Hana had successfully accompanied the Saint Rose out to sea, posing as an Oestland returnee. She continued to keep in contact with her increasingly annoyed partner, as she should have finished her preparations by now; however, Hana had run into a problem.
The Saint Rose’s crew featured two of the most energetic cabin girls Hana had ever encountered. They endeavored to constantly be about, waiting upon her, assisting her to dress, and tending to her every need. Hana resented their enthusiasm. How could anyone expect her to complete her secret mission while these girls followed her about at all times? Her initial plan to roam the ship, discreetly preparing havoc while acting as a merely interested passenger, fell apart under the pair’s near constant attention.
While Hana held no ill will against these girls individually, she eventually got fed up after days of their surveillance and decided to deal forcefully with the bothersome young women.
Hana took advantage of a moment when she and the light-haired girl, Sarah, were alone. She forced the girl to sleep with a spell. The other one, Ali, had thankfully been doing something else today. Hana expected she could easily defeat both cabin girls at once, but didn’t like the idea of killing uninvolved people, so she was glad to be able to get Sarah by herself for a lighter approach.
Despite the girls’ irritating presence, Hana previously identified likely locations for the Saint Rose’s long-range detection array formation. She absolutely needed to force this formation to malfunction if her partner’s vessel would have any chance to approach the galleon without early notice. Hana wanted to remain undisturbed while she did so.
After creating an opportunity for herself by ditching the overeager cabin girls, the fox spirit dodged crew members who were busy with actual duties, and she hid herself near the formation’s core to take her time properly preparing a complex illusion. When she finished, she concealed herself from sense and sight, then destroyed the core and replaced it with an illusion that appeared as a perfectly functioning detection array formation.
Her most important task complete, Hana retreated back to a common deck space where no one would question her presence. She sent another talisman message to her partner, informing them of her success. The vixen then began to stalk the ship, taking any safe chances to charm or befuddle members of the crew, reducing their ability to later respond effectively to their leadership.
She made little progress before she had an unwelcome encounter. She heard a shout from her side, “I finally found you fairy woman!” The other cabin girl approached Hana with a dark countenance. Hana grimaced. She decided to feign ignorance and leave. Ali chased after Hana while ranting, “What did you do to Sarah? She’s acting strange, obsessed. Why was she asleep just now when she had been with you? And why do you even wander around this ship so much? Don’t you run away from me, Hana!”
Hana spun around to confront Ali, who kept yelling, “Actually, I don’t care about any of that. Just return Sarah back to normal!”
“That girl bothered me on her own. Make yourself scarce.”
Ali continued to close the distance and shout, “Like hell I believe that! She acts like she’s under a spell.”
“You are approaching me? Audacious!” Hana lowered herself into a ready stance and pulled a spell talisman from her sleeve.
“I’ll do whatever I want!” the younger woman declared, preparing herself for a fight as well.
*Ugh* She coughed suddenly, and blood trickled from her mouth. “Damnit!” she whispered.
“You’re injured,” Hana spoke softly.
“I know.”
“You won’t defeat me.”
“Yeah, true,” Ali agreed.
“So why come to die over this when you expect to lose?”
“Sarah is important to me,” Ali answered, wiping her mouth. “Besides, I’m not ready to die. I’m just ready to fight. Sneaking about all the time, I think you don’t really want to go at it. All you gotta do is answer me.”
Hana returned to the earlier point, “Regardless, I did nothing permanent to Sarah. She will recover in time. We have nothing to fight over.”
“Then you did hurt her.”
“No. I kept her out of trouble that she need not become involved with.”
A commotion interrupted them. The ship’s drums rolled and the crew began to rush about.
“All hands! General quarters! Pirates approaching!” Sailors shouted, relaying the message around from the top deck.
Ali spoke to Hana, “You caused this.” It wasn’t a question.
“Do you feel betrayed?” Hana probed, “especially given all the attention you two have given me.”
”Not really. I don’t care about your purpose,” Ali stated, shrugging, “that was Sarah’s idea. I care whether you will hurt us.”
Hana shook her head, “I won’t. I have no interest in senseless violence, as long as I can redeem this ship’s cargo of spirit beasts back to a safe place in Avalon.”
Ali considered briefly and offered, “then take us with you after this is over; don’t you or your people harm Sarah and I. If you make that promise, I will even help you save those creatures.”
“Oh? How generous of you to abandon your comrades at the first opportunity.”
“I hate this ship.” Ali spat, “I made a mistake joining the crew. I owe them nothing, except for Sarah.” Ali continued, “I prefer to return to Avalon anyway; your scheme looks like a fine chance to me.”
“Help me rescue the spirit beasts and I’ll vouch for the two of you.”
“Alright I agree,” Ali glared at the fox spirit, “You better not be lying to me. I’m tired of it.”
“Get used to deception.”
Ali opened her mouth to respond, but Hana cut her off, “Enough of this; I will do as I promised. Now is a time for action.”
The fox spirit removed her disguising illusion, revealing her animalistic fangs, ears and tails, dropping all pretense in preparation to fight. Ali’s reaction to her transformation surprised her. Most colonials would be terrified of her spirit form, but Ali instead seemed annoyed.
“You’re not frightened,” Hana observed.
“I’m jealous.”
“Of what?”
“I want proper fangs like yours,” the cabin girl whined, “how did you keep your original body when you came here?”
Before Hana could make any sense of that question, thunder from the Saint Rose’s artillery interrupted her thoughts.
Ali crouched down suddenly and shouted, “What the hell was that?”
“The colonials respond to my allies’ approach. I’ll leave you to your own devices. I must join the battle,” Hana informed Ali before darting away.
Ali stayed down thinking for a moment before she got moving too.
“I’m starving,” Ali bared her teeth and hissed, “and a messy battle between humans sounds amazing for hunting.”
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Yes, thank god. It's what I'm here for. Votes: 8 53.3%
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No. This author is a fucking tease. Votes: 7 46.7%
There wasn't a option 3: Im just enjoying the ride
glad you're liking it. thanks for commenting
Thanks for the chapter
thanks for reading ^_^