As the ship passed me by, I found a new motivation to arrive at land, no, it seems I shall call it continent now. I realized I am rapidly approaching a continent.
By the way, the continent I was heading to seems to be called Zaikalta where humans primarily live. Of course, there are also other races other than them but in Zaikalta, the common race are the humans.
At first, I considered going to the other continent where Beastmen ruled called Chao Oi.
Speaking of them, I heard they had rabbit-eared girls, cat-eared girls, and dog-eared girls! I wonder if the cat-eared girls will say “nya” at the end of their sentences or dog-eared girls wag their tails when they’re happy. If they do, my nonexistent heart will surely throb.
But, I am 【The Enlightened One】.
[Log: Due to the effects of 【The Enlightened One】, excitement is forcibly extinguished.]
As usual, the voice of the world once again resounded. With a single message, it can forcibly push sage mode (kenja 賢者) on me making me calm under a split second. But I’m an enlightened so it must be called cerebrate mode1. By the way, cerebrate(kakuja 覚者) can also be read as kakusha and only the first letter in enlightened one(satori 悟り) is replaced with astute(satori 覚り). But although I said it and all, reading it either way is fine.
Then why am I disinclined to visit Chao Oi where various beastmen can be seen? It’s simple. I have a responsibility and I aim to adhere by it.
When I parted with Pinky, I promised her to help the mermaids I’ll meet on my way. Golems should fulfill their promises. Or at least try to protect it. Although I’m not a human anymore, I’d still keep my words and not tarnish it no matter what! I am entirely different from those politicians who pledge promises left and right then not adhering to them when people aren’t looking!
That said, the mermaids said the others were sold towards the humans, I have decided to go to Zaikalta where humans are commonly seen.
As I was thinking such things, I continued backstroking. Since I almost crashed into a ship, I am more careful than usual and started to pay attention to the surrounding sounds. But currently, to my disappointment, I can only hear to sound of crashing waves.
By the way, there is one time a dragon-ish creature approached me from the sky. It looked like a pterodactyl in appearance with a lion’s mane clinging at its neck and two horns stuck out of its forehead. Also, the size of its body is quite large. It’s been a while since encounter events like this occurred.
「Gaugau, gagagau!」 (So shiny! It belongs to Washi now!)
I heard a roar closely resembling Sea Serpents being interpreted. My mood suddenly worsened. In times such as this, it is better to escape right away. So, I dived right back underneath the ocean. As I am rather small and made of dense metal, the moment I dove, I instantly submerged deep into the waters until the seabed.
「Ggau! Gagau!」 (Whwhat the? Wait up!)
Wait my ass! Even so, the dragon showed an abnormal obsession towards anything sparkling. Because of that, I end up breast-stroking underneath the water for almost half the day.
After that, I mostly heard the sound of waves… wait—I heard it! The sound of something just reached my ears! Such a sound cannot escape my Golem Ears.
[Log: The skill Golem Ears does not exists.]
…
I temporarily abandoned backstroking and stand upright amidst the waves in order to gaze towards the direction the sound came from. Oh, smoke is rising. Something is going on. Let’s take a look.
My metallic body won’t stop sparkling so I can easily be seen from far away. My brilliance sure is troublesome. To somehow reciprocate the problem, I dove underneath the water and followed the trail of drifting smoke.
I arrived at the scene. There are two ships. The first looks like a mercantile ship while the other clearly belongs to pirates. I then climbed atop the merchant ship’s hull in order to assess the situation and checked on it. It seems the merchants are on the losing side. Looking closer at the ensuing battle, a huge portion of what looks to be the escorting guards are dead. Some of the pirates are also injured but only a few of them are killed.
I wonder if the pirates are just that strong or its the guards that were too weak. I don’t really know.
The ship’s crew and the passengers are gathered along the deck all huddled up. Around them, the pirates are grinning and laughing madly. Some of the passengers were also women. Oh, there is also an ojou-sama with curly tipped hair among them. She seems to be trembling and clinging to a woman who must’ve been her mother. As for their fates after getting caught by pirates, I can only think of two things. Either they are immediately killed or sold as slaves somewhere else. That’s a bit cruel.
A man who looks to be the pirate ship’s captain then talks to the captain of the other ship.
「Oi! Are these all? Don’t try to hide anyone from me!」
「Y-yes, this is all. Please leave my crew and the passengers alive and we’ll unhesitatingly give you all the cargo and gold aboard.」
The pirate just scoffed then his lips rose.
