The Pirate King's Daughter - Chapter 4

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 4
Kies and I gathered the necessary equipment for shooting practice and climbed to the second deck.
His suggestion carried a deeper meaning: if I made a mistake, I should aim toward the sea.
“You have to be careful—guns have low accuracy and are dangerous.”
In this world, firearms hadn’t developed sufficiently yet. They were expensive besides.
“Hmm, like this?”
After his continued warnings, I cocked the hammer back and the lesson began in earnest.
“I feel kind of cool right now.”
Following his instructions, I spread my legs slightly and extended my arms straight—I felt like a special agent.
“Don’t fool around.”
Kies was strict when teaching. I’d have to ask someone else next time.
“Now pull the trigger after fully cocking the hammer.”
Standing at the bow, I aimed toward the vast sea.
Bang!
“Not bad for a first shot.”
“Insane.”
“I thought you’d become a completely different person, but your mouth is still foul.”
Just as I was about to retort, an unfamiliar landscape spread before my eyes.
I shook off his hand that had been steadying my posture and rushed to the railing.
“We’ve arrived!”
“Be careful—what?”
Before he could scold me, Kies hurried after me and narrowed his eyes, gazing far toward the horizon.
Between the sky and sea meeting in a straight line, something appeared—just a sliver.
“Get ready to disembark quickly.”
“Wait, we need to move carefully. There could be pirates.”
Kies brought the holster and bullets.
“This is…”
“Oh, I’ll take care of it.”
I fastened the holster to my thigh and pulled my shirt down to cover it.
Then, following Kies’s warning, I rotated the cylinder into the empty chamber and placed it in the holster.
“Shall we go then?”
It was finally time to land.
* * *
“I told you to wait on the ship.”
The moment I jumped down from the ladder, Kies spoke.
He’d said he’d keep watch carefully, but I hadn’t realized that came with tiresome nagging.
“It’s quiet. Nothing will happen.”
The other two protagonists probably arrived on this island yesterday just as the original story went, and immediately dealt with the pirates.
Besides, with Kies and them together, there’s nothing to fear.
“Stay as close to me as possible—I don’t want you taken hostage.”
“Understood.”
We descended onto the shallow shoreline covered with pebbles and walked along the path.
After walking a short distance, a few houses came into view, when suddenly Kies grabbed my arm and stopped me.
“Why?”
“There’s fighting.”
“But it’s so quiet.”
The moment I objected, Bang! A loud explosion echoed, and building debris and dust shot upward.
“Should we go back to the ship?”
They’re fighting already—I must have been lazy about the timeline.
“We might encounter pirates, so come with me for now.”
Kies and I cautiously approached the village.
Clang!
The sound of blades clashing rang out.
Peering around the corner of a building, we spotted a figure fighting against the pirates.
“…!”
Kies’s eyes trembled slightly.
A natural reaction to meeting a comrade he’d thought was dead.
“Told you so, didn’t I?”
The short black hair, and beneath it the flash of golden eyes—at that moment, a pirate before the man collapsed instantly.
Berto Chedorf, the Marquis. Our precious navigator, his swordsmanship equally exceptional.
“We should go and help—”
Berto could handle them alone, but I thought it better if Kies assisted, so I opened my mouth to speak. Yet before I could finish, Kies darted forward and cut down a pirate.
Thwack. Kies placed one foot on the fallen pirate and, seeing Berto’s eyes widen, grinned widely.
“Long time no see.”
Left standing alone watching them, I shook my head.
“Such showboating.”
With Kies joining in, the pirate band was being dismantled in moments.
A single swing of his blade unleashed a burning crimson Aura that rushed at the pirates like a wild beast.
They fell shrieking their death cries without even understanding what was happening.
“Argh!”
Hearing only tales of the Aura before now, I found it truly terrifying. Fear crawled down the back of my neck—I absolutely never wanted to face him as an enemy.
“I’ll handle this.”
A clipped voice sounded, and Berto appeared from behind Kies, leaping gracefully to target a pirate’s vital point.
