14xx/7/10

165 days since arrival…

What up y'all.

We are at Port Natalia, me and Latina and the ship.

It took us a whole week to reach the port. We arrived at noon around twelve according to the sun. The sun like the cunt it was hangs high in the sky blasting at our back with its burning death ray. While it wasn't life-threatening the heat was fucking uncomfortable, like damn, how baked can a guy and a centaur get?

The port was pretty bare to be honest, unlike Port Ilias there was only one ship harboured at the pier. The ship was roughly our size except this one has a bell attached at the mast of the ship, softly ringing to the sea wind. Using my binocular I can see that the bell was decorated with motifs of sea-based Monster Girls that were devouring several men.

The prisoner was sent toward the slammer for their crime of piracy. The verdict says that they all will be executed for piracy. I was a bit intrigued on how they can execute a Monster girl as they have the innate ability to teleport back to their home when they were on death door. It seems that they have the ability to negate that trait according to the fear in the pirate's face.

The same snitch that ratted out back at the ship took it the worse; along the journey here she has been targeted by her own pirate crew despite her well-intentional action. I can see that it wears her down along the journey. And hearing the verdict threatens to break her normal forlorn gaze into an all-out sobbing fest. She was scared of death and I can see it in her eyes. She wants out.

Along the journey before I have been making moves on her, using the old heart-and-mind tactics on her. I made friends with her while ignoring the others, dropping hints to her friends unknown to her that she was my favourite, thus fostering jealousy and distrust upon her crewmate. Soon they start attacking the Seaweed Girl, thus increasing her hate and fear against her own crew. I present myself as a sympathetic person who wants to help others but was misunderstood and only she understood what I want to do. The result is the Seaweed Girl being alienated by her crew and looked up to me.

She wasn't that bad to be honest. She was simply a little seaweed who was simply caught at the wrong time at the wrong place when the pirates attacked at the area of her home. She simply lives among the kelps floating at a coastal area just waiting her lives out when suddenly the pirates came and robbed a ship just underneath her. Her home was destroyed during the fight, rendering her homeless. She decided to latch onto the pirate's ship for a few months until they finally took notice. Instead of throwing her away they decided that she has some use left for the ship.

She never wants to be a pirate; she just wants to be left alone in the open seas.

To anybody who wasn't me or her you won't understand the logic of this. Unless the pirates were sent straight to Davy Jone's Locker there's no way she can be left alone without them hunting her down and I have not the resource or the data needed to achieve such mission. To put it simply she was tired of all the action she has for the last 9 month of piracy and she wants out. The Sea Walker's captain and Latina confirmed her desire, saying that it was common for Seaweed Girls to be passive and peaceful.

If all goes according to plan Harrila would be our new companion in our rescue.

I decided to explore the port with Latina to find anything we need. I haven't used my grenades at all and the evening is still young. The port and city was twice bigger than Port Ilias across the sea and its grandeur was evident from its architecture and the evident presence of economic activities throughout the port.

The little town was made mostly from white concrete and almost every window has glass pane attached to it. You may think it was not that important, but the world I am now was a mix between the fantasy Middle Age and the classical romantic Renaissance era. Back then glass was considered as a precious as silver and only the wealthy can have glass pane on their window. Hell, back then the nobles would bring their glass window along when they move house! Glass back then is our equivalent of a branded overpriced handbag, useful for one reason only but was bought primarily for status. To have everybody have glass pane in their house speaks volume of the economy of this port.

The town main square has a single statue of Ilias masterfully crafted from marble atop a ground platform with two street lamps to illuminate the figure. I always wondered why does Ilias have a fondness of baring her chest and ass right out in the open like she was a whore. A proper god would have known some dignity at least.

The statue act as the centre point of the town as well as marker for travellers around. Situated just beside the busy port, the main square was always bustling with life as the locals carry fresh produce toward their roadside stalls and shops. Mermaids and humans of all size and shape travels through the street, having a completely normal life. At this moment I always wondered if I would be happy having a normal life. I mean, I could do less of worrying getting shot every second…

Bah, who am I kidding? I'm Alex motherfucking Armin; I was never destined for normal stuff. I was nothing but a sore thumb in today's society. The only place I belong to was behind a gun and inside a Scarlet Mansion. If I die I would die in a smoking pile of hot brass with a bloody knife in my fist.

I bought me and Latina some dark chocolates from one of the stalls near the square. The original sweet milky chocolate has been bought off its entirety by a young man with a fuck-ton of sons. The shopkeeper said that the young man come to his store with around 30 to 35 boys at his heels and bought off almost every chocolate he has in the store. He said that it would be fine if the war doesn't make trading a lot harder.

