3. Bach and Rose
The ship dropped anchor in the offing and sent out a dinghy. There were five aboard the little boat, and all of them had three eyes. They were three-eyed people from the Red Continent.
If it weren’t for the third eye on their foreheads, they’d have looked just as human as Yume or Momohina. They had messy red hair, skin like bronze, perhaps due to tanning, and all five appeared to be male.
Yume and Momohina had come out to the beach to greet these three-eyed people, but the moment the men saw them, they started shouting and swinging their white blades around as they came in to attack. Yume was a bit surprised, but Momohina seemed amused, actually.
“Delm, hel, en! Balk! Zel, arve! Blast, boom!”
The Blast spell that Momohina suddenly fired off didn’t hurt the three-eyed people. It just sent the sea water, and the sand underneath it, flying into the air.
That was intentional, of course. Momohina rarely used magic. The super-physical mage, Momohina, would sometimes resort to violence, but she was fundamentally a warrior of freedom who loved peace. Besides, the fact of the matter was, Yume and Momohina weren’t getting out of here without hitching a ride on that ship, so they couldn’t afford to kill the crew even if they were attacking them.
“Yumeryun! Begin the suppression immeeeediately! Full speed ahead!”
“Aye, aye, sir!”
The two of them quickly stripped the panicked three-eyed people of their weapons, and after a few punches and kicks to rob them of the will to resist, they tried to negotiate. The problem was, their words didn’t work.
“Ugyaga gukyago zukyazukya.”
“...Hey, Momo-san, do you have any idea what he’s sayin’?”
“Noooot a clue! Nuh-uh! I dunno!”
If they didn’t understand their language, there was little that could be done about that. However, they couldn’t just give up. Using pantomime, they might have managed to convey that they had washed up on a desert island, and were awaiting rescue. It was also possible they understood Yume and Momohina’s wish to board their ship, and be taken to the Coral Archipelago, the Red Continent, or basically anywhere else. That’s what Yume wanted to think.
Two of the five three-eyed people remained on the island, and Momohina, Yume, and the remaining three men boarded the dinghy, and returned to the mothership. That dinghy might have fit seven, if they really pushed it, but for whatever reason, this was just the way things worked out.
“Momo-san. Why do you think those two stayed on the island?”
“Hmm. I dunno? Justin Case, maybe?”
“Who’s that?”
“I don’t know, either! Nwahahahaha!”
Momohina and Yume were able to board the ship smoothly. In addition to the three-eyed men, the crew was made up of many-eyed people, who had insect-like eyes taking up half their face; long-armed people, who had arms so long they nearly touched the ground; and thorn-skinned people, who looked like walking sea urchins, but the captain was a tall-eared person, with long, rabbit-like ears.
Despite his tall ears, the captain had a face reminiscent of a vicious dog. And yet he didn’t seem particularly overbearing. He seemed somewhat understanding, but there was still a language barrier. As they tried to forge ahead despite the lack of comprehension, things got dicey, and finally the captain got mad, and they were unfortunately forced to fight.
“If that’s how it’s gonna be, that’s how it’s gonna be! Give ’em hell, Yumeryunryun!”
“Aye, aye, sir!”
The two of them knocked thirteen members of the crew into the sea. They beat nineteen more senseless, including the tall-eared captain. Four or so were left with broken bones or other serious injuries, but eighteen lost the will to fight and surrendered. Yume, by the way, got off with some light cuts and bruises, while Momohina was completely unscathed.
“Okay, this ship now belongs to the K&K Pirate Company’s K! M! W! Momohina! Full speed ahead!”
“Hey, Momo-san! You’re the best! Woo-hoo!”
“Aww, I’m not that special... Or maybe I am?! Maybe I am!”
Now that they had taken the ship, Momohina and Yume couldn’t navigate her on their own, so they’d have to put the crew to work. Once they rescued the men thrown overboard, and retrieved the two left on the island, they checked with everyone, and they found just one many-eyed guy who could speak a few words of their language. It wasn’t even enough to call it broken, but Yume could sort of talk with him. Using Nyagoh the many-eyed guy as their interpreter, they conveyed their wishes to the tall-eared captain and his crew, and were told they could take them as far as the Coral Archipelago.
“We’re good to go then!! Let’s move, move, moooove!”
And so, the ship set out. Her name was apparently the Moccha Joe. Or maybe it was the Mwachattsa Jowo. Their interpreter, Nyagoh, attempted to explain it, “Seaaa, floaaat, sobee, mahh...” but he made no sense. It seemed hard to pronounce, so Momohina decided to rename it.
“Hey, Yumeryun. How does the Useless-go sound to you?”
“Hrmm. The Useless-go, huh?”
“Is it no good?”
“Yeah...”
“The Useless-go. I feel like it’s a perfect fit, though.”
“If you’re thinkin’ it’s a perfect fit, Momo-san, maybe Useless-go is fine?”
