chap12+++

The man was sitting at a desk, looking out an open window. He wasn’t quite middle age, but he gave off the impression of an adult man. His sailor style outfit suited him well, and he came off as far more captainly than either Momohina or Ginzy.
The mansion Momohina and the rest had been brought to stood on high ground, and the window of this second floor room gave a full view of the port. The damp sea breeze felt lukewarm. There were a large number of moths in the room, perhaps drawn by the lamps inside, and they were fluttering around near the ceiling.
“The residences are one thing, but we have to pay to repair the pier ourselves,” the man went on. “At this rate, we’re going to be put out of business. I’d never have expected this nonsense would happen while the president and Kisaragi were away. Bad luck, that’s what it is.”
“No, this isn’t the time for your luck nonsense,” their fishman shot back. “You’re the managing director!”
The man who’d been called the managing director seemed like he couldn’t care less about Ginzy’s objection. Ignoring the noisy sahuagin, he turned a scrutinizing eye on Haruhiro and the party.
“Newcomers, huh. It’s not the sea. You people smell of the land.
Were you volunteer soldiers from Alterna, or something?”
Haruhiro didn’t respond immediately. His comrades didn’t open their mouths, either.
“Hey.” The man cleared his throat and laughed. “I’m asking you a question, you know? Answer it. You haven’t trained them very well, have you, KMW?”
“Umm, I taught the girls kung-fu!”
“Did you, now?”
“Shihoruru’s kind of iffy, but the other three maaay end up being pretty strong.”
“Well, that’s fine. Better than them being weak, I suppose.”
“Hey, listen, do you think Yume can get stronger?” Yume asked suddenly.
Momohina let out a weird giggle and nodded. “You sure caaaan. I think you may be on the right track already, Yumeyume! If I train you good and hard for three, four months, you’ll be an honest-togoodness kung-fulier! Yep!”
“Oh-ho! Yume’s gonna be a kung-fulier, huh?”
“Yumeyume, you’re a hunter, riiiight? Your moves are a little more agile than the warriors, so maaaaybe that helps?”
“Hmmm. Yume’s not stiff. Maybe Yume’s pretty flexible?”
“Oh, and Harupiroron’s a thief, Kuzakkyun’s a paladin, and Shihoruru’s a mage, right? Merimeri’s, hmm, a priest, I think, but maaaaybe she’s got experience in other classes, too. Setoranran’s from the hidden village, I gueeeess? She’s got a nyaa-chan with her, after all!”
“More or less volunteer soldiers, then.” The managing director stroked his chin. “Well, maybe they’ll be more use than dyed-inthe-wool pirates.”
“Me, too! Me, too! Me, too! I’m not a pure pirate, either, after all!” Ginzy added proudly.
The managing director ignored him again. “Even our KMW,
Momohina, was a volunteer soldier originally.”
“Only a trainee, though,” said Momohina. “Same with
Kisaragicchon and Icchonchon.”
“Now she’s a head of a crew of pirates. That’s life for you.”
“And you’re a pirate managing director, Giancarulun.”
“Of a pirate company, yes. Though, even when I get called that,
I don’t really know what it means.”
“The managing director! That’s a kind of important person!”
“Dammiiiiit,” Ginzy moaned. “I’ve been around longer, yet they only made me a captaiiiiin.”
Momohina and the managing director, who was apparently named Giancarulun or something like that, didn’t so much as look at Ginzy as he ground his teeth in frustration.
It wouldn’t have been odd to feel a bit sorry for him, but there was something about this sahuagin that didn’t produce the slightest bit of sympathy. That something was how annoying he was. Way too annoying.
“Come to think of it, I hadn’t introduced myself yet,” the managing director said with a shrug. “I’m technically the managing director of the K&K Pirate Company, Giancarlo
Kreitzal.”
“It’s a pleasure. I’m Haruhiro.”
Haruhiro greeted him as the party representative. However, he felt it strange the whole time. Why were they, the new recruits, being taken to meet an important executive of the pirate company?
That executive, Giancarlo, had this vague attitude of, What the hell am I doing? Well, whatever. There are dragons. Everything’s a mess. He seemed disinterested, and listless.
Jimmy the bandaged man, who had remained quiet up until this point, stepped forward, whispering something in Giancarlo’s ear. Giancarlo reacted like he finally got it, and nodded.
“Haruhiro, was it? Whatever led you here, you are now members of our K&K Pirate Company. Congratulations on joining the company. Okay, time to clap.”
