"Admiral! We caught wind of what appeared to be s.h.i.+p silhouettes, at two o"clock, distance 9000. Their number is around 8 to 10."
Three wind magicians who worked together to search the area gave their findings.
From what I gathered on the map, there should be three groups with 20 s.h.i.+ps each--but looking again, two of the 20 s.h.i.+p fleets are moving to encircle us from afar, and in the fleet that the wind magicians found, every two s.h.i.+ps are connected by rope. It"s probably to disguise them as one s.h.i.+p.
"9000 at two o"clock, that"s around Seaweed Archipelago huh... That"s troublesome."
The admiral muttered loathfully as he looked at the sea chart.
According to my Map info, Seaweed Archipelago is a perilous place where lots of reef and seaweed type monsters lurk around.
Add to the fact that there"s a lot of small islands that can act as the pirate hiding spots.
In fact, pirate-looking men along with small s.h.i.+ps are lurking on several of those islands.
"Wait a bit and use the search magic once again. Find out their direction and speed. Comm officer, tell every s.h.i.+p to let half of the s.h.i.+p take a rest and have a light meal."
After giving orders, the admiral gathered each captains of the wars.h.i.+ps.
He"s probably going to brief them his plan.
"Alright, let"s split the fleet into three groups."
The admiral said that after glaring at the sea chart.
"Admiral, if I may--"
"I ain"t gonna hear you suggesting us to go with full fleet."
The admiral who perceived my advice candidly refused it and went to speak out his plan.
"It"d be bad if the pirates went into hiding in the Seaweed Archipelago once they sensed their disadvantage. We"ll split our escort s.h.i.+ps into two fleets. One of the escort fleet will go north from the southern strait of the Seaweed Archipelago. The second escort fleet will go south from the north. We"re gonna make a beeline for the pirates and attack them."
The flags.h.i.+p fleet will have 13 s.h.i.+ps, and each of the two support fleets will have 6. The flags.h.i.+p fleet may have twice the number of s.h.i.+ps, but it"s in the most danger because it"s the one fighting on the front line.
Maybe that"s why none of the escort s.h.i.+p captains tried to refute him.
Were the enemy number exactly like what the wind magicians found, the admiral"s plan wouldn"t be half-bad.
However--.
"Admiral, that plan is too dangerous if they have monsters like the Kraken earlier with them. Besides, there is no guarantee that the enemy fleet really only has 10 s.h.i.+ps."
"Hmph, I know that much."
"Then--"
"I ain"t changing the plan. We"ll just adapt to the situations on the spot if the enemy fleet has Kraken with them."
Adapt to the situations... Without a concrete plan, isn"t that practically just throwing mud at the wall, hoping some stick?
"That might suffice if their forces consist of only pirates, but if the two support fleets were to encounter a Kraken--"
"There is only one Kraken; the one earlier."
The admiral declared so to interrupt me.
"Do you have a ground for your a.s.sertion?"
"Of course."
In fact, there are two Krakens next to the fake Skeleton Archduke"s s.h.i.+p, with 50 Torpedo Squids not too far.
"If those guys have the mean to control multiple Krakens, the would have attacked Garleok City and Garleon Union"s southern port a long time ago."
No duh, this is exactly that time.
Right when I was going to say that, one of the sailors carrying a ladle climbed the stairs and shouted.
"Admiral! Bad news!"
"What"s happening!"
The admirals shouted at the sailor.
"Our barrels of food have rotted! In addition, all of the barrels filled with drinking water have holes on them!"
This must be the work of spies the pirates sent.
I had noticed them making their moves in the fight earlier, but I purposely overlooked them in order to gain a little credit.
"It appears to have been Rot Poison."
I"ve gone to look at the barrels with the admiral.
Wine barrels are fortunately safe, but we can"t exactly get wasted before a fight, even if it can provide a minimum amount of calorie.
It"s possible to create drinking water from sea water, so the fleet won"t die out as long as we have water magicians around, however if it comes to that, the water magicians" mana will be used to preserve our lifeline instead for battle.
"Get the other s.h.i.+ps to share their portion--wait, what about the other s.h.i.+ps?"
Looks like the admiral finally realized the possibility.
"W-we"ll check on them at once!"
One of the officers ran to the deck.
And the result is--
"Food and water on 19 of the 25 s.h.i.+ps was completely razed. The remaining six only have around 20% huh... d.a.m.n those pirates."
The admiral crushed his hat in his hands and threw it on the deck.
Since we apparently had three weeks worth of food and water, by simple calculations, the remaining share is only enough to provide the entire fleet for a day.
We"re three days away from Garleok City here, so we"re sure to starve even if we go back now.
"If only we knew, we"d have taken those monsters" meat..."
The s.h.i.+p chef muttered as he wistfully looked at the sea.
We only took the magic cores from the Kraken and the Torpedo Squids, he must be regretting that.
Of course, I secretly stretched out my [Magic Hand] and retrieved them into my Storage.
"Admiral, maybe we should go back to Garleok City for--"
"Fools! Victory is right before our eyes!"
The admiral interrupted the officer.
Looks like he"s h.e.l.lbent on subjugating the pirates no matter what.
"It seems like you"re in trouble."
"What are you trying to say?"
Since I"m not into watching the admiral looking troubled, I offer to provide their food.
