North x Northwest
Chapter 84

Lil swung her arms roughly into the air.

“Turn to starboard²! Full speed!”

Shouts reiterating the captain’s orders broke out sporadically.

“…Starboard!…”

“…Full speed!..”

The crew of the bow adjusted the rigging in unison. Soon a loud noise filled the deck.

– Koo-kkk-kkk –

The strange sound of twisting wood rumbled over the top of their heads. It was the sound of the mast, thicker than a human body, swaying at the sudden change of course. Lil checked the sails with squinted eyes. The sails turning towards the tailwind flapped their huge wings, and the shadow fluttering against the wind cast upon her face. Lil’s body suddenly floated as if the floor she was standing on disappeared. As not to fall, she tangled herself on the railing with all her might.

“We’re tilting! Grab something!”

“…Ahhhh!…”

In an instant, the deck was swept to the left. Loose objects were thrown out of the hull. Wooden carvings, weapons, and even some people were thrown into the water. The sea swallowed them all.

Scattered over the decks, several rigging ropes with unfastened knots slithered through the air like snakes hanging upside down. The poop deck was no exception. One of the loose ropes charged toward Lil like a whip. She raised her head to the sound of air being torn, but there was nothing she could do. The moment she would move, chances were that she would fall. Lil had no choice except to crouch as much as possible, sacrificing her exposed cheek.

– Shhkk! –

Blazing pain as if she had been beaten by a whip warmed her temple. Lil opened her tightly shut eyes, not knowing where she had been hit. At the same time, blood was pouring out of her brow. Her right eye, which was covered in sticky blood, didn’t open properly.

Nevertheless, Lil carefully studied the deck, witnessing sailors who couldn’t replace support being hurled overboard in a parabola. Bodies were flung wildly around like pieces of wood. The chaotic deck mixed with screams and shouts tumbled to the right. The shifting balance of their ship caused Lil to notice the other ship’s open gun gates.

She roared desperately.

“Marenzio!”

Not only the upper deck was in disarray, but the situation on the artillery deck was no better. However, this starboard turn was all the gunner needed to understand that the strategy that had been presented to him was being carried out. One could disregard the captain’s eagerness, but one shouldn’t disregard the orders. It was impossible for Marenzio to neglect it. Lil screamed his name again when he couldn’t hear her.

“Marenzio! Now!”

Then…

-Tung! Tung!-

With several vibrations echoing under her feet, Lil took advantage of the moment the centrifugal force subsided and poked her head out of the railing. Under the wide-open gun gate, a black barrel was held with its head raised. She raised her head as soon as she saw the majestic piece of metal, and quickly checked the enemy ship. It was barely a few seconds before the shots were fired.

Marenzio’s voice pierced the gun gates.

“…Fire!…”

As soon as his angry voice reached the deck, smoke rose from the gun gates. Lil, lying flat, crawled across the poop deck and snatched the horn that had been tied to the railing. She blew the horn as hard as she could while standing on the floor still swaying from the recoil of the gunfire.

– Buuuuuuuu!….. –

The confused deck crew looked at Lil for a moment as she shouted at the squad that would be hit the hardest.

“Front deck! Get down!”

The sailors who were holding the railing fell to the ground in a hurry. Lil sighed in relief…

– Boom! –

Her ears were pierced by a roar and her body flew up. She didn’t know when she lost her sense of gravity. But because she was worried about the deck in front of her, she momentarily forgot to prepare herself for impact too. With no time to blame herself for her stupid mistake, she lifted her arms and wrapped them around her head.

-Thud!-

A harsh pain rang through her body as she landed hard on her side. Nonetheless, she was relieved that her body wasn’t thrown out to sea. After having rolled around the floor, Lil lifted her head toward what she thought was above.

A familiar voice shouted from somewhere.

“Lilo… Damn it, Captain!”

“…”

Although the voice seemed to come from afar, it was already too loud for Lil. The sharp pain in her ears made her crouch down again. They felt like they were about to burst, so Lil covered them with her hand while straightening her legs.

