## Chapter 427 – The Plum Blossom Swordsman Reincarnated Into The Baek Family
427. The Plum Blossom Swordsman Reincarnated into the Baek Family
Dairan stared at me with a bewildered expression. It seemed she hadn’t expected me to take an arrow for her.
“Don’t stop!”
I shouted, pulling the arrow from my shoulder. Blood gushed out, and I felt a sharp pain, but there was no time to be dramatic.
Dairan gritted her teeth and started running again. I could see her senses had become even sharper.
“Kill them!”
“Throw the net!!”
Being an Aura Expert didn’t make you an invincible monster. There were limits to physical strength, and you couldn’t fend off dozens of people attacking at once. Moreover, neither Dairan nor I had any decent armor at the moment.
The good thing was that we weren’t in an open plain but in a village with many obstacles. There was a high chance we could shake off the enemies and successfully escape out of the forest.
“Damn it! Where did they hide?!”
“Find them! Search every house, no matter what!”
We managed to shake off the enemies, but we couldn’t escape into the forest. We had used too much energy to get away.
“…”
We hid under the floor of an old shack, looking at each other in silence.
We couldn’t relax because we could hear the pirates running around outside, searching for us.
Dairan stared intently at my shoulder. The wound where the arrow had pierced was still bleeding. I hadn’t bothered to stop the bleeding on purpose.
“…”
Dairan quietly tore off a piece of her white shirt. She came closer and used it to bandage my shoulder wound.
I spoke to her in a low voice.
“It’s not a serious wound, you don’t have to do that.”
“I’ve seen too many people die from wounds that weren’t serious. This is just a temporary fix, but we’ll get it properly treated when we get back.”
We fell silent again as we heard the pirates nearby.
“Damn it! Where the hell did they go?! The captain’s gonna throw a fit again!”
“They haven’t turned up after searching this much, they must have already escaped into the forest… Should we go into the forest?”
“They say there are traps in the forest. The captain told us not to go into the forest carelessly and to search the village thoroughly.”
Creak, creak.
The pirates started searching the shack.
Dairan’s face became serious. This was a crisis. If they found the planks leading to the basement, we would be caught for sure.
I looked around and pointed to an old box in the corner. Dairan, understanding my intention, immediately went to the old box.
There was no time to hesitate. We had to do what we could.
She got into the box first, and I followed, squeezing my body inside. The box was big, but it was too cramped for two people. Our bodies had no choice but to touch.
Dairan was sitting with her back against the wall, and I was in a position as if I had fallen on top of her. We were so close that we could feel each other’s breath.
The mix of her body odor and sweat stimulated me.
“…Don’t stand up there. Don’t you know what the situation is?”
“I can’t help it. How can I not stand up when a beautiful woman is right in front of me?”
Her chest was touching my body. Her breasts, pushed together by the corset, were very firm. And I could feel her thighs through my legs.
My erect penis was touching her abdomen.
“Can’t you try to restrain yourself in this situation?”
“I guess it’s because I’m so full of youthful vigor, it’s not easy.”
We heard footsteps again. We fell silent again. The pirates must have found the basement of the shack and were checking it out.
“There’s no one here!”
The pirates’ footsteps faded away.
“Phew… Can you move away now?”
“Okay. Ugh, my arm…”
I pretended my arm hurt and dropped my head onto her chest. The shape, smell, and feel of her breasts were all outstanding.
“Don’t try anything funny.”
Dairan warned me and pushed me away.
We came out of the box again. I wanted to stay in the box with her, but I had no reason to. Forcing it would only ruin my relationship with her.
I took out some food from my inventory. Choco pies and sports drinks. Dairan quietly accepted the snacks I offered and started eating with me.
The choco pie was not great, but the cool sports drink was amazing, like drinking cold water in the desert.
“…Why did you do that?”
Dairan asked.
“Do what?”
“Why did you save me? Honestly, I don’t understand. From your perspective, it wouldn’t matter if I died, right? Why did you have to sacrifice your arm to save me?”
“If you’re not here, the plan will fail.”
“Your goal is to build fame, not to hate the pirate alliance so much that you’d risk your life, right?”
“I saved you because I wanted to save you. It would be a waste for you to die here.”
“…”
Dairan gulped down the sports drink.
“Dairan, what are you planning to do after this is over?”
“…I think I told you before? I’m going to quit being a pirate and live on land. It’s too dangerous to betray the pirate alliance and continue being a pirate.”
Even if we wipe out the leaders of the pirate alliance, the pirates won’t disappear. Maybe in a few years, or even a few months, the pirate alliance will reappear.
“Are you going to become a mercenary? It’ll be hard if the rumor spreads that you were a pirate.”
A mercenary who used to be a pirate. From an employer’s point of view, could there be a more untrustworthy mercenary?
“I’m thinking of becoming a merchant. If that’s too difficult, I’ll just open a general store in a small village on the outskirts.”
A pirate who was once famous on the sea retiring like that. It was hard to imagine.
“You’re 28 years old now, right?”
“So?”
Dairan’s eyebrows twitched. She didn’t seem to like talking about her age. That’s a typical trait of an old maid.
“Come work for me.”
“…Are you telling me to become your maid?”
She looked displeased.
I had vaguely realized that she was from a noble family. If you looked closely, she had a certain dignity.
“That’s fine too, but considering your abilities, it’s better to become a navy officer than a maid. There’s no navy in my city right now. That’s why I’m directly involved in pirate subjugation.”
