Spoils on a Rocking Ship
The moment I cut down the bandit I encountered in the cabin and rushed out onto the deck, what greeted me was a scene of utter carnage, drenched in blood and littered with corpses. The pirates were noisily dividing up their plunder, devouring the preserved food from the ship’s stores as if it were some grand feast.
A wind blew across the deck, carrying the metallic stench of blood mingled with the sharp, pungent vapor of ethanol. The scent was so overpowering it could make one dizzy; I pinched my nose shut.
A scene of slaughter, or perhaps a banquet. I had leaped straight into its heart.
“What the hell is this bitch?”
“Like that kid from earlier—this ship really carries women as crew?”
Several bandits looked me up and down.
“What kind of sailor is half-naked like that? Must be one of the whores who was on board. Or maybe a passenger who crawled out in her sleep.”
“Either way, it’s perfect timing…”
As the bandit trailed off with that “perfect timing,” his gaze slid sideways. Without thinking, I followed it.
“Ugh…!!”
“Eugh… u-ugh… Hehe, ehehehe…”
There was a small human shape, giggling with a broken mind. In the light of the breaking dawn, her glistening body revealed itself to be a girl. Her face was shattered, and between lips curved in a sorrowful smile, drool spilled freely.
“Pi… Pirel…”
It was a relief she hadn’t died. But… but that expression…
The bandit grabbed a fistful of her brown hair and lifted her toward me like some trophy.
“One wasn’t enough.”
“What have you done…”
I ground my teeth.
“What the hell did you do to Pirel…!!”
“It’s the price of our comrades’ lives.”
A heavy, low voice rang out from across the deck. I turned toward it.
“The sailors were all straw dummies. Not one of them managed a proper swing before they dropped dead. The only one who hurt our brothers was that girl. One bullet, one kill.”
The pistol Kennetig had given her. Come to think of it, even when she saved me in the forest, Pirel had fired a gun she was clearly handling for the first time with perfect accuracy.
“Originally we planned to toy with her a bit as revenge for our dead comrades and then kill her… but after playing with her a little, her mind shattered right away. That broken look is kind of cute, so we’re thinking of taking her across the river and enjoying her for a long time. You know her name—must be your little sister, huh? How about it? Want to come along with your sister?”
I gripped my sword so tightly that blood welled in my palm and thrust it forward.
“……”
“Oh. You want to fight?”
At the same time, I called out to Rin in my mind. She should have been waiting on the sail in the form of a flock of birds; she could melt and devour trash like this in an instant.
…….
But there was no answer from Rin. Only then did I realize something was still stinging my nose—the thick reek of alcohol saturating the ruined deck. Was it enough on its own to neutralize a magical creature?
I have no choice. It’s too easy on them, but I still need to turn back time and save Pirel…
Having made up my mind, I looked at the bandits again. They were no longer in their original positions… but they didn’t seem inclined to fight me either. If I was going to fight, now—while they were off guard—was the moment.
…Or so I thought, when something caught my eye.
The man who had been holding Pirel’s hair and showing her off like a trophy was now reaching his arm out past the port-side railing.
“Ah…!!”
In the man’s hand were both of Pirel’s arms. If he let go, she would be swallowed instantly by the pitch-black midnight waters. And once that happened, not even turning back time thousands of times could save her. Not unless I had the power to rewind the entire world.
“Ehehehe… Water, heehee, water…”
Pirel, whose mind had been erased to the point she no longer recognized death at her feet, only let out that eerie laugh.
Seeing her like that, the strength left my hand. Mervin’s sword fell onto the wooden deck with a clear clang.
Then I dropped to my knees and begged.
“…I surrender…”
I placed both hands on the blood-soaked deck and bowed my head low.
“Please spare Pirel… You can do whatever you want to me, just please… please spare Pirel…”
Deep in the southern jungle, beyond the Empire’s reach—a place so thick with moisture and heat that even breathing was difficult at night. In a crude shack somewhere in an unfamiliar forest, whose only notable feature was its proximity to the river, weeks had passed since I was tied to a wooden frame and treated like a tool for sexual relief.
And even now.
“Mmm… ugh… hng… haaah…”
The rough men who lived as outlaws while clearing the jungle trampled my body every single day. Just like this.
A man with sun-baked skin from slash-and-burn farming, reeking of stale sweat, was thrusting his massive cock deep inside me. He paid no attention to my body at all, moving only to satisfy his own greed.
“Hng… u-ugh… ngh, ugh… hnnng… ugh, hngh…”
Even so, I hated how my body inevitably grew hot and breathless.
It was different from when I worked at Arto’s brothel. Back then, I could enjoy it to some degree and even find pleasure in the work. But not now.
Unlike then, when I was paid for my labor, I was now half-bound, raped without compensation, given neither proper clothes nor food, and left frail and weak.
“This bitch really is hopeless. She doesn’t even compare to her little sister…”
The man frowned, glaring at my face with dissatisfaction because I wasn’t tightening around him properly. Then he suddenly grabbed my throat.
“Kh…?!”
The world went dark. I thrashed wildly, struggling against the pain of suffocation. The man kept choking me and thrusting until I was on the verge of passing out, then released his grip with a satisfied expression.
He slapped my cheek a few times and spoke sternly.
“Do I really have to go this far to make you squeeze properly? You’re utterly useless.”
“Ugh… u-ugh…”
Biting my lower lip in shame, I said nothing. I simply turned my head slightly to look at the girl locked in the same room with me.
“Ahaah♡ Hngh… ugh… mmmph, uumph…”
Another man had shoved his filthy cock deep into Pirel’s mouth, gripping the back of her head as he emptied his dirty lust into her. The sight filled my vision.
Pirel, with completely unfocused eyes, was diligently working her tongue, sincerely servicing the man.
