Setting Sail
"If we sold all this, it would come to a few gold coins at least."
"That's incredible."
Ain and his companions examined the contents of the box Seren Karpe had given them with painstaking care, each of them wearing a look of stunned disbelief.
"This is... what being a noble means?"
"Karpe is relatively wealthy among the provincial territories. There aren't many domains prosperous enough to maintain their own knight order."
"Even so..."
Back in the office they had given the box nothing more than a cursory glance, but now that they had brought it outside and taken a proper look, the quantity was no small matter. No matter how badly she had wanted to express her gratitude, an expenditure on this scale could not have come cheap.
"She said she wanted to deepen our friendship, didn't she?"
"...Friendship among nobles is just cutthroat politics — using each other. So what that really means is..."
"She wants something from you. Or from us."
Having said as much, Ain turned to Jina and Haru.
"Anyone need anything? Take what you need. I'll hold onto the rest."
"Just in case, everyone should take a few recovery potions. There might be situations where Ain can't use Heal."
So saying, Er drew recovery potions from the box and handed them to Jina and Haru. Jina accepted hers and studied the green liquid sealed in the clear glass bottle with a dubious look.
"Are high-grade recovery potions better than the ones we know?"
"Well, even so, they'd still be worse than my Heal."
"Ain's Heal. Can't compare to potions. To even compare... you'd need an Elixir."
"Elixir?"
"The pinnacle of magic, enchantment, and alchemy... a miraculous panacea..."
"...I feel like I just heard something incredible."
Ain shook his head as if worn out by Haru's lavish praise.
"Whatever it is, it won't hurt to keep some on hand. We can use them for first aid, too."
"You'll be the one using the attack potions, right, Ain?"
"Just the trap potions."
He was tucking a few potions into the pouch at his waist when a voice rang out across the harbor.
"Expedition force, prepare to board!!"
"Please board your assigned warships!!"
"Haru, which ship are we on?"
"...The third one."
"That's the one you're assigned to, right?"
"Yeah..."
Hearing Haru's reply, the party gathered their belongings, rose to their feet, and headed for the harbor. The supplies that had been piled everywhere appeared to have all been loaded onto the ships; the once-chaotic docks looked reasonably put in order, and soldiers and adventurers waiting to board had gathered in clusters.
"Seeing them like this, the warships are enormous."
"They could hold at least a few hundred people. Way bigger than the boat we rode with Master!"
Jina spoke with a fondness drawn from old memories, and Ain answered her with a look of pure incredulity.
"That wasn't a boat. That was a raft..."
"Master said if it can cross water, it's a boat?"
"Then Master could cross the ocean with nothing but her own two hands. Does that make Master herself a boat?"
"That's... actually convincing!"
"..."
Haru, who had been listening to an exchange that made absolutely no sense from the sidelines, tilted her head.
"Where... did you go?"
"...During our training journey, we stopped at a village. They asked for help because there was a magical beast in the sea."
They called it training, but the journey was one Veronica had volunteered for because she could not stand the sight of the temple's leadership — a pilgrimage across the entire continent, fulfilling a priest's duties. Even in the memories of the then-young Ain and Jina, the image of Veronica and her fellow priestess cutting down every kind of monster and magical beast with effortless ease still remained.
"...There's exactly one thing I learned about naval combat."
"What's that?"
"If it looks like you can't win, don't even try. The things that live in the sea only come at you because they're confident."
"Ugh, the saltwater... the fishy smell... the seaweed...!!"
Ain delivered the lesson with a face gone rigidly still, while Jina suddenly clutched her head and began muttering to herself. Watching the two of them, Er felt something distinctly off and spoke with a queasy expression.
"...Just what on earth did you two go through?"
"You're better off not knowing."
"Don't even try to find out."
"..."
Still trading that kind of nonsense, they climbed onto the ship's deck. The thick smell of salt rolled over them, carried on a wind that was somehow both fishy and bracing. Waves shattered white against the hull, and the water's surface glittered where the sunlight caught it. Faced with a vista that all but shouted this is the ocean, Er let a small gasp of wonder slip out before she could stop herself.
"Er, is this your first time seeing the ocean?"
"...Yes. Father and Mother told me to go visit even by myself, but I never could."
A duke who was a pillar of the kingdom, and his wife — they would never have had time to travel all the way to a sea so far from their own territory. Perhaps if they had lived in a more peaceful era it would have been different, but the times they inhabited were changing far too quickly for that.
"So this is my first time."
She gripped the deck railing and gazed out at the horizon, her hair streaming in the wind. That single moment was so striking that Ain could not find a word to say; he simply stared. Er noticed him looking and smiled.
"What's wrong?"
"Ah, it's nothing."
"It doesn't seem like nothing."
"I said it's nothing!"
"Hehe..."
Anyone could see how flustered Ain was. Er's smile deepened, and she was just about to say something more when—
"...That's enough of that. How about we find a place to sit? You said it'll take a while to reach the island. Are you planning to stand on deck the whole time?"
Jina's voice was thick with irritation. Er shook her head.
"We couldn't do that, could we? I heard we'll be sailing for at least a few hours. Do you think there are cabins or something?"
"Cabins? On a warship? We'll just find some corner to hole up in."