「Heh, are you stupid? Do you think you’re in a position to request something like that? I already got all the gold and goods. Who’s gonna stop me from selling you all as slaves? I shall take all the virgin women as playthings before completely selling them!」
The pirates around them burst with laughter while the crew and the passengers’ faces paled. Ah, the curly haired ojou-sama cried. Pirates who were pillaging the inside of the ship frantically rushed out and came into the deck. Did they found something?
「Boss! There are three mermaids below the deck! We’ve hit a jackpot!」
「What!? Go bring some people and quickly take it out!」
「Aye! I need eight more men! Come, follow me!」
The merchant ship’s captain bit his lips.
「Oi, the mermaids were brought by a noble from the Phoussen Empire. You bunch of miscreants dare lay a single finger on them, the empire armada will surely chase you all to the ends of the world!」
His threats certainly won’t work against pirates like them, I inwardly thought. Rather, I feel that the chances they might be silenced and captured to be sold afterwards had just risen.
「Idiot! What kind of pirate gets afraid of the empire? Have it your way then!」
The pirate captain smiled sadistically at the mercantile captain’s idiocy before brandishing the sword at his waist and stabbed it towards the other captain’s chest. As the sword slid into him, the merchant captain’s eyes widened and he coughed out blood. Pulling out the embedded sword, the stabbed captain slowly fell backwards.
「Do you think you could leave here alive? Stupid old fogey.」
I reluctantly agree with him. The pirate captain inspected his bloody sword and wiped it on the dead merchant’s clothes. He then faced the crew and passengers huddled together.
「Listen you worthless maggots! If you want to live for another day, do not defy me! I don’t particularly care if you’ll die though.」
Hearing the pirate captain’s words, the face of the hostages became even more paler. Watching the situation unfold, the surrounding pirates let loose more laughter.
Three cages were carried out from the ship. Inside of the individual cages were mermaids.
The mermaids inside looked a bit thin. Though they are properly feed as they are precious products. But, every single one of them has a gloomy expression. One of them had red hair and somehow resembles Pinky and the Queen Oran. She might be Pinky’s older sister or something.
Ok. I now learned everything. As the merchant ships are in cahoots at mermaid trafficking I am reluctant to help them out but, I still decided to save them to take the three mermaids safely. The pirates on the other hand are cold-blooded killers themselves so I do not need them alive. I’ll clean up the trash.
The pirate captain rubbed his hands clearly pleased and moved in front of the cage.
「Oh? So there really is a mermaid. It’s even young and beautiful! Such fine item. This girl will definitely sell high! Hahahaha! Boys, we finally hit the jackpot!」
I slowly descended down to the deck and approached the mermaids. Midway, the pirates turned around to look away so I beat them senseless. I don’t want them messing around so I instantly one shot them.
Bang! Spurt!
[Log: Golem dealt 210 damage to Human.]
[Log: Human died.]
Bang! Spurt!
[Log: Golem dealt 220 damage to Human.]
[Log: Human died.]
A crimson lotus bloomed atop the ship. I certainly looked badass. Not only the pirates, even the crew members and passengers aboard the merchant ship froze. I paid them no heed and proceeded towards the cage. Every pirate that stood in my way was properly dealt with.
Bang! Spurt!
[Log: Golem dealt 208 damage to Human.]
[Log: Human died.]
Bang! Spurt!
[Log: Golem dealt 196 damage to Human.]
[Log: Human died.]
As the pirate captain finally came out of his senses, he yelled at me.
「Wh-what are you!? S-stop it!」
Bang! Spurt!
[Log: Golem dealt 189 damage to Human.]
[Log: Human died.]
He should’ve swing the sword in his hands at me rather than shout. Or at least try to escape. But then again, I won’t let him.
As the pirate captain was captured, the remaining pirates became agitated. A large portion of them rushed to attack me but the others abandoned their position and flee back to their ship. There were also some who fired magic at me.
But unluckily for the attackers, everyone of them was instantly killed with a single punch. The mages were no exception either as they ate my fists.
Bang! Spurt! Bang! Spurt! Bang! Spurt! Bang! Spurt! Bang! Spurt! Bang! Spurt! Bang! Spurt! Bang! Spurt!
[Log: Golem dealt an average of 205 damage to the Humans.]
[Log: Humans died.]
