Chapter 32: A Sad Day for Port Security
Security at Zaranar was unusually tight. Even before sunset, the guards weren’t letting anybody in or out of the city, sneaky acrobats excepted. Now that darkness had fallen over the city, the streets were awash with sailors. Bandit suspected they would enjoy their last opportunity to fool around on land and then depart for the capital and battle.
Although the sheer density of people was making it difficult for Bandit to traverse the city entirely unnoticed, she didn’t mind. After all, the more sailors spending their evening in the city, the less she would encounter on the ships.
She wasn’t doing anything exciting like jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Bandit would need to show off a bit when it was time to escape, probably, but for now she needed to avoid getting spotted doing anything unusual. She chose her route to avoid noise and people as much as possible while sticking, where she could, to the shadows.
While making her way east, she rounded a corner and nearly bumped into a man walking the other way. She managed to stop herself before making contact, but he still got angry. He was clearly drunk.
“The hell d’you want?”
Despite his crass language, he was well dressed and appeared to be a captain or other leading officer from among the sailors wandering the city. Thankfully, he was currently alone.
“Nothing.” Bandit attempted to walk around him.
“Hang on.” He grabbed her shoulder with one hand, pinning her in place. “Where you going?”
“Let go.”
He squeezed her shoulder even tighter, then suddenly let go. “Fine.”
Bandit swung her freed arm forward in an exaggerated gesture and began to walk again.
“I let go, but I didn’t say you could leave, little girl.”
She kept walking, ignoring him.
“Hey.”
Still, she kept walking.
“Hey!” The man took one step toward her retreating figure.
Bandit stopped, still facing away.
“I asked you where you’re going.”
Bandit sighed and turned around to face him. “Why do I need to tell you where I’m going?”
“Hm? What was that, you little bitch?”
“Why do I need to tell you where I’m going?”
The officer stomped toward her. “Now listen here—“ He reached out to grab her again except this time his arm was intercepted.
Bandit grabbed his approaching arm with both hands and twisted, flipping the man’s large body over her own. Just as he slammed into the ground, she twisted his arm behind his back and pinned him in place.
He barely got out a grunt as the wind was knocked out of him.
“Why do I need to tell you where I’m going?”
The man just choked on his own spit or whatever was repeating on him.
She wasn’t satisfied with that non-answer. “Why do I need to tell you where I’m going?”
“Y–You don’t!”
She twisted his arm with even more force, causing him to grunt louder. “Why do I need to tell you where I’m going?”
“You don’t!”
“Sir!?” A single sailor was wandering by and happened to see the commotion. He broke into a run approaching Bandit and her target.
“Good timing sailor!”
“Tch.” She removed one of her hands from the officer’s arm and extended it toward the approaching sailor. A moment later, he fell flat on his face.
“Guh!” His ankle was caught on something. A few moments later, he picked himself up and started walking again.
“What are you doing? Hurry up!” The officer urged on the sailor, not understanding the cause of the sailor’s fall and subsequent loss of urgency.
The sailor stopped just short of Bandit and the officer. He lowered himself to one knee so that he could bring his mouth close to the officer’s ear. “…Why do I need to tell you where I’m going?”
The blood drained from the officer’s face as he froze, unable to understand what was happening.
The sailor repeated the same line. “…Why do I need to tell you where I’m going?”
The officer’s will to remain conscious was broken, sparing his arm the same fate.
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The sailor was kind enough to escort the drunk officer, possibly suffering from the sleep status effect, to the nearest inn. Of course, the sailor would remain with the officer all night to ensure the officer’s safety. It was the least he could do. Charm may have been a factor.
Bandit proceeded to the harbor without anyone else challenging her presence or, more specifically, where she was going. Once the ships came into view, only then did she quietly lift herself up some crates and ease onto a roof. Crouching in a nook between two dormers, she observed the fleet. Every available pier was crisscrossed with ropes tying down gently swaying vessels.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Although Bandit had never been on, or even near, a ship before, DM had told her the basics of what to expect. One or more masts supported sails which caught the wind to propel the ship forward. A rudder attached to the rear of the ship would steer, allowing the ship to turn left or right as needed. At least one physical control unit would turn the rudder. The person in charge of commanding changes was most likely located near the rear at the top level. DM wasn’t sure whether or not a large wheel would be used to turn the rudder.
For as many ships as possible, Bandit would either sabotage the rudder, sabotage the equipment used to control the rudder, sabotage the masts, incapacitate the chain of command, or even destroy the keel: the beam at the very bottom of the ship. Sinking the ships was an option too, although it carried too much risk of mass death for Bandit’s liking, not to mention discovery. Setting a fire on these wooden ships would also be easy but it’d draw too much attention. The last thing Bandit wanted to do was lure the thousands of wandering sailors back to the fleet prematurely.
Although most of the ships had room for people below deck, judging from what Bandit could see, the ships were lightly crewed. The current condition would make sabotaging the ships easier, but that also meant the captain, first officer, and the like, would probably not all be aboard. For each ship, she’d need to try to ascertain the situation before choosing an ultimate course of action. Fortunately, she was well equipped for the task.
Not wanting to waste any more time, Bandit descended from the roof and circled around to the southernmost entrance to the harbor. With no way to know which ships would or would not be involved in the upcoming journey south to the capital, she elected to just target all of them, if she could. The first ship from this direction had three masts, including the main mast in the middle.