“Die!”
Another pirate rushed at Berto, but crack—his neck was seized instantly.
Berto possessed clean, unadorned swordsmanship paired with a taciturn nature—yet also a massive frame that didn’t fit.
At 190 centimeters tall with muscles like a beast, he could easily twist and break a man’s neck with one hand.
The pirate, unable to resist properly, frothed at the mouth and fell unconscious.
‘Terrifying men.’
Berto hadn’t yet awakened his Aura, but he’d already reached a stage of mastery—close enough to awaken during this voyage.
“That’s enough!”
While I watched the battle unfold without worry, a decidedly villainous line came from somewhere.
“Let go of this!”
A grizzled pirate seized the red-haired child by the scruff and lifted him up.
“If you want this brat alive, drop your swords.”
“Don’t worry about me—just kill them all!”
The child shouted, but there was no way the original story’s protagonists Kies and Berto would listen.
Clang!
The swords were dropped, and the surrounding pirates snickered and threw the two men down.
The tide of battle reversed in an instant.
“I’ll do as you wish—just let the child go!”
Kies shouted.
“Ha! Do I look like I’d believe that? Step on them!”
The two men on their knees didn’t collapse easily under the pirates’ attacks.
But eventually, blood dripped from Kies’s split forehead, and his sharp gaze fell upon the pirate holding the child hostage.
Click. Quietly watching them, I rotated the cylinder from the blank cartridges to load a real bullet.
The gun sight, the protruding front sight and U-shaped rear sight, and finally the pirate’s head—all aligned in a straight line.
I swallowed hard.
‘I can’t…’
Thud. The gun dropped. My hands trembled violently. If I missed, I’d hit the child.
‘I need to get to a better angle.’
I moved as quietly as possible.
Even now, Kies and Berto were being brutally stomped by the pirates.
From a slight distance—yet in a spot where nothing could conceal me—I took a stance the way Kies had taught me.
And then.
Bang!
“Argh!”
I’d aimed for his back, but the bullet grazed the pirate captain’s arm.
Still, the child in his grip was thrown to the ground and fled quickly.
“Ugh!”
In the blink of an eye, Kies and Berto rose and, though covered in wounds, easily handled the remaining pirates.
“You damned—!”
“Gasp!”
Just as I was about to escape in relief, the pirate captain’s hand seized me by the hair. My scalp felt like it would tear.
‘Damn this body.’
I was caught far too easily.
“Tatiana!”
“Just keep fighting, you fool!”
Kies stopped fighting, reducing my courage to nothing.
“Now we’ve just switched hostages.”
The pirate captain dragged my hair upward and faced me directly, a vile grin spreading across his face.
Behind him, I could see the two men struggling again.
“Bold little—you’ve got a decent face, I’ll admit.”
The pirate captain seized my face in one hand, turning it this way and that.
“You’re ugly. Disgusting—get back.”
A vein bulged on his forehead.
“You look like you’d lose to a bull. Can’t handle two men, so you grab a child and a woman? Coward! Release her!”
Pop. Another vein appeared.
If I played this right, I’d need this pirate to kill me for my ability to awaken. Losing one life was a small price.
And then.
“Gah, ugh!”
Pain like my neck was snapping shot through me. The pirate captain was dragging me by the hair, exactly as planned.
“Tatiana!”
Kies shoved the pirates aside and tried to rush toward me, but—
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Gag—”
The pirate captain twisted my throat.
As I gasped for air and struggled, Kies had no choice but to stop.
“Damn it, let go!”
Kies willingly let the pirates seize him again.
Another round of violence followed, yet he bore no sign of pain—only watched the pirate captain with a fierce, unwavering gaze.
“Huff, cough! I’m leaving the island now, so stop!”
With my breathing restored, though my hair still gripped, I spoke to the pirate captain.
Ignoring innocent victims brought an uneasy feeling.
But I was no righteous hero. I couldn’t sacrifice myself and the world’s saviors for strangers.
“Too late. Watch what happens when you meddle where you don’t belong.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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