Pirel…
“Hng… abuh… hue…? Ah, cough, cough… ah…♡”
In almost no time at all, Pirel had brought the man to the edge. With an ecstatic expression, she carefully pulled the cock from her mouth, then swallowed the semen with a look of pure bliss. She even licked what had spilled onto her hands.
“Gulp… Ehehe, it’s delicious… Pirel likes it… yes, likes it… Ahahaha, this, I like it…”
Ever since she had been raped and broken on that ship, Pirel had never regained her senses.
Unlike me, who still showed traces of rebellion in my eyes, Pirel never once resisted. Whenever the men took out their cocks, she would look at them with genuine longing, her eyes filled with greedy desire.
That was why the bandits never restrained her. Instead, they always kept her with them.
Wherever these rugged outlaws went while pioneering south of the river, they took her like a pet. Whether in the fields, on the fishing boats—whenever they grew bored, they would rape her.
…Though since Pirel never resisted, it could hardly even be called rape.
The broken Pirel followed the bandits wherever they went without refusal, always with a joyful smile. A smile that looked genuinely happy, yet was utterly hollow.
It pained me to see her like that, but I couldn’t do anything reckless. The outlaws had made it clear that if I showed any sign of suspicious behavior, they would harm Pirel, who was always within arm’s reach.
To escape by rewinding the time on my restraints, steal Pirel away, restore her memories, and flee this place, I needed a moment when she was left alone… but such an opportunity never came.
“Mmm… Um, it’s not enough… Ehehe, please do more…”
After licking every drop of semen from her palm as if it were delicious cream, Pirel spread her legs wide in a vulgar pose, eyes sparkling.
“Not today, Pirel. Remember the promise you made with the uncles? You have to do that today. If you don’t, you won’t get a reward.”
“Hue… D-do I really have to…?”
Pirel’s eyes wavered slightly. What on earth had they promised her? What kind of deal could make even her melted, broken mind feel something like dismay?
“Yes. I’m certain of it now. Certain that you’re useless.”
After hesitating, Pirel rose from the bed soaked in all manner of fluids. Her body—barely clothed, emaciated from weeks without proper food—approached me.
“Pirel…?”
I blinked in confusion, staring at the small girl. What kind of promise had they made?
Pirel’s face, wearing that shattered smile, grew larger and larger until it filled my entire field of vision. Behind her bright smile, something… something inhuman, something chilling, flickered past.
“W-wait… Pirel… It’s a little… scary…”
Pirel rubbed her cheek against mine with a smile. It should have been cute, but something was wrong. Even though her mind was broken, it was wrong. It was eerie. It was terrifying.
This wasn’t the child I knew.
To that Pirel, I…
“Hngh!?”
A cold pain pierced into my flesh. Fierce and sharp. This… this was…
“Wh-what… the… hell… is… this…”
Inside my chest, it felt like my lungs were burning. The pain spread through my veins. Unable to endure the agony, I could only open and close my mouth without making a sound.
Only then did I realize the pain was from a blade tearing through flesh and piercing my organs.
I looked back and forth between Pirel’s face and my own chest—where the dull blade of a short dagger, used for various purposes in the jungle, was buried.
“Pi… Pirel…?”
“K-Kaira… Ehehehe… The uncles said… even though you can only spread your cunt, you eat too much food. So… if I… kill Kaira… if I show them the fun sight of killing my own older sister—well, not really my sister, actually my daughter, but anyway… if I do that, they said they’d give me cock… hehe, give me cock…”
No… don’t…
I tried to say something to Pirel, but no words came out. It wasn’t just the pain—my lung had been pierced, blood was filling it, and I couldn’t even breathe.
“Kh… heh, hegh… kuh… cough, cough…”
Blood sprayed from my lungs with every cough. I tried to clear it by coughing harder, but blood kept pooling inside my ruptured chest. There was nothing I could do.
I had to turn back time. If I did, I could live. Pirel was still within reach. I could rewind her time too, and we could start over…
But I had no time to write in the diary. If I rewound time like this, I would lose all my memories and be captured again. What should I do? What should I do…? But if I didn’t rewind, I would die…
“Hmm? Kaira… You’re not crazy yet. So you don’t want to live like this, right? Hehet. Let’s die, Kaira… Listen to Mommy, okay? You have to die, Kaira… They said they’ll only give me the good stuff if Kaira dies. Ehehe… they’ll put something nice in my cunt, so… I have no choice…”
Pirel’s voice was a mix of laughter and tears. Sniffling and giggling, she kept spouting her insane words.
“Traveling with Kaira… every day we got caught, suffered, and were only raped… Kaira is like a disaster for me. I… I like it here. It’s better to stay here with the cocks the uncles give me as gifts than to follow Kaira, who only brings misfortune to everyone around her… Okay? Die, Kaira… Since you gave birth to me, you should die by my hand. Kaira…”
I see…
So that’s how it was. Pirel… that’s what you were thinking.
It was pointless to have met me… to have set out on that long journey… to have suffered through all those hardships that never should have happened…
The hand that had been twitching, trying to turn back time, stopped moving. It wasn’t that my arm had lost strength. Even on the verge of death, I could still move my fingers enough to touch my palm.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t concentrate, either. Although I had awakened long after turning ten, the ability had been with me since birth—no, even before birth. I could have rewound time right then and there.
But I didn’t.
Looking at Pirel’s empty expression—her mind already shattered and insane, yet somehow aware that I had only been a burden—I decided to stop struggling.
Yes.
The life you gave birth to… please take it back.
I love you, Mother…
My powerless arm fell limply. Blood from my chest soaked the bed. Pirel’s tear-filled eyes and laughing voice grew fainter and fainter.
And then…
A shadow…
A shadow that seemed almost alive, writhing… completely covered my vision.