Chapter 473: Unusual Event

Editor: Tseirp

Life on the ship was, in a way, quite routine.

Eat breakfast, study Eastern languages, eat lunch, immerse themselves in alchemy and swordsmanship, have dinner, and then go to bed.

For practice, they sometimes chat with the crew in broken Eastern Countries language as they pass by…

Occasionally, Ryo would offer ‘water’.

Fresh water is precious on long voyages.

Even though they are surrounded by water, it’s all seawater.

You can’t drink it, nor can you wash yourself with it.

But this time, they have a water-attribute magician on board!

And for some reason, this magician boasts an inexhaustible amount of magic power…

Ryo, who enjoys seeing people happy, sometimes turns the deck into a temporary shower room.

He crosses his arms proudly, nodding as he watches the crew joyfully splash around.

By the way, the ship Lone Dark has two female crew members.

The first officer and the head cook.

Naturally, Ryo helps them too, creating a huge ice tub and filling it with hot water for them.

The first officer is the second most powerful person on the ship, just after the captain.

The head cook controls the essential food supply.

It’s wise to stay on their good side!

“Well, it’s a good thing to be of use to others.”

Abel said, praising Ryo’s actions, fully aware of Ryo’s ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’ philosophy.

Though Abel was just offering genuine praise… for some reason, the magician was always skeptical.

“Of course, behind it all is the cunning scheming of a sly and starving swordsman.”

Ryo said in a voice louder than a mutter, pretending to talk to himself.

It was clearly intended for Abel to hear.

“What do you mean, a sly and starving swordsman?”

“You’re having me study alchemical repair techniques so that when the time comes, I can fix your armor.”

In the alchemy of the archipelago, there is a technique to perfectly repair leather armor.

Ryo had been reading a book recommended by a leather armor repairman and had even gone to the trouble of purchasing a cheap piece of leather armor for the voyage.

He would intentionally damage it, then repair it, pierce it, and repair it again, gradually honing his skills.

Incidentally, ‘repair techniques’ was a category Ryo had made up, as usual.

“As expected of Ryo. You’ve seen right through my plans.”

“P-Praising me won’t make me do it for free!”

“What do you want? Grilled fish? Should I give you some grilled fish in advance?”

“Grilled fish is already part of our daily meals on the ship… I don’t need advance payment like that.”

“Such a picky magician.”

“I don’t want to hear that from you, Abel!”

Sometimes, the roles of jokester and straight man seem to get reversed.

There is even the potential for them to evolve into a double-joke routine where they take turns being absurd…

But that peaceful moment was suddenly interrupted.

“Captain! There’s something on the northern horizon!”

One of the crew members standing on the mast, scanning the surroundings with a telescope, shouted.

Hearing this, Captain Gorick ran to the bow and aimed his telescope ahead.

The ship was heading north toward the continent.

So the northern horizon was directly in their path.

Ryo and Abel also moved to the bow, but neither had a telescope, so they couldn’t see clearly.

If they squinted, it seemed like there was something out there…

Apparently, even Captain Gorik couldn’t make a quick judgment. He kept watching for a while…

“Helmsman! Full starboard! Set course due east immediately!”

“Aye aye, sir!”

The helmsman responded to Captain Gorick’s command.

Seeing Gorick tightly grip the railing, Ryo and Abel hurriedly grabbed on as well.

In that instant, the ship, the Lone Dark, made a sharp turn.

It was the first time since boarding that they’d experienced such a sudden maneuver.

It must have been something dire approaching, something they had to avoid.

Once the turn was complete, Gorick again peered through his telescope at the northern horizon.

“Abel, it seems something serious is happening.”

“Yeah, looks like it.”

“In stories from around the world, offering a sacrifice in times like this helps avoid disaster.”

“…I see where this is going.”

“We could offer Abel as a sacrifice…”

“I knew you’d say that!”

Ryo’s plot was spot on, as Abel had predicted.

Despite their silly banter, both kept their eyes fixed on the northern horizon.

It was hard to tell with the naked eye.

They were curious, but asking to borrow a telescope just to satisfy their curiosity seemed too rude.

Interrupting the crew’s work… that would be the worst.

Since the crew was working hard for their passengers, the passengers should remain quiet and wait.

They could fidget internally, but still…

“…Is that a giant wave?”

“Does it look that way to you too, Abel? But when dealing with big waves, I thought ships are supposed to turn perpendicular… and head straight into the wave…”

Captain Gorick must have overheard their conversation.

Because he lowered his telescope and responded.

“Ryo-san is correct. If it were a giant wave, the ship would charge straight at it and ride over it. However, that doesn’t seem to be a wave.”

With that, he handed them his telescope.

Ryo was the first to take a look.

But, to be honest, he couldn’t quite make it out.

“…It looks like a wave to me.”

He passed the telescope to Abel, looking a little disappointed.

Abel also took a look.

But the words that came out of his mouth were different from Ryo’s.

“I thought it was a wave too, but it’s not. Is it… flying fish? A large school of fish flying above the sea?”

“Flying fish? They live around here too?”

Hearing the familiar word, Ryo’s face lit up with a touch of nostalgia.

Flying fish are fish that ‘fly’ close to the surface of the water.

They exist near the seas of Japan too.

That’s right, they ‘fly’, not ‘jump’.

Their pectoral fins are developed like gliders, allowing them to glide through the air.

Sometimes, they even leap over ships. When they do, though, they can hit people… and it hurts if they do!

“Yes, in the archipelago region, they are called ‘Flyff’. It’s probably the same fish Abel is talking about. The fish itself isn’t the problem. The real issue is that it’s a Kraken’s favorite food.”

“Kraken!”

Both Ryo and Abel shouted in unison after hearing Captain Gorick’s explanation.

The Kraken, a sworn enemy of the two.

“Underneath those fish, or perhaps following them, there will undoubtedly be a swarm of Krakens moving in. And even this ship won’t stand a chance against Krakens.”

“That makes sense…”

Abel, recalling a past Kraken attack, nodded in agreement.

“Ugh… if it were just one, I could bury it with my Neil Andersen!”

Ryo muttered in frustration for some reason.

Even though the Krakens were their nemesis, the approaching creatures themselves had done nothing wrong…

“Well, let’s set aside the battle-crazed magician here for a moment. Is this kind of phenomenon common?”

“No, not in the archipelago or the southern parts of the continent. That’s why it took me so long to realize… The Komakyuta Principality marks the western edge of safe waters, but I’ve heard this can happen even further west. Still, it’s not something that happens often.”

Captain Gorick frowned as he answered Abel’s question.

“First the crabs, now these flying fish… all from the north, huh?”

“Yes. It’s not a good sign that such things are coming from the direction we’re headed. It will take us a bit longer, but I’ll adjust our course further east.”

“Understood.”

Abel responded, and Ryo nodded silently.

Taking extra time was far better than sinking.

“Still… what’s happening up north, I wonder?”

“To calm things down, we should offer Abel as a sacrifice…”

“Vetoed.”

“How unfortunate…”

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