A sailboat that was too big to be called a boat yet too big to be called a ship floated still along the calm ocean. Its unfurled lateen sail, its only mode of propulsion, drooped lifelessly from the boom atop its only mast. Sitting near the stern in control of the helm was a figure whose exhausted expression matched the languidness of the air.
“I should’ve listened to Odette and never have set sail…”
She wore an eyepatch over her right eye, complementing the rugged, masculine features of her face. She had her jet-black hair cut short, making her nape visible to others. One may mistake her for a young lad, but the more one takes a look at her the more they would think otherwise: her body was lightly covered in many parts with only the important parts thickly covered. She wore a hemp tunic over her shoulders as her long and slender arms extended outwards exposed while her thighs were barely covered by a pair of very short canvas shorts; her tan-colored legs were similar to her arms, but they appeared even more sun-baked.
She murmured to herself.
“Man… There were even reports that the four goddesses of the sea were sleeping in, so there wouldn’t be any wind blowing into the Nasta Bay for the entire morning… Fuck, I never thought it meant that fog would roll in.”
Right now, she was right in the middle of a thick fog blanketing the ocean surface. Her view of what’s around her is completely obscured, making her unable to tell where right from left is.
“Visibility’s hardly up to 3 ren (~18m)! I really can’t see anything!”
She couldn’t even properly see the stern of her sailboat, which was only a short distance away from where she sat. The only things she could properly make out were herself, the broadside of her boat, and the calm ocean surface.
In this state where she can’t tell where she’s headed, she is essentially dead in the water. When she first heard that there wouldn’t be any wind, she thought she could still go home by rowing her way back. That was stupid of her.
Of course, night will eventually give way to day; the fog will eventually lift sooner or later so all she has to do is wait. Right now, that was her only choice given the circumstances. But she was running out of patience.
“But I didn’t want to disappoint her drunken majesty…”
Looking into the boat’s hold, one could see a pile of fish. There were only five erida white fish, which they caught using nets, and all of them had been drained of blood and were ready to be cooked.
She subconsciously reached out for an oar.
“Wait… During these times, in order not to worsen the situation one must not make more bad decisions. Yes, that’s right! I already made the mistake of belittling the reports, so rushing further into the fog to try and go home would only make things worse! Yes, I must refrain myself from adding more problems…”
She then folded her arm back toward her person.
This girl’s name is Shura no Arch. At 18 years old, she is the captain of this fine sailboat, the Arch.
After raising the black-painted bronze ship bell up to the top of the mast, Shura flopped herself onto the near-empty hold of the boat. The act of raising a ship’s bell up to the top of the mast was a sign to nearby vessels that the vessel in question wasn’t moving. In the Avion Sea, when a vessel is in fog, it became common practice to ring the raised ship bell.
“Ah, I guess I didn’t need to do that. I bet there ain’t any other dumbass who’d go out into a fog like this…”
Ships cannot just stop in the blink of an eye. That’s why it’s dangerous to sail a ship in such low-visibility conditions: by the time another vessel is spotted, it’d be too late to try and maneuver to make way for them. Any decently-learned captain wouldn’t dare move his ship in the middle of the fog, even if he had a compass in hand. Shura’s raising of the ship bell was rather unserious, if not an outright excuse that she was complying with regulations. In any case, it was very much half-hearted.
Not long after, she jumped back onto her feet and started a one-woman-act of her make-believe crew.
“Cap’n Shura! We sighted pirate colors off to the starboard side, at 4 o’clock!”
She pretended to be a lookout, pointing off into somewhere in the fog. She then switched roles, taking the part of a captain issuing orders to her imaginary subordinate.
“Well, I’ll be! It’s those thugs harassin’ Tinaye! C’mon lads, get ready for battle!”
“Rooooger thaaaat!!!”
“Full speed ahead, boys! Get the wind on our backs! Haaaard to starbooooard!!!”
She ran to the helm and took on the role of the helmsman, yanking hard on the rudder control as she screamed.
“Aye, cap’n! Haaaaard to starboooard!!!”
But the Arch hardly moved an inch. Without the flow of water moving through the rudder, it couldn’t make the boat move. Without wind or someone rowing on the oars, the boat won’t move forward.
“Hah…”
Growing tired of her one-woman-act, she sank back onto the boat’s hull.
“Uuuuugh… It’s sooooo boring!!! Boring, boring, boring, boooooring!!!…”
She then raised her foot up, used it to grab the ship bell’s cord, and started tugging on it. Usually an unsightly act, it’s because there wasn’t anyone around that she could do it.
