Chapter 45 – 45 – Uneasy Wind
[I don’t like fighting. But if you continue to threaten us.]
The mercenary pirates froze in a daze. I raised my head and couldn’t close my mouth, so much so that rainwater pooled in it.
For sailors, there are few adverse events that compare to a storm. However, the dissonant sound heard through the storm and thunder…
[I will have to ram your mast, and leave the rest to the storm. Even if the boat capsizes, I’m not confident I can save everything in this weather.]
It was a disaster beyond that.
The roar of a giant dragon. A menacing tone somewhere between the beat of a whale and a human voice.
Is there a more certain death sentence in the middle of the ocean?
[Most of them probably won’t be able to return home. If you don’t want to end up like that, leave.]
“···I didn’t know it was real.”
[This is the dragon’s final advice.]
“Well, this is the last advice. What should we do now?”
Their employer said it was a bluff and a rumor. How could a dragon, the most powerful creature in the world, be included in a party formed by just immature girls as a game?
It was all a blatant lie. Who would have come out to fight if they had known this would happen?
“···Whatever. Turn the boat around.”
Instead of calming down the fear, the captain, who was the first to get wet, gritted his teeth.
Then, a man wearing a windbreaker and hood slowly got up and approached behind the captain.
“Just asking to engage the hanging Julian was crazy enough. Turn the ship around! I have no intention of engaging in a fight like this even if I were given hundreds of millions of dollars more!”
“What difference does it make if you turn the boat?”
The hooded man placed the blade of his longsword on the captain’s shoulder.
The crew members who were trying to turn the rudder as ordered by the captain stopped.
“I’m going to die anyway.”
“···What?”
“You bastards. If you pour money into their mouths, don’t you think they should spit it out? You’re scared of that dragon, but don’t you think you’re scared of your employer?”
The sailors who were treated as cowards thought it was absurd.
It is a creature that cannot even be dealt with in the first place. What on earth does it mean to be scared?
“…Look. No matter how much you bought our services, it doesn’t mean you bought your life. Are you going to put a sword to the captain’s neck in the middle of the ocean? Do you want to beat up a noble family and become a water ghost?”
“How dare you threaten me, pirate fluff? The dragon didn’t even hit your face, it only passed by a shadow. Are you scared and out of your mind?”
“Damn it, of course! Do you know that a dragon is like a slightly larger whale? A ship’s cannon can’t even hit it from that high up! If it spews fire over our heads, we’ll all-“
“You guys are nothing but pirates.”
The hooded employer struck the captain in the back of the neck with the hilt of his sword. And then, without anyone being able to stop him as he stumbled, he was thrown out of the boat.
The air on the deck became chilly, as if cold water had been poured on it. The Captain Slayer grinned and looked around him.
“I am now in command. Are you dissatisfied?”
Even if there is, I won’t say it now. Because there was no one loyal enough to immediately follow the captain.
“Of course I should.”
Satisfied, Adamantone nodded his head.
And he pointed his sword at the sky. Straight beyond the fog towards the dragon’s shadow.
A flash of light slowly rose from the warrior’s sword.
“No matter where you go, there are just bastards who can’t do anything without a hero.”
———–
“The wind is so strong? It looks like a storm is getting closer!”
The elf Nenya stuck her head out of the window of her room, closed her eyes and quietly felt the strength of the wind.
And she cried out, turning pale.
“We’re not getting any closer! The ship will soon pass the storm!”
“But what can I do?”
“···What should I do? I think I’ll say something! Tell Nidroga to come back, it’s too dangerous!”
“It’s dangerous. Nidrogar actually likes it, right? He says he can fly more comfortably when the wind is strong.”
“But Captain Tomko also told us not to come forward.”
“That’s the old man’s stubbornness. Wouldn’t it be better to send them back to Tyler than to let them fight each other?”
Eshen leaned against the cabin window and scratched his ears. As if I have no doubt that the situation will be resolved soon.
However, Bilena, who was nervously picking at her fingernails, helped Nenya. Somewhat academically.
“But contrary to popular misunderstanding, dragons are creatures with a delicate structure.”
“Heh. If Nidroga hears that, he’ll laugh-“
“What if I get swept away and suffer a rupture in the keel protrusion? In dragon fossils that are often excavated from clay soil layers, evidence of such ruptures or fractures is consistently found-“
“···Keel protuberance···segan···what?”
Eshen was allergic to terminology and shivered. And he looked at ease with my appropriate interpretation.
“It’s the same thing. They say you’ll get hurt because the wind is strong.”
“Aha. Hey, who cares about whom? Think of Nidrogar in his dragon form. You can see how powerful the wings are to lift such a large body.”
Eshen’s words seem reasonable at first glance.
Honestly, it’s hard to forget. The majesty of Nidroga in his dragon form, and the magnificent muscles writhing beneath his blood-red scales.
For some reason, I don’t feel like it’s dangerous at all. How dare wind or naval battles harm such a being?
Even the unidentified enemies seem to have realized that this is a fight they are no match for. Because the gunfire that had been firing as if in check had stopped.
I’m glad I don’t have to imagine being hit by a blind cannonball and dying.
Still, when I heard that a party member might get hurt, I tried to say something out of a sense of duty.
“Shall we shout for you to come back?”
“Do you think it would sound like that in a storm? Don’t worry about falling. Unless someone jumps up and stabs you in the eye in the first place-“
There was a flash of light outside the window. I guess I thought about it for about 0.01 seconds. It’s an insignificant flash of lightning.