Turns out this port is very famous among other ports in the continent. They can afford many strange novelty items because this was the Centerport of the trading route throughout the world. While the effect of war doesn't hit them as hard as Port Ilias did the shopkeeper said that the damned war makes less ship willing to come over to the port as it was near the warring country. The shopkeeper said that they too have been short on supply despite being the Centerport of the trading route.

I decided that a temporary primary weapon would be sufficient for the rescue tomorrow, so I decided to hit the local weapon shop near a local inn. The weapon shop was quite big and abundant in nature. Several different types of swords ranging from a Roman's Gladius to the German's big-ass Zweihander was displayed in a box waiting for a lucky customer to buy one. Beside a table holding helmets there were around 4 armour stands displaying full body armour made from 4 totally different minerals such as iron, steel, gold and something that I swear was emerald copper from an Eastern country. A mermaid was trying on a stereotypical horned Viking helmet and found the weight to be a bother. Shields made from leather, steel and iron were displayed on a table which Latina seems to be interested.

The dealer declared that he has a fine selection of weaponries and damn he wasn't kidding. Their bladed weapon such as swords and knives has an intricate pattern running up their grove. I can sense potent magic from each of the weapons presented. Being more of a gun guy, I decided to ask Latina if there was anything useful.

And turns out the only thing that was useful was the Mage Masher, which is simply a dagger with a blue handle and a cobalt gem pommel. It allegedly can counteract any spell attempt made, which would be a very useful addition in our ever-growing arsenal. I bought one, the damned thing was expensive. My KA-BAR knife is at my left shoulder whiles my pistol at my right thigh, so I placed the sheath of the dagger at my left thigh. Latina bought herself a nice lance for the trip. She lost her old golden spear back during the journey. I don't know how strong my comrade was, but goddamn she carried that lance like it was nothing. That thing weight around 20 pounds or something!

Then we hit the convenience/item store to get more herbs and feathers for our journey. They have a couple of charms that might be useful such as the Mermaid charm that can boost my stats when underwater, but I'm running real short.

The Mermaid Pub became our next destination where we met our delightful captain. He was currently telling an epic tale of his fight against a dragon back in the sea to a small crowd of human and mermaids. I simply went to the table and asked for some cola absent-mindedly. It was a habit of mine to never have a taste of alcohol in my damned life and only drank cola for relaxation. My mistake came late so the girl has time to fulfil my order despite me knowing that Coca Cola was made during the Civil War.

They have Coke. My eyes bulged out as she handed me the fizzy treat. The taste was stronger than an average bottle of Coke, those damned manufacturer watering down a perfectly good recipe. It was Coke; it was fucking Coca Cola goddammit! Coca motherfucking Cola in a fantasy Middle Age timeline!

You know, there is one time in your life you just have to sit down and wonder what are you doing with your life. Sometimes you did it daily, sometimes not at all, but sometimes we really need to take a hard look at ourselves and wonder why are we here.

First off, I am drinking a mug of cold Coca Cola served by potentially horny mermaid in a mermaid-run bar with a horny centaur partner beside me. I bought an overpriced knife that allegedly can counteract magic spells because magic is a thing for a rescue mission where I have to rescue my rifle who happens to be a German woman in her 20s from pirates made from sea creatures.

I ran my fingers upon the wooden bartop, the groove of the wood calloused and scratched from years of use. This is real, this feels real. Dreams cannot simulate touch vividly. I took a long draw from my mug, savouring the taste and smell of the cola I love. This is real; dreams cannot simulate taste or smell.

This is real, I'm feeling it, and this is reality…

I must face it, but how?

I look at my comrade who was nursing a mug of stout. The silver centaur has been a very important member of the crew aside from Sophie. She carries almost all of our shits throughout the journey and she was also our transportation. She sometimes complains, but soldiers gripe all the time so it's normal. She's no soldier, she's just a volunteer for a cause that was not her own, thinking that the cause I have is bigger than her.

I almost laughed at the thought of me in shining armour with a girl in my hand and a sword to my right bringing justice upon some weird ass demons guarding the Holy Grail on Latina's horseback. What cause am I fighting for except escaping this world with Hito at my side? I don't have any grand plan to save the world or something, nor do I have a grand destiny or something. I fought for survival this whole time and I've been fighting for a long time.

Come to think of, what should I do with her once I finished my mission? What happen if I found Hito and Sophie as well as the exit to this world? What would Latina do? Can I even bring her home? What happen if I brought her to my home? Would she remain a centaur or she would split into a woman and horse or worse?

