The Sugar Route
Satou here. The compass is known as one of the Four Great Inventions, but doesn’t it seem like surprisingly few people actually know how it works? When I first learned about it myself, I remember being surprised that it was so simple.
“Where are we going next?”
“We’ll head west for a while, then go south by southwest to Ishrallie. After that, we’ll head to Lalagi.”
I looked at the map in my menu and the physical sea chart in my hands as I explained my plan to Arisa.
She was wearing a white sailor suit—the kind a seafaring person would wear, not the school uniform.
“I get why we’re putting off visiting Lalagi for a while, but why aren’t we heading straight for Ishrallie as soon as we leave?”
“For appearances, that’s all.”
We were heading west first to give the impression that we were going to the Ganika Marquisate. Once we passed the border between the Ougoch Duchy and the Ganika Marquisate and kept going for a little while, we would change course and head straight for Ishrallie.
“If we head south-southwest right away, certain profiteering types might try to come after us.”
In fact, I could already see on the map that a few high-speed ships were following us from a distance.
They were probably trackers from fleets like the Weaselman and Saga empires.
“I don’t know how long it’ll take if we follow the normal route at a leisurely pace, so we’ll just have to keep going until they give up.”
The normal route would be to head toward the long peninsula at the western tip of the Ganika Marquisate, then pass from one small island to another until reaching the Kingdom of Sorcery Lalagi, until finally heading northeast from there to Ishrallie.
The route I chose was faster, but there were few safe places to drop anchor and lots of monsters in the waters.
But that also meant we were less likely to be seen by others.
This route was ideal for making full use of our flying ship.
“Arisaaa?”
“Lulu’s sampling, sir.”
Tama and Pochi, who were wearing sailor outfits as well, called Arisa over to the cabin.
Judging by Pochi’s suspicious wording, they were probably working on some kind of meat dish.
Since they didn’t call for me, Lulu was probably making some experimental dish, so I decided not to poke my head in until I was called.
“<Satou.>”
“<What is it, Rei?>”
Rei, who was dressed in the same outfit as the rest of the younger crew, came over to peer curiously at the scrolls I was using.
Since we left the harbor, she hadn’t gone into a trance to rattle off information again, but she said that she sometimes got headaches along with fragmented flashbacks.
Her memories must have been starting to come back.
Trying to force her to remember seemed to cause her pain, so I’d decided to wait until they came back naturally.
She should remember the past, including her self-proclaimed sister, Yuuneia, soon enough.
However, I wasn’t sure whether those memories returning would really make her happy.
Based on what little information I had so far, it didn’t exactly seem like Rei had a fun, carefree past.
From what I understood, her key-shaped hair ornament was a device that activated the heart of Lalakie, and the Skeleton King, who was very likely her father, was coming after it. On top of that, there was Rei’s Sacrificial Maiden title and the Skeleton King’s ominous statement about no matter who or what I must sacrifice.
He probably intended to sacrifice his own daughter to return Lalakie to the skies.
I wasn’t sure about the Coffin that Captain Ghost from the sunken ship had mentioned, but my guess was that it referred to the Lalakie Box that was reportedly in the Kingdom of Sorcery Lalagi.
Yuuneia also mentioned that the combination of a box and Rei’s key could bring Lalakie back to the skies, and that would explain why the Skeleton King kept attacking Lalagi, the home of the descendants of Lalakie.
Glancing at the marker list on my map, I saw that the Skeleton King was still staying quiet in the Spirit World.
As long as Rei was with us and had the key, the Skeleton King and Yuuneia would probably attack us again, so I was trying to keep an eye on their movements.
“<What…are you…doing?>”
“<I was just checking out the scrolls I bought in the city.>”
The seven scrolls I purchased in Sutoandell were as follows:
Mana Light, a Practical Magic spell for illumination.
Create Water and Purify Seawater, two spells said to be indispensable for traveling by sea.
Translation: Lesser, an intermediate Practical Magic spell that could translate to and from various languages.
Water Breathing and Resist Water Pressure, two Water Magic spells to help with underwater mobility.
Water Wall, a useful defense spell for battles at sea.
Big Wave, which was more useful for disturbance strategies than a full-on attack. Surfers would probably love this one.
Finally, Remote Harpoon, a Water Magic spell that produced harpoons that could lock on to and chase a target—similar to my Remote Arrow spell but for underwater use only.
All of them except Mana Light were outrageously overpriced, but I was confident that they would be worth the money.
Rei watched me use each of the scrolls with unwavering interest.
Obviously, I wasn’t going to let the Skeleton King take her, but if her memories didn’t return after visiting Ishrallie or Lalagi, maybe I should just take her with us to Labyrinth City.
Of course, even if her memories did return, I still planned on inviting her to join us.
“Whoooosh?”
“I can spin it even faster, sir.”
Tama and Pochi were playing with a prototype artillery rack I’d made, essentially designed after a revolver cylinder.
It wasn’t a plaything, but I couldn’t bring myself to stop them when they looked like they were having so much fun.
“What’s that? A Gatling?” Arisa asked.
“It’s a rack for the Magic Cannon. I’m trying to come up with a way to reduce the lag between shots and create the possibility of rapid-fire.”
