Navy Marigold. (4) – (Revised)

Lancel Dante, chasing after Marigold who had been caught by pirates, immediately dove into the sea.

“Sir Lancel!”

“Look at this landlubber overdoing it!”

“Can you even swim?!”

The cold seawater embraced him through the rough waves. He felt his heated body cool down pleasantly.

“Hoo!”

The scenery beneath the seawater came into view at a glance.

Colorful corals and schools of fish, the surface of the water sparkling in the sunlight, the wreckage of ships floating around, the corpses of pirates.

And Marigold, being dragged away with a noose around her neck.

She came into Lancel’s sight.

“Ugh! Puhah! S, save, save me……!”

Lancel approached Marigold, who was rapidly moving away, with an underwater dive.

It was helpful that he had learned to swim to the extreme while living in the archipelago.

Lancel swam through the water with fluid movements. After bouncing off the surface of the water a few times, he quickly reached Marigold.

“Hey.”

He approached and tapped her cheek. The light returned to Marigold’s eyes, which had been dying.

“L, Lancel-nim?!”

“You still seem alive. Wait here for a moment.”

“Yes?”

Lancel quickly passed her.

He grabbed the rope connected to Marigold and shot up onto the ship in one breath.

“Damn navy bastards! You won’t be able to chase us now, will you?”

“Hurry! Let’s go back to base!”

“We caught a female navy officer, what should we do?”

“Haul her up right now! I’ll feel better if we take even that and torment her.”

“Aye aye! Huh? Why is this so heavy?”

The man who grabbed the noose slightly poked his head out from the railing.

“……?”

“Hello.”

It was the moment when Lancel, climbing up the rope, made eye contact with him, with only a paper-thin distance between them.

The pirate’s eyes widened in shock.

“Aaaagh! Navy! Navy officer!”

“Navy?!”

The pirates, who had been taking a breather, all jumped up from their seats at once.

“Wh, wh, where is it! Where is the navy!”

“What? What’s going on!”

“There’s a navy officer!”

“What?”

“There!”

Many gazes gathered on Lancel, who had just climbed onto the deck.

Lancel counted the number of pirates one by one. One, two, three… roughly thirty or so.

“Navy, officer?”

“He’s alone?”

The pirates were dumbfounded.

“Y, you’re just one person?”

“There’s one more below.”

Although she’s caught in a noose.

“A navy… officer, alone?”

“This crazy navy bastard dares to crawl into the main ship of the Ankel Pirates without any fear?”

“Do you want to become fish food!”

The pirates, having grasped the situation, simultaneously drew their blades.

“Kill him!”

Swords, spears, harpoons, pitchforks, even hooks. Various weapons flew in a flurry.

‘Oh.’

Lancel reached for his waist.

No sooner had he drawn his blade than a fountain of blood erupted.

“Kuaaaagh!”

He instantly plunged through the gaps between the three men who had fallen.

He immediately slit the throats of two more, and five men collapsed to the floor in an instant.

“What are you doing, not being able to catch just one!”

“Catch him! Grab his body and knock him down!”

The pirates, who had never even encountered a knight trained on land in their lives, couldn’t even follow Lancel’s shadow.

The moment the blade flashed, some part of their body was cut off and they were rolling around on the deck.

“Monster……!”

Fear spread among the pirates only after nearly twenty of them had fallen.

Saaak!

It was hard not to be intimidated by constantly seeing him ghostlike, digging into gaps and neatly slicing only the jugular veins.

“S, save me, save……!”

Finally, Lancel faced the guy who had thrown the noose at Marigold.

He instantly cut off the arms of the guy who was about to throw away his weapon and surrender.

“Uh, huh?”

“Fish food.”

“……!”

He lifted the guy up and threw him into the sea.

“Aaaagh!”

A tearing scream was swallowed beneath the sea.

Silence fell on the deck.

“I’m starting to feel like a navy officer now.”

Lancel slowly turned around, sweeping back his seawater-soaked hair.

All of the remaining dozen or so pirates were dropping their weapons and surrendering.

“Surrender, we surrender!”

“P, please spare my life…….”

The will to fight had long disappeared from the eyes of the guys who raised their arms. Only fear, as if facing a monster, replaced it.

“You.”

“Ye, yep!”

“Quickly haul up the kid who fell below.”

“B, below, are you talking about?”

“Don’t make me say it twice.”

“Yep!”

A moment later.

“Keheng!”

Marigold, who was burping and belching from eating seawater, was hauled up.

“L, Lancel-nim, keheuk, what happened……keueuk!”

“Follow me. Since it’s a captured pirate ship, let’s go see some spoils, Mary.”

“The pirates……keoeuk, what happened to them, ugh!”

“…….”

.

.

.

“Waa!”

