Setting Sail
“Ah… yes.”
“Thank you. Well then…”
The woman had been cross-dressing even up to this point.
Whether there was some reason for it or some circumstance I couldn’t guess, she struck me as someone impossible to understand. Still, heroes came in all sorts of eccentric flavors, so I decided to leave it at that.
Afterward we didn’t exchange another word, simply eating in silence. The awkward atmosphere finally became too much, and I was the one who broke it.
“Are you headed for the Hero Department?”
“…Ah, yes. H-how did you know?”
“You’ve got calluses on your hands. Looks like you’ve been holding a sword for quite a while…”
“…Impressive insight. Students from the Assist Department really do have sharper eyes than most.”
The way she forced her voice into a deep, masculine register was oddly amusing. On the surface her refined looks and speech blended into the image of someone from a strict military family that valued formality above all. But through Darwin’s eyes she looked exactly like a little sister who’d stolen her big brother’s clothes.
In the middle of that thought I caught something strange in her words.
“Hm? Did I ever mention I was from the Assist Department?”
“Ah…!”
She realized her slip at once; the panic rolling off her was unmistakable.
“Th-that’s… I mean…”
“Yes?”
“Ugh…!”
Her eyes darted left and right as she scrambled for an excuse.
One more push and she’ll pass out.
She should’ve just kept a straight face instead of looking so flustered. While I waited for her answer she finally settled on something and put on a stern expression again.
“I-I saw you stay behind for the magic theory exam in the written testing hall. The reason I sat here is because you were the only person I’d seen even once. Anyone who stayed all the way through the magic period would have to be either Hero or Assist track, and since you weren’t carrying any weapons I simply… assumed. If that was rude, I apologize.”
Nice save.
“Ahh~ I see.”
How she knew my personal details and why she had approached me remained mysteries, but I didn’t press. There was no need.
Laplace.
Yes, Master.
Pull everything on that one—personal data, recent activity, the works. Can you do it?
I will have it finished within ten minutes.
With a cheat like Laplace on my side, there was never any reason to dig myself.
All right. Let’s see what kind of person this is.
While Laplace worked I picked up a piece of sushi from my plate and slipped it into my mouth. The soft give of the salmon, the sharp bite of wasabi, and the rice all mingled into a blissful symphony of flavor. I closed my eyes and savored it.
Just as the last grain of rice slid down my throat, a deep, resonant low note rolled through the air and struck my eardrums.
Bwooooom—!
The pleasant blast of a ship’s horn vibrating through the air made my eyes open of their own accord. The vessel was weighing anchor, ready to begin its voyage; the subtle shift traveled through my heightened senses.
“Ah, looks like we’re finally casting off.”
I spoke toward the woman standing in front of me, but no answer came. A sudden sense of déjà vu made me turn my head. Her eyes were wide with nameless terror.
“Hah… hah…!”
“A-are you all right?”
“I-I’m fine…! Ugh…!”
Thinking she might throw up, I called a staff member over for a bucket, but she shoved the employee aside and forced herself to her feet.
“Hoo… I’ll be going first. Something urgent came up…”
“Urgent?”
“It’s nothing. Just… something I have to do.”
She asked the staff to clear her plate, then stepped close and delivered a warning.
“On the fourth day of the voyage, no matter what happens, do not come out onto the deck.”
“Don’t come out onto the deck? What do you mean—”
“That’s all I can tell you. Farewell…”
With that brief encounter she vanished.
“Something’s off…”
It didn’t sit right. The sixth sense that had grown sharper with every evolution was sounding an alarm. Something big was going to happen.
I started to leave the buffet to take a look around the ship, only for a staff member to block my path.
“Leaving food uneaten incurs a five-thousand-won fine.”
“Uh…”
Right. Finish the food first.
I summoned Darwin, formed a massive mouth on my hand, and dumped every remaining scrap from the plate into it. The grotesque sight drained the color from the employee’s face, but the food was gone, so that was that.
After leaving the restaurant I walked a short distance and stepped into a nearby café.
“Welcome, customer!”
“One iced americano, please.”
“Coming right up!”
The moment I sat down I ordered Laplace to report.
What came back was a shock.
“Nothing at all?”
Correct. No useful information could be located. Even within government databases she is registered only as an ordinary student, and her alibis are solid.