We probably wouldn’t need them, but I wanted to add self-defense capabilities to the flying ship in case it was attacked while I wasn’t around.
It was taking a long time to implement, but I was hoping to have it finished by the end of this journey at sea.
Tama and Pochi, abandoning their game with my prototype, shifted their attention to pointing at the shore.
“Baaay?”
“A bay, sir!”
An entrance to a bay that enclosed a few small towns and fishing villages had come into sight.
It had been only about half a day since we left Sutoandell, but it would be a long while until we reached the next bay, so I’d decided we should stay the night here.
Like the entrance to Sutoandell, this place was equipped with a water gate.
This one, too, had some anti-monster pillars, but the gate was more primitive, with a crank device like the gates of a city wall.
Instead of Magic Cannons, it was equipped only with catapults and large crossbows.
“Master, a small boat is approaching, I report.”
“It must be the harbor authority.”
The yacht-like vessel stopped next to our ship and requested permission to board, so I lowered a rope ladder for them.
“Hello, we are from the harbor authority, tax department. We are here to collect your bay entrance fee, if you please.”
Since our ship had the air of nobility, the government officials spoke to me very politely.
Nobles were generally exempt from city entrance taxes, but apparently, that didn’t apply here, probably because we were aboard a potential trading vessel.
“Thank you very much.”
I paid the amount they requested.
The fee seemed to be based on the displacement volume of the ship, since they didn’t make any effort to inspect our cargo or anything. We continued into the bay without incident.
It wasn’t a particularly large bay, but there was one major town and a number of fishing villages.
We decided to spend the rest of the day wandering around the port town.
“Big caaatch?”
“So many little fish, sir.”
“You could probably catch tons of these with some sabiki rigs.”
Standing on the pier, the kids seemed to be having fun gazing at the swarms of fish in the water.
“You don’t have any, do you, master?”
“No, I’m afraid not.”
I did have rods and fishing line from when we went mountain stream fishing near the elf village, but I didn’t have any small lures like that.
“Yeah, I guess that was too much to ask…”
“I’ll make you one, though. Just give me a minute.”
“…Wait, what?”
I ignored Arisa’s confused expression, picking out some materials from Storage to make the sabiki. I had all kinds of colorful objects that might work as the reflector, so it was fairly simple.
“There, all done.”
I attached the finished lures to a fishing rod and cast it out into the water.
In a matter of moments, small fish were swarming to the sabiki.
I didn’t even need to scatter bait first.
“Lots of biiites?”
“There are tons of them, sir!”
“<That’s…amazing.>”
Tama, Pochi, and Rei all looked very impressed by the amount of small fish I’d hooked with my makeshift sabiki rigs.
I handed the fishing rod off to the younger group and started making more lures.
“Fiiive?”
“Pochi will catch fish on all six hooks, sir— Aaaah! Don’t run away, sirs!”
“This manner of fishing is quite involved, it seems.”
Each of the beastfolk girls enjoyed her own unique way of fishing.
“I knew sabiki would catch lots of ’em.”
“Arisa, I’ve got a bite! What do I do?!”
“Reel it in quickly, or it’ll get away.”
Seeing Lulu acting all excited for a change while Arisa stayed calm was an amusing role reversal.
“<This is…very…fun.>”
“Mm. Pleasant.”
Rei and Mia were humming as they cast their sabiki, which gathered a noticeably bigger crowd of fish.
Humming seemed to attract the fish, too.
“Are these small fish larvae?”
“No, they’re fully grown. They’re just different species from the bigger kinds of fish.”
“Master, your advice is appreciated, I declare.”
Nana seemed to be going through some kind of internal conflict, so I helped her out.
“Whoa, get a load of that!”
“Are they magic users or something?”
“Maybe he’s a fish mage!”
“Dang, that’s amazing.”
We seemed to have drawn the attention of some locals.
“Would you like to try, too?”
I’d made some extras in case my companions got their lures tangled, so I let the local kids use them.
“Whoa, this is nuts! I’m catchin’ tons of ’em!”
“Mister Mage! Can I borrow one, too?”
“Sure, go right ahead.”
I subscribed to the philosophy of “the more, the merrier,” so I ended up popularizing the sabiki rigs.
By the time we’d caught several bucketfuls, there was practically a festival going on around us.
Maybe that was because I started frying up the freshly caught fish on the spot into deep-fried fish and so on.
Even the local guard wound up coming to check things out, so as an apology for causing trouble, I gave the baron of the guard a model sabiki rig.
“Sir Pendragon, we knew you were a miracle chef, but you appear to be a miracle fisherman, as well. We shall treasure this sabiki as a family heirloom!”
I didn’t know whether the baron’s words caused it, but I wound up getting titles like Master Fisherman and Avid Angler.
Since the sun was about to set, we asked some of the spectators to point us to the best seafood restaurant in town and left the baron and the other townspeople absorbed in the sabiki rigs.
“I’m sooo fulllll.”
“Oh, Arisa…”
Lulu gently chided Arisa, who was rubbing her stomach as we left the restaurant.
“That was a pretty great restaurant.”
The full-course meal, which featured local specialties like shrimp and crab, was absolutely delicious.
“Putting the shrimp on the bread and eating it with that scallop dip was the perfect bite.”
