Novel Bin (245) Start of the battle with pirates?
Chapter (245) Start of the battle with pirates?
The battle with the pirates began.
“I’m sorryyyyyy!”
And it ended.
All the members were prostrated on the ground before ten seconds were up.
The reason was the wooden well-sized large hole above my head. The walls of the hole were burnt black but it was a blessing in disguise as the firepower was so strong that the flames did not spread instead. Well, even if the flames spread, I could just extinguish it with Water Magic.
Either way, I was able to have a slow conversation now.
“So, where is this place? I hope we are not in a different continent from where we just were?”
“This is the Principality of Nicplan.”
The pirate that I knocked out with Thunder Magic just now woke up and was filled in with the details so he replied with prostrating on the ground.
“Principality of Nicplan?”
That was a name I never heard before.
If Carol was here, I probably would have gotten more detailed information compared to a travel guidebook. Sheena No.3 was knowledgeable on jobs, monsters and skills but she was utterly clueless when it comes to location names.
“You have never heard of it? You are a noble from the Shiraraki Kingdom ― right?”
“Nope, I am just a quasi-noble, not a noble. Furthermore, I am a newcomer who just joined yesterday.”
“Well, quasi-noble or noble are the same to us ― so you have not heard of this country?”
When I nodded, a pirate who seemed to be the brains of the pirates stepped out and explained to me.
It began 300 years ago when the younger brother-loving king of Shiraraki Kingdom ceded a portion of his territory to his younger brother Duke Nicplan. After that, Duke Nicplan renamed himself as Prince Nicplan and formed the Principality of Nicplan.
I see, so that was why they found it weird that a noble from Shiraraki Kingdom would be unaware of it. Although I actually didn’t know.
“And it is currently at war with Shiraraki Kingdom.”
“Eh?”
I exclaimed in a foolish voice.
They did mention that they were at war but I assumed that their opponent was the demon race.
“Does this country belong to the demon race?”
“Not … the demon race. This country has a cooperative relationship with the Dark Elves.”
“A cooperative relationship with the Dark Elves?”
Dark Elves … Dark Elves huh?
If just going by the name, they were a race that even I knew as well. I recalled that they were a race with white hair and brown skin. When I came to this world, there was information on Elves in the book I received from Daijiro-san and in fact, there was an Elf-like person working as the guild receptionist in the border town of Dakyat.
However, I only talked to that person for a little so I wasn’t able to actually determine if they were an Elf but there are Dark Elves here huh?
“Tell me more about Dark Elves in detail. Are Dark Elves not part of the demon race?”
“The church considers them as the demon race but that is a misunderstanding. Tens of years ago, when the church and the Demon Lord were in confrontation, both sides sought the assistance of the Dark Elves but the Dark Elves declared complete neutrality and did not assist either side.
Declared complete neutrality huh?
My impression was that Dark Elves and Elves were an exclusive race so that was not unexpected.
“However, the church was not happy about their declaration of complete neutrality and thought that they had formed a no-war treaty with the Demon Lord so they categorize the Dark Elves as a demon race.”
I heard that the demon races and humanity were at war but so the Dark Elves were actually strictly not part of the demon race.
Sigh, I guess I won’t be able to ask the demon race about information on the current Demon Lord Army to probe into Miri and Daijiro-san’s plans.
Well, that was an impossible plan after all so I probably should aim for my original plan which was to travel to Mallegory.
“Hey, have you heard of Mallegory?”
“Eh? Ah, yes. The magic city of the eastern country. I heard of it from hearsay.”
“I see. I wish to travel to Mallegory but how should I get there?”
“You can’t?”
“Eh?”
“The north of Shiraraki Kingdom has been completely sealed. It is impossible for humans to cross the Death Desert to the east. Until just yesterday ships could come and go from the coast to the west but the sea has been blockaded as well so we were unable to leave on our ships.”
“So you guys were in Shiraraki Kingdom before the sea was blockaded?”
“Yes, we heard rumours that they would be gathering materials required for the war from Genova so we wanted to snatch those goods and convert them to gold but the sea was blockaded quicker than expected and just as we were at a loss as we were left with no escape route, we saw your ship and attacked. We were wrong to think that it was a revelation from Torerul-sama.”
“Hn? A revelation from Torerul-sama? What do you mean?”
“It might sound unbelievable but.”
Torerul-sama apparently appeared in the young man’s dreams when he was having a nap during the day. Then, he became able to use the Home Return spell.
Furthermore, Torerul-sama told the young man that he would earn good money if he set up an ambush at a certain reef area.
The pirates initially thought that he was kidding but after the young boy used the Lifestyle Magic Clean and Oil Create, they believed him and attacked me according to what Torerul-sama told them to.
“Haa … what’s going on now.”
What was that Goddess of Laziness thinking?
But if it was the intention of Goddess-sama to attack me, it felt somewhat strange to punish them for attacking me.
“For the time being, we’ll talk about that after you spit out all the information I need.”
“Ye-yes. We will offer all our women and treasures. Please spare our lives.”
You don’t have to offer your women.
You don’t have to tremble either, Angela-chan. I have no interest in young girls.
Ah, Carol is 17 years old so she’s not a young girl.