The clinking of the bell rang endlessly, which was against regulation. But it nonetheless persisted as the lone sound that echoed in the fog-ridden Nasta Bay.
It’s been some time since she laid down on the hull to wait for the fog to clear. She had stopped ringing the ship bell after having also grown bored of it. She had no idea how much time had actually passed but as the spell of sleep started to be cast on her, her ears caught wind of a sound she had never heard before.
“Hm?”
If she had to compare it to something, it sounded like the growling of an animal.
Getting on her feet, she went up to the gunwale. She poked her face out up to her nose and set her gaze toward where she thought the sound was coming from. Then, from within the fog, the silhouette of something appeared. It seemed like it was the one making the strange sound.
“Is it a boat? No wait, a whale?!”
Not long after, the wake created by the passing something reached the Arch, rocking the sailboat. That much was proof that she wasn’t just seeing a mirage.
But what the hell was that thing? It would be nice if it were just some normal whale, but if it were a cornu cetus (armored whale), she and the Arch would be in big trouble. In any case, she must know what she’s dealing with.
“Am I catching wind?”
She turned to look at her sail, but alas it was hardly making a flap.
Faced with no other option, she brought out the oars, stowing away the ship bell as she put the oars into the water. Clutching the grip, she silently put her strength into them. Fortunately for her, she held the bragging rights as an experienced oarer; she hardly broke a sweat silently gaining speed and catching up to the mysterious silhouette. But the biggest reason she was able to catch up was that the silhouette didn’t travel that fast, likely because of the fog.
Shura maintained her pursuit as she kept her rowing strength in check to ensure she neither dragged too far behind nor got too close.
Before long, she started to make out the faint silhouettes of piers and jetties in the direction she was rowing toward. The dazedly sparkling light in the distance then turned out to be the harbor lighthouse. She then started to hear the assorted cacophony of ship bells ringing about, supplemented by the timely rhythm of a ringing heavy fog bell.
“That fog bell… It’s got to be Lopezza’s! Oh, thank goodness!”
There’s a subtle difference in the bells used to denote a port’s jetties and piers. The bell she was hearing wasn’t the Arch’s homeport but she was very familiar with the place. Just by hearing its bell Shura was able to imagine where in Nasta Bay she was.
As for the silhouette she was tailing, before she realized it, it went up to one of the piers. Its animal-like growl had also quieted down.
“Here’s a’ight?”
“Yes, thanks.”
She noiselessly went closer. As she did, she started to pick up the sound of a conversation that was carried downwind by a breeze. She patted her chest as she sighed in relief, thankful that it hadn’t been some sort of beast. But then it hit her: who was this awesome captain capable of navigating their way in the fog like that?
“How the hell did find his way through that?!”
Maybe this fit was part of the gang of ne’er-do-well pirates who had been harassing the trade port of Tinaye? If these bastards were trying to secretly land spies in Tinaye, she had an obligation as the surviving heir of the Arch family—a renowned family of justice-seeking privateers—to report them.
Shura slowly dipped her oars deeper into the water. As soon as she hit the bottom and her boat stopped, she raised them from the water and stowed them away. Then she hid herself beneath the gunwale and listened to the scene on the pier. Fortunately for her, the breeze from the land blew some of the fog back into the sea, making the fog around the pier lighter than the surrounding waters. Looking closer, she spotted two men stepping onto the wooden planks of the pier; the boat itself had several men who didn’t appear to be disembarking.
“Aquas?”
She also spotted the figure of several women with fishtails on the boat; now that she looked more closely, she also saw that there were several of them in the water all around the boat. Now it made a lot of sense; these deep-sea people could easily find their way in thick fog. The fact that the boat didn’t have any sort of sail or oars may have also been due to the Aquas since they must have just pulled on it with nets or ropes. All that was left was the origin of the mysterious growling sound, but that was probably the least of her concerns right now. She’ll most likely get it wrong if she tries to think about it too hard.
Reining her thoughts, she opted to simply observe what was happening and then report it to the authorities.
“Good luck you guys!!! See y’all!!!”
The Aquas girls waved their hands at the men on the pier before departing with the boat. After seeing them off, the men on the pier then turned toward something before uttering some words.
“This is Fujisan-maru. The mackerel has landed at the port. I repeat, the mackerel has landed at the port.”
Then, the men promptly picked up their bags, walked into the pier, and disappeared into the fog.
