Chapter 38
“Are we really escaping?”
“Of course! We’re finally saying goodbye to these damn pirates.”
I loaded the people onto the lifeboat and turned the pulley.
Right now, we were on a small sailing ship in the Knoxdam waters.
Aside from Wolfman’s five pirate ships, this was an ordinary vessel we had newly acquired.
Ben Wolfman had gone aboard the large merchant ship beside us with six subordinates to do a bit of petty looting.
“Isn’t it enough to give the kingdom’s army a good hit?”
“Partyjang, I’m the kind of person who has to see through what I decide to do.”
He said there was something he absolutely had to have and that he had to pirate the merchant ship no matter what.
So I suggested that it would be better to sneak in, steal quietly, and come back out.
“With just a small sailing ship like this, what are you going to do? That’s a merchant ship, so it’ll definitely have cannons. If we go quietly, we won’t take any damage, and you’ll get what you want, Captain.”
“…Partyjang, you really are smart.”
Wolfman said we should go in together, so I went in as well—then pretended to get lost and came back out.
Then I approached Pirate 3, who was guarding the sailing ship.
“The captain says we’re switching roles.”
“How am I supposed to believe that?”
“Suit yourself if you don’t. But you know this, right? The captain said that whoever finds the goods inside the ship this time gets the first mate position—.”
“…Guard the ship properly!”
And just like that, the ship ended up in my hands.
Hehe. This ship is mine now.
Though saying that doesn’t change the fact that, with no navigator, there was nothing we could do on a sailing ship by ourselves.
So we decided to get on the lifeboat, pretend to be shipwrecked, and ask the merchant ship for help.
“This child… I think he needs treatment right away.”
The woman holding the child spoke.
Just as she said, Poin’s breathing was unstable, like he might stop breathing at any moment.
“…There’ll be a way. First, escaping from here comes first, so let’s hurry.”
“Pa, Partyjang.”
The people in the lifeboat looked at me as I untied the rope from the railing and called out to me in fear.
“Huh?”
“…….”
“What are you doing, Partyjang?”
Wolfman. You came back damn fast.
Footsteps landing on the deck were heard from the opposite railing.
“Row immediately and get into the merchant ship’s line of sight. Don’t get too close—you might get caught in the current. And Poin…”
I looked at Poin, unconscious in the old man’s arms.
“If there’s a priest on the merchant ship, ask them to treat him. …Say it’s by the saintess’s command.”
I pulled out a dagger, cut my hair roughly as it came into my hand, and handed it to the old man.
After leaving the villa, while testing various things to avoid a possible charge of impersonating the saintess, I found out that the effect of hair dye seemed to disappear once it left the user’s body.
My brown hair reverted to its original color, like black ink spreading through water.
“Pa, Party—no, you’re…!”
“May the blessing of the god Seikan be with you.”
Heh. I wonder if that last line made me look like a saintess.
I might have lost some credibility after showing such an ugly side of myself, but I thought saying this might at least give them some hope.
People rely on gods most when things are hardest, after all.
I let go of the rope I had been loosening.
Splash—!
In an instant, the lifeboat fell onto the sea.
They kept looking up this way, so when I gestured with my hand, they hurriedly found the oars and started rowing.
I wish I could go with them, but if I did, Ben Wolfman would chase after us immediately and try to kill everyone.
“Did you find what you were looking for?”
I turned around.
Ben Wolfman, approaching, had a small box tucked under his arm.
“Subordinate, what did you do?”
“What do you think? I stabbed you in the back, Ben Wolfman.”
Wolfman’s face twisted.
“This is why smart ones are no good.”
Wolfman drew his sword.
Since he’s the captain, he’s probably skilled, right? From the last time he grabbed my collar, he looked strong, too.
But it’s not like I have nothing to rely on either.
“You’d better not underestimate me.”
Ziiing.
I heard the sound of the ring resonating in sympathy with my emotions.
I stared straight at Wolfman and stepped forward.
“My cooldown’s over.”
Boom—!
The broken mast crashed down in the middle of the deck.
Smoke rose everywhere, and the damaged sailing ship looked like a battlefield.
The merchant ship drifted away peacefully in the distance, and the pirates who had gone over in small boats began returning this way.
Fortunately, it seemed the people who left on the lifeboat hadn’t been noticed by the pirates.
‘Anyway!’
I ran around the hole-riddled sailing ship, looking for an intact space.
I didn’t mean to make things this flashy…!
‘Aren’t you way too strong?!’
Needless to say, no answer came back no matter how much I complained to the ring.
This thing would spew yellow light everywhere and blow everything up even if I just thought, “Should I blow that up?” and got as far as “Sh—.”
‘As if it doesn’t want people to say it doesn’t resemble its owner!’
