Volume 4 - CH 6

Chapter 6 – The Stormy Sea and Four People Going Out of Control

“Master… Master…”

“Oh, Ines, what’s wrong?”

“Ufufu. What were you thinking about?”

“I was thinking about this voyage. Is something wrong?”

“It’s almost lunchtime, and it’s so bumpy; I’d like to have Master serve me something ready-made.”

“It’s almost lunchtime. Let’s go to the dining room, and I’ll serve you a meal.”

“Please.”

“Everyone, it’s very bumpy. Are you all okay with seasickness?”

“I’m fine. How about everyone else?”

Everyone answered that they were fine. But, as Rimu also answered, does slime also get seasick?

I was surprised that no one got seasick in spite of the bumpy conditions, but I guess it’s possible that the higher the level, the better one’s semicircular canals are trained, and I haven’t been seasick lately.

I took out the food I had prepared and repatriated from food stalls, inns, and restaurants and laid it out on the table.

“Then, let’s eat. Itadakimasu.”

“””””””””Itadakimasu.”””””””””

“The food prepared by Wataru-san and Claretta tastes better than the food at the restaurant.”

“Thank you very much. Carla-san.”

“Fufu, I wonder if my cooking has also improved since Wataru-san taught me how to cook.　Thank you, Carla.”

“Yes, Claretta’s food tastes so much better now.”

“Fufu, that’s glad to hear.”

After lunch, we chat on the swaying ship.

“Wataru-san, do you know how long this storm will last?”

“Sorry, Alessia-san, this is the first time I’ve been in a storm myself.”

“I see, but if it doesn’t sink, we just have to endure the swaying. So, Wataru-san, I would like to try my hand at navigating in a storm.”

Ugh, she was by Ines’ side when I refused her request. Instead of giving up, she bided her time and asked for it in the presence of her allies. What a schemer.

At Alessia-san’s words, Ines and Marina-san are looking at me with a twinkle in their eyes in anticipation. Being stared at by these beauties, I almost gave them permission to do so.

“Alessia, don’t be selfish.”

“Because, Dorothea, it sounds so interesting. Wataru-san, is that a no?”

Wow, I’ve never seen Alessia-san’s cunning expression or anything like that before. Do you want to sail that much?

“Hmm, do you want to steer the ship that badly?”

“””Yes.”””

“Hah, I understand. If you happen to fall down on the ship, you will get hurt, so please don’t be too reckless.”

“””Yes.”””

“Oh, Felicia, go with them and stop them if they start to do anything reckless.”

She looked envious, and since she’s somewhat calm, she’ll be a good chaperone.

“Yes, I understand.”

Wow, that’s a tremendous smile… I’m getting anxious.

I summon the Luto and watch the four of them happily climb aboard. I look around and see the rest of the group smiling bitterly.

I watch the Luto sail away from the Hideaway as it blasts off… Huh? I can locate the ship, but are those four people able to locate this ship?

…If they don’t come back by dark, I’ll turn on all the lights on the Hideaway. They will be able to see us from some distance.

…It might be bad… Well, if they get lost, I can pick them up, or I have enough money to buy a cruiser. I’ll figure something out.

But I wonder how bumpy it would be if we had to go on the smaller Luto, even though the larger Hideaway was swaying like this.

“Everyone, I’m going back to my room to rest.”

“Yes.”

“Rimu is coming too.”

“Is Rimu coming to my room, too?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

I’m so happy that Rimu is coming with me. Rimu jumped into my chest, and I carried him back to my room.

“Isn’t Rimu getting sick even though the ship is swaying so much?”

“Rimu is fine.”

“I see, but if you get sick or something, just tell me right away.”

“Yes.”

Rimu is bouncing around as if it’s enjoying the swaying. Even though I know it won’t sink, I’m afraid of it because of my timidness. But I think everyone is scared of storms. But Rimu is bouncing and rolling with the swaying… He’s so cute.

I want to escape reality, but outside the window, a big wave is crashing and being repelled by the barriers. I guess I’ll just have to give up on this and hold out until dark. I pretend to forget about the storm and concentrate on playing with Rimu.

After playing with him for a while, Rimu asked for a snack, so we headed for the living room.

“Everyone, if you’re not feeling sick or anything, why don’t we have a snack?”