But like a drum, ‘Duwoong’With the sound, the whole world was immersed in backlight and shadow.
If the wind is too strong, it is said to explode. If the sound is excessively loud, it is called binge drinking.
So how should we express this blinding light? A storm?
A huge flash, like being punched in the retina.
Thankfully, before I could react, Eshen pinned my head to the ground and covered his eyes.
Thanks to this, when Eshen carefully removed his hand from the back of my head, my eyes only glazed over and I did not lose sight. Barely.
However, the rest of the party members…
“My eyes-!”
“Ta, Tan? Eshen? Lenny, Nenya? Are you there?”
“···I’m not the only one who can’t see right now, right?”
Oh, shit. I immediately ran to the party members and checked their condition.
However, the pale-faced Eshen looked out the window first, not at the party members. As if someone was in greater danger.
“As long as it doesn’t sting your eyes…?”
“Eshen?”
“···Tan. Imagine if you fell deep into the sea. Would you be able to keep your bearings with your eyes tightly closed?”
“Oh, there isn’t one, right?”
After giving an obvious answer to an obvious statement, I realized what Eshen meant and a shiver ran down my spine.
Someone is out there, not in the safe cabin. Go to Nidro.
Swimming in the middle of the sky, feeling the waves of the wind with my whole body…?
“Falling.”
As Eshen mumbled in despair, I pressed my face against the window, rubbing my still stinging eyes.
See. The shadow of a dragon falling, its wings fluttering, its back against the flashing thunder beyond the thick atmosphere.
“No. Go Nidro! Go Nidro…!”
“Tan, Eshen! Go help the crew!”
I turned around at the calm cry.
Sister Monica was shouting with her eyes tightly closed. While healing the party members I found by fumbling with my hands.
“The light came from the ship that attacked us. It was an intentional attack! I’m sure we’re not the only ones who did this!”
It’s as they say. Outside, screams are pouring in that they cannot see.
“How did you know that our eyes were fine-“
“I heard a voice that was mesmerized by Nidrogar’s fall. But Nidrogar is the strongest creature, a dragon. Maybe we can solve the problem somehow! Now is the time to help those who can!”
The sister’s judgment is correct. Nenya, who had barely recovered one eye, nodded while blinking repeatedly.
“Ugh, Monica is right! At least hold me back so I don’t fall into the water!”
Eshen immediately kicked down the door and ran out.
I followed suit in a hurry. After carefully grabbing ropes and grappling hooks from my bag.
But the moment I put my head out onto the rain deck, Eshen was standing tall on the ship’s railing.
“···Eshen?”
“I could clearly hear it. The sound of a very large body falling into the water. I could also hear the sound of very thick bones breaking.”
“Come down first, Eshen! If you slip, you’ll be in big trouble!”
“You know, Tan. You know I love you, right?”
“What?”
“It’s not just empty talk, it’s true. But that guy is also a friend I really like. Even women have loyalty to each other. I can’t leave them suffocated to death like that.”
Eshen whipped off his coat and threw it aside. Then he looked back at me with a reassuring smile.
The smile I made up was so clumsy. Could this chill seeping down my spine really be due to the storm?
“So don’t be too upset.”
“Don’t do it.”
“I would have done this even if you were missing.”
“Hey, Eshen-!”
I shouted in despair and stretched out my grappling hook, but it was already too late. Eshen threw himself.
Into the violently churning water.
————-
“Damn it, damn it! The waves are that high!”
The ambiguous beauty of the porter, whether it is a woman or a man, becomes distant.
“Damn it, damn it! Eshen, you idiot! Have you turned around!”
Morgan Tomko wanted to scream that she shouldn’t go. She hung out out of curiosity, but not because she was playing with fire and had her heart and body taken away.
She was just afraid. She was thrown into the middle of a storm, blind. She had never felt so scared of the sea.
So when a strong, calloused hand lifted Morgan as lightly as if it were a lie, and a contrasting warm and soft hand rested on his eyes. Morgan almost cried.
I couldn’t bear to do that because I had the dignity of a ‘Tomko’ that I had to protect as long as I stepped on her deck.
“Hurry up, sister.”
“Again, the eyes are a sensitive area. If treated incorrectly, you could go blind.”
“I’m sorry. I’m anxious…”
“I know. I know that feeling too.”
I don’t know what the conversation is about.
But as her healing powers restored focus to her retina, Morgan opened her eyes in boundless joy.
And she was embarrassed. The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes again was Tan’s face, covered in fear and tears.
“W-what is it? Are you okay?”
“Don’t worry about me. Do you know where Captain Tomko is?”
“I don’t know. Why?”
“There’s a ship coming. Someone needs to command the crew!”
Healer Monica, who was tightly carried by Tan, quickly pointed to the outside of her deck.
Morgan tensed as he turned his gaze to her.
“They’re crazy. The sea is shaking like this… They’re going to hit the boat?”
“I think it’s because I can’t aim the gun properly. I don’t know what the goal is, but I guess they’re determined to stick to it in the end! Get the crew ready!”
As she turned and ran towards the other sailors, the porter shouted:
A foolish sailor fell down the railing. It was because he was frightened by the sound of the porter running and retreated.
The porter then stretched the stick-like artifact downward, wrapped his iron rope around the body, and fished it out.
Morgan looked on in admiration, but soon realized it was not time for her to watch and shook her head.
And she ran after the porter.
“Yes. We need to prepare for hand-to-hand combat. They’re joining the ship! They’re joining the ship! Everyone crawl out! Get ready for battle!”