Ever since Edajima took him under his wing, Tokushima has followed him to all sorts of places in the Special Region. On his first overland assignment, the first place he went to was the market. Since most markets open early in the day, he wanted to get a grasp of what the Special Region’s natives ate, what sort of goods they bought and sold, and what sort of character embodied the people of that place. Making small talk with the people there also easily gives them access to crucial intelligence.
This port town was no different; with fishing boats arriving with their haul early in the morning, the market, too, opened early to accommodate their catch. Humans and demihumans alike formed crowds around the stands.
“My good man! Show me today’s catch!”
Tokushima went up to a white-haired wolfman who was opening his stall in front of his fishing boat.
“Hah! Got some good senses on you, boy! Here’s today’s fresh catch!”
The wolfman reached into the hold of his boat and showed him a large fish.
“Woah! That’s an azansi, isn’t it? Don’t you catch those further up north?”
The azansi is a type of fish in the Special Region that is similar to gnomefish.
“Huh? The hell’re you saying? I caught them around these parts, boy! Didn’t I tell you they’re fresh?! You see that yourself, right?! This here’ll cost you three copper coins!”
The price seemed to be higher than what you’d see in other places.
“Hmmmm… I’ll take it!”
“A pleasure!”
Tokushima then casually pointed to a fish that was thrown off to the side.
“Oh! What’s that one? I haven’t seen that kind of fish before.”
“Ah, this here’s an inderma. They get caught in the net from time to time but they don’t sell.”
“I seeee… What’s it like?”
“Well…”
It’s through actions like this that Tokushima is able to take note of prices and the people’s sentiments. After walking from one end of the market to the other, he returned to Edajima, who was taking pictures of the boats at the port, to give his report.
“Edajima, sir! Take a look at this!”
“Hm? What’s that?”
Edajima was fully aware of what Tokushima brought to him but his no-nonsense attitude has him professionally being thorough with everything he lays his eyes on.
“It’s this morning’s report! What else could it be? Look at this azansi! This would make a great sashimi, fried fish, or even meunière! We’ll be having this for lunch! As for this fishing port, well it’s certainly bustling with activity; they’re even selling all sorts of vegetables at the market! This black one’s called a ‘den,’ which we call kurodaikon (black radish) back home. This one’s called an ‘orizal,’ which seems to be a glutinous rice-like grain grown from seaweed. I’ll start by peeling this kurodaikon, cut it into strips as thick as a pinky, and then fry it. Once they’re a crisp golden brown, I’ll sandwich them in between fried mochi. Ah, right! That’ll go well with this cheese! At first, the fried den may be a bit crunchy, but then the mochi inside will give a chewy surprise! But the seasoning’s a little harder to figure out. This calls for something with consistency similar to miso sauce… Man, I wonder what would go well with this?!”
“You seem to have misunderstood something, Tokushima.”
“Huh? What’d I miss?”
“You called this place a ‘fishing port,’ but it’s no ordinary fishing port. No, this here is Nasta, the capital city of the so-called ‘Majestic Pearl of the Blue Sea,’ the kingdom of Tinaye.”
“Wait, what? This place is the capital?”
Tokushima looked around him. All he saw was a sleepy port town with a bustling fishing industry.
“That it is! What you just said is akin to someone visiting Tsukiji Market and consequently concluding that the port of Tokyo is just a ‘simple fishing port.’ What you took a look at is just Nasta’s harborfront and nothing more than a small corner of the city. In other words, this is its fisheries district.”
“Ohhh! So this is just the fisheries district? Damn, you’re quite knowledgeable, aren’t you?”
“I attended a lecture by Master Cato back in Alnus.”
“Ah, that old man, huh?”
“Getting intelligence on an area before you infiltrate it is important in this line of work. I think you should broaden your horizons and look at things outside of what you like.”
“Ahhh, well… I’m not really good in doing that so I think it’s best to leave those other things to you.”
“Hah, so that’s that, then?”
Edajima shook his head as if giving up on something. He continued.
“According to the old man, Tinaye used to be part of a larger state called the kingdom of Avion just over 30 years ago. But the royal house’s power eventually weakened, causing Avion to fragment into the seven states we currently have in this area.”
“So kind of like the sengoku period?”
“Funny that you say that because that kind of fits the situation to a tee. Essentially, what happened after Avion disintegrated is that the successor states, led by rival warlords, hunkered down wherever their armies could reach and then proceeded to fight one another for the biggest piece of the pie—just like the sengoku period. Just like then, the former royal family somehow held on and so did its claim to all of Avion, mirroring its significance to that of the former Imperial Court or the shogunate. If we’re to use the sengoku example, Tinaye would be something like Sakai or Hakata, places that prospered at the time due to trade.”
