A few minutes after setting sail from the port, I gathered everyone in the central corridor.
"Listen well, I wanted capable people with experience, but the guild thought it must have been a joke, so I don't plan to count on you, you'll only move when I say so, is that clear?"
My motive for this meeting was to tell them I didn't want anything to happen to them, in not nice words, I couldn't bear some high-status house bothering me that their heir lost his life because of me.
Among that also is that these kids are dressed as if going to a dungeon, are you thinking you'll fight on soft terrain and against beings that attack head-on?
I noticed they all looked at me with angry eyes, I'm also angry with you.
"The girls' rooms are below, the rest of the garbage can choose their rooms on the lowest floor. I'll call you when it's dinner time, now, get out of my sight."
I notified them where their lodging place was, because I'm not a classist like the rest of nobles; the rooms look like those of a four-star hotel, there are five-star rooms, but they're for more important people. The only ones reserved exclusively are the VIP ones that only people I care about can use, like Airi at this moment.
I directed my gaze towards her, who seemed still exhausted from the emotional stress of her village being attacked, I wanted to arrive as fast as possible, but didn't want to raise suspicions.
"Airi, your room is on the upper floor, you told me it was very gray so I improved it a bit as a girl would like, of course with advice from my mother I did it."
There was no response, so I left her alone as she may want space for herself.
I moved my feet to go to my own room, but...
"Wait a moment, Bradford."
...I was stopped by these idiots.
One of the boys took my shoulder, it wasn't the red head but another of different color, I turned only to look at them with a bad face and say "What is it?".
My gaze was severe because I didn't want these inexperienced idiots to come, then a boy who was at his side spoke.
"Is there any means of entertainment in this place?"
"If you only wanted to know that, you could have asked normally, obviously there is."
Then the boys looked at each other including the red head, they all nodded and the red head was the one who spoke now.
"Bradford, compete against us."
I let out a foolish "Huh?", at his ridiculous comment to my response.
"You could defeat me in the inter-school tournament, but in other types of fights like games, I'm sure I'll be able to win, these guys also want to compete because they don't believe you could have defeated me."
I was about to send them to hell when an idea occurred to me.
(These fools once we arrive will be eager to go out and fight, so if I break them psychologically I won't have to deal with taking care of their asses.)
(I'm a genius!)
I made my best face, which, with my facial expression, surely seemed to say I was mocking them.
"Alright, if you so wish for me to humiliate you, I will."
The idiots smiled upon hearing that, I said goodbye to Airi and guided them to the healthy game room.
◇◇◇
The girls were guided by one of the robots to their rooms so they wouldn't wander around the aircraft, Airi was also guided by one to where her improved room was.
She was surprised to see the door was totally different from before. It was of fine wood, the doorknob was golden and had a sign with her name.
The weird thing was it was the only door in what seemed like a long corridor, upon opening the door her eyes closed from the light, after a few seconds she opened them, what she saw made her feel nauseous.
The interior of the room was what you'd call something undoubtedly VIP class.
The paint color was salmon, there was a large red carpet covering the entire floor, the bed was in the middle, it seemed something only Alisa or royalty would use. There was a chandelier on the ceiling, it was too large for a room, there were also different items like board games, a table for tea parties, and even a huge personal bathroom so the person sleeping here wouldn't need to go out.
The last time Airi was here, it was a normal gray room, but now it was neither gray nor small, the space was equivalent to ten meters long and thirty wide; which equals about three or four rooms.
Sweat marked Airi's forehead, what she heard the day before yesterday started sounding in her head.
What her eyes saw was undoubtedly favored treatment towards someone, normally this would be for an important guest, but the owner himself said it was for her. A girl of commoner origin, a girl who has neither lands nor money, nor even an important family, just an ordinary girl from a remote village.
Tears started coming from her eyes, as what they said was becoming true.
(He only desires your body.)
(No one would do so much for someone if it weren't for a special motive.)
Airi without closing the door, ran out of the place.
◇
I was at my peak moment of happiness, the reason was...
"Pair of kings, I win!"
...Because I was winning.
Me and the guys after arriving at the game room tried all types of entertainment, first were darts, I could prove my aim was better than theirs. Then came pool, I enjoyed it like you couldn't imagine.
After other games we ended up at poker, after several minutes of starting I managed to win with Ixion's help who was hiding somewhere, somehow he understood what I thought and helped me.
I already had three consecutive victories against these guys, they decided to bet money, I said this was healthy fun as it was without bets, but human greed is another thing. Now they're lamenting having bet against me, they even bet personal things like part of their territory, but what idiots.
After my crushing victory and their agonizing faces, I decided to return their family papers and jewels, but I'll keep the money as punishment.
I told them as a reward for making me happy I'd invite them to free drinks, the bastards accepted happily.
When I asked them what drink they wanted, they all said in unison "Beer!!", they're damn alcoholics.
I served beer to all, it was warm beer for almost all, only one asked for cold beer to calm his bad mood, of course it was the red ape.
I watched as he drank it all in one gulp. What a repulsive sight it was undoubtedly.
He gave me the glass and asked for more, when I was about to send him to hell, he said something interesting.
"I really envy you, Bradford, not only did you defeat me in a battle with mobile knights, but also in games where you didn't even make an effort. You also defeated the seaweed head who was the best strategist at the academy, and even His Highness the prince, with his state-of-the-art armed unit."
I was surprised to hear that, what I had done was so incredible it seems.
But then I was even more surprised by what he said.
"You can be someone incredible, but that doesn't mean you're a big deal. After all, you'll never be a rival for that [Bloody Knight]."
My brain shut down for a few seconds, then I responded very curiously.
"Bloody Knight? Who is that?"
The guys looked at each other and then spoke.
"You really don't know who that is? You may be from the countryside, but that person, no, that beast is a legend all over the world."
I wanted to tell them no, but better I stayed quiet.
"That beast is one of the knigh— warriors strongest in the world. Even a master swordsman is nothing compared to that monster."
Another guy continued.