We weren’t very far away from Sutoandell, so I found it interesting how much the menus and cooking styles varied between there and here.
“Indeed. The grilled crab had a particularly wonderful mouthfeel.”
“The shrimp was yummyyy?”
As usual, Liza and Tama ate the crustaceans shell and all, surprising the waitstaff.
I was glad we’d rented out a separate room of the restaurant.
“Pochi liked the mountain goat meat best, sir.”
For some reason, one of the middle courses included some kind of preserved mountain goat dish.
Maybe it was supposed to be a palate-cleansing type of thing.
“Meat doesn’t cooount?”
“That’s right. Meat is always delicious.”
Pochi’s comment prompted Tama and Liza to start rambling about the merits of meat.
I guess it’s still in a league of its own for the beastfolk girls.
“The crab meat paella was also delicious, I report.”
“Mm. Yummy.”
“<It was…quite…good.>”
Nana, Mia, and Rei enjoyed the seafood paella best.
Mia gave most of her seafood portions to the other kids, but she seemed to like the seasoning.
“…Master, what is that?”
As we came out into the town square, Arisa pointed at the monument in the center, looking rather alarmed.
“A stone sculpture of…a gaming console?”
“<The Dragonturn Rock, a magic apparatus developed to repel the dragons who strode about Lalakie as if it were their own. Magic circuits in the slate surface display images when it is provided with a great deal of magic power and the buttons are pushed.>”
Rei entered a trance state and answered my murmured question.
I guess Lalakie’s influence is more widespread than I thought.
“There’s an explanation over here.”
A stone tablet in front of the monument explained that it was a symbol of peace and prosperity that had been in place since before the Shiga Kingdom was founded.
I tried putting a little magic into it to test it out, but the magic circuits of the Dragonturn Rock seemed to have deteriorated over time; it didn’t work at all.
We chatted for a while in front of the monument, then started walking toward the inn.
“Are we being followed again?” Arisa whispered.
“Yes, we seem to have an expert spy on our hands.”
I checked the radar for more information.
The spy was hiding his presence well, but it was very obvious to Tama and me. Pochi seemed to be sensing some kind of presence, too, but the spy’s “Invisibility” skill prevented her from seeing him.
He seemed to be monitoring the inn all night but didn’t appear to notice when I used “Invisibility” myself to slip out.
Checking my map to make sure I wasn’t followed, I placed a few seal slates for the Return spell in discreet areas along our route.
I took a quick look around the pleasure quarter just for fun but decided to go straight back to the inn for the night.
For the next few days, we continued traveling like a normal sailing ship during the day and staying in port cities and towns at night.
Fortunately, by the time we reached the border, the Saga Empire ship that had been tailing us turned back toward Sutoandell, presumably convinced by our act.
There were a great deal of islands of all sizes not far from land in the vicinity of the border and a lot of reefs, meaning the route forward was fairly narrow unless you took the long way around through open waters.
Because of all that, we wound up passing a lot of other ships throughout the day.
“Reminds me of the Seto Inland Sea,” Arisa remarked.
“That’s true.” I nodded. “The water’s pretty calm, and there are a lot of small islands.”
Since we’d passed over the border, I used “Search Entire Map.”
Just as it said on my chart, the Ganika Marquisate was a lengthy territory that continued for a while. If I had to compare it to anything on Earth, I might say it was like Chile but stretching to the east and west instead of north and south.
The Fealty Mountains to the north and the long peninsula surrounded by the sea made up the borders; most of the population seemed to live in cities and towns that were in bays or otherwise close to the ocean. Most of the fishing villages were in the bays as well.
It was difficult to compare, but I thought it was between the Ougoch Duchy and the Muno Barony in terms of surface area. Its population was less than half that of the Ougoch Duchy.
As I was distracted with the map, an incident began to occur…
“Fightiiing?”
“Master! A ship is being bullied, sir!”
Tama and Pochi shouted down from the lookout.
Please help them! was written all over their faces as they pointed desperately.
As far as I could tell, some pirates whose turf was the barrier area were attacking a midsize merchant ship.
The pirates had three galleys of easily two hundred tons of displacement each, which were firing Fire Shots and arrows at the merchant ship’s sails.
There was a small escort vessel accompanying the merchant ship, but it seemed to have already fallen under the control of the pirates.
As I assessed the situation, our ship drew closer to the merchant vessel being chased by the pirates.
“Master, preparations are complete.”
While I was investigating, my companions had changed into their armor on the deck.
Tama and Pochi, who had joined in late, were being helped into theirs by Lulu and Nana.
“I guess we’ll go fight some pirates, then.”
I put the ship’s defensive shield on max power and headed toward the battle.
The captain was level 26, but even the rest of the pirates averaged around level 10, stronger than many soldiers on land.
They probably encountered monsters more frequently at sea.
“Ready, Mia?”
“Mm.”
Mia and I stood at the helm, firing with our bows.
We’d equipped them with non-lethal stun arrows from the Magic Bow stash we’d found in the sunken ship.
“Th-that’s some serious range…”
“What’re ye waiting for? Fire back!”
“W-we can’t from here.”
“What?! But the wind’s in our favor!”
My “Keen Hearing” skill picked up the pirates’ conversation.
“They’re passing right through our anti-arrow defenses!”
