Chapter 22
I am… wow. she just stood there like some conquering hero. And declaring herself captain of the ship. Hi, hi, simply amazing… Although, she called them traitors… Is she actually a pirate too? I don't like the sound of that…
"Damn you! We'll settle these then come for you!" shouted the captain at Marine.
"You can try, Sourpuss," she retorted.
Subaru sighed and shook her head, instead deciding to focus on staying alive instead. She went around the crates and continued advancing.
"Fire in the hole!"
A loud boom later and the pirates near the card table had their bodies decimated before the cannonball crashed into the crate in front of her.
"Okay… she's still siding with us," she mused in her mind, relieved as she neared the broken crate. Her ring glowed as she swung as if throwing a punch. A spectral ram's head appeared and slammed into the nearest pirate's head, knocking him back a little.
"Here's another one!"
Another loud boom and the rest of the crates in front of the fighter exploded into splinters as the cannonball destroyed the pirates taking cover there. That included the one that she knocked back. It sent some uneasiness through her when she glanced over the remaining body parts, but she turned away from it and scanned the area. So far, the pirate captain had moved in to throw daggers at Rushia. The mage was nowhere to be seen.
"Where did he go?" she wondered inwardly as she rushed over to help the young necromancer. Suddenly, she got peppered by several glowing dart-like things that disappeared on impact, prompting a yell of pain.
"And another one!"
Marine's shot went wide, destroying the table behind him instead. Turning to where the mage was, she instead changed targets and charged the mage. She still remembered how destructive a fireball was and wanted to take out the mage immediately.
It was an unexpected turn when the mage chanted and extended his hands in front of him. Subaru suddenly found herself blasted with freezing cold air that seemed to reach even her bones. Her steps faltered and slowed, the sudden drop in temperature staggering her greatly. She could feel everything slowing down as she stumbled forward, trying to reach the mage before it was too late. It unfortunately was as her movements ground to a halt and the cone of cold froze the air around her body.
"Rushia!" shouted Choco as the captain pulled out his dagger from the young necromancer's stomach.
He wasn't looking too good either. Part of his arm rotted away from necrotic energy. An arrow in the shoulder and an arrow in the chest. How he was still able to move to take down Rushia was unbelievable. Mentally commanding the spirit mace to attack, she chanted and threw a bolt of light in his face. He roared in pain and started to run away. He yelled again when Matsuri's arrow became lodged in his thigh.
"Lors, take care of them!" he shouted to the mage.
"Aye, cap-."
"Bye-bye, Sourpuss!"
The cannonball ripped through his head like a melon getting smashed. The mage was still in a shock when a bolt of light and two arrows slammed into his chest.
"Don't die on me now..." murmured Choco as she knelt down next to Rushia and cured her wounds. She then ran over to Subaru, chanting a healing word and infusing the fighter with renewed life.
"Matsuri, help me free her," called over the tiefling. Together, they pushed the statue over and it shattered to pieces. The shivering girl curled up into a ball. Choco took off her cloak and wrapped it around her. Slowly, she warmed up.
Meanwhile, the ship slowly turned around, much more slowly than normal. When Subaru was able to get to her feet, the tiefling helped her to her feet and guided her to the pier. At the edge, she called out to Marine, "Hey, did you trick us?"
The new pirate captain appeared over the stern and replied, "Aye, I did. Sorry, not sorry. I had to do what I had to do."
The fighter sneezed and asked, "Why?"
"Would you willingly help a pirate like little ol' me?" Marine asked as she posed and batted her eyelashes.
"...No..." she conceded, "I… guess not."
"Anyway, thanks for getting my ship back," she replied gratefully while waving at them as the sails were unfurled, picking up speed, "If you find yourself on my ship, I'll show you a good time. Seeya!"
Wordlessly, they watched as the ship sailed away. The fighter sighed and said, "Alright… I think we should search the place. We might be able to find some stuff to make the trip here worthwhile."
After making the fighter sit outside in the sun, the other three went searching. True enough, they did find some valuables. A few spell scrolls in the mage's room. The pirate rooms didn't hold anything valuable but they found in a better-furnished room a small chest. This was assumed to be the pirate captain's room. In the chest were two bags, one with gold and silver pieces and the other with gems. Jackpot. They carried the bags outside and paused to count the pieces. Two hundred pieces of both kinds. Neat.
"So, what do we do now?" asked Matsuri after returning the pieces to the bag, "Do we walk back to the city or take the boat?"
"I… don't know..." admitted Subaru with a furrowed brow, "Walk back? I don't think Marine guided us that far off."