==========

—Imperial Calendar 816, July 24th. Weather: Very clear.

—Event occurred! ‘Pirate Ship Plunder a Great Success!’

※After enduring a tough ordeal, we plundered a pirate ship full of silver coins, weapons, alcohol, food, etc. through joint work with Lancel Dante! It’s a tremendous achievement! Charm, Stamina UP!!

==========

Below the deck of the pirate ship, there was a pile of looted goods.

“Jackpot! It’s a jackpot, Lancel-nim!”

‘……Joint work?’

Come to think of it, Marigold did come up riding the noose rope. If that’s joint work, then I guess it’s joint work.

Well, whatever.

I managed to prevent her from becoming fish food or a pirate’s plaything. I’ll gladly consider it joint work.

“Lancel-nim! Look at this! It’s a chicken! A chicken!”

Marigold lifted the cage with the chicken inside over her head, wearing a bright smile.

She had such a cheerful expression that it was hard to believe she was the same girl whose stomach had been bursting with seawater just a moment ago.

“It’s a pig! Lancel-nim! There’s a pig here too! Even sheep! Is it a meat party today, if this is the case?”

Chickens, pigs, sheep, there’s all sorts of things.

Silver coins, spices, books, animals, there were really a lot of miscellaneous goods loaded.

It seemed to be a ship that had been diligently plundering and was unlucky enough to get caught.

“What are you doing?”

“Hehe.”

Marigold was busy slipping a few silver coins and a sparkling jewel into her shoes.

“Lancel-nim, put some in your pockets too. There’s no chance to earn pocket money unless it’s at times like this. This is the taste of being in the navy.”

“…….”

“I’ll give you this. The one that looks the most expensive. A ring.”

She wasn’t even giving away her own things, but she pretended to be generous and handed Lancel a pair of gold rings.

Marigold arbitrarily put one ring on each of his ring fingers, and then began to wear a slightly sly smile.

“Ehehehehe.”

I can see what you’re thinking. Marigold.

“Huh?”

That’s when it happened.

Marigold, who had been rummaging through the inside, constantly looking for something useful, then struggled to carry a wooden box that was in the corner.

“This one has a lock, locked, on it! Ugh, it’s heavy!”

“Step back.”

“Yes?”

Marigold flinched and stepped back, seeing Lancel draw his sword.

Kaang-!

He cleanly swung his blade at the lock.

“Huh?”

For some reason, the lock remained intact, without even a scratch in the place where the sword had passed.

“It seems……tough.”

Marigold wore a bright expression, as if worried that Lancel would be embarrassed. That appearance only irritated him more.

“Hoo.”

Lancel closed his eyes.

He took a breath, with his hand on the hilt of his sword.

The Magic Power that flowed out along his heart circulated throughout his body. A blue haze began to slowly flow out from the blade.

“Lancel-nim. There’s smoke coming from the sword……!”

“Quiet.”

When all of the boiling Magic Power enveloped the blade, Lancel’s eyes widened.

‘Now.’

The blade drew a picture-like arc. Kwang, a roar that tore apart the air struck his eardrums.

Kuuuuung-!

“Kyaaagh!”

Marigold covered her ears.

A long trace was engraved along the trajectory drawn by the sword. The ship’s ceiling, walls, and even the floor were neatly cut off, and the ship swayed once.

The tough lock didn’t withstand it this time either, and was neatly split in half.

Squeak!

The lid of the box slowly opened.

Lancel and Marigold put their faces together and looked inside at the same time.

“Eh? Lancel-nim, this is…….”

“……?”

There was something completely unexpected inside.

“Flower.”

“It’s a flower.”

A small flower in a bottle filled with clear water. It scattered sparkling light.

“Do flowers originally bloom inside water?”

Marigold brought her eyes closer and carefully observed the inside.

Lancel pushed her head away and snatched the bottle.

‘What is it?’

Suaaa-!

He saw an illusion as if light purple pollen was scattering even outside the bottle. A momentary dizzy feeling swirled in his head.

‘I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere.’

Why?

It was somehow familiar. It wasn’t a good feeling. It was much closer to an ominous premonition.

Lancel stroked the surface of the bottle with dazed eyes.

“Huh?”

He suddenly felt something strange.

His hand that was stroking the bottle was different from usual.

Not the calloused and rough palm that had hardened over the years of holding a sword, but a fair and slender finger.

Lancel suddenly felt strange and raised his head.

“Lancel-nim? Huh? Your voice. Ahem, ahem!”

There was Lancel there.

Himself.

“Ehh?”

He was letting out a foolish voice that he would never make.

Lancel himself.

“Ah.”

He finally knew the identity of the flower.

.

.

.

“I’m back.”

The changed state quickly returned to normal.

The problem was the ripple effect this would bring to the archipelago.

Lancel was sensing it.