“Turn a little left!”

“Aye!”

“Dumbass! Too much left, Hendrick! Blaise, go to the machinery and increase our output!””

“Aye!”

“Ferd, what did I told you about looking at the compass?! You always get it wrong!”

“I’m sorry Captain!”

BOOM!

“Dodge, dodge! Ferd, if you can’t do anything wise, climb the crow’s nest and gives us the clear view of our enemies!”

“Aye!”

“Brii, how long can we keep this up? Have you checked the core yet?!”

“Captain, the core is about halfway through overheating. It would only about ten minutes of continuous use before it finally shut down.”

“Drats! I can’t believe that bitch Airene teamed up with those small fries!”

Disaster, everything is a complete mess where we are being chased by a fleet of angry and crazy pirates while they are bombarding us with bombs, lasers and cannon balls.

The ship of Airene which Merissa’s enemy survived our initial attack and manage to distance their ship away from us at the same time, various ships showed up out of nowhere and started firing at us. It then captain realized they we are being teamed up.

All of Airene’s backup are said to be small fries that most of them were easily defeated by the captain but the problem is there is total of fifteen ships chasing us!

And we, the trio, couldn’t do anything but to hold on to something. I feel really bad for Hibiscus as the swaying and shaking of the ship did worse for her. She is trying her best not to throw up into Casablanca’s chest.

Emby comfortably rests atop of my head as Hibiscus is too nauseous for anything…

Get off…

“M-Merissa!”

“That’s captain for you!”

“Captain!”

“What?!”

“What about taking us back?!”

“What are you talking about?! We are saving our asses first before that! If you don’t want to float in the sea then be quiet!”

“Can we at least do something?!”

“That’s illegal! Child labor!”

“Then, if we tell the enemy that children have boarded your ship, they are going to stop?”

“What?! Don’t be stupid! That is going to be a problem that will blow at my face! If they found out that I recruited underage even by mistake, the pirates would look down on me and the chances of hooking the title of the Emperor of the Sea will be a dream!”

“Then what can we do?!”

“Just stay put! Don’t move an inch! I will take responsibility for your safety so rest assured!”

“Somehow, I feel like I can’t trust you on your words!”

Aren’t these pirates being too generous on not using children in their job? Where do you find those kinds of pirates?!

Oh, yeah… in this world of course!

Also, I can’t help not to laugh at the irony of Merissa saying those kinds of words when she herself looks like an underage!

You are just an inch taller than me…or two…or three…

“What about you captain?”

“Don’t be ridiculous! This ship is my weapon as I tirelessly and continuously upgrade and care for it. I am the captain and at the same time, the mechanic!”

“Ehh…”

“It’s a sad excuse but I am just good at tinkering things and forging. I am a first generation dwarf and I don’t have the physiques of those mountain lovers so don’t expect anything from me when it comes to fighting!”

“You’re really honest about it…”

As the ship traverse the sea, it suddenly shakes violently again. But this time, it’s not a bomb or anything that hit us or rather there was something that suddenly climbed the ship.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Captain, devils!”

“At this time?! What luck!”

That’s right…

A devil come popping out of nowhere in this vast sea!

Unlike devils with beastly form or even humanoid form, this one takes on an aquatic beasts looks. It is completely muddled in darkness so I have no way of clearly saying it but it has gills, fins and everything about a fish.

I am thankful that this isn’t an archdevil. Hibiscus cannot fight as she is sick and Casablanca can’t use divine ascension yet.

The divinity that I passed on Hibiscus has already returned to me but I haven’t retrieved the divinity in Casablanca’s body.

Upon seeing the devil, the busy crew wasn’t able to intercept it and Merissa immediately retreats.

She runs towards us.

“Hey! Gao, Cus and Ca! Let’s run for it! That thing is definitely dangerous! It doesn’t appear much but when they do, it gives us so much trouble!”

“Then…about those lost crews, you were telling…”

“They are partly at fault.”

“Then we can’t let that live.”

“Don’t be a dumbass. I’d rather throw you off the sea rather than see you get killed by that!”

I ignore Merissa’s words and stand. I drew out one of the trusted swords that master gave me, a magic sword that is effective against the devils. Not even as close as lethal as the sword that I used when I did Divine Possession with Ichirou but, at times like this, this is the only sword I can rely on.

“Emby, please help me.”

“Pii!”

“Thank you. If you’re just this obedient…”

“Pii!!”

Emby who is resting atop of my head flies towards the sky where the devil won’t reach him.

I crack my knuckles and stretch my neck and it gave off a satisfying sound. As I casually walk towards the devil while swinging the sword in my left hand, it immediately dives towards me with its claw outstretch towards me.

“Pii!”

BOOM!

Before it could even reach me, Emby immediately fires a fireball at its face and completely blinded it. Its body that is about to fall to me due to the jumping momentum crashes as I avoid it.

Inhale…

Exhale…

I calm myself deploy the intangible barrier. Upon doing so, I immediately perceive everything inside my barrier from sounds to movements.

“[Calm Dragon Tempest]”

I dash towards the devil. I won’t let my mistakes get the best of me. I still remember how poorly I showed this to Pr’thcor and it still frustrates me to no end because I couldn’t even land a single damn hit on him.

