I Only Summon Villainesses

Chapter 184: I Swear It Wasn’t Supposed To Go Like This...

All three ships flanked our own, and their boarding bridges fell onto the deck with a heavy wooden slap. Footsteps followed — boots marching across the planks, wood creaking under their weight. Three men were walking towards us.

The atmosphere on our ship had gone cold. I could tell everyone was trying their best to keep it together, and there was that unspoken tension beneath the surface — suppressed, coiled, waiting to snap.

Kassie and I sat near the cabin entrance. Yuan wasn’t here. She’d been sleeping since that intense moment at dawn, and no one had wanted to wake her. Po and Nisha stood by the port railing, faces carefully neutral. Derry waited at the center of the deck, hands clasped behind his back, his expression carved from stone.

The men finally stepped onto our ship, and they looked exactly as one would expect. Naval uniforms in azure blue — long coats over black pants, brown belts cinched at the waist, open-faced silver helmets with flowing blue crests. Authority with teeth.

But one of them wasn’t wearing a helmet. Short white hair, grey eyes that held nothing — not cruelty, not curiosity, just a flat emptiness that was somehow worse. His hand rested on his sword hilt. As unremarkable as he seemed, he reeked of danger. The kind you feel in your spine before your brain catches up.

He walked to the center of the deck while the other two flanked him. They stopped before Derry, their eyes roaming the ship with the lazy hunger of men looking for something worth taking home for themselves.

His gaze lingered on Kassie and me for a moment. Something flickered there. Then he turned back to Derry and smiled.

”My friend. How have you been?”

Derry’s expression didn’t shift.

”Friend? Don’t give me that, Lord Fargo. You proved well enough last time that we’re not friends.”

The smile crawled wider.

”Derry, you sure do know how to hold a grudge.” His grin stretched further. ”You sure do have a lot of people boarding this time. New faces... Even beautiful ones.”

Derry’s gaze darkened.

”Since when did my crew members become your business?”

The man looked away for a moment, clicking his tongue in mock disappointment. Then he stepped closer to Derry.

”Listen... whatever it is we had in the past, let’s settle it, okay? You and I both know you’re traveling with a bunch of illegal things you could lose if you’re not careful. So why not just let us come to a simple arrangement...” He spread his hands. ”I’m feeling merciful today.”

Derry still looked irked, but something in his posture loosened a fraction. He didn’t know why this Naval Prefecture Officer was being generous, but it wasn’t going to hurt to hear him out.

”Go on,” Derry said flatly.

The man moved closer still, and his voice dropped to a whisper. At that point, I couldn’t hear anymore.

So I used enhanced hearing.

”I see a pretty girl back there,” he murmured, gesturing behind with his eyes. ”The red-haired one. How about you just hand her over to me as a slave, and I’ll turn a blind eye to your passage here for a while... okay?”

My hands clenched hard.

Not just me — Derry’s face twisted into a deep frown.

But I was already moving. Already stepping away from my position, fists tight enough to ache.

Derry’s eyes widened slightly as he spotted me coming. The officers behind Fargo saw me and moved to intercept — one reached for me. I shifted back, let his hand cut through empty air, then lunged forward and drove my fist into his face. He stumbled away. I was already hearing the second one closing, so I shoved the first man into him to break his advance.

Then I was through them.

I grabbed Lord Fargo by his collar. His eyes narrowed and he snapped his head forward — a headbutt aimed straight at my nose.

I caught his face with my palm. Stopped the blow cold.

’I’m the only one who gets to do that.’

I threw my head back, then whipped it forward. Removed my hand at the last moment.

My forehead cracked into the bridge of his nose.

His head snapped back. He staggered. Blood sprayed from his nostrils.

His men had reached me by then — they grabbed my arms from behind and drove me down to the deck. I thrashed against their grip, muscles straining, but they were strong.

”Hands off my woman!!” I shouted as they pinned me to the wood. ”Kassie is mine! How dare you try to enslave her?!”

Po was standing there smiling. Nisha sighed. Tristan looked stunned by the situation.

The rest of the crew stood frozen — they hadn’t heard the man’s whispered words. Even Kassie hadn’t been paying attention. But the moment I moved, she was on her feet and watching with a scowl.

Fargo touched his bleeding nose and went livid.

”Derry!!! What is the meaning of this nonsense?! Blood! Blood! I’ve got blood running from my damn nose!!”

Derry looked at the man.

”As deserved. I would’ve loved to deliver it personally for what you said, but Cade over there beat me to it.”

The officer’s face went slack with shock.

Even I was surprised. I’d been certain I was doing nothing but making things difficult for them.

Kassie stepped forward now. She moved past me and stood behind the two soldiers. Her red gaze burned into them, and for a moment, they shivered.

”Take your filthy hands off him.”

She grabbed the first soldier and tore him away from me. He flew through the air and dropped into the water with a distant splash.

The second one glanced at his vanished comrade, then back at Kassie. She tilted her head toward him.

He frowned and lunged at her.

’Talk about bad decision-making.’

She moved. One leg swept up — knee rising to intercept. His face folded into it with a wet crunch. He dropped to the deck, blood flying, and didn’t get up.