While they were walking, Tokushima was swiveling his head around, looking around them. Soon enough, he started to realize the true scale of Nasta’s port. Looking out from beyond the fishing market, he could make out rows upon rows of massive warehouses along the coastline. The piers and wharfs extending from them hosted gigantic galley-like ships with up to three—some even four—masts.
“Population: roughly three million. Most are humans but demihumans and other races also make up large portions. Their system of government is akin to that of a republic with a consul as head of government who serves a lifelong term. A state built on maritime trade, at their peak they boasted a fleet of a thousand ships. ”
“A thousand?! That’s a lot! Including auxiliaries, the MSDF only has about 140 hulls; the US Navy has about 500 if I remember it right…”
“Of course, the value of a single ship is vastly different between theirs and ours, but comparing them to us or the US may give you a clue as to how important maritime affairs is to them. Supposing that a ship has an average crew of 200, that would put the servicemen they employ at roughly 20,000. That means every 2 out of 30 citizens are sailors. If we include their families, the laborers at the port, and others working on the periphery of maritime affairs, that means that most of the country’s people are related to their fleet operations in some form or another.”
“Just the sheer amount of fish being brought into port means that they have that many mouths to feed, too! The fact that they have so many kinds of fish being sold means that their dietary culture is rich in fish, which also means that their fish cuisine must be something to marvel at!… But wait, the sleepiness of this place doesn’t really match what you’re saying. Even the fish prices seem unreasonably high!”
“The reason why can be summed into one word: pirates. And it’s not just your lone pirate captain and his crew; an entire armada of pirates has come to wreak havoc on Tinaye’s merchant fleet. Word is that entire trade missions have been robbed of their cargo, if not sunk outright. Naturally, many people have lost their lives, too.”
“Don’t they have a navy to ward them off?”
“They do, actually, but they haven’t been successful. That’s because the pirates are a sly bunch. They use guerilla tactics, like disguising themselves as merchant ships and laying low until they deem the other party to be weak enough to catch off guard. When faced with such cunning foes, even a well-endowed naval power would struggle to deal with them. Desperate times call for desperate measures, but carrying them out requires drastic decisiveness, a personality trait this state’s political climate isn’t well-suited to fostering. That’s why we must still remain vigilant; this is not a safe place and you should best conduct yourself as if you were anywhere else in the Special Region.”
“Yes, I’ll bear that in mind.”
“Alright! Now, why don’t we take a closer look at their navy, hm?”
Checking his surroundings, Edajima then pointed to a corner of the port where more and more people were passing through. The place had a different atmosphere to it from the fishing district and the ships docked there looked a lot like warships.
“Huh?! We’re going there?!”
“Why, yes! We’ve got plenty of time until the rendezvous, so why not?”
They were originally supposed to land far from the port in a place where a trek into the city would take a considerable amount of time. But the weather proved to be a blessing; due to the fog allowing them to land directly onto the port itself without incident, they now had a lot of time on their hands.
“B-B-But military facilities are normally off-limits, right? Why are we marching in? Didn’t you also just say that we must remain vigilant?”
“Oh yeah, I did. But running away from danger won’t complete our mission. And even if they suspect us, I’m sure you could cook up a way to worm us out of it, hm?”
“O-Oh… Huh, you really are putting me on the spot, aren’t you?”
Tokushima shook his head as Edajima once more forced something unreasonable onto him.
The Tokushima-Edajima duo entered what they believed to be a Tinaye military pier. In Japan, the SDF’s camps and bases are all fenced off, securing them from outside access by curious civilians and prospecting enemies. This world appears to have come to the same understanding, as they have fenced off the pier’s sole entryway. Naturally, there were guards armed with swords and spears who stood between them and the fence. But for some reason—whether it was due to the immense traffic of goods, articles, and all sorts of workers was anyone’s guess—the guards didn’t seem to be thoroughly checking the access permissions or even the identifications of the people coming and going. This was rather lackluster in preventing an outsider from just blending with the crowd and waltzing right in.
This was precisely what Tokushima and Edajima did: lining themselves together with port workers, they matched their pace and disposition as they walked right past the guards and through the entryway. Nevertheless, they were still without permission—let alone an excuse—to enter, so if someone suspects them and questions them, it would likely be game over. Consequently, they must do their best not to stand out.
