Chapter 114: The Tin Knight and The Land of Sea Breeze (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 114: The Tin Knight and The Land of Sea Breeze (3)
“W-wait a minute! You want us to go out to sea in this weather? To the Witch of the West's island? I can't do it! I'd rather… yes, I'd rather you send me to the city guard! I'll go to prison!”
Slice!
“Sell out my crew? I can't do that! If the boss finds out, he'll never let me live—”
Slice!
“Next. You there. Got anything to say?”
“No, ma'am! Just give us your orders!”
“We'll shut up and work!”
“All hail Lady Franka!”
The negotiations with the pirates went smoothly.
With Franka’s special wooden boards fastened around their necks, the pirates readily agreed to fill the spots of the sailors who had been injured or killed during the kidnapping.
The next problem was how to deal with the sea monster.
The Sea Serpent.
This monster, shaped like a giant sea snake, not only targeted merchant ships but would also occasionally storm the coast and wreak havoc.
Hearing this, Dorothea posed a natural question.
“Well, what are the city guards here doing, then?”
“Well, they say the guards already tried to fight it and got thoroughly crushed.”
Franka’s subordinates treated Dorothea with extreme politeness.
Just seeing her stand up to their own ill-tempered—no, rather sensitive—young lady was enough to tell them she was no ordinary person. (Then again, it was obvious from her attire that she was anything but ordinary.)
“They said the lord, unable to tolerate the creature's nuisance any longer, mobilized his forces, but that only provoked its anger, resulting in the destruction of an entire port.”
The Sea Serpent was large enough to crush a mansion by coiling its body around it, and its scales could deflect most blades even when struck defenselessly.
Ordinary soldiers had no way of fighting it. It would take several silver-rank or higher adventurers, or knight-level combatants, who could wield mana to even attempt a subjugation.
“Since it was a matter requiring not just one or two knights but an entire order, no neighboring domains were willing to offer help. The Adventurers Guild's response was just as slow, as they'd have to travel all the way from the imperial mainland. More importantly, even without the Sea Serpent, the weather was preventing any ships from sailing anyway, so the lord didn't seem inclined to go into major debt by asking his neighbors for aid.”
“So, this means we have to solve this problem too.”
Dorothea fell into thought.
In truth, they weren't lacking in combat power.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ beats his chest, insisting you leave it to him!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ expresses his opinion that a wooden sword would be the best weapon for the job!]
After all, deploying that one lunatic overflowing with fighting spirit would solve most situations.
However, Dorothea couldn't deploy the Tin Knight for this mission.
“How is a guy who can't even swim supposed to fight in the sea, you tin can?”
The Tin Knight couldn't swim.
He could temporarily adjust his direction or stay afloat by expelling mana, but it was an incredibly inefficient and unstable method.
In a lake, he could at least sink to the bottom and walk back to land, but in the ocean, if he sank in the wrong spot, he'd be out for good.
Not wanting to become a permanent lost child of the seabed, the Tin Knight didn't insist he could handle it this time.
“Then I guess we'll have to wait for it to approach the coast.”
“That's much better than fighting it on a ship, but didn't you say no one knows when it will attack?”
“Then couldn't we use bait?”
Adelaide, Dorothea, and Sophia spoke in turn.
Franka’s men shook their hands in dismissal.
“Well, the guards tried a similar method, but they said it failed every time. It apparently doesn't react to things like cows, pigs, or fish. It seems to be a matter of the creature's 'tastes'.”
“Tastes?”
“Humans. It attacks merchant ships to devour the people on board. I don't know if it's always been like this or if it just recently developed a taste for them, but…”
The party understood at once.
Franka scoffed.
“For now, things are quiet because even if they catch the Sea Serpent, they can't go out to sea due to the weather. But if that monster is still rampaging after the weather clears up, I bet there'll be talk of offering it a live sacrifice.”
“Ah, that could work.”
At Sophia's sudden remark, everyone's eyes turned to her.
Sophia pointed a finger at herself and smiled brightly.
“Let's do it. Operation: Live Sacrifice.”
*
“…It's not my place to say, but you people aren't in your right minds either.”
“Ha, haha.”
At Franka's dumbfounded comment, Adelaide, at a loss for words, could only offer an awkward laugh.
At the end of their gazes was the sight of Sophia, bound tightly to a rock with sturdy chains.
To be clear, the chains were less for restraint and more of a safety measure.
Their main purpose was to keep Sophia in place, so the Sea Serpent couldn't just snatch the bait and run.
A short distance from Sophia, the rest of the party was gathered where a giant, golden ballista had been installed.
At a glance, it resembled the one Franka had fired at the Tin Knight, but there were subtle differences.
First, the bolt was shaped more like a harpoon, and a long, thick chain was attached to its end, connected to a pulley.
The bite came sooner than expected.
It could have been simple luck, or perhaps the blood sprinkled around Sophia had provoked the Sea Serpent.
