Risha’s First Battle
Svetlana, returned to Eternal Slave, glanced at me sideways and began speaking in a slow, hesitant voice.
“On my way to the king’s palace, carrying my queen’s letter. But halfway there, I was attacked by a monster. I fought desperately….”
“Got taken down, huh?”
Svetlana nodded.
“Sustained a fatal wound. I thought my consciousness was fading—then, suddenly, the king’s face was right in front of me.”
“Huh. Heard that story a few times already.”
I glanced at Risha beside me. She nodded.
She’d been listening to stories from the humans who’d returned from Schreivju—most of them were exactly the same as Svetlana’s.
Attacked by a monster. Killed. Woke up like this.
“Risha.”
“Yes?”
“Have you heard anything from Mira about the old days?”
Second Slave Mira.
One of the Eternal Slaves found among those who once defeated Schreivij.
Looks like the current Svetlana.
“I’ve heard. She was an Eternal Slave even before the monster attacked her.”
“So that’s useless, then.”
I looked at Svetlana again.
“Anything ring a bell? Anything at all—memory, feeling, anything.”
“…No.”
She scrunched her brow, hummed thoughtfully, but ended up saying that anyway.
Not ideal. But still a bit of a problem.
Unknown causes aren’t good for the mind. I’d really like to figure this out somehow.
“Ah.”
Svetlana suddenly spoke, as if something had just come back to her.
“What is it?”
“There was someone with me, heading toward Rebeck.”
“Was that one… also an Eternal… regret?”
“Yes. She was killed before me—by the same monster—so she could get me out.”
“So that means… there’s a good chance she’s turned into a monkey too.”
We look at each other, nodding.
People killed at the same time have, in the past, become monkeys and stuck together.
Or maybe they were killed at the same time, turned into monkeys, but went their separate ways—only to be rescued by us later and brought back to human form.
Either way, the odds were high that Svetlana’s companions had also become monkeys.
☆
Slave battleship Risha. I was on the bridge.
Mira and a few other women were there too. Mira sat in the captain’s chair, staring at me.
“Are you sure this is okay? I think you’d be better suited to sit there.”
“Risha’s your ship. Act like a captain—just relax.”
“…Alright. I’ll do that.”
She closes her eyes for a moment, resets her face.
Back to the sharp, composed look of a captain—and commander of the elite guard.
“So what do we do now? I came straight to the middle of that deserted wasteland, just like you said.”
“Lure the monsters here. Take them down on this ship.”
“Take them all?”
“No, skip the apes. Let them pass. Deal with them in close combat. Otherwise—”
“Then if they turn human in the middle of the wasteland, we’ll just blast them with the battleship’s cannons, right?”
“That’s right.”
Nods. Mia’s quick with the answers—good.
“Can you do it?”
“I’ll show you.”
Mia grins, then calls out to the operator-type girl standing a little apart.
“Just like I said. Tell everyone—Akitto said he’s counting on you.”
“Got it!”
She nods hard, then sends the message through the ship’s comms.
I turn to Mia.
“You didn’t say that, though?”
“Boosting morale. Isn’t that okay?”
“Whatever. But doing stuff like this—”
Just as she started to speak, a cheer erupted.
Louder than anything heard from the bridge, the women aboard the ship began shouting in unison.
“Huh.”
Mia grinned, pulling her lips up into a smirk.
“Ah, I see.”
“Rewarding the ones who’ve done well would boost morale even more, don’t you think?”
“Do whatever you want—no, just the one who’s done the most.”
“You know that already.”
Mia smirked again.
She sent the news out through the ship’s messenger system. The cheers grew even louder.
The shift in morale was unmistakable.
Better figure out what the reward should be.
“Right, let’s move. Gotta find those monkeys.”
“I’ll handle that.”
“What’s your plan?”
“Like this.”
She pulled out a new card and cast a spell.
Spent one unit of magic power—Encounter Up.