“Hohoh… So this is what a navy base of theirs is like? Seems more like a dual-purpose dock to me. Maybe they’re yet to think of the concept of civilian-military separation.”
“This is it, right? You’ve seen what you want to see?”
“No no no, what I’d like to see is that.”
Edajima pointed to a ship with a beautiful stream-lined hull. Clocking in at 50m long and about 9.5m at the widest section, the ship had three masts—a foremast, a mainmast, and a mizzenmast—which held up the gaff rigging for the multiple massive triangular lateen sails. Another distinctive feature of the ship is its 20 oars protruding from either broadside. Judging from their size and appearance, the oars were too massive for a single oarsman, so it’s likely that it must take around three to five oarsmen to operate.
Looking at those oars, Edajima sighed in disappointment.
“Useless. All of them. What a waste for such a fine ship.”
“You really hate those oar-powered ships, don’t you?”
“I harbor no love for the inherent inhumanity of oar power of galleys and their makers’ reluctance to ditch ancient technology. Okay, I do think that as an outsider, I talk too much shit about what this world considers ‘normal,’ but as someone who was born in modern Japan I absolutely cannot find see this as anything other than repulsive.”
“What, did you have a traumatic experience in cutter qualification training or something?”
“Heavens, you are gravely mistaken! On the contrary, I loved it! But if I had to mention something that I hated about that experience, it’s that I scraped my ass off so much in just the repetitive action of rowing over and over!”
As if repulsed by the sight of oars, Edajima’s gaze went elsewhere. At the ship’s forecastle was a gigantic ballista in a triple-mount configuration. They could easily tell at first glance that it was the type to launch large rocks using the torsion of twisted ropes that were pulled back. Since ballistae are commonly used in siege warfare throughout the Special Region, they believe that the designers of this ship must have added them to the design for use against land targets or other ships. Getting closer to the ship, they started to smell the fragrance of wood lingering in the air.
“Seems like this ship was just built, huh?”
The contrast between the blinding white finish of the sails and the dark wood tar-painted hull was awe-striking. Off to the side, shipbuilders and laborers appeared to have gathered to load equipment onto the ship. From the looks of it, they might still be fitting the ship out with furnishings.
“Alright. This looks like a good place.”
“Are we really going to do that here?”
“I’m not going to repeat myself, am I?”
Tokushima let out a brief sigh before setting down their baggage; Edajima, meanwhile, took to taking pictures of the ships with his camera.
What are the pictures for, you ask? Well, after they’re repatriated, arranged, and classified according to relevant characteristics, they will be used for friend-or-foe identification and discrimination should the need arise. In fiction such as movies and manga, it’s all too often the case where one side immediately and easily discerns that a ship in the distance is an enemy ship and subsequently engages it in battle. But that is not the case in real life; there is a lot of work that goes into determining whether an entity is an enemy or not. What Edajima is doing is simply one of the ways that this work is carried out through. Not long ago, there were media reports of suspicious ships discovered in the Sea of Japan, which sometimes developed into chases and even sinkings of those ships. However, the fact that such ships were found in the first place was due to the tireless efforts of the JMSDF and the Japan Coast Guard in collecting data which allows them to determine what ships are suspicious and what ships aren’t.
The sight of Edajima taking pictures of the ships earned him stares from all sorts of laborers coming and going at the pier, yet not one of them said anything to or about him. They left him alone since they had no idea what he was doing nor what the small device he was using even was. At best, all they thought was that he was some weirdo.
But that wasn’t the case for the facility’s armed men. They may not understand what he was doing, but they found his actions suspicious nonetheless. This led them to intervene in what they were doing.
“Hey, you! What the hell are you doing here?”
Tokushima, who had set up a portable Japanese stove and was putting ingredients on it, answered him in a cheerful manner.
“As you can see, sir, I’m just preparing my den mochi to sell!”
This was part of Tokushima’s mission: by setting up his camping stove and doing what he does best, he draws attention away from Edajima. Taking a closer look at their interrogator, he appeared to be a burly middle-aged man who gave off the impression that he was broad-minded. The long facial hair he possessed told of the long and tough life he led.
“This place is off-limits to commoners!”
“Ah, really now? Nobody stopped me earlier so I thought it was just fine to set up here…”
“Of all the places…”
“Please let this one slide. I’ve already started cooking so if I stop to pack up right now they’ll all just go to waste…”
He had just started putting the chewy-looking mochi and cheese onto the fried den radish cuts. Once done, he put the second batch of den radish cuts on top to form sandwiches, then he promptly glazed them all with a mixture of fish sauce and meat broth. Finally, to cancel the distinctive pungency of the fish sauce, he sprinkled the den sandwiches with herbs.
