“Wait a moment, this one must be yer companion! Do ya think me words are mere bluff now!?”

Saying so, Cap’n Bill dangled Rapunzel—no, now renamed Trot, who was tied with ropes, over the side of the ship.

If he were to let go, Trot would fall without even being able to break her fall.

However, Dorothea’s reaction was cold.

“You. Before you became that shape and form, you were human, right? Then think carefully.”

“What do ye mean?”

“Say you want to go on a trip, and you briefly board a ship that’s not particularly yours. There are other guests hitching a ride on that ship besides you. The voyage ends and you part ways with those other guests, but one day suddenly those other guests say to you, ‘Oh! Friend, my comrade! Please lend me money trusting in our friendship! While you’re at it, it would be even better if you put up a few organs as collateral.’”

“Who be those scallywags that best be finely chopped n’ thrown as chum for the fishies?”

“You think so too, right? You can’t call someone a comrade just because you briefly rode a ship together? I have nothing to do with her, so just do whatever.”

“Ahem.”

Realizing things weren’t going as planned, Cap’n Bill’s face twisted grotesquely.

Unlike ordinary skulls that lacked the ability to express emotions, being a golden skull, it could transform freely like soft clay.

However, contrary to outward appearances, Dorothea’s inner thoughts weren’t so comfortable either.

Why does this skeleton appear now of all times? And why is she captured again?

There were few things as futile as negotiating with a hostage-taker.

After all, there was no guarantee that the other party would honestly release the hostage even if one did as they said.

No, in most cases, the hostage meeting a bad end along with the end of negotiations was the norm.

While it was possible to buy time through negotiation and carry out a rescue operation, in that case, everyone here would know that Trot was useful as a hostage to Dorothea’s party.

That was absolutely something to be avoided.

If it was revealed that Dorothea’s party and Trot had a friendly relationship after provoking the Tower of Control in every way possible, it was clear as day what they would do.

If Trot had officially joined a tower somewhere, she might be protected there, but judging by how she was captured like that, it seemed she hadn’t even taken the entrance exam yet, which made matters even worse.

While Dorothea was lost in thought, the situation became more urgent moment by moment.

“You there! Weren’t you going to submit to investigation! Pull that ship back immediately!” the voice of the guard captain from the Tower of Protection became even sharper.

Of course, the appearance of Cap’n Bill and his crew was far from ordinary at a glance, and the ship itself contained mysterious mana.

Moreover, the cannons mounted on the ship were all aimed at Dorothea’s party, and with Dorothea’s party in between, Bill’s pirate crew and the Tower of Protection forces were facing each other, so it was easy to misunderstand that they might be aiming at themselves.

“Tch, fine then! Forget about petty tricks, this time I’ll truly get revenge for last time! Lads, prepare fer battle!!”

“Aye aye! Cap’n!!”

“If you continue to disobey orders, we will initiate an attack!! Cease your battle stance immediately!”

“Isn’t this warning enough! You must attack right now!”

Amidst the rising voices from front and back, the party whispered.

“This is a real mess, seriously.”

“W-what should we do now?”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ suggests that since it’s come to this, why not turn it into a melee and annihilate both sides!]

“No, I’ve said many times we can’t harm the Tower of Protection. If we show signs of avoiding the fight, even if we cause trouble later, they’ll leave room for negotiation.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says that just waiting like this won’t solve anything!]

“No, that’s true, but…”

Just as Dorothea was considering throwing away all strategy and just overturning everything due to the growing commotion and repeated instigation, it happened.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ changes his words and says that this time it seems like it will be resolved even if we stay still!]

“What?”

Whoosh!

Far away, across the strait, mana surged.

Despite the considerable distance, it was a vast mana release enough to make the skin tingle.

At first, it seemed like the Tower of Control side, left behind across the strait, was using some large-scale magic, but looking again, the location was somewhat different from where the party had crossed.

Above all, there wasn’t the complex, mixed feeling characteristic of magic activated by multiple people cooperating.

It meant mana originating from just one person.

Among the people Dorothea knew, there were very few who could do something like this.

Boom boom boom boom boom boom!

Between the island and the continent, dozens of magic circles spread out like stepping stones.

Complex magic characters were engraved on the magic circles, among which Dorothea could recognize one.

[Acceleration]

“Hey, you…!”

Before Dorothea’s curse of “You crazy bitch” could be completed.

Before the Bill pirate crew and the tower mages could finish grasping the situation.

The White Knight from across the strait, with Gale clinging to his back, charged across the sea at a terrifying speed.

And collided directly with Bill’s pirate ship in its trajectory.

Boom!

Thinking normally, even if something human-sized collided at full force with a huge ship, there shouldn’t be a problem with the ship. Rather, the person might be crushed to death.

However, if that subject was the White Knight, who had received all possible buffs from the White Witch, it was a different story.

A bizarre scene unfolded as if a cart wheel hit by a praying mantis flew backwards, and Bill’s golden ship flew into the sky.

— □■◆▲▽◎!?

The crew’s screams mixed together, becoming an indescribable uproar.

