Chapter 157: The True Master of the Holy Grail
"Haa, this sweet stuff is really delicious~~"
Himiko sat at the table, downing the cup of liquor in her hand in one go.
"You drink really well! Almost on par with big sis, another cup!!!"
A pirate beside her refilled Himiko's wooden cup with liquor.
Himiko tilted her head back and drank it all in one gulp.
"BANG!!!"
She slammed the wooden cup down on the table.
"Another cup!!!"
Ethan looked toward the noisy banquet, then set down the wooden cup in his hand.
Aside from Mash and Himiko, no one else was participating in the feast.
Jeanne Alter didn't like being around too many people, Draco had gone off who knows where, and Xu Fu was worried her goods might be at risk so she didn't dare leave them.
Heracles didn't want to drink with the pirates, so he volunteered to keep watch over Medea.
"Ahahaha, didn't expect a youngster like you to hold your liquor pretty well."
Drake once again raised her cup, laughing as she spoke to Ethan.
"Not at all, not at all..."
Ethan gritted his teeth and raised the wooden cup for another sip.
What the hell is this, this liquor tastes like shit...
The sour and bitter flavors were incredibly thick, and not to mention, to adjust the taste, they'd even dumped in a bunch of honey, making the overall flavor really bizarre. It barely even tasted like alcohol.
Maybe it was due to medieval winemaking techniques not being well-developed, or maybe these pirates just had no clue how to brew.
Either way, it was nothing like what Ethan had imagined pirate liquor would taste like.
"Senpai, I didn't expect your alcohol tolerance to be that good."
Mash quietly moved closer, looking at Ethan with admiration in her eyes.
"...Forget it, I'll explain later."
Ethan was absolutely miserable inside. Drinking too much of this crude alcohol was definitely going to mess up his stomach.
He could only hope the passive poison resistance he got after forming a contract with Mash would help him get through this.
"By the way, I'd like to send people from the ship to collect materials around here to repair the ship. I wonder if Captain Drake..."
Ethan made the proposal to Drake while still drinking.
"Oh, go ahead, everything on this Pirate Island belongs to me. If you need to repair the ship, feel free to use whatever you want. Want my crew to lend a hand?"
Drake responded heartily.
"No no no, that won't be necessary."
Ethan immediately declined Drake's kind offer.
Drake herself might not make a move, but her pirate crew might not be able to resist the urge.
Even though he had Heracles stay behind on the ship to watch over Medea, minimizing potential trouble was still the better option.
Ethan's gaze stayed fixed on the wooden cup in Drake's hand.
It didn't seem like the Holy Grail he was imagining...
Did the script change again???
"By the way, Captain Drake, have you ever fought someone who called himself the 'Sea God' and then took a golden cup from him?"
"A golden cup??? What's that???"
Drake looked at Ethan with a confused expression.
"Although it's true there was once an arrogant guy who called himself the 'Sea God'. He even built an entire temple in the middle of the sea and called it something like 'Atlantis'."
Drake raised her cup as she recalled.
"That guy spoke so weirdly, stuff like 'The time has come, in the name of the Twelve Olympians, I shall once again summon the great flood to cleanse the world of civilization...!' Weird stuff like that."
...Why does that sound so familiar?
"Senpai, the great flood that cleanses civilization, isn't that the authority of Beast VI?"
"Shhh..."
Ethan held out his hand, signaling Mash to stop talking, then he continued questioning Drake:
"What happened after that?"
"I was planning to plunder that guy's treasure, I mean, just looking at him pissed me off. But suddenly, a woman who could fly descended from the sky and used some strange magic to defeat him. Then the temple collapsed, and it took Golden Hind a ton of effort to escape from the whirlpool and get out of there."
Drake spoke casually, as if it was nothing.
But Ethan could still sense the tension and drama of the scene from her words.
"Ahahaha, the helmsman at that time was so scared he pissed himself! Luckily, Big Sis heroically took the helm herself, or we pirates would've been fish food!!!"