Just moments after they sensed a dark shadow shimmering near the surface.
FWOOOOSH!
With a tremendous spray of water, a turquoise sea serpent emerged from the depths.
The beast, its head a mix of a snake, a seahorse, and a dragon, thrust its mouth toward the rock where Sophia was tied.
As if hindered by the chains binding Sophia, the Sea Serpent pressed its head against the rock, thrashing its maw from side to side.
Seeing red blood splatter several times, Adel squeezed her eyes shut without thinking.
Dorothea didn't close her eyes, but she couldn't stop her gaze from hardening.
And then, Franka took action.
The ballista, installed for this very moment, took aim at its target and fired with all its might.
CRUNCH!
《────■■■■!!》
The harpoon, generously imbued with an alchemist's mana, mercilessly pierced the Sea Serpent's torso.
Dorothea shouted.
“Adel! Snap out of it!”
“Ah, yes!”
After her reflexive reply, Adel grabbed one of the handles installed next to the pulley.
The Tin Knight had already taken his position at the opposite handle long ago.
As the two of them pushed the handles with all their strength, the pulley began to spin, reeling in the chain.
Whirrrrrr.
The Sea Serpent thrashed wildly, trying to resist being dragged, but the pulley, which had been anchored deep into the ground for just this occasion, didn't budge.
There was a risk of the harpoon coming loose from the excessive thrashing, but they had a countermeasure for that as well.
Flash!
A white light spread from within the Sea Serpent's belly.
Light imbued with holiness enveloped the Sea Serpent, healing its wounds.
The problem was, the harpoon was still lodged in the Sea Serpent's body.
As regeneration was accelerated with the weapon still in the wound, the Sea Serpent's flesh and the chain became tightly entangled, as if fused together.
Little by little.
The more the Tin Knight and Adelaide turned the pulley, the more the Sea Serpent's massive body was dragged from the sea onto the land.
By the time its body was fully exposed on the ground, the Sea Serpent glared at the party with eyes full of rage.
Realizing it couldn't escape its fate of being dragged ashore even if it resisted, the creature instead began to charge toward the ballista.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says he's leaving the rear to you!]
“Right!”
The Tin Knight charged toward the Sea Serpent as it slithered across the ground with terrifying momentum.
The Sea Serpent swung its body, trying to whip the Tin Knight with its tail, but the knight instead jumped onto the tail and began to run up the creature's back.
Of course, it wouldn't be the Tin Knight if he just climbed up quietly.
Crunch!
The Tin Knight's sword pierced the Sea Serpent's back.
The turquoise scales surprisingly tried to resist the sword energy, but while they might have blocked ordinary sword energy, they lacked the defense to stop the Tin Knight's attack.
As the Tin Knight rampaged, tearing up its back, the Sea Serpent raised its head and glared at him.
Terrifying water mana began to gather in front of the Sea Serpent's wide-open maw.
At that moment, Adel's eyes flashed.
Deciding it was pointless to keep pulling the creature with the pulley, she let go of the handle and grabbed the chain directly.
The ‘Belt of Amaryllis’ emitted a faint, flame-like mana.
This sacred treasure, said to enhance the user's physical abilities, had an effect that was closer to multiplication than addition.
In other words, instead of increasing physical ability by a fixed amount, its output rose in proportion to the user's base abilities—the higher they were, the greater the boost.
Because of this, Adel couldn't yet display the same monstrous arm strength as the Kalidahs.
That was also why she had to rely on a device like the pulley instead of pulling the chain immediately after the harpoon hit.
However, temporarily interfering with the opponent was something the current Adel was more than capable of.
Yank!
As Adel grabbed the chain and yanked it with all her might, the Sea Serpent's head, which had been glaring at the Tin Knight, was forcibly thrown back.
The terrifying water-type breath that spewed from its mouth shot up into the air instead of hitting the Tin Knight, scattering harmlessly.
The Sea Serpent furiously tried to engage Adel in a contest of strength, but this time, the Tin Knight didn't let it.
As the Tin Knight's sword energy shredded its body, the Sea Serpent let out another pained scream.
When it tried to focus on the Tin Knight, Adel would yank the chain in its neck, throwing it off balance. When it tried to focus on Adel, the Tin Knight would carve it up like he was filleting a fish, as if to say, "Where do you think you're going?"
Franka made a weary expression.
‘…I can't tell which one is the real monster.’
She had been planning to provide support with another ballista if needed, but seeing the situation, it didn't seem necessary.
“Phew.”
Dorothea, too, relaxed her shoulders.
It seemed the chance to show off her staff's new function would have to wait for another time.
About ten minutes later.
The Sea Serpent's head went flying, and Sophia emerged from its belly, which had been sliced open.
Hostages captured by pirates (1/1)
Rampaging Sea Serpent (1/1)
Ceremony to calm the weather (0/1)
Second mission. Solved.