“Captain! Are you okay?!”

“…”

As the voice was simply too loud, Lil closed her ears and crouched down again. It felt like two sharp fangs piercing her ear canals without mercy.

“You almost landed on the steering wheel!”

“Where… Where…”

As her eyeballs rolled around randomly, Cesar’s face appeared and disappeared in her flashes of vision.

‘Of course, Cesar is the only person on this ship who would be this concerned about my safety.’

“You’re next to the wheel! Did you hurt your head?”

“…”

Cesar forcibly removed the hand that was covering her ear.

“There´s no apparent damage, but why is your face… bleeding…”

“I’m okay…”

“You´ll have to show it to the doctor right now.”

Lil shook her head to focus her eyes that kept falling backwards.

“…Damage?”

“Captain!”

“Cesar… how about the damage?”

“We only took one serious hit. Three or four hits left minor damage and the rest didn’t reach. They hit the front deck, no casualties. Damn! Your face is covered in blood!”

Cesar tried to cover Lil, but it was then that her mind quickly became clear. When she finally fixed her pupils, she could see their surroundings where the smoke was lifting. Lil spoke, placing her arm as far over the back of Cesar’s neck as she could.

“The impact from the fall was so great that I couldn’t breathe, for a moment I really thought I was going to die.”

“You may have been hurt internally. It’s better to go see the doctor…”

“It’s okay. Do I look that reckless?”

“…”

“Just help me get up.”

“…”

Leaning on Cesar’s shoulder, Lil stumbled to her feet. Because of the dense smoke, she coughed numerous times before lifting her head. The enemy ship was close.

“If they die this easily they can’t be from the Navy, also their warning gave it away, I think they’re Garni scumbags.”

“How can you tell…”

“Remember the ones we robbed before? The guys who seemed to be looking for mermaids and set fire to their papers? They were just as stupid. They sent signals by reflecting light. We’ve seen those kinds of idiots before, those who aren’t wary of the fire.”

“Even so, why would they attack us, a ship disguised as a merchant ship?”

“I don’t know. Do you have any guesses?”

“Not at all.”

During their conversation, Cesar anxiously watched Lil’s right eye, which started to contain blood clots. Knowing what his gaze meant, Lil placed her fingers on her upper and under eyelid, and with an uncomfortable moan, she forced her eye open. Cesar’s bitter attitude gave her the impression that it looked really bad. But she couldn’t even begin to guess that the blood on her forehead had drenched not only her hair but also her clothes. Lil walked away from Cesar, who reminded her of the pain.

“Don’t worry, all right? I didn’t hurt my eye, but I just cut my forehead, it’s nothing.”

“…”

– Boom! –

This time, the hull swayed greatly as the accuracy of the shot increased with the closing distance. In an instant, Lil found herself lying between the deck and Cesar. She struggled in his arms as they tightened around her body.

“Cesar!”

“…”

It took a while for Cesar to answer, so Lil patted his chest to see if he was injured.

“Cesar!”

“I’m… all right…”

Cesar let go of Lil and brushed aside the fragments of wood that had showered over his back and the back of his head. It appeared there wasn’t going to be a second blow. Lil also brushed off the debris from her chest and rose first before reaching out to Cesar.

“With the Bell Rock being completely in the wind, the losses on the artillery deck will be large.”

“…”

As Cesar stood up on his own, Lil naturally retreated her hand and shouted over deck.

“It’s gonna be a hand-to-hand battle! Everyone in position!”

Before long, she could see the enemy’s deck with the naked eye. Lil glanced at Alain, who was positioned in the middle of the deck. Upon receiving the captain’s signal, Alain immediately roared.

“…Throw the iron rakes!…”

Ropes with several rakes flew over the sea in unison.

– Tung, Tung, Tung! –

When a sharp rake clawed the opponent’s railing with a harsh sound, Alain pulled out his sword and yelled.

“…Pull those bastards in! Tighten the gap!…”

Footnote:

²Starboard: Change the ship’s angle to the right/clockwise