A Tale of One Deviant (Book One)

Chapter 48: Pirates of Smile...Heh, Nothing Much

     Around they necks, black snakes seemed to appear. The bottles dropped and they started to rustle with themselves, struggling to breathe. None of them made a sound, the only noise heard from them forever more being the snap of their necks and the thumps of their bodies on the ground.

     All that was left of the murder weapon was a beautiful black bow tied around their necks, like they were presents for the next people to find them. They also looked ready to party, with those perfect bow ties.

The first five down, I passed them right by and went further into the village.

This time, I wasn't in the mood to find out which one was willing to speak-I was going straight for the captain...

...the only one who would be left alive tonight.

Maybe.

----------------------------------------------------------------x---------------------------------------------------------------

When I left the latest scene, there was not a drop of blood anywhere. The only thing that was of concern was that the houses around might break under the weight of men hung on them, having choked to death.

Earlier, I had stood amidst the men without any of them noticing me because of [Existence Negate]. All they knew was that one minute they were getting ready for a campfire, and the next they're choking because a ribbon had looped around their throats and made them defy gravity as they flew for trees and houses, being hung with nothing to help them down. All of them struggled, only a few of them smart enough to stop and accept death after cutting at the unbreakable ribbons with their hidden knives.

There was only one that was spared, a slim and cunning-looking man reduced to sniveling tears and snot running down his face. The reason being: I had just stomped on his special place after he offered to give me a "good time."

How he could even do that while his men were choking to death by my hand, I had no idea. It may've been a trained reaction that he said without much thought. The ribbons strained against the old roofs as the men turned, the wind pushing them a bit. It was an eerie sound for anyone but me.

     Like we were in the gallows.

So, I grabbed him by his flaring red pirate costume and lifted him up. He was shorter than me while I was in this form, like a dwarf. I found it intriguing that when he struggled to be put down, he laid a hand on me. I guess, in his current degraded state of mind, he would make such a mistake as to grab my breast.

But I didn't care. So, I squeezed his wrist so hard with a ribbon that snaked off my hand, that it just...fell off. Like tying a dog's tail and letting it fall off after time, even though I wasn't that patient.

"It looks like...even you won't leave here alive," I sighed while putting my hand on my cheek, like it was such a sad thing.

"AGHHHH....AH AHHHHH..." He screamed out into the night suddenly at the loss of his hand, scaring the wild life and making sleeping birds fly out from their trees.

I was kind of hoping that by saying that, he'd plead for his life and offer up some info...nope. He was the weak type, charming and all but easily bending to pain.

So, off with his head.

The body fell to the floor after I released it, thudding heavily. My business done here, I turned away with a sigh and headed towards their ship. I had hung about forty men, insufficient to maintain the large barge they had traveled on. It was likely just a bluff to any coming ships so that they wouldn't be messed with. They didn't have any magicians, so there was no illusion magic to use.

     It was not daunting to me as I floated over the water towards it, then went below deck for a little finders keepers.

     Piles...piles...so many piles of goods and fine riches that I had to wonder how this ship was still afloat.

     There were slats where the moonlight came in, pouring white light onto the piles and illuminating them as if they were precious. Well, they were precious, but it seemed kind of dirty since they were under the care of such filthy men. There was grime coating the walls and dirt on everything as if no water had ever leaked in, washing it once in a while. It seemed as if it had just been let here, stagnant, for hundreds of years...

     Hm. Now that I think about it, I did meet a little resistance at the door to the vault.

     It was weird since I thought the room was easily accessible, seeing the moonlight coming through so nonchalantly. They would've just been able to pry up the floorboards, there was no need to make a heavily (lightly to me) guarded door when the rest was unprotected.

     Hm? There's something coating the wall...

     Mana. A very thin layer, so small you wouldn't notice it unless you had used direct mana manipulation like me enough to instinctually notice its presence. Also, the reason it took me so long (a few seconds) to notice it was because after a very long amount of time, it was wearing away and getting weaker.

     There was a Sub added to the mana, which was mind blowing for me. I knew you could add Subs to spells but not to mana itself.

     The Sub, I could sense from accessing its inner workings while stirring my finger about in the air, was [No Way In, No Way Out]. How that whole phrase like that could be a Sub I had no idea, but it gave me the idea to experiment later. I had been using phrases myself, but they were two word spells that were normal in daily life. I was guessing that if the spell was longer, like those chants other magicians use, it took less mana and didn't require a Sub because the phrase was more..."detailed." The shorter, the more mana it took but the more efficient because it was faster, while the words used the definition and imagination of the caster to come into being.

    But either way, if short and nimble phrases like that could produce such an effect just because the mana was worked a little differently, I would for sure try it later.

     Either way, since I knew dawn would be coming soon I went around sweeping every valuable thing I could find into my private inter-spacial storage and then took off. For some reason, as I stood over the boat, I decided not to burn it as I had originally planned to do.

     No, I did something useless and absolutely stupid.

     Can you guess? What I did, that is. And why I deemed all of the actions I had taken since coming onto the boat as useless.

     Honestly, I wasn't expecting either. But, it may come in handy someday. You never know...

But it's a pity that I didn't get to use all those holes after all...they were too shallow anyway, and why should I dirty my hands trying to bury them? They already died a dog's death.

For some reason, I felt that this would happen a lot more often in the future.

AN: Thank you for over 10k reads! Not many notifications pop up in my box, besides a few votes, comments, or "something Starlord something just added A Tale of One Deviant to Otome Death by Monika333" (I made that up quite obviously, since y'all seem to love Monika in chapter 1's comments). But for some reason I see the counter for reads going up and I wonder if I have the ghosts of the Smile pirates reading and rereading, besides a few guys who comment and vote from time to time. For instance, WebWeebede or whatever your name is, with the starry eyed profile pic, you know who you are. I know it's only been three months but jeez this story is long. Thanks for your keeping up, although it's probably very confusing...

Also...I rant too much I know...for those of you going back to school this coming August/September I hope you have a lovely transition back. You can never say it too early, we all need luck. I'm writing the school arc right now (yes, it's that far away) and Firea needed it. So did Sherfire...but that's another story (struggle) for another time~