Chapter 370: There Are Troubles, Too

As the ship began to move, it accelerated rapidly thanks to the wind magic. Being able to make the wind blow in the direction you desire is a wonderful thing. After all, even if everyone’s movements are clumsy, the speed alone reaches top gear.

“Ooh, it is a huge success!”

Perhaps because we were receiving a tailwind generated by magic, I didn’t feel a wind as strong as I expected; rather, it was a comfortable sea voyage. However, due to the speed we were carrying, the ship had a bouncing, skipping motion.

“I-It is amazing……”

“It is indeed different from the shaking of a carriage.”

Arte and Panamera voiced such impressions while looking at the sea from the deck. At that moment, I suddenly remembered Khamsin’s constitution.

When I turned around, I saw that a pale-faced Khamsin had appeared once again.

“……L-Lord Van. P-Please, the speed…… th-th-the shaking……”

“Roger! Mage-san! Stop the wind!”

The critical point is near. Sensing that, I immediately requested the ship to stop. The middle-aged man in robes, who was Rosso’s subordinate, nodded and cut off the magic. The ship continued forward due to inertia, but the speed gradually decreased.

The shaking also subsided, and Khamsin leaned against the handrail at the edge of the deck, catching his breath.

“A-Are you okay?”

“Shall I bring some water?”

I checked Khamsin’s condition together with Till. Noticing our state, Arte and Panamera, who had been following the horizon with their eyes, also walked over.

“Is he alright?”

“Ah, his complexion is……”

When the two peered into his face with concern, Khamsin turned blue, then red. He was very busy.

“Ah, n-no, I-I am f-fine……!”

Khamsin, whose face changed colors like a traffic light. No, the speed was too fast. This was semaphore.

While I was thinking that, Dee, who had been steering, called out to me.

“Lord Van, how far are we going? Because we picked up more speed than expected, the shore is already that far away.”

“Eh?”

Surprised by Dee’s words, I turned my face toward the stern. Indeed, the land had become a thin line. If anything, the streetscape of Tribute was becoming unrecognizable.

“Whoa, it’s true. Does that mean we traveled kilometers in this short time? This looks like ships will seriously become the best method of transportation.”

I narrowed my eyes and tried to stare at Tribute in the far distance. It was no use. I couldn’t even make out the shapes of the large buildings. Just as I thought that, Khamsin let out a thin, long breath with a pale face.

“……Lord Rosso is still watching us.”

“You’re lying!?”

I asked back in astonishment at Khamsin’s words. I couldn’t see anything. There was no way he could recognize a person. However, Khamsin didn’t seem to be joking.

“Eh? No, Lord Rosso’s subordinates and Lady Panamera’s subordinates are also looking this way……”

“That’s impossible!”

Khamsin made an outrageous report with a serious face, leaving me dumbfounded. Can he even recognize which faction the armored knights belong to? I would believe it if told his visual acuity was 10.0.

Just as I was rolling my eyes at Khamsin’s abnormal vision, the bow of the ship suddenly became noisy.

“Large shadow spotted underwater! Possibility of a large magic beast!”

“It’s huge!”

Arb and Law shouted with a sense of urgency.

“Eh? Large……”

Surprised by their report, I tried to turn around, but I stopped, catching something in the corner of my vision. It was a strange sense of unease. Nothing had broken the surface of the sea, so what was……

Unconsciously, I turned my gaze toward the direction I felt the unease.

“Th-This is……”

Khamsin, who had been clinging to the handrail the whole time, reacted first.

On the water’s surface, a shadow so large it looked like a joke was reflected. No, this was what you call a fish shadow. Something was underwater, and it was visible only as a darkened shadow. Since I could only see the silhouette, it seemed to be quite deep, yet its size was clearly larger than this ship.

“……Isn’t that bigger than a dragon?”

At its absurd enormity, an exasperated laugh involuntarily escaped me. No, it was a situation where joking wasn’t appropriate, but I laughed because it lacked any sense of reality. That is how huge the magic beast underwater was.

The shadow moved swayingly, returning from the stern toward the bow.

“……If it showed its face, I could land a blow.”

Panamera muttered, looking unusually tense. Indeed, fire magic would likely be ineffective against an opponent underwater. Or rather, even if she dropped a large rock, it would be slowed by water resistance and easily dodged. If attacking underwater, water magic seemed to be the only option.

And there was no one on board our fleet who could use water magic.

“If we can attack, we might be able to drive it away.”

Saying that, Panamera started walking toward the bow. Meanwhile, Arte was clutching the hem of my clothes with an anxious face.

“We are returning to Tribute immediately! Wind magic, please!”

“Y-Yes!”

It was an emergency. Even though he was Rosso’s subordinate, I gave him a strong instruction. I was worried about his remaining magical power since he had been working hard, but I wanted him to squeeze it out somehow.

The next moment, the ship shook violently.

“F-From below……!?”

There was no time to say anything else. The massive ship should have had a weight commensurate with its size, yet the bow was lifted with great force, and conversely, the stern was driven down near the sea surface instantly. The deck became almost vertical, and with the momentum of the ship tilting, my feet floated gently off the floor.

“V-Van-sama……!”

Khamsin, who had been clinging to the handrail, reached out his hand while looking like he was about to be thrown off. In the spur of the moment, I tried to grab his hand, but my hand grasped empty air in vain.