A pirate with an eye patch hugged a barrel of liquor and stood beside them, refilling Drake's cup.
"Don't make it sound so great, we didn't even get anything, and nearly lost the Golden Hind. That was one hell of a lousy adventure."
"If it hadn't been for that damn woman butting in, the treasure of that so-called 'Sea God' would've been ours sooner or later!!!"
The eye-patched pirate grumbled.
That sentence froze Ethan in place.
A woman who could fly, strange 'magic'...
Could it be!!!
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM——————————!!!"
Suddenly, a thunderous explosion echoed from the port where the ships were docked.
Moments later, a figure was launched straight into the sky.
Under the moonlight, a woman with purple hair soared across the night sky.
"Huh? Big Sis, am I seeing things?"
The eyepatch-wearing pirate immediately pulled off his patch, rubbed his eye, and squinted up at the sky.
"Why do I feel like there's a woman flying up there?"
"You're not seeing things. There really is someone up there."
Drake's expression turned serious as her hand moved to the flintlock pistol at her waist.
"SWOOOOOOOOOOSH————————————!!!"
Suddenly, the shriek of an arrow tore through the night sky, shooting directly toward Medea as she fled through the air!
Seeing this, Medea immediately flung open her cloak, and from within, she launched two fireballs straight toward the arrow to intercept it!!
The arrow pierced through the fireballs without slowing down and continued its deadly course!
"Tch...!!!"
Medea swung her staff, instantly erecting a defensive barrier in front of her.
Moments later, the strange feather-tailed arrow struck the barrier, burrowing deep into it with terrifying force.
Realizing the situation was turning against her, Medea immediately began chanting a spell at high speed.
"Rain of Light: Machia Hecatic Graea!!!"
Multiple layers of magical circles appeared behind her, forcibly pushing the arrow back toward its point of origin!
"Such a nuisance...!!!"
Just as Medea prepared to flee again—
"SWOOSH————————!!"
Another arrow shrieked through the air, striking her directly and sending her crashing into a low bush!
Ethan and Mash exchanged glances, then wordlessly dropped their cups and rushed toward the scene while the pirates, still drinking and oblivious, remained distracted.
"Ugh..."
Medea struggled to get up from the ground.
But Ethan and Mash quickly arrived and blocked her path.
"Senpai, she's..."
"Don't let her escape. The Holy Grail is on her!"
Ethan pointed out immediately.
"Holy Grail?!"
Hearing this, Mash widened her eyes in shock, quickly raising her shield to block Medea's retreat.
"Hehehe… That's right, the Holy Grail is in my hands."
A radiant light emanated from Medea's body as her wounds began to heal gradually.
Of course…
Thinking back, summoning a Hydra as a Familiar and even continuing to control its skeleton after death—such feats were already beyond formidable, even for a Magus from the Age of the Gods.
A mana source of that magnitude couldn't possibly come from within her alone. Combined with what Drake had said—that the one who stole the Holy Grail from the "Sea God" was none other than Medea.
"You actually forced me to use the mana from the Holy Grail! I was saving that to punish that bastard!!!"
Medea screamed in despair and rage.
"You know nothing! Why would you stop me!!!"
"I already told you, our goal is the same."
Ethan immediately stepped forward to explain.
"I also have business with Jason."
No matter how this singularity had twisted, the one entrusted with the Holy Grail was still Medea Lily.
If this era hadn't been completely destroyed yet, that meant she hadn't sacrificed herself to that goddess.
To find Medea Lily, they just had to locate Jason.
After all, the young Medea had always devoted herself to Jason.
"You think I'm stupid enough to trust someone who's contracted with a 'Beast'? You're probably just like him—deceiving everyone around you with lies! Wake up, Heracles!!"
From the distant shadows, the towering Heracles stepped out, bow in hand.
"Medea, I already warned you. If you try to escape, I'll hunt you down."
The sheer intensity of Heracles' presence made even Mash tense up instinctively.