“All free hands, grab yer shields and block ’em!”
Ignoring the increasingly frantic voices of the pirates, we continued to fire, reducing the numbers of their archers.
“Pirates! Please go get help from the navy!”
A voice from the merchant ship reached me with the help of Wind Magic, so I used my “Amplification” skill to call back to them.
“We’ll take care of them. Just get to the next bay!”
As the merchant ship passed us, they called out to us to turn back, but if we turned around now, the pirates would catch up to both of us easily.
The pirates’ attacks started targeting us instead of the merchant ship.
“Dammit, we can’t hit ’em!”
“Our arrows, they’re—they’re going off course!”
“They’ve got an arrow barrier! Shoot ’em with the Fire Shots!”
“Why are their attacks still hitting us?!”
The pirates’ Fire Shots flew at us along with their complaints, but our ship’s defensive barrier warded them off easily.
The high-capacity Holytree Stone engine I’d developed was working great, along with the improved barrier production device.
“The Fire Shots are bouncing off, too?!”
“Must be an intermediate barrier! They’ve got an intermediate Everyday Magic user on their side!”
“That means they’re gonna use Foundation spears! Bring out the Ultramarine Turtle Shield, boys! Those’ll pierce right through regular shields!”
Three of the pirates propped up a huge shield, obviously made from monster parts.
“Nana! They’re expecting Foundation spears, so let’s give them what they want.”
“Orders accepted, master.”
Nana fired her Foundation spears, but the so-called Ultramarine Turtle Shield warded them off easily.
“It’s our turn, Lulu.”
“Okay, I’ll do my best.”
“Helping.”
Now that we were in range, Arisa and Lulu attacked with Fire Rods. Mia stood next to them, shooting more arrows.
However, the turtle shield blocked them exactly like it had Nana’s spears.
“Look alive, mates! We’ve got this!”
The pirates seemed to be recovering their morale, so I prepared five Magic Arrows and some Short Stun shots and fired them a few at a time at the ships on the left and right.
We could always claim we’d hired a mage at the time, though I doubted anyone would suspect after the fact that I was hiding my true power.
“I-impossible! Their Foundation spears broke through the Ultramarine Turtle Shield? Do they have an advanced Practical Magic user?!”
“Captain! The other ships are done for! They must have an advanced Wind Magic user, too.”
“Tch! It must be a pirate-hunting battleship disguised as a merchant ship!”
The pirates seemed to be misunderstanding the situation, which was fine for me.
Their defense was surprisingly weak, though. Their ships weren’t big enough to carry multiple Magic Furnaces, so they probably had a mage on board producing the barrier for them.
My Short Stun bullets had opened large holes in the flanking pirate ships, which began to sink. The pirates started jumping into the water, swimming for shore.
As they swam, however, small monsters came up from the sea to attack them. It was becoming a survival-of-the-fittest situation.
The monsters didn’t seem to be too strong, though, so the pirates probably wouldn’t die if we left them to their own devices for now.
Mentally shutting out the screams of the pirates, I focused on the ones who were still fighting back.
“Some of these small-fry pirates aren’t making a break for it.”
“Wrooong?”
“They’re in chains, sir.”
The oar men of the galley ships appeared to be slaves.
I would’ve felt terrible if they drowned, so I stretched my Magic Hand as far as it would go to keep the ship from sinking.
“Scarecrow, we’re going to charge the flagship. Turn the bow’s defensive barrier into a sharp point.”
I gave an order to the figurehead golem, and its steam whistle gave off a phweeee that indicated an affirmative response.
I’d been killing time over the last few days by making a response mechanism for the Scarecrow, and it seemed to have turned out quite well. These things just didn’t feel satisfying without a good reaction.
“We’re boarding them, right?! It’s your time to shine, Liza!”
“Understood.” Liza turned to the rest of the vanguard. “Prepare for close combat.”
“They’re charging at us, Cap’n!”
“Trying to ram a pirate ship, eh? These guys have some nerve.”
“We’ll show ’em the power of our Narwhal Horn Ram!”
The pirates opted not to flee, instead facing us head-on.
“All hands, ready the Antiflash Protection Shockfield!” Arisa cried, retreating to the forecastle and squeezing her eyes shut.
It was probably a reference to a certain battleship anime, but I didn’t think “antiflash” would be necessary here.
As the ships collided, there was the sound of wood splintering.
The impact almost sent my companions flying into the air, but I kept them safe with Magic Hand.
Without the support of magic, of course, the pirates went flying across the deck, a few of them plummeting into the sea.
“Draw your swords! Let’s teach these pirates a lesson.”
“Aye-aye, sirrr!”
“Roger, sir!”
“Prepare to die in shame, you filthy garbage of the sea, I declare.”
Charging onto the pirate ship along with the beastfolk girls, Nana used her “Taunt” skill to insult the pirates.
Scrambling to get up from the deck, the pirates responded to the taunt, drawing their cutlasses to attack Nana.
“Useless, I inform.”
Since Nana had her large physical shield combined with Foundation shields, it was all but impossible to break through her defenses.
And Nana wasn’t alone.
“Your guard’s dooown?”
“You’re supposed to watch your footing, sir.”
Tama and Pochi stayed low as they zipped around the pirates, slicing at their ankles with Sharpness-enhanced Magic Swords.
