Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku

16-29. Garleon Union (5)

Satou here. I like playing naval battle simulation games and submarine games where it’s mainly about searching your enemy. Racking your brain trying to root out the enemy before they could find you is fun, don’t you think so.

◇

『Satou, we’re done peer reviewing the magic you gave earlier.』

『Nn, worked hard.』

『Thank you. Did you find any problem?』

『Perfect.』

『Since the mana control code has been completely left out, even an expert magician would have a hard time controlling the magic, but I don’t think there is any problem in the execution itself.』

Oh good.

I had given it a try in the middle of the night myself, but a cross check is important as an insurance before a flaw could manifest itself.

『But really, when did you find the time to develop that kind of magic?』

『Well, I had nothing else to do during the cruise.』

And so I tried making <> magic to kill times. It was relatively simple since I took the basic code from the existing ones.

This magic creates steel golem ships complete with a set of living statues as their dummy sailors.

The hardest part was making these living statues looking like humans.

Additionally, each golem ship only has 10 mana cannons on it, so it’s weak for a golem at level 50.

Of course it also can’t fly in the sky like an airship.

Each cast will create 12 ships, so this magic should prove useful in this pirate subjugation if I cast it a lot.

I could have increased their firepower if I equipped them with high-powered mana cannons, but that would result in quick depletion of the mana supply, so I didn’t put them this time.

I’ll modify it the next chance I get.

◇

"--Admiral! The support fleet is lagging behind."

I heard a crew reporting to the admiral.

"Tch, damn those money grabbers, they must be skimping on the magic cores."

The admiral clicked his tongue to hear the report.

Seems he overlooks the fact that he abused wind magicians to do the work without magic cores himself.

This fleet has 9 garleok army ships, 12 escort ships, and 4 reinforcement ships sent from other cities of Garleon Union that were on the port, 25 ships in total.

In addition, 7 of the guard ships have pirates on board, and there are even pirates slipped in half of the union reinforcement ships.

They will probably start a revolt once the melee begins, I should watch and stop them at the right time.

『Satou.』

Mia’s voice reached me through space magic [Tactical Talk].

『Pirates, sunset direction.』

『Thank you, Mia.』

Looks like the airship patrolling in the sky has caught a sight of the pirates.

Almost at the same time, a flashlight installed under the airship for communication also flashed, informing me the same thing.

It’s a secret that the data from the light signals is more abundant than Mia’s words.

『Intercept?』

『No, let’s observe them, I’d like to know the capability of this subjugation force.』

From what the Map shows me, there’s no ship getting attacked by pirates, so it should be fine.

"Admiral! Warship sighted at two o’clock! They don’t have a national flag on them."

About half a hour later, a birdkin soldier who was patrolling the area gave such report.

"Alright! Look for an ambush, wind magicians."

The wind magicians who were giving speed to the ship stopped their magic and began to chant search magic.

"Engine unit! Raise the magic furnace output."

"Aye aye sir."

Vibrations and mana wave coming from below got stronger.

"Admiral, should we get the mana cannons ready?"

"Umu... Scouts! How many ships there are!"

"I see one ship!"

"Then let’s sink that one and raise our fleet morale. Prepare the mana cannon."

"Aye aye sir."

The gunport is opened, and the waterproof cloth covering the mana cannons downstairs are removed.

"Admiral! One warship at two o’clock, distance 2200."

The wind magicians give their report after the mana cannons had finished preparing.

Looks like Garleon Union’s unit of length is similar to yard.

The distance is about 2 kilometers.

"Alright, no ambush it is."

The admiral grinned.

『Summon?』

『--No, there’s no need for the artificial spirits.』

Mia asked if she should support us with artificial spirits, but that would be a total overkill.

『Mwu』

『Don’t worry, you’ll have your chance later, hold on a bit okay.』

『I would like to take part too.』

『Yes, of course. Sistina-sama too, please have patient until your turn. Until then, could you please help patrolling the area with the gargoyle unit?』

『Yes, leave it to me.』

The girls get their turn for real when the pirates have amassed their main force.

However, Lady Karina and Princess Sistina might have their turn early.

Big red spots shown on the Map tell me just that.

I check out several red spots cruising under the pirate fleet.

Their identity are that of Torpedo Squids and a Squid Kraken.

There are 20 of the former averaging at level 12, and the latter consists of only one at level 45.

No wait, there’s around 30 Sea Orcs whose levels are at single digit following them too.

