WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 104: Where the Storm Calls (4)

──────

The man's voice was calm. Just as Jorde was about to say something,

Creak.

A floorboard groaned from the stern of the ship. Footsteps followed right after. Even through the pouring rain, the steps ringing across the soaked planks were clear enough to catch at once. Everyone turned toward the stern at the sudden disturbance.

"That would be a problem."

Kyle's black cloak briefly billowed, then settled.

"We're continuing as planned. There will be no turning back."

Kyle stopped beside Jorde. Countless eyes turned toward him. The man who had shown no interest in Kyle until moments ago frowned.

"What did you just say?"

"We're not changing course. Go back if you don't want to see blood."

Kyle returned the man's earlier words to him exactly. A crack appeared in the man's relaxed expression. Ignoring it, Kyle drew on the mana in his ring and swept his gaze over the pirates before him and the ships on either side.

He had two choices.

Fight here, or let them be taken obediently to the archipelago.

The decision was easy. The moment he raised his mana, Kyle grasped the strength of not only the pirates in front of him, but everyone aboard all three ships.

There were just under a hundred pirates. Each of them was an elite, and their skills were considerable, but they were not unbeatable. More importantly, if they were dragged to the archipelago, there was no telling when they would reach the Federation.

They were already going through this much trouble to save a week. He could not afford to lose any more time.

He had no intention of it, either.

"Ha..."

The man gave a hollow laugh.

"You're completely insane. Captain Jorde, should I take this as the Black Crow Merchant Company's decision?"

Jorde's face had turned completely pale. His eyes shifted between Kyle and the man. After wavering for a moment, he fixed his gaze on Kyle and pleaded quietly.

"W-Wait. What exactly are you doing?"

"Exactly what I said. We're continuing as planned. I'll fulfill my role as a guard."

"Have you lost your mind? You're going to make enemies of the Skaldir Family here, of all places? In the Pargon Strait?"

Jorde whispered while watching the man's reaction. Even so, Kyle's expression did not change.

"Put another way, that means it doesn't matter anywhere outside the Pargon Strait. Their influence is limited on land, no matter how powerful they are at sea."

"No..."

"We can just kill them all. The only witnesses are those waves. Didn't Merchant Head Enrico know everything before he let us board? If we let them take us to the archipelago, nothing good will come of it. The Black Crow Merchant Company itself might end up in danger."

Jorde looked out over the side of the ship. A deep indigo sea churned restlessly below. Other than that, there was only one massive trade ship and three smaller fast ships.

Kyle glanced at Elysia, who stood behind the helmsman at the stern. As if she understood without being told, Elysia gave a small nod.

"The two of you think you can handle us?"

"......."

"Interesting. Very interesting..."

The man muttered lowly. The air on deck felt ready to explode.

One by one, the pirates reached for their cutlasses. The sailors caught up in this stared at the pirates, Jorde, and Kyle with stiff faces. Their desperate expressions seemed to beg someone for an order. Yet Jorde, the boatswain, and the senior sailors could only glance at Kyle. None of them could give a proper command.

Doesn't matter.

Kyle did not care. It didn't matter. I can kill them all myself. The ring held more than enough mana. There were no witnesses. If he wiped them all out and seized one of those fast ships, he could shorten the journey to the Federation.

It would not even be difficult. It would not be exhausting.

That would have been true for the Kyle of the past. But the current Kyle was different. After obtaining the ring in the Ruins of Alenos, he was free of his mana restrictions. Now that he had created personal magic, his control over mana had become more precise than before.

This works out well.

As he murmured that inwardly, Kyle saw the man across from him slowly grip a sword. Not his own cutlass, but the star iron sword he had just seized by force. As the scabbard slid away a little, the dazzling glow of star iron spilled out once more. In the taut atmosphere, Kyle gripped the hilt of the sword at his waist.

Swoooosh...

The rain grew heavier. His soaked black cloak became heavy. Water ran down the silver hilt and seeped into the dark brown deck below. Those watching each other warily only moved their eyes, glancing around them.

It was a tense moment when no one would have been surprised if someone made the first move.

"T-There! A wave!"

Someone shouted. Everyone looked toward the bow, including Kyle.

A massive wave was rushing toward them, so huge that its height could not even be guessed.

The atmosphere that had seemed ready to burst turned into despair in an instant. Kyle tried to estimate the wave's height, but it was too immense to judge.

How many meters was that?

Twenty? Thirty?

No, more than that.

"Get out of the way!"

The wave crashed toward them in an instant. Sailors and pirates alike ran across the deck in confusion, searching for something to grab. Kyle turned instinctively.

"Elysia!"