“Yaaargh, there be monsters at our feet!”
“No, they’re nothing more than a couple of brats with Magic Swords!”
“Quit running around so fast, damn ye!”
The pirates cursed, visibly shaken.
Tama and Pochi were making quick work of them, but because of the violently rocking waves, the pirates managed to land a few attacks.
Fortunately, none of them seemed strong enough to break through the Enchant: Physical Protection spells I’d placed on them. Even if they had, they would’ve just been met with whale-hide armor anyway.
“Arr, what’re ye doin’, letting these little rats get the best of ye?!”
The pirate captain, the only one of them with a high level, charged forward with a broad cutlass and a parrying dagger.
Liza, who was crushing the pirates near Nana, moved to intercept him.
Liza’s Magic Spear left a trail of red light as it streaked toward the captain, who caught it with his parrying dagger and swung a counterattack with his cutlass.
“Useless, I exclaim!”
Nana blocked the cutlass with a Flexible Shield and used her “Taunt” skill as she struck the pirate captain with her shield.
“Tch, so the Practical Magic user is on the front lines now, eh?!”
The captain dodged Nana’s shield with a backstep, but Tama and Pochi were waiting in the wings to slash at his legs.
It looked like they’d finished dealing with the weaker pirates.
“Back off, ye brats!”
Seeing his men lying at his feet, the captain kicked a few of them at Pochi and Tama.
“Be careful, sir. I almost cut him in half, sir.”
Pochi nearly sliced through the pirate who came flying at her, but she stopped in the nick of time.
“Don’t worry, be happyyy?”
Tama, on the other hand, dodged hers easily and managed to land another light cut on the captain’s leg.
“Urgh! That was damn dirty!”
The captain cursed as he swung his sword toward Tama.
“That seems rich coming from a pirate.”
“I agree with Liza, I declare.”
Liza’s Magic Spear and the vanguard’s Magic Swords swung toward the captain at the same time.
Despite the injuries on his legs, the captain managed to protect himself from all four of them. It was probably due to the difference in level, or maybe the pirate captain was accustomed to fighting solo against a group.
“Awfully stubborn, aren’t you? Jamming Field!”
Arisa’s Space Magic hit the captain, throwing off his balance.
“Now.”
“Right!”
Mia’s bow and Lulu’s Magic Gun pierced the pirate captain’s shoulders, causing him to drop the cutlass and parrying dagger, and the vanguard quickly knocked him out.
Having arrested the pirates, we loaded up the near-sinking galley with people and headed to the nearest harbor.
We had a bit of trouble getting permission to enter at first, but one of the slaves we’d rescued turned out to be something of a celebrity in the port city, so we made it through somehow.
“Now, are you quite certain you wish to release these slaves without any compensation?”
“Of course. They are victims who were captured by the pirates, after all.” I nodded at the official.
The pirates had pretty hefty bounties, and since their levels were relatively high, they earned a good price as criminal slaves as well.
The handful of Fire Rods they had were pretty priceless, too.
“Sir Pendragon, we intend to strike the pirates’ base next. Perhaps you would like to join us?”
“No, I’ll leave that in your capable hands, thank you.”
The baron of the guard, who was already armed and ready, left with his subordinates in tow.
He’d probably invited me along because they had high expectations for the treasure hoard they would find in the pirates’ hideout.
Later that day, we were invited to the mansion of the celebrity we’d freed from slavery for a lavish feast.
There were even a bunch of fantasy-style hostess ladies, but thanks to the iron-wall pair of Arisa and Mia, I wasn’t able to get anywhere near them.
As for the other slaves we’d freed, the celebrity took the lead by starting a new trading company and hiring all of them.
To commemorate the start of their new lives, I presented them with the galley we’d stolen from the pirates.
The newly minted president of the company was very moved and modeled the company’s crest after my surname: a sea serpent wrapped around a spear-like pen. The company even ended up being named the Dragonwrit Trading Company.
“All right, shall we start heading south?”
The next day, I saw that the Weaselman Empire ship tailing us had also turned back toward Sutoandell.
I guess they weren’t planning to follow us all the way through the territory after all.
We spent about half the day heading west on the southerly ship route, until there was no longer anyone around us, at which point we switched to flying mode and started heading south.
“Ahhh, I definitely like the flying mode better.”
“Mm. Pleasant.”
Arisa and Mia seemed pleased that the ship had stopped swaying.
“So a big cut of ootoro is waiting for us in this Ishrallie place, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
Technically, ootoro was a specific cut of the underbelly of the tuna, but there was no point correcting her.
We’d turn them into cuts of meat in no time anyway.
Since there was finally nobody around to see us, we zipped along above the sea at a fast clip. In no time at all, our ship passed out of the Ganika Marquisate area and into monster territory.
“They’re not here…”
For some reason, the tuna I’d been promised didn’t show up on my map search.
“Maybe they’re farther ahead.”
“Yeah.” I nodded.
Arisa was right. If they weren’t here, we just had to keep going until we found them.
They couldn’t escape from my map search, after all.
“Bored.”
As Mia grumbled, Nana was teaching the Shigan language to Rei.
“Larva. Repeat after me, I instruct.”
“Larba.”
