116: The end of the cruise

February 8, 2021 - 6 minutes read - 1267 words

Triela’s words made my peaceful mood disappear. Ilya had explained back in Esprit exactly how dangerous swordfish are. They’re a fish with fins as sharp as a knife.

“If they arrive in a horde, they’re extremely dangerous…” Al

I guess someone was listening to my jinx invitation as silver swordfish started to appear in droves. Fish with large silver fins are filling the lush sea below us. I’d like to enjoy the scene of fish leaping from the sea, but those fish are dangerous with fins as sharp as razor blades. This isn’t a relaxing scenario.

“Everyone! A swordfish school is approaching!” Triela shouts.

Triela doesn’t sound too worried, this must have happened a few times before. Irving, Mark, and Rumba, who were previously playing around on deck, suddenly focus.

“You idiots! Are you blind? Were you not watching for this?” Douglas yells at the surrounding sailors.

“I’m sorry! They appeared quicker than I’ve seen before!” Sailor

Well, they did suddenly surface around the ship. I think it’s somewhat reasonable to miss this sort of thing if they usually swim up as a group. Even Triela and I missed the sight until a minute ago. Rumba might have been able to notice it with his monster detection sense.

“Ok, well keep a lookout in case it gets worse! Any other dangers in the area!” Douglas gives orders with a bitter face.

“Yes!” Sailors

The sailors climb the shrouds to watch for other threads.

“Can we avoid the horde if I stop my Wind Magic so we slow down?” Alisha asks from under the main mast while holding her staff.

If the swordfish are swimming in a line, we might be able to avoid their charge by slowing them down.

“No, I doubt we can avoid them at this point, so keep the speed at the current amount. I’ll magically scatter them.” Ilya

“Got it!” Alisha

“understood” Al

I automatically reply to the forceful voice of Ilya that’s so different to her normal gentle voice. Besides, the fish may not be thinking that hard, if we changed course, they may just follow the boat.

“Nothing is coming from behind!” Irving

“Same for the front and right side!” Mark & Rumba

Irving, Mark, and Rumba confirm the lack of presence on the other directions. The Silver Wind party is reliable under pressure it seems. I can understand why they were entrusted with a ship escort request. They feel accustomed to dealing with sea monsters.

“Alfred, it’s dangerous, so stay around Alisha.” Ilya

While I was admiring the Silver Wind adventurers, Ilya alerted me to be careful. It’s possible that swordfish could elude Ilya’s interception and attack. Even if it’s just one, it’s like a flying knife, so I’ll make sure to stay near Alisha. Actually, it might be safer to hide belowdecks, but I’ll stick around with the pretext of maintaining the Wind Magic.

If I’m attacked, I’ll put up the strongest shield I can muster. Plus Rumba is in front of me with a big sword and Mark is nearby with a shield. Let’s hope he fares better than Gates, I don’t want to protect him instead.

On the left side of the ship, a swordfish announces its approach with a splash of water. When I think of it as a knife bouncing off the water, my blood runs cold. It feels like sea monsters are different.

If it was an ordinary fish, I could use Psychic magic to drag a net around it and score a big catch for dinner. That wouldn’t work for a swordfish, it would just tear through the net with its sharp fin.

While I was thinking about those things, Ilya raised her staff to intercept the swordfish school.

“I desire the fierce burning heat and bursting explosion!” Ilya shouts as she shakes her staff.

A small flame appeared from the tip of Ilya’s staff and flew towards the school of swordfish. I remember reading that it was an explosive magic, it shouldn’t be a shabby magic.

As I watched, the flame reached the center of the swordfish school flashed once, and then exploded with a roaring sound. The impact caused a bunch of swordfish to fly out of the water and the seawater to fly up. I endure the wind and waves by grabbing Rumba’s leg.

“Be careful! Swordfish will be landing around us!” Rumba looks up and screams.

When I heard that a dangerously sharp fish might be falling on me, I deployed Shield magic above me.

“Alisha!” Mark shouts.

“I know, I desire the barrier of stormy wind!” Alisha shouts as she wields her staff.

The wind swirls around the ship and bounces the swordfish away.

I was only thinking about protecting myself. I could have prevented everyone by using Wind Magic like Alisha. It’s embarrassing that I was the only one behind the shield.

It was a moment when magic was useful, but I couldn’t make the right choice at the time. Well, I’m not an adventurer, so I’ll go with the idea that it wasn’t an essential skill for me. There aren’t ferocious creatures like this around Koriat Village.

My goal is to live a comfortable slow life, not protect people from monsters. I’m not a main character or a hero from a typical hero story, I just need a minimum of self-defense power. That’s my goal.

Eventually the seawater stopped raining down and I couldn’t see any more swordfish jumping out of the sea. Most of them seem to have blown away or the run away from the explosion.

Weak fish would be stunned from the impact of the explosion or if they didn’t just die. It seems if you shoot explosive magic into the sea, you can aim for the blast death of the fish. It seems like a good strategy, but you’d have to worry about the possibility capsizing the vessel and any fish that might land on you.

“Everyone safe?” Douglas calls out after things calm down.

The sailors reply in the affirmative, it seems like they held tightly to the shrouds or ropes, they must have been expecting explosive magic. The sailors who make these dangerous voyages are brave.

“Hey, Mark. I’ll grab some swordfish. Ilya said they were delicious when she had some in Esprit.” Irving

“Oh, you can grill them with salt! The muscles around the fins are a great area.” Mark

Adventurers…

After that, we didn’t find any more swordfish schools and we made a lot of progress by accelerating the ship with Wind Magic. The sea area we were in seems to have little wind and many monsters. It seems like the two attributes are linked. It’s not fun to tarry in such a dangerous sea area, so I kept using Wind Magic after Douglas gave his assent.

By the way, the salt-grilled swordfish was delicious. The light taste went down well, and the fins had a richer taste that was good as well.

On the way, we went by monsters that looked like crayfish and hermit crabs, but they couldn’t catch up to the ship after the sailors manuevered us around the monsters. I was really scared when we saw the sea serpent, I think the ship would sink in one blow if the serpent hit it. There’s nothing I can do about a hole in the bottom of the ship.

How powerless are humans against sea monsters! I can’t fight them.

We spent five days moving sailing under the influence of Wind Magic.

On the sixth day, we made it to Kagura, one day earlier than expected.