“What’s that? Isn’t it the same as before?”
“Just watch.”
“Captain! Enemy silhouette approaching from afar. Monster.”
“Already?”
“You did this, huh?”
“Yeah. A spell that draws monsters in.”
“Can you really do something like that?”
“Thanks to you all.”
“Huh?”
Mira stares, stunned.
“S-so, is that really true?”
“Yeah.”
“……”
Mira swallows hard. The other kids on the bridge are doing the same.
All of them turn red.
“Hey, monsters are coming.”
“H-huh, g-get ready!”
Coming back to herself, Mira flusters and barks orders.
Immediately after, the sound of cannon fire begins to pour in.
Cannons mounted on the sides spit out shells one after another, cutting down the monsters.
First real battle for the battleship Risha—feels pretty good.
Avoiding Schreivju in the middle of the swarm, Mira targets the monsters with fire.
The aggressive little monkeys, weak but always ready to fight, dodge the blasts in appearance and press forward toward the ship.
The elite guard waiting in ambush dragged the enemy inside and knocked them down.
They did it again.
Midway, the encounter-up spell faded, so they recast it.
"Captain! Dragon coming from the nine o'clock!"
Panic rang through the bridge.
Looking left, the massive shape of a dragon appeared, shaking the earth as it approached.
"W-what do we do?"
"Can we even fight something like that? Maybe we should just—"
"Wait."
I stopped Mira, who was already backing away.
"Akito?"
"Turn the bow toward it. Prepare the main cannon."
I took over the command.
"Main cannon? You're gonna fire that at it?"
"Yeah."
"But what if it doesn't work—"
"Then I'll be there."
I flashed the True Eternal Slave.
Mira’s hesitation vanished.
"Got it. All secondary turrets—aim at the dragon."
"F-forty-two?"
The operator’s child was still stunned, dazed.
I was surprised too—why the secondary cannon?
"Akito’s watching over us. Right now, this ship’s the safest place around."
"Ah..."
Chance to try a few things, isn’t it? Let’s see if the secondary cannons work before firing the main gun.
Mira flinched, startled by the operator’s child.
Everyone on the bridge looked at me again—eyes hot, glistening.
Mira looked at me too. That same expression I’d seen before.
The same kind of face she made when she said the one who does the most will get a reward.
— Nice.
I thought I heard words of reluctant agreement, but it didn’t matter.
She gave a slight nod in reply.
The cannon muzzles spat fire in unison, aimed at the dragon, shells slamming into it with concentrated force.
The dragon took some damage, but didn’t stop advancing.
"No way."
Looks like it.
"Moving on. Main cannon ready."
"Main cannon ready."
"Fire!"
The recoil shook the battleship Risha as a massive shell was launched.
The shell struck the dragon straight on—blasted it clean off its feet.
The dragon collapsed, writhing, convulsing.
It tried to rise, but eventually collapsed, utterly still.
"Looks like we can take it down with the main cannon."
"Seems so."
"Thanks to Akito, we could test it. Appreciate it."
"Don’t mention it. Alright, next one’s coming."
Monsters came one after another.
Was it my imagination, or had the battleship’s movement changed after defeating the dragon?
Before, it had just blasted monsters into scrap with concentrated fire. Now, it was holding back.
No—holding back isn’t right.
It felt more like it was testing the lower limit of what could be destroyed.
I’m guarding it, so it’s using the time to try.
Not just dragons—other monsters too. It did the same with them.
Good thing.
If we keep this up for a while.
“Got it.”
Mia nodded, receiving a report from the messenger girl.
“What is it?”
“A kid from the hand-to-hand combat group just called in. There was something odd among the humans we brought back from the ape camp.”
They came.
I tensed, excitement prickling under my skin.
“Nothing much… just a black slave, that’s all.”
“Hmph.”
The feeling was like my mood just flipped upside down.
Frowned.
A black slave…
Could that mean… regret?