No, His Majesty is strong, but he has restraint…!
“Partyjang….”
Wolfman, who had fallen through a hole in the deck, crawled back up and called out to me.
He’s taken so many hits—wouldn’t it be normal for him to be unconscious by now?
I think I’ll call him Bar Wolfman from now on.
That’s cockroach-level survivability.
“Hoo….”
There was an intact section of deck beside the broken mast pillar.
I stopped there, gasping for breath, and looked at Wolfman.
Maybe because I’d been running around so much, my head was throbbing.
‘If only it weren’t for those arms.’
Wolfman’s arms, blackened like charcoal briquettes.
They were nullifying every attack from the ring.
Wasn’t black supposed to be a sacred color in this world…?! Then why does Wolfman have that kind of power?
“I should’ve realized you were a wielder of divine power.”
“Hey, calm do—”
Ziiing—.
‘That’s not the “there” I meant!’
You’d be hard-pressed to find equipment with worse control than this.
The ring fired a flashing beam of light at Wolfman.
As expected, Wolfman blocked my attack with both arms.
But then—
Clatter.
“…?”
A wooden box slid down toward me along the tilted ship.
It seemed the box Wolfman had taken from the merchant ship had fallen out of his grasp from the impact of the attack.
“Don’t touch that—!”
But the box was already in my hands.
“I said don’t touch it!”
Wolfman charged at me with no trace of the composure he’d had until now.
The ring fired yellow light again, but Wolfman blocked it with his arms and didn’t stop, focusing solely on me.
Just as sharp, black claws were about to pierce my eyes—
“Lower your head.”
At the heavenly voice from behind me, I reflexively ducked.
Then came Wolfman’s dying scream.
And when I lifted my head in the sudden silence—
“…….”
I doubted my eyes.
A handsome man stood there, one foot pressing down on the fallen Wolfman.
Silver hair shimmering brilliantly, as if it held the Milky Way I had seen at dawn.
Everything flowed in quiet stillness.
Even the air around us seemed to be holding its breath, unwilling to disturb the scene.
“Uh….”
There was so much I wanted to ask—how he looked like this, how he got here—but the words just circled in my head without coming out.
The head that had been angled downward lifted toward me.
Eyes bluer than usual, clear and sparkling like seawater, turned my way.
“…….”
A brief silence.
It was His Majesty who spoke first.
“Was I late?”
I bit the inside of my lip and shook my head.
“Why that expression?”
“…….”
If I talk now, I’ll cry for sure.
And if I cry, I’ll look ugly.
As if I’d cry in front of those eyes.
“I’m sorry. For being late.”
“…….”
I won’t cry. I won’t.
I absolutely—
“Shinari.”
“…….”
“Say something.”
“…Calling my name like that… is cheating….”
I tried to stop my breath from hitching, but it wasn’t easy.
Do you know how miserable I’d been?
No divine power. No one to rely on, no one to blame.
The situation was always beyond my ability, and I had to be desperate.
And the scariest thing of all was—
“I thought… I’d never… see you again, Your Majesty….”
This world, where I had no ties at all, was not my world.
Even setting aside that His Majesty’s appearance is totally my type, the only connection tying me to this world was His Majesty.
“Emperor of the Holy Empire Zendal, Allend Khan Leodius. Saintess.”
In an unfamiliar place, among unfamiliar people, he was the first to reach out his hand to me when I was flustered.
Without that hand, would I really have been able to survive in this world?
“Come here.”
His Majesty, with a slightly different air than before, reached out his hand to me.
As I tried to take it, he strode forward, pulled my arm, and trapped me in his embrace.
“Uh—?!”
Haa, a deep, short breath escaped from His Majesty’s mouth.
“Hic….”
“Why?”
“I shouldn’t have reached out….”
“What?”
At my words, His Majesty frowned slightly and looked at my face.
“My heart… it’s pounding…!”
“Huh—.”
Come to think of it, what I’d been through wasn’t even the main issue.
My heart just couldn’t handle seeing His Majesty again after so long…!
That’s not because my heart is weak—it’s because His Majesty is unfair.
“What’s with your hair?! And your eyes too?!”
Silver hair—!
What is this fleeting, mysterious feeling, like snow blossoms blooming on a winter mountain?!
“This look of yours, later I’m definitely having it preserved in a portrait—”
“…We’ll talk about that later. Let’s go back now.”
Where His Majesty pointed was the Deidern, approaching this way.
“Huh? The Deidern?”
Seeing my confusion, His Majesty gave me a rough explanation of what had happened.
After I briefly told him what had happened on my end, we looked down at the fallen Wolfman.
“Your Majesty, there’s something I want to do.”
“If the Saintess wishes it, then so be it.”
