Near afternoon.
After Crane asked me various questions in the form of interrogation that I managed to answer smoothly about why I needed protection, we met with the thugs they recruited at the port near where the ship was docked.
This time, I was asked to tag along because we would sail with them together to scam or protect, in their dictionary, the sailors with 10 ships.
There were a total of 6 thugs, composed of 4 men and 2 women. But something unexpected happened. All of them were bruised except for a single woman with short white hair at the back of the crowd, wearing better armor than the other thugs.
'What's she doing here?'
I looked at that woman who wore a black armored dress in contrast to the other who wore dirty leather armor. That… Even if she dyed her hair white, I recognized that she was Isabelle.
She looked at me with a surprised gaze before averting her eyes coldly, turning to Cecil, who stood behind me and rested her breasts on my shoulders. They were soft, and Cecil unexpectedly loved skinship like this.
'This is bad, isn't it?'
Without needing to say anything, I knew this situation was the worst I could hope for. Why was Isabelle here? I only asked her and Garcia to find something suspicious… Oh, right. This place was suspicious.
'She must've seen the scam requirement and decided to check what happened.'
And the fact she dyed her hair white meant she knew the recruitment she came across was dangerous and needed her to be careful.
'But it's really bad timing.'
Not because she was here and we were about to sail toward a treasure related to Scylla, but because she might misunderstand what I did right now.
Just a glance was enough to see that Isabelle was sulking.
She might've arrived at the conclusion that I disappeared last night to hit on a girl and ended up in this place. But that was wrong! I was here to spy on the pirate.
'I might need to explain something to her.'
Later… I added as Crane took a step forward on my side, crossing his arms. He wore a hat fit to be a captain, similar to what Cecil wore but black in color.
"Listen up, everyone! Nod your head if you are here because you saw our recruitment offer."
All of them nodded at once, including Isabelle. As I had expected, she saw the recruitment and decided to check what it was about since she found it in a suspicious place.
Or she could also walk by, see my head sandwiched by two humongous breasts, and decide to change her hair color to see what I did.
Anyway, that wasn't important right now.
"Great. Let's move to the ship, then. I will explain our job there. If you understand, then answer me!"
"Aye!"
The group then followed Crane to board the ship. They followed behind him and passed by me and Cecil, who watched from the side.
When Isabelle walked past, she narrowed her eyes slightly and turned her gaze to Crane.
'She's really sulking.' I laughed wryly in my mind.
At that moment, I felt a soft touch caressing my hair.
"Don't mind that thug girl, boy. You look handsome enough to get my attention, after all? You don't have to mind the fact she looks at my damned brother and not you."
It seemed like Cecil misunderstood something too, so she tried to console me. I turned around, only to bury my face in her boobs. They were too big, and she was too tall for me to look straight into her face.
"Fufufu." Cecil giggled mischievously. "I know you love my boobs, but to think you want to hug me like this. I like you more now."
'No, girl. It was an accident, okay? I am not used to facing someone taller than me.'
But I couldn't say that because I was an innocent boy now.
So I just pulled away slightly, taking a breath I needed, and smiled at her.
"Yes, Cecil. I also like you more than the other girls."
My answer brought a big smile to her face. A predatory smile belonged to a satisfied woman whose plan went smoothly, or at least that was how she saw it.
Cecil hugged me tightly, burying my face between her boobs again. It was suffocating.
"How cute!" She exclaimed.
I held my breath and let myself be played by the minotaur girl as I heightened my senses, trying to eavesdrop on the conversation on the deck. Crane explained to the group how he planned to extort the 10 sailors and protect me on the ship.
In the middle of his explanation, I heard a female voice saying, "So you like big boobs? That's why you did that with that blonde and brought that nun with us. And then that woman… I know mine isn't that big, but it's bigger than before…"
That voice belonged to Isabelle, and it sounded jealous.
As I mentioned before, Isabelle, or rather Tristan's personality, was really similar to Eliza's. They were also cheerful outside and couldn't be honest with their feelings toward their loved ones.
It was a good thing Isabelle also still had that side of her. Though she was now a cold tsundere, I was happy to know she still had a bit of feeling toward me.
I should fix this misunderstanding faster, then. And I should find a way to kick Isabelle out of the ship, as we would meet many monsters in the sea later.
'It would be dangerous.'
The way to kick Isabelle out of the ship was probably in the woman hugging me. So I tapped her back to let her know I wanted to say something.
Cecil released me right away and took a step back.
"Sorry, boy! I didn't realize you can't breathe!"
"N-No, it's not a problem," I replied. "But I must say… That white-haired girl from earlier looks beautiful. Don't you think so too, Cecil?"
"Huh?" A low voice escaped Cecil's lips as her smile fell from her face, showing her real face that belonged to a pirate. "What did you just say, boy?"
"Isn't that girl beautiful? The one in the armored dress." I repeated, smiling innocently. "She looks cute and strong too. And I like a strong girl. I wonder which one is stronger, you or her."
For a second, Cecil's face contorted into a fit of anger. It quickly changed back to a confident smile as she brought my face closer to hers and gave me a light kiss.
"It's obviously me, silly." She said, "I will prove it to you right now."
"Are you gonna fight her?" I asked.
"If that's what you want."
"Then I want to see it," I exclaimed.
Provoking Cecil was truly easy. With how she wanted to dominate a man, I knew her pride would be high for a pirate.
Knowing how pirates worked and how they treasure their gold and hidden treasure, I knew they wouldn't back off so easily. Even if I tortured them, they wouldn't say anything about their hidden treasure. They would choose to die instead of revealing where their hidden wealth was.
And Cecil had already thought of me as hers.
If I mentioned another girl being cute and strong in front of her, I knew she would be jealous and would do something to eliminate that girl.
'Isabelle is strong and doesn't fear using her strength against her opponent as long as they aren't monsters.'
So getting them to clash with each other was the best way to send my message to Isabelle that I didn't need her on this ship and wanted her to continue her investigation with Garcia.
'All of it will be easier if I can use <Telepathy> skill. And I can't take out any magic item from my inventory because Cecil is always close to me, observing my every movement, since she returned.'
"Alright then." The minotaur girl grinned and looked up at the deck of the ship. Isabelle was leaning against the railing, looking in the other direction. "I will show that girl who's stronger. It will serve as her test if she wants to sail with us."
"Whoa! How exciting!" I clapped my hands to make Cecil more excited.
'Sorry, Isabelle. I don't want you to mess up with my plan right now. Just get defeated by Cecil and stay in the lodging for a few days.'
