In a World of Reversed Chastity, I Strive to Become an Honorable Male Knight, but Lustful Women Keep Targeting My Body - 258

Chapter 258: The Kukkoro Male Knight and the Gunfight

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“Hard aport!”

“Hard aport, aye aye, ma’am!”

To intercept the enemy flotilla approaching from the rear, it was necessary to turn the ship a full 180 degrees. Following the captain’s command, the helmsman spun the wheel, and the ship slowly began to change direction. Being a small vessel, her responsiveness to the rudder was quite good.

“Castellan-dono.”

As I was admiring that, the captain called out to me. When I replied, “What is it?”, she bowed her head slightly, looking somewhat apologetic.

“I’m an old sailor, you see. I have experience with ramming attacks and boarding actions, but I honestly don’t know the first thing about handling firearms. This voyage cannot fail under any circumstances, so… If you don’t mind, I was hoping you might take command of the battle.”

…Well, that makes sense! 

Even if she had real combat experience, she was still the captain of a civilian ship. There was no way she’d know how to use firearms. If anything, the fact that she’d even conducted ramming attacks or boarding actions—tactics where marines storm an enemy vessel—was surprising in itself.

“…I see. Understood. Sorry about this, but I’ll be borrowing command authority for a while.”

That said, I didn’t exactly have experience in naval combat either. Honestly, I wasn’t confident at all… But in my previous life, I had graduated from a naval academy. I wasn’t a complete amateur or at least, I shouldn’t be. Well, after graduation I’d spent my entire career in ground combat, though.

In any case, since I’d been asked, I had to see it through no matter what. I cleared my throat softly and looked around. The navigation command deck of the Michael Collins was almost completely exposed, so from here it was possible to visually observe the state of the deck.

“Gather the marines toward the bow. Use rifle fire to pin the enemy down.”

“Marines, assemble!”

Leaning out from the command deck, Sonia shouted the order. The Michael Collins wasn’t equipped with an internal phone system, nor even speaking tubes, so issuing orders meant yelling at the top of one’s lungs.

“How’s the main gun? Ready to fire?”

“We can fire at any time, Castellan-dono!”

The reply was reassuringly confident. The ship’s main gun was positioned right in front of the navigation deck, so direct vocal communication was perfectly possible. …Of course, once the firefight began, gunfire and cannon blasts would make conversation impossible.

“The illumination rounds are ready, correct?”

“Of course, Castellan-dono.”

“Good. …It seems this ship’s crew is quite capable.”

Despite this effectively being the Michael Collins’s maiden voyage, the crew showed no hesitation at all in their movements. When I praised them without thinking, the captain grinned.

“Castellan-dono, about that weapon at the stern… No, the aft section, what shall we do with it?”

“That one’s for ground attacks. It’s not something to use against small boats. Let’s keep it in reserve.”

Originally, the Michael Collins had been designed to mount one 57mm gun at the bow and one at the stern, for a total of two. However, what was currently installed at the stern was a large box covered with a waterproof canvas. It was a “secret weapon” hastily procured for this journey.

That said, the enemy consisted only of small boats. There was no need to reveal our trump card, and given the nature of that weapon, it would probably be ineffective against such small targets anyway. This was a situation best handled with small arms and cannons alone.

“Captain, assuming those boats are hostile… How do you think they’ll attack us? Personally, I’m worried about fire arrows.”

In my previous world, this would be a situation where we’d have to worry about anti-tank missiles, recoilless rifles, or small anti-ship missiles but such weapons didn’t exist in this world yet. Small boats could only carry weapons proportional to their size, after all…

“Indeed. Bows and arrows, thrown spears, perhaps hand grenades at most. There’s also the possibility they’ll attempt to board us and engage in close combat…But yes, the most frightening tactic would be the use of fire. After all, we’re carrying a great deal of flammable material.”

The captain nodded as she answered. On modern warships, reducing flammable materials as much as possible was standard doctrine, but this world was still firmly in the age of wooden ships. If fire were set, it would burn spectacularly. And considering the Michael Collins carried large quantities of gunpowder for cannons and rifles… If a fire broke out, it would be catastrophic.

“I see. I don’t want to let them get into bow range, but…”

While I was pondering that, the ship completed its turn. At the captain’s command of “Rudder amidships!”, the Michael Collins straightened out. However, since we were moving against the river’s current, our speed wasn’t very fast.

Still, it looked like the rowers working the oars on both sides of the ship were under considerable strain. I could hear their labored voices. Maintaining this state for long would be impossible. There was also the issue of the wind mage’s magical reserves.

“Fire the illumination round!”

At my command, the signal gun mounted on the deck spat fire. It was the exact same type used on land—a simple wooden launcher resembling a fireworks mortar. The fired illumination round deployed a parachute midair and began to brightly light up the great river in the pre-dawn darkness.

Bathed in that stark white light, the small boats approaching us were revealed. They were primitive canoes, seemingly made by hollowing out whole logs. Several figures that looked like soldiers could be seen aboard them. The report had said there were five boats, but from what I could see, there were seven.

“Target: the group of small boats ahead. Main gun, commence firing—fire!”

“Target: the group of small boats ahead. Main gun, commence firing!”

Almost simultaneously with the gunnery officer repeating the command, the experimental 57mm rapid-fire gun roared. Compared to field artillery, its report was modest due to its smaller caliber, but it was still thunderously loud compared to rifle fire. Uru, who was nearby, covered her ears with her wings and shouted, “That’s like thunder!”

The fired shell traced a parabolic arc and splashed into the water far from the enemy boats, throwing up a pillar of water. It was practically a wild miss, but given how small the target was—a tiny dugout canoe—there was no way the first shot would hit unless by miracle.

“…Hmm. They’re not retreating.”

Even so, the shot should have been more than sufficient as a warning. Yet while the enemy scattered to evade, they did not stop their advance. As expected, they weren’t ordinary fishermen.

“Continue firing.”

The loader cranked the breech handle, opening the chamber. He then shoved in a cartridge containing both shell and propellant, inserted the removed breechblock—a screw-like component engraved with four vertical grooves—and twisted it into place. Reloading was completed in under ten seconds. Considering that even with older cannons it took over thirty seconds to reload no matter how hard one tried, this speed was overwhelming.

Without pause, the second shot was fired. Another miss. …Well, that was fine. Expecting a single gun to land a hit on such a tiny target was unreasonable to begin with. The real play lay elsewhere.

“The marines have completed deployment.”

At Sonia’s report, I nodded. Looking over, I saw soldiers lined up across the deck. With so many rowers present as well, the deck looked rather cramped.

“Good. …Rifle squad, commence firing!”

Against this kind of enemy, rifles were more effective than cannons. After confirming that the enemy boats had entered effective range, I shouted the order.

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