“What the hell is a den mochi, anyway? Never heard of it!”
“It’s natural you wouldn’t know, for this is my creation! Please, help yourself! I’ll let you have the first for free!”
The middle-aged man examined the den mochi that Tokushima skewered with a toothpick.
“You sure? That kinda practice doesn’t fill your pockets around these parts, you know?”
“Every piece after this will cost you two copper coins each! That much should keep me afloat.”
“And if I don’t buy anymore?”
“Try it out first. I bet you’ll love it.”
The man gulped. It seems that the fragrance of the fish sauce was clawing on his appetite. He was hesitant at first but then he gave in to his appetite. He took the den mochi from Tokushima and put the entire piece in his mouth.
“O-Ohhh!!! Wow, this is amazing!”
“Heh, didn’t I tell you?”
Tokushima grinned with pride.
“Here, have some!”
He handed out den mochi to a winged demihuman who was standing behind the middle-aged man. The winged demihuman attentively looked at the piece of den mochi before biting on it with her small mouth. Her reaction was instantaneous: her eyes lit up in satisfaction as she slowly chewed away.
The winged demihuman was small in stature and slender in build with white wings reminiscent of that of a swan wrapped around her entire figure. Judging from her appearance, she must be 15 in human years. She had her extravagant-looking white hair laid down and white feathers adorned her head in the shape of a crown. Complementing her wings were elbow-length gloves and knee-high boots made from white feathers. Every part of her body was covered but her shoulders and thighs, which made her all the more alluring to look at.
The bearded middle-aged man spoke up.
“Dammit… You got me! Another one, please!”
“Here you go.”
When Edajima slid himself into the conversation to ask the man for two copper coins—the price Tokushima had asked for earlier—the man gladly handed him the money.
Soon, shipbuilders, sailors, and laborers started gathering around Tokushima, allured by the smell of fish sauce. When they saw the delighted faces of the middle-aged man and the young winged demihuman munching down on something, they too jostled over one another to get their own den mochi from Tokushima.
“Woah, this is great!”
“Yeah! I’m really digging this!”
While Tokushima was busy taking orders, Edajima, who started taking the payments being made by the dockworkers, asked the bearded middle-aged man a question.
“Are all of you working on that ship over there?”
“Oh? Yeah yeah.”
“But it looks somewhat brand new to me.”
“She was just launched a while back, you see. We’re still fitting her out.”
“So that’s why she smells like freshly cut wood. But yes, she does look like a good ship.”
“Oh? What makes you say that? You sound like you know your stuff.”
“There’s more good things I can say about that ship than I have fingers, but what I really find fascinating are her more voluptuous parts. Those oars and their curves are really… bewitching.”
“I see you’ve noticed those amazing curves yourself…”
The bearded man grinned in admiration of Edajima. On the other hand, the winged demihuman to the side glared at them with a concerned look and reddened cheeks. Edajima continued.
“I personally believe that a ship’s beauty comes from the harmony of all its parts in relation to one another. But therein also lies hidden things of beauty. For example, because of those enigmatic curves, that ship could move a whole league faster than her contemporaries!”
“Hohoh! I’m so glad I met some like-minded people such as you!”
“May I ask what sort of name you’ve given her?”
When Tokushima asked, the bearded man immediately returned to his senses and looked at the two of them with eyes of suspicion.
“You two… You’re not from around here, aren’t you?”
“Oh no, we’re not; we’re from elsewhere.”
Edajima added to Tokushima’s reply.
“And we both really really really love ships! Wherever we go, we make it a habit to visit these magnificent warships and take into memory their names!”
“So please tell us! As thanks, I’ll let you have another one for free!”
Tokushima handed him another piece of den mochi, which prompted the bearded man to force a wry smile as he gave in.
“Guess it can’t be helped! For making my day with this amazing snack, I’ll tell you. That ship’s guardian protector is Odette; I’m to be its captain.”
“‘Guardian protector’?”
When Tokushima raised the question, the bearded man looked at him with surprised eyes.
“You… You lot don’t know something that basic?”
“We’re not really familiar with Tinaye’s customs…”
“Well, what’s ‘basic’ differs from place to place. Still, for you not to know means you’ve gotta come from someplace reaaaaally far, you know? Even those bastards from the Empire should know of Avion’s four goddesses of the seas, even if their beliefs are a tad bit different.”
“Our apologies, but we really haven’t had the chance to hear about those before.”
