Chapter 292: Pirate Cove (2)
"Don’t. Just don’t even..."
Slowly and carefully approaching the bleeding pirate, I leveled my blade with her throat and stared into her wide, fearful eyes, wondering if she was going to do something irrevocable or if she was going to make the ’right’ choice.
The choice that would end with her still alive instead of one where I was plunging my blade deep into her throat, cleaving through her spine and severing her windpipe; there was a clear option here to me, but to her...
Gripping her dagger with one hand and pressing the other to her wounded shoulder, the pink skinned woman grit her teeth and stared at me, a thousand thoughts racing behind her purple eyes as she took a hesitant step back.
"We can do this the easy way. We can come to an agreement, one that ends with you still alive. Just... surrender."
Her eyes were still locked to mine, yet as I took another step forwards she dragged in a breath that made my muscles tense, adrenaline spiking in my veins as I prepared to close the gap between us and end her life.
"Y-You people... I just don’t understand... We were already about to flee!"
Her voice waivered while her dagger continuously shifted up and down, her uncertainty showing as she never settled into a proper stance; I took another step forwards because of it, and this time she remained where she was.
"You were about to flee... but we weren’t aware of that. You spent the last... what, three weeks, maybe four, raiding up and down the coastline. You plundered and pillaged those villages and towns, robbing people of their livelihoods... and from the reports, their lives and their dignity as well."
I watched as her expression crumbled a little at that, the realization hitting her a bit harder than I had thought it might since she was... well, a pirate; to me I was believing she was well aware of the consequences of her actions, and yet...
"People were killed, people were... left believing it might have been better if they were killed. You and your comrades did that. Can you blame us for wanting to stop you? To stop you from doing this again? Either through your surrender... or permanently?"
The way she blinked away some tears and shook her head almost seemed fake, yet as I took another step forwards I realized it was genuine, especially when a tear slid free despite her best attempts to prevent that and when she tossed her dagger aside.
More tears slid free as she crumbled to her knees, her shoulders shaking as she cried out "I-I had no choice..! H-How else... how else am I meant to pay for my sister’s medicines?!", to which I obviously had no reply.
Seeing her long, almost Elfish ears - they were far droopier and had this thin stretch of soft scales on them - twitching every single time she let out a sob was a mixture of heartbreaking and also... well, honestly, quite amusing, though I was never going to say that to her.
I looked around myself to make sure this wasn’t some elaborate ploy, searching for some hidden threats that might have escaped my earlier notice, but after a few moments I nodded and lowered my weapon, leaving it unsheathed but ’harmlessly’ by my side.
"Now now, its... well, it isn’t alright, but I won’t say I don’t understand. Come on, get up... Listen, I know things are-"
I tried to pacify her as I helped her up, keeping my vigilance both with her and with our surroundings as I began to walk her back to the ship, which took a lot longer than I anticipated solely because she was crying hard enough to not walk straight.
By the time I got back there were a few soldiers lingering around, nursing their own wounds, handling their own prisoners or simply taking this moment to catch their breath, and as such I wasn’t at all surprised to have two of them come over to help.
Handing the pink skinned woman off, I promised she would at least be given a fair trial - I had no ability to maintain that promise, but I believed in Mayor Akheila enough to think that this would be the case.
Amongst the gathered soldiers was Taji, who immediately sauntered over to me with a smirk as she pulled me towards the railing, pushing me against it and settling right on top of me; my back was pressed against the wood while my chest was squished against hers as she loomed over me, ensuring I was stuck between her and the railing.
"You are such a fascinating futanari, you know that? I watched you take down a handful of pirates from afar with no issue, but now that you’re fighting them face to face..? Two for two on keeping them alive."
Resting her hands on the railing beside me, Taji leaned close and brushed her nose against my hair, taking a deep breath before she murmured "I find that so... enthralling, honestly. I’m so used to killing that the idea of mercy is foreign to me, so seeing you offer it so readily... yet on such personal terms..."
"What do you want, Taji?"
I pressed my hands against her midriff and gave her a slight push, not really trying to free myself but instead making her work for whatever it was that she wanted from this; I wasn’t at all surprised when she ’slammed’ me against the railing so that she could display her strength to me yet again, all while her cock hardened against my thigh.
"What I want? Of course it’s to have you bouncing on my cock again, Natalie... but I would settle for you joining me on this next outing here in a minute. We’re about to get to the exciting part of this whole attack, which is reclaiming all of that loot~! Obviously we get a finders fee... on top of being rewarded again when we return with it all!"
Now her lust was matched by her greed, something that I understood completely since I was well aware of how ’wealthy’ these pirates could be; in the game they had a very wide range of loot to drop, alongside a vast amount of gold that they could drop if you were lucky.
The range of coin they dropped was between five and three hundred, and if you had some items that increased money gained, increased luck, and you successfully ’chained’ them together you could get anywhere between two hundred and a thousand per pirate.
That wasn’t even including their gear, which sold for about a hundred or so on its own; they were some of the most profitable mobs to farm in the game, but they were also very capable of beating the player if you got too complacent, so... it was balanced, I suppose.