Every one of the monsters have this unusual state of [Subordination].

It’s probably a type of Tame.

These monsters are advancing under water, so wind magic search cannot find them.

At a glance, the captain who didn’t search underwater with water magic might seem incompetent, but I can understand why he’s hesitant to largely deplete the fleet mana to do that.

Even though there are pirates accompanied by seaborne demi-human, their war force cannot be compared to one pirate warship.

In addition, about 10-20 kilometer behind that pirate ship, the pirate main force is gradually amassing, it seems like the wind magic earlier couldn’t pick them up.

They also have several Squid Krakens coming with them, so Mia and Princess Sistina will have plenty of chance.

◇

"Warship in sight!"

The pirate ship came into sight on the horizon before long.

"Black pirate ship?"

"Oy! Look at that pirate’s flag!"

"Skull coiled by sea snakes--It’s the Skeleton Archduke’s ship!"

According to the Map, Skeleton Archduke isn’t on that ship.

They probably let their subordinates hoist the flag to cause confusion and to act as a warning.

"That flag, weird~?"

"Tama think so nodesu?"

Tama and Pochi who came out of the shadow on my feet bent their body forward on the handrail.

It’s already time for lunch break, I guess?

Fortunately, the people around us are busy preparing for the battle, they haven’t noticed the two.

"You two, women aren’t allowed to be on this ship, so go to the ship where Karina-sama and the others are and watch from there, okay."

The two who were looking up at me looked dejected.

"Nyu~?"

"Too bad nodesu."

Nevertheless, the two obediently went into the shadow and got on board the airship in the sky.

『Send the dummy signal.』

『Yes siir』

I asked the brownie on the airship to send out a dummy light signal.

This ship’s navigator who noticed that signal looks at me in askance.

"Admiral, there’s a high chance the enemy is being accompanied by monsters."

"Accompanied? We knew about the tamed Sea Orcs already."

"No, not that--"

"Sir Pendragon! I’m busy with the battle. Act like an observer would and observe our fight quietly!"

I wanted to warn him that the monsters were Torpedo Squids and a Squid Kraken, but he turned a deaf ear.

The fleet will suffer serious damage if this keeps up, I should drop down Karina Bomb the moment Squid Kraken shows itself to prevent that.

As for the Torpedo Squids, well, considering we have 25 warships, they should manage somehow.

『Karina-sama, it’s about time for you to show up--』

I talked to Lady Karina in the sky above to ease her boredom.

◇

"Those bunch are heading straight to us. Are they getting desperate?"

"Hmph, this is all those worthless pirates amount to. Fire the mana cannons all at once when they get within range."

The fleet begins to encircle the pirate ship and turns their flanks toward it.

"The pirates aren’t attacking, are they?"

I tried asking the navigator.

"They’re on the downwind, so they’re still outside the arrow range."

Is that really true?

We’re only about 100 meter apart from each other though.

"Mana cannons, get ready to fire--fireeeeeeeee!"

The mana cannons spewed flame with the admiral’s command, the consort ships next to the flagship shot out their mana cannons one after another.

"Oh?"

A wall of water appeared in front of the pirate ship’s black hull, warding off the mana cannon flame balls one after another.

That’s probably the magic of the Squid Kraken under the sea.

"I-impossible! Fire the next volley!"

Seeing that, the admiral issued an order in flurry.

"We haven’t finished reloading the mana cannons yet."

The pirates will charge in if this keeps up.

There’s an extra large horn-shaped battering ram on the pirate ship’s hull.

Looks like they were planning to charge using the horn and get on board this ship from the start.

I took out a magic bow and several steel arrows from my magic bag.

"Admiral! The enemy ship is on a collision route."

"Eey, to the starboard!"

The flagship tried to take a sudden turn to evade the collision, but our speed had fallen because of the forced maneuver.

And that’s when the Torpedo Squids are coming.

"Admiral! Monsters underwater!"

"Just ignore those Sea Orcs!"

"It’s not them, it’s Torpedo Squids!"

"W-what’d you say--"

Looks like the flagship crew finally noticed the Torpedo Squids.

These monsters are only level 20, but their length is about half the flagship.

"I’ll lend you a hand."

I announced that, and aimed my arrows at the Torpedo Squids swimming underwater.

"Mere arrows can’t possibly work underwater--"

I shot out three arrows while judging the timing and killed seven Torpedo Squids.

I’d feel bad if I killed them all and take all the credits, so I left three of them half-dead.

