Chapter 829: Coast Is Clear, Open Up

Yumiko pointed at the turtle that I was still lifting up in the air, "Mistress... Didn’t you say this thing is dangerous?"

"Hmm? Like I said, just stay away from its mouth and you’ll be fine."

"Are you not worried about the creature at all, Mistress?"

"Well... Like I said, this was actually an animal that I have seen before and it’s actually not really that dangerous of an animal back in my universe. That is... If you know how to handle them, of course."

Yumiko gave the turtle above me a look, "Are you telling me that it’s normal for creatures like this where it’s impervious to firearms to exist?"

I dropped the turtle back down where it had been earlier, "Err... No. That’s why I was so surprised actually... The species of turtles I know were not bulletproof like this one... And they don’t grow to be this big either..."

"So... It’s a mutated species?" Lea asked from the call.

I shrugged, "I don’t know. I mean... Dogs were supposed to be cute and cuddly in my old universe yet they’re supposedly killing machines over here so anything’s possible I guess?"

Amber giggled through the call, "Ehehe~ Maybe just like dogs, this one might even like you as well, Tera?"

I highly doubt that would be the case but... I couldn’t help but be curious...

I turned back to the turtle that was just laying there with its mouth opened slightly, the space just big enough for me to fit my arm in there.

Should I?

"Hey... Mara? Theoretically speaking... If I were to stick my arm in there and I end up getting my arm bitten off..."

Mara let out a sigh, "Yes... I can grow it back for you... But I really don’t recommend you hurting yourself, Captain."

That was when Renata’s voice came from my chest, "Ehehehe~ Don’t worry Daddy! I won’t let it hurt you! You’re not going to lose anything under my watch!"

Well... Since she’s so confident...

I went up to the turtle and tried to pat its head from the side.

If it was like the case with the dogs, it shouldn’t bite me right?

I reached my hand towards the side of its head and placed my palm on its face.

In an instant, the turtle shifted its head to the side and snapped at my arm, biting down on it.

I reflexively pulled back but it turned out to be unnecessary as Renata expanded herself to block the turtle’s mouth, preventing it from closing all the way.

The turtle didn’t seem to be too bothered by that and simply opened up its mouth again, allowing me to pull my arm out from the space between its jaws and check myself.

"Did that hurt, Renata?" I asked.

"Ehehehe~ Of course not, Daddy~ I didn’t feel anything at all~"

That’s good.

I then chuckled, "Hehe~ I guess this means that it doesn’t treat me any differently from everyone else then."

"Maybe it’s just an alien creature that happens to look like the creature that you know, Mistress?" Lea suggested.

"I suppose that’s possible too. Anyway... I think we can leave this here for now and go look for that smuggler captain. Oh! Can you also contact the security team leader and inform him about what is happening here? Tell them that they can stand down now."

While I let the girls in my other ship handle this, I headed in the direction of the Captain’s quarters which I had already marked ahead of time on my map.

The turtle didn’t seem too bothered and just remained where I left it, laying down on top of a container while giving everything around it judgmental looks.

Yumiko kept turning back to look at it as though she was expecting it to suddenly lunge at us when we weren’t looking. Since I thought that was cute, I didn’t try to stop her either.

It was a short walk down the ship’s corridors before we arrived at the door in question and it looks like some of the creatures might have tried to break into the room with the slash marks on the door.

Thankfully for the people inside, this door in particular seemed to have been reinforced quite a bit so they never managed to do anything aside from leaving a few scratches on its surface.

Right now the door was locked from the inside and while I could hack into it to unlock it, I’d rather just get them to open it for me instead.

I tried to call the captain again and this time someone else answered instead of that smuggler, the person being a frightened looking young man.

"He... Hello? Umm... The captain is still unconscious right now... So... Umm... You can try calling back later?"

I scowled, "I’m outside your door right now. Open up."

"Ah... Ah... Umm... I’m not sure... If that’s a good idea..."

"Did you not hear the conversation I had with your captain? The threats are already neutralised. The ship is safe now."

"But... But... That creature is still around right? That... That thing that didn’t even flinch when we shot all our guns at it..."

"Well yeah, it’s laying in your cargo hold right now. That’s what I want to know though, what does your captain want to do with it? Does he want it flushed out from the airlock or does he want to continue transporting it to wherever this was supposed to go?"

"Umm... I... I dunno..."

"That’s why I’m trying to ask your captain damnit. So open the door."

The frightened guy looked to the side, presumably to get his colleagues’ opinions on what he should do.

Someone said something inaudible from the other side and the guy in front of the screen seemed to agree as he nodded before turning back to me.

"Umm... I’m afraid... We’re not going to open this door while that thing is still out there."

I furrowed my brows, "What? So you want me to get rid of it? Because if that’s what you want to do, I can flush it out right now, you know?"

He opened his mouth as though to agree until a panicked voice came from the side to stop him.

There were some mutterings before the guy turned back to me again, "Umm... Don’t kill it please... We have to let our captain decide."

"Then fucking open the door."

"We’re not opening it when that creature is still outside! You’ll just have to wait until our captain wakes up!"

Oh for fuck’s sake... If you think I’m just going to stand here and wait around for your captain to wake up when I could be back with my girls and flirting with them, you’re sorely mistaken.

Once again, I could just hack the door and open it up but I think that would raise more questions if they realised I could bypass their security easily.

Thus... I took a step back and assembled my halberd.

"Stand back from the door," I warned, spinning my halberd in my hand.

The man’s eyes widened comically, "Wha... What are you trying to do?"

"Opening the door, obviously. What does it look like I’m trying to do?"

Without waiting for a response, I thrust my halberd towards the top right corner of the door, the blade piercing through the reinforced metal like it was made of paper.

I pulled my hand downwards diagonally, slicing the door apart and leaving a deep line that separated the door into two halves.

I then thrust the halberd into the other corner of the door and did the same thing, effectively cutting the door into four pieces.

Once I was done, I took a step back before the door let out a groaning sound and collapsed into the four pieces that I had cut, revealing the interior of the captain’s room.

Inside, I found a bunch of scared looking people all huddled up in the corner while packets of food and water were dumped in the other corner of the room.

Seems like they had already been trapped here for some time I guess.

The captain was laid out on the bed so I ignored all the others who were gaping at me and went over to the smuggled captain, lifting him up by his shirt before raising my palm.

"Wake up!!" I shouted, giving him a slap across the face.

He jerked awake and I let go of him, the guy rolling off the bed and tumbling down onto the floor.

"Wah... What?! What happened?! What’s going on?!" He cried out.

He then turned to see me standing in front of him and the fact that I was still holding my halberd must have made it look like I was the reaper coming for him because he immediately scrambled backwards.

"Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!! I don’t wanna die yet!!"

Geez... This might actually take a while... I’m going to need to break these people out of their trauma first.

Alright then, time to give these people some good slaps~