Chapter 116: The End of Our Voyage
Chapter 116: The End of Our Voyage
Because of what Tori said, my feeling of peacefulness instantly disappeared.
When it comes to Sword Fish, Ilya already explained it to me back at Esport, a fish with a sharp box cutter-fin, isn’t it?
「If I remember correctly, it’s a dangerous fish if they came in school……」
And perhaps it’s because I muttered something flag-ish like that, silver Sword Fishes emerged in succession.
On the deep blue sea, a large school of silver fish with large fins jumped.
I want to stare at them jump just like this but, the other parties are dangerous fishes with box cutters equipped. This is not the time to calmly observe them.
「Everyone! A large school of Sword Fish is approaching!」
Tori shouted with composure, perhaps he already experienced this kind of situation many times.
As a result, the expression of those who had been enjoying themself at the deck like Irvine, Mort, and Roomba becomes serious.
「You idiots! All of you! What the hell are you doing, lookout!」
The captain - Douglas - is yelling at the sailor who was on the lookout.
「I’m sorry! I didn’t realize it since they rose to the surface so suddenly!」
Oh well, they suddenly appear nearby after all. It’s also unavoidable if they fail to notice them since the lookout is spending their time being mindful of faraway objects. Even the closest one - Tori and I - only noticed them just now. You might be able to notice them immediately if you had someone with a wild sensing ability like Roomba on your side.
「Fine then, you guys just be careful there won’t be anything wrong at the more distant place! The others take position nearby!」
「「Yess!」」
Douglas-san gave his order right away while looking grim.
The sailors are climbing the shroud like crazy to keep a lookout on the surrounding area.
「Can we avoid it if we stop the Wind magic and lowered the speed?」
Aleutia shouts while holding her wand under the mainmast.
We might be able to evade the Sword Fish’s attack if the speed is lowered since the Sword Fishes are swimming parallel to the ship.
「No, when they’re already this close it’s not certain whether we can evade them or not, so please maintain the speed as it is, Aleutia and Alfried-sama. I will scatter that school of fish with magic」
「Got it!」
「Alright」
It was a powerful voice that gave off peace of mind to the listener, different from Ilya’s usual gentle voice.
The other side are fishes, which we don’t even know what they might be thinking. And they might change their course on a whim, but I think it would be safer if we just drive them away.
「There’s nothing from behind us!」
「Starboard side and bow are also clear!」
Irvine, Mort, and Roomba shout after checking each surrounding area of the ship.
Each member of the Silver Wind that is moving briskly and expecting things to happen is so reliable.
They are not a party that we requested to be escorts just for appearance’s sake on the ship. It feels like they are used to dealing with sea monsters.
「It’s dangerous right now so please stay near Aleutia, Alfried-sama.」
As I was watching and being impressed with the Silver Wind members’ action, Ilya came here to warn me. But if I stay here, then the Sword Fishes might rush past Ilya’s interception.
Even if just one of them came flying here it was like a knife flying my way, so I’ll keep maintaining the magic next to Aleutia without hesitation. In fact, it’s better to just get back inside the cabin, but I will just observe them under the pretext of maintaining the Wind magic.
It’s alright. If push came to shove, I’ll just put up a Shield to protect myself with all my strength.
Roomba is holding a large sword in front of me, standing next to him with a round shield is Mort, giving me a sense of security.
Let’s just pray that Mort doesn’t end up like Gates. I want you to turn a blind eye if there was ever a situation where I had to protect Mort who is holding a shield.
The Sword Fishes was approaching from the port-side while making splashing sounds of water *pashapasha*. When I thought of all of those fishes as leaping knives, I became so scared that my blood runs cold.
Sure enough, sea monsters are somewhat different.
If it were ordinary fish, then I could just use Psychic magic to hurl the net their way to get a big catch and secure food for dinner.
But it’s a shame that the opponent this time is Sword Fish since the net will just be shredded with their sharp fin.
Just when I was thinking of such things, Ilya - who is responsible for intercepting the large school of Sword Fish attack - raised her wand and chanted a spell.
「『I asketh thee A fierce, raging heat, burst and explode 』!」
Along with the sound of something cutting through a cloth, she shook her wand.