“Pay careful attention to the movements of my lips, I request. Larva.”
“Larva.”
She seemed to be teaching Rei some unusual words, but Mia would intervene if it went too far, so it was probably fine.
“So peaceful…”
“Mm.”
Watching their language lesson, Arisa sighed listlessly and flopped onto one of the cushions on the deck. Mia promptly dropped down next to her.
“Peace is a good thing, though.”
“Exactly.”
I nodded in agreement with Lulu.
Tama, who was crawling around on all fours on the deck, looked up at me urgently, so I gave her a signal not to worry the others about it.
She was the only one of the group besides me who’d noticed the level-52 squid kraken charging up to attack us, along with a school of torpedo squid, but I promptly wiped them all out with my new Remote Harpoon spell.
I then stretched my Magic Hand as far as it would go to recover the corpses, but since they were underneath us, I didn’t think anyone noticed.
Like Remote Arrow, the Remote Harpoon spell could fire up to 120 shots at once, so it had no problem making quick work of a level-50-odd monster.
Sadly, the squid kraken didn’t taste particularly good; it had a strong scent of ammonia that no amount of cooking or preparation could wipe out. I could probably use its parts to make armor, ink, and things like that, so I decided to use it that way instead.
On the other hand, the torpedo squid were pretty tasty, so we wound up having squid prepared in all kinds of ways for lunch.
“Delicious.”
“Fried is yummyyy?”
“The boiled squid rings are chewy and good, too, sir.”
The beastfolk girls seemed particularly fond of the fried squid and boiled teriyaki squid rings.
“The sashimi’s pretty good, but squid somen is still my favorite.”
“Yeah, it’s very good. Since the fish is so fresh, it’s nice and jiggly.”
“Yes… It’s very…<good>.”
Normally, Arisa and I were the only ones who would eat sashimi, but this time Rei was joining in, too.
“Larva, you will get a stomachache, I warn.”
“Mm. Parasites. Danger.”
Nana and Mia tried to steer Rei away from the raw squid.
Unfortunately for them, I’d already checked that there were no parasites or eggs inside.
Silently resolving to make sushi once we finally caught some tuna, I spent the rest of the afternoon working on a tuna knife.
“Satou… Is this…<orichalcum…>?”
Rei was still practicing her Shigan as she asked me a question.
I nodded. “<That’s right—it’s orichalcum.>”
I had forbidden the others from coming to the front part of the deck as I used Elvish alchemy equipment to make orichalcum ingots.
Rei entered her trance mode for the first time in a while.
“<…Orichalcum. A sacred, mysterious metal that can only be made by the gods and the elves. The technique is so top secret that even the Lalakie dynasty could not replicate it through experimentation.>”
After a few moments, her eyes returned to normal.
“<Did I…say something…again?>”
“<Yes, you were explaining orichalcum to me.>”
“<I still…remember…a little bit. Orichalcum is…a metal…that can’t be made…by humans.>”
Her amnesia seemed to be slowly wearing off.
“<Satou, what are…? Never mind. It’s…nothing.>”
Rei seemed to want to say something else, but she simply closed her mouth and walked back over to Nana and the others.
I was curious about what she’d wanted to ask, but I didn’t plan on forcing her to say it, so I just went back to work on my tuna knife.
I wasn’t adding any magic circuits to this one, so the work went by fairly quickly.
“They’re not here, either…?”
I finished my tuna knife not long before we entered the next area, but there weren’t any tuna there, either.
We might have to go all the way to Ishrallie to find them at this rate.
Instead, we found something else…
“Whoa, it’s Nessie! A real live Nessie! I wonder if it’ll go pii, pii?”
The sea monster that emerged from the depths looked exactly like a plesiosaur. It seemed to be a related species to the mosasaurus-type creature we saw in the Seadragon Islands.
Since it also resembled a certain cryptid, I sort of understood Arisa’s excitement, but I wasn’t sure why she was quite so worked up.
And where was this pii, pii thing coming from?
“Broiled eel! Prepare to fall into my stomach, I vow!”
Nana seemed to think any sea creature with a long neck was simply an eel waiting to be broiled.
HROOOOARRR!
Reacting to Nana’s taunt, the monster let out a roar that sent tremors through the air.
“Th-that wasn’t a pii at all!”
I didn’t know what exactly Arisa was talking about, but she explained that it had reminded her of some heartfelt story about a child becoming friends with a plesiosaur.
As she did so, she became teary-eyed and tore at a handkerchief with her teeth.
I got that she was play-acting and all, but I didn’t want her to hurt her teeth, so I gently took it away.
“… ? Water Hold Mizu Shibaru.”
“Now!”
“Gotchaaa?”
“Take this, sir!”
Mia’s Water Magic held the plesiosaur in place, and the beastfolk girls finished it off.
It was only around level 20, so I guess it wasn’t as strong as it looked.
As far as taste, it was a bit tougher and stranger-tasting than sea serpent, but it should be fine as long as it was paired with a flavorful sauce and seasoning.
“Flower island.”
“Flower island… <Pretty…>”
“Mia and the larva are correct, I concur.”
We’d been traveling south for about two hours after running into the plesiosaur when we came across an island covered in blooming flowers.
Rei was speaking in Shigan with occasional Hallowed Language words mixed in.