Tokushima subsequently handed the bearded man another den mochi.
“This Avi right here is the ship’s guardian protector!”
As the bearded man gladly took the den mochi, he patted the winged demihuman’s shoulder. Just as he did, though, she furrowed her eyebrows in a subtle show of disgust.
She looks quick to turn grumpy! Maybe she’s a clean freak?
Tokushima silently took note of her mannerisms.
“The goddesses of the sea who lord over all four directions—the sisters Eulo, Zevullah, Notos, and Vorey—are notoriously terribly hard to please. That goes for all women, more or less, but the four goddesses are on a whole new level. That’s why as seafarers, we must placate them so as to not upset them. To do that, our ancestors thought, ‘Why don’t we put altars and shrine maidens aboard our ships? After all, no sane goddess would sink a ship with an altar dedicated to her, right?’ Thus, the former kingdom of Avion mandated that all of its ships be built with altars and shrine maidens be assigned to them. Even after Avion’s collapse, Tinaye continues to honor such traditions.”
“So that means you’re this ship’s shrine maiden?”
“…”
The young winged maiden silently nodded to Tokushima’s question.
“So how do you protect your ships from your gods’ wrath out at sea?”
“We have these things called shipboard altars fitted in our ships.”
As Tokushima pointed out, the JMSDF’s escort ships and submarines are fitted with Shinto altars. To bring up an extraordinary example, the escort ship Izumo (DDH-183) is fitted with an altar that’s considered to be a branch shrine of the Izumo Grand Shrine in Shimane prefecture, which is where the ancient province that the escort ship is named after used to be.
“Well, I’ll be! So we’re not that different, after all! It just means that we all ask for the protection of our respective deities when we’re out at sea!”
“But we don’t really station dedicated priests or shine maidens on board; instead, one of our own crew members serves to fill a similar role.”
“Huh? But won’t that incur the wrath of your gods? Not only that, but how do you tell the weather, the direction of the currents, or the ebbing of the tides?”
From that single question, Tokushima figured out what the guardian protectors were for. These shrine maidens are used to forecast weather and ocean conditions to help the crew and the ship escape calamity. They already know that most demihumans have sharp senses when it comes to detecting natural phenomena; the earthquake that struck the imperial capital was forewarned by a female demihuman. The level of accuracy in their forecasting of the weather must have been big enough of a deal for sailors to rely on them. But as a consequence of their reliance on the demihumans’ sharp senses, the study of meteorology anywhere in the Special Region is noticeably primitive if not outright nonexistent.
“Errr… We just make do with observations, experience, and whatever knowledge we have of weather phenomenon…”
“Whaaat? So you’re no different from those imperial bastards. Doesn’t that make you afraid to sail out there?”
Edajima interjected.
“All the observations we make, the experiences we go through, and the knowledge we collect are not only for ourselves but for the betterment of all. It makes us inquisitive and it keeps us alert and astute. Still, I understand where you’re coming from. I’ll take it that the Odette’s shrine maiden is Miss Avi here?”
“Wow, you’re so cool!”
Tokushima remarked in amazement, which the winged maiden took with an embarrassed pout. The bearded man responded to Edajima with a correcting tone.
“Sure, but there’s a slight difference, I’ll have you know. ‘Avi’ is not just a person; they’re the race of winged demihumans who hold the highest status when it comes to serving the goddesses of the seas. This one’s actual name is Odette, and I’ll have you know that it’s the highest honor for a ship to have an Avi as her guardian protector!”
Tokushima clapped his hands as if realizing something.
“Oh! So a ship takes on the name of its guardian protector?”
“Precisely! This girl right here, Odette, is the will and soul of the ship! That’s why she’s been flustered since your friend right here has been commenting on how captivating her ‘curves’ are. You’ve been saying it in her face this whole time!”
Edajima, flustered, lowered his head.
“Oh, I see! I didn’t know that, but my apologies for being so rude!”
Odette’s face reddened some more but she accepted his apology, acknowledging that he didn’t know any better.
“With that said, I also understand that you ought to treat this young woman hospitably, correct? As her captain, getting along with the ship is a matter of utmost concern, after all.”
“Yes! I have to treat her as if she’s my wife! Maybe more, even…”
As the bearded man said so, he tried to put his arm around the winged maiden’s waist, but she rebuffed his advances with a stinging elbow strike into his side.
“Ow ow ow!!!”
The sailors and laborers all around them laughed at the scene. First, her pouting expressions, and now her strong negative reaction to his advances. It seems like the two have a long way to go.