“Okay, the Useless-go she is, then!”
With the Mwachattsa Jowo, now known as the Useless-go, it was smooth sailing from there to the Coral Archipelago.
Not.
Along the way, the tall-eared captain and his men mutinied.
Then there was an armed insurrection by the rest of the crew.
Fortunately, they were able to put them down without fatalities both times, but there were constant fights among the crew, and they nearly sank in bad weather more than once.
When they finally reached port in the Coral Archipelago, a large number of three-eyed people, tall-eared people, many-eyed people, and long-armed people boarded the Useless-go. The crew of the Useless-go, who had submitted to Momohina up until this point, sided with them.
“Now I’m maaaad. Trying to solve everything with violence is just barbaric. I’m seriously steamed. Buuuut! It’s still a gazillion years too soon for you to beat me!”
“A gazillion?! Wow, that’s super early, huh?!”
They put on an impressive show, absolutely clobbering these apparent pirates one after another.
Yume could do as she pleased, going wherever she wanted, and Momohina was always there to watch her back. No matter how many enemies there were, it honestly didn’t feel like they could lose. Not one bit. There were an awful lot of them, though, and no matter how many they took down, they never seemed to run out.
It was going to be hard to defend the Useless-go. Even if they did manage to wipe out the pirates and keep the ship, they couldn’t navigate her by themselves. That made it kind of pointless.
Momohina and Yume were forced to give up and abandon the Useless-go, so they went ashore. The island didn’t just have a port, it had a city, too. Apparently it was the base of the pirates who were now chasing them. The locals hurled insults, stones, and garbage at the outsiders, and put boxes and barrels in their way. It was starting to feel like they needed to kill or be killed, but not all the residents were ruffians, so they couldn’t just up and kill people at random. They decided to get out of town for the moment and hide out in the jungle.
They would later find out that this island was on the outer edge of the Coral Archipelago, and the nest of a group of pirates called the Titechitike, which meant, “the idiotic vomit of a devil,” in some language from the Red Continent.
The pirates were out for blood, and hunted all over the island for any sign of the pair. Naturally, Momohina and Yume had no intent of just being hunted down. They beat down any pirates that came their way, took their stuff, and then sent them home because you only live once, and these guys really needed to value their lives more.
“I only kill what I eat!”
That was Momohina’s stance, and Yume agreed entirely. Was it okay to eat the beasts in the forest? Why did she not want to eat people, or creatures that looked like people? These were questions that, naturally, occurred to her. However, there was no need to force herself to kill and eat things she didn’t want to. Even if she didn’t turn the pirates into food, the pirates came carrying stuff that they could eat. Though they were hunting them through the forests, it seemed that the pirates didn’t hunt in the traditional sense of the word, so there was plenty of prey on the island. There were springs here and there, which provided them with all the clean water they could gulp down on the spot, too.
They weren’t having any trouble, but soon enough the Titechitike pirates began leaving food and daily necessities in the forest.
“What’s this...?”
Could this be what it looked like? Had they begun to worship Momohina and Yume as something akin to gods? It was certainly true that, even if Yume might not quite be there yet, Momohina had an air befitting an island goddess about her. Their hair had grown extremely long, they were both totally tanned, and their original clothes had long since been ruined, so they were both wearing boldly “native” outfits, consisting of nothing more than strips of non-woven fabric that were wrapped around their chests and waists, but Yume came off looking like a savage, while Momohina looked like a sage. Maybe they would be better off remaining on this island as the goddesses of the Titechitike?
Not a chance.
They had finally gotten off that deserted island. Yume and Momohina wanted to go home.
If they agitated the pirates any more than this, it would cause trouble, and Yume felt kind of sorry for them. They tried going around the island to see what they could find, and the neighboring island was pretty close. Yume got Momohina to help her, and they threw together a raft in a jiffy. Sometimes, you’ve just got to try things. They took the raft out across the strait, and crossed it easily.
“Yumeryun, you’re a genius! You’re so great! Hey, you’re the best in the universe! You ought to be president!”
“Nyeheheheheh. Yume didn’t do nothin’ that special, though.”
“Let’s keep going like this! Yeah!”
They crossed from island to island. If they could reach a large, populous island, maybe they could find people from Grimgar, not the Red Continent. That was the hope. There ought to be some. No, they would definitely find them. There was no way they wouldn’t!
The largest island of the Coral Archipelago was called Atunai, and there were a number of ports there. At one of those ports, Indelica, Yume and Momohina finally, finally found it.
“Whoa! It’s the B-B-B-B-Bachrose!”
Momohina’s eyes were practically jumping out of her head.
“Unuh? Back roast...?”
“No! Yumeryun, the B-B-B-Black Toast, er, no, that’s not it! Erm, uhh, right! The Bachrose!”
“Ohhh. The Bachrose. That’s the one, huh? It’s all makin’ sense now.”
