventory instead, and boarded the ship.
"Setting sail~!"
Confirming I was aboard, a crewman bellowed the call and the ship's horn blared. Inside, sailors moved with brisk efficiency. I approached the two young women who stood out among them.
"You two remember your parts of the plan."
"Worry not, Doryeong. This one knows well."
"Don't worry."
I reminded Baekryeon and Seollin once more to move according to plan, then turned my gaze to the rolling sea beyond.
The other key to this plan was whether the bastards would approach this ship or not. Over the past week we had blocked every vessel leaving Dandong, starving the pirates out—but that very pressure might make them smell something fishy and refuse to approach this ship at all. If they didn't come near... the whole plan would fall apart.
"I just have to pray this works..."
I really don't want to keep doing this crap.
"Halt right there~!"
There was a time when I thought that.
"You've got some nerve, sailing through Iron Horn territory~!!"
A pirate ship came cutting through the waves without hesitation. Watching the fleet of pirate vessels appear, roaring with zero suspicion, I finally relaxed.
Looks like I won't have to pull this stupid stunt a few more times after all.
Confirming the pirates, I immediately addressed the people on board.
"For now, please don't resist and stay quiet. As long as you don't fight back, they won't harm you. We will guarantee your safety—so under no circumstances provoke them first."
The crew nodded as if to say they understood.
"Ram them!!!"
In the meantime the bastards closed in and attempted a ramming strike. We were going to get captured anyway, but putting up too little resistance might raise their suspicions, so we fled just enough. Then, pretending we had tried to escape and failed, the entire crew was seized by the Iron Horn Pirates.
"Stay in here. We'll call you if we need you. Heh heh heh."
I was shoved roughly into a cell that barely deserved the name. Every other crewman besides me was dragged here and locked up as well.
The island's bigger than I expected.
The place they were using as a prison was something like a natural cave on the island, roughly converted for the purpose. Escaping from here wouldn't be hard.
"...What are you planning to do with the ladies?"
"Ladies? Ah, those women? Keh heh heh. Why? Curious? Enjoy yourself a bit and maybe I'll let you have a turn?"
"..."
At my question, the pirate flashed a thoroughly lecherous grin, thrusting his hips as if ramming into a woman, then laughed heartily and walked off.
Watching them recede, I thought it over.
I looked them over while we were being captured. Every last one was human.
I'd clearly heard they were connected to the Beastman Alliance... Had the number of beastmen been smaller than expected?
Well, the Beastman Alliance approached a pirate crew of humans in the first place. It makes sense that beastmen would be a minority.
More than that, beastmen fundamentally possessed superior physical ability compared to ordinary humans. The upper limits they could reach through training were higher as well. And if the Beastman Alliance had gone so far as to dispatch people here, they would have sent highly skilled operatives who would never lose to mere pirates.
Plus, they'd have planned for the possibility of other great families catching wind of their movements and needing an escape route.
"Y-you as well... were you captured?"
"...Yes, that's right. This seems to be where they've gathered the men."
Looking back, I could see men who appeared to have been captured earlier. Most of them looked thoroughly haggard, as if they hadn't been eating properly or sleeping easily.
"Excuse me, but is there anyone here by the name of Jong-ui?"
"Jong-ui?"
"Ah... you mean that boatman?"
"If it's that man..."
Fortunately, some of them seemed to know him. They murmured among themselves, each offering a word, then answered in unison.
"He was taken away by the captain a few days ago."
Well, this is inconvenient.
Taken away...
The fact that only Jong-ui the boatman had been singled out and dragged off... Had his spying been discovered?
No idea if he's even still alive.
The only women who had been on the ship—Baekryeon and Dan Seollin—were taken not to the prison holding the ordinary crew and Leon, but toward the pirates' living quarters.
"...Disgusting."
"Indeed. This one agrees."
A considerable number of pirates were staring at the two women's bodies with thoroughly filthy gazes, practically licking them with their eyes. Seollin, thoroughly offended by those stares, scowled—and Baekryeon nodded in agreement.
Given the nature of pirates, women were chronically scarce. And Baekryeon and Seollin possessed striking beauty that would captivate any man wherever they went, so the pirates' lower halves stood all the more rigidly at attention as they eyed the two as if ready to pounce at any moment.
"Ahahahah! How long has it been since we've had women?"
And that went for the captain of the Iron Horn Pirates, Eun Gwangcheol, as well. After so long without a woman—and with two of the highest caliber of beauty laid out right before his eyes—he could feel his cock aching with how hard it had gotten, and the corner of his mouth curled up.
"Right, right. Which one should I sample first?"
"Boss, then can we have the other one?"
"As if. I'm having both of them first."
The giver wasn't even thinking of handing anything out, yet the takers were already lining up.
Baekryeon swept her gaze around the area, then quietly asked Seollin,
"None to be found, are there?"
"Yeah. No beastmen. All human."
They had clearly heard there was a cooperative relationship with the Beastman Alliance... yet strangely, there wasn't a single beastman in sight.
As the captain approached them, Dan Seollin asked boldly,
"I've got a question."
"What is it? Want to be held first? Kwahahahah!"
"Are the people here the entire pirate crew?"
"Huh?"
The captain tilted his head at Seollin's question, not grasping her intent.
"Why ask that? Aha—kwahahahah! Don't worry. The only ones who'll be using you are me and the officers. Kwahahahah!"
"All of them, or not. Answer quickly."
"Heh heh, you've got some nerve. Breaking that spirit will be fun. Fine! Everyone here is all of them!"
"I see."
Dan Seollin rose to her feet.
Baekryeon stood as well.
Both of them were martial artists, but they had been posing as the sheltered daughters of high-ranking officials who knew nothing of combat—so no restraints meant for warriors had been placed on them. The only thing binding them was a single rope each.
Snap. Snap-snap.
"Huh...?"
"It has been some time since this one last used the Swordless Style... but if it comes to it, this one shall borrow your blades."
"Don't worry. I'll prepare a poison just right for the likes of you."
And so the catastrophe for the pirates began.