In the Eye of the Silent Storm

Rendel's heart was heavy with urgency. Though it was an Aindium swimming through the storm-tossed open sea, both his body and mind were beginning to falter. The lever and pedals felt heavy, refusing to move smoothly. He had no idea of his current position or coordinates. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠All that surrounded him were the endless ocean and scattered fragments of containers from the sunken transport ship. Rendel gritted his teeth and adjusted White Fang's arm. By now the sight was familiar—the black arm carried Luna's machine, the Limpid Fairy, hanging precariously from it.

"Luna, are you okay?"

There was no response from the other side of the comms. All sorts of terrible thoughts flashed through Rendel's mind. He wanted to rush over and check on her right away, but the moment he let go of the controls, they would both sink into the dark depths.

"Luna…."

It was not Luna but Fairy No. 5—the small artificial supporter who had been helping him pilot White Fang—who answered his sigh. The fairy glowed faintly as it flew in front of Rendel's eyes.

"Ah! Would you?"

The moment Fairy No. 5 left White Fang at Rendel's request, he felt the weight on his arm increase slightly.

If Luna is safe, I can endure this much.

With that thought, Rendel maneuvered White Fang toward a piece of container debris.

"Mana?"

Rendel was a little surprised. He had never heard of an Aindium that could do such a thing.

More importantly, we need to move to a safe location right now.

After placing the Limpid Fairy on top of the container panel, Rendel let out a sigh of relief.

"Are the other fairies okay too?"

"Cold?"

"……."

He couldn't just leave Luna like this. Even if Senior Yvette came, it was impossible to know how many hours it would take to reach land, and the contact point had vanished when the ship sank.

I've heard that naval battles on the open sea make it difficult just to find the enemy. There's no way they'll locate two Aindiums—not even warship-sized—without proper search equipment.

Rendel made his decision quickly and acted. He pulled up a map on the screen, examined the ship's route, and realized that the open sea where the operation had taken place was quite close to the Karamis Islands. Switching White Fang's camera modes, he looked toward the islands and spotted a faint light in the distance. It was a tiny dot that looked like it might be extinguished by the storm at any moment, but for it to be visible from this far away, it had to be a fairly large light source.

Probably a lighthouse or a building.

Without hesitation, Rendel pushed forward while carrying the container panel. There had been no real combat, so both fuel and mana were still plentiful.

"Oh, right."

The thought suddenly occurred to him that Yvette might have a hard time finding them when she returned. Rendel loaded one of the reconnaissance machines he had kept into a suitable container and left a message.

He planted a cloth on the container like a flag as a marker and set it adrift on the sea.

I hope Senior Yvette sees the message and comes to find us.

Rendel watched the container drift away for a moment before hurrying onward.

"Hoo…."

After swimming for roughly an hour, Rendel finally reached a small island on the outskirts of the Karamis Islands. According to the map, it was an uninhabited island, quite far from the larger ones that housed prisons or military bases. The island itself was tiny, with virtually no shoreline suitable for ships to land, so it had neither outposts nor even a lighthouse. When he switched on night vision, he saw cliffs about five meters high encircling the island like iron walls, with a dense forest of trees visible above them.

Rendel detached the anchor from the Limpid Fairy's waist, attached it to White Fang, and scaled the cliff. It would have been nearly impossible for a person or a boat, but for an Aindium it was no real obstacle. He pulled out the anchor, hooked it onto the Limpid Fairy's towing fixture, and carefully winched it up. Since it was a light Nimust-class Aindium, it lifted easily. Once he had secured the Limpid Fairy, Rendel carried it into the forest where the trees would block the rain, then immediately jumped out of the cockpit.

"Open the cockpit for me."

Fairy No. 5 entered the Limpid Fairy's cockpit. A few seconds later, the tightly sealed entrance opened. Rendel grabbed the boarding rope from White Fang's cockpit, jumped down, and immediately entered the Limpid Fairy's cockpit.

"Luna!"

"……."

Luna's condition in the pilot's seat didn't look ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠good at all. Her suit was completely soaked; the water that had sloshed around her ankles must have leaked in from the ceiling. Because she was wearing wet clothes, her complexion was deathly pale. It was the end of summer, and the temperature of the storm-swept sea was low. If left like this, she would definitely catch a cold.

Rendel tried to wake her, but when it became clear she wouldn't stir, he carefully lifted her onto his back. Just then, he noticed the blanket Luna had taken off and folded. Fortunately, she had hung it on something like a hook, so it hadn't gotten wet. Covering her back with the blanket, Rendel exited the cockpit.

He pulled the dangling boarding rope, climbed back into White Fang's cockpit, tossed the rain-soaked blanket into a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠corner, and laid Luna down on the pilot's seat. He reached out to remove her suit, then stopped. If it had been his classmate Rane, or Muri, or Kirié in a similar situation, he wouldn't have hesitated. But for some reason, doing it to Luna felt like crossing a line he shouldn't.

"Mmm…."

Once she was in a slightly warmer, drier place, Luna let out a groan as if regaining consciousness.

"C-cold…."