"I heard that during the second world war. He wiped out over six hundred mobile knights."
"I heard he alone, razed a warship after infiltrating. After killing all the men inside, he crashed the ship into a land camp."
"I heard not even the Sword Emperor himself could defeat him, he was beheaded and his head was sent to his home country."
I wanted to say many things, but only one caught my attention.
World war.
And not just one, but two world wars. That was something that scared me just imagining. In this world a war of great caliber like that also broke out.
(In my previous life I watched movies and documentaries about war, they all gave me the impression of being something horrible I'd avoid without a doubt. Since I died once, I understand better than anyone the feeling of fear and desperation before death, I wish never to enter a battlefield.)
While I was thinking about how terrifying that was, Ixion whispered in my ear in his stealth mode.
"Master, a small number of monsters is approaching, what do you wish me to do?"
It was normal for magical beasts to attack ships, but at this moment I didn't want to waste ammunition or time on them, so I did the most sensible thing of all.
I crouched to the floor pretending I dropped something so they wouldn't hear me, Ixion accompanied me too.
"Send drones to fight those things, it would be problematic if these guys want to go out to fight."
Ixion in a low voice confirmed the order I gave.
I couldn't see him, but surely he left floating.
I raised my head to see how the guys were, they were calmly drinking beer. I was going to take this opportunity to see Airi, but one of these drunks grabbed me and wanted me to drink with them, I couldn't get them off as drunks are annoying to deal with.
◇◇◇
A fleet from the Royal Palace along with another fleet from the Bismarck house had been formed after several hours of organizing.
There were ten ships and about ten mobile knights on each, both the Bismarck house and the Royal Palace had their resources and soldiers occupied in other matters.
Through the guild and the Duke's daughter, they had found out that Baron Rudel van Bradford was heading to a dangerous zone.
Alisa was on the flagship that was from the Bismarck house who took command, she was in one of the guest rooms.
Her arms were crossed, almost a day had passed, that is, several more hours since Rudel and company left.
The sun was setting and the sunset was beautiful, she observed it through a window while thinking about Airi.
Rudel was also in her head, but he was just a sea of walking problems.
She heard from Rudel the cruel things they said to her friend, part of that was true. She wanted to apologize for those true ones, but being an aristocrat, the word sorry had never passed through her vocabulary until she met both of them.
The captain told her they would arrive at their destination tomorrow morning, she only thought the worst due to the great time difference.
She knew the speed of Rudel's aircraft so they could arrive much earlier.
Her heart had only one feeling.
(Please, let them be safe and sound.)
Little by little the sun hid and she became more and more worried.
◇◇◇
Night had already fallen, Airi was sitting in the girls' bathroom on the lower part of Brunhilde.
She had her own private bathroom, but didn't want to be there due to her complicated thoughts.
She also wasn't doing any needs, just sitting on the toilet seat holding her legs like a scared child.
She wanted to ask Rudel if there was a reason for treating her so well, once she asked what she meant to him and got a response that wasn't so correct.
But she didn't care, but now that response would have been good to know to not be this depressed.
Then she heard some voices, three girls in fact.
She didn't know what they were doing, but they seemed focused only on conversing at the washbasin.
Their conversations seemed of useless things until she heard something that disturbed her.
"I passed by that commoner's room, the door was open and I couldn't believe it. The whole place seemed designed exclusively for royalty!"
"You should see the rest of this place, there are incredible things no ship I know has, especially things like super fine portraits and ornaments, who puts that on a ship?"
"Carissa tried to seduce him a few minutes ago, that Bradford guy made a disgusted face at her."
"Ahh~ must be good to have a boyfriend who can buy you everything you want and you don't even need to."
"It must be because she has big breasts! Didn't you see how he looked at that size out of the corner of his eye? If I had breasts that big, I'm sure he'd also give me gifts just for letting him touch them."
The girls laughed for a while and then left after hearing through a loudspeaker that food was ready.
After a few seconds of leaving, a cry was heard that no one could hear through the closed bathroom door.
*Crying*
"They're wrong... our relationship isn't like that..."
"I never..."
"He never..."
"Aaahhh!!"
In that small space, a scream and tears of pain surrounded the atmosphere of that place.
◇◇◇
After crying for several hours, Airi finally got tired and went to sleep in her room.
The bed was so big four other people could sleep there and still have no problems accommodating.
The sun had already risen, but it was still early to get up.
Through a megaphone, a voice sounded, it was Rudel calling Airi.
"Good morning, Airi, could you come to the bow deck?"
Airi had gotten up from the moment the megaphone made a screeching sound.
She imagined what it was, but didn't want to go out, she knew what would happen if she went out... but even so she got up from the enormous bed to go where Rudel called her.
◇◇◇
Upon arriving at the bow, the sunlight covered her eyes, she walked where she saw some feet, the number of feet increased and her face little by little changed its expression to one of fright.
Upon lifting her gaze, she just noticed the ship had stopped and several people were outside, the boys and girls looked at Airi with eyes full of anger for some reason, the motive was...
"Hey, explain to us what this is!?"
...That there was nothing but an uncolonized island.
Throughout anyone's view it seemed a common and ordinary island, the size was even inferior to a normally inhabited small island.
Everyone's gaze focused on Airi, it's because when they arrived at the indicated coordinates, there was neither a port nor even an anchorage place.
Chlust approached her to speak to her.
"Hey girl, you said this place was your home being attacked, but here there's nothing nor even life, this guy, Bradford, already circled the area and there's not a single living being around."
Airi was in panic and didn't know how to respond.
Everyone asked her what was happening here, but she only stammered.
"It's that... I..."
"You see..."
"I only..."
Tears reflected in her gaze, she held back the urge to cry from everyone's severe looks until...
"Shut up!"
...Rudel spoke.
"I was checking if I hadn't gotten confused in the direction, but it seems not, Airi you perhaps..."
Rudel's voice made the panic expression increase to the point where she knew what he was going to say, and that was...
"Did you make a mistake writing the coordinates, isn't that right?"