A sailor stood watch on the rear uppermost deck at all times, even though he didn’t seem to be doing much. Once in a while, another sailor would approach and speak with him, but otherwise Bandit only saw the occasional member of the crew walking here or there around the exposed portions of the ship.
Not wanting to create a commotion so early on, she decided to target the rudder. After looking both ways for anyone nearby, she crossed the dirt road adjacent to the pier and lowered herself into the water. Thankfully, it wasn’t that cold. She probably wouldn’t smell so great after this, though.
Taking advantage of the darkness, Bandit eased her way to the ship, placing a hand on the hull nearest the rudder. Most of the rudder was obscured by the dark water, but she could see the uppermost portion sticking out. The component was much larger than her and made of sturdy wood, so it wouldn’t be destroyed easily. Her best bet was to attack the mechanism linking the rudder to the controls further up on the ship or to the ship’s hull itself.
“Rudder swing test! Tiller full starboard!”
At first, Bandit thought she had been discovered. The rudder suddenly twisted toward her, forcing her to swim in the other direction. Fortunately, the bit of practice she’d received swimming in DM’s water level had paid off.
“Tiller full port!”
The rudder retreated. Bandit placed a hand back on the hull, waiting to see what would happen.
“Neutral!”
She could see the rudder return to its central position.
“Complete!”
Apparently, she hadn’t been discovered. After waiting a full minute for any other signs of activity, she approached the rudder again. Inspecting it closely, she realized the mechanism they must have been using to link the tiller to the rudder was below the water. During the day, she could just take a deep breath and swim down, but at night that would be difficult. Instead, it would make more sense to target the hinges or pivot point at the top.
Spotting her target just barely within her reach, she eased close again, hoping that the rudder wouldn’t suddenly swing towards her like it had a minute prior. Not encountering any trouble, she placed one hand on the component which seemed to be the steering mechanism’s overall weak point, at least as far as sabotage was concerned.
Since wood was effectively just the leftover body parts of a tree, Bandit hoped her stone touch ability would work on it. The wood resisted at first, but it slowly turned to stone. She repeated the process for all the nearby parts of wood, wanting to interfere with the smooth operation of the rudder as much as possible. The T1 version of the ability didn’t use a lot of mana, but if she cast stone touch over and over again eventually the effect on her would accumulate.
Bandit heard a sudden creaking from nearby. She guessed that the extra weight of the stone was tugging on the adjacent wooden structure, causing the creaking. Not wanting to get discovered, she decided to move on. Most likely, this ship wouldn’t be able to steer properly anymore for a while.
She eased her way along the hull toward the bow, being careful not to let anyone see her. Fortunately, nobody seemed to be paying any attention to the waterline opposite the pier. From the bow, she quietly side-stroked to the stern of the next ship.
This ship was a bit smaller than the previous one. It had a larger mast toward the front and a smaller one further back. Bandit was worried that targeting the rudder again might be a mistake. She wasn’t sure how often the crew would test the rudder like she saw on the previous ship. If the test failed, obviously they would investigate. If they saw the rudder damaged, or even turned partway to stone, they were sure to warn the rest of the ships of an attack. Bandit’s mission would be a failure if all the crews were on guard.
She decided to climb up the exterior of the hull on the side opposite the pier. Thankfully, lighting was poor enough to keep her obscured from people on other ships. When her hand reached a railing, she eased herself up so she could peek over the top. Two people were currently visible, although they likely couldn’t see each other from where they were.
Quietly, she lifted herself further and swung her legs over the top, stepping onto the deck. Bandit tiptoed to cover then glanced around the corner to observe her targets. She decided the safest bet was to incapacitate them simultaneously. After approaching to the first sailor as close as she could get without breaking cover, she summoned her succubus.
She approached from the port side, sneaking up on the man and kicking the inside of his knee. He staggered, allowing her to reach around and stick a hand over his mouth. While he was struggling against her in confusion, the succubus proceeded forward on the starboard side, closing on the second man. He soon noticed the unusual sight on his ship, finding himself quite enraptured with her. She led him toward the back where Bandit had just finished putting the first sailor to sleep with sleep touch. The second sailor was placed into the same status.
Bandit took a deep breath and placed her hand on one of the sailors’ cutlasses. The sword resisted at first, but eventually it decayed away, a victim of Bandit’s absorb equipment ability. She had similar success with the other sailor’s weapon. Not wanting to draw attention, Bandit dismissed the succubus for the time being. She dragged the two sleeping sailors behind cover as best she could and approached the mechanism used to control the rudder.
It looked like a small group of people would normally all grab a large handle and twist the mechanism one way or the other. This part would be easier to sabotage than the rudder itself. Bandit reached a hand out, visualizing what she wanted to happen. A moment later, a T2 earth spike rose up from the deck and plowed through the wood above it, shattering the structural member. It made a loud popping noise, causing Bandit concern that others would come to investigate. She climbed over the near railing and hid out of view, waiting.
Sure enough, another sailor came running over, calling out the name of someone who was likely sleeping nearby. Just as he arrived at the destroyed tiller, a tentacle hooked around his ankle, causing him to trip. He resisted at first, but eventually the application of sleep touch was successful. Bandit climbed back onto the deck and dragged the third sleeping sailor to the position of the other two.
She climbed back down the exterior of the ship and lowered herself back into the water. Things were going well, but she could tell it was going to be a long night.