Naval Battle off Twentino: The Surprise Attack

Thanks to the players' efforts, the pirates attacking the merchant ship were defeated. Although the merchant ship suffered casualties, including its captain, the players succeeded in rescuing more than seventy percent of the people aboard. The survivors were deeply grateful to them and lavished praise on the players and sailors. Few people disliked being sincerely thanked and praised, and the players seemed rather pleased.

All the supplies stolen by the pirates were returned to the merchant ship, while the players collected the pirates' items. There was no way wandering pirates would possess powerful weapons or precious treasures, and besides, there were more players than pirates. Their earnings per person amounted to little more than a pittance.

"That was easier than I expected. I thought we'd have a tougher time."

"Yeah. But these guys were just weak. I hear you can't take on pirate hunting in the Aquaria Archipelago unless you're over level 80. They say those waters are a sea of carnage."

"A sea of carnage...? Sounds like we'd lose more than we'd earn."

Luke and Akatsuki carried supplies off the pirate ship while chatting. They had fought the pirates after boarding as well, but the enemies had been so weak that the battle offered no real challenge. Every player had begun to wonder whether the pirates had even been worth calling them in for.

A relaxed mood spread among them after such an easy victory. Surely they could defeat the 'Austin Gang' just as easily. Most of them were barely able to suppress their laughter at the thought of making a fortune without breaking a sweat.

"Don't let your guard down. Get cocky, and you'll get tripped up."

"That's right, Akatsuki. You always get careless at the last moment."

The few people who had not let their guard down remained vigilant. Meg, who had shown off a long-range shot, and Rouge, the mage in Akatsuki's party, cautioned their leader. The two men exchanged glances and gave sheepish, wry smiles.

"Sorry, Meg."

"But they're not much different from the guys just now, right? Sure, there'll be a few more of them, but..."

"You heard the information beforehand, didn't you? It said there were two somewhat strong ones and one who was a cut above the rest. It also said the governor's army lost because every one of them uses unusually good weapons. And there's more..."

"Okay. Sorry. I won't let my guard down again."

As Rouge continued listing reason after reason why they must not let their guard down, Akatsuki bowed his head and apologized with a serious expression. He knew full well that he could never win an argument with her. She was rather like an overbearing mother, but pointing that out would make her fly into a rage, so he kept the thought to himself.

Luke and Akatsuki changed their mindset, but they did not go around warning all the other players not to let their guard down. They were competing to see who would earn the most credit in the battle against their main target. Doing so would only make them seem like annoying killjoys who dampened everyone's mood, and there was no guarantee it would make anyone focus.

"That's fine as long as you understand."

"More importantly, the captain's about to return to patrol."

"Got it."

After the extermination party finished removing the items, they sank the pirate ships with magic and martial techniques. The players thought they should take the ships back with them, but sinking them was the customary thing to do.

With the exception of the Aquaria Archipelago, nearly every pirate ship was a captured merchant or military vessel. They were the stages of massacres where everyone aboard had been slaughtered, and sailors, who tended to be superstitious, did not want to board them. The few exceptions were military vessels whose crews had deserted or ships whose entire crews had died from a lack of food or a mutiny. They were still ill-omened ships.

Some players wanted to buy the ships for themselves, but the sailors talked them out of it. They pointed out that no resident would want to board such a ship and that, depending on the circumstances, they might even be mistaken for pirates. Some still argued that they could replace the ship's parts, but the sailors flatly declared that buying a newly built ship would be sturdier and cheaper, leaving them crestfallen.

In fact, the reason Ann disliked used ships was partly that the refitting costs would be higher. As she had told Izam by email, she did want a new ship, but the cost was the real reason. There was one other reason as well, but the information was uncertain even to her, so she had not told anyone besides the 'Blue-Scale Pirates.'

"Raise anchor. Don't hit the ship beside us, or we'll get chewed out for being clumsy. We'll create a headwind and back away..."

"Captain! New ships are coming from behind! There are four of them... That's our main target!"

"The 'Austin Gang'!? Now of all times... Hurry! If we dawdle, we'll be killed!"

Just as they were about to return to their patrol, the fleet of the 'Austin Gang' appeared from beyond the horizon behind them at full speed. The sailors hurried to begin moving, but the four ships were alongside the two pirate ships, leaving far too little distance between them. They had been planning to move slowly to avoid a collision, but they no longer had time for that.

"Aaaaaah!?"

"Hey, hey, hey!?"

The four ships assigned to the extermination party were operated by veteran sailors. They were startled by the sudden approach from behind, but they did not panic. Following the captains' instructions, they tried to move quickly while maintaining order.

