Published: September 10, 2025
Satou here. When it comes to aquariums, dolphin shows usually steal the spotlight, but I think the underwater agility of sea lions—despite their appearance—and the adorable antics of penguins are hard to overlook.
Come to think of it, my childhood friend who went with me saw the lobsters in the tanks and said she wanted to eat fried shrimp.
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“‘Command the army and demonstrate the might of the group,’ huh—”
On the way back from Galleon Temple, I told Mia, Miss Karina, and Princess Sistina about this trial.
“—Looks like it’s my turn,” Princess Sistina said, her glasses sparkling as they reflected the light.
Now that I think about it, it’s been a while since I last saw Princess Sistina wearing glasses.
“Hmm, the sea,” said Princess Sistina, her spirits lifted, as Mia pointed at the sea and remarked.
“Indeed... my golem doesn’t float in water,” she admitted.
“You can handle coastal defense. If we’re putting it on a ship, we could prepare wooden golems,” I suggested.
Wooden golems are basically non-combat units, but they’re still far stronger than ordinary soldiers, so they should be fine against pirates.
“I want to be useful too!”
“Agreed,” Mia nodded at Miss Karina’s words.
Unlike Princess Sistina, who’s the type to lead an army alone, Miss Karina specializes in close combat, and Mia commands pseudo-spirits with high individual combat power.
“In that case, Miss Karina will lead the vanguard.”
“Absolutely, that’s exactly what I want!”
With her looks, the soldiers’ morale will definitely skyrocket.
“Maybe Mia can use the water spirits to gain an advantage in naval battles?”
“Mhm, I’ll do my best,” Mia said, puffing her chest proudly. I patted her head, and we boarded the airship.
First, we need to assess the current situation.
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“Satou-sama, there are no ships or people shadows nearby the airspace or sea surface,” reported.
“Thanks,” I said, leaping out from the airship after ascending to high altitude.
“I’m going out for a bit. Hover here for a while.”
“Roger that!”
I told the flying outfit brownie saluting me, then used flashstride to head outside the map.
I visited the Galleon Alliance countries and adjacent maps in order, collecting information using the “full map exploration” magic.
“There are more pirates than I expected…”
There are over 100 ships, big and small, with crews ranging from 10 to 100 pirates each.
If thousands of pirates gather, they could probably fight against nations.
However, many pirate ships operate alone, and it’s rare for three or more ships to form a fleet.
Their levels are skewed into two ranges: 15 to 30, and 3 to 7. The former makes up 30%, and the latter 70%.
The strongest pirate is level 43, so even Miss Karina could easily win one-on-one.
Most pirates are from the human tribe or beastmen.
Sea-dwelling demi-humans mostly belong to the gill people tribe, with few merfolk tribe (mermaids).
Many pirates sail near trade route sea areas or use independent towns and settlements in archipelagos or reefs, which are easier to lose pursuers in, as bases.
“The Skeletal Duke—found him.”
The title belonged to a pirate captain leading a small fleet with a large battleship flagship, but surprisingly, he’s just level 24.
Probably a low combat power commander.
The pirate ships he commands look more like a country’s military.
Though his skills include deception, negotiation, persuasion, intimidation, and coercion, so he doesn’t seem like a very competent commander…
“Hmm, or am I imagining things?”
It feels like about 30% of pirates are heading toward the port where the Skeletal Duke’s ship is docked.
Is he really trying to unite a major force to challenge the Galleon Alliance?
“Regarding the Galleon Alliance’s forces—”
Though there are many merchant ships, there are fewer pure combat ships.
Aside from small ships guarding coasts or intercepting smuggling, there are about 60 medium or large sailboats equipped with magic power furnaces and magic power cannons, and about 9 just in Rumork City.