I shook the dark thought from my head. That can wait, I can't ask her now what she wants to do after everything is done, and she might get ideas soon.

And here's an even darker thought; what happen if I made her pregnant?

We fucked like we were animals in heat, ironically considering the fact that Latina is a half-horse herself. Most of the time she used her mouth to collect my ejaculate, sometimes her breast, but once in a blue moon she used her vag onto my battle-hardened meat shaft and milked every drop from my balls. And throughout the journey we never used any form of protection at all. I put it down with Latina's horse-v being different than a human-v, but what about Sophie? I did shag her right through the love tunnel and detonated the C4 inside. She's simply a weapon right? A magical construct made out of a powerful imbuement of a sword and my trusty rifle.

But caption this; when she became human she developed human features. Eyes, nose, lips, breast, leg, the whole lot. But what about her organ? For her to function properly as a human being she must have working, healthy organs inside her, that includes her reproductive organ. What makes her organ different than a normal human girl's organ? And if she can emulate all the bodily aspect of a woman what's stopping her inner organ from working? What's stopping her ovaries from creating more ova ever since she became human?

I can argue that she wasn't a proper human, she can morph between two form which is rifle and human, but the thing is anything that was on her can be morphed along to be a rifle, like if she's holding a pistol and warp into a rifle there would be no changes in shape nor function and better yet she can change back into human with the pistol in hand just like before she morphed! What's stopping the sperms inside her from swimming upstream even when she morphs?

What's stopping her from getting pregnant?

And if she got pregnant, what am I supposed to do with the child?

That question haunts me ever since I made love to her (reluctantly-enthusiastically) and Latina forced her down to accept my water bomb when she was on the top. I was never a father and I'm not ready to be one. And if so, how am I gonna take care of the child?

I need a secure housing with running water and ready access to supply, does it sound like something I have right now? And if I have a child right now, what am I supposed to do with it once I reached the end? What am I supposed to do when it's time for me to go home?

Can I carry a baby through a multidimensional hyper-space-time portal?

Another darker thought came through which I quickly shut down with a mental boot to its metaphorical face. I'm not going for abortion, I made that life. It was bullshit for MY unborn child to face the punishment for MY mistake.

Fuck that; MY child, My responsibility.

I can't help but look at my partner and wondered how she looks like being pregnant. Would her belly expand or her horse belly expands? How does our child would look like? Would he look like his dad? Can I get her to a vet in time? Do we even have animal doctor in this world?

I wondered what they put inside the Coke. I felt a tug to my sleeves at my right and saw a toddler sitting on the counter, being adorable as it was his god given right.

His eyes were the darkest brown just like his father and a few wisp of his hair was light brown, unlike the father's jet-black mane. Is that what my son would look like if Latina was the mother?

Then his hair colour changes to light blonde yet he retained the dark brown eyes of his father. His mouth was wide open in a million kitten smile directed to the world. Blonde hair…Sophie?

Then his hair changes colour again and is his eyes, both of them became deep shade of purple. His face was still smiling wide open but there was certain intelligence in his eyes…just like my mistress.

I frowned. What happen if my child is a girl?

My god she was beautiful. Her blonde hair may look soft as cotton candy, but god fucking Lord Egg Benedict in the ass her eyes are beautiful. Her eyes were akin to polished sapphire stone under the moonlight. She looks like Sophie…

Then she became an adorable otter with a mop of brown hair and brown eyes. Latina? Why the hell she has a horn?

Then her hair become purple, but her eyes became dark brown like his father. Mistress?

I put my hand toward the child's purple hair, which suddenly turns blonde the moment my hand made contact with the soft mane of the child…

And I end up buying a drink for a mermaid.

Make sense? Of course not, I'm rambling again.

I go up and talked to the captain who has his arm around a mermaid's shoulder. I asked him if I can replicate some guns from his ship for my mission tomorrow. He said that it was me who brought them in the first place so I have the right to have some from the stock. He also said that thanks to me and my equipment they manage to survive a fucking attack from a dragon. The captain said that the last time a dragon attacked his boat he and Black Jack both lost a limb and a ship.

Then we decided to run all the way across the beach at the west of the port. The reason was to find a place where I can use the Harpy feather to teleport as near as I can to the pirate's cove, like a shortcut when we decided to start the assault.

