NOVEL WEB Chapter 600: Are You Done With Your Drama Yet?
Matsumoto drew his blade before slowly moving towards the edge of the container we were using as cover.
"Wait… Nnnggh… At least… At least use my swords…" Takehashi called out, lifting up her swords towards him.
What is this? Are the both of you living in some drama or something? I swear, if one of you actually starts to confess to the other, I'm leaving.
Matsumoto looked at the swords before he sheathed his blades to take hers solemnly, giving her a nod before turning to me.
"We will distract them by drawing their attention. While they are focused on us, take her and leave through the door."
Yeah, sure. Assuming they don't just shoot you dead the moment you step out that is…
He walked out of cover and… Surprisingly, the gunshots stopped and I heard the stomping of footsteps come to a stop as well.
I was honestly expecting them to just shoot him to bits the moment he stepped out so I wonder what they were trying to do here.
Maybe the fact that he didn't have his sword unsheathed made them stop shooting to see what he wanted to say?
Helen's voice then came from around the corner, "What's this now, Matsumoto? You finally gave up?"
The swordsman growled, "Yes… I've given up on running away. Today, right here… I will cut you down, even if I die while doing so."
"Ha! Are you serious? Wait… Don't tell me all that time where you kept talking about dying in battle… You were actually being serious about it? Ahahahaha! No way! Don't tell me it's because that bitch rejected you so you're doing this to hide your embarrassment?!"
"My love for my lord is beyond just physical attraction."
Helen scowled at him, "Yeah, I figured. After all these years of you being that bitch's dog, I know that you were incapable of even looking at anyone else."
I fucking knew it!!
I turned to look at Takehashi and she was shaking her head before looking away.
So this really was some kind of love drama?! You've got to be kidding me!!
Don't tell me the reason why Helen even rebelled was because she likes Matsumoto but this guy is so obsessed with Takehashi which made Helen think he's gay so the woman decided to just kill them both after being ignored for so long?!
Arrghhh!! Doesn't that mean that the whole reason this happened was because Takehashi hid the fact that she was a girl the entire time?!
I couldn't help but facepalm at that realisation.
Matsumoto unsheathed his sword, "You, on the other hand, only think about yourself, Helen. And I admit that I am at fault for not seeing that sooner. So now I will correct that mistake of mine."
"Hahahaha! Very well… I shall give you the death you seek then! Kill him!!"
The gunshots rang out again and we waited behind our cover as Matsumoto and the other pirates following him traded shots with the other side, all of them intentionally moving away from us to draw their fire away.
We waited for a while before we made a dash towards the door, the Pirate Lord still in my arms for the moment.
And of course, when we reached the door, we found it was closed shut which would have been a problem for others but not for me and my trusty Codex!
A simple hack and tadah! Door open!
As we were moving through the door, it seemed like Helen finally noticed us and let out a shout, "Hey?! Where the fuck do you think you're going?!"
She raised her gun to point at us but Matsumoto suddenly leapt out of cover and lunged at her.
She shifted her aim and fired at him, only to have her bullets deflected away as he parried them with his sword.
She tried to back away but he was faster and caught up to her, thrusting his sword towards her chest.
It looked like he would actually get her but the woman smirked at him, "Always using the same move. So predictable."
Her body moved to the side, avoiding the stab from Matsumoto and letting the sword fly past her.
She then moved her hand past his guard, pressing her pistol directly underneath his chin.
"Checkmate~" She sang.
I grimaced, thinking I was about to witness Matsumoto getting his head blown out but he suddenly lifted his other hand to reveal a primed grenade he had been hiding.
He grinned, "Checkmate indeed."
She widened her eyes and tried to back away but it was too late.
I averted my eyes right as the grenade exploded, enveloping the both of them in a fiery ball of fire.
At that distance, even if they both had shields, it would be completely useless.
I looked down at Takehashi who was still in my arms, the Pirate Lord looking unblinkingly at the explosion behind me, her face inscrutable.
Deciding that she could mourn at her own time later, I rushed through the open door with the rest of my girls following after me before I shut the door behind us.
We were plunged into darkness for a moment before the lights slowly flashed on, revealing a narrow corridor with glass panels on the left wall.
I wanted to check out the glass panels but first things first…
I looked down at the Pirate Lord again, "Are you able to walk on your own yet?"
She looked up at me in surprise, "E… Eh? Ah… Yeah… I think I ca--"
I didn't wait for her to finish speaking and simply dropped her on the ground unceremoniously.
"Oww! What gives?! Shouldn't you be handling an injured person more carefully?" She whined.
"Not when said injured person is the cause for all the troubles we've been in so far. If I had known earlier working with you would give us so many problems, I wouldn't have agreed to this," I shot back.
Besides… Even if her wounds reopened, we have a doctor right here who can patch her up immediately so there's no problem.
Amber leaned over, "Tera's just upset that we basically got dragged into your little lover's quarrel."
Takehashi jumped up to her feet immediately, "Don't be ridiculous! It wasn't like that!"
I raised an eyebrow at her, "Seeing how you are so quick to defend it… I don't believe you."
"I'm serious, ok?"
"Uh huh… Are you going to tell me that the supposed relationship between you and Matsumoto is purely platonic?"
She hesitated for a moment, "I… I know that he had those sorts of feelings for me… But I already told him from the start that I did not see him that way. So he followed me purely out of gratitude for saving his life. That is all. There was absolutely nothing else between us."
"And he seemed so willing to die for you as well?"
"He comes from a family that holds honour and duty above their own lives. Because he had already pledged himself to me, he values me above his own life. I had tried talking him out of it but he would not budge on this… And to him… Dying in the line of duty while protecting their lord is regarded as the greatest honour they could have… If I had prevented him from doing so, it would be seen as dishonour that is worse than death…"
"What about those other pirates that also sided with you? They also seem ready to jump into the line of fire for you."
Takehashi showed me a sad smile, "They are from the same family. Well… I say 'family' but they are a clan if you understand… All of the people that you have seen today with us were his clan members, all of them having been hung to dry by their unit or betrayed in some way by their superiors. Matsumoto then gave them a sanctuary here and they chose to serve me."
Right… Ok, I guess that explains why these guys were willing to just jump straight into death without a second thought…
I sighed, "Whatever… This still doesn't change that we're in a rather screwed up position right now… We're stuck deep inside a base that has been taken over by some rogue AI that is trying to kill us and put us into those containers for whatever reason."
"That's not true!" Takehashi refuted. "Didn't you see all the gem stones and the ships?! We've hit the jackpot! There must be more inside! Once we liberate this place of the AI, we would be able to claim everything here for ourselves!"
Right… I wouldn't really be counting on that but I guess we don't have a choice but to move on…
We finally approached the window to see what was on the other side and… Huh…
This was also a room full of containers but instead of the blue liquid that we saw in the other room, they seemed to be filled with black liquid instead?
At least… That was what I was thinking until one of the pipes that connected to a container dripped a blob of the black liquid onto the ground, the liquid convulsing for a moment before forming into one of those dark figures.
Those aren't containers of liquids… Those are containers of nanobots…