Infiltrating the Pirate Ship!

Karina-chan here. Dea-kun, my adorable makeshift elf femboy, saw me off as I infiltrated the pirate ship to rescue his big sis!

I'll scout with optical camouflage! Also, there's a divine artifact, so I'll nab that too!

 

 

Phantom Thief Karina on the job. First time seeing such a big wooden ship up close. Kinda exciting.

No leads, so I'll tail Gomez.

… Huh, I didn't actually need to leave my storage space. Oh well. Jumping back in now would earn me Dea-kun's frosty stare. I'll just cling to the ceiling ninja-style.

"Damn it, we need cargo fast or we're ruined! All because of that woman! The money's already taken!!"

"Boss, what now?"

"We hunt! If the permit is copper-tier, we'll say it's expired and hit 'em!"

"The lord will—"

"Shut it! We'll make the story fit later!"

Gomez jogged to the ship's center.

An ornate door, must be an important room.

"Poseidon! Great sea god! Reveal those who trespass your domain!"

He entered. The whole room was an altar, a clear blue crystal ball at its center. It glowed.

Lights like stars floated within — gold, silver, copper, and white, each with different intensities and blink rates.

"… Silver, silver, gold… white — prey! Small fry. Poachers… oh, a big copper! That's our target! Expiry soon. Perfect."

Given the outline of a coastline, it looked like some kind of ship radar. From his words, it tracks permit type, expiration date, and ship size.

The light cluster is Véraldo's port. No getting lost at sea with this…

So this crystal is Poseidon? Information is powerful, but this alone isn't "invincible at sea" or anything.

"Great sea god! We'll hunt these miscreants! Guide us to them!"

The ship turned — auto-navigation?

So it has multiple functions. Not that it matters. I'll mark it for retrieval.

"… ETA three hours. Get ready. I'm resting."

"Boss, the women?"

"Do as you like — no, wait. They're money. Don't break 'em. Don't overdo it before a fight."

"Heh. We'll just 'pet' the pets."

Women. Pets, huh. Useful info keeps piling up.

I'll tail that guy next.

 

*

 

I knocked out the lackey who led the way. Inside the room were three chained women in tattered clothes. How lewd — no, gotta focus.

Their eyes were empty, and the room stank. Use cleaning magic, for the Goddess' sake. The Scavenger Slimes were failing to keep up.

"Am I too late? Hey, anyone still with me? I'm here to help."

One twitched.

"H-help…?"

"Any elves? Or know where an elf girl is?"

No silver hair, no elf ears. Two human women, one beastkin.

So no elf here.

"W-who are you…?"

"Know any elves? Want scallops?"

I offered buttered scallops. They weakly raised hands, tears falling as they ate. Even the two who hadn't reacted at first.

If they can eat, they're okay.

"Thank you… I feel human again."

"Good. Any intel on the elf girl?"

"Not sure if she's your target, but they bragged about catching an elf three days ago. They said they'd sell her, so she might already be gone."

"A beautiful elf. Wouldn't they keep her?"

"Only if she fetched less than selling price."

Unused "merchandise" sells higher, so you can't sample it yourself if you plan to sell.

"… And if you can't use it, you sell fast. Too tempting otherwise."

Makes sense.

"Fine. In that case, I'll save you three instead."

"Thank you. But we're dead weight."

"Hm?"

That's when I noticed. Below their ankles was… nothing. Just burned stumps under crude bandages. Both legs, on all three of them.

"With these legs…"

"Anti-escape measures."

Cut off their feet and they can't run. Weakened and easy to confine.

Wait, hold on.

This is their "treatment"? Screw that.

You can't wear socks without feet!!!

"Ah… the Goddess' gonna be furious…"

"Even if we live, we'll be decorations."

In a fantasy world like this, there's probably healing magic or potions that could fix this.

Basic Knowledge says holy magic can restore limbs. I can picture the Goddess healing feet… for socks.

If even one foot remained, that'd be an easy fix, but now I'd have to sculpt from scratch by copying cells.

"Leave us. Being treated like humans at the end is enough."

"Sigh… fine. I'll save you and fix your feet."

I spread Spatial Magic. Not exactly a snap, but I copied cells, bones, vessels, nerves from their right hands as bases, then molded them into feet.

Finished right feet, mirrored for the left, pasted on. Copy, plop — done. Clap clap.

Healing magic could probably do this in one go. Spatial magic can do anything, but off-label use takes effort. Ugh.

"Okay, you've got both feet back. Try moving them?"

"Eh? Ah?"

They wiggled their toes in confusion. Looks good.

Hands are just evolved forelegs, so converting them to feet isn't an issue. No rejection when using their own cells, either. During the tutorial, the Goddess swapped a grandpa's hand for a foot just for fun.

… Ugh, a wave of dizziness.

Maybe doing all three at once cost too much mana.

"Anyway, I healed you, so I'll take payment. In socks — wait."

I realized something.

I just copied their feet with Spatial Magic.

If duplicated sock fibers don't count, then copying the feet themselves might put them outside the Goddess's, uh, interests.

"… I messed up!"

"What? The treatment?"

"No, that part is perfect — I swear that to the Goddess. It's… personal."

I held my head.

I'd planned to parlay this healing into regular sock production!