...Not mentioning that she was mistaken.
Rudel made a warm smile as if he were a father telling his child he wouldn't punish him after breaking an invaluable vase.
"Don't worry, I also until eleven didn't know what the coordinates of my house's territory were, it must be hard to remember something like that. Shall we think calmly about what the specifications or characteristics of your island were?"
Airi made a face of pain at those kind and not at all lying words.
Chlust and the others spoke to Rudel in an angry tone.
"Hey, Bradford! No matter how you look at this place, there's no life around! It's impossible this isn't a destinationless direction. I think---"
Before finishing speaking, Rudel cut them off.
"Shut up! I never asked for your opinion! Unlike you I trust her and know she wouldn't lie to me!"
Airi's eyes opened at what she heard, she should be happy for something like that, but the situation only generated discomfort in the others.
Rudel was shouting at the guys who came as reinforcements not to say something wrong about her.
That hurt her. She could hear as Rudel raised his tone of voice responding rudely to Chlust.
"Why the hell do you talk as if you know something about her? I'm telling you it must be a coordinate error! Stop talking pure shit, red ape!"
"I'm telling you even if it is, isn't this all very weird?! Can't you think of another excuse to try to defend—"
Before finishing his sentence. Chlust was suddenly grabbed by Rudel, the guys tried to remove his hands, but their attempt was useless.
Airi watched horrified what Rudel did only for her.
"Apologize. Apologize to Airi for saying stupidities! Right now!"
"Bradford, do you not take anyone's opinion except hers or Alicelotte's?"
Airi's heart started hurting upon hearing that, but then she suffered more from Rudel's response.
"Why should I care what others think? The only opinions of people I need to hear are those of those girls and no one else!"
Looks from some girls and murmurs entered Airi after that.
"I told you, no one would defend a person like that if they weren't their girlfriend."
"They might be boyfriend and girlfriend. But his attitude is very arrogant and closed."
"The hole between her legs must drive him crazy with happiness to protect her."
It seemed Rudel was going to turn to say something to those girls, but immediately his vision centered on Airi who fled.
"Airi!! Wait!"
Rudel let go of Chlust and immediately ran after her.
The boys and girls who saw that stayed conversing among themselves.
◇◇◇
In the distance, there was a small boat with two people observing the situation on Brunhilde.
One of them, the driver, drank beer as if it were water, while his companion was using binoculars while transmitting a message to someone.
"Yes. I could confirm the target, he just entered the ship. It seems there are only children inside from what I saw and the notification from our spy at the guild and dock."
"..."
"Understood, in that case I only have one question."
"..."
"After killing the men, can we keep the women and the ship? They look like houses we can extort, the ship is very strange and fascinating..."
"..."
A sinister smile formed in his gaze.
"Truly a very generous client, we'll send you that bastard's head with the best expression of horror you can imagine."
"..."
"Yes. Yes. Of course, don't worry. It seems the ship is turning around. Now with your respect I bid farewell."
The man pressed a button on the communicator that seemed like a conch.
He hit his companion to leave the drink and indicated an order to him.
"Hey, lazy disgusting, move your dirty ass to get to the boss quickly and proceed with the plan!"
After being insulted affectionately, the man put his hand on the engine and a light was emitted, the light wasn't its usual sky blue color, this was orange, as it was an illegal artifact that gathered prana from people, air, and land as fuel.
The small boat quickly went in the same direction, but at great speed.
The binocular man disgustingly passed his tongue between his lips while touching his pants in an unpleasant manner.
"Since I'm the one who established contact with the client, who placed spies and watched these idiots since they arrived, I deserve a reward."
His eyes went upward remembering a certain girl...
"I couldn't believe it when I saw her. That girl was more beautiful than the poor peasant girls we normally use. Her hair was very cute despite being disheveled, her face was like a doll's and..."
...It was Airi.
Passing his tongue even more lasciviously, he continues his morbid sentence.
"She has such enormous tits for a teenager!! I must be the first to try her before Captain Sellzan breaks her both physically and emotionally. Ahhh~ I hope she's a virgin, it's been a long time since I've had one..."
Saliva spilled from the man, his bald head reflected the sun, he suffered from baldness and only had hair on the back. More and more obscene sentences came from his mouth.
◇
I was running after Airi who left agitated from the place.
I can feel the aircraft moving, must be Ixion's doing.
I shouted for her to stop.
"Airi!! Please, don't run!"
She kept running until she tripped over a cleaning robot, it was small like a poodle and circular like a plate.
After falling, she quickly tried to get up, but I grabbed her shoulder to lift her and ask what happened.
"Airi, why did you run so suddenly like that? I told you anyone makes a mistake like that, you shouldn't feel bad for---."
After lifting her, something happened I never thought would happen.
"Why do you always act in my defense!?"
"A-airi... what's wrong with you..."
Her eyes were red and tears fell like waterfalls, I can't understand what's happening for her to get like this.
"I-I don't know what's wrong, but come on, calm down a bit."
"I don't want to!!"
"Why do you bother so much helping me!?"
"Aren't we supposed to be friends?!"
Her tone sounded very harsh, she was running out of oxygen.
"You've always helped me, I'm grateful, but..."
"But?" I never imagined that word I said would destroy me so much.
"The way you treat me is too suspicious!!"
Her words left me breathless, I didn't know how to respond. The shock was so great I let out an attempt at words.
"Eh, I don't... actually... I only, you see..."
"You didn't notice you were contradicting yourself with what you said to the prince."
"You told him he was a childish idiot for blindly trusting others... you did exactly the same!!"
Those words made me remember what I had said to the stupid prince.
I hit him and spat that he shouldn't blindly trust someone just for having a long relationship. What I and she had was just a friendship that started a few months ago.
"You're very smart, but you didn't notice the letter was fake! The paper was from the trash, it was my handwriting, you even came all the way here for a lie they forced me to tell you! Why didn't you notice that?"
(Huh, wait... Airi deceived me? But she's supposed to be my friend... I treated her so well.)