Like marbles spilling from a bowl, the crew members scattered on the ground, and only Cap’n Bill tried to face the approaching White Knight in the midst of this, but as the Tin Knight had experienced before, the White Knight in full buff state was like a human-sized siege weapon.

A strike with overwhelming output shattered Bill’s defense in an instant and decapitated him.

“Uh, uhhh!?”

Trot, who had escaped from Bill’s grasp and was spinning in the air, tried to break her fall somehow, but no matter how skilled in martial arts she was, it was impossible to move normally while tightly bound with ropes.

Just as she closed her eyes tightly, bracing for the impact to come.

Someone gently wrapped their arms around Trot’s waist, and landed softly on the ground while carrying her like a princess.

Golden hair and violet eyes with beautiful features looked down at Trot with a gentle smile.

Perhaps liking the outfit she wore in the library world last time, Gale, dressed in clothing reminiscent of a magician, gently escorted Trot.

Trot’s face became dazed at the unbalanced nature of someone who looked like a fairy tale princess but acted like a prince.

“Are you alright, miss?”

“Y-yes.”

“I’m glad.”

Gale smoothly raised a card from somewhere and used it to cut the ropes binding Trot’s body.

Without seeming to exert any particular force, just touching the surface, the ropes were cleanly cut without causing any injury to Trot.

Every action of the White Witch was unnecessarily cool.

While the pirates who had been thrown to the ground were being subdued one by one by the Tower of Protection forces, Gale turned her body to look at Dorothea.

“Dorothea! Isn’t it too bad-mannered to leave first after entrusting someone with a task! No, even if we let that slide, there’s something else I absolutely can’t forgive! I heard everything from Sig! You said you kept Sig out of the battle to keep me from getting involved, don’t look down on me too much! Did I look like someone who would be afraid of such things? I’m disappointed! Dorothea? Are you listening now?”

“…Hey, don’t you have something to say to me before that?”

“Hmm?”

Gale tilted her head and looked Dorothea up and down.

Seeing Dorothea soaked from head to toe in seawater, Gale said, “Dorothea, no matter how excited you got coming to the sea, shouldn’t you at least wear a swimsuit if you’re going to swim?”

“You’re the one who poured water on me, you damn bitch!!”

Dorothea’s staff swung in a full swing towards Gale’s head.

But as always, the White Witch effortlessly avoided the attack by just bending her upper body.

Dorothea shouted angrily.

“Hey, Tin Can!! It’s the time for battle that you love so much! Slice her up!!”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says nothing good comes from calling a berserker to a fight between friends!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ points out that if we fight Gale here now, the incident that was about to be resolved will become even more complicated!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ politely advises his immature master that she needs to distinguish between time and situation!]

“Who are you!?”

While master and servant were squabbling loudly, the White Knight joined the party, grasping Bill’s head in his hand.

The spear in his other hand was constantly moving, because golden dust-like substance kept gathering under Bill’s head trying to regenerate his body, so he had to keep cutting it off.

It was a scene where it was difficult to tell whether it was funny or should be feared.

“Ya damn wench, ya’ve done it now…! Are ya also in cahoots with those meddlers!”

“Wow, you can talk well in that state. Blessing? Curse? It seems like something conceptually defined as ‘immortality’. Dorothea, is there any way? If we leave this, he’ll revive and attack again.”

“Don’t try to move on as if nothing happened and apologize, you fool.”

While Dorothea glared at Gale resentfully, disliking the damp feeling all over her body, she soon sighed as if there was no helping it.

This was the second time being attacked by Cap’n Bill. Counting just encounters, it was already the third time.

It was an undeniable fact that some kind of countermeasure was needed.

“This isn’t really what it’s meant for, but we’re in a hurry so there’s no choice.”

As Dorothea twirled her left hand in the air as if shaking an non-existent weight, her chain ring transformed into a birdcage.

“The cage size is right, but the entrance is too small for him to fit. Tin Can, can you break this head a bit?”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says to leave it to him!]

“S-stop! Stop, ya evil beings!!”

Snip snip.

The tin cutter operated, and Bill’s skull, broken into pieces like a bizarre puzzle, was stuffed into Dorothea’s cage.

Towards Bill’s head starting to regenerate again inside, Dorothea said, “A pirate calling others evil?”

Adelaide and some others thought that this scene looked evil no matter how one looked at it, but they didn’t voice that thought.

It was a long-standing tradition that there was nothing good in irritating a witch’s mood.

After resolving the Cap’n Bill situation like that, all that remained was the Tower of Protection forces.

Glancing at the guard captain who looked like he couldn’t understand the unfolding situation at all, Gale asked the party, “So, what should we do now? I’d like an explanation of the current situation.”

After a brief whispered discussion.

Gale Elilaz. 4th rank mage of the Tower of Protection and direct mentee of the Witch of the North, stepped forward and spoke, “We need to see the Tower Head, so could you open the way? Ah, it would be even better if you guide us directly. And we’d like to entrust you with the custody of the pirate ship and other pirates.”

“…”

It was a silence that seemed to have much to say, but what could they do?

This was how a society based on connections works.

***

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