“Master, let’s make land there!”
“Sure, but you’ll have to wear void suits, all right?”
Arisa tilted her head. “What do you mean?”
“Those flowers are all poisonous.”
According to my AR information, many of the flowers used neurotoxins, sleeping powder, and other such poisons for targeting animals.
Many of them could be used for potion ingredients, so I warned everyone to use Air Control to make sure the poison didn’t get in as we approached, then used my Magic Hand to pick a few.
“I guess every rose has its thorns,” Arisa said wisely as we left the island behind.
I didn’t think someone who looked like a child should really be saying that kind of thing.
It turned out that Tama and Pochi had been dozing in the lookout post, earning them a scolding from Liza.
So that was why Mia had spotted the island first.
As we made a detour around the island, we saw a metal frame in the middle of it, covered in flowers.
“<Late-Period Biakii Floating Ship. A masterwork ship that was the most frequently built model in Lalakie.>”
Judging by the trance state of Rei’s words, the metal frame was the ruins of a floating ship from the Lalakie era.
I checked it out with Clairvoyance and my map, but there didn’t seem to be anything of special note inside, so I decided to just pass it by.
“What is that? Sand?”
“It seems to be volcanic ash.”
A few days after we saw the flower island, Arisa noticed some ash drifting on the breeze.
Since we had magical Air Control, it didn’t land on the deck. As far as I could tell, it was coming from an island near the center of the area.
Unlike the previous monster territory, this area contained a few islands with human settlements.
It would probably be fun to visit one of these remote inhabited southern islands, but I had something more important to do first.
As I was getting ready to set out, Arisa looked at me nervously.
“Don’t do anything reckless, okay?”
“Don’t worry. I’m just going to set a seal slate and do a little harvesting while I’m at it,” I responded lightly.
Volcanic islands tended to be useful bonus stages where you could get lots of sulfur and fire stones and such, after all.
I brought the ship as close as I safely could, then used my Flying Shoes to take off from the deck. Once I was far enough away from the ship, I used “Flashrunning” to teleport to the volcano, which was almost six miles away.
“Wow. ‘Flashrunning’ long distances when you’re not in space is pretty intense.”
My shirt had been blown off in the process, so I replaced it with a new one, then used the Everyday Magic spell Deodorant to get rid of the burned smell.
I had assumed that it would simply use magic to teleport me like “Warp” does, but when it was that long of a distance, the atmosphere clearly had some kind of effect. It was pretty strange, considering there was no inertia once the movement was complete.
“Ooh, it’s erupting.”
I used the Canopy spell to protect myself from the ash and smoke, putting my Flexible Shields to work to ward off the flying debris.
“Lots of fire monsters. I figured as much.”
Bright-red fire-spitting snakes attacked me from the ground, while burning human-shaped spirits flew at me, so I used Remote Arrow to deal with the lot of them.
The volcano’s crater was full of red-hot lava, with yellow sulfur peeking out through the cracks.
“I got plenty of sulfur and ash and stuff, but I haven’t found any fire stones…”
I muttered to myself as I searched the map, which showed a huge amount of fire stones inside the lava. There were even a few shards of the rare Firelight Pearls.
There was also a level-82 creature called a “flamebeast” lurking in the lava; this territory was its domain. This one even had a proper name, which was rare for a monster: “Flame Lord.”
Its specialty was Blaze Breath, and its species had a special trait that reduced the effect of physical attacks by half. Fire and light attacks wouldn’t work on it at all.
I prepared the intermediate attack spell Implosion from the magic menu.
See, I read in a book long ago that a shock wave was the best way to put out fire.
GGRAAAAAAAARRR.
The Flame Lord appeared, bursting through the lava.
“It’s a T. reeeeeex?!”
For some reason, it looked exactly like the infamous Tyrannosaurus rex.
Startled, I instinctively flung out a kick to the side of its head and then automatically used Implosion to attack its unprotected neck, defeating it instantly.
I had aimed the focal point of the Implosion at its back to avoid getting caught in it myself, so I wound up with a headless corpse.
Although I was able to defeat it easily thanks to the huge difference in our levels, it was an over-two-hundred-foot-long monster that could even fly, so it might’ve actually been a pretty powerful enemy.
I stored away the corpse of the Flame Lord, which had a thick hide with a red to orange gradation, then reached into the lava with Magic Hand to pick up some gigantic fire stones and Firelight Pearls.
When this harvest was finished, I turned away, feeling very pleased with myself, and spotted some kind of man-made structure in one corner of the crater.
“…What’s that?”
As I approached the structure with “Skyrunning,” I could see that it looked like some kind of temple.
In fact, it bore a strong resemblance to the underwater shrine I saw at the city-rock island.
It had been mostly destroyed, but there seemed to be enough space for someone to fit into it, so I stepped inside.
“It hasn’t deteriorated much, considering it doesn’t have a Fixify spell protecting it.”
The shrine must have been destroyed more recently than I realized.
Inside, there was some kind of sealing device, which didn’t seem to be working anymore.
It must have been sealing the Flame Lord I just defeated.
The Flame Lord didn’t seem to have any phoenixlike revival skills or abilities, so it was probably safe to leave this device as it was.