“You’re going to use pirates as navy officers? No one with a normal mind would say that. Did you hit your head or something?”
If I used pirates as navy officers, my reputation would definitely plummet. Not only the nobles but also the commoners would talk behind my back.
But if I could get Dairan, I could endure that much.
“I’ve never seen a pirate as capable as you on this sea. I’m serious about taking you and making you a navy officer.”
“…I’ll think about it.”
Unlike the Dairan I knew, she left it ambiguous. It probably wasn’t because I took an arrow in my arm for her.
‘She must have some lingering attachment to the sea. Judging by her skills, it seems like she’s spent most of her life at sea. There’s no way she can leave so easily.’
Time passed.
By dawn, the pirates searching for us were exhausted. After secretly checking, I saw they were searching half-heartedly. The captains were preparing to take the pirates and chase us into the forest.
“Dairan, it would be good to reduce the number of pirates a bit, don’t you think?”
I said, shaking the sword in my hand.
The pirates were exhausted from searching for us, and the captains were busy preparing to enter the forest. It was the perfect time for an assassination.
“No. There’s no need to take risks. Let’s sneak into the forest and return to the ship. Once we’re back on the ship, it’s over. They don’t have a ship to chase us with.”
A pirate without a ship is not a pirate. They would probably try to loot this village and get a ship. They would live as bandits for at least a few months. Or they might just become bandits altogether.
We secretly entered the forest and successfully returned to the ship. With an Aura Expert moving stealthily, our loose guard was no match for us.
“Raise the anchor! Let’s head out to sea!”
“Yes, Captain!”
The pirates moved in an orderly fashion. I leaned against the wall of the deck. Melissa approached me.
“I was worried about what happened to you, Master. I was even thinking of going in alone, but thankfully you’re back. …Looking at your arm, it seems there was a problem. Why didn’t you use a potion?”
“There was a reason. And if you use too many potions, your natural healing power decreases.”
“Hmph. Who believes in such rumors?”
I took out a potion from my inventory and handed it to her.
“…Hmm. Master’s healing power is good. Even without using a potion, you’ll recover without a scar in less than a week.”
My healing power was excellent thanks to my highest stat, [Stamina].
Melissa poured the potion on my wound. I felt a stinging pain for a moment, then it tickled. In less than three minutes, the wound healed without leaving a single scar.
“Red Flying Fish Pirates! Don’t think this is the end! I will definitely repay the debt I received this time! I’ll catch you, cut off your limbs, and make you sex slaves!”
I shifted my gaze to the side. The ship was passing by the village, and the pirates gathered on the beach were shouting curses.
Dairan, standing proudly at the bow, her coat fluttering, smirked and mocked their curses.
“The sound of losers barking is always good to hear. Gula! Give them a present!”
That present was a hot fireball.
The pirates gathered on the beach scattered in panic at the single fireball.
I said to Melissa next to me.
“Melissa, you go give them a present too.”
“Okay.”
Melissa smiled and went to Gula’s side and used magic. Unlike Gula, she fired small fireballs in succession.
•••
The Red Flying Fish pirate ship did not return to Uric Island. Instead, it moved to the calm sea.
The calm sea.
A sea area where the wind doesn’t blow and the waves don’t crash like a lake.
I felt bored, but the female pirates on the deck were not playing around as usual and were tense.
“Dairan, why did we come here?”
“There’s something to get. Do you know? This place was once called the graveyard of ships. Until 30 years ago, a Seaserpent lived here.”
“Seaserpent?”
“A giant sea snake. They say its body was so huge that it could wrap around a ship.”
“There’s one of those here?”
I looked at the sea. It was calm and clear enough to see a little inside.
I made eye contact with a fish the size of a fist. The fish ignored me and swam away leisurely.
“It’s not here now. No matter how long a monster lives, it eventually dies. Still, this place is like a forbidden area for the sea people. They believe that there are more monsters here than anywhere else, and that you’ll be cursed if you come here.”
I understood why the female pirates were tense.
In this fantasy world where magic and monsters exist, even absurd rumors are likely to be true. Especially for the sea people, they tend to believe in superstitions even more.
“So, why did we come here?”
“Underwater exploration.”
“Huh?”
“I told you it’s called the graveyard of ships. There are shipwrecks and treasures submerged under this sea. We have to take that treasure.”
“I would have given you enough money?”
“There’s a guy among the alliance leaders who’s crazy about antiques.”
Indeed. It seemed to be a job to get a recommendation.
“But you don’t seem to have any equipment, how are you going to do it?”
“…”
Dairan was silent for a moment. She, who was always confident, hesitated and pointed at herself and me with her finger.
“…Me?”
“It can’t be helped. The seabed is dangerous. You and I, who are Aura Experts, have to go directly. It would be good to take that woman too, but… it’s better to keep her on the ship in case of an emergency.”
I understood.
There are monsters in the sea, and ordinary people who don’t know how to use mana can’t go deep. If Dairan and I, who are Aura Experts, actively use mana, we can survive in the sea for at least 20 minutes. If we take air pockets, we can last even longer.
“You’re good at using your employers, just like last time.”
“…If you really don’t want to, stay here. I’ll go alone.”
“I was just kidding. I’ll go with you.”
I have the [Blessing of Water]. I could breathe underwater and move more freely. I was perfect for this job.
Dairan and I prepared to jump into the sea.
