116: The First Island
"I'm surprised you actually came ashore with us, Mr. Jason," Mash says as we approach the first leyline. "Weren't you saying earlier how scared you were of places like this?"
By the way, the ones left on the ship were the Mini Nobus, Georgios, and two of Benkei's five bodies.
"I never said I was scared! It's just discretion, discretion! I know my strengths!" The Rider protests. "besides, we were just here yesterday, so this Leyline shouldn't be occupied-"
Naturally, as he says that, a shirtless maniac with an axe springs from the bushes, screaming a loud ululating cry as he whirls like a beyblade. "Ah, save me Heracles-!"
"BlOoOoOoOoO-" The newcomer screams, but before he can finish his cry, one of Benkei's clones catches the axe with his jumonji-yari, and a second clone removes the man's head with a decisive naginata strike.
"...What the heck was his pla- oh crap, look out-!" I shout as the headless corpse wrests it's axe free to keep swinging-
-Only to be sliced to ribbons by a third Benkei wielding a katana.
"How dare you!" His - come to think of it, super glowy evil-looking - axe shouts with a woman's voice. "How dare you slay my dear husband! I, Gunn-"
"Rin Pyou Tou Sha Kai Jin Retsu Zai Zen!" With a series of rapid hand signs, Benkei immediately activates his [Vengeful Spirit Exorcism] skill, and the axe's shouting gives way to a loud shriek as it falls silent.
The shirtless maniac's severed head sheds a single tear - and then he disappears in a cloud of golden mist.
…
"Who the heck was that guy?" asks Nobunaga.
Cu begins setting up a complex runic array only a short time after we arrive at the leyline, with Benkei stuck helping him.
"I'll keep an eye out above us. Anyone want to come with?" Asks Nobunaga, mounting a rifle like a hoverboard.
""Not a chance."" Jason and I both say at the same time, and then glance at each other.
"Well, suit yourself." The Archer says with a shrug before taking off, leaving Jason and I staring awkwardly at each other.
"...Save me, Heracles!~" I say in a falsetto voice, and he scowls.
"You know what, forget this, I'll be on the ship," He says, dematerializing.
"Ah, now who am I gonna make fun o-" I mutter, before a wet mass of fur latches onto my face.
"Foooou!"
"I'm the one who gets mocked!?" I shout. "Get off! Get off, I don't want to smell like wet dog-!"
"Actually, Senpai," Mash says helpfully, while making no effort to remove Fou from my face. "one of Fou-kun's seven secret powers is his [Fantastic Flower Scent]! No matter how dirty or wet he gets, he always smells like fresh lilies!"
"Putting aside the question of whether his seven secret powers are included among his forty-seven special moves or if they're separate lists," I say as he drags his wet fur all around my face and neck to settle in a perch on my shoulder. "He definitely smells way too pungent for that! It's more like wet hay!"
"Really!?" Mash suddenly lunges towards me - too close, that's too close! -And she plunges her face into Fou's fur to smell him, before drawing away with a slightly wrinkled nose, but an excited look on her face. "Amazing! Senpai, Fou-kun really changed how he smells! That's amazing!"
"Is it?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.
"It is!" She says excitedly, but then she takes a step back and a small frown appears on her face. "But I wonder why he ended up smelling like this?"
"Well, dogs start to smell bad when they get wet, after all…" I say with a shrug.
"I always thought Fou-kun was more like a cat or squirrel," says Mash, and we both ponder that existential question for a moment.
However, my contemplation is interrupted by a telepathic message.
{Master, we have a… situation,} Georgios says.
I blink as I stare at our tied-up prisoner. Fish-like eyes blink back at me.
"...Merry?" I ask.
"Senpai!" Mash shouts, smacking the back of my head, and I laugh.
After all, what we're staring at is pretty clearly the type of fish-man you'd see in an old horror movie.
"...Well, I doubt it's unrelated, though," I mutter. "You said this guy was messing with the rudder?"
"Yeah. Spotted him on my way back to the ship," says Jason. "Seems like a merman, which is-"
"The type of minion that old fishface would be able to create. I guess that confirms he's involved… which probably means the storm is his fault," I say. "Did he get any other sabotage done?"
"No direct sabotage my eyes could see," says Nobunaga as she enters the room. "But two of the mini-nobus are missing… I hope they got eaten."
"That's so mean!"
"Well, in the worst case, they wash up on some other island and establish a breeding population-"
"""What."""
"Aren't they all girls!?" I shout.
"Dunno," She shrugs, "They don't have genitals or anything. And their bodies aren't flesh and blood, they're made out of… uh, something or other. But if you leave them unsupervised too long, mysterious eggs will start showing up-"
"Th-they lay eggs?" Mash asks.
"No, they just show up."
"What, like Pokemon?" I mutter.
"It's not that dangerous at first, but each generation mutates a bit, and the next thing you know you have Unidentified Flying Nobus soaring around, and Mecha Nobus damaging the Tokyo skyline - if one of those Haniwa Nobus shows up, even Benkei might not be enough…" She mutters.
"If it's that dangerous, why did you tell me to use a command spell to create them!?" I shout.
"Well, it's not like we had anyone else to create oarsmen for us," She says. "Who was going to row then, me?"
This girl-!
As I stare at the foreign object in my cot, I feel a dawning sense of horror. I feel terrified. I feel so used.
"...Subaru, did you lay this egg?" Asks Nobunaga looking over my shoulder.
"Like hell I did!" I shove her. But definitely, last night, Ichinobbu-!
"Ah, it's not a Nobbu egg. It hasn't got a face," She says.
"What do you mean, a face!?"
"But the real question is, what kind of egg is it, and how… oh," she trails off, looking at the open window nearby, and the wet fishman tracks leading from it to the cot. "but why-?"
"▬██▁▆█▆▀▬██▆!"
In the distance, something enormous roars with anger.
"...I'll fly it to another island," Says Nobbu.
"Please," I sigh. "I'd feel bad if we have to fight something that thinks we stole its baby."
"To be clear, it wasn't there when I did my check earlier," She says. "I don't think we're going to be free of sabotage any time soon."
It hasn't been too severe so far, but… if we're trying to finish things up before Heracles and Reid's fight is over, any lost time could screw us over. In other words-
"If you see a really big fishman while you're out there, go ahead and shoot him, okay?"
A/N: Clunky short chapter, but it had to be done. Next chapter sooner hopefully.