When Giancarlo started clapping, Momohina said, “Yay, clap, clap,” saying the onomatopoeia out loud, while Jimmy clapped in silence. Who did Ginzy, who was clapping both his hands together while giving off an air of reluctance, think he was? Well, a captain, maybe.
It seemed like a rather forced celebration, but it didn’t feel half bad.
Yeah, right.
Unfortunately, unlike Kuzaku, who scratched the back of his head in embarrassment with an “Uhh, thanks...” or Yume, who bowed politely with a “Thank youuuu,” Haruhiro was not so pure and innocent.
He quickly traded glances with Shihoru. Shihoru, like Haruhiro, was dubious. From the looks on their faces, Setora and Merry were suspicious, too. When it came to Kiichi, who was sticking close to Setora’s feet, he’d been in alert mode from the beginning.
“By the way, sorry if this is an awkward question, but, um... what sort of organization is the K&K Pirate Company, exactly?” Haruhiro asked. “If we’ve ‘joined’ the company, I think you could tell us that much, at least.”
“Huh? You weren’t told?” Giancarlo spat the words out in exasperation, then looked to Jimmy ad made a gesture with his chin.
Jimmy nodded, turning back to Haruhiro. “The Emerald
Archipelago was originally run by this big pirate called Dead Skull.”
According to him, the Emerald Archipelago had long been called a pirate’s paradise. It had ports where pirates with nowhere else to go could stop safely, and was a place for them to rest their weary bones. Some pirates had been born in the Emerald Archipelago, too. There were even rumors that the islands were the birthplace of piracy.
However, when the Skull Pirate Gang under Dead Skull had taken the place over, the Emerald Archipelago had ceased to be a paradise for many of those pirates.
Thought of as a man of character, an understanding and moderate pirate captain, Skull had been a large man, with white hair and a white beard.
When he had first come to the Emerald Archipelago, he’d called himself an old man. His underlings had called Skull “Old Man.”
Good at arbitrating when there was trouble and acting as a middleman, there had been a continuous series who brought profitable ideas to the old man, and made a fortune working with him. The old man had held connections in trading cities like Vele and Igor, in the Coral Archipelago, and on the Red Continent, too.
Whenever a pirate had consulted him about something, the old man had always started with, “I’m just an old man. I don’t know if I can help you,” but then handled it, or provided a plan of action.
Quickly becoming acquainted with the top pirates, the old man had in no time gained a role as a coordinator.
Then, one day, he had shown his true colors.
On his seventy-seventh birthday, he had told the other pirates he’d like to share a drink before he passed on.
Each pirate thinking he would be drinking with the old man alone at the tavern, all the biggest names in piracy had gathered in the Emerald Archipelago.
Fair enough; this was apparently what the old man wanted. A birthday party, huh?
There were pirates forced to sit with those they didn’t get along with, but how could they complain? Having decided to help the old man look good, and to put up with one another for the night, they had all shared a toast.
That was the last drink any of them had ever taken.
The pirates had dropped like flies. The booze had been poisoned.
The old man had tricked the powerful pirates and done away with them, becoming dictator of the Emerald Islands in a single night.
Anyone who refused to swear loyalty to Dead Skull had been captured by the Skull Pirate Gang and executed. Men and women alike. Even a twelve-year-old girl had been killed for badmouthing Skull.
Their standard modus operandi was incredibly cruel, cutting off the nose and ears, then throwing the victims into the sea for the sharks to eat.
Despite shuddering, everyone had understood that there was no choice but to submit to Skull.
“And who brought down Dead Skull?” Ginzy declared, his nostrils flaring. “I... am good friends with Kisaragi-san, who along with his comrades, did the deed!”
“K&K is short for Kisaragi and Kreitzal.” Jimmy’s tone was plain. Naturally, he didn’t even look at Ginzy. “Kisaragi didn’t want a post with the company, so Giancarlo’s younger sister, Anjolina, is our company president. She was a pirate to begin with, and opposed the Skull Pirate Gang.”
Giancarlo smiled wryly. “I, well, I’m riding the coattails of Kisaragi and my little sister. Not that I particularly wanted this job.”
“Where are this Kisaragi and Anjolina now?” Haruhiro asked.
Momohina jumped up. “Um, well, they’re reeeeally, reaaaally far away!” she explained energetically. “Kisaragicchon, Icchonchon, Miriryun, and Haimari got on Ms. President’s boat and left for the Red Continent. Ms. President’s on a business triiiip! That’s right!”