“So she’s just a normal student?”
Yes. The only notable points are that her parents are deceased for unspecified reasons and that until recently she had been living with her maternal relatives.
“Hmm… Then how did she know my department?”
She hadn’t looked like someone meeting me for the first time. The way she had tried to approach me during the written exam, and the blatant way she had sat with me at the buffet—there was no way to miss it even if I tried.
“Doesn’t feel like hostility, though…”
Was some secret buried here? A secret so vast that even the current Laplace couldn’t unravel it?
“If I give you a little more time, could you dig up something deeper?”
To be frank, it appears impossible for me at present. Given that every available method failed to yield results, the information may not exist on any network that can be searched.
“Fine. We’ve got plenty of time anyway.”
She wasn’t showing open hostility, so I could afford to watch a little longer.
“Anyway, Laplace—let’s focus on our own business.”
What do you mean?
“We’re out on the ocean. Shouldn’t we collect some marine magical beasts while we’re at it?”
…It could be somewhat dangerous.
“Heh~ Scared?”
[…]
“Just kidding. Still, we need the DNA of marine life.”
With Yekaterina’s help I had gathered genes from all sorts of rare creatures, yet the number taken from the sea remained small. Marine beasts were hard to transport alive, and absorbing long-dead corpses rarely yielded clean genetic material.
Seventy percent of Earth was ocean. Underwater combat was bound to come up sooner or later, so strengthening Darwin in advance was essential.
“Once night falls, we head up to the deck. That’s when the marine magical beasts really start moving.”
When the sun sank and stars began to embroider the sky, I slipped out onto the deck unseen.
A barrier field surrounded the ship to keep marine beasts at bay.
Barrier tech really is broken no matter how many times I see it.
Alongside innate abilities, the most important concept in this world was magic engineering. And the flagship technology of magic engineering was, without question, the barrier field.
“Darwin, ready?”
I woke the entity sleeping inside me.
“If you’re up, let’s go hunting for the first time in a while. You’ve barely eaten these past few weeks because of exam prep, right?”
Darwin seemed delighted. After absorbing the genes of dozens of rare species and growing exponentially, this would be her first true hunt.
Buying creatures on the black market has its limits anyway…
Rare beasts were a minor commodity compared to other goods. Poachers occasionally dumped them into auctions, but the limited uses kept the market small. Plenty of useful genes had turned up, yet to obtain truly powerful ones Darwin needed stronger prey.
Just thinking about how much that single demon helped makes it clear—we need stronger creatures.
Without the demon’s corrosion ability I wouldn’t be here. I’d be a rotting corpse in a crater in the middle of Seoul. Absorbing that demon’s flesh and genes had bought me an extra life.
Doesn’t have to be anything that strong. A siren would be perfect.
I gazed out at the sea swallowed by darkness. Whatever waited down there would help us grow. After all, Darwin became stronger the more she fought.
“Kinda reminds me of those old games…”
In RPGs you leveled up every time you killed a monster. It felt like becoming the protagonist of one. Of course, reality didn’t come with a revive function.
“All right then…”
My skin began to change, transforming into a body that could breathe underwater. The cutaneous respiration ability gained from amphibian genes spread across my entire form—technically Darwin’s, but since she was parasitic on me I enjoyed the benefit indirectly.
…This feels weird.
I frowned at the unpleasant sensation. Being able to breathe underwater was great, but I never liked this form. Maintaining skin respiration on land meant constantly secreting mucus.
“Ugh, so sticky. Better get in fast.”
Once I was underwater the mucus would wash away. I perched on the edge of the luxury liner and prepared to dive.
That was when I heard a security guard sprinting toward me from a distance.
“Hey! Young lady over there! It’s dangerous!”
Crap… spotted.
There was a perfect counter for moments like this.
“Hey, mister! Behind you!”
“Huh?”
“Hup!”
I leapt straight into the dark sea.
The freezing temperature of the water raced up my nerves and slammed into my brain.
Cold as hell!
I had Darwin wrap me in tentacles while I forced my eyes open and stared at the marine magical beasts visible in the distance.
One that looked like an octopus, one with a long spear instead of a nose, one resembling a jellyfish—plenty of them. And every last one was my prey.
All right~ Time to hunt. Let’s get started.
Darwin understood. Long corrosion tentacles began to erupt from every part of my body.