Anchor, Stop Pretending, You're in Chaldea - Chapter 157

“Whoa, this sweet stuff is so good~~~”

Himiko sat at the table and downed her glass of wine in one gulp.

“Wow, you sure can drink! You’re almost as good as Big Sis. One more, come on!”

The pirate next to her refilled the wooden cup with a reddish liquid.

Himiko gulped it down in one go.

“Clunk!”

The wooden cup slammed onto the table.

“Again!”

Watching the lively scene, Bai Qiu set his own wooden cup down. Other than Mashu and Himiko, no one else was attending the banquet.

Jeanne Alter had always hated being around so many people, and Draco had wandered off on his own. Xu Fu afraid something will happen to the ship, unwilling to step away even half a step.

Heracles refused to drink with pirates, saying he’d watch over Medea instead.

“Ha ha ha, who knew a youngster like you could drink so well?”

Drake raised his wineglass again, smiling as he toasted to Bai Qiu.

“Oh, it’s nothing, really…,” Bai Qiu said, lifting his wooden cup and bracing himself for another sip.

What kind of booze is this? It’s so hard to drink…

Forget the sourness and bitterness—he’d expected that. The manufacturers had evened out the strange flavor with a copious amount of honey, resulting in an overall taste that was very odd, with hardly any alcohol scent.

Perhaps the winemaking techniques of the Middle Ages were immature, or perhaps these pirates simply didn’t know how to brew good wine.

Either way, Bai Qiu’s fears of seeing a huge bear chugging industrial alcohol did not come true.

“Senpai, I’m impressed you can drink so much,” Mashu said, leaning in close and staring at Bai Qiu with admiration.

“…Never mind, let’s talk about something else later,” Bai Qiu replied, feeling bitter inside. Drinking so much of this cheap liquor would surely upset his stomach, wouldn’t it? He could only hope that the passive poison resistance he gained upon bonding with Mashu, along with the natural poison resistance all Chinese citizens possessed, would be enough to weather this storm.

“By the way, I want the people on the ship to come down and repair it using materials from the surrounding area. I don’t know if Captain Drake…”

Bai Qiu turned to Drake, making his request as he drank.

“Oh, do as you please. Everything on this Pirate Island belongs to me, so feel free to use whatever you need to repair the ship. Do you require my men to help?”

Drake’s response was magnanimous.

“No, no, that won’t be necessary,” Bai Qiu hurriedly declined his offer.

Drake might not get his hands dirty, but that didn’t mean the pirates under him wouldn’t take advantage of the opportunity to steal something valuable. Although Bai Qiu had Heracles guarding Medea inside the ship, minimizing trouble was ideal.

Bai Qiu kept his eyes on Drake’s drinking cup, which seemed to be nothing like the Holy Grail he’d imagined.

Had the script changed again?

“By the way, Captain Drake, have you ever fought someone who claimed to be ‘the sea god’ and stolen one of his cups?”

” Cup? What’s that?” Drake looked at Bai Qiu with a puzzled expression.

“Thought yes, there was a self-proclaimed ‘Sea God’ who built a temple in the middle of the ocean, claiming it was ‘Atlantis,'” Drake recalled, still holding her wineglass.

“That guy’s speech was riddled with nonsense. ‘The time has come. I, in the name of the twelve gods of Olympus, shall summon the raging flood once more to sweep away all civilizations…!’ and stuff like that.”

Why did those words sound so familiar?

“Senpai, isn’t the raging flood that sweeps away all civilizations sound similar to Beast VI-san Noble Phantasm?”

“Shh…”

Bai Qiu silenced Mashu, then turned back to Drake.

“And what happened after that?”

“I had originally planned to rob this guy of his treasure since he was bothering me. A ll of a sudden a flying woman to appear out of nowhere and defeat him using all sorts of weird magic. The temple started crumbling, and it took the Golden Hind quite a bit of effort to escape that whirlpool and blast our way out.”

Drake brushed off the events as if they were nothing.