I realized a bit late what I thought. Treating well.
"You know that both you and Alisa see me as a pet!!"
That's right, like a dog.
I looked at Airi with a face that showed my fear.
She continued.
"I don't know if there's something you or Alisa hide, but don't treat me as if I were just your toy!"
Tears came out every time she spoke.
"I'm not a toy!! I'm not your pet!! I'm a human being just like you!!"
"Just because I'm a commoner doesn't mean my life is insignificant compared to nobles or aristocrats!"
Her words implied what she had kept inside. Certainly, in this country treatment of commoners is bad, but I've never treated Airi or the commoners of my house's territory as if they were objects.
I looked downward at her words that seemed like criticism towards me, as for someone else. But the next sentence made my hair stand on end as it was obviously for me.
"Rudel-san, the reason you help me... is because you're interested in possessing my body?"
I froze at what I heard. I never thought I'd hear her say something like that, certainly I've seen Airi as a woman and had moments dedicated only to her on some nights, but that, is something that leaves me speechless as it's true what she says.
Airi immediately covered her breasts with both hands, thinking I was looking at them from my downward gaze, her tears stopped for a second, but came out again like waterfalls.
*Whimpering*
"So it's true, I hoped I was mistaken, but you only see me as an object to satisfy your lust, don't you?"
(You're wrong! If I thought obscene things about you, I never thought of putting a hand on you!)
If I told her that, would she hate me more or hate me less?
I didn't know what to say or do now, I felt powerless over just a few words from a girl.
"I bet you were thinking of asking me to offer you my body for saving my village, weren't you?"
(I would never ask, I truly value our friendship. You're an important friend to me!)
I wanted to tell her that, but the words didn't come out of my head.
Her gaze turned dark as if the light in her eyes had vanished.
"Come on, tell me what you were going to ask me? To hug? To kiss? To massage my breasts? Or maybe... to want to be the first to try this foolish commoner's chastity?"
Her words hurt my heart, it's not a heart made of steel, it's a fragile heart like crystal. In my former life it was the same, if a girl rejected me I'd cry, she'd say things like "I'm sorry, I'm not interested in a relationship right now" or "I'm busy with my studies". But a few days later I'd see her with an attractive guy who seemed like a delinquent with his piercings and tattoos, from that moment I hated young women. Aristocrat daughters surely were the same so that's why I hated them, I met Alisa and only she changed a small part of my viewpoint.
But Airi, she's destroying my heart with her hurtful words.
Since I didn't give her a response, she seemed to affirm what she said was true.
"I see, I'm sorry this foolish commoner doesn't want to offer you her body as payment, maybe Alisa or someone else is interested in offering you her body."
She slowly turned around, gave me some last words before leaving there.
"I... considered that a commoner could make friends who are of a higher status, I'm sorry to be just a piece of meat in the way for you."
She quickly ran out leaving me alone.
What did I do wrong?
I wanted to protect and take care of her, not as a pet, but as a friend. Or is that wrong?
◇◇◇
After Airi ran out, a small needle came out from her neck. It grew bigger as it came out, it had strange black veins which surrounded part of her head, they became smaller until the strange needle coming from her neck disappeared.
This clung to the wall and like a snake headed to where Rudel was.
After surrounding him, it immediately jumped towards his neck piercing it causing pain. But Rudel was so sad he didn't feel it.
Some black veins reflected on his head, it was invisible to the human eye or Ixion.
Through the mysterious needle entering, the black veins became fluorescent purple.
Rudel had a migraine after that.
"Gahh!! My head hurts, hurts. Why does it hurt? Gahh!"
The needle entered deeper and deeper into his interior. The veins grew occupying almost his entire skull.
"Ahhh!! Ixion!! Someone!! Help!! It hurtsss!"
When the mysterious needle finally entered. Rudel stopped screaming and his hands dropped hanging as did his head.
Slowly he got up. Nothing happened.
"My head hurt, what the hell just happened?"
Immediately before scratching the nape of his neck, an alarm sounded.
Ixion spoke through some loudspeakers.
"Master, it's an emergency, come quickly to the main cabin!"
Rudel immediately ran towards the cabin upon being called.
◇
Ixion had called me through a loudspeaker to come to the main cabin or command post. What I saw from there was something that's not supposed to happen.
"This is serious!! There are too many ships to be just a pirate fleet!!"
In front of me there were a total of twenty-seven pirate ships. They couldn't be more cliché I thought, they were large and black, the sails and dirigibles were also black with a large white skull with a hat and eyepatch, behind the skull there were swords and bones forming a large X.
Could they at least not be so generic?
I know it's a fantasy world, but, please! Have some shame!
The other guys were on the lower part preparing to go out. Ixion immediately locked them up so they wouldn't dare go out, I was going to do that too, but it was good he anticipated.
I quickly asked him the status outside.
"Ixion tell me how this looks for me."
This super artificial intelligence of ancient humanity gave me the worst possible response.
"For you, master. Everything is very bad."
But what a piece of junk you are.
"With my cannons I can eliminate them while you drink tea, but surely you'll want to avoid human losses so it looks very bad for you. After a scan I detect there are six hundred humans on the ships, they're dividing into three parts."
"One of them is managing the ships and cannons."
"The second group runs to some smaller ships to invade Brunhilde."
"The last group consists of using mobile knights to fight."
"Hmm... it's a very good formation in my opinion, should I applaud them despite being human scum?"
Leaving aside what this floating junk says, the situation is really bad. I don't want to kill anyone, I'm not a killer. Even if the guys in front of me can easily take the lives of others, I won't act the same as them. Normal people and civilians don't go around killing others just because they dislike them.
"Prepare Battler! I'll be out shortly, use non-lethal ammunition and store anti-freeze missiles to stop them. They're pirates so cowardice is normal in them, surely they'll run when I finish off their leader!"
Among all the cliché ships there's one that's the most cliché and generic of all. It's twice as big with more sails and dirigibles on its deck. It has its skull with something like a blue beard giving a very horrible color combination.