"I'd rather walk. Not after what happened," Choco muttered, "Plus, what if we handle the boat wrongly and we end up too far away from the coast. None of us has experience with handling a boat after all."
"I guess that's true..." mused the fighter. After thinking for a moment, she decided, "Alright, we walk along the coast. We should be able to reach the city in no time if we follow the shoreline."
The others agreed and they began their trek back to the city. It was uneventful, save for Rushia pausing to watch a pod of dolphins frolicking in the waves off the shore. Watching her clap and jump at their antics brought a smile to their faces.
They reached the city late in the evening, tired but relieved to have reached there.
"Subaru, can we stay here for a while?" asked Rushia suddenly.
"Huh? Why?" asked the fighter, a little surprised.
"I am guessing those spell scrolls we found," surmised Choco, prompting the young girl to nod eagerly.
"...I guess we could," she mused after a moment, "We could use that time to try and sell off the loot."
"Good idea!" exclaimed Matsuri, "We should go back to the inn we stayed at. Their spicy fruit juice is very tasty."
A break in the fighting? I don't mind it. I was a little surprised that it was Rushia that requested it. Although, I should have expected it. Oh well, a chance to do other stuff. While she spent most of her time in her room, I did two things. One, asked Choco to help me with finding gem shops to sell the loot. Over four days, we sold off the gems. I even learned how to haggle from her. The scrolls we kept for Rushia to use. Two, after chatting with Matsuri and finding out she knew how to speak many languages, I asked her to help me dwarvish and draconic, the same way Aqua helped me with elvish and Shion with some draconic all those weeks ago. I'd like to say I'm good enough with them but I have a feeling I still have a long way to go to become fluent in those languages. I know enough to carry a shaky conversation but I think it could be better. I just need to practice more. Hi, hi.
"Are we ready to go?" asked Subaru. The last four days had been well used, in her opinion.
Rushia nodded with a cute smile.
"We are. So, which direction shall we head in, fearless leader?" asked Choco in a teasing tone.
"To the west, back to the capital," stated the fighter, who then mused, "I wonder how our friends are doing..."
"Ah, cat lady," muttered the young necromancer.
"Hi, hi, yup, the cat lady," she agreed.
"I'd like to meet them," quipped Matsuri.
"I'm sure you'd like them. Just… don't ask her friend about fingers… or don't mention fingers at all," she warned, shuddering at the thought.
"Eh?"
"Please don't remind me..." muttered the tiefling as she face-palmed.
"Sorry, sorry," she apologized with a sheepish grin.
Eventually, they started walking, following the dirt road east. After a while, the forest came up again. Glad to see a familiar place, they continued on their way. Subaru assumed that the woods on the right side of the road was part of the forest surrounding the elven village. It made her wonder where the forest on her left led to.
"Wait, something isn't right," Choco said suddenly, causing everyone to stop walking.
"What's wrong, Choco?" asked the fighter.
"I thought I saw something moving ahead," the tiefling told them, "I don't know if it was my imagination or not, but it's better to be safe than sorry."
"No worries, I'll scout it out," offered Matsuri as she dumped her backpack and raced into the woods.
"I just hope she doesn't get into trouble..." muttered Subaru with concern.
"She was skilled enough to get us through the swamp, she should be able to do this easily," assured Choco.
They waited… and waited… and she ran out of the woods with a worried look and said, "Kobolds. Lots of them."
"Kobolds?"
"Erm, think a very short lizard man with red skin," explained the tiefling in the simplest terms.
"Ah… so… what are they doing?" asked the fighter.
"They have been there for quite some time," the scout informed them, "It looked like they were waiting to ambush something. I overheard some of them yipping about some god-like thing in black scales and how he'd be pleased with their help."
"That… doesn't sound good," she said worriedly.
"Then, let's get the drop on them instead," suggested the tiefling with a grin.
"Hmm...how many kobolds are there, Matsuri?" she asked as she thought over it.
"Ah, right. There were around thirty-plus of them..."
"...That's a lot," she admitted, inwardly aghast at the numbers.
"Two of them were weird though. They were carrying all sorts of stuff on them. I think I spotted a flask of acid or two," added the scout.
"Urgh, now I have flashbacks," she groaned. Ankhegs and dragons come to mind. Her armor and shield had really close calls against them.
"Look... let's just go and sneak up on them," urged Matsuri assuringly, "They will never expect us to ambush them instead of the other way around."
Eventually, they got a hold of themselves and ventured in the woods. Slowly, they neared the kobold ambush. As Matsuri said, they could hear yipping the nearer they drew. What they didn't expect was growling sounds coming further back. They halted.