“Oh, and Mitsuki’s probably not coming back,” Giancarlo added with a sigh. “Still, Momohina, why didn’t you go with Kisaragi? You’ve never been to the Red Continent, right? It may not be a nice place, but it’s worth seeing.”
“Hmmm...” Momohina looked up to the moths flying around near the ceiling. “Kisaragicchon has Icchonchon, Miriryun, and Haimari with him, so I figured he’ll be fiiiine. If you love someone, let them goooo. Ooooh. You know? Like that?”
“Nuhuhuh...” Ginzy’s laughed creepily. “Love is complicated, isn’t it? How nice. Oh, such youth! Why, I’ve never once been popular! Lately, I’ve been thinking of giving up on sahuagin women, and setting my sights on humans instead! Oh, oh, oh, oh, what’s this? No witty retorts? I welcome those, you know! Come on, come on, come on, tell me, tell me I’ll have even less luck with humans! Three, two, one, go!” It was quiet.
About the only noises to be heard were the distant waves, and the wings of moths beating against the ceiling.
It wasn’t as if anyone had taken the lead on this, but there was a thorough policy of not giving this sahuagin any bait. In a way, Ginzy had brought them all together on something, so that was kind of amazing.
“There have been dragons living in the Emerald Archipelago since long, long ago,” Jimmy said.
Merry stiffened a little. Those were the exact words Merry had spoken while the dragons were attacking Roronea. “But the pirates of the Emerald Archipelago have always coexisted with the dragons. There was an unspoken understanding: ‘Don’t go near the dragons.’ Trying to harm them is, obviously, out of the question. The dragons are like seabirds, feeding on large fish. Not far from this island, there’s a perfect fishing spot for dragons. We never disturb that fishing spot. As long as pirates just followed these rules, the dragons have left them be. As an added bonus, respectable ships feared the dragons, and they wouldn’t come near the Emerald Archipelago. The dragons were almost like protector gods for the pirates.”
“Isn’t that weird?” Setora asked in a tone too bold for a newcomer and an underling. She might simply have no concept of acting servile. “Why are those protector gods attacking the town?” Jimmy didn’t seem offended. “Yes, it is weird,” he agreed.
“Managing director, how is that investigation going?”
“We’re trying to investigate, but...” Giancarlo frowned. “I have my usual duties, and I can be pretty busy with them, and then the dragons make more work for me each time they come. The only pawns I have at my disposal are a bunch of ruffians. Jimmy, if I had a clever guy like you, I might make some progress.” “That’s an excuse!” Ginzy shouted.
“Hey, shut up, Ginzy. You wanna get cooked and then thrown out?”
“Fishhh?! I didn’t get ignored, for once?! I’m kind of happy! But isn’t cooking me then throwing me out without eating me a little harsh?!”
“I understand.” Jimmy completely ignored the fishman. “I’m tired of riding on ships, getting shipwrecked, and waiting to be rescued, so let me take this on for you. I am a section head, after all.”
“What section are you the head of?” Shihoru asked.
Jimmy said, “Search me,” and tilted his head to the side a bit. “I was asked to choose between assistant director, section head, and department head, and just went with whatever, so I don’t even know. When I’m on a ship, I’m more important than the rest of the crew, but less important than the captain. On land I’m above the captains, but below the managing director. That’s about how the company’s structured. So, about that investigation, I’m going to need people.”
Giancarlo waved his hand as if to say, Do whatever you want, then glanced to Haruhiro.
“Why, isn’t this convenient,” Jimmy began. I see where this is going, thought Haruhiro.
Haruhiro made his move before Jimmy could bring it up. “Sure.
We’ll help. I’m sure we’ll be a little more useful than the pirates.
There’s a condition, though.”


8. The Mood is a Vital Ambiance



A long time ago, it had felt burdensome to even just haggle over prices in Alterna’s shops. Now Haruhiro was launching negotiations himself like it was totally natural, and trying to get the best compromise he could out of the other side.
He wasn’t one to boast, but he felt like he’d gotten a whole lot bolder.
Haruhiro’s initial condition was that they be allowed to quit being pirates, or in other words to be dismissed from the K&K Pirate Company, and then to form a new limited contract for the investigation of the Roronea Dragon Attacks Incident.
After all, Haruhiro and his group had discovered the entrance to that unknown underground world, the Dusk Realm, in the Wonder Hole. In addition, they had wandered from the Dusk
Realm into Darunggar, climbed up Fire Dragon Mountain from the Orc town of Waluandin, and after many difficulties returned to Grimgar.