Yet even with his ears, Bai Qiu could almost picture the thrilling scene.

“Ha ha ha, the helmsman was scared shitless, but our big sis here took control, taking charge like a boss, and steered us away from the danger! If not for her, we’d have all drowned to feed the fishes!”

A pirate wearing an eye patch poured Drake another drink.

“Don’t make it sound so grand. We didn’t even get anything, and we nearly lost the Golden Hind in the process. What an unpleasant adventure.”

“If that woman hadn’t interfered, we would’ve taken all the loot from the ‘Sea God’ himself!” the pirate with the eye patch said indignantly.

Bai Qiu froze, stunned. A flying woman, a strange magic…

Could it be?!

“Boom!” Suddenly, there came a loud explosion from the direction of the harbor, where the ships were docked.

A figure then flew into the sky. Beneath the moonlight, a woman with purple hair soared through the air.

“Hm? Big Sis, am I seeing things?” The pirate removed his blindfold, rubbed his eyes, and squinted upward. “How come I’m seeing a flying woman?”

“You’re not seeing things, there really is a woman there.”

Drake’s expression instantly turned grave, and his hand reached for the flintlock at his waist.

Swoosh!

An arrow pierced the night sky, hurtling straight toward the fleeing Medea.

Medea swiftly opened her cape, and two fireballs flew forth from within, hurtling toward the arrow.

The arrow passed right through the fireballs, continuing its forward trajectory.

Tsk…!

Medea waved her staff, instantly summoning a defensive bounded field before her.

In the next second, the arrow struck this bounded field, piercing straight through it and onward.

Medea immediately began to chant at high speed.

“Corycian! Words of Divine Mage Formula, Bride of Ashes(Hecatic Graiae)!!!”

Multiple magic formations appeared behind her, successfully propelling the arrow back toward its sender.

“Damn it…!”

Just as Medea made to continue her escape—

Swoosh!

Another arrow struck, and she plummeted from the sky, falling straight into a low shrubbery.

Bai Qiu and Mashu exchanged a glance, then promptly tossed down their wine glasses. Before the reveling pirates could notice, they rushed over.

“Ugh…”

Medea struggled to her feet, but Mashu and Bai Qiu were instantly upon her.

“Senpai, she’s…”

“Stop her! The Holy Grail is in her possession!” Bai Qiu pointed out.

“The Holy Grail?!” At the words, Mashu’s eyes widened in surprise, and he swiftly raised his shield to block Medea’s path.

“Indeed, the Holy Grail is in my hands.” Medea’s body suddenly began to shine, and her wounds gradually healed.

As expected…

In hindsight, it seemed too much to expect a magus from the age of gods to be anything but overpowered, even if she could summon Hydra as her familiar and command its corpse to fight after its death.

Such a massive amount of Mana could not have appeared without reason, and according to Drake, the one who had stolen the “Sea God” Holy Grail must have been Medea.

“You’ve forced me to use the Holy Grail’s Mana I was going to use to kill ‘that man’!” Medea howled hysterically. “You don’t understand anything! Why are you stopping me?!”

“I’ve already told you, our interests align,” Bai Qiu explained immediately, stepping forward. “I also have something I need to discuss with Jason.”

No matter how this Singularity changed, in the end, the one entrusted with the Holy Grail was always Medea Lily. Since the era had not yet been completely destroyed, that meant she had not sacrificed the goddess.

If they wanted to find Medea Lily, all they had to do was find Jason. After all, the current young Medea still loved him wholeheartedly.

“I’m not an idiot. I don’t believe someone who’s made a pact with the ‘Beast.’ I bet you’re just like that man, only capable of lying to everyone around you, right? Wake up, Heracles!”

In the darkness, the mighty Heracles stepped forward, bow and arrows in hand.

“Medea, I told you if you ran, I’d chase you down.”

Heracles’s overwhelming presence even put Mashu on edge.

“Heracles, my wish is only to tear that man to pieces, to force him into suffering an eternity of pain as well!”

