Risou no Himo Seikatsu - Volume 11 - Chapter 5.5

Eight days later, Zenjirou was in Valentia. His boarding of the ship was something of a ceremony, so he was wearing his third uniform. It was slightly difficult to move in.

The majority of his luggage had been sent ahead and already stowed in his room or the hold, so he was currently empty-handed. Well, there was a newly completed compass in his pocket, but he didn’t intend to show that to Freya yet. It was simply metal magnetized by an electromagnet. It was relatively weak, and most didn’t last long. Zenjirou was no professional either, so it wasn’t exactly what he had been aiming for.

He had brought five of them to make up for the quality with quantity. However, they would have far less credibility than the sailor’s current techniques of navigating by the sun and stars. This trip would let him see how precise they were and enable him to actually promote them to Freya.

He climbed the stairs up to the ship and stepped onto the deck. There was a group waiting there for him. His knight Natalio was standing at the head, with another knight he had picked and two soldiers.

Ines had already become a fixture of this kind of trip, but this time, Aura’s maid Margarette was also there, along with one of the younger maids.

There were four men and three women. Adding Zenjirou brought the total to eight people, the entirety of the Capuans boarding the Glasir’s Leaf.

Lucretia—having been sent to Valentia earlier—and her maid, Flora, were also there to greet him. These ten were the guests, while everyone else was part of the ship’s crew.

Leading the veterans through the storm to the Southern Continent was a silver-haired woman wearing men’s clothes. Zenjirou spoke respectfully to her as she stood flanked by the brawny sailors.

“I, Zenjirou Bilbo Capua, as both husband to Queen Aura I of Capua and as Duke Bilbo, request permission to travel on the Glasir’s Leaf.”

“Of course, Your Majesty. I, Freya Uppasala, as captain of this ship welcome you to travel, and to the ship as a whole.” She raised her right arm smoothly as she spoke.

There was a roar on the deck a moment later. The men behind her had all yelled in unison. If you listened carefully, you could tell it was a “welcome.” However, the sheer volume and the nature of the men it was coming from made it practically a weapon of sound, even a threat.

Although Zenjirou was rather timid by nature, he managed to avoid backing away. The fear probably showed on his face, but he’d take that. The stifled smile on Freya’s lips meant that she, at least, had noticed his nerves.

Once the voices died out, Zenjirou raised his own hand. “Thank you for your welcome. I am a complete amateur when it comes to ships and will be nothing more than a hindrance at sea,” he said.

In fact, that was pretty much the case whether at sea or on land when things got heated, but there was no need for him to say that. Knowing that they were all listening to him with interest, he spoke in a carrying voice.

“From what I hear, seconds can mean life or death at sea. Therefore, though you may have already heard this from Captain Freya, I will repeat it myself. From this point until we leave the ship, I have no issue with you treating me as a normal person. After all, a hesitation over formalities could mean life or death. Natalio, you and my escorts should especially be aware of this. The best way to protect me aboard is to allow the experts to carry out their roles as best as they can.”

Natalio and the other guards saluted at that.

“Understood, sir!” Natalio said.

Zenjirou nodded back and then returned his gaze to Freya and the sailors behind her. He had been understood.

“May I, Captain?” the most important-looking of the men behind her asked, stepping forward.

“By all means, Vice,” Freya replied.

The man was not particularly big for a sailor, but he was certainly muscular enough to be intimidating to Zenjirou. The dark red beard and confident expression on his face made him look even bigger.

“I am Vice-Captain Magnus of the Glasir’s Leaf. We shall take you at your word and treat you without reserve on the sea, Your Majesty.”

“I have no intention of rescinding my words. I am in your care until we reach the Northern Continent, Vice-Captain Magnus,” Zenjirou replied, shaking the man’s offered hand.

“Vice is fine. There are other Magnuses aboard. Short address is best at sea. We shall refer to you as Majesty.”

“Very well, Vice.”

“Good, Majesty.”

With the greetings dealt with, it was finally time. The Glasir’s Leaf was shoving off.

“The waves are slight and the wind is good today. You’re fine to stay on deck for a while, but make sure you hold on,” the vice-captain said.

Zenjirou nodded, standing on the deck as the other man indicated. “I will take you up on that.”

He, the three maids, Lucretia, and her maid were all holding on to the railing around the deck of the ship. Due to their role as Zenjirou’s guards, Natalio and the others were not.

Freya checked that her guests were holding on and then gave the command. “Glasir’s Leaf, to sea!”

The sailors all began moving as one. The gangway was removed, the anchor pulled in, and the main sail unfurled. The white cloth filled with the wind and the ship began to move away from the jetty out to sea.

It was par for Zenjirou’s personality that he was looking behind them rather than ahead. “It’s getting farther and farther away,” he mused quietly, looking at his departing home rather than the oncoming sea.

“Rest assured, Your Majesty, we shall protect you,” Natalio told him.

Zenjirou was just about to reply when a call rang out.