“”””Itadakimasu.””””

“Since yesterday was ice cream, shall we have pudding today?”

I hear pudding is fine, so I pass out pudding to everyone.

“Rimu, is it good?”

“It is delicious. Rimu pudding, like.”

“That’s good. You can have another one if you want.”

“Yes.”

“Wataru-san, another refill, please.”

“Yes, Carla-san, this is the last one for today.”

“Mmm, okay.”

“Another refill.”

“Yes, Rimu, another refill. Dorothea-san, Ilma-san, Claretta-san, would you like a refill?”

“Yes, please.”

“Ufufufu, I’ll take it. Thank you, Wataru-san.”

“Me too, please.”

We chat while eating our snacks.

“The ride is quite bumpy, but you all don’t get seasick, do you?”

“Yes, our hometown is also a trading city, so we used to ride in boats for escort requests. We also ride in small boats when we are requested to go to the island.”

“Oh, that reminds me. We went to the island together, but I forgot about it. And there were also requests for adventurers to escort ships, weren’t there? In a port town, adventurers have a lot of opportunities to board ships, don’t they?”

“That’s right. Most of the time, we were escorting fishing boats, but we also had a hard time at first because the boats would sway terribly when the weather changed suddenly, even on the coast of the continent.”

There are other ships besides mine, and I’m sure there are opportunities to ride on them. I’m not thinking straight. We wait for the storm to pass while chatting.

“Wataru-san, can I ask you to play reversi with me?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Fufu, I will win this time, okay?”

“I’m not going to lose just yet. Dorothea-san, have you been able to beat Ilma-san?”

“Yes, sometimes. I’ve improved a lot, so there is a chance that I can beat Wataru-san as well.”

Everyone is getting stronger and stronger, Ilma-san was the strongest one, but Dorothea-san, you are able to beat her? I feel like I’m going to be overtaken soon.

We managed to have a good time on the bumpy ship and headed to the dining room for dinner.

“…Alessia and the others haven’t come back. Is everything alright?”

I have a vague idea where the ship is, but it’s meandering and maneuvering, so I don’t think there’s a problem. If they don’t come back by midnight, we’ll assume they’re lost and go get them.

“I can somehow tell where the boat is, but it’s moving around, so I think it’s okay. If they don’t come back until midnight, let’s pick them up. I’ll turn on all the lights so that they will be able to see us, so I’m sure they will come back.”

“I’m sorry, Wataru-san. I apologize for the inconvenience.”

“No, no, I gave the permission, and Ines and Felicia are also there. There is no need for you to apologize, Dorothea-san.”

“Since Alessia was the one who suggested it… it’s a problem that they are playing so late even though they have permission to do so. I’ll give her a good scolding.”

“Ahahaha, well, I didn’t set a definite curfew, so please go easy on her.”

Eventually, they returned when we had finished dinner and showered, and were relaxing in the living room. When I gave them permission to come aboard, they moved to the Hideaway with dizzy, unreliable steps, as if they were indeed tired.

With a tired but satisfied smile, Alessia-san said, “I’m hungry,” but her voice was hoarse.

“Wow, everyone’s voice is so raspy… Claretta-san, can a hoarse voice be cured with heal?”

…I wondered what could have made her voice so raspy when she was supposed to be maneuvering the ship.

“Eh? I don’t know. Would you like me to give it a try?”

“Hmm, what shall we do?”

“Let’s not; it’s a punishment for getting too excited. However, putting aside Alessia, did you have so much fun that even Marina was so excited that she lost her voice?”

“Hey, Dorothea, what do you mean by putting me aside?”

“I meant exactly what I said. I’ve never seen Marina like that before. That’s good.”

“It’s embarrassing… but it was fun.”

“I feel like you’re treating me a lot differently than you’re treating Marina.”

“It’s just your imagination.”

The members of Girasole are all very friendly with each other.

“Master, I’m hungry.”

“I’m hungry, too.”

“Oh, are Ines and Felicia okay, too?”

“Ufufu. I’m fine.”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“That’s good, but don’t be too rash.”

“”Yes.””

Well, I can’t believe Felicia is like that. I told her to stop them if they were reckless… Originally, going out into the stormy sea itself was reckless, wasn’t it? I don’t know what I would do to stop them if they did anything more reckless than that.

