"Captain! We're here! Look what we hauled up!"
An irritable-looking old woman walked over from the other side.
She was female. Like the other sailors, her body was smeared in patches with white, mucous-like sludge, and one of her legs had been replaced by a harpoon.
"Just as expected! Your scouting skills are beyond reproach, Starbuck!"
Starbuck? So that was the name of the one who seemed to be the leader of the search party. I should remember it.
The old woman, with a harpoon just a little taller than herself slung over her shoulder, took three gold coins from her chest and said, "Two of these gold coins are yours. Let's give the last one to these twin sailors."
"Thank you, Captain."
Then she looked at us.
"It's been a very long time since new residents came to Pequod Town."
"Residents...? Not guests?"
"That's the kind of thing someone says when they think it's only natural to become subordinate the moment they set foot somewhere."
...That's extremely unpleasant. A wave of instinctive disgust washed over me. She looked like she'd be difficult to deal with.
And, as if to make matters worse, the person matched my expectations: she did seem to be someone Ishmael knew. Which meant...
"So it really is..."
"I'm the captain who cared for these poor sailors, built this town, and will soon lead them on the final voyage. Ahab."
<...Ah, Ishmael...!>
"You probably had no idea how badly I wanted this moment... and you'll never know. You'll be dead before you ever get the chance."
So Ishmael would inevitably rush at the old woman to kill her.
I did consider whether I should stop her, but I have no hobby of performing pointless acts, so I decided against it.
Trying to stop her half-heartedly would be lucky if it only got my head cracked open.
"Oh ho, what a fervent welcome. Ishmael."
Ah, so she knew her name? She'd even anticipated Ishmael rushing her.
Somehow... it felt like I was walking straight into her trap.
"Uh... Ishmael...? Come to think of it...?"
"Ungrateful wretches. To attack the captain!"
"I'll show you your place!"
This battle really did seem like it had been laid out from start to finish by that woman...
Before I picked up my weapon, I felt I should say one thing in advance. It seemed like there wouldn't be any time for conversation after this.
"Dante."
"You've probably already noticed, but that captain is suspicious as hell. I think you should keep a close eye on her."
He trusts me quite a bit. I knew it already, but it's a bit much.
Well, I've said what I needed to say. Time to focus on the fight.
...Wait.
Swoosh───!!!
"Ghk...!"
A harpoon flew in from nowhere and brushed past my hair.
A thrown spear. An attack I hadn't predicted.
Hah. Right. A harpoon is definitely lighter than my spear, and much more of a disposable tool. It wouldn't be strange for them to fight like this.
Still, once I understood that, dodging became easy. Thrown spears are pretty obvious in posture.
As for the trajectory, I just had to read it as it came.
The best move I could make in this state was...
Tap-tap!
"Damn it...!"
A charge. More precisely, a contest of strength.
Clang──!!!
"Ghk!"
The crudely swung spear shaft collided with the harpoon's handle.
Again. And again. Keep going!
Clang──!! Clang───!!!
"You crazy... bastard!"
One sailor barely managed to shove back my offensive and glared at me like he wanted to kill me.
"That harpoon was made as a stopgap, right?"
"......"
If it was made as a stopgap, then its durability was nothing to count on.
And most decisively, from the way they were hurling it around as a thrown spear, it was clearly closer to a consumable.
In that case, there's no way their weapons are better than ours. If we just keep repeating a straightforward contest of strength, they'll be the first to break in a prolonged fight.
Dante seemed to catch on to my strange behavior and the reason for it quickly enough, because he was already deploying the prisoners appropriately.
There are quite a few prisoners whose specialty is brute force.
"Then I've figured out everything I need to know. I'm off!"
"Hah..."
I could feel Starbuck staring at me in either admiration or shock.
It's true that not many people would throw themselves in like a brute at the start of a battle, get information, and then run away.
Well, that sort of thing isn't my specialty, so this is good enough.
And come to think of it, Dante's command has improved a lot too. In the past, if I'd done something like this, one or two enemies would've latched onto me. Clean work.
I retreated swiftly to the rear and struck the posture I often used.
Thrown spear again. But this time, I adjusted the finer details.
I remembered the posture they had used... and tried to digest even the shape of it as my own.
If I could borrow the power of my eye to observe myself objectively, I could achieve a fair degree of resemblance.