"I'll go prepare myself! Don't allow them to come out until everyone is incapacitated, understood?!"
In an electronic tone with no desire to respond correctly, he confirmed "Yes", I want to hit him.
◇◇◇
Chlust and his companions were locked in the meeting room Brunhilde had. They had left their weapons there for when the moment came, but were locked after entering.
Chlust hit the door for Rudel to let him out. He knew there was no more personnel as he didn't see anyone else except some strange golems floating here and there.
"Bradford, I know you're there. Let us out now! We want to support you! Do you hear me, Bradford!"
A voice came from a nearby loudspeaker, it was Rudel.
"Sorry, but you'll stay here for your safety."
Chlust immediately spoke angrily towards Rudel's voice.
"Damned! Are you trying to get all the glory for yourself?"
Obviously there were loudspeakers on the ships, so it would be impossible for someone to respond to him.
Only if it weren't a super technology of ancient humanity of course.
"Are you an idiot? Of course you are, but I didn't imagine you were so stupid."
"Listen well, tell me how will you fight? Do you have a mobile knight? No! Do you have a personal ship? Noo! Do you have a long-range rifle? That's more obvious no, you don't even know how to use one so you're completely useless."
"Be good children and play until I finish this so you can go out to clean up. I don't want your houses blaming me for losing your heirs."
Chlust fell silent at what Rudel's voice said.
The communication cut off and Chlust shouted. His companions tried to calm him down.
◇
After dressing, I went directly to the hangar where Battler was. My faithful companion large and robust, black jet color and his body with red veins covering his body. His knees, elbows, and shoulders had red circles, his chest was the center where the strange red veins came from as the center was of an intermittent tone. His arms and legs are thick like logs with his hand fingers in exoskeleton shape, his feet seemed like all-terrain vehicle ones.
I truly admired his beauty, but I liked his head more. It looked like a motorcycle helmet, his eyes were a visor of the same intermittent red as the center, it seems the red side lines he has on his face allow him to regulate internal temperature since according to Ixion, there's a small reactor in the chest. I was so scared at the fear of radiation, but Ixion said it has several protective layers my cabin making it impossible for radiation to pass through, I was relieved hearing that.
After entering the cabin, which was actually a small room with a chair for those people who record themselves playing. I settled in and after closing the chest hatch, some monitors turned on that seemed like high-definition televisions, eight of them grouped forming almost a cinema screen.
"Alright, let's go hunt pirates!"
My enthusiasm was as great as my optimism, but I never imagined that would be the worst mistake I'd make in my life.
◇◇◇
On one of the pirate ships, to be exact the flagship. There was a man biting a fried chicken wing, he chewed with his mouth open as if he were a dog, a bit of chicken fell in his navel, his texture was thin with a large beer belly. He grabbed the chicken fallen there and ate it, a man at his side, the vice-captain handed him a bottle of rum to wash down the food.
He took it without moderation and drank it to the bottom.
He gave a big burp and then scratched his navel, he had short hair and a large blue beard that didn't match at all with his brown skin color.
The man spoke casually to the vice-captain.
"Hey, Faldeus. *burp* Is it true what that bastard Barma said?
The tall man with orange skin with many tattoos, ear piercings, and a horrible green mohawk, responded to him in the same tone he spoke.
"What thing, Captain Sellzan?"
"You know. The client this time gave us a large amount of money for an assassination. I mean, it's fine they pay us to kill a stupid brat, but don't you find it weird?"
The vice-captain looked strangely at that question.
"To what are you referring?"
"Don't play dumb. I'm talking about it being a large sum of money just for a simple country noble. If he's really an insect as described, he could simply handle it himself. Really, Count Rossini sure likes to open his mouth, thanks to him and that person we can do freely what we want in this country."
"But..."
The man covered his mouth to think thoroughly.
"But?" Said the vice-captain staring at his thoughtful captain.
"That ship is really strange, Barma said there were only children there and no one else. But that's the strange thing, who moves it if there are no sailors?"
The captain was very perceptive of small details, since thanks to his high sense of situation analysis his fame is due. The captain of the Bluebeard pirates, Sellzan, the cunning fox he was called. The most feared criminal band in the whole world, an enemy the protagonist along with the heroine should defeat to strengthen their relationship, but that wasn't happening now thanks to Rudel.
"It's very weird, or rather, the information is scarce. Just in case, have my Ozymandias ready."
The vice-captain was surprised at what he heard.
"My captain? You really plan to use your own armed unit to fight!"
"Asshole. It's just in case. In this continent there's no machine faster and more agile than mine. To be able to catch me, you'd need something that flies like a missile, terararara."
The captain let out his usual strange laugh, the vice-captain ran to the hangar to prepare his mobile knight.
A man observing Brunhilde informed him.
"Captain, they're finally moving! A mobile knight is emerging."
Sellzan stopped laughing to see from the open window along with some binoculars what was happening.
He was watching Battler emerging from the front of the ship.
"Hah!? What is that thing so ugly? It's very large and robust. How can something that looks from such an old generation be used today?"
"No matter, tell them to go crush it!"
A pirate who was on communications communicated his message, he continued observing Battler.
"All he has in his hand is a club with spikes at the ends and... what the hell is that??"
"It seems a strange and large X with large bullets at each end that is embedded in his back."
"Huu~ how disgusting. Hurry up and kill him, I want to check that ship and see if there are women worth selling in the slave market or using oursel---"
Before he could finish his frightening sentence, he heard a big explosion.
He looked forward and shouted in astonished fright.
"What the hell happened!"
◇
Upon going outside, I ran into a large number of mobile knights, according to Ixion's analysis, all were similar to the one Chlust used, it seems it's called Adamas class. What a horrible name and they have types.
All of them were flying, from their feet and back emanated a large gray magical circle, in the center it had a crest in the shape of four wings joined to a shield with something similar to crosses at the ends.