I even used new improvise techniques using my barrier to bounce off from one place to another and to control and adjust my movements recoil but the only thing happened was me draining my stamina from useless and repetitive readable movements.

I spin and roll around the devil as I swing my sword fiercely like a hurricane. Every time it would attack me, Emby will attack it with its flame.

That ship is shaking and the footing is bad but I manage to fight without restraint as I use my barrier as a foothold. Sometimes, I would trip and fall because of miscalculations of my landing place but Emby was able to cover that by distracting the devil with its own attack.

But since I have a lot of error, the devil was able to make a scratch or two on my shoulder. If it hits my arm, the dragon fiber that I wore will block the sharp claw and only the blunt pain will be felt and in a few seconds, the pain will recede.

And as Emby and I manage to wear it down, I deliver the final blow by decapitating its head.

The body and the head that flew earlier starts fading and after a few more seconds, it completely disappears.

Emby land on my head and lightly peck my forehead.

Is that the way he say good job?

As I notice it, the sun is already setting as it hides into the horizon. The sky turned into orange and the moons are peeking out already. The ship’s speed slowly dies down and at that moment, I heaved a sigh of relief.

“Hey…Gao…”

“Captain?”

“You…you just…killed that devil…right?”

“Yeah.”

“Amazing…that’s amazing…! You looked so cool!”

“T-Thanks…”

“Pii!!”

“Oh, right. Birdie is cool too!”

“Pii!~”

I take a glance at the twins and they seem fine except for Hibiscus going pale from dizziness. She is always a victim of dizziness, ain’t she?

Casablanca looks fine as she still rubs and caresses her twin’s back.

“Captain, what happened to our pursuers?”

“They also slowed down. I guess devils attacked their ships too.”

“Isn’t that bad?”

“For them yeah, it is bad.”

“So…captain…about returning…”

“Yeah…now that I realized it…I really, really, really need to return you three. You’re so amazing but, upon realizing it… I feared that I might have the whole pirates hunted down…”

“Realized it? What is it?”

Did she…realize that I am lying about my age earlier?! Have the whole pirates hunted down?! How?! What is she talking about?!

“You three…are royalties, right?”

“Eh…ah..eh…?”

“You, Gao, you are that sister of Ashfon Astlan Lionheart, right? The long-lost sister he announced many months ago. I heard rumors about that king and he is a complete nut case.”

“H-How…?!”

“Pirates information network isn’t to be underestimated. With all the advancement that we have, it’s not that hard. Those twins are that forest loving Queen Hinoki Prasiolite’s daughters, right?”

“Y-Yeah…”

“That queen is known for her kindness and her own city is booming with more advanced machinery. If I want to explore her city someday, I need to keep my record clean. At least, from her…”

“Y-You’re…good.”

“That’s natural. Anyway, we cannot adjust our ways of treating you three just because you are royalties. We don’t have such luxury to do so.”

“That’s fine. We don’t need you guys acting awkwardly.”

“But…that’s so cool of you! Defeating that devil with your size! Where did you learn to do that?!”

“I…learned if from my de--!”

“CAPTAIN, TROUBLE!”

Before I could even finish what I am going to say, the man in the crow nest called out to Merissa.

“What is it?!”

“Rank 1 Hois with Ship Bismark ahead!!”

“Hois?! That madman?!”

Madman…?

“Captain, who is this Hois?! And Rank 1?!”

“I’m sorry Gao but we need to immediately move. That man…is like me. A first generation dwarf and he did so many modifications not only to his ship but also to his body. Take Ca and Cus to the cabin now!”

“Modifications?!”

Where do they pull those names from? I better ask her later about it.

Merissa runs off and heads towards the control room. The ship slowly turns around to its left as if they are really trying hard to avoid that ship.

I immediately run towards the right side of the ship and look at where they spotted the new enemy. What I saw from there is…

A ship with an extremely odd appearance with every single cover of it is metal. There is only one mast which is also metal. The tip of its ship is flat, unlike every other ship. But…it moves surprisingly fast…

“Faster! Faster! Hois is coming!”

“Aye! Raise the speed again!”

Merissa’s voice seems to be shaking as she shouted her orders.

I squint my eyes to peer at the ship clearly. At the nose of the ship, a young lightly tanned boy stands there with his arms crossed. His hair is blond and he wears somewhat gallant clothes like a classic British soldier. Like Merissa, he has slightly pointed ears. He dons a grin as he stares at our retreating ship.

Is he alone? I see no other crew beside him.

He opens his mouth and shouted…

“MERISSA! THIS IS THE DAY YOU WILL BE MY BRIDE!”

“I WHOLEHEARTEDLY REFUSE YOUR OFFER!”

So that’s what it is…

Upon hearing Merissa’s response, the boy grimaces but return his smile and nods to himself and mutters quite a long sentence…

He then leaps towards the top of the mast… That was a really high jump…

He suspended his body by hugging the top of the mast…

But I was wrong…

When Merissa said he is a madman…he is a madman…

My eyes widened…as he starts turning his whole ship over. His feet that supposedly sink into the water are floating and the whole ship is completely carried by the mast by that boy.

The ship…turns out to be…a giant hammer…

“Is that even qualified in the pirate game?!”