I glanced through the adult female pirates. There was an assortment of beautiful women you wouldn’t expect to see as pirates but I shook my head.
“I don’t need anything like that.”
I’m not going to get caught up in any more troubles.
Interlude Story 「Five Goddesses」
Meanwhile, there were five beings watching Ichinojo and his party.
The five beings were seated around a hastily-made round table in the white world and were eating curry.
Those five beings were Koshmar, Torerul, Setolance, Libra, and Minerva. The Five Goddesses.
“I see. I came because it was an emergency summons but this is certainly more than imagined.”
The conspicuously larger Koshmar among the five Goddesses sighed.
Incidentally, the reason for this gathering was because Ichinojo leveled up Copycat and acquired Fake Magic.
Fake Magic would have half the usual power when used for Attack Spells. However, for other spells, the effect of the spell differed according to the spell. For example, if Fake Magic was used on the Home Return spell, the user would be transported on his own when originally the user would be transported with their party.
“Umu, my eyes do not lie to me. This is definitely that person’s work.”
Libra glared at Torerul with a sharp gaze when Torerul exclaimed proudly.
“So what does that have to do with asking me to make curry? Torerul.”
“Of course, that was because I wanted to eat it. No, Minerva.”
“Yes, Torerul, I prefer pickled Japanese leek over soy sauce pickled vegetable.”
Disregarding her words, Minerva placed a saucer with pickled Japanese leek in front of Torerul. That pickled Japanese leek was something she borrowed from Miri without returning but the other goddesses were unaware and Minerva had forgotten about it as well.
“I don’t want pickled Japanese leek but … thank you for the meal.”
“Sheesh, you ladies. Try to learn a little from Koshmar-senpai and Setolance-senpai.”
“Sorry, committee chairman.”
“Who is the committee chairman, who?”
Setolance, who had been silently eating her curry, spoke after the corner of Libra’s eye twitched angrily.
“Don’t say that Libra. It is very rare that we Five Goddesses gather like this. It is a good opportunity to deepen our friendship. Chatting is part of our work too. Furthermore, Libra’s curry is certainly delicious.”
“I didn’t make it myself. This time, thanks to the vegetables that Koshmar-senpai specially prepared as well as the meat that Setolance-senpai prepared, I was able to make this curry.”
As the Goddess of Good Harvest, Koshmar had a farm in her own space and she grew vegetables there. Whereas Setolance calls her space a training ground where she rears monsters and fights them every day. Vegetables freshly harvested from the farm and meat from the hunted monsters. Both had impeccable taste. When combined with Libra’s curry formulated with spices accurate to the milligram, there was no reason why the curry would not taste good.
The fact that Minerva, who is usually surrounded by an aura of wanting to die, smiling all the way was proof of the taste of the curry.
“So, I understand why that child has expectations for that rude boy (Ichinojo) but why now ―”
Koshmar returned to the main topic.
“Perhaps the former Demon Lord knows something? That girl has joined hands with another heretic called Daijiro and they seem to have something planned behind the scenes.”
Torerul complained.
The Goddesses tried investigating Daijiro and Miryuu’s situation but there was a unique barrier set up around the flying ship that they were on so they could not observe the interior of the flying ship even as Goddesses.
At the moment, they were constantly checking the flying ship but other than stopping by various towns to replenish food and magic stones, they have not made any actions that stood out.
“Daijiro huh. That person is certainly trouble. She was the person responsible for sending Famiris’s soul to Japan 12 years ago ― more importantly, we can’t overlook her choice to use a gun as her weapon. Only arrows and magic are allowed for long-ranged attacks and anything more than that would not be a weapon but a tool for killing.”
After drinking the lassi that came after the curry, Setolance wiped her mouth with a cloth.
She felt a little unsatisfied but since eating was originally just an indulgence for the Goddesses, she did not want to ask for seconds.
That was a form of training as well.
However, the senpai-loving Libra immediately saw through her and served a second serving of curry rice to her.
“We have some left over so please have some more.”
“Ah, thanks. Libra.”
Setolance smiled and took the curry rice from Libra.
The other two who saw that took action as well.
“I want seconds as well!”
“I want seconds too.”
Torerul and Minerva presented their empty plates.
“I don’t have any for the two of you.”
“Libra, it is tastier when we eat together.”
Libra had no choice but to step down after Setolance said that.
“All right.”
She replied and served second servings of curry rice to the two of them.
Koshmar lamented that the conversation wasn’t moving forward but it was true that at the moment, they could only gather fragments of information and they could not act just based on speculations. Above all, it was tough that Tet, who was thought to be the most informed about this case, was not present.
“Torerul. Did Tet say why she didn’t want to come?”
“She said it was because her books are piling up.”
“I guess there’s no helping it then.”
Koshmar sighed.
She couldn’t bother Tet after all.
“By the way, Torerul. That human youngster could use Home Return because of you, right?”
“Yup. I interfered with his dreams just a little to prepare the development that he wants ― it went according to what I planned.”
“Sheesh, you ― I will have to punish you for this incident.”
“Wh-why!?”
Torerul was bewildered and Minerva who saw her reaction passed to her.
“Here, pickled Japanese leek.”
“I don’t want it!”
In the end, Torerul received a punishment that was completely suited for children, having to wash the dishes used for the day’s meeting with cold water.