Then, after making it out of dangerous Thousand Valley somehow and going through various events, they had crossed the sea to arrive here, in the Emerald Archipelago.
Not many people had as much experience as they had. Looking at their career history, they were less like volunteer soldiers and more like a group of professional adventurers.
So, if they were going to investigate the dragons as adventurers, they weren’t unwilling to accept the job. However, if the company wanted professionals to do a professional job, they deserved to be treated like professionals.
Managing Director Giancarlo seemed ready to accept, but Ginzy stubbornly refused. The pirates had their own rules, including one which stated that a captain was elected by his crew, and if one of those crew members had a request, the captain approved or rejected it. If a crew member didn’t like that, the proper thing to do was to challenge the captain to a duel.
“Momohina-san made you her underlings, so if you want out, you should tell that to Momohina-san!” Ginzy shouted. “Not that she’ll let you! Right, Momohina-san?! I’m right, aren’t I?!”
“Hmm. That’s right. Harupiroron and his friends aaaare my underlings, after all.”
“See! See, see, see! There you have it! There’s only one method left for you people! Duel Momohina-san! Win, and you’re free and clear to quit being pirates!”
No, Haruhiro couldn’t win. If he could have won, he wouldn’t have become a pirate in the first place.
In the end, he kept haggling, and the deal they ultimately settled on was that Haruhiro and the party would investigate as members of the K&K Pirate Company, in other words still as pirates, but if they discovered the cause of the attacks, they would be rewarded.
There were two rewards. The first was to quit being pirates. The second was that they would be brought to the free city of Vele by ship.
If they made it to Vele as free people, Alterna would suddenly be a lot closer.

The first thing Haruhiro and his group did was view the places the dragons had attacked.
“This is the pier destroyed by the dragons, huh,” Haruhiro mused.
The dragons had first come ten days ago. The next day, and the day after that, they had only flown around in the air above Roronea.
Then, seven days ago, before noon, the first attack had happened on this No. 2 Pier.
They had left the mansion immediately after the end of the negotiations, so it was still night. The dragons would start flying once it was light out, so the party had to act in darkness. They were pretty worn out by their voyage, or rather the accompanying sea sickness, but, well, it wasn’t going to kill them.
The No. 2 Pier had apparently been in the shape of the letter F. Haruhiro crouched and lit up the area at their feet with his lamp. The sea was below. This was what would have been the bottom of the F’s horizontal line. Had the dragons landed here?
The bridge planks were crushed, of course, and the girders were, too. It looked like a number of the support pillars were broken, as well.
“How is it?” Merry crouched down next to him, brushing her hair back behind her ear.
“Mmm...” Haruhiro mumbled an appropriate response like, “It’s bad,” or something similar.
In light of the fact that the damage done by the dragons was spread over a wide area, the party had decided to split up.
Haruhiro and Merry were at Pier No. 2.
He hadn’t needed a guide to find the port, and only one pier had been destroyed, so he’d been able to figure out where it was quickly.
Haruhiro would have been fine by himself, but if Setora and Kiichi were counted as one unit, there were six of them, so they had split into three pairs of two. He would have been fine with anyone as his partner, but for some reason Shihoru and Yume and Kuzaku and Setora had quickly formed pairs, leaving him with Merry.
That, in itself, was no problem whatsoever. But...
“This must be where the ships were destroyed, too.” Merry was her usual self. Or she looked it, at least.
Haruhiro needed to maintain his composure, too, though that wasn’t the reason why. “Looks like it. The two ships moored to this pier were taken out. But from what we heard, the piers and wharves haven’t been attacked since, right?”
“So it’s like they were after the ships, maybe?”
“Ever since they took out this No. 2 Pier, the ships have stopped coming into port during the day. The dragons aren’t attacking the piers and wharves because they don’t see any ships. Hmm, but if that were the case, they’d attack the ships taking shelter outside the port, wouldn’t they?”
“You could be right. If so, could it have just been coincidence that this pier and the ships were the first things destroyed?”
“It could be... or it could not. We can’t say anything just yet. But it’s interesting that they only hit the port once.”
Haruhiro rested his lamp on the bridge planks. He took a breath.
He wanted to know more about the dragons. He’d asked Jimmy, of course, but it turned out even the pirates based out of the Emerald Archipelago didn’t know a whole lot about the dragons. In fact, the pirates’ basic attitude towards the issue was that it was better not to know about dragons, and they didn’t need to.