I set a seal slate far enough away that it should be safe even if there was a major eruption, then changed out of my burned-up boots and clothes before returning to the ship.
Later on the journey, when we stopped at one of the islands along our route…
“Piiineapples?”
“Bananas are the best, sir.”
“There are even kiwis and mangoes.”
…we were able to find a bunch of tropical fruits.
When the head chief of the island saw Mia, he became very welcoming.
There were hardly any monsters around the island, either, which made it very peaceful.
Rei’s trance state explained the reason, which turned out to be a cone-shaped magic object.
“<Monster-ward stones—a magic monster-repellent device that was distributed to all territories under the control of Lalakie.>”
Many of the people of this island had tanned skin like Rei, along with black hair and eyes. A lot of them also wore a garment that looked like a single piece of red cloth draped over their shoulder. Since that alone would leave half of their chests exposed, the women wore white chest wraps underneath.
Most of the inhabitants also wore accessories around their necks, wrists, and ankles that looked like strings of small wood pieces. More extravagant accessories denoted someone with a higher rank in their village.
“<Are you certain it’s all right if we take this much?>”
“<Of course. It is our tribute to our honored elf guest.>”
The chief was speaking a language called “Ujan Language,” which sounded closer to the Saga Empire language than Shigan.
I acquired the skill for it, but it seemed to be unique to this island, so I just used the Translation: Lesser spell to communicate.
I wondered at first if these people were descendants of Lalakie, but that didn’t appear to be the case.
“<Besides, you have already gifted us with foreign food and drink the like of which we have never seen.>”
I’d given the man some transparent Shigan sake and bitter ale. Since the liquor of this island all seemed to be a sweet unfiltered sake-like drink made from fruit, it was probably unusual for them to taste a different kind of alcohol.
For the food, I’d given them some deep-fried hydra meat and whale steak from the giant monster fish Tobkezerra.
As thanks, the villagers made us a delicacy that they rarely ate: sea turtle soup. It wasn’t quite the same as soft-shelled turtle, but it was still unbelievably good.
“<Satou, drink this.>”
The chief’s daughter, an adorable high school–age girl, offered me a cup filled with some kind of black liquid after dinner.
Her chest wrap wasn’t as wide as the other girls’, so an enticing little bit of volume peeked out around the edges.
If she weren’t a child, I might’ve been tempted to talk her up.
“<Is this…cocoa?>”
The drink was bitter; a powdery texture filled my mouth.
If it was cocoa, there definitely wasn’t any milk or sugar in it.
“<‘Kokoa’? No, this is ‘drops of love.’ When two people drink it, they share a special love and are granted a child.>”
The chief’s daughter drew closer to me, fiery heat in her tone and gaze.
But of course, the iron-wall pair wasn’t going to let that slide.
“Nuh-uh, you’re not taking on any local sweethearts on my watch!”
“Mm. Banned.”
Who says “sweethearts” anymore, Arisa?
It was probably her penchant for outdated lingo at work again.
“<But we always seek a child from a powerful visitor, of course. I was chosen from among all the girls of the village.>”
Apparently, someone in the village had the “Analyze Person” skill.
Just as we’d done in other settlements, Rei was equipped with a recognition-inhibiting magic tool, so we should be all right. Nana was wearing her Amulet of Humanity, too.
“Don’t give me that folklorish world-building nonsense!”
Arisa complained about the village’s customs with some hard-to-follow logic.
“<Satou drank the drops of love.>”
The girl pointed at the cup almost accusingly.
Did drinking it mean accepting a marriage proposal or something?
I covered the top of the cup with my hand, added some milk and sugar from Storage, and stirred it with Magic Hand.
“<Want to give it a taste?>”
“<What? But I just did…>”
I showed her the cup, which now contained the same amount of liquid as it had before.
Intrigued by the sweet scent now rising from the cup, the chief’s daughter gave it a sip.
“<It’s sweet…and tasty. What did you do, Satou?>”
“<It must be a miracle from the gods. They’re telling us that it’s too soon for love to bloom between us.>”
I used my “Fabrication” skill to mislead the young girl.
“<…I see. Very well.>”
She hesitated for a bit but finally gave in to the allure of the sweet cocoa and drank it up, then returned to the other villagers.
I felt a little bad, but she should really find a spouse in her own village instead.
“<Madam Elf, we pray that your journey is a safe one.>”
“Mm. Thank you.”
The next day, some of the island people came to see us off.
After Mia’s brief answer, the villagers threw themselves to the ground in gratitude.
“<Sir Satou, there is a cursed island in these waters called the ‘Fire-Breathing Island.’ It is said in our village that a dreadful monster called a ‘flamebeast’ is sealed there, so powerful it could burn the ocean itself.>”
The chief’s expression was so grave that I couldn’t bring myself to tell him I’d already beaten that thing.
“<If you see smoke on the horizon, pray turn around and distance yourself as far as you can.>”
“<Thank you. I’ll be sure to do that.>”
I nodded at the villagers, and we left the island behind us.
We passed several uninhabited islands where cacao fruits grew, so we gathered plenty of ingredients for chocolate as well as tropical fruits.
But we took care to avoid harvesting too much, of course. That would be bad for the environment.
Besides, since I’d set seal slates in the area, I could come back for more anytime.
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