Ch#35
[Master. Master, Master…….]
Tiye took a small step back.
‘Tiye’s ears feel weird.’
The surroundings were undoubtedly noisy, yet the voice rang as clear as if she were hearing it alone in an empty auditorium.
[Master, we waited. We waited.]
The chilling voice kept repeating the same words, echoing relentlessly.
Tiye swallowed hard from sheer tension.
Far off, the battle was still raging.
The people on the ships were now fending off incoming monsters too.
It was total chaos. There was no time.
‘Who are you?’
Asking inwardly brought a reply.
[Master, we are your servants.]
Her eyes widened.
Servants.
‘Servants are subordinates, right?’
But Tiye had no subordinates talking to her from the dark sea depths.
‘Tiye has no servants. Tiye’s subordinates are just Uncle Basto, big bro Veil, and Grandpa Nordix……?’
[No. We came first. We’ve always been right here. For you, Master. Only for you.]
But Tiye’s ‘subordinates’ in the sea depths were utterly insistent.
Tiye pondered seriously, then asked half in doubt.
‘Then can you help Tiye right now?’
Tiye’s gaze had been fixed on the distant sea where Basto and Veil were, for a while now.
The ship the Governor had lent them was already half-sunk.
‘Will you do whatever Tiye asks?’
If things stayed like this, the ship would sink into the sea, and everyone would drown for sure.
Basto, Veil, and the Governor’s two sons were all in danger.
The reply came next.
As Tiye mulled it over, relief slowly spread across her face.
Soon, a small murmur escaped the child’s lips.
“Then Tiye needs a ship right now.”
* * *
“Hey! Snap out of it!”
Raoul’s eyes flew open at the hand slapping his cheek.
His blurry vision shook into focus, revealing a face.
A pale, round face shape.
Large eyes with sharp ends and pitch-black pupils within.
He stared blankly at the striking beauty when she slapped his other cheek.
“I said snap out of it!”
“Gasp!”
Raoul shot up reflexively.
The shock brought memories before passing out flashing through his mind.
Right—he’d been fishing with Enzo.
Suddenly a storm blew in, and dodging a waterspout in the sea, they’d crashed into something.
“……Mana Stone.”
“Yeah, you idiot! If you’ve figured out the situation, get up already!”
Raoul gaped blankly at the woman’s speech, at odds with her beautiful looks.
Turning his gaze revealed a pitch-dark sky.
The downpour continued, and the wind grew fiercer.
“Why are you here?!”
Raoul blurted without thinking.
He didn’t know what was what, but this place was visibly dangerous.
No place for a slender woman.
Just then, the ship tilted sharply, left deck rising up.
Raoul grabbed the nearby railing and reached for the woman.
But she’d already grabbed something and was hanging on.
“We gotta get to the big ship! Your brother’s already there!”
Brother—Enzo?
Only then did he notice the much larger ship rammed against theirs.
Flying monsters circled the mast piercing the sky, while battle raged below.
The weird part was,
“What are they doing?”
Why were people fighting each other?
Shouldn’t they fight the monsters together…….
The woman griped irritably while climbing the railing upward.
“Same as your brother. Questions even now? Gotta know right this second? Huh?”
She glared sharply at Raoul before continuing quickly.
“I’ll say it once, so listen up. Me, that big guy over there, him, him, him, and him—we’re good civilians here to save you and now stuck about to die.”
“…….”
“Those guys over there and the red armband bastards are <Death Hound> Mercenary Corps members. They’re the ones who ruined everything trying to stop us from getting you safely to land. Total assholes we should beat to death.”
Raoul’s eyes widened.
He got the gist now.
‘This person and her comrades must be the ones Mother hired.’
For some reason, Death Hound Mercenary Corps had attacked them, putting everyone in danger.
His brows furrowed.
He knew mercenaries often fought over interests.
‘But pulling this during an opening Mana Stone.’
That was when his gaze turned to the monsters gliding through the sky.
“Not just the sky, so if you wanna live, get your head straight.”
Turning at the woman’s voice, he saw something horrific climbing the opposite deck.
Hundreds of eyeballs on a glistening surface.
About twenty tentacles denting the ship here and there as it crawled up the deck…….
A monster never recorded before.
‘……Damn.’
Instinctive fear chilled his spine.
He’d half-expected it seeing the Mana Stone rise before blacking out, but the situation was dire.
“First, we gotta climb up there……”
The moment Raoul eyed the ship’s stern precariously bridging to the big ship’s end.
Rumble—
A fierce wave rocked the hull violently.
“Hey! You……!”
His body floated up—whoosh—then his grip slipped loose.
Raoul blinked in slow-motion time.
‘Raoul, Enzo. What is a knight’s duty on the battlefield?’
An old voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
The day four units sieged a large Mana Stone, Father’s question to the twins.
That day by the campfire, Raoul and Enzo had laughed as they answered.
‘Why ask something obvious? Annihilate the enemy, duh.’
Father smiled at the twins, then plopped down beside them and continued.
‘Usually, yeah. But this father’s duty is a bit different.’
‘Huh?’
‘My duty is protecting you two. Promised your mother.’
‘…….’
‘Not ideal for a knight, but you and your mother mean more to me. Got it?’
The hand stroking their heads had been soft and warm.
Father had fulfilled his duty in the end.
Dying at the front after saving Raoul and Enzo.
‘……Father.’
What Father had wanted from the twins was one thing.
Survive. Don’t die.
A splashing wave shattered beside him in midair.
Cold water hit his face, instinctively telling him.
Raoul wouldn’t fulfill Father’s wish after all.
In his slowly drifting vision.
A tentacle from the monster he’d seen grazed right by him.
The moment he took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut.
“D-dear young master! Hold on!”
A boom rang out, smashing the deck they’d stood on and the monster entirely.
Raoul fell not into the icy sea or the monster’s maw, but onto something soft.
Gasp—he opened his eyes to see straw flying through the air.
“What……!”
“Dear young master!”
Something popped into view.
Hair sparkling wet.
Eyes glowing spring-green.
Chubby cheeks, gaping lips revealing tiny front teeth.
“Dear young master! You okay now! Tiye came to save you!”
A little kid.
‘What…… how?’
Raoul had been about to plunge into the monster-infested sea.
The ship was on the verge of sinking, no way out—he’d thought.
His gaze fixed on one spot, trembling finely.
Where Raoul lay was the deck of a massive ship.
A bit damp, but piled thick with straw.
Far off, a tattered flag fluttered in the wind.
The wood forming pillars, deck, railings was rotted through with holes here and there.
Yet the ship’s overwhelming presence was immense.
“Hey! You little brat……!”
Then the woman who’d woken Raoul came running from somewhere.
She gaped like Raoul and looked around the ship.
In the silence between the two, a bright, shy voice rang out.
“Big bro Veil! Tiye pulled out the boingboing, no, Ghost Sail Ship!”