“Eyes sharp! We’re leaving the harbor!”

Indeed, the ship was just passing the three breakwaters and heading out into the open sea. The waves inevitably grew stronger, and the ship swayed more.

“Oh?”

Those holding on, and the sailors—who had trained until the point of literally throwing up—had no problem, but amateurs who lacked a grip certainly did. Natalio and his compatriot both fell with yells as the ship rolled beneath them.

Zenjirou’s statement of relying on them just sounded harsh to him now. He looked awkwardly away as the two soldiers offered their superiors a hand up.

“Are you okay, Sir Natalio?”

“Sir Robert, please grab hold.”

“S-Sorry.”

“Thanks.”

Zenjirou felt obligated to offer a warning to the knights once their subordinates had helped them up. “Perhaps you should hold the railings until you are used to the movement of the ship?”

“Of course; my apologies.”

“We shall take you up on that.”

They probably understood there would be no standing guard in that way. Natalio and the other knight made no pretenses and grabbed the railing.

“That was an unseemly display,” Natalio said. “Since my arrival, I have been out with fishermen training to stand at sea, but it was not enough.”

The other knight nodded emphatically in agreement. “You can say that again.”

Seeing them not lose too much heart, Zenjirou replied rather cheerfully, “Good work regardless. Anyway, there are at least another hundred days of this. Get used to it during the trip.”

Natalio chucked. “How depressing.”

“Well, we will have to get used to it whether we want to or not. We won’t be able to do anything if we don’t,” the other knight added.

Natalio was used to Zenjirou’s disposition due to the amount of time he had spent as his guard, but the other knight also joined in. They would all be sharing a room for the trip. If they didn’t get friendly with each other relatively quickly, the journey would be more difficult.

“I have to say that the two soldiers are handling themselves well,” Zenjirou observed.

“Right. They’re from Valentia. They might be soldiers now, but they were fishermen originally, so they know how to handle themselves on a ship.”

“They will be far more reliable than us at sea. If the need arises, you should rely on them first.”

“Got it. Your time will come when we make landfall.”

“Even should it take our lives,” Natalio vowed.

“Though we are staking our lives now and it could well come to nothing, pathetically enough.”

The topic was relatively grave, but the three of them comfortably chatted as the ship progressed. The port soon vanished, and the lighthouse passed beyond the horizon.

“Can’t see it now...” Zenjirou commented. Putting it into words made it feel all the more real. He looked out at the featureless sea for a while, but it was unsurprisingly not enough to hold his attention forever.

Instead, he turned to the blonde also holding the railing. “Lucretia, I imagine you already know, but we have only been assigned two cabins. You will therefore need to room with my maids. Will that be an issue?”

She looked surprised for a second, apparently not having expected him to speak to her, but she soon smiled back at him.

“Thank you for your consideration. I can honestly say that I have never done the like of it before, but I will do my best,” she answered, thumping a hand to her chest as if proud of her small stature.

“If you cannot get used to it, you are welcome in my cabin as well, Lady Lucretia,” Freya said, walking over after having left the rest to the vice-captain.

Calm waves and wind aside, Zenjirou could not let go of the railing, yet she was walking as if she were on land.

“It is a large area, and only Skaji and I use it, so it would be better than the guest cabin on that front. Still, it is the captain’s quarters, so sailors will enter without warning in an emergency.”

While she was almost entirely a figurehead, Freya was the ship’s captain. If something happened at sea, whether day or night, it came to her. A sailor could rush in while they were in their nightwear, yes, but also while they were changing or washing.

“I shall respectfully decline,” Lucretia said with a strained look on her face. She couldn’t muster the same resolve as the princess.

“The long voyage will be rather difficult. If at any point it gets to be too much, I can send you back with teleportation, so make the request if that happens,” Zenjirou offered.

Emergencies where he could not concentrate aside, he could probably cast the spell while the ship was traveling smoothly. Lucretia’s face broke out into happiness for a moment, but she soon shook her head at the temptation.

“Thank you, but I will be fine. I shall see the trip through to its end.”

She wanted to be seen as useful to both her homeland and Capua so that she could marry into the latter, and ducking out halfway through would be absurd.

“Then perhaps I could show you to your cabins? There are many things that are different from a room on land, so I should explain them.”

Neither Zenjirou nor Lucretia had reason to refuse.

“Very well, please do.”

“Indeed, Princess Freya,” they replied respectively.

“Follow me, then. There are railings on either the left or right the entire way, so make sure at least one hand is on one of them.”

Freya turned with a flare of her coat and set off with sure steps. Zenjirou mumbled to himself as he followed after her with a hand on the railing.

“I’ll be spending a hundred days in this room, then. It’ll be where I’ve spent the most time in this world after the inner palace, but I doubt it’ll be anywhere near as comfortable.”

It was going to be a long hundred days. He refrained from saying that last part aloud as he held on tightly to the railing while following the princess.