Fuu~ I made crimson lotuses bloom at the battlefield. It’s quite the bloody massacre. I now knew I got a good sense of smell.
The pirates are strangely drawn towards the sight of blooming red flowers. Huddled up, the passengers and crew were also mesmerized. The mermaids inside their cages are staring at me. I, myself, is also glaring at the others. Suddenly, everyone stared at everybody else.
Ah, the pirates who fled back to their ship are now escaping. However, they cannot run away me. No one escapes from the Golem! Tou! I made a splendid jump and boarded the pirate ship.
With a fierce punch, I slammed a fist straight towards the ship’s deck. The floorboard collapsed and a huge hole opened up. From the hole, I then descended down. Upon landing, I threw another punch and a new hole opened until I reached the lowest level. I push all the cargoes away which revealed the ship’s keel. Lastly, I punched at it with all my might.
With a cracking sound, the keel directly split in half and a big hole opened at the ship’s bottom. Water instantly rushed in and submerged the ship. Fufufu. Feeling a bit of schadenfreude, I punched another hole at the ship’s hull. There, I dove into it and escaped.
The mercantile ship is also trying to run away but strangely, it doesn’t move. Of course. I only spent less than a minute sinking the pirate ship. It sure is fast! None shall escape.
I climbed the merchant ship’s hull and landed on the deck. The passengers were still a bit shocked over what happened but the crew moved towards their various position and manned the ship.
However, due to my sudden appearance, they all halted their tracks. I ignored the humans and approached the caged mermaids. Seeing me walking up to them, the mermaids backed off. But there is no escape from the narrow cage. Their body trembled in fear.
When I arrived in front of them, I gripped the iron bars supporting the cage with both hands and spread them out. After that, I did the same thing towards the two other cages. Then, without waiting for their permission, I tossed the cage out towards the ship’s edge. The mermaids inside seems to be unable to catch up with the situation.
With no other choice, I pointed at the mermaids first and then made a parabola towards the ocean. Waving my hand, I gestured them goodbye. Did they understand me? I hope they did. My intent seems to be properly transmitted as the red-haired mermaid spoke to me.
「U-um, do you want us to run away?」
I nodded my head towards her intended question. Then suddenly, something unexpected happened. The mermaid abruptly cried and shook her head sideways.
「T-thank y-you very much! B-but, its impossible! As long as we wear this slave collars around our neck, we cannot escape.」
Wh-what the? There is something like a slave collar? C-certainly, they do have collars around their neck. Outrageous! To do such a thing!
[Log: Due to the effects of 【The Enlightened One】, agitation was forcibly extinguished.]
Well, I don’t really know what it does so let’s just tear it away. Decision made, I beckoned the crimsonette to me. Shivering, she did what she was told and cautiously made her way towards me. I’m not that scary, am I?
When she arrived, I reached the collar on her neck and promptly snapped it away. As it thought, it was torn after all. I then threw away the collar towards the sea.
「Eh? Eeeeehhh!? I-it went off! What the!? There is also no backlash…」
The redhead grabbed her neck a few times, surprised the slave collar was easily torn off. In the same way, I also snapped the remaining mermaid collars away.
Of course, I threw it all away to the sea. Joyous, the mermaids jumped into the water with tears in their eyes. And then, while their upper upper bodies emerged from the sea, they gave me their gratitude. I waved at them and gave a huge nod in return. After that, the mermaids subsequently dove back under the water and disappeared. First off, three mermaids. I do not know how many were sold out there so let’s do our best.
I then turned around and stared at the humans. Every single one of them is trembling. Is that natural?
Nah, I think they’re fine. I jumped towards the sea and finally left the merchant ship.
Kenjmodo = sage mode, naruto reference. Kakuja -modo = cerebrate mode, I used this to portray someone who used cold hard reasoning to reach conclusions rather than relying on their emotions.Hi everyone~ First off, I would like to apologize not posting yesterday as an event in our school (Intramurals) lasted ’till Saturday so I was quite busy getting low-key so as to not get conscripted to the events in every way possible (hiding in the canteen, pretending to be sleep, mocking the school administration, and spending quality time with my friends). It seems luck smiled at me that day and I survived it with only a few aches here and there.
That said, today was also hectic. Of all days, my mom decided to visit my half-brother in jail so I get to replace her operating a lotto outlet that’s why I started translating this chapter later than usual.
So with all that away, I bid you all a good night (7:15pm here and I really, really, really need to sleep early).
Ja ne~