Shortly after, a small flame appeared from the tip of Ilya’s wand and flew toward the school of Sword Fish.
It is certainly written in the magic book that it’s a spell belonging to the explosion magic group, but it appears to be lackluster.
As I vacantly looked at them, the flame reached the middle of the Sword Fishes and suddenly flashed, and the next moment, it made a thunderous roar as it exploded.
The impact sends a lot of Sword Fishes to fly off and a massive amount of seawater rises.
I withstand the vibration from the wind pressure and waves that were delayed by grabbing Roomba’s pants.
Then the seawater that was launched to the air came pouring down.
「Careful! The Sword Fishes are falling! 」
Along with the Sword Fishes that were launched into the air by the explosion.
Roomba looked up and shouted.
Hearing that those fish - that have dangerously sharp fins - are falling, I interrupted the Wind magic in a hurry and cast a non-attribute magic Shield above us.
「Aleutia!」
「I know! 『I asketh thee A barrier of violent wind』!」
Aleutia chants a spell and wields her wand in response to Mort’s voice.
As a result, the wind swirled above us, as if covering the ship, and the seawater and Sword Fishes that rained down were repelled outside.
……as for me, I was only thinking of protecting myself. Even though I could have prevented them from using Wind magic just like Aleutia. Nonetheless, it’s embarrassing that I was the only one hiding inside.
For a moment, I thought that it would have no use if I can’t choose the correct magic and use it at the correct place, even if I can control the magic.
But, well, I’m not going to be an adventurer so I don’t think that it’s a skill that is required of me. There’s no ferocious creature like this in Koryatt village after all.
After all, I just want to spend a rich slowlife, not to protect people from monsters. I’m not a protagonist or a hero that appears in that kind of story, just having the minimum ability in self-defense is good enough, isn’t it? That being the case, I will counterattack.
The downpour of seawater stopped, and when I looked to the port where the school of Sword Fish is located, no more Sword Fishes were jumping on that side.
It seems that the impact from the explosion has driven them far away, or perhaps most of them have been blown away. Those that were lightly floating may have fainted or died from shock due to the impact of the explosion.
I see, you can aim to kill the enemy through the shock it causes if you shoot explosive magic to the sea, so does it mean that you can sweep those swimming creatures away using the waves?
It’s a very good strategy. But you had to be careful of the possibility of capsizing the ship and the Sword Fishes that were falling from above.
「Is everyone alright?」
As Ilya’s explosion magic settles down, Douglas-san calls out after the school of Sword Fishes has been swept away.
The replies to Douglas-san’s question show that no one was injured.
It looks like sailors above the ship held on to the shroud and rope tightly, probably because they already predicted that Ilya will use explosion magic. Sailors who're going on a dangerous voyage are really strong, huh.
「Oi, Mort. Go and collect the Sword Fishes. Ilya said in Esport that those are delicious.」
「Yeah, you can grill them with salt, right! Especially the developed meat around its fins!」
After them, the adventurers are also strong.
Later, the school of Sword Fish didn’t attack us, while I used Wind magic to accelerate the ship and we were able to cover a great distance that day.
It looks like the area on that part of the sea has a lot of monsters, and there’s little wind. Because of that, it seems that it’s not unusual for there to be frequent monster attacks.
Since there is nothing fun being in such a dangerous area, so when I got permission from Douglas-san, I’ve been using Wind magic ever since.
By the way, while that grilled Sword Fish is a kind of white-fleshed fish with a light taste, the developed meat around its fins has a rich taste to it and was delicious.
In the middle of our journey, crayfish and hermit crab-like monsters were appearing from rock in the sea, but with the steering skill of the sailors and the Wind magic accelerating the ship, the fight was avoided without those monsters being able to jump on the ship.
It’s just that in the end, I’m still scared of the time when I saw that Sea Serpent. If those things rammed its body against the ship, just one blow would be enough to sink the ship, I thought.
There’s nothing we can do if that thing made a hole at the bottom of the ship. Are humans really powerless in regard to sea monsters, I wonder?
I mean, we can’t fight directly like that, you know.
So that’s why we use Wind magic to navigate for as long as we can for five days.
And so, we arrived in Kagura after six days, a day earlier than the original schedule.