episode_0277

A surprise event was held on the small whaling ship at noon.

“Barrels! Barrels! Woooo!”

Girls in black combat suits, filling the narrow deck, cheered. The skull masks, specially worn for today, wiggled. As they waited, today’s protagonists entered.

“Gaaah…!” “Aaack! I was wrong! I was wrong! Please save me!”

The protagonists of the event were the blood-soaked men dragged onto the deck. Their broken limbs dangled, and their hands were cuffed with magic restraints. The same kind that had been put on me.

「How dare you! Kidnap us!」

Of course, their attempt failed, as expected. Other Violets followed from the yacht and boarded the ship, but the restraints must have been faulty, as they couldn’t prevent the clones from being generated. The men’s strength and weapon handling skills were threatening, but their fatal mistake was facing our Violets. It was truly amusing to see these men, who had been swaggering just moments ago, dragged in wearing only their underwear.

“P-please save us! Please save us!” “It’s okay! We won’t kill you! You’re just going into the ocean.” Perhaps anticipating their participation in the event, the participants shouted with fervent voices.

“Nooooooo!” “Aaack! Ughaaah!”

The event organizers were our Violet Marines. The festival’s name was the Deep Sea Barrel Festival.

“Alright, alright. See that barrel over there? Get in quietly!”

The event’s procedure was simple. It involved putting the bad pirates into barrels and sending them on a one-way deep-sea exploration. It was definitely free welfare, as it allowed them to ride a submarine for free, something millionaires somewhere paid tens of millions of credits to experience.

“Get in the barrel and become good people!”

After their deep-sea exploration, the pirates who had kidnapped people and extorted money instead of hunting monsters would become good people, peacefully swimming with fish beneath the tropical sea. This was the spirit of unity with nature.

Of course, to enter the sacred ocean, they had to go through immigration.

“You’re pirates, aren’t you? Right?”

“Yes! We’re pirates! That’s right!”

Unit 3011 interrogated these suspicious pirates.

“Why were you pirating? Your weapons looked like they belonged to hunters.” I didn’t understand. Why would they do such a thing? Hunting monsters and gathering artifacts and resources seemed better in terms of profit and risk.

“Th-that is…” “Not answering?”

As they hesitated to answer, I finally raised the language proficiency enhancement tool.

-Splat! A cheerful popping sound echoed as a bolt was driven into one pirate’s head. The expressions of the pirates, splattered with their comrade’s blood, stiffened.

“Ugh… aaaah!” “Next?”

“I-I’ll talk! Please!” In a panic, they began to babble out explanations.

“…Because people are easier to catch than monsters? Is that all?” According to the stammering explanation they spat out, it was easier to raid ships and kidnap people for ransom than to struggle hunting monsters in dungeons.

“Is that all? Don’t fixers or other hunters come after you? The navy…” “Th-the ocean is vast… if you hide well between coastlines or uninhabited islands, you won’t get caught…” Judging by their tone, it seemed they only messed with easy targets. They didn’t seem to have done anything to offend the Federation or large clans.

「Cowardly! 」 「Bad pirates!」

Hmm, they were definitely terrible guys.

“Then all the more reason for you to go in there.” “We told you everything! Save us! No! Send us to prison!”

“Alright, alright. It’s all done, now get in the barrels!” I tied the struggling men more securely and shoved them into the barrels. When folded and inserted appropriately, only their heads popped out. We were reminded of the pirate-popping toy.

「Should we try sticking a sword in? They might pop out!」 「No. They’ll die then.」

Feeling a twinge of regret, I scooped in the pre-prepared mixture of cement and water. It was special concrete, so it solidified quite quickly.

“Have a fun trip~” “Mmph! Mmmph!”

-Splash! When it seemed sufficiently hardened, I rolled the pirates one by one and threw them into the water. The silhouettes of the gray barrels slowly diminished beyond the gem-clear surface.

「It’s all cleared! The blood’s wiped too.」 「Finished? Bring the people below out.」

The Violets brought out the people who were in the cabins. Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones kidnapped on this ship. It was their method to suddenly ambush tourists or travelers playing nearby. Since we had acquired this whaling ship and miscellaneous items, there seemed to be no need for special compensation.

