The Monster Lord disappeared, but his army remained in place.
"What will happen to them now?" I asked Alira.
"Who knows? They lived only to serve their master and collect the souls of their victims for him. Now they are free, and who knows? Perhaps in a couple of centuries, they will be able to build their own society."
The Fishfolk cast one last glance at the remains of their master and slowly returned to the sea.
"At least they are not hostile towards us, and that's a relief. I think it's time to return," I suggested.
"Yeah, you better run," Aileen glared at me menacingly and knocked on the side of the ship. Another sheet of hull plating crashed to the ground with a loud thud. "Look what you've done to my ship!!! I only launched it on its maiden voyage, and it already needs repairs!! What do you have to say for yourself?!"
"Well, it's not that bad, really..." I started to say, but my words were interrupted by the falling main mast.
"Is it just me, or is it collapsing out of spite?" Aileen snapped.
"Seriously, take a look, it's riddled with holes! And not just from Dagon's arrows, but there are even more from claws!!!!" Aileen shot an incinerating look at Ragni, and the dragoness quickly hid behind her companions' backs. "My little ship... ALL OF YOU WILL HELP FIX IT!!!!"
It was hard to argue with a girl whose beloved toy was broken, so we could only nod in agreement.
"Umm... how are we going to reach the shore then?" I asked.
"I can only suggest using a draft animal transport," Aileen replied.
"What?"
"Well, we gather all the wreckage onto the ship, plug the biggest holes, harness one of these," Aileen pointed disdainfully at the dragons, the culprits of the ship's destruction, "and let them pull us to the shore."
The dragons exchanged glances... and fixed their gaze on Ragni.
"Hey! I'm not some kind of horse for you guys!!" the girl stepped back as her comrades gave her cunning smiles.
And in just a couple of minutes, she found herself strapped into an improvised harness.
"I'll remember this, pitiful humans. Such an insult."
"What are you mumbling there? Just move, you sorry thing."
"Ugh, you're really getting on my nerves!!" Ragni had no choice but to comply.
A dark glow enveloped her body, and the massive dragon was harnessed to our little cart.
"Just a moment," Aileen stepped aside with Alira.
"Are you sure you need him?" Alira asked.
"It'll come in handy, just bring him here."
"Well, be careful, he's highly venomous."
The dragoness jumped off the ship and headed towards the remains of Dagon. With her altered hand, she pulled out a piece of his sword from the ground and dragged it back to the ship.
"Why do you need that?" I asked.
"As a trophy, and I'll find a use for it in the ship's construction. For now, it'll serve as a mast, but I wanted to make it the main beam," she explained.
"Don't you think that's going a bit too far?"
"Not at all. Even after being hit by black flames, it didn't crack, so it's quite sturdy. I'll coat it with some resin to prevent accidental poisoning, place it in the center of the deck, and it will serve as both a beam and a ram, which is quite useful."
"How much longer will you be there?" I asked.
"Almost done," Aileen ordered to lay the sword fragment along the ship's hull, but even so, it protruded several meters in front of the ship's bow. "Hmm, I guess I'll have to shorten it. You can move now."
"Get this thing away from me!" Ragni tried to sit down, but her tail kept bumping against the blade, causing her a lot of discomfort.
"Just sail forward, and there won't be any problems," Aileen said.
"But try not to bump into the blade too often; its venom is deadly even after its owner's death," Alira added with a friendly grin that didn't match her harsh words.
"Argh, fine!" Ragni exhaled flames in front of her, melting the ice around the ship. We began our leisurely return to the shore.
"Hm-hm-hm," as we sailed, Aileen continued to tinker with the wreckage scattered around the ballista.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"I'm trying to understand what happened..."
"We won, and thank goodness everything went smoothly."
"You know it didn't go smoothly! I'm trying to figure out what caused the change. The charge was accumulating evenly, but the gravitational force was too strong, which resulted in that vibration. Then you appeared, everything started to shine, and boom, we got what we got. Do you think that's normal?"
"Well, not everything went smoothly, but somehow it worked."
Aileen picked up what was left of the arrow, a small piece of adamantium.
"Kat, can you pass electricity through this?"
"Yes, of course."
"Well, wait," the engineer carefully ran the sword along the edge of the fragment, shaving off a thin shaving. "Let's test it on a smaller piece; it'll require less energy."
Princess Katrina touched the edge of the metal, and small sparks ran along its surface.
"No big deal... Simple magnetization with gradual heating," Aileen brought the piece of metal closer, and it was attracted to it. "And now hit it with a real lightning bolt."
"Are you sure? There might be nothing left of it."
"That's what I want to see! Just try to stop before it melts completely."