"Heracles, all I want is to crush him into pieces, make him suffer endless torment like I once did!!!"
"You should never have summoned the Hydra. That monster devours countless lives—it must be destroyed."
Heracles' voice rang with authority.
"You're the true evil one!!!"
Heracles' gaze was sharp as a blade, piercing straight into Medea.
"Compared to the pain I've endured, being devoured by a monster like that is the ending he truly deserves!!!"
Medea screamed, consumed by fury.
"Heaven help us, can't you lot just sit down and have a proper conversation?!"
Drake appeared with a group of pirates, surrounding the area.
"Big Sis, isn't this the chick we saw back at that 'Alantis' something or other?!"
"Yeah, that's her."
"Hahaha! Justice served! Try stealing treasure from us pirates, and sooner or later, you'll pay it all back—with interest!!!"
The surrounding pirates roared in excitement.
"Shut the hell up!!! Want me to stuff you in a barrel of rum and toss you into the sea for a swim!?"
Drake immediately barked at them, then stepped forward to stand beside Ethan.
"Hey kid, truth is, after the Sea God's temple collapsed, I met with her once privately, and the two of us made a deal."
"A deal?"
Ethan frowned and asked.
"That's right. Besides us, there are a lot of other pirate factions in this sea. But at some point—who knows when—they all swore loyalty to that guy Jason. Pirates bowing their heads to a guy like him? That's suspicious as hell."
"Turns out she also wanted to deal with Jason. So we formed an alliance: liberate these waters from his control!"
As Drake finished speaking, the surrounding pirates broke into wild applause and cheers.
"Damn right! These seas are ours! Not for those spineless scumbag pirates!!!"
"A pirate bowing to someone else—what a disgrace to the name pirate!!!"
Upon hearing Drake's words, Medea showed a sneer of contempt.
"Hmph, that so-called deal with you was just empty talk. Didn't expect you'd actually remember it."
"You really are… even now, you still know how to push people's buttons. But what can I say? One of the unbreakable rules in my pirate code is—never abandon a comrade in need."
Drake let out a heavy sigh.
"Hey kid, I, in the name of the great pirate Francis Drake, beg you to spare her life. From now on, this entire pirate island will be open to you!!"
At the Francis D. Drake heartfelt plea, Ethan looked momentarily bewildered.
Wait… he never even intended to kill her in the first place…
It was Medea who refused to believe him.
Of course, he understood the torment she was going through—brought on by encountering Jason again in this era.
"You…"
Seeing that Drake still refused to abandon her in this situation—even treating her as a true comrade—Medea was visibly stunned.
"I'll say it again. We're people from another era. If we want to repair this singularity, the first thing we have to do is find Jason. It's highly likely he has the Holy Grail that's warped this age."
"I'm well aware he has the Holy Grail. That's exactly why I took one for myself—to fight him."
Medea's eyes flickered with uncertainty.
"But even so, I'm not confident. Because by his side… is another 'me'—one with the power to annihilate this entire era."
"So that's why you summoned the Hydra, planning to ambush them there?"
Ethan instantly picked up on the key point in Medea's words.
"But your plan was destroyed by us. Now there's no way to stop them!"
Medea lowered her head, her voice full of frustration.
"No, that's exactly why we came here. There must still be a way to stop them and recover the Holy Grail."
Ethan immediately clarified their mission to Medea.
She wasn't just holding the Holy Grail—she was also a formidable magus.
If possible, winning her over to their side would be the best option.
After all, Medea no longer had even a shred of love left for Jason—only hatred. A rare and valuable ally not to be overlooked.
"..."
Medea remained silent at Ethan's words. After a few seconds, she looked up.
"If your goal really is to punish that man… I can help you."
"Really? That's great news."
Ethan breathed a sigh of relief and was just about to signal Heracles to lower his guard when—
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM————————————!!!"
Suddenly, thunderous explosions rang out from the distance.
A few pirates assigned to lookout duty came running in panic.
"Big Sis, it's bad! Those other pirates are launching an attack!!!"