Chapter 161 Lorelei
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Sayumi Mineyama had long since given up on their little board game.
Even this world had something like Othello, and she and Yukina Yuki had been playing it below deck to kill time, but—as expected—she’d gotten bored.
Now she stood out on the deck, the salt wind threading through her sleek black hair, the soft air brushing against her cheek like a lazy hand. It felt nice, but it didn’t help. There was nothing out here. Just endless blue, no change, no movement except the creak of wood and the roll of the waves.
Behind her, the hatch to the lower deck creaked open, and Yukina poked her head out, silver hair catching the sun.
”Sayu-Sayu, hey. I just heard from the envoy people… apparently we’re almost in Solis waters.”
Sayumi blinked, then smiled faintly. “Really? You went and asked for me? Thanks, Yuki-Yuki.”
Their ship wasn’t an Alyurein warship—Alyurein didn’t even have ocean-going vessels. It was a hired Solis merchant ship, borrowed only because their escorting Knights and the envoy had spent days begging and arguing in the Magnus Magic Nation until they finally found one. The poor crew had been conscripted on the spot, ship and all, and had not been happy about it.
And the fight hadn’t even been about money.
It was about the superstition.
“Even if they’re Heroes, putting women on a ship is asking for disaster! No sailor comes back alive from a cursed voyage like that!”
“No women on our ship. That’s our rule. Find another.”
The Solis sailors had gone pale saying it, like they could already see their deaths.
Sayumi had argued, of course—she’d snapped back about unfair treatment based on old traditions, her modern world ethics flaring hot—but their fear had been so raw, so real, that even she had faltered for a second and wondered: What if… what if something really does happen because of us?
And, well… things had happened.
Monstrous Beasts from the sea and sky. Pirates lurking behind island shadows. Three attacks already. And though none of it was their fault, she’d caught sailors muttering behind her back—”See? I told you…” “Damn jinx…”
Knights bristled whenever they heard it, stepping in sharp with blades still bloody from the last fight. “Mind your tongue—if not for these Heroes, you’d be floating in pieces by now!”
It didn’t help the mood.
(Feels like a mutiny could break out any second…)
That was the exact moment the ship jolted with a deafening thud, like it had slammed into something unseen.
The whole vessel lurched.
Yells flew out in sharp bursts of Solis tongue, rough and quick like crashing waves, as the sailors scrambled to check for damage.
Sayumi’s eyes darted across the water. No rocks. No reefs. And the lead ships ahead hadn’t stopped at all—if they had hit something, why hadn’t anyone else?
The hatch banged open again and Yukina came flying out. “Sayu-Sayu!!”
Sayumi turned just as Yukina’s hand clamped down on her shoulder, silver eyes wide.
The sailors were staring at something off the port bow—far off, where nothing but open sea had been a minute ago.
Sayumi followed their fingers… and froze.
Fog.
A thick, swirling wall of it, where clear blue sky had been moments earlier.
And it was moving.
Curling toward them like it had a will.
Like something inside it was guiding it straight for them.
Cold prickled down her spine. This wasn’t natural. This was malice.
A scream split the air.
She whipped her head around just in time to see a massive, rubbery tentacle coil out of the sea, wrap around a screaming sailor, and yank him under in one brutal motion. The water slammed shut. Gone.
Everyone stood frozen, faces pale.
Sayumi’s gaze shot frantically toward the rest of their fleet. The fog had already swallowed most of it, but she could barely see shadows of ships locked in chaos—shapes climbing up their hulls, blades flashing.
(Mermen…? No—seriously?)
Then claws scraped on their own deck.
A slick, webbed hand pulled over the railing.
Mermen swarmed aboard, tridents flashing, while Solis sailors and Alyurein Knights roared back with cutlasses and spears. Sayumi slashed through one, Yukina’s blade flashing beside her, blood and seawater mixing on the planks.
But these weren’t mindless beasts.
They were organized.
They struck fast, only to knock people overboard, never staying to brawl. Anyone who fell was swarmed instantly by the mermaids in the water, torn apart in seconds, the sea turning red.