"--They hit and even killed them?"

The admiral who was going to sneer at me was surprised with his eyes wide open.

No no, do your admiral job than doing that reaction.

His subordinates were taking actions all the while he was getting surprised, water magicians were shooting the Torpedo Squids with water lances, and the wind magicians were chanting evasion magic.

The ship crew were earnestly controlling of the sail using the rope to re-accelerate the ship.

"It’s coming out."

I point at the rising water surface in front of us.

The sea was split and ten tentacles surfaced at first.

The tip of those tentacles are adorned with harpoon-like thorned claws, each of the suction pads is larger than a person.

"I-it’s Kraken!"

"R-run away! This ship’s gonna sink!"

The crew fell into panic when they saw it.

Of course that applies not only to the flagship but the entire consort ships.

The Squid Kraken hasn’t even shown its main body, yet it’s already turned into a pandemonium here.

And it seems like the admiral and the ship captains that should have been the ones who calm them down are also barely able to keep their composure.

『Karina-sama, go on and do it.』

『I’ve been waiting for this!』

Lady Karina sounded so happy in her voice transmitted with space magic.

『Strong wind is blowing to the west so--』

『Kungfuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu, kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick, desuwaaaaaaaaaaaaa!』

Lady Karina fell down while shouting the technique name out loud before I could warn her to be careful of the wind.

No no, you shouldn’t shout out that technique name here.

I don’t think there’s anyone calm enough to hear it though.

Lady Karina who was making a fall as fast as a meteorite, while kicking the air to correct her course, pierced through the Squid Kraken.

『Vorpal Piercing, nanodesu!』

『Vanquish Tornado~?』

Following after Lady Karina, Pochi and Tama fell down with new techniques.

The Squid Kraken’s HP was already zero by then, I’ll keep my mouth shut regarding that.

"All hands! Capture the pirate ship!"

I put strength on my stomach and shouted out toward the people who were panicking at the sudden falling meteorites.

The mana cannons that had finished reloading shot down the mast of the pirate ship that had lost the Squid Kraken protection, and opened a huge hole on the pirate ship’s hull.

The pirates got on board the second warship that barely evaded the battering ram.

We’re boarding the pirate ship ourselves from the opposite side.

"There’s a strong one."

"Must be one of the Skeleton Archduke’s confidants, Skeleton Knight Zamud."

Although he’s called Skeleton Knight, the guy is not a demon or a monster, but a former knight of Parion Holy State wearing a skeleton-like mask.

He’s level 38, and apparently specializes in close quarter combat.

Lots of sailors would die if we left him alone, I should give them a help a bit.

"Heave-ho, there."

I sent Zamud’s sword flying with my magic bow, and shot his dominant arm.

And while I’m a it, for the pirate’s ship captain--

"Punch, desuwa!"

--Lady Karina who had seaweeds decorating her head landed her fist.

The pirate captain got sent rebounding on the deck with arched back.

"Here comes Pochi, nanodesu!"

"Tama comes too~?"

Pochi and Tama who boarded the deck took the shupin pose.

"Pochi, Tama, it’s all thanks to you that I was able to take out the villain!"

Looks like the two threw Lady Karina on the deck earlier.

"Don’t worry be happy~?"

"It’s too early to let your guard down nodesuyo!"

Pochi kicked and sent a pirate, who was going to attack Lady Karina from behind, flying.

The pirates who charged in all at once got a beat down by Tama and Lady Karina.

You might be deceived by their cute looks, but these three are more brutal than the gigantic kraken earlier.

『Caught them.』

Mia’s water spirits seem to have captured pirates who were trying to flee.

『Satou, the patrolling gargoyles reported that more than 20 pirate ships have gathered.』

『Thank you very much, Sistina-sama.』

Now then, there is still some time before the enemy main force finished gathering, but there’s something I need to do before that.

"Sir Pendragon, I give you my thanks for your assistance, but yer’ overstepping your bounds!"

The admiral pressed me on while scattering his saliva around.

This one is more depressing to deal with than the pirates.

62 enemy ships remaining.

They’ve split into three groups of around 20 ships, each lurking on reefs and islands dominated with complex tides, waiting for our fleet in ambush.

Once this fleet fell for the most conspicuous decoy, they would undoubtedly encircle us.

I have a feeling that that will definitely happen if we leave the command to this admiral.

I’d rather be on the side doing the encirclement than be on the receiving end, thank you.