"Food, you say? We"re talking "bout shares for 25 s.h.i.+ps here ya know? No matter how bottomless your magic bag is, there is no way it could hold food for 1200 people."
"Not really, no."
I mean, I"ve got enough food to feed a city with one million people for several years in my Storage.
"For now, I"ll provide drinking water and food, and also dehydrated vegetables for soup and dried fruits for dessert."
I pick out a storage sack with huge opening from the Storage via the storage bag, and then I take out huge barrels filled with water and food from it one after another.
"OOOOOO"
"Incredible..."
"You"re kiddin" me."
The sailors were surprised to see it.
It"s quite the amount after all.
"The guy went and lifted those huge barrels filled with water."
"And he doesn"t look tired at all."
Looks like they were surprised at me handling heavy barrels indiscreetly.
"As expected of Demon Lord Slayer..."
"Knew it, that rumor was true."
"I thought his stupidly strong subordinates yesterday did it fer" him."
"Can"t be helped, I mean the guy looks like a meek n.o.ble by appearance."
Attentive Ears skill picked up the sailors gossiping on the deck.
"This much should be enough for this s.h.i.+p. Well then, I"ll be distributing food to other s.h.i.+ps too."
"Y-you have my thanks, Earl Pendragon."
As I heard the admiral mixed-feeling-sounding voice on my back, I went around the other s.h.i.+ps with Flight Shoes.
It"s way too much trouble to go around them with the ferryboat.
"Well, I"m doing this not just out of kindness though--"
I secretly hid micro golems for suppressing revolt in each s.h.i.+p as I visited them.
I can easily deal with a revolt even without them, but with these golems, suppressing the revolt can be done with one command, make things easier for me.
◇
"Captain! Report from wind magician! The pirates are sailing slowly along the islands. In my humble opinion, they"re most likely gathering."
An officer reported in place of the exhausted looking wind magicians.
"They must be on their way back from attacking a merchant s.h.i.+p. Now"s our chance, the split fleets should have enough time to encircle them."
It seems like he"s really not going to change the encirclement plan.
"Have the escort fleet go on the planned sea routes."
The admiral declared thus, and then the escort fleet split into two groups and departed toward the north and south of the Seaweed Archipelago.
From what I see on my Map, they don"t seem like they"re going to encounter the pirate fleets that are going to encircle this flags.h.i.+p fleet, so I simply watch over them departing without saying anything.
"Have the flags.h.i.+p fleet stay on this route for a while."
Then the admiral gives another order for us to have a meal break.
Looks like we"re going to have a proper meal instead of just biting on preserved biscuits.
"--Earl-sama, I"m sorry to trouble you like this."
"Don"t worry about it."
I helped carrying two barrels from the s.h.i.+p"s hold and cooked vegetable shop in the kitchen.
They"d get suspicious if the food was too fresh, so only the flags.h.i.+p fleet got meat other than jerky.
"Smells so nice--"
"I can"t wait."
The finished dishes were brought to the admiral"s table one by one since those voices could be heard.
Apparently, hierarchy is important in a wars.h.i.+p, and food has to be brought to admiral, officers and then sailors in order.
The meal wouldn"t start if I wasn"t present with the admiral, so I left the rest to the head chef and went out of the kitchen.
"WOOOOOOOOO"
The admiral who started his meal shouted out loud.
The officers around us stopped their hands thinking that it was poison, but when they saw the admiral furiously continuing his meal, they carried their spoon into their mouth.
"S-so good!"
"T-this stuff"s incredible."
The officers present here praised the food.
I"m glad that they found it palatable at least.
I also quickly take my meal.
I"d feel sorry for the sailors who are stuck to watch the surroundings if I took it easy.
◇
"Enemy s.h.i.+ps in sight."
"What is this? There"s twice the reported number of them!"
The admiral glared at the wind magicians.
"P-perhaps, the enemy got a reinforcement while they were gathering..."
The wind magician said so.
"Enough with your excuse. Just quickly search again! Water magicians, search underwater too! Even without Kraken, Torpedo Squids could mean trouble!"
The enemy fleet started their march here at the same time the magicians began their chanting.
The one in the center is a jet black pirate s.h.i.+p where the fake Skeleton Archduke is.
"There"s huge creatures underwater!"
"Is it Kraken?"
"If that"s the case, there"s at least two of it, there"s also presences of countless big monsters in the sea."
The admiral has a cramp to hear the water magician"s report.
Looks like Sonar-type water magic can"t find the precise number and types.
"N-no way."
The admiral shouted out loud while looking like he was going to scream.
"Change course! We"re gonna escape this sea at full speed! Wind magicians! Stop with the search and use wind magic to increase the s.h.i.+p"s speed!"
A wind magician gives his report as the admiral shouted.
"We"ve discovered more enemy fleets! There"s at least two more fleets as large as the fleet in front of us! They"re encircling us!"
"N-no way! No way, no way, no way!"
No one is attempting to stop the admiral who repeated his speech like a broken record.
Everyone who"s on board the s.h.i.+p must be feeling the same.
"--Is it about time for my turn?"
I muttered in voice so low no one could hear as I stared at the admiral who looked like he"d be frothing anytime.
Looks like the real meat of the trial has finally begun.
※ Next update is planned for 1/14
The anime broadcast will be aired on 1/11!
I had been given the chance to watch the first episode myself, and it exceeded my expectations, by all means please have a look if you could.