Insistent Assistant 31 (Patreon)

Insistent Assistant

Chapter 31

-VB-

Illaoi chewed silently as she thought about what she should do.

She could feel it. She had maybe one last ACT she could perform before she would leave this body for the next spirit-teacher to lead their master.

It was both heartwarming and sad to find herself in this position.

Her master had grown and changed to become more like her. Even if he didn’t agree with much of what she thought, he still understood her. He trained himself and his crew to the absolute limit while also respecting their free will. He rode the waves. He conquered the Sea Beasts.

She knew that he would stand at the top of this world as long as he didn’t make a critical mistake.

Oh, she had no doubt that he would make mistakes. In fact, she knew for a fact that he would make a lot of mistakes.

But critical? So critical that his own crew would leave him?

No.

Her master can be dense at times but he was not dumb.

No, his worst enemy was himself and others who will follow her.

Not all Servants would live and fight for their master’s sake. More than a few will have agendas of their own, especially if they originate from this world. Even those who should not have connections will find reasons. For example, had she been greedier or stupidly zealous, then she would have done everything in her power to spread the word of her goddess, ignoring the fact that her goddess had no interest in this world.

She took pride in the fact that she had done her master right just as the two Servants before her. Thorkell had been a little rough but no less helpful than herself or Jack. Jack, free-spirited as a pirate could be, ultimately gave her master a goal to follow, even if no one knew what that goal was yet.

It came down, she thought. To what she wanted to do as her last act. Give one of the new found believers of Nagakabouros a gift? Raise a Sea King to serve her master? Whatever it was …

She wanted it to be an example of how she led her life.

With the flow. Always in motion.

And with a crack to the skull.

-VB-

I stared down at the compass.

It was spinning.

Whatever it had been previously been pointing to was being superseded by something else.

It spun and spun and spun and spun …

And then it finally stopped.

‘Well, considering that I made it very clear that I wanted my hands on a Sea Stone-lined Marine galleon that’s been stolen by the Baroque Pirates that was still on this side of the Calm Belt…’ I thought. Jack’s Compass remained unmoved.

I grinned.

“Maties~!” I sang as I ran up up the rear deck and to the steering wheel. “We have our heading! I want our ships at full sails!”

The crew aboard my main ship and the second ship both paused as they heard my voice before they began to quickly move to obey my orders.

I quickly took a measure of the wind and grinned wider. Even the wind was with me today.

Illaoi leisurely walked up the steps from the main deck to the rear castle deck. “You found something?”

“Yes, ma’am!” I replied cheerfully. “Jack’s Compass is showing me a new heading, and I think we both know what that’s going to lead us to.”

Illaoi’s grin was bloodthirsty. “A sea stone-lined galleon.”

“YES!” I replied with an excited laugh. It was funny how I was getting excited over a new heading of all things! The old me would have never considered something like this - and the thought of the combat and death in the future - as something to be excited about.

But then again, the old me also thought that jumping into mud wrestling was the height of personal excitement, sex excluded.

I blinked as I realized that I haven’t had sex since I got dropped into One Piece.

Jesus Christ, I’ve really changed, huh?

Well, whatever.

“Master.”

I paused and turned to look at Illaoi, who was looking toward the horizon. “Yeah?” I asked her.

“This will be my last day with you,” she said quietly.

My eyes widened. “Wait, really?”

“Yes, really,” she replied without looking. “And I’ve been thinking. I still have some energy left in me.”

“...”

“I want to make sure you get a legacy from me like how you have legacies from the others.”

“... You sure you don’t want to just fight alongside me just one last time?” I asked with a cringe. It wasn’t that I didn’t want something to remember her by, but I really did like having Illaoi around.

She barked out a laugh. “Master, master, master! Do you seriously think that I, Illaoi the Great Prophetess of Nagakabouros, will go out quietly?! That the only thing left in me is just one more battle with pirates of all things? No, no, no. I will leave behind a legacy that everyone who meets you will see.”

She turned to me.

… Oh shit, was she preparing a spell? A ritual? Her eyes were glowing.

“Sorry, master, but this is gonna hurt a lot like it did for me.”

“Wait-!” I hissed as all of my previous excitement turned to dread.

Her hands came clamping down on my shoulders.

She pulled her head back.

Wait. Please. No. Not like this.

And she headbutted me.

Right as our foreheads met, I felt something more than just pain from her rock hard skull.

Aside from indignation.

It was a powerful thing that dwelled within her like a coiled ball of raw power. It was … It was powerful. More powerful than anything else I have ever run into. It scared me.

For some reason, it seemed to approve the fact that I was scared of it.

And then.

It was within me.

Whatever else I wanted to think of was gone with the wind as both my consciousness and Illaoi began to disappear.

“Have fun with it, master! It’ll keep you up and running far after you should be dropping dead.”

Illaoi, you bitch…!

Her steel ball was a lie!