Up until now, the pirates had gotten along well enough by not interacting or interfering with one another. Why had that relationship broken down now?
“The cause can’t be the dragons,” Haruhiro said. “I’m sure the humans did something first.”
“I agree.”
“The dragons aren’t attacking Roronea to eat the pirates, or anything like that. I hear the dragons are still fishing in their usual spot.”
“Did someone do something to make the dragons angry, maybe?”
“But if that were the problem, I feel like the dragons could’ve trashed this place a whole lot worse...” “Sorry,” Merry said.
“Huh?”
“I wish I knew more that could help.” Merry hung her head as if trying to rub her face into her knees.
It would be easy to say, Don’t worry about it. But how could she not? This probably had to do with Merry’s, how to put this— Merry’s personal problem. If it had been something external to her, it would’ve been easy to turn a blind eye to it, but for a problem that was internal to herself, she couldn’t do that.
I’m happy to lend an ear, Haruhiro thought. Why don’t you tell me about it? I mean, just getting it out there might make you feel a little better. No matter what you say, I’ll be fine. You don’t have to worry about that.
Any number of words came to mind. They all sounded cheap, insincere, or off base, so it was hard to say them.
What if, rather than talking to her, he just hugged her tight?
No, that was just what he wanted to do, wasn’t it? Wouldn’t that be taking advantage of her weakness? Still, Merry was probably feeling weak right now. He wanted to encourage her. Cheering her up couldn’t be a bad thing. No, no, but how did that lead to him hugging her, or anything like that?
How much of it was him thinking about Merry, and how much of it was just his own desires?
Honestly, he wished he could just cut it all away. To think only of Merry. If he could not worry about himself, and think for Merry’s sake, and only for her sake, how much better would that be?
It made Haruhiro realize it all over again. That he loved Merry.
It was out of love that he wanted to make his love for her go away. He wished he could fully erase his own feelings, so he could make a proper decision about what was best for Merry. Thoughts about how he wanted to touch her, or how he wanted to do this or that, or how it would be nice if things turned out a certain way, popped up one after another, and he couldn’t banish them. He wished that part of him would just die.
“There should be someone who knows about the dragons somewhere.” Merry raised her face, looked at Haruhiro, and smiled. “This may be a pirate’s paradise, but there are more than just pirates on this island. The original residents are here, too... I think.”
“That makes sense.” Haruhiro hid how confused he was, picking up the lamp as he stood.
This was the Emerald Archipelago. There were a number of islands. The odds were good there were natives around somewhere.
Even without knowing that, he could more or less guess. That was right. Even if she didn’t know...
If that one insensitive jerk were around, he’d probably say, What’s it matter? If she knows things she couldn’t possible know, and uses magic she couldn’t possibly use, that’s just convenient.
Was it all right to take it lightly like that? If they did, Merry might not have to worry. Haruhiro wouldn’t say that, though, “What’s it matter?” That would be a little too much.
Haruhiro and Merry met up with Team Yume and Team Kuzaku before dawn. They figured if they got away from the town for now, the odds of avoiding being victims of a dragon attack were high.
They sorted through the information they had so far on the beach outside Roronea with Section Head Jimmy of the K&K Pirate Company.
It was a new day, so the first day of the dragon attacks had now been eight days ago. Only one dragon had come, destroying the No. 2 Pier, heavily damaging two ships, and causing around thirty casualties.
Seven days ago, another dragon had come, attacking the pleasure quarter, leveling three drinking establishments, and only injuring twenty people, no deaths. Probably because not many people went drinking in the middle of the day.
Six days ago, two dragons had descended on the commercial district, where the marketplace and stores were concentrated, and the damage had been much, much greater. More than ten dead, and over a hundred injured.
Starting five days ago, two dragons had gone to smash homes in the residential district for three days in a row. More than twenty houses were now wholly or partially destroyed. The dead and wounded numbered over fifty.
The day before yesterday, a third dragon had appeared for the first time. On that day, two bars in the pleasure quarter and ten homes in the residential district had been damaged. Apparently not too many casualties.
Finally, yesterday, there had been three dragons again. Eight residences had been slashed down, and the marketplace was almost wholly ruined. However, everyone but the elderly had evacuated, so there were few casualties from that attack.
The dragons would come flying once the sun had fully risen. They wouldn’t circle over Roronea the whole time; they would wander off to their fishing grounds, too. If the followed the same pattern, they would attack the town just once or twice a day, heading home before the sun set.