"Alright," Katrina placed the shaving on a wooden rail and began accumulating discharges in her hands. The lightning struck through the metal, and it instantly heated up.
"Stop! As I thought, when Kat transferred the ordered charge, the side effects were barely noticeable, but the open lightning bolt quickly roasted the adamantium. Apparently, its power was much stronger."
"So, I just melted the arrow?"
"No, not entirely. You heated the tip almost to melting, but not completely. As far as I know, in such a state, the metal almost loses its magnetic properties, so the repulsive force of the tip decreased, and the vibration stopped. At the same time, the feathers reached maximum magnetization, resulting in the most powerful shot we've ever created. Most likely, in flight, the tip melted, and we burned through Dagon's shield with molten adamantium... Heh, we wanted to kill him with lightning, but it turned out differently. It's just all so strange."
When we arrived at the port, the whole city had gathered at the dock. The crowd was celebrating jubilantly, and the people who had doubted our success just recently were now bowing down to their saviors.
"Phew, I'm so tired. Couldn't this tub be a bit lighter?" Ragni shook herself off and climbed up onto the pier.
"But this tub managed to withstand today's battle," Aileen looked at her creation again. "Well, at least most of it."
"Ho-ho-ho, congratulations on your victory, although I never doubted you," an incredibly self-satisfied Vina emerged from the crowd.
"Oh, really? Is that why you stayed on the shore?"
"I just didn't want to get in your way, and while you were away, I finished all the preparations. I sent letters explaining the situation to the feudal lord and to the trade guild of Verania. I think within a couple of days, the feudal lord will come here with aid, and the guilds will rush to restore the trade route."
"When did you manage to do all of that?"
"Just a couple of carrier pigeons from the guild; they're well-trained, so they'll arrive faster than usual."
"I don't even want to ask where you got them."
"Heh, won them from Henry, of course. He's terrible at bargaining when it comes to direct conflict."
"And how are things here? Wasn't anyone doubting our victory?" I gave a doubtful glance at the townspeople, who guiltily lowered their heads.
"No, they were rooting for you, but... the preacher leaped off the cliff as soon as he saw what happened to his god."
"Hm, so at least someone truly believed in that god. If he had acted differently, his fate could have been different."
"That's unlikely. There was no place for him in this world from the beginning. All he could do was kill others to prolong his life," Alira sighed heavily and descended from the gangway.
"Miss Alira, were you with them too?" The presence of the dragoness caused the village elder to express obvious surprise.
"Oh, I was just healing their wounds; it was quite a serious battle there."
"What a relief that you didn't get hurt. You are a very important person for our village."
"Hm, I understand. Will you continue to hide and live here secretly?" I whispered to the dragoness.
"Yes, I always liked such quiet places."
"I don't even know how to thank you for all of this. We don't even have anything to celebrate your victory with," the village elder's tone was slightly remorseful, considering they had tried to burn us just a week ago.
"Well, we'll have time to celebrate when aid arrives from the mainland. For now, you could help us repair the ship."
The next day, all the unoccupied residents of the city were helping Aileen. It was challenging to replenish the lack of metal, so for now, the girl focused on patching up the main holes. The village elder ordered all the unnecessary scrap metal in the city to be collected, and the blacksmith, under Aileen's careful guidance, melted it down to create sheets of the required size. Many of the townspeople, especially the children, would simply run over to marvel at the intricate cauldron that, for some reason, did not sink despite its weight.
"Okay, Seleria, help for a while, then you can rest," Aileen continued giving out orders.
While the port workers attached the patches to the hull, the red and black princesses secured them in place with their flames.
"Not bad looking... but still, compared to what it used to be, it's too noticeable."
Although the hull was almost repaired, from a distance, the ship resembled a patched-up blanket. Even if the patches miraculously matched the color of the hull, the seams were still quite noticeable.
"Of course, it won't sink now, but for everything to be perfect, I would prefer to have sheets covering the entire hull. It's a pity you can't make them here."
"And how did you get them at our guild?"
"Well, I made a decent-sized smelting furnace in that cave, but I won't risk dragging the ship back in its current state."
"Then we'll have to have them delivered here," Katrina sighed sadly. "I hope the feudal lord won't refuse us this request."
"Yes, it will be safer. By the way, since we defeated such a monster on my ship, how about naming it 'Sea Lord'?"
"Isn't that a bit too much honor?"
"Hm, as far as I know, there's no ship like that in the Empire right now, but that's what the ship of the Pirate King was called until it was destroyed by the imperial fleet. Of course, my ship isn't that large, but I've designed it with the option to increase its size."
"What?"