However, the merchant ship was still there. It had just been attacked by pirates, and it had lost its captain, the person who held everyone together. The new pirate attack sent the crew into a panic, and they tried to move the ship without even looking around. As a result, the ships crashed into one another with tremendous force.

It would have been bad enough if their sides had merely scraped together and stripped away some paint, but the merchant ship's bow slammed into the stern of one of the extermination party's ships and broke. To make matters worse, water seemed to be pouring in through the split, and the merchant ship was in an uproar.

"Gaaaaah!?"

"You're kidding! They can reach us from there!?"

While they were unable to move, the 'Austin Gang' began firing arrows. The Centaurs' bows had a long range, and firing them at an angle allowed the arrows to travel an incredible distance. Flaming arrows rained down indiscriminately on the merchant ship and the extermination party's ships.

The players were no slouches, however, and immediately extinguished the flames with 【Water-Ice Magic】 and 【Storm Magic】. Their follow-up flaming arrows were deflected by martial techniques, so apart from the initial surprise volley, they had failed to inflict any meaningful damage. In fact, the players' archers were nearly within range to take direct aim. They were about to deliver a painful counterattack, and they did not doubt for a moment that the pirates would panic.

"...Huh? What's that?"

The first person to notice something strange was one of the lookouts. Carrying a magical pair of binoculars, he had been watching the pirate ships from atop the mast while somehow evading the flaming arrows. When ordinary pirates realized that their flaming arrows were ineffective, they would either continue firing them while closing in to board or turn around and flee.

The pirates, however, stopped firing their arrows. They pulled away the cloth covering the cargo on deck. Several devices were underneath it, and the pirates began installing them along the gunwales.

"Captain! The pirates are doing something! They're attaching tools I've never seen to the gunwale!"

"Tools you've never seen?"

"A huge tube with a square box attached to it! I have no idea what it is!"

After hearing about the mysterious tools the pirates had brought out, the captain grew suspicious and immediately tried to gather those with high defense on the port side facing the pirate ships. But the pirates' scythe of death had already been brought down.

BOOM-BOOM!

Just as two heavy sounds seemed to overlap, something flew at high speed from the pirate ships and slammed into both an extermination-party ship and the merchant ship. The decks and gunwales were destroyed, sending fragments flying and damaging sailors and players alike. Unlike the captains, who stared blankly without understanding what had happened, the players guessed the objects' identity and were aghast.

"A-a cannon!?"

"How is that even allowed!?"

The explosion and the tubular devices immediately made the players think of bombardment by ship-mounted cannons. The existence of gunpowder made through 【Alchemy】 was known among players, but it was not generally known that guns existed. Some people, such as Izam and his companions, had happened to obtain ancient guns, but they kept them secret.

The fact that they had been shelled shocked the players mentally far more than it damaged them physically. They were surprised that cannons existed, but what truly shook them was that pirates possessed such weapons. To make matters worse, there were not merely two gunports—each ship had six.

"What's going on!? Why are there cannons!?"

"How should I know!? Block it with a shield—Gyaaaaaah!?"

"Hey! The shield users got blown away!?"

"Someone! Somebody counterattack!"

"We would if we could! We're still out of range, damn it!"

"We could beat them in a straight fight!"

"Is this the Armada!?"

A total of twenty-four gunports belched fire at once, and the projectiles they launched at high speed were devastatingly powerful. They exploded the instant they hit, damaging a wide area. The players struck directly had high defense, so they did not die, but they were sent tumbling across the deck.

The things being fired amid thunderous booms were not actually cannonballs. The weapon used by the pirates was a prototype of a new type of ballista, combining the technology and ideas of Metallica, Scar, Iris, and Shiitake.

Based on the ballistas Metallica commonly used, it had been reinforced with patterns carved by Scar, while Iris and Shiitake had given it a shape that could be mounted along a gunwale. It could launch any long, slender object that fit into its magazine, and it was a powerful weapon akin to an explosive-shell ballista, detonating whenever its ammunition came into contact with something. It even had a protective shield for the shooter, making it difficult to destroy. Once further improvements and mass production were in place, it would surely be formally adopted as a defensive weapon for bases.

"We're in range!"

"Get cocky, will you!?"

"Counterattack!"

The pirates had continued approaching while firing their ballistas, but that had brought them within the players' range. The players fired their arrows at full strength, driven by anger. Some even used ultimate techniques instead of martial techniques, and the lead ship was heavily damaged when it took the attacks head-on.

After one of their ships was sunk, the pirates judged it too dangerous to come any closer. They turned around on the spot and resumed firing while retreating. After sinking two of the extermination party's ships, they sailed away at their leisure.