“”Made a hole~!””


  Allen and Elena were happy to see the hole in the ship.

  “… Yes, you’re right! But the hole was made a little too high. Well, it should be okay, but!”


  The magic of the kids drilled a hole in the bow of the boat, but it was a little too high so that no seawater could get in. I was relieved that the ship did not sink, and the pirates seemed to be unharmed.

  “Allen, Elena, you cannot shoot magic as you like.”


  “”Why~? You said to make a hole!””


  “Yes, that’s right. But that was my job. It wasn’t for you to do, right!”


  “”Ehh~ Erm you see, that!””


  “The faster one.”


  “Wins?”


  At any rate, I lightly cautioned them for their selfishness, and they were not happy. And then, of course, they retorted with “the faster one wins”. I wondered where they learned that phrase.

  “Listen well, okay? Even though the people on that ship are bad people, they are still living people. And the magic that the two of you fired just now could have taken their lives. Do you understand?”


  “”… Yeah.””


  I bent down and looked at them and told them earnestly to make them understand what they had done.

  “Oniichan doesn’t want you guys to take people’s lives. If you are about to do it one day, Oniichan will rush and act faster than you, and even if it happens that we won’t have a choice one day… it will be Oniichan’s job to finish.”


  “”Uu~…””


  I don’t want to take people’s lives as much as possible, even if they are bad guys. But, if I or the children are in danger then… I will have no hesitation.

  “You two are good and smart children, so you understand what I’m trying to say, right?”


  Allen and Elena firmly nodded their heads with tears in their eyes.

  “It’s a promise, then. Don’t use your magic against people. Understood?”


  “”… Yes.””


  After Allen and Elena seemed convinced, I turned around to see what had happened to the pirate ship.

  “… Huh? It stopped?”


  Then the ship had stopped for some reason.

  If the children’s magic angered them, they would have rushed straight at us, and if they got scared, they would have run away. And yet, it stopped? What the hell was going on?

  “Why did that ship stop?”


  “Maybe the power source, the magic stone, got broken.”


  “Is the magic stone located on the bow of the ship?”


  “No, it varies from ship to ship. Sometimes it’s in the bow, sometimes in the stern, sometimes in the bottom, sometimes in the captain’s cabin.”


  “Heeh~”


  So there are fixed locations for the magic stones? I heard that the magic stones used to move ships are of a very high rank, so I guess it’s an anti-theft measure?

  “So, the pirates won’t be able to move again?”


  “It’s impossible for them to attack us. Even if they abandoned the ship and tried to escape, they would still be a long way from land, and there are monsters in the sea. I guess they are stuck here. If they want to save their lives, they would have to surrender, no?”


  We stopped our ship, which was moving at full speed, to check on the pirates, and after waiting for a while——


  “… They are not moving.”


  We waited for a little while, but there was no movement from the pirates.

  “Should we just leave them here… and let the country handle them?”


  I didn’t know how to settle this, so I made a proposal to Gaius-san.

  We could head for Cerdik and report back to the government and ask them to send soldiers to capture them. Well, in that case, the pirates might manage to escape, but the ship could be recovered.

  “… This is troubling.”


  Gaius-san groaned in a worry.

  “So, do you want me to board their ship… to catch them?”


  “No, I don’t think so. Their combat strength has not diminished.”


  “Takumi-san, even if we do capture them, how are we going to get to their ship? We cannot get too close with our ship for safety’s sake.”


  “I guess I will just have to swim? It won’t be a problem at this distance.”


  Evan-san and Scott-san were against it, but I took a Mermaid’s Bracelet from my Infinite Storage, and made preparations to swim.

  “Isn’t that a Mermaid’s Bracelet! You have something good on you!”


  “I can use this to get to them stealthily. I still have more bracelets, what do you think? Would you like to come with me, Evan-san, Scott-san?”


  “It can’t be helped~ I will go with you.”


  “Indeed. It would be better for us to go with you.”


  Since Gaius-san was still troubled and could not come to a conclusion, I decided to act on my own.

  I asked Evan-san and Scott-san to join me, and they readily agreed.

  “What about Allen~?”


  “And Elena~?”


  The twins looked like they wanted to go, but they were more reserved because I had warned them earlier.

  “You guys are going to wait here, right?”


  “”Ehh~””


  “There’s something I want you two to do here.”


  “”What is it?””


  “Can you make a blockade?”


  “”A blockade?””


  “Your job is to make sure that we don’t get interrupted on our way to that ship over there.”


  “”Will work!””


  When talking about work, they showed a lot of motivation, so I explained to the kids why they would have to stay on the ship.

  “”Water Pillar.””


  They had the sea create pillars of water around the pirate ship. Of course, they didn’t let it hit the ship.

  “Yeah, like that. Looking good! Can you keep it up while we swim over?”


  “”Yeah, can!””


  With this, the pirates’ eyes would turn to the magician that they thought was on this ship and the water pillars around them.

  “We will be swimming straight in front of the ship, so avoid that area and focus on the two sides of the ship.”


  “”Got it~””


  “And don’t hit the ship. Also, avoid the back of the ship.”


  “”Okay!””


  The children nodded their heads firmly as we went over the precautions again. With this, we were all set.

  “‘If we can sneak through the water and climb up from the stern, we should be able to get there undetected.”


  “Indeed.”


  As expected, Gaius-san, who had been unable to reach a conclusion, agreed to capture the pirates, so I recruited more men. However, as expected, I couldn’t leave this ship empty, so we left the ship in the hands of the merchant guards and decided to go with five additional adventurers, including Evan-san and Scott-san, who had been hired as guards of the ship.

  “Let’s go.”


  We jumped into the sea from a blind spot and managed to enter the pirate ship without anyone noticing.

  At first, we were covert. The pirates were looking at our ship and the sea in a daze, so we quickly and quietly made a few faint first. Then, when the number of pirates decreased, we started to fight.

  It was a bit of a melee, but our forces were able to subdue the pirates without any serious injuries.