“Haa~. I never thought you’d actually defeat a Kraken…”
Rebecca, dumbfounded, walked past us as we gave the winning battle cry, and looked at the huge corpse of the Kraken. She must be feeling similar to when a small child goes out to play saying, “I’m going to slay the dragon!” and then he actually slayed the dragon and dragged its corpse back to the house.
But I wasn’t interested in Rebecca at the moment. I was still vigilant as I had been during the battle, and continued to carefully observe the world’s reaction.
(Now, let’s see what happens …?)
Looking back, nothing much happened in the first world. Rebecca did not engage in any heroic activities, and no such incidents occurred. We sailed on our ship, sometimes engaged in pirate-like activities, and when we got to port, we would replenish our supplies and sail back out to sea … and that was really all we did.
But it was strange. If I was sent to this world, then there must definitely be heroes and demon lords in this era, and judging from the circumstances, Rebecca must almost certainly be a Hero.
Then why did nothing happen? I’ve been trying to figure out the cause of this, … and one of the answers I came up with was that it may be because She ran away from an enemy she was supposed to defeat.
In the first round, We had no chance to win against the Kraken. … It was indeed a logical or even common behavior to abandon the Baroque pirates who were being attacked by the “Gatekeeper Of The Mist” and flee.
But what if she were to act like a Hero there? Even if she did not go so far as to defeat it, wouldn’t some kind of contact with it create some kind of karmic connection that would trigger Rebecca to start acting as a hero? That was the reason why I challenged Kraken to a fight this time.
The results were excellent. With the help of Rebecca’s underlings… Hero’s party members, me and Tia, defeated the Kraken, who was lying in the sea. If nothing happened now, I seriously can’t think of anything else to do. … Oh?
“O-Oi, Look!, The Kraken!?”
My consciousness, submerged in thinking, was awakened by Pierre’s voice. I saw that the corpse of the Kraken was being transformed into particles of light as if it were melting.
“Wow, Beautiful!” Tia exclaimed,
“Hohoho, this is … Say, Captain, just to confirm, did you come across anything else like this?” I asked,
“There is no way. I’ve killed many small magic beasts that attack ships, but I’ve never seen one turn into a glowing mist and disappear.”
“Glowing mist… huh?”
Hmmm, then this was certainly a special event. Looks like I hit the jackpot.
“Look, Ed! The light!?” Tia called out to me,
“It’s moving!?” I exclaimed,
While we were talking, the light mist that had risen was moving in the opposite direction of the land, trailing behind us. In all likelihood, I could only assume that it was guiding us.
“Captain! That light, let’s chase it! There’s definitely something going on!” I said,
“I do have a feeling that’s true, but … okay, I’m going back to the Scarlet, and you guys, come along.”
“”Yes!””
We responded to Rebecca’s words and the three of us scurried back to the Scarlet. Fortunately, there still appeared to be a little time before the entire body of the kraken turned into a mist of light, and if we left now, we would be well on our way.
""
“Rohan! How are the supplies?” Rebecca asked,
“Supplies? We just left port the other day. We should have enough for a month or two.”
“Grude, What’s the condition of the hull?”
“No damage! We can sail as usual!”
“If that’s the case, … Everyone! We’re going after that light now! As a reward for being the first in the world to defeat the Kraken, I bet there’s one heck of a treasure in there!”
“”HAHHHHHHHHHH!!!””
At Rebecca’s command, the crew started to shout and move. As soon as the Scarlet started moving, a man with a hooked hand, dressed in the theatrical clothing of a pirate, jumped onto the deck.
“Phew, just in time!” Pierre said,
“Pierre!? Why are you here!?” Rebecca asked,
“What! What the hell you talkin’ about! Half the reason you lot were able to defeat that Kraken was because we were drawin’ him away! But you tryna leave us alone and take the treasure for yourself, there’s absolutely no way I’m gonna let you do that!”
“Then why don’t you just use your own bloody ship and follow us on your own! Why are you boarding my ship!?”
“If not for the damage, I would have done the same thing. If I didn’t call out to you, I would have lost you, so I jumped on board in a hurry. Ah, I’ve given them instructions to take the ship back to Charos for repairs, so there’s no problem there, okay?”
“But I have a big problem with you! Really, I’d love to throw you into the sea right now, but I’d lose my future earnings if I did that… Fine, I’ll give you a ride, but you better not act too arrogant, you understand?”
“Shut up! I am Pierre, captain of the Baroque pirates, you hear me!? I’ll at least polish the deck to a shine!”
“”You’re going to polish the deck!?”” Tia and I exclaimed in unison,
The Scarlet slowly followed the mist as they engaged back and forth. Then the mist gradually began to gather ahead, but for some reason, only after we passed through the mist did it completely clear up.
Further along the path through the misty valley, a rather large island awaited us. The mist around the island also cleared up, and it disappeared a short distance before the island, looks like we reached our destination.
“Is there anywhere we can dock?” Rebecca asked,
“It’s tough. There is a sandy beach, but the draft is so shallow that if we get any closer, the ship might run aground1.” I replied,
“Then we’ll take a small boat from here. Anyone who wants to go ….”
Rebecca’s words drew expectant glances from everyone present. However, Tia and I intercepted all of them and stepped out in front of Rebecca with an air of dignity.
“Captain, you’re not leaving us here, are you?”
“Yes, yes, yes! After all we’ve done for you, you can’t just leave us here, can you?
“I know. Normally, I would have complained about the rookies getting in the way, but since you are the ones who defeated the Kraken, no one can say anything about it. Of course I’ll be there, so that’s one more person, however…”
“That must be me!” Pierre said, excitedly
“Uh, who are you?”
“You, Rebecca!! I even polished the deck!”
Pierre, in a fit of anger, hurled his claws down, but Rebecca caught it lightly with her sword drawn from her waist. Naturally, neither of them were serious, but Rebecca gave an overtly wry smile to Pierre, who revealed his irritation.
“Ha~, It can’t be helped. Oh well, Alright. Well, that’s okay. It would be troublesome to leave someone like you on the ship and have it hijacked. I’m sorry, but I’m going out with them. I’ll leave the rest to you.”
“Leave it to me, Nee-San!”
“Call me Captain! Good lord”
After giving her men the usual smack on the head, we boarded a small boat and rowed out to the island. It’s been a long time since I’ve had an adventure with absolutely no idea what’s ahead … Fufu, I’m looking forward to it.
(T/N: Novel ended at 552 chapters. Idk how many worlds author covered.)
Footnotes
If a ship or boat runs aground/ashore, it hits the coast, sometimes becoming stuck there. Staying afloat, capsizing & sinking.