"In the Empire, there's not such a rich selection of magical metals like here, so it's impossible to make a large and sturdy ship out of metal. However, here, I was able to gather much more of them. Excluding the hull, I used mithril and adamantium for the bracing inside the ship, and there's a lot more of them than necessary. If I spend more time and distribute the weight and load more precisely, I can rebuild it into something more impressive."
"Do you always plan such steps for the future?"
"Of course, although without Trin's help, I probably won't be able to rebuild it, but for now, it will do as a storage of useful materials."
"Hm, here come the guests," Katrina looked towards the entrance to the bay. Three warships under the flags of Verania were approaching the pier.
Judging by the frightened faces of the soldiers, they did not expect to see an imperial ship here, so the first person to disembark was a middle-aged man in expensive attire. I had met him once before, Feudal of the Distant Isles, Feron Graynor.
"I received a letter about the situation on your island, but I would like to clarify what you wrote," the feudal addressed the village elder who had approached him. "A month ago, I sent two expedition ships with guards here to find out why the communication with the island was lost."
"Yes, we saw them," the village elder said sadly, shrugging his shoulders, "but we couldn't help them anymore. The monster we wrote about in the letter dealt with them before they could dock to the shore."
"It's hard to believe that such a powerful enemy was never noticed by our ancestors."
"That's because he never appeared here until now," Katrina descended from the ship's deck. "He was sealed in a cave not far from this island since the time of the ancient gods."
"Yes, that explains a lot," the feudal carefully examined the unfamiliar girl. "Your face seems familiar to me, but I haven't met you in my domain. Can you tell me who you are?"
"Oh, forgive me for not introducing her right away. This girl is the head of the guild that helped us get rid of the monster."
"You really managed to defeat that monster? How many mercenaries did you bring with you?"
"It's not like we planned to fight monsters on our vacation, but everyone who is with me now is my team and my friends," the entire guild gradually gathered at the pier.
"To achieve such feats at such a young age is commendable for young nobles. Do you have any evidence of your victory?"
"Yes, although his body was destroyed by his own power, we kept the blade of his sword, which you can see on our ship."
Feron glanced at the blade, which didn't fit completely on the deck, and involuntarily whistled.
"The owner of this blade must be of enormous size. Maybe you can also explain why your ship bears the crest of the Dragon Empire?"
"Our comrade from the empire built it with her own money, so I don't mind it bearing the symbols of her homeland."
"Then I have no more questions," the feudal extended his hand to the sorceress. "Feron Graynor, the king's governor in these lands. Thank you for your help, and of course, I will pay the promised reward."
"Katrina, Guildmaster of Heart of Storm, will negotiate the reward with our trader, but I would like to ask you, in lieu of part of the reward, to help us with the repair of our ship," Katrina shook the feudal's hand, and his expression changed slightly.
"Ah, I see now. I remember where I've seen your face before," Feron released Katrina's hand and kneeled, "Thank you for your help, Princess, and forgive me for not showing you the proper respect."
The knights standing behind the feudal exchanged uncertain glances and, following their lord, knelt down.
"Uh..." Kat hesitated and glanced at Seleria.
"Why are you looking at me like that? It's quite normal behavior for a local feudal lord towards a representative of the royal family. Oh, but I guess you don't often see such things," Seleria remarked.
"Yes, I haven't seen Your Highness since your fourth birthday, and I am not often invited to the capital, so I try to memorize the faces of all the nobles as much as possible to avoid appearing rude," I explained.
"Pssst, Krito," Chris called out to me from behind. "Is she really a princess?"
"Yeah."
"A-a-and you say it so calmly?" The girl started to nervously tremble. "W-w-we hosted her in our house and offered her what we had. Uwaaah, what's going to happen to us now?"
"I'd be more worried about the attempt to sacrifice us, but don't worry so much. Kat doesn't care about such trifles as bowing before her status. Besides, here there is more than one princess," I smirked and pointed to the four of them. The poor creature couldn't handle it and hurriedly left her owner.
"Please, rise, all of you. You are more worthy than many feudal lords I've met; there's no need to belittle your merits. Many wouldn't even lift a finger for just one city," the princess said.
Feron stood up hesitantly but still bowed his head before the princess.
"But why did you get involved in this matter? You are the sole heir of King Henry; your life is more important than all of ours. You should have left the island as soon as you learned of the threat."
"Don't talk nonsense. If I were to abandon my subjects to the mercy of fate, what example would I set for the other nobles? We could help these people, and we did. That's all."
"I'm glad to hear that, but still, I would take better care of your safety. Besides you, there is no one to inherit the throne, and I wouldn't want a repeat of the civil wars of ten years ago. If you wish, I can leave my guards with you."
"There's no need for that. I trust my comrades."