Monstrous Beasts didn’t fight like this. They weren’t supposed to think.
Someone was commanding them.
Sayumi’s heart dropped as the thought clicked into place.
(Demon king’s army…? No. No way. In the ocean too?)
Then—
Laughter.
Not out loud. Inside her head.
High and sweet and wrong. Like a little girl giggling while pulling the wings off insects.
”Hey… big sis. Over here. Come play.”
”I’m lonely… hey… come to me…”
Sayumi’s thoughts fogged over. The voices were soft. So sweet. She couldn’t leave her alone… she had to go…
Her foot lifted onto the railing. The sea below swayed dark and deep and welcoming—
”NO! Sayu-Sayu!!”
Arms locked around her from behind, jerking her back hard.
She hit the deck, gasping, snapping awake. Yukina was gripping her collar, eyes blazing.
If she hadn’t…
Sayumi’s chest shook as she scrambled upright, whispering a breathless “Thank you—”
And then—
”Aaah~ too bad. I almost got to kill you, big sis.”
The voice was sweet, childish. And full of murder.
Water rose from the sea, floating up as if gravity had forgotten it. It twisted, curled, and shaped itself into the delicate form of a little girl.
”I’m Lorelei. Wanna play? I’ll kill you like I killed all the other humans~”
Lorelei’s tiny mouth curved. The air around her rippled with magic.
Before she could finish, an explosion of frost cracked across her body—Yukina’s ice spell, smashing her apart into falling seawater.
”Hmph,” Yukina muttered, wiping blood off her cheek.
But Lorelei’s voice came lilting back from nowhere. “Mooouu~ so aggressive! Fine then—I’ll just kill the silver-haired one first!!”
The real battle began.
Lorelei’s humming echoed through the mist as the sea rose up in spiraling columns. The water spears drilled toward them like living arrows.
Sayumi and Yukina dodged, blades flashing, but Lorelei wasn’t done.
Water arrows fired from twisting tentacles, spraying across the deck in bursts. When they missed, Lorelei simply made more, her voice giggling faintly through the fog.
They couldn’t use their strongest Weapon Skills on deck without risking the ship, and bit by bit the fight pushed them back.
A loose coil of rigging caught Sayumi’s ankle—she tripped, knees hitting the deck hard.
”Kyah!!”
”Sayu-Sayu!!”
Yukina’s face went sharp.
Then she moved.
”YAAAAAAAHHHH!!”
She ran straight past Sayumi—off the deck.
”Yuki-Yuki?! Wait—no!!”
Ignoring her cry, Yukina hit the edge, sword blazing with Weapon Skill light, and drove it down into the ocean.
A shockwave of white-blue light burst out.
The sea froze solid in an instant, cracking wide like shattered glass.
The mermaids screamed as the ice tore through them—gone.
Lorelei shot out of the sea too late, panic flashing across her delicate face.
”AaaaaaAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—!!”
She landed on the deck, her legs frozen solid, face twisted in pain.
”Big sis… the Solis Grand Fleet is coming, so I’ll let you go this time… but remember this, okay? Next time we meet…”
Her eyes glinted red through the mist.
”…I’ll definitely kill you.”
The fog burst apart and vanished with her.
Silence fell, broken only by ragged breathing.
The deck was slick with blood. Bodies—friend and foe—lay strewn across it.
Far off, through the thinning mist, sails glimmered like white wings in the sun—the Solis Grand Fleet.
Cheers rose up, raw and disbelieving, from the survivors.
They echoed high into the sky.
All except for Sayumi Mineyama, who knelt beside Yukina Yuki, shaking her shoulder gently, her voice trembling as she whispered her name—because Yukina wasn’t even standing anymore, her body slumped from the magic she had poured out like her life.
Notes:
• Mineyama – Vice class rep, serious and disciplined.
• Sayumi – Vice class rep, serious and disciplined.
• Yukina – Sayumi’s friend, a half-Eastern European girl with silver hair and blue eyes, who offers support and expresses concern about the recent events.
• Magnus Magic Nation – A major nation led by Premier Melvey from the south.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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