M-Monster!

She burst up through the deck out of nowhere. The one who beat the captain in a drinking match. Why on our ship? A confident mage? Bad luck to face us while we were gearing up — so I thought at first.

"Uoooraaa — huh!?"

"Oh? Mass-produced junk blade?"

I swung, but she stopped the edge with a single finger. A seaman's full-strength swing… stopped by a fingertip? Not even a cut?

"S-shoot! Shoot!"

"Mm-hm, inaccurate pea-shooters. Not flying straight makes them trickier — it'd be surprising if they got me in the eye."

Guns — alchemy-made weapons that could fire metal with explosions — did nothing. Hits vanished. No wounds.

She grinned like a crescent moon.

What is she? What are we up against? Anyone who explodes up through a deck isn't normal!

"Guys, don't panic. Have fun, okay?"

"Wah!"

"My foot — oof!"

She tripped men with a casual flick as she passed, felling grown sailors like roots of a great tree.

"Damn it — Flare Cannon!"

"Too naive. Magic Cylinder!"

Our finisher got sucked into her left hand and fired from her right. It exploded on us — blew holes in the ship. Fire!

"Put it out! Don't use fire magic on a ship, idiot!"

"Water!"

"Oh dear. Let me help. There."

She snapped. The fire vanished.

What magic is that!? No chant!

"Right, by the way — tell me about the elf, okay?"

"M-monster!"

"Hiiiii!!"

Men fled. Some already had.

"What are you doing! This is my ship!! — You!?"

Captain Gomez appeared from the bridge.

Bloodshot, he glared at the woman.

"Yo, Gonzales. Or was it Gohandes?"

"Gomez! Get it right, damn you! — But you came to the wrong place."

He licked his lips.

"Deploy the golems! Combat models!"

"Golems on a human!?"

"She's not human — she's a monster! The ship's under the sea god's protection — use all the magic you want!"

The sea god's protection — the strongest defense of his Poseidon artifact. With it, ramming ships or rocks won't break us.

Which means absolute safety at sea — and on deck, golems and magic won't scratch the ship.

"Don't let her escape! Make her spit out where our cargo is!!"

"Oh? It belongs to my client, so — nope."

"C-client? You're a recovery adventurer hired by that ship's owner!?"

Sometimes we'd get 'Retrieve cargo stolen by bandits' jobs.

Usually it's solved with money, but the buyer was already lined up, and the owner being an elf made her prime merchandise, so we sold first.

So she must've been contracted beforehand and actually showed up, huh.

"I'll pay double. Defect now and I'll pardon you!"

"Pass. You can't pay — and you're not worth negotiating with."

She rejected him flatly.

"Heh, figured! Too bad, the elf is the lord's pet by now!"

"Good to know. Thanks. I'll go save her after this."

"Idiot! You can't defy the lord and live! We'll crush you first!"

"Maybe. Anyway… are those golems of yours ready yet?"

She chatted to buy time for us to ready the golems… but she underestimated us. The sea god's protection applies to the ship's equipment, both the golems and the crew.

No matter how strong a mage she is, she can't beat golems and fighters under divine protection! With Poseidon, we're invincible!