BBYW Vol. 2 Interlude Part 10 (WN)
Interlude – Dietrich Maxwell’s Adventure
Part 10 – Counterattack Cannonball
Meanwhile, on a Lion Kingdom vessel…
“Found’em!! It’s the White Demons!!”
“Alright! Eliminate them as planned!!”
The discovery of their mortal enemy sent the whole ship bustling.
Galahart Blutleid gazed ahead at the enemy ship, while giving orders to his hectic subordinates.
“Only one ship, and Draco Omari’s on it to boot…I couldn’t ask for a better chance…!!”
The binoculars revealed the presence of a white-haired girl on the ship. The woman smiling beyond the lens then turned in Galahart’s direction.
“…!”
Reminded of his past trauma, he felt a chill run down his spine.
A sinking ship engulfed in flames. The bodies of his comrades floating in the blood-red water. Galahart was clinging to a plank, pretending to be dead. The girl’s boisterous laughter echoing in his ears.
“I won’t let that happen anymore…you’re going down, once and for all…!!”
Galahart clenched his teeth and glared at the enemy ship.
“To your posts, men! Don’t get close to the White Demons’ ship!! Am I clear!? We’re going to take it down from a distance!!”
“Yessir!!”
The crew answered in a trained fashion and moved according to their orders.
～
“Hey, isn’t this looking pretty bad?”
“Yeah, it ain’t good…”
I turned to Gourd and he frowned.
The Lion King ships had our ship surrounded, and continued shooting fire arrows without stopping. They kept a fixed distance from us: they had no intention of engaging in direct combat, apparently.
“Seems like they’re scared of us. They don’t want to fight Grace that much, huh.”
I swung Lancelot while I spoke. The silver blade extended and sliced several fire arrows in the air, dropping them in the sea.
The Lion King pirate crew seemed to know very well the terrifying strength of the woman called Grace Draco Omari.
They planned to keep her on the ship, helpless, as they sank it.
“Fire arrows…gunpowder. I’ve heard rumors, but it really is useful, isn’t it?”
I knew what gunpowder was, but I had never seen it used before.
The anchor-shaped iron arrows were inserted in a sort of tube packed with gunpowder. When lit on fire, it became a propulsive force and could thus shoot arrows at a distant enemy, without leaving them a chance to counterattack.
A perfect weapon for marine warfare, basically.
“Is there any gunpowder on this ship? At this rate, it’s only a matter of time until we sink.”
“…unfortunately, it all got ruined during the last storm.”
So muttered Gourd as he emptied a water pail where a fire arrow had landed.
The White Demons crew was desperately putting down the fires, but the ship had already been hit by several arrows. Holes had been opened on the hull too: it wasn’t going to last much longer.
“Nothing to worry about! Our counterattack starts now!!”
Grace’s stupidly positive shout blew away the creeping prospect of defeat.
“Where did you…what the hell is that?”
Grace was holding a large wooden crate, filled to the brim with black spheres, small enough to fit on your palm.
“Just iron balls. Got a problem with that?”
“…not really, no…but what do you plan to do with them?”
“Gahaha!! I plan to do this!!”
Grace picked up one of the balls and wound up.
“You don’t mean…”
“GRAAAAAHHH!!”
I heard the sound of flexing muscles. Grace’s shoulder twisted enough to make grinding sounds. At the same time, the iron sphere was launched. It drew a wide arc in the air, eventually landing squarely on an enemy ship.
“…I can’t believe this…”
“Gahahaha!! Bullseye!”
“I don’t…I mean…you’re not right in the head, are you…”
The iron spheres had to weigh at least 5kg. What kind of shoulder could toss them like rubber balls?
“And I fought a monster like this…? Holy…”
I felt a bit like I was gloating…in any case, we could finally counterattack.
I readied my sword and shouted to Grace.
“I’m going to protect the ship! You focus on attacking!!”
“Gahaha!! Don’t you order me around, brat!! But you better do what you said!!”
I sliced the fire arrows before they could land. The White Demons ship’s solitary struggle continued — and another iron sphere was shot.