"What's that sound?" whispered Subaru.
"Crap… they weren't there when I scouted around earlier," murmured the scout, "Giant weasels. They have a good sense of smell. I hope they don't..."
Suddenly, the growling stopped and consequently, so did the yipping.
"...they found us..."
Several shrill squeals came from where the growls were originally coming from.
Matsuri was already shooting her arrows, her sharp eyes spotting the leader of this ambush. Her arrows found the scale sorcerer's chest but it refused to fall and it took cover behind a tree. Choco started praying and their weapons gained a shimmering glow. Another kobold fell, arrows in its chest and throat. They still surged forward. Rushia took out a scroll and cast the spell contained in it. Several kobolds started shrieking and falling over with blood gushing out of their ears when a loud ringing noise erupted among them.
Nearer they came and Subaru surged from behind her tree straight into melee, cutting down two at a time. At the same time, she started getting pelted with arrows. The scout wanted to support her but kobolds riding giant weasels burst out of the underbrush and headed straight for her.
"This way!" shouted Choco. She ushered the scout behind her as the spiritual weapon materialized and slammed into the first kobold she saw. It flew off the weasel, which scurried forward, causing the sacred flames to miss. A blazing sphere slammed into the tree next to her, scorching the bark with flame. She held her position and presented herself as the only target. The riders came and with Matsuri shooting at them behind her, she held them off with maces both real and spectral.
Rushia was busy trying to find a spot where she could see the most kobolds in her sight when she caught a rider's attention. A ray of sickly green lanced through the weasel and she followed with summoned skeletal hands on the kobold's skull. A pebble slammed into her hand. It stung a bit but the scale sorcerer stepped into view with three floating orbs that shot fire at her. The scorching rays burned her arms and body as it lanced over her. It then started yipping and another rider rode straight for her. She gathered her power in her hand and threw it at the kobold, bathing it and the weasel in necromantic energy. Life was sapped out of them and reabsorbed into her, taking away the pain and restoring her health. She then ran towards the copse of trees that Choco and Matsuri were using, another rider chasing after her.
"Are you okay, Rushia?" asked Matsuri as the young necromancer ran past. She then shouted in surprise as the rider came in and got blasted by necromantic energies. She shuddered as both collapsed and dried up as the energy flowed back into its caster.
"Argh, that's the last of them," groaned Choco as she ran back into the copse and leaned against a tree.
"Alright, leave the rest to us," declared the scout as she and Rushia went out to help Subaru.
The tiefling grinned as she chanted a healing spell and most of the bite marks and deep spear gouges healed up. "Alright, then. Let's mop them up," she stated, agreeing with the scout's sentiment.
Subaru shouted as she cleaved through the kobolds. Her body was bruised. Her sword hand and head were bloodied due to lucky shots as she waded through the constant shower of small pebbles being slung at her. They were painful, yes, but she had felt it all before. She hoped by keeping herself visible, she could draw most of the attention away from the others.
"An unending wave," she thought to herself as she chased down those pebble-slingers, "So many of them."
Soon, it was like everywhere she turned were dead kobolds. The din of yips now became scared shouts and scrambling claws. Running past the trees, she saw the kobolds trying to run away. With a yell, she punched, aiming at one of them. A spectral ram's head slammed into the kobold's head and knocked it over. It lay on the ground unmoving, its neck at an odd angle. At the same time, a spectral, skeletal hand grabbed another, jerking it back and snapping its neck. The third had two arrows shot into its back.
"Right, that's all of them," Matsuri declared. The fighter breathed a sigh of relief as she cleaned and sheathed her sword. That was a bit too drawn out. Now, everything was aching and sore.
"Is there a village nearby?" she asked as the others joined them.
"Niji Village is the nearest… well, the only one near," informed Choco, "We should be able to reach there soon if we hurry and nothing else stops us along the way."
"Alright, let's get out of the forest and hurry to the village. I don't want to sleep outside if it means fighting more of these kobolds," Subaru declared with everyone else agreeing.
AN: Hello, readers. So! Marine. She pretty much took over. She is stuck managing the ship with one first mate, but she escapes, considering the condition of Subaru's party. They did, however, get some treasure. Which enabled them to spend more time in the port city and let Subaru learn some new things and improve current ones.
And then the kobolds. Kobolds... kobolds everywhere. The ambushers get ambushed themselves. Not the most exciting or rewarding of things, but we add a little more mystery that has yet to be solved. They may not think much of it, but I do have something planned in the background. Not yet.
Alright, this is it for this chapter. Next chapter, we travel back to the capital. Thank you for reading and have a good day, dear readers.