「Wait, what should our disguised identity be?」 「Let’s say we’re a passing clan. The name is…」

After a one-minute marathon meeting, they decided on a general cover story and led the people outside.

「O-outside. Who are you people?」 「Why are you doing this…」 People, each covered with a blanket, came out and looked around with uneasy expressions. Everyone looked haggard, as if they had suffered greatly at the hands of the pirates.

「Oh, how pathetic.」

There was a group of bespectacled men who looked relatively energetic, though they appeared as if they’d been thoroughly boiled somewhere, and seemed to have been recently captured. Among them, a plump-looking young man cautiously raised his hand as their representative.

“Um, excuse me… who are you?”

I answered the plump man. “We are Dunhind Security Enforcement. We just wiped out all the pirates. You are free!”

At first, the hesitant people gradually understood as we explained the situation, and they rejoiced only after their belongings, stolen by the pirates, were returned. “Thank you! You saved our lives!”

Meanwhile, men rejoiced, holding briefcases. “The samples? Are the samples alright?” “My thesis! It’s saved!” They were happy in a different way. I couldn’t understand why, though.

In any case, my heart felt content from doing a good deed after a long time. Thanks to the unexpected pirate extermination, my mind felt at ease.

「Justice has been served!」

However, the joy was short-lived, and a small concern arose.

「But, what do we do now? We have to take these people home.」 「Let’s tow the whaling ship to the harbor!」

Unit 2208’s suggestion was immediately rejected.

「No. We don’t know how to drive it.」 This whaling ship was a bit larger than the boats we had driven before. Its engine was also more complex, making it seem difficult to handle right now.

「Right, should we take them on our boat?」 「That’s also rejected; the closest boat is tens of kilometers away. It’ll take some time.」

As I thought about how to get the people to land, the plump man who had asked the question earlier raised his hand again. “What is it?”

“Um, could I possibly borrow a means of communication? Do you have a satellite phone?” “Why?” “Well, my supervisor and I were negotiating a ransom with these pirates yesterday. I just want to let him know that we don’t need to negotiate anymore. Would that be alright?” Thinking he was a peculiar person, I took out the satellite phone and lent it to him. After a few calls, contact seemed to be made, and the graduate student spoke something to the person on the other end of the line. Joy gradually became audible in his voice.

“What did you say? Understood! Just a moment?” The graduate student hastily asked me for our coordinates.

“Coincidentally, my supervisor was already on his way here for the ransom negotiation. How lucky!” The timing was surprising. And he’s coming himself? Does he care for his students that much?

Thirty minutes later, I could see a ship and a helicopter approaching us.

“Wait, your professor. Wasn’t he coming for a ransom negotiation?” “Uh… y-yes, he was?” “What is it?”

Contrary to the word “negotiation,” what was approaching was clearly a ship carrying armed forces. Even a helicopter was flying low above our heads, creating a threatening atmosphere.

“He definitely said negotiation…” The graduate student mumbled with a blank expression, as if he didn’t understand, but that was no negotiation team. It was a clan mercenary unit.

“What kind of person is your professor?” “Ah, well…”

As soon as the ship docked, a woman leaped over to us with the hunters. I had imagined someone like Professor Albert when I heard “professor,” but she was younger than I expected.

“Is that her?” “Yes! That’s our Professor-nim!” Listening to the man’s ecstatic words, I faced the supervisor.

And then, an eerie sensation crawled up my spine.

“…” No, why did I feel an unpleasant sensation the moment I saw that person?

For a brief moment, the Violets whispered about the familiar, ominous atmosphere. “Rafflesia?”

The subtly strange atmosphere the woman exuded brought to mind our past experiences. For a very brief moment, images of the laboratory flashed before my eyes. Sharp scalpels, surgical tools, white isolation wards. No, it might just be a misconception caused by her unusual appearance. Perhaps it was her hairstyle.

「Look at her hair. It’s a ponytail!」 「Is it really a ponytail? It’s on the side.」 A slender, pale woman with tied-up hair on the side swept her gaze across the ship and approached us. Behind her, intimidating-looking hunters, appearing to be mercenaries, escorted her.

“Professor-nim!” “So you were alive after all, Asel. Stop smiling and pack your things. Let’s go back quickly. We have a lot to do.”