"Kyle!"

Elysia was coming toward him from the stern. Kyle drew up the mana in his ring and concentrated it in both legs. Without a moment's hesitation, he kicked off the deck. Splinters from the shattered planks flew into the air as the distance between Kyle and Elysia closed quickly.

"Aaaagh!"

"Save me!"

"Hold on! Don't let go!"

Screams rang out from every direction. The wave had already reached them. The ship suddenly tilted downward. Those who had not secured themselves thrashed desperately before sliding down the deck. Several sailors and pirates slammed into something hard and vanished into the sea.

Damn it.

Kyle pushed hard against a plank with his left foot on the deck, which had already tilted more than halfway. The force launched him into the air. At the same time, he wrapped his arms tightly around Elysia as he passed her.

Their falling bodies slammed into the wall of the captain's cabin jutting out from the stern.

Then,

Bang!

Before he could even feel the pain shooting through his spine, the ship lurched violently. From the deck of the trade ship, now nearly vertical, Kyle looked up at the dark gray sky.

Three fast ships had been hooked to the Black Crow Merchant Company's trade ship. The middle one, carrying the pirate leader, burrowed beneath the trade ship.

Crack!

A horrible sound rang through the screams. Kyle heard it clearly.

The massive trade ship the Black Crow Merchant Company had been so proud of broke apart before the Corsa Archipelago's fast ship with absurd ease. In that brief moment when time seemed to slow, Kyle saw everything around him clearly.

A gigantic wave that had appeared out of nowhere.

People collapsing helplessly before it, screaming.

The ship tilting close to a right angle.

The massive trade ship beginning to overturn after colliding with the fast ship.

And finally... the wave itself, like an irresistible natural disaster.

Whoooosh!

Seawater rushed in. A wave with no end in sight raced across the deck through the shattered bow. It was unbelievably fast.

"No!"

"Fuck, hold on tight! Don't let go if you want to live!"

"Captain!"

"Aaaaagh!"

Final screams. Beginning with those closest to the wave, people were swept away like fallen leaves. The enormous wave swallowed his entire field of vision. Kyle held Elysia even tighter in his arms. Unconsciously, he drew on as much mana from the ring as he could.

Ah.

Damn it.

Crash!

The roar of the water struck his ears. Cold seawater pierced his whole body, and Kyle shut his eyes without realizing it. His sense of balance twisted wildly. As if he had fallen into zero gravity, Kyle slowly sank.

Every sound became muffled, as though it had sunk beneath the surface. In the confusion, the only thing that felt clear was the sensation in his arms. Kyle tightened his grip around Elysia as if he would never let go. Her arms wrapped fiercely around his back.

Am I going to die?

Here, beneath the sea. Am I really going to die this pointlessly?

Kyle slowly opened his eyes through the suffocating feeling. The first thing he saw was broken pieces of the ship and hazy sunlight filtering through them.

Light refracted from above drifted deeper into the sea like a mirage. It was as if clusters of light danced with the waves. In that dreamlike sight, enough to make his head spin, Kyle blinked blankly.

Elysia's bright platinum hair swayed before his eyes, clouding his vision.

Ah, ah, ah, ah...

That was when a strange sound he had never heard before echoed from somewhere. Even in the submerged world, that sound came through clearly. It was a voice that seemed not to belong to this world, mysterious and beautiful. A sweet melody that muddled his senses.

A Siren...

For a moment, he remembered a conversation from a few days earlier, when he had eaten with the sailors. Navigator Fabio had said that anyone who fell into the sea in the Pargon Strait would fall asleep, intoxicated by a Siren's song.

At the time, Kyle had dismissed it as ridiculous nonsense.

He only believed what he had seen himself. He did not believe in legends.

Not even dragons in dreams.

Kyle opened and closed his mouth. The remaining bubbles drifted up over his head.

Something familiar slowly rose toward the surface through the buoyancy. Even through his hazy vision, Kyle recognized it at once.

The Dragon Heart.

The white jeweled pendant that should have hung from Elysia's neck kept rising. Even amid the hazy sunlight breaking beneath the surface, the jewel stood out clearly. So did the presence it gave off.

Light. White light. Pure white light. A radiant light no human could ever covet.

The light of Progenitor Dragon Prisia.

Elysia's arms around Kyle's back slowly weakened. The two of them continued to sink slowly into the sea.

His lungs were tightening madly. Kyle felt his vision gradually growing dark. In contrast, the Dragon Heart floating underwater shone brighter with every passing moment.

Just before his consciousness faded, Kyle gathered the last of his strength and reached up.

Toward the most dazzling light.

As if intoxicated by a dream.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried