An Enemy Of My Enemy Is Still My Enemy

I glanced up at the figure who took the strike for me. To my absolute surprise, it was Kenji. I probably should've felt bad for him. But honestly, I was just relieved it wasn't one of my crew.

I expected to see blood spray from him, but there was nothing.

Sir Branwell pulled back, although he kept his blade raised.

“Kenji… What are you doing here? Also, that attack looked like it hurt. Why aren’t you dead?” I asked as I rose to my feet.

“Don’t worry, thanks to my stats and my ancient dragon bloodline, I have protection against sword slashing,” he commented, patting his chest proudly.

I gritted my teeth. Whilst I was glad that he was alright, I now knew where all my missing skills went.

“Otherworlder, why are you protecting him?”

“Yeah, why are you protecting me?” I added. I took a moment to glance over at my crew, who were all unharmed.

“Sir Branwell, many unexplained events are occurring in this city. We should hear him out.”

“I wish I could listen to you, Otherworlder. If this were under other circumstances, I would, but the pirate murdered the king.”

Kenji glared over at me with a horrified expression.

“I tell you it’s a mistake,” I tried to explain.

Kenji’s gaze relaxed, and he turned back to Sir Branwell.

“I believe in Susami. If he says he didn’t do it, then he didn’t do it.”

Sir Branwell sighed. His eyes had a defeated look.

“I’m sorry. I do not wish to fight you, Otherworlder, but even so, he is a pirate. Most importantly, he remains the prime suspect in the murder of the king.”

“I understand your position, Sir Branwell.” Kenji gave him a knowing nod out of respect.

They both readied themselves.

“Prepare yourself, Sir Branwell,” Kenji warned.

“You as well.”

Sir Branwell wore the expression of a man who knew he’d already lost.

The two men clashed their blades. The force was so overwhelming that the remaining soldiers and my own crew had to pause their fight to maintain balance from the shockwaves.

They both recoiled back and then committed to a second strike. Similar to the first one, the two blades collided, causing more shockwaves. Some of the remaining guards stumbled over. A series of rapid strikes ensued, and the space between us shook violently.

It was criminal how powerful these two were.

After several strikes, a sweating and panting Sir Branwell sighed.

“You are strong, Otherworlder.”

“As are you, Sir Branwell.”

“I can see the end of this fight has arrived. I am glad to have fought you.”

“As am I, Sir Branwell.”

I was beginning to tear up. This was a true fight between men.

“I will trust your judgment of the pirate. Please treat my soldiers well.”

“I will ensure they are spared.”

Sir Branwell nodded as they swung the blades at one another one final time. The moment the two swords touched, Sir Branwell’s blade shattered, leaving only the hilt. The opposing force he was exerting vanished, and the sheer shock of the imbalance sent Sir Branwell flying backward into the building's wall.

He coughed up blood before he collapsed unconscious on the ground.

“Sir Branwell!” some of the remaining guards screamed.

“Throw down your weapons, if you want to survive,” I threatened as I placed my arm around Kenji, who was staring at Sir Branwell with a blank expression. “If you don’t, my boy Kenji here will cut you down like he did Sir Branwell!”

Kenji turned to look at me.

“But I didn’t kill…” I elbowed him in the gut to shut him up.

The guards looked at one another and offered up their blades. With Viola's assistance, we restrained the remaining guards.

“Thanks for saving me,” I commented, turning to Kenji.

“No issue, now let’s have our talk.” He raised his blade. “I haven’t forgotten you are a pirate, so if your answer is unsatisfactory, I will be forced to restrain you.”

“Who is this man?” Túta asked.

“He seems close to you, even putting his body on the line for you,” Viola teased.

“Perhaps he has a crush on you,” Raizel added as she rested her head on a wooden barrel, looking bored.

There was an uncomfortable silence.

“That’s not true, is it?” Túta asked, looking over at me with fiery rage in her eyes.

“If that’s true, I will cut him down,” Elora mumbled under her breath, looking away, her face red.

“Please, don’t get any strange ideas. He is a former classmate.”

“You were classmates with an Otherworlder?” Raizel asked, slowly lifting her head off the barrel.

“I'm an Otherworlder as well.”

Raizel’s eyes widened in shock. The rest of my crew nodded their heads.

“Anyway, let’s stay on topic. Why did you save me?” I asked Kenji.

“You may not believe me.” He took several steps towards me. “But time is constantly being reset.”

I already knew that, but how did Kenji?

“If time is being reset, how do you know this?”

“My ancient dragon bloodline makes me impervious to mental effects as a consequence of skills.”

What the hell! Slash immunity, mental resistance. How many broken skills does this bastard have?

I sighed and sat down on the ground, crossing my legs.

“I already knew about time resetting,” I confessed, looking up at him.

His eyes lit up.

“Really? I thought you might, based on your unpredictability in the different timelines, but how do you know about it?”

How do you know I was unpredictable? Were you watching me or something?

“The System hates me, I guess.” I shrugged as Pippa came to sit on my lap.

“What?” He tilted his head, clearly not understanding what I was getting at.

I sighed once more as I began to pat Pippa’s head.

“I guess not having any access to the system makes me immune.”

He stroked his chin and tilted his head thoughtfully.

“How does that even work?”

“I dunno.”

“Then what happens to you?”

“I am wherever I was when time reset.”

“Wow, that’s so lucky.”

“I wouldn't call it lucky. What about you? I take it, you are like Pippa?”

“Pippa is immune to time resets because she has dark powers,” she commented, covering her eyepatch eye with her hand.

I pinched Pippa’s cheeks, and Kenji sighed as he looked between us.

“I can’t speak for anyone else, but although I am physically reset, my mind remains intact.”

“Same as Pippa. Alright, how much do you know?”

“I know Valgroth is strong, that time is resetting and that you are in town. What about you?”

“Oh, so you know nothing I don’t already.”

I explained everything I knew, leaving out only the fact that Duke Wiscard was an Administrator.

“The duke? I can't believe he killed the king.”

“Well it is true.”

“Why?”

“Power hungry, I guess.”

“So we have to deal with Valgroth, the Holy Knight, and Duke Wiscard. Is that everything?” Kenji asked, counting the issues on his hand.

I shook my head.

“The biggest issue is Duke Wiscard’s time travel ability. I have no idea how we can stop that,” Kenji commented.

“I'll handle the Duke. I've already got a plan for his time travel.”

“Alright, I’ll leave him to you. What should I do to help?” He asked.

“Can you handle the Holy Knight?”

“I can,” he hesitantly replied, biting his lip. “But what should we do about Valgroth?”

“It seems he’s looking for something.”

“How do you know that?!” Kenji shouted.

I shot him a questioning look.

“I mean, I fought him once before. Do you know what he's looking for?” I asked, my eyes narrowing.

Kenji lowered his head.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t realise that when I don't fight him, he actually makes it all the way here,” he replied, almost sulking.

“So, it’s your fault we almost died.”

“Apparently so, I’m sorry.”

“Do you know what he is looking for?”

Kenji shook his head.

“He was so frantic in finding whatever it was, he never actually said what it was.”

“I see. Don’t worry about Valgroth. I have a plan for him as well. As long as we can defeat the Holy Knight, it should all work out.”

“What if time resets again?”

“Continue to follow this same plan.”

“But if the plan isn’t working, shouldn’t we find another…”

I raised my hook to the sky, as if it were a thumbs-up.

“Trust me.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Susami, can we trust you?”

“It’s Lark, and I may be a pirate, but I want to end this time reset as much as you do.”

He looked me in the eyes and nodded.

“Alright. I’ll trust you this once.”

He pulled out his blade, which I only now noticed was a long katana.

“Incinerate,” he called. The moment he did, the blade burst into crimson flames. His eyes glowed a golden hue, and flames etched onto his face along the creases of his right eye.

“Show off,” I muttered under my breath.

▪──── X ────▪

End of chapter 46