While watching Nil send the crew members flying into the sea one after another, I headed towards the door leading into the ship where the people who were likely kidnapped were being held.
“I have some questions to ask, so don’t throw everyone into the sea, okay?”
“Wafu wafu!!”
I wanted to properly ask about things like why I couldn’t sense any presence from the ship and about its power source, so I reminded Nil.
“You’re already here… I won’t let you pass—geh!?”
There seemed to be a crew member in front of the door, but I quickly eliminated him and went inside. There was a staircase immediately, and when I went down, there were two doors. They had sturdy padlocks, but I broke them without a second thought and opened the doors.
“…Who are you?”
The voice came from the person at the front, as there seemed to be about four people crammed into the narrow room. Their hands and feet were tied with ropes, and their voice lacked energy.
“I’m just a passing Adventurer.”
“C-Could you be Lord Shu!?”
The first to react was Mr. Miles, who was at the very back.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Can you really just ‘pass by’ and end up here…?”
I was on my way to find the kidnapped orphans, so it wasn’t wrong to say I was just passing by, I guess.
“If you don’t want to be helped by a suspicious person, please let me know, and I’ll be considerate.”
“No! That’s not what I meant…!”
When I declared with a smile that I would leave them be, they hurriedly tried to explain. I wonder what they meant by that then. I don’t understand why they would show a bad attitude to the person who came to help them.
“What are you saying? He is Lord Shu, an S Rank Adventurer! We’ve been saved!”
Mr. Miles shouted excitedly, but I felt it was still too early to say we were saved.
“S Rank!?”
“For now, I’ll untie the ropes.”
Ignoring the surprised old man, I untied the ropes, and the expressions of the other people who had been captured turned to relief.
“H-Hey! Untie my ropes too!”
The old man, realizing he was the only one left, raised his voice, but since his first impression was bad, I didn’t feel like helping him much. He was being untied while being appeased by the others, so it wasn’t like he was completely ignored.
“Is that everyone?”
I ignored the old man and asked Mr. Miles for confirmation, and he nodded. I knew from Presence Detection that there was no one else inside the ship, but there might be other information.
“When the ship that took us left, there was still one ship left on the coast. Considering that, there might be ships that left before us.”
“I see… It’s troublesome not knowing how many there are…”
It was a pain that I couldn’t track their presence. If it was just the orphans, I might be able to rely on Nil’s nose, but I guess I’ll have to call in the TYPE Series.
Since I had rescued everyone for now, I returned to the deck, where Nil was proudly standing with the men who had collapsed on top of each other under his right foot. The man who had been guarding the door was also under Nil’s foot.
“Good job, good job.”
“Wafu wafu!”
I petted Nil, who came over asking for praise, and then I heard groans from the pile of men. It seemed like none of them could move, as their limbs were broken.
“As expected of an S Rank Adventurer’s Tamed Monster…”
“The Tamed Monster is also S Rank…”
One of the rescued people muttered, noticing the tag on Nil’s neck, and the groans from the fallen men grew louder.
Since things seemed to have settled down for the time being, I decided to release the TYPE Series for the search. Since they only needed to search from the sky, no tricks were needed. Even with their initial stats, they were quite strong, so I created about a hundred Bird TYPEs and sent them in all directions.
The basic initial stats only cost 1,000 DP, so a hundred of them was 100,000 DP.
“If you can still track the scent, can you go look for them too, Nil?”
“Waf!”
When I asked, Nil sniffed the surrounding scents and took off into the sky as well.
“Alright, then I’ll start questioning them here.”
I dragged one of the men out of the pile and brought him in front of the rescued people.
“Guhhh, even if you say that, there’s no way I’ll talk…”
“Haha, you’ll want to talk soon enough, don’t worry.”
“Lord Shu, are you planning to torture him here?”
“…”
The man glared at me at Mr. Miles’ words, but I had no intention of doing anything so barbaric. I’ve never done it before, but I’m sure it wouldn’t feel good for me either. Besides, there’s no point in torturing them when there’s an easy way to make them talk.
So, I quickly put a Collar of Subjugation on him from the Dimensional Box, and that was that.
When I asked questions, answers came back one after another. It was very easy and convenient. The man who was answering and the crew members who had regained consciousness had pale faces, but I didn’t care.
The reason why I couldn’t sense their presence was, as expected, because of a Magic Tool. The ship’s power source was a propeller-like thing at the stern, and it could be operated normally from the bridge.
However, it was a good thing to find out that the Brassveig people intended to attack the countries on this continent. Now I don’t have to hold back.
“Is this it…”
At the center of the ship was a black box with five large Magic Stones, about the size of softballs, embedded in it. It was about thirty centimeters square. There were five depressions on the top where the Magic Stones were embedded. There was an on/off switch on the side, and it was currently on.
“What are you going to do with this Magic Tool?”
“For now, I think I’ll keep it running until we get back to town. That way, we won’t be attacked by Monsters. …I asked about how to operate the ship, but do you think you can get back to town?”
If it seemed impossible, I would leave a Brassveig person with a Collar on as the helmsman. If not needed, I would retrieve them immediately.
“There’s a sailor among those who were captured, so it should be fine.”
“Yes, leave it to me.”
One of the men stepped forward, and he was indeed dressed like a sailor.
“Then, I’ll leave it to you. I’m going to look for the other kidnapped people.”
“Okay. Please take care of the townspeople.”
And so, after tying up the Brassveig people and pushing them into the ship’s cabin, I left the ship to Mr. Miles and the others and followed after Nil.