"What could vanguard types like us even do? Staying out of the way is how we help!"
Haru nodded as if in full agreement.
"I'm going to the helm... Everyone else, rest up."
"Sorry we're the only ones resting, Haru."
"If you need help, say so."
"...There is... one thing."
"What is it?"
Haru's eyes lit up, as if she had been waiting for exactly that question.
"Blood..."
"...I'll give you some later."
"Nice."
She said it with a perfectly blank face and set off toward the helm with a light step. Ain watched her go, looking faintly uncomfortable.
"Ain, is that okay?"
"What's the big deal... It's not like this is the first or second time."
Ain had already had his blood drawn any number of times under the pretext of experiments. Nothing about it was new at this point, so it shouldn't have been a problem. He did wonder, now and then, whether it was really all right to take blood this often — but he trusted Haru to regulate that herself.
Nice.
"You don't... actually have no thoughts about this, do you...?"
"Ah. We're departing."
While they were still talking, they felt the ship begin to ease into motion. The land receded by degrees; the harbor shrank. Er watched it all with an expression of quiet wonder.
"Well then, shall we go find a place to sit?"
"Mage, we'll be counting on you."
Haru tipped her head in a small nod toward the helmsman who had spoken.
"...The captain?"
"The captain should be in the captain's quarters. There's a communication device there linked to the flagship, so he's receiving the Viscount's orders."
Haru nodded once more at the navigator and went to sit in a corner of the helm. The navigator looked briefly flustered at the sight of her, then turned his gaze away. The helm held not only him but a number of other navigators and assorted crew, and this was where the overall course and plans were set; one small mage occupying a corner was hardly going to cause a problem.
The navigator had just put Haru out of his mind and was studying the sea charts when someone entered the helm.
"Navigator, has the mage arrived?"
"Yes, Captain. She's over there."
Having finished his exchange with the Viscount, the captain inclined his head once toward the mage watching him from the corner, then turned back to the navigator.
"Proceed as planned for now. He said to head for the deserted island until we receive further orders or encounter something unusual."
"How will we make landfall?"
"We'll have to use the longboats. There won't be a harbor on the deserted island capable of docking a ship this size."
The captain's expression tightened.
"Tell the lookouts to stay especially sharp. Those black mages aren't going to let us through easily."
"Yes, sir. We've already passed that along."
"Good."
With that, the captain turned and approached Haru in her corner.
"We'll be counting on you as well, Mage. There's no telling when or where something might come at us. And marine magical beasts are known to inhabit these waters, so should anything happen, we'll be relying on you."
Haru nodded with a vacant look on her face. Watching her, the captain found himself thinking that mages really were a peculiar lot.
The waiting area set aside for the soldiers and adventurers who would have to sit idle aboard the warship for more than ten hours was occupied by three kinds of people.
The first:
"Once we land on the island, we'll need to set up a base camp first, right?"
"No telling how long we'll be there, so let's make it sturdy. Our opponents are black mages, after all."
People who talked about the expedition as if the battlefield were already familiar ground.
The second:
"God of Light, protect us..."
"When I get back, I'm going to propose to my childhood friend."
"This is my daughter. Isn't she pretty?"
People unspooling their stories to comrades, old friends, or even strangers they had only just met.
And the last:
"Urgh..."
"You doing that bad?"
People whose faces had gone a sickly green, barely managing to soothe their churning stomachs.
"I-I'm fi—urgh."
"That's pretty bad."
"A woman who drinks like a monster getting seasick... I can't believe it."
"What does seasickness have to do with how much I can drink... urgh!"
Er tried to fire something back at Jina, but raising her voice only made an involuntary gag rise in her throat.
"...There's not even medicine for seasickness."
So saying, Ain took Er's hand and drew her closer. She noticed him letting a thread of Divine Power flow into her — so faint that no one else would have seen it — and spoke in a haggard voice.
"...Ain, thank you."
"I don't know if it even works on seasickness."
"Why don't you just sleep it off? Sleeping is the best thing for seasickness."
Ain gave a small nod, as if he agreed with Jina.
"...Can I even sleep here?"
Er murmured it at the waiting area, which was noisy beyond all reason.
"Well, it's not like you'd be the only one. A few people are already sprawled out asleep."
"...I suppose so."
Everyone who could not contribute much to running the warship had gathered in the same hold, and among them were more than a few who had already given themselves over to sleep.
"I'll be right here, so sleep easy."
"...Right. How very reliable of you."
"I mean it."
Er offered Ain a faint smile and leaned her back against the wall.
"Alright then, I'll sleep for a bit. Wake me if anything happens."
"Okay."
"Jina, please keep an eye on Ain so he doesn't do anything weird."
"Of course."
"...What weird thing would I even do?"
Er smiled faintly at him, then closed her eyes. It was not long before Ain noticed her breathing evening out.
"She's asleep."
"Yeah, faster than I expected."
"Well then..."
"Ain?!"
Jina cried out in surprise as Ain rose from his seat.
"Bathroom."
"...Really?"
"What else would I do on a ship?"
"You're not going to jump into the ocean because you suddenly feel like swimming, are you?"
"Do I look insane to you?"
"..."
"You're supposed to deny that! Deny it!!"