I set the food on the table in the living room, and the four girls started to eat as if they were devouring it, probably because they were so hungry.

The girls have been upgraded, and their bodies have been strengthened, so naturally, their throats should have been strengthened as well… How excited they were to find out that their strengthened throats were withering away, that must make them hungry as well.

After finishing their meal, I asked them what they were doing when they came out of the shower.

“Ines, Felicia, what were you doing on the Luto?”

“I was just maneuvering the ship, but we had some fun with some big waves coming in; I’m sorry, Master.”

“I’m sorry, Master. I was having too much fun.”

Well, it sounds like they both had quite a bit of fun… I don’t quite understand how it’s fun to blast through stormy seas, but if it helps relieve some stress, I guess it’s good. Yeah, I’ll ask them how they returned.

“Didn’t you two get lost running around in the storm? I only realized it after you sailed away. How did you manage to get back without getting lost?”

“Yes, one of us was sure of the location of the Hideaway, and when it got dark, the lights turned on so we didn’t get lost.”

Even though they were having a good time, they made sure to check their location properly. Is that what you call, as expected of an adventurer and a hunter?

“So that’s how it was. Well, I’m glad you made it back safely. Shall we go to sleep now?”

“”Yes.””

……………

“Nchu. Good morning, Master.”

“Nchu, good morning, Master.”

“Ines, Felicia, good morning. Your voice is still hoarse. I’ll ask Rimu to heal you later.”

“”Thank you.””

We headed to the dining room for breakfast. Hmm? The bumps are small; has the storm passed? I greet the members of Girasole and go outside.

Oh, it’s sunny, and the storm has passed. …Well, when you get through a storm, you find an island or encounter some mysterious event, like in a novel, but… I didn’t see anything.

It was just four people who liked to maneuver the boat a little too much, and they went out of control. Well, I’m not a fan of too much stimulation, so I’m glad there were no ghost ships or anything like that.

I went back to the dining room, finished my breakfast, and asked Rimu to heal.

“Rimu, can you put a heal on Ines and Felicia’s throats?”

“Heal? I can do it.”

“Yes, please.”

Rimu’s body twitched and glowed stronger. Then the light falls on Ines’s throat.

“Ines, how is it?”

“Ah, ah, I feel better. Master. Rimu-chan, thank you.”

“Oh, Rimu, that’s great. Can you do that to Felicia, too?”

“I can do it.”

Rimu’s heal is also placed on Felicia’s throat.

“Ah, master, it’s healed. Rimu-chan, thank you.”

“Rimu, did it. Am I great?”

“Rimu, that’s very good. Thanks to Rimu, Ines, and Felicia’s sore spots are healed.”

The three of us praised Rimu and patted him around. Rimu was proud of it and bounced around; it was so cute.

“Wataru-san, can we ask you for help too?”

I turned around at the sound of a rattling voice and saw Alessia-san and Marina-san standing side by side.

“Um, how about it? Ines and Felicia are fine with my decision. Can I use my decision on Alessia-san and Marina-san, too?”

“Eh? Is there any problem?”

“If it’s heal, you could have asked Claretta-san to do it, but it’s strange that you went to the trouble of asking me. That’s what I thought.”

“…T-there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“No, I can only assume there’s a problem if you make such a blatant disapproving face.”

“T-that’s not true.”

“That can happen, right, Alessia?”

“Dorothea, what’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? Alessia, Marina, you’re being punished for being excessive, and you can’t just heal yourself like that.”

“Ugh, Ines and Felicia were healed, so why shouldn’t we be?”

Oof, Ines and Felicia are being called out. Did the storm bring the four of them closer together? Maybe if I had been there too, we would have gotten to know each other better. That would have been a shame. Well, if I had gone with them, we would have finished early, so maybe we wouldn’t have gotten along.

“Hah, it’s no good because you tried to heal yourself secretly. You should be a little more reflective. Come play with me, Rimu-chan.”

Oh, Rim was taken away from me…

“Well then, it’s time to move on to the Luto, so please get ready.”

I go back to my room to get ready to escape from the grim-faced Alessia-san and Marina-san.

Although delayed a day by the storm, we are off to Palermo again.