The white-haired woman with a strange aura smiled faintly and put on peculiar sunglasses, then paused upon seeing us and took them off again. “Are you the clan that saved our students and the others?”

What on earth was this woman?

“It’s a good thing. A very good thing indeed. We were able to finish the job without bloodshed, weren’t we? So, where did you say you were from? Schneider?” Her snake-like yellow gaze swept over the Violet unit for a moment.

“Dunhind Security Service. So, who are you?”

“Oh, is that so? We’re from Eckhart University. As you can see, we’re a rescue team. I’d like to thank you once again for saving our students. We’re planning to return to the harbor quickly. Oh, those people, were they also captured? How pathetic. Can we take them with us?” The woman, who had been chattering for a while, pointed at the other hostages who were nervously looking around on the deck, as if it were obvious.

“Your purpose?” When I asked with a cautious tone, the woman chuckled. Her white hair, with reddish dyed tips, swayed.

“Purpose? We just have the capacity, so we’re offering help. I don’t know what you came on, but it doesn’t look faster than our ship. Is that alright?” “Then do so.”

While the hostages climbed the ladder lowered from the ship to the armed vessel, the woman returned as quickly as she had come. Suddenly, as the woman was climbing, she fiddled with those strange sunglasses again. For a moment, her yellow eyes glinted with a peculiar light.

“…Could I perhaps know the name of your leader?” “I cannot say. Due to industry circumstances.” “Ah, I know. Of course. My apologies.”

The woman climbing the ladder suddenly turned her head and shouted. “Oh, I almost forgot to introduce myself! Everyone from Dunhind Security! I’m Bernike. A professor at Eckhart University. See you again later!” While we tilted our heads at the abrupt self-introduction, the woman boarded her ship and disappeared as quickly as she had arrived moments ago. What on earth was that woman doing?

「She must be a strange ponytail.」

**

On the ship heading to land, the first thing Professor Bernike Brodman did was check on her graduate students’ condition. It wasn’t an act out of love for her students.

“Asel, the samples? They’re fine, right? Other data? Zeis, the things I asked for?” Once she had time to catch her breath, Professor Bernike questioned the naive graduate students like a hawk glaring at rabbits.

“Yes, they’re all fine. Those pirates didn’t touch the data or samples, probably because they didn’t know what they were…” The professor, examining the luggage handed over by the graduate students, frowned.

“No, some are lost. There are even missing items. Servitus’s basal ganglia samples, neural scan data. Where are those? And the results for samples 1A through 3A that I requested?” “I’m sorry. Those…” “Enough. It was my mistake to trust you.”

Grumbling that the cost of bringing mercenaries, even dipping into her personal funds, was only this much, the professor put on her sunglasses once more.

“So thank this professor once again. Thanks to me personally coming to rescue you, you got a chance to write your graduation thesis, didn’t you? Next time, move a bit more agilely and thoroughly.”

Saying that, Bernike put on her sunglasses again and surveyed the graduate students. The various colors of emotion emanating from the people before her were clearly visible. Embarrassment, injustice, gratitude, a hint of annoyance.

The graduate students, who knew the true nature of the sunglasses, looked away uncomfortably. “Professor-nim, could you please not wear those? We know they only show emotions, but it feels a bit like an invasion of privacy.” “Invasion of privacy, what nonsense. You all agreed it’s an essential process for emotional development research, didn’t you? Stop complaining and go.”

Inside the room, the professor took off her sunglasses and fiddled with them for a long time. The artifact sunglasses, excavated by the Lumenex Foundation, were working perfectly. That’s why she had to wander further into doubt.

“It was clearly working perfectly, so why earlier…” Earlier, she hadn’t detected any emotions from the skull-masked hunters she saw. It was truly absurd, and also an intriguing story. This artifact worked perfectly in most situations.

“Is it a unique constitution?”

Her curiosity lasted only a moment before Professor Bernike remembered that she had many tasks to attend to and decided to set aside her personal interest for now. She had many unknown intellectual territories to unearth. Unless they happened to meet again, that is.

Meanwhile, after the first hostage rescue, the Violets’ Age of Exploration took an unexpected turn.

「Pirates, huh…」 「Let’s become pirates too!」 Determined to become good pirates, the Violets set sail once more. With a more violent intention.