It seemed the pirates really didn’t know much about the dragons.
The Emerald Archipelago was made up of the main island,
Emerald Island, three islands to the east of it, Kunu Island, Rema Island, and Hosu Island, and then a number of smaller islands. The dragons lived in a place on the north of the main island called Dragon’s Nest, and Roronea was on a bay at the southern end.
The dragon’s fishing grounds were an area of sea that was two or three kilometers southeast of Roronea. From Roronea, the dragons could be spotted flying there on practically a daily basis. Everyone was aware that there were multiple dragons. However, nobody knew precisely how many of them there were.
The dragons that lived on this island had scales like emeralds. That was apparently where the name Emerald Island had come from. They were winged, and flew. They caught and ate fish at their fishing grounds.
In terms of size, some were about thirty meters with their wings spread. There was individual variance, though. The larger dragons were older, and the smaller ones were presumably younger. Maybe they were parents and their children.
That was about all the pirates knew about the dragons.
Soon enough, the sun came up. The three dragons flew in, and began circling over Roronea.
“Can’t we kill them?” Setora asked.
“Oh, I’ve wondered that, too.” Kuzaku was sitting on the beach with his long legs spread wide. Seeing as Kiichi was curled up using those legs as a pillow, the nyaa might be sleeping. When had they started getting along? “It’s three that come to attack the town, right? I get the feeling that if we could take out just the big one, they might stop coming, maybe.”
“You’d be in the most danger, you know that, right, Kuzakukun?” Shihoru asked.
“Well, yeah,” Kuzaku replied, screwing up his face and raising just one of his eyebrows. “Like, if I can keep it still, couldn’t
everyone else handle the rest?”
“That’s too haphazard...” Merry muttered.
“No, if we seriously decide to do it, I’ll think if over properly, okay? I dunno. It’s a question of choices, you could say. I was wondering if defeating the dragons is an option.”
Haruhiro frowned. “I’d rather not take risks we don’t have to...”
Yume mimed firing an arrow from her bow. “Do you think arrows’d work?”
“Their scales are too hard for arrows to pierce,” was Jimmy’s answer to that. “Just so you’re aware, the brave, stupid pirates who tried firing on them with crossbows all died. I don’t know about magic. If you want to try it, be my guest. I won’t stop you.” “Guns?” Haruhiro asked, but Jimmy shook his head a little.
“Kisaragi and the others who went to the Red Continent have a number of them, but we have only one left in our possession. That, and there’s no gun powder. As far as I’m aware, the shot we fired to intimidate you people used up the last of it.”
Even if they’d had the gunpowder for it, just one gun wasn’t going to be able to do anything. No, multiple guns wouldn’t change things. If the dragons were flying, they probably couldn’t hit them.
“Then do you know anyone familiar with the dragons?”
Haruhiro asked. “Pirate or otherwise.”
Jimmy thought for a moment before opening his mouth. “I have an idea. There are people who lived on this island before the pirates built Roronea. They’re from a race called runarukas, though.”
The natives of Emerald Island, runarukas, lived in the forested areas of the main island, and on Rema Island, Hosu Island, and a number of the smaller islands. The runarukas, like the dragons, were a mysterious race, and nearly nothing was known about them for certain. However, they didn’t oppose the pirates, and they had trade relations with them. Rarely a young runaruka would come into Roronea, and there were even times when they became pirates.
“Our company has one runaruka pirate, actually,” Jimmy said. “But they can barely use the common human language we’re speaking in now. They don’t speak the orcish language or undead Manguish, either. The runarukas are secretive by nature, so I don’t know if they could be any help. They may not be much use.”
Whatever the case, they would have to meet that crew member and talk first. When Haruhiro asked him to do so, Jimmy agreed, and at a little past noon, he brought that runaruka to the beach.
They were just about to start with the introductions when the dragons began descending on Roronea.
“Ahh. Etwa, unakai, nye, shatah...” The runaruka spoke what sounded like words, covering their chest with both hands and shaking its head.
It wasn’t clear if it was male or female. To put it plainly, it looked like a fox. Its face was fox-like, at the very least. It wore sailor’s clothing. Its body was similar to a bipedal human or orc’s, but the arms were relatively short in relation to the torso. Its whole body was covered in fur. There was a hole in the butt of its pants, and a tail sticking out through it.
One dragon descended to Roronea, and dust and smoke began to rise. The remaining two were still up in the sky.
“Nyarah, nyarah...” Was the runaruka lamenting, or fearful?

Chapter end