Insistent Assistant 32 (Patreon)

Insistent Assistant

Chapter 32

-VB-

Alan Marris

When I woke up, I found myself in the captain’s quarters and sleeping on my bed. I pulled my heavy body off of the bed grouchily and then rubbed my eyes. I looked out of the windows of my quarters and frowned. The sun was still high up in the sky. Why was I in bed?

As I slid out of the bed because I didn’t feel like sleeping in, my feet touched the floor and -.

I froze as I looked at my arms, which now had blocky tribal tattoos running along my forearms.

Ah.

I remembered.

My latest Servant, Illaoi, chose to use the last of her power as Illaoi to give me a gift before disappearing.

I scratched the back of my head.

Okay, damn. This wasn’t like losing Thorkell and Jack. It felt more like losing an honest to God right hand. Illaoi had much of an authority on the ship as I did, and she had a role she played that I couldn’t fulfill because I wasn’t her. With her gone, that role was now missing, and I didn’t just mean the position of the First Mate.

I mean, sure, the next Servant was probably going to be the First Mate, too, but that wasn’t a guarantee. If someone like Hanataro from Bleach, then I guessed that I would finally have a dedicated doctor but the First Mate position would be unfulfilled.

Again, no bueno.

Ugh.

Maybe … I should think about giving one of my crew the position. At the very least, it’ll free up my Servant for a more flexible role.

But who would I give that position to? There were only a few I trusted but I didn’t know if any of them were capable of being my First Mate. Actually, it would be a bad time to give someone the role of the First Mate right now when we are heading toward battle, right now. I’ll just keep it vacant and fill it with whoever my next Servant wil be.

-VB-

Jacobe

“Captain, you’re back up,” he called as the captain walked out of his room with what looked like a stiff neck.

“Yeah, I am,” Aln grumbled. “How long have I been out?”

“It’s still the same day. You went out at breakfast and it’s lunch now.”

“... Only three or four hours? Guess we aren’t meeting my next Servant today.”

“Oh? Is that how it works?” he asked.

“Kind of,” the captain replied before pulling out his compass.

Jacobe glanced at his captain. First, it was the ridiculous strength and axes (because most pirates didn’t use axes). Then it was the weird compass that pointed to something that wasn’t the north. Now, it was weird tribal tattoos that almost looked like they were glowing dimly under the sun. All of them were gifts left behind by these “Servants,” of which Illaoi was one. It also made him shudder because it looked like his captain was someone whose power was bigger than he was.

What he put together was that the captain had so far pulled out a bloodthirsty warlord, a pirate captain of unknown renown and high expertise, and a “prophetess”-slash-priestess of some unknown sea god that gave her control over not just the sea but the sea life… including some Sea Kings.

Those tattoos had to do with Sea Kings or something like that. Or the tentacles.

He hoped it wasn’t tentacles.

“Oh, you’re up, skipper.”

Jacobe looked to the opposite side of the castle deck and saw that it was Jeanne. The captain saw her too and gave her a lazy wave. The blonde gunner, because that’s what she was the best at on the ship, hummed as she came close to the captain, inspected his new tats, and then gave him a slap on the back.

“Why did you scare everyone like that?!”

And who was slowly becoming more crass, violent, and blunt as the days went on.

“It wasn’t what I wanted to do, you dolt,” the captain hissed back at her while nursing his shoulder. He probably wasn’t hurt, even if the former slave girl was growing stronger by the day; the man didn’t even flinch when he took a musket ball to the chest.

“Well?”

“... Illaoi was giving me a send-off gift. She didn’t have much time left.”

Jeanne looked off-put by that. The girl did idolize the stronger woman. “Oh. I see.”

The captain gave the girl a pat on the head. “We’ll have another Servant popping up tomorrow. So look around to see if you can spot them first.”

“I will!”

The captain snorted and then turned back to him. “Five degree turn to the starboard, please.”

“Aye, aye, captain!”

The captain suddenly paused before he walked over to the guardrails on the port side. Then he raised his arms and the tats began to fucking glow.

And then …

And then the sea bulged some half-naut from where they were.

Jacobe watched as a green translucent Sea King soared out of the water, spreading its eight tentacles far and wide.

Of course, it had to be a octopus Sea King. It was even bigger than both of their ships combined.

Fucking tentacles!

He glanced at the captain and saw him grinning.

It was the same grin that Illaoi had.

‘He’s gonna use that thing to “train” us,’ he thought despondently as he felt his soul leaving him. ‘We’re gonna get tentacled.’

“Aw yesss…” Alan cackled. “This is gonna make the next battle so much easier!”

Jacobe took the time to pray for the poor fools that were going to have their first time with the sea’s love on his captain’s terms. It couldn’t happen to a more fitting people, but it didn’t change the fact that the pant-shitting horror they were most likely going to experience. In fact, the octopus Sea King was going to have secrets of its own. Like … like … bullshit strength. Or doesn’t feel pain. Or something like that.

“... Can I use it to make us go fast-?”

“NO!” half of the crew immediately shot him down.