NOVEL NEXT Chapter 80: Got Captured
「HAHA! IT'S A LUXURIOUS PASSENGER SHIP!」
「IT MUST BE FILLED WITH FILTHY RICH PASSENGERS!」
The pirates boarded the passenger ship, yelling.
「Kuh! Let's repel these guys! We cannot let them enter the ship!」
「「「OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!」」」
The adventurers were making their move.
Thus, a series of fierce battles unfolded in various places on the deck.
「WOW! A WOMAN! GYA?!」
「I'M A HOLY KNIGHT! DON'T LOOK DOWN ON ME!」
Naturally, Lumile, with her strong sense of justice, couldn't just look on without doing anything to help the adventurers.
She sent the pirate who jumped at her flying with a thrust from her spear, and then she leapt into the battle.
Although the pirates had the advantage in numbers, the adventurers hired by the ship were superior in terms of quality.
Even the quality of their equipment was far above that of the pirates.
But although they’d overwhelmed the pirates in the beginning, the adventurers’ situation gradually took a turn for the worse.
「Guh… this dizziness…」
「M-My condition… is strange…」
Despite having no injuries whatsoever, the adventurers' movements became sluggish, and they fell one after the other.
「HEY?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?! FIGHT PROPERLY!」
Captain Popol, their employer, shouted at them, but it didn't change the situation at all.
Meanwhile, even Lumile, who was resisting vigorously, fell to her knees.
「M-My consciousness…!」
She was so sleepy. She felt like she would fall asleep the moment she let her guard down.
Upon closer inspection, the fallen adventurers were snoring loudly.
「What in the wo—」
「It's a sleeping drug, captain.」
「?!」
The captain turned around upon hearing the voice from behind, finding his subordinate was looking at the situation with a satisfied look on his face.
「WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS, PEIN?!」
「Every one of them drank the tea I gave them without any doubt in their minds.」
「D… Don't tell me… the sleeping drug?」
「Yeah, it works perfectly.」
「W-WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?! HOW… HOW CAN AN EXCELLENT SAILOR LIKE YOU BE WORKING TOGETHER WITH THOSE PIRATES?!」
「HAHAHA! Working together? Your guess is wrong in the first place.」
「What?」
「Actually…」
At the next moment, the figure of Vice-Captain Pein transformed.
Standing in his place was a completely different person.
「What… the? WHERE IS THE REAL PEIN?!」
「That subordinate of yours is long dead.」
「What?」
「I killed him to take his place.」
Appearance aside, even his tone was different from that of Pein.
Lumile, who’d heard all of that while desperately fighting drowsiness, finally understood the mystery behind her drowsiness.
「Transformation… magic!」
「Correct, young lady.」
「But, it's not just limited to outer appearance, I can also copy the inside too…」
Normal transformation magic could only copy another person's outer appearance.
But the man before them hadn’t just copied the outer appearance. His personality, tone, even his skills and knowledge resembled that of the real Pein.
Thus, he managed to fool even his superior, Captain Popol.
「Kukuku, this is the true power of my transformation magic. I just need to put my act together and meet up with my comrades… and that's how we managed to rob a few ships. No matter how much armament you prepared, there's nothing you can do against an inside enemy.」
Yes, it seems this man was the reason behind the frequent attack of passenger and merchant ships.
Sure enough, if he took the place of a skilled sailor, it would make it easier for him to wreck the whole chain of command from the inside.
「Kukuku, this passenger ship seems to be loaded with lots of money.」
「I-IN YOUR DREAMS!」
「So what are you going to do now, Captain? As you can see, all the adventurers have already been put to sleep, right?」
「!!」
And then, I realized that all of the adventurers had fallen into a deep sleep.
As many of them couldn't fight against the drowsiness, they just flopped down onto the deck, uninjured.
Limule herself was about to reach her limit.
Blood flowed out from the wound in my lips that I bit to fight the drowsiness, but I still couldn't fight back the drowsiness that already overwhelmed my sense of pain.
If only I didn't drink that damned tea, but there was no use in regretting now.
「Hehehe, the only one left is that young lady over there.」
「Quite a fine beauty, ain't she?」
「I'm looking forward to her performance.」
The pirates approached Limule with vulgar smiles on their faces.
Although she managed to grip her lance, her consciousness had already dimmed so much that she couldn't differentiate between front and back anymore.
On the other hand, she ended up letting go of her lance while fighting against her drowsiness.
「Worry not, young lady! Everything will be finished during your sleep!」
「Stop! What are you trying to— GUAH?!」
「Cap…tain…」
Limule had finally succumbed to the sleeping drug after the captain got blown away.
◇◇◇
===A Certain Undead With Communication Disorder===
「What's happening here?」
I don't think that the pirates were attacking us, but the silence in the ship was just too creepy.
I heard two or three sounds of cannons being fired, but everything became so quiet after that.
Did they manage to repel the pirates?
I'd already drank all the tea brought by the vice captain.
It was delicious. Maybe I should ask for a second helping.
The female Holy Knight should be back soon if they manage to drive away the pirates.
『Testing, testing, passengers, can you hear me?』
At that moment, the voice resounded in the room again.
But unlike the previous, polite tone, this one's voice sounded like that of a ruffian.
Did they change the person in charge of the announcement?
『Let me get straight to the point. We, the pirates, have already commandeered this ship. I feel bad for saying this, but this is the end of your pleasure trip. Whoops, you better not make any noise, you know? You should do as we say since your lives ain't mean nothing to us.』
…Eh? Seriously?