It took us a solid two hours on Latina's back to finally see the cluster of islands on the horizon. To my left was the sea and to my right leads toward the main road which splits into two roads. The crossroad has a sign which says where the road leads to. To the north we have Luddite Village, which I have visited in the past. This world is truly small. I wonder what happened to the priest that saved my ass back then.

To the west we got San Ilia Castle, which I hoped wasn't in ruin and to the east we have Port Natalia where we came from. We decided that enough is enough and we used another feather to return back to the port. We hit the prison again to see my Seaweed Girl Harrila has been freed. It seems that she has taken up my offer.

Just as planned. Those motherfucker doesn't seem to realize that their jealousy is what makes their friend here a traitor.

I offered her a gun but she refused, saying that he saw one in action and it scares her silly. Fine by me.

I asked her how I can slip inside the base because as a human they might recognise my ugly mug. Trying to slip in undetected would be hard because there is only one entrance and they were guarded by two powerful mermaids. Harrila said even if I got inside there would be an intricate network of tunnels that I can get lost in without her help. If we got compromised we could get swarmed from every direction without ways to combat them effectively.

And no, doing some retarded disguise attempt is off the limit. This is reality, not some goddamn a Saturday Morning cartoon shit!

I decided that if we're going in, we gonna need some serious hardware for any trouble they might throw at us. While I planned to go in sneeki-breeki I always knew that shit will always hit the fan, hard.

I decided that we should have a silenced weapon each for everybody. While daggers are stealth king, a silent ranged weapon won't hurt.

We don't have enough money to buy a bow however, but we don't need to. Introducing to you, suppressors! Designed to suppress the noise coming from a gun to a manageable level, this thing has been crafted by hand and magic by the one and only Alex Armin! The Gunsmith of Scarlet Devil!

But remember, they only work to suppress noise not to silence them completely. They might not make a loud explosion sound but the loud farting noise can be heard by anybody.

I decided to give Latina the AK. If shit hit the fan she can cover our escape using a hailstorm of 7.62x39mm. I even cloned extra magazine for her. Me being the rifleman at heart decided to take a step back to history and grab an M1 Garand. Accurate, strong, reliable and its large ass round can drop any wannabe pirates on their asses. Let's not forget, I can mount my bayonet on the rifle like what I did with my kar!

Like General Patton said; the greatest battle implement ever devised.

I made two silencers, one for my 1911 and one for Latina's M9. It may not be the prettiest looking thing around, but I made enough suppressors to know my shit.

For safety, I decided to make more bombs.

This is what we carry for the mission:

Me:

1. M1 Garand.

2. M1911A1 (suppressed)

3. 3 frag grenades

4. 3 flashbang

5. 3 smoke bomb

6. Twenty .30-06 Springfield en-bloc clip.

7. 6 M1911 magazines.

8. KA-BAR survival knife

9. Mage Masher

Latina:

1. AK-47

2. Berreta M9 (Suppressed)

3. 3 frag grenades

4. 3 flashbangs

5. 3 smoke bombs

6. 14 AK mags

7. 6 Berreta M9 mags

8. Dagger+

9. Heavy Lance

Harrila

1. Nothing

2. More nothing

3. Look, more emptiness

4. Empty Corporation

5. Why did she decline carry weapons?

6. Not even an accessory, did they confiscate them?

7. I wonder if she even wears clothes…

After gearing up for the trip I and the crew used another Harpy feather to get to our designated spot. We found a nice hill overlooking said island. We dug a shallow pit behind an overturned tree and covered some spots with some dead leaves and palm leaves. It may not be the best, but it'll do. There we will observe the enemy until midnight.

We were taking turns on the observation, calculating the amount of guards coming and going. If it wasn't for Harrila we might have missed the guards going in and out from a waterfall. Harrila said that the waterfall is thin enough for a human to go through. Good, the noise of the waterfall can muffle our footstep a couple of minutes inside.

Right now we have been observing the bastard for around 4 hour and so. Harrila was nervous; Latina on the other hand was antsy like she got fire ants in her panties. Holy shit that rhymes. She was unaccustomed to the lifestyle of a sniper; which is hiding I a ditch for several hours/days just waiting for the right moment to pull the trigger.

The night has arrived and from what Latina told me the base's number was static. It seems that the enemy was still hiding or in lockdown. This will make the job harder. Fortunately Harrila said that they are diurnal creature just like me. We'll attack at midnight.

We took turn to observe the entrance with the binoculars while the rest slept. Maintaining observation is important, but we need people to be well-rested for the midnight assault.

Now it's night, just three hours away from midnight. Just a few minutes left and it should be my turn. Nighty Night journal, I'll write to you again tomorrow if I'm still alive…