All the armed units were the same blue color, which made it very unpleasant to the sight. They also used rifles that had a magical circle at the tip, the crest was something like a bow and arrow at the upper end, while at the lower one it had a short sword. Others used very pirate-like swords, once again these used magical circles, their crest was a skull, seriously, someone tell these people they cause secondhand embarrassment.
Their voices were so hoarse and unpleasant, they all sounded excited.
Battler couldn't fly as it was originally for ground combat, that's why I'm using an extension that connects to its back as if it were a USB. It had the shape of an X with rocket thrusters of large and small size at the ends, the order from large to small is superior and inferior.
My only weapon was a club with spikes, if I used another weapon it's likely they would have died instantly, so I opted to use the weapon easiest to guess how much damage it would do. I also prepared, rather Ixion did it. Non-lethal ammunition made of rubber, it will destroy iron and steel, but won't kill humans, I also had a rocket launcher with anti-freeze projectiles on my back.
The combat began when after being completely outside, I turned on the rocket thrusters.
I quickly approached an armed unit and hit it hard in the head destroying it.
After the body fell, I approached another and in the same manner its head was destroyed, the other pirates around noticed and suddenly came towards me.
I took out my four-barrel rocket launcher and pressed the button, in each barrel there were four holes where four missiles in the shape of beer cans were stored, they came out propelled from the firing end impacting the air meters straight from them.
After a few seconds of being in contact with the air, the content that seemed to be various boogers quickly solidified with the armed units. I could hear the voices of the pirates who sounded shocked by what happened.
"Hey, what the hell is this thing!"
"I can't break free from this!"
"I can't cut it!"
Of course you can't, idiots, it's made of a don't-know-what, that Ixion mentioned. It seemed important so next time I'll pay attention.
The small ships were approaching Brunhilde, I wasn't terrified as I had an excellent countermeasure.
Small drones that looked like flying frying pans came out from around and fired with non-lethal ammunition, the ships of course were destroyed and the pirates fell into the sea, but before they fell, the drones fired the anti-freeze missiles so they'd all stay together and not sink.
After verifying they were fine, I proceeded to continue my fight.
A bastard shouted at me "Dirty cheater! I, the great Floki will---" and before he finished speaking with his shrill voice, I kicked him hard impacting against a large ship.
The bastards behind him took distance and attacked me with their... swords?
From the strange magical circle emanating from the tip of their swords, mysterious multicolored attacks shot out. The same applied to their rifles. Everything is so strange I shouldn't be surprised by this anymore.
A large rainbow-colored smoke cloud covered Battler, the bastards shouted with joy thinking they defeated me.
But immediately I came out of the smoke and began once again to kick their asses.
◇◇◇
Sellzan watched with horror as his subordinates both in boats and those using armed units, fell into the sea from just one person, soon the area would look like sargassum.
Every second that passed equated to more defeated subordinates.
He shouted in panic to a man who was on communications.
"Hey, what the hell is that thing! No matter how many numbers we have or how many attacks we give him, that son of a bitch doesn't fall!"
Sellzan watched with horror as half of those sent were left in just a few minutes, at that moment the vice-captain arrived.
"My captain, your armed unit is ready!"
"Oh! Faldeus, you arrived just in time, I want you to take command and tell all those using armed units we'll use the Canaanite combat formation, while the boats will serve as support to shoot at that bastard. I'll also go out to crush him."
"Understood" said the vice-captain with a sinister smile in his gaze.
The other pirates in the place smiled and murmured among themselves.
"Will we use our trump card and best strategy against a single enemy?"
"There's no choice, the wretch is very strong."
"Yes. Besides, didn't the captain himself say he'll also go out? It means victory is assured now."
While the pirates conversed among themselves, their captain had already left the room, the vice-captain grabbed a conch-shaped communicator to inform his subordinates.
Sellzan walked towards the hangar with a smile.
"Now that I'll go out to deal with you, prepare to know why we're the strongest in the world, son of a bitch."
◇
I had just eliminated another unpleasant pirate when suddenly all of them along with their small ships retreated. Had they finally understood it's an impossible battle to win for them?
I checked how many missiles were left, zero total. It seemed I had used them all. I still had my ammunition intact so I was fine. The drones protecting the ship were still on guard.
I was about to send a message to surrender when an armed unit of intense blue color descended from the flagship. It seemed to have a shark fin on its back, it was larger than the others, in one hand it had an anti-tank type rifle and in the other hand a saw-shaped sword.
The bastard spoke in a tone of extreme self-confidence.
"Now that the great and magnificent captain of the Bluebeard pirates has come. You, dirty son of a bitch, will see the end of your days, terarara."
I ignored the bastard and the laughs and insults from the others towards me.
I was about to shoot at him to shut him up, but then all the armed units moved in circles forming half a ring.
I didn't understand what they were doing, but didn't care. I simply shot towards one of them and crushed his head, these guys don't learn it seems.
Before moving to the next target, a rain of rifle and sword shots hit Battler.
"Ahhhhh!!"
I shouted in panic from the strong impacts sounding, after they finished their shots I observed how all the armed units and small ships were at a considerable distance and again proceeded to attack me.
Rains of magical shots hit Battler on every part of its body without a single space unhit.
After they finished shooting at me again, I flew directly towards the leader to eliminate him.
If I defeat the main bastard, the others will surrender, it's normal in things like this for organizations.
Before my club impacted him, the damned one rose to the sky. I stayed a few seconds amazed seeing with what absurd speed he rose.
I did the same and reached him seconds later, once more before I touched him. The damned one moved away about ten meters from my reach to the side.
Again I followed his direction, but this time he went down before I arrived. Then he gave an order to his subordinates and they attacked me. There wasn't a single damage-free gap.
Before I realized, the attack had concluded and the bastard with the saw was on top of me, from his strange sword came out a magical circle with the crest in the shape of ten wings in a circle and said wings had circles too.
The sword-saw became robust and enlarged three times its size, it seemed the mouth of a bulldozer.
His weapon hit me pushing me down so hard it shook the inside of my cabin.
I managed to stabilize it before falling into the sea.
I looked upward, well Battler's visor did. And observed the bastards getting into attack position.