Then, if I tuned it once more by the difference between my weapon and theirs...
"Mr. Heathcliff! Dodge!"
──!!!
"Whoa! Are you insane?!"
"Kgh..."
The spear flew true and buried itself in a sailor's shoulder blade.
Considering the force I put into it... that's pretty successful. I should remember that and make use of thrusting too.
As expected, following a set form is much easier and more comfortable than doing everything by feel. I never had a spear master, so up until now I had no choice.
"Die!"
"...!"
At the edge of my vision, from the side, someone suddenly burst out.
His identity was the enemy. More precisely, a sailor.
Dammit, did I lose track because I was too focused on throwing spears? Not good.
Then...
I decisively gave up one hand.
Crunch...!
"...Got you."
"Ghk, let go!"
Before the harpoon blade in my grasp could slip free, I seized the handle with my remaining hand.
I'm not good at hand-to-hand combat, and it's not my specialty, but the situation is urgent.
Immediately after, a small contest of strength began for control of the harpoon.
I'd hoped the blade would come loose... but this desperate knot is sturdier than I expected. It doesn't feel like something simply tied off with rope.
Ordinarily, this wouldn't have been a strength contest I'd have much advantage in, but the harpoon's instability and the impatience brought on by the white-flower phenomenon opened a small gap.
The leg that was trying to push forward while pulling the knee inward. Because of that, the opposite leg was left wide open.
The moment I finished reading it, I shoved one leg inward and shattered his balance.
"Open."
"Kkh, damn it...!"
There was no way he could keep his strength cleanly while falling. In an instant, control of the harpoon passed entirely to me.
I lifted the harpoon and...
Thud.
I drove it right beside the fallen sailor's head.
"Stop moving. If you move, you die."
"Damn..."
"Oof, that hurts. Good ambush. My hand's a wreck because of it. You got me good."
"You block it like you knew everything and then what the hell are you saying..."
"If I had, I wouldn't have given you my hand."
Haa... this is tiring. My condition isn't exactly good to begin with.
A short rest. The battle also seemed to be nearing a bit of a conclusion.
Ishmael—no, should I call it a town? The people of that place, or perhaps the sailors, had been shaken off easily by Ishmael, and she sneered at the one called Ahab.
"Looks like you've only got a handful of decent sailors left."
But the captain's face still looked relaxed. No, it was closer to looking down on her with contempt.
Immediately after, a harpoon flew in from far away.
──BOOM──!!
"...! Someone else...?"
As Ishmael barely twisted her body to avoid the attack, Ahab answered her sneer with a confident expression.
"The sailors on my ship are loyal beyond anyone else's. And among them, the sailor here is the finest harpooner in the world. So... attacking me here is nothing but suicide, wouldn't you say?"
"......"
A sailor wearing a bizarre iron mask over his face joined the battle.
He was holding a harpoon that was truly... massive.
Good grief. One stab from that and your entire guts would be ripped out.
"Damn... look at the size of that harpoon."
"If it pierces cleanly, there won't even be bones left to set. That man is a warrior. Heh heh..."
"No! Stop laughing while saying something like that! It's creepy..."
"Enough chatter. Start thinking about how to dodge it. If it lands, everything inside you gets ripped out and you're a corpse."
The one good thing is that the white-flower phenomenon should make him a bit slower.
And there's also the fact that I'm holding a harpoon right now, so moving around is a little easier.
For now, I should just put a hole in the sailor I'd laid down below. Enough to keep him from moving for the moment.
"Stay still. If you move, you'll get hurt worse."
Thud.
"Gaaah...!"
Good, this side is handled. Now then, I need to deal with that thing.
Hmmm... a strength contest would be hopeless, and that side probably isn't easy to beat in terms of command and coordination either. So overwhelming them with numbers alone is out too.
The only thing I might be able to win with is speed... but that Starbuck person over there, is he going to join in?
He looks quick on his feet, unlike his manner of speech.
If he's there, that'll be a pain... hm?
"......"
As I watched the situation from where I stood, the man with the giant harpoon singled me out precisely.
...What? This is bad.
Then, after that man, Ahab—the captain—also looked straight at me.
"Hmm, so that's how it is... Everyone! Pursue that one!"
Huh?
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