Her bluish lips trembled as she curled into a ball. Seeing that, Rendel closed his eyes tightly and pulled down the zipper on the back of her suit. When he cautiously opened his eyes and caught a glimpse of her pure white back, his face grew hot and he quickly looked away.

He was grateful he had packed towels and blankets when he first came to Alitus, in case they had to move for days without resupply. Rendel wiped the moisture from Luna's body with a towel and covered her with the blanket.

"Keeping White Fang's engine running the whole time would be dangerous…."

This was the edge of an island presumed to be enemy territory. For a short while it might be fine, but if he kept the Aindium active continuously, the enemy might notice.

"No. 5. Can you run White Fang's heater for a bit and then turn it off?"

"Thanks."

Rendel, who usually only received fairy support during battle, was newly impressed by how useful they were. White Fang's engine turned slowly, and soon the cockpit temperature began to rise little by little.

Rendel sighed, peeled off his wet suit top, roughly dried his body with a towel, and leaned against the wall.

So it was a trap after all.

He had felt uneasy about how few crew members there had been. Not that thinking about it now would change anything. Exhausted from the unfamiliar underwater piloting, Rendel's eyes closed on their own. He still couldn't fall asleep yet. At the very least, he should wait until Luna woke up….

When I came to, I saw a rainy night sky. Beyond the swaying trees at the edge of my vision, the dark sea churned violently. I thought it was a window, but wasn't this the Aindium's internal display? The screen size felt a little unfamiliar. As I slowly looked around, I roughly grasped the situation. Rendel, sitting in the corner with his top off, fast asleep. Me, lying on the pilot's seat, also asleep. So this was White Fang's cockpit?

The blanket covering me was slightly damp. The suit I had been wearing had gotten completely soaked when the Limpid Fairy flooded earlier. It looked like Rendel had stopped halfway through taking it off and simply covered me with the blanket. In a situation like this, you have to remove wet clothes. Now the blanket's wet too. It's not unusable, but still.

I took off the suit, shook out the blanket, and lay back down on the pilot's seat. If I got a little more sleep, the storm would probably die down and Rendel would wake up too. It looked a bit pitiful to see him sleeping in the corner, but the pilot's seat wasn't that spacious. Given the growing feverish feeling in my body that made it hard to move, it made more sense for me to use it. After all, Rendel was the sturdy, reliable male protagonist.

I deliberately turned my back to him and lay down. Just as my eyes were slowly closing and I was about to fall asleep again—

"Hnn…."

Rendel's breathing sounded strangely loud. Mixed in were faint groans.

"Senior?"

No answer from Rendel. Still wrapped in the blanket, I got down from the pilot's seat to check on him.

"Ugh, the floor's cold."

For some reason, White Fang's engine was off. That must ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠be why there was no heat.

The crew fairies of the Limpid Fairy—Nos. 1, 2, and 3—were gathered together with White Fang's Fairy No. 5.

"Guys, what happened?"

After piecing together the fairies' stories, it seemed I had been in quite a dangerous state. I'd been unconscious, soaked to the bone, trapped inside the flooded cockpit for several hours. It was no wonder I'd caught a cold. But now it looked like Rendel was in a similar situation.

"This is the Karamis Islands, right?"

The map the fairies displayed showed the Karamis Islands as Lewina remembered them. We had landed on one of the smallest and roughest islands, the one closest to the mainland but abandoned because of its harsh terrain.

"If we keep White Fang running, we might get detected."

So that was why Rendel was shivering from the cold. Hmm. How should I handle this situation? The blanket that seemed to have come from the Limpid Fairy was completely soaked, and the towels were damp too… The only halfway decent one was the blanket I was currently wrapped in.

These guys were basically pressuring me to give Rendel the blanket. A sudden surge of stubbornness rose inside me. I was cold and sick too, you know. Fine. Since it had come to this, I would do something neither the forum people nor even the production team could possibly predict.

I walked over to Rendel, who was sleeping in the corner, and grabbed his collar… Oh, right. He wasn't wearing a top. With no other choice, I draped one of his arms over my shoulder and helped him up. Rendel stirred, his voice hoarse as he spoke.

"Luna?"

"Senior. Don't misunderstand and listen carefully. Both you and I are at risk of catching a cold. There are enemies moving around outside, so we can't run the heater either."

"Uh, yeah. Right?"

"So this can't be helped. We both need to recover our strength quickly if we're going to escape from here."

I pressed the button below the pilot's seat. The armrest with the lever folded to the side, and the seat reclined backward. This was the usual way to create more space when sleeping in the cockpit, but it seemed Rendel hadn't thought of it in his panic.

"Senior. Lie down here."

"……."

Rendel stared blankly at the pilot's seat for a moment, then obediently lay down in the corner I indicated. His large frame took up more than half of the seat even with the armrests extended, but there was still enough space for me.

I rolled the rigidly lying Rendel halfway onto his side, then lay down with my back against his, spreading the blanket over both our bodies. The forum was updating like crazy—ding—ding-ding-ding—I immediately turned it off. Feeling the gradually warming heat against my back, I closed my eyes.

"Sleep well, Senior."