◇◇◇
Airi was in her room with her head between her legs sitting on her bed.
The reason was Rudel.
"Why?"
"Why did I tell him that?"
"Rudel-san has always helped me, it's normal he'd get nervous if I told him all those strange things. Why did I have to say something nonsensical like that?"
Airi was strange, her reason was the terrible things she told Rudel, since morning her mood was weird. Yesterday she was sad, but that wasn't reason enough to tell Rudel those things.
Suddenly she falls from her bed to the floor.
"Kyaa!"
She let out a charming scream while wondering what was happening outside. Upon looking out the window of her room, she saw something that horrified her.
It was Battler being bombarded from different angles. It couldn't move almost, to top it off. Brunhilde was also being attacked from the sides, a magical shot hit a side of the window, the damage only made the wood serving as camouflage fall.
Immediately Airi only thought one thing.
"Rudel-san!!!"
She screamed from her room horrified due to the danger Rudel was in.
Immediately she ran out of the room heading somewhere.
◇
Why was this happening?
I was being bombarded over and over. There was no blind spot to try to escape.
Of course, their attacks both on Battler and Brunhilde are useless as they're part of a super technology of ancient humanity.
Ixion mentioned they would never be defeated by weapons of new humanity, so I would be safe.
Then, why am I terrified now?
"Ixion, fire the shoulder ammunition!"
"Master, they're already spent, I recommend you eliminate the threat in front of you!"
I shouted at Ixion.
"No!! I already told you I don't want to kill anyone!! Normal people don't take the lives of others so easil—"
Before finishing speaking, I was hit by the wave of explosions.
"Haahhhhhh!!"
My cabin shook as if I were on an eternal rollercoaster that only goes down and spins nonstop.
Why was this happening to me?
There's no way Battler can be destroyed. Then why am I terrified as if at any moment a message would appear indicating critical damage?
Ixion spoke to me excitedly with his electronic voice.
"Master, please give me an order now!! I'm just a tool of humans. It's impossible to do something if you don't order me!!"
"Ixion, stop these bastards without killing anyone!!"
"Impossible to fulfill that!! If you want to get out of here you'll have to eliminate them, they're just playing with you, they won't be able to hurt this boy, but you're under a large amount of stress and anxiety, I recommend proceeding to eliminate them before you have a nervous breakdown!!"
"I already told you no!!"
When I shouted at Ixion, I didn't notice I was on top of Brunhilde. The fire had ceased and before I realized, the bastard was on top of me again.
"Terarara, eat thiiiis!!"
The wretch moved his weapon and hit me as if it were a bat to a baseball.
Battler was hit and impacted strongly against Brunhilde's surface. Pieces of wood that were its camouflage scattered at great height revealing the true steel form of part of the ship.
What had I done to deserve this?
I'm just a simple person from the bunch, I don't have anything that could matter to anyone, not counting Ixion and his super technology from the past. I don't have anything more than that, I'm not even attractive to say it's punishment for conquering girls with partners.
I never hurt anyone nor abused commoners. I never scammed a single person either in this life or the previous one.
Why do I suffer this torment?
Before I realized, the bastards got into a circle in the sky. They were aiming at me with large rifles that looked like bazookas.
The leader of the bastards spoke to me before what was going to happen happened.
"Terarara. My Ozymandias is of the Cornelius class, the fastest in the world. Added to the corrupt plasma tree it has implanted, which allows gathering prana from living beings, animals or plants besides the air. We can have an infinite amount of prana for our attacks, terarara. You'll never defeat us if we use this formation and while I'm in charge!"
I didn't need to know anything about that, nor much less care.
"We won't suffer prana loss since it's thanks to having them located on our ships, by using them we can gather and store like a hive the aether stored."
No, seriously. Shut up already, your voice is horrible and what you say is very old-fashioned villain who always gets defeated after telling his plan.
Is listening to your stupidities also part of my suffering?
Their rifles once again had a magical circle with a crest in the shape of a sword with wings. I was already getting sick of this, seriously, what the hell do they have in their heads to use so many weird and strange magical circles?
Whose fault is it that this happens to me?
---You know whose...
The pirates?
---No. Who pushed me into this?
Then the person who brought me here came to mind.
---Who was the person who asked me for help?
---Who was the person who gave me the coordinates to come here?
---Who was the one who lied to me and brought me into this trap?
---The person who I believed was my friend.
"That's right. The blame for all this is---"
Before declaring the culprit, I was bombarded by an intense red light.
◇◇◇
Airi ran towards a door leading outside, there were a few robots guarding so no one would enter upon opening it, but upon observing her, they tried to stop her.
"Noo, let me go! I have to see Rudel-san and apologize to him!"
Airi pushed away the robots as if they were floating trash containers. Upon removing the one guarding the door, she went out.
It was only seconds what she saw.
"Burn, son of a bitch, burn. Inferno Star Shot!"
A blue armed unit with a shark fin behind shouted and all around him fired towards Battler. An enormous spiral flame about sixty meters tall occurred, after several seconds the flame little by little lowered until forming a large bonfire.
Airi saw that.
"Rudel-san, no!!!"
She screamed seeing how Battler burned in flames, even from the distance where she was, the intense heat was overwhelming. She couldn't approach, even if she wanted to.
A voice sounded from her right.
"I fo~und you, ☆ big tits-chan. ♡♡♡"
An armed unit approached her grabbing her, the voice sounded very morbid.
"Oh, shit, her tits are even bigger up close!! Without a doubt this is a great catch!"
Airi was captured.
The man kept saying more morbid things related to her, meanwhile, several boats headed to the other end of Brunhilde. They planned to invade as Battler had been defeated.
The armed unit with a shark fin descended along with the others to the deck, all were several meters from Airi, but could cut the distance with a few steps. The captain spoke.
"Barma, is that the girl you mentioned? Hmm... damn wretch, I accept it, your reward will be to be the first to try her, but when it's my turn no one else will do it, only I want to break her, terarara."