“You know her, too, Yumeryun?”
“Nope, not at all!”
“You doooon’t?!”
The two of them ran to the pier where the Bachrose-go was moored about as fast as they possibly could.
The Bachrose-go was a big, solid-looking, and yet elegant ship. Painted in crimson and green, her body looked like a temple to the god of art, or perhaps music, while the mast which carried her sails rose high, like a spear trying to pierce the heavens. Her figurehead, shaped like a woman with wings, was sparkling and golden, yet it looked like she might start dancing at any moment.
The person standing near the Bachrose-go was not a three-eyed person, or tall-eared person, but a human man who looked like a sailor. Momohina zoomed towards that man.
“Whuh, Momo-san, wai—”
Yume tried to stop her. It was no use. Momohina was fast. There was no way she could have stopped her. Momohina went, “Bam!” and landed a flying kick on the man.
“Eeek!”
The man fell into the sea.
Yume crouched at the edge of the pier and looked down at the man thrashing around in the water. He seemed to be a sailor, so he should have been able to swim, but he was panicking.
“...Momo-san.”
“Mokeeee?!”
It seemed Momohina was surprised, too. Why was she screeching like a startled monkey when she was the one who just punted a man into the sea? It was incomprehensible.
“Why’d you go and kick him...?”
“O-Oh! Silly me! I overdid it!”
“Is that what you call overdoin’ it? It looked like plain old assault, y’know?”
“It’s because I know the guy. I couldn’t help it. I was so happy.”
“Ohhh. You know him. Alright. Okay then. ...Normally, you wouldn’t go kickin’ him, though.”
Momohina stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth in embarrassment.
The man was screaming, “S-Save me!” or something like that. If they left him like that, he might drown. Just as Yume was thinking maybe they should rescue him, “You!” there was a shout from up on the Bachrose’s deck.
“...Hoh?”
As they looked up, a bearded man was looking down at Yume and Momohina from the side of the Bachrose. He had a marvelous mustache, but, Y’know, it’s not really workin’ for him, was her first impression.
The man had a black eyepatch over his right eye. The black coat that he just hung over his shoulders instead of wearing properly had silver trim, and was studded with jewels. It looked expensive. The man was relatively small, so it was a little big on him. She couldn’t shake the sense that the clothes were wearing him more than he was wearing the clothes.
The man let out an, “Ah...”
“Ah!” Momohina shouted.
“...Ah?”
Yume looked from the man to Momohina then back again.
The man pulled at his hair with his right hand. Then, exhaling, he said, “If it isn’t Momohina,” with the same sort of mumble you might use when talking about the weather after just waking up in the morning.
“Kisaragicchon...”
Was Momohina disappointed? No, that wasn’t it. No, she looked exhausted. Her voice was awfully quiet, at least by Momohina standards, too. Momohina must have never expected to meet this man here. She was so shocked, not just her strength, but her very soul had left her, too.
“Kisaragicchon,” Momohina repeated again. Maybe she was recovering from her surprise, because she followed that with a, “Yaaaay!” and started bouncing up and down on the spot.
“Yaaaay. It’s Kisaragicchon. Yaaaay.”
“Now, listen, you.”
Kisaragicchon let out a sigh, then grabbed the outside of the ship’s railing with his left hand. Was that a glove? His right hand was bare, but his left hand was gloved for some reason? But from the look of it, that left hand was larger than his right hand, and apparently made of metal. That meant it wasn’t a glove, then.
“How many times do I have to tell you to stop it with the -cchon? Well, whatever, it’s fine.”
“You’re the real deal, the genuine Kisaragicchon, right?’
“Damn straight. Would I tolerate there being another man who’s as beyond awesome as I am?”
“No way!”
Momohinaa laughed, then suddenly took off running.
“Romoh?!”
Yume let out a strange cry, but her body reacted and chased after Momohina of its own accord. Momohina was heading for the Bachrose’s gangway. Going ridiculously fast. She raced up the ramp with light steps. Leaving Yume behind in no time flat.
When she was finally topside, Momohina clung to Kisaragicchon.
“Wahhh. It’s Kisaragicchon. Kisaragicchon! Wahhh. Wahhh. Wahhh...”
“I told you it’s me, didn’t I?”
“But! But, but, but! It’s Kisaragicchon! Ohhh. Wahhh. Ohhh...”
“Damn, you’re persistent. Fine, whatever.”
With a look of exasperation on his face, Kisaragicchon wrapped both his arms tight around Momohina. She might have been crying.
Yume sniffled, but quickly covered her mouth with her hand. She had very nearly sobbed herself. She felt like sobbing once would be no big deal, but she didn’t want to start crying. Momo-san, I’m so happy for you, she thought, and felt that from the bottom of her heart. It was all right to cry, but if she did that now, rather than be a release, it might just make her more sad. She couldn’t help but think that.
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