“As for her, it’s only been three months since she was launched into the water. We’ve been hard at work fitting her out ‘round the clock, and now she’s just a stone’s toss from completion.”
“I reckon that it also won’t be long until she’ll set sail?”
Edajima was getting to the crux of the matter.
“Of course! With all hands on deck, the loading of water and provisions will be done in two, maybe three days! Then she’ll be joining her sister ships in repelling the pirates!”
“She’ll be ready for action two to three days after fitting out? Wow! That’s remarkably fast!”
“But of course! This is our trade, after all! We’re used to doing things at speed!”
“And a captain with a storied battle history to boot. I expected nothing less.”
The bearded man returned Edajima’s praises with a hearty smile.
“But the pirates sure are a troublesome bunch, aren’t they? Even for us foreigners, we can clearly tell that they’re having an adverse effect on the port’s liveliness.”
“Yeah, we really have our hands full with all the pirates running about. Because of those miscreants, this is the sight all along the trade cities of Tinaye… But with the Odette launching soon, she’ll teach those pirates a lesson not to mess with her or Tinaye! Just look at her glorious armaments! If we could only have ten more of her, we’ll make short work of those damned pirates!”
“I look forward to her completion. My apologies for the late introduction, but I am Edajima Gorō—although in these parts, you may be more familiar with referring to me as Gorō Edajima.”
“Tokushima Hajime, here! Nice to meet you!”
“Ohh, that sounds familiar! Putting your family name first is an Eastern tradition, ain’t it? Guess you lot really do come from some faraway land! The name’s Cairipinya em Ruyter, humbly appointed to the rank of Captain with the Tinaye Navy!”
“Wait, Ruyter?”
Edajima tilted his head in curiosity.
“Hm? Don’t tell me even you guys from the Far East know of the Ruyter family name! But yes, I am from that Ruyter family, the distinguished house whose generations have served in the Admiralty of the former kingdom of Avion!”
“I see! I’ll make sure to remember your name, Captain Cairipinya, and Odette over here.”
Tokushima went and handed over another piece of den mochi to Odette before asking her a question.
“And what’s your complete name?”
“Odette… Odette ze Nevulla.”
The winged maiden said nothing more as she simply took the piece of den mochi and munched on it. But it wasn’t something Cairipinya was expecting.
“Huh. That’s surprising. To think that Odette would open up to you at all.”
Cairipinya approached Edajima and whispered to him.
“Just who the hell is this guy?”
“As far as I am concerned, he’s the best cook I’ve met. Getting to know people through their stomachs is something of a special ability to him.”
“He sounds like he should be praised a whole lot more!”
“But that young guardian protector of yours doesn’t seem to be so outgoing.”
“Ah, well, that’s just how she is. If you ask me, I’d like a more… mature woman serving as my ship’s guardian protector, you get me? Hahaha, I’m sure you do as fellow men in arms! She just has so much room… to grow, you know?”
As Cairipinya pointed out, Odette was more on the slimmer side. In other words, she was lacking in her womanly charms. True as that may be, Edajima didn’t share his opinion.
“I have no idea what you’re getting at.”
Cairipinya winced at Edajima’s reply as he felt as if he made a fool of himself.
“Aw, don’t leave me out to dry! C’mon, as another man, you know what I’m saying, right?”
“My apologies, but judging from what I’ve been seeing you two are just a tad bit awkward around one another. I have an inkling that no matter how you phrase your shameless ramblings or whisper them to me, she knows what you’re talking about.”
“Huh? Wait wait wait! You can’t be serious! If the ship comes to hate me, I’m done for as her captain! What do I do?!”
“I have an idea. Will you hear me out?”
“Please! Anything!”
“I actually have a friend who’s also a captain and he has a daughter who’s around the same age as her. She’s the feisty, mean-spirited type; always moaning about ‘I hate guys who’re taller than me!’ or something like that.”
“Ohhh… What did he do with her?”
“Well, this is what he said, but apparently all he did was just slowly get on her good graces, and after some time she just got used to him. Just like with my friend’s daughter, I’m afraid you’ll have to be upfront with her, treat her right, and not talk behind her back.”
“O-Ohhh… I’ll just have to treat her right and politely, huh? I thank you for your kind words!”
Tokushima watched the two from the side, wondering when was the best time to tell them that Odette had heard every single word. He took a glance at Odette, who in her proud disposition was pouting in irritation at the conversation he had just heard, leading him to conclude that it was best he stayed out of it.
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