"Ehh!! That's not fair, captain, I want too!!"
"The captain always keeps the best women!!"
"Silence, bunch of ticks! I already gave an order and it will be fulfilled, the other women on the ship will be yours and that's it."
Airi's face was terrified by what she heard, fear made her tremble like jelly. The boats had already landed and had forced one of the entrances to the interior, all carried swords or rifles.
Airi wanted to scream a single name, the name of an existence she knew would always come out to support her. That name was---
Before being able to scream that name, the man who had her prisoner gave her some warm words.
"You heard what the captain said, don't worry. A cutie with big tits like you should be given the best of attentions, so I'll be as gentle as possible. You're really going to enjoy my---"
Before finishing his morbid sentence, a black hand grabbed his head completely like a medium-sized ball, it lasted only a fraction of a second and his head was crushed like an egg.
Airi and the others witnessed that, their expressions were astonished, the hand had a cable coming out from the flames.
Upon opening its fist, the hand quickly returned from where it came, the hand of the pirate who had Airi opened releasing her, she fell a few centimeters to the floor while the armed unit walked backwards until falling off the ship impacting against the sea.
Then everyone heard a sound.
*Kachim, kachim, kachim*
It was the sound of footsteps, they were slow, but very intense. The sound came from a single direction, the bonfire where Battler was.
The pirates slowly like in a horror movie turned upon hearing that sound that kept being heard.
From the intense flames that seemed the very fire of hell, a shadow little by little was seen, even among the flames its jet black color stood out more than the flames, its red eyes shone so much they suppressed the fire at its side. And, the extension it had on its back to fly gave the impression of having wings. Along with the flames its figure distorted showing an aberration before the eyes, it was almost as if it were a...
"D-d-d-demon! It's a demon, uwahh!"
Monster...
The pirates started firing at point-blank range making the flame grow more, after a while they stopped and no longer heard the footsteps.
The captain let out a cry of joy, the others same, then he heard a communication.
"Captain. It's an emergency!! We need support, repeat. We nee---"
The communication suddenly cut off. Another call he heard.
"We need reinforcements, my captain, no. We need to get out of here immediately!! This place is more dangerous than we thought!! There's no crew so it should have been easy, but some strange things like golems started attacking us and..."
The man's voice sounded agitated and sounds of gunshots as background sounded very intense.
"This place is very dangerous, we've already lost most. We must escape as soo— no, stay away from me, I warn you, no, please no. Noo, ahhhh—"
Suddenly the communication cut off, then a sound was heard. It was a hatch on the left side, it seemed to be for dumping waste, then a large amount of things fell, no. They weren't objects, they were people. The captain watched horrified as his subordinates fell as if they were trash cubes. All had arms or legs bloodied.
Sellzan saw that and his panic expression increased to a degree of extreme fear, voices of the falling pirates were heard.
"Please, help!"
"I don't want to die!"
"Help!"
Suddenly without warning. Two of those at his side were dragged by two black hands coming out from among the flames, one of them screamed and quickly was expelled in flames towards the sea, the other was expelled as if vomited towards his direction, he had his extremities and head destroyed, he seemed like a cardboard box with holes.
Then, a hand peeked out from among the flames, the hand pointed at him pointing towards his direction. Above the hand there was a large red light staring fixedly at Sellzan. Then he spoke among the flames with a hostile tone.
"You... are dead!!!"
◇
Battler covered itself in flames, the flames lasted a few seconds. But that time was very long for me so I reached the correct answer.
(The blame for all this is hers, that woman, the one who said she was my friend. Irisdina!)
Immediately after the attacks ended, Ixion informed me.
"Master, the pirates have entered the ship, emergency orders?!"
I stayed thinking a few seconds while watching how the imbeciles laughed at me.
I gave a simple order to Ixion.
"Don't kill them, you can leave them with severely damaged extremities or in their spines, I authorize you to be very rough if you wish, but get rid of them now!"
The always talkative Ixion suddenly fell silent, what's wrong with you, isn't it normal for you to stay silent?
Out of nowhere he spoke asking me if I was sure.
"Master, are you really saying that? Are you really sure of what you're saying? They are human beings to you, aren't they? You don't want to kill them, but the wounds I'll cause will make them beg for death."
I quickly interrupted him so he wouldn't keep saying idiocies.
"You're wrong, I don't want to kill them, but. I won't allow them to kill me either, they themselves sought my anger, that's right. They themselves and that woman!"
I directed my gaze to one of the monitors to observe that Air--- no, the woman named Irisdina, was being taken hostage by one of those bastards, I told Ixion once again to proceed with the cleaning.
This bastard responded he had already started since I gave the order, don't make me worry for nothing.
Upon hearing his confirmation, I used a secret technique I hadn't tried in combat, Battler's right hand shot out trapping a bastard's head, then I crushed it as if it were an egg.
My hand returned and the bastard fell into the sea, then I stood up and walked slowly because I didn't want to cause a dent from the force of Battler's footsteps, the wretches shot at me, after they stopped their shots, Ixion informed me of something.
"Master, the defeat of the intruders is about to conclude, just as you said, I was a bit rough since I didn't want them to dirty the aircraft more than it already is, what do you wish to do now?"
"It's obvious. Throw them out through the trash chute, use a bit of anti-freeze so they don't sink in the sea."
"Understood."
Then through some internal cameras I managed to see how the pirates were thrown out by the robots through the trash chute after being sprayed with the booger.
They were falling like flies screaming, it made me laugh remembering how confident they were and now they're not.
And now the next ones, I noticed the flames were no longer so high so thermal mode was no longer unnecessary. So I did the same as I did a while ago, I grabbed two bastards, one of them caught fire upon entering, so to prevent him from dying I threw him into the sea. The other had his head melting so I tore off his extremities to prevent prana from inflating him like a balloon, his head I also tore off and threw forward.
It was then I saw a figure, the person who brought me into this and made me angrier than ever before. Irisdina.
I took my hand out from among the flames and raised my index finger pointing at her.
"You... are dead!!"