“You shouldn’t have summoned Hydra. That monster devours countless lives—it must be eradicated.”

Heracles’s voice was filled with authority.

“You’re the evil here!”

His gaze was like a sharp dagger piercing straight toward Medea.

“Being gobbled up by such a monster is a far more fitting end for him than the pain I’ve endured!” Medea screamed in anger.

“Seriously, can’t you people just sit down and talk things out?” Drake asked as she and her pirate crew surrounded the area.

“Big Sis, isn’t this the woman we saw at the Sea Temple?”

“Yes, it’s her.”

“Ha ha ha, now we know who to blame for our losses! Anybody who tries to steal from us pirates will sooner or later have to pay us back!”

The surrounding pirates cheered at this prospect.

“Don’t talk nonsense! or I’ll stuff you into a wine barrel and throw you into the ocean!”

After scolding the pirates, Drake walked beside Bai Qiu.

“Young man, I actually met with her privately once after the Sea Temple collapsed, and I’ve also made a deal with her.”

“A deal?” Bai Qiu asked, suspicious.

“Yes, there are several pirate factions in this region, but we’ve all been under the control of that Jason for some time now. Even though we’re all pirates, we’ve pledged allegiance to him, which is quite peculiar.”

“Fortunately, she also has a bone to pick with him, so I’ve allied myself with her to liberate this sea from Jason’s grasp!”

As Drake finished, the pirates cheered in support.

“That’s right, this sea belongs to us! It’s not for those spineless traitors!”

“Clearly, pirates have submitted to others—what a disgrace to the pirate name!”

“But the fact that our captain was able to make a deal with this flying woman speaks volumes about her strength, huh!”

After hearing Drake’s words, Medea’s expression turned disdainful.

“Hmph, the deal you made with me was only verbal. I’m impressed you even remembered.”

“Listen, you’re already in such a state, and yet you’re still trying to provoke them? Well, who am I to say no to my pirate code, huh? ‘never leave a comrade to die.'”

Drake sighed.

“Young man, I, the great pirate Francis Drake, beg you to spare her life and Pirate Island will be yours to keep!”

Facing Captain Drake’s plea, Bai Qiu also felt somewhat conflicted. It wasn’t like he had planned to take her life in the first place… Caster simply hadn’t trusted him.

Of course, he knew why Medea had seen Jason again in this era and why her memories of her death haunting her.

“You…”

Seeing that Drake hadn’t abandoned her even in these circumstances, and that she had even treated her as a comrade, Medea was somewhat shocked.

“I’ll say it again: we’re people from different era – an outsider. We must find Jason to repair this era, for he may possess the Holy Grail that distorted it.”

“Of course I knew that man had the Holy Grail, so I obtained it as well in order to oppose him.”

Medea’s gaze wavered slightly.

“Even then, I wasn’t completely confident in my ability to succeed, for the man had another ‘me’ by his side, and she held something capable of destroying this era in her hands.”

“That’s why you summoned Hydra and set an ambush for them,” Bai Qiu said, having quickly grasped the key points of Medea’s words.

“But my plan was ruined by you. Now there’s no way to stop them!” Medea spoke with clear indignation, her head bowed.

“No, we came here precisely for this reason. There must be a way to stop them and retrieve the Holy Grail.”

Bai Qiu immediately explained their intentions to Medea.

Not only did Medea have the Holy Grail, she was also a highly skilled magus of the Age of Gods. It would be best to have her on their side, as she could prove to be a formidable asset.

After all, at present, Caster harbored no love for Jason, only hatred—she was a rare force of power.

Medea considered Bai Qiu’s words, then lifted her head. “If your goal is truly to punish that man, I can assist you.”

“Is that so? That’s wonderful.” Relieved, Bai Qiu prepared to instruct Heracles to stand down.

“Bang, bang, bang—!”

Suddenly, loud noises came from afar.

Moments later, several pirates assigned to stand watch hurriedly ran over.

“Bad news, Cap’n! The pirates attacked!”