166 - The Sahagin Assault
The second day of the voyage.
I woke up in the room I had been given inside the swaying ship.
As I stretched, I heard voices coming from the hallway.
It was the voices of Eva and Clara.
"Wait... I can't handle this if it's still going to continue..."
"I... I feel sick."
I scratched my head; since they weren't used to sea travel, the two of them had been suffering from seasickness since yesterday. As I sat up, Monica called out to me.
"Good morning, chicken-boy."
I rubbed my sleepy eyes and looked at Monica. Without a doubt, she was in my room preparing my things.
"...I locked the door, didn't I?"
I looked at the door; the doorknob was indeed locked.
"A lock of that caliber is as good as non-existent before this Monica. In the face of the great cause of caring for a chicken-boy, such a lock cannot possibly be an obstacle! Ah, since the ship is swaying, I have prepared a wet towel for you today."
As I received the towel soaked in cold water, I wiped my face and decided not to think about Monica. I had a feeling that a lock of this level could be opened by her.
Therefore, I asked about the status of the other companions.
"Eva and Clara still seem to be struggling, but what about the other members?"
Monica took the wet towel back from me, then pulled out a morning grooming set from the gap between her skirt and apron and offered me a chair. Once I sat down, Monica began to style my hair.
"That fellow Novem is nursing Aria and Mei. Miranda is dealing with the little girl Shannon, who is in a terrible state. A lot happened during the night. Speaking of which, chicken-boy, your complexion looks poor as well?"
As expected, I wasn't used to sea travel. Moreover, being the second day, it seemed fatigue was setting in for me too. With a sigh, I asked about Shannon, who sounded the worst.
"So Shannon is the worst. Cleaning the room must be a pain."
Then, after Monica finished styling my hair, she offered me a cup with a smile. Not to drink, but to rinse my mouth; the liquid in the cup was a translucent green.
As I took it into my mouth and rinsed, Monica held out a small bucket to me.
"There is no problem. This Monica Full-Option Version is not just for show. Everything from room cleaning to laundry has been completed."
From within the jewel, I heard the voice of the Seventh Generation.
"This automaton. Is it actually quite excellent? Her usual words and actions are unbelievable, but it might be true that the ancients gathered their wisdom to create her."
Looking at her usual behavior, I often forgot, but Monica did devote herself to me. And thanks to her performance, there had been many scenes where she had saved me.
The Fourth Generation, however, still seemed slightly unconvinced.
"I mean, why did the ancients make an automaton like this? It's a waste of technology, or something... Oh, Lyell, is your physical condition alright? It seems we haven't arrived at the scheduled sea area yet, but you're not unable to move, are you?"
The reason we accepted the escort for The Vera Trace was that the ship would pass through a sea area where damage caused by monsters was believed to have increased. Since they absolutely had to pass through there, and upon receiving information that several ships had been destroyed and sunk, they would likely hire an escort.
Though, judging by the Trace family's reaction, I didn't think the Goddess of Fortune would allow anything to happen, but the job was requested as a "just to be safe" measure.
While feeling a slight sluggishness in my body, I gripped the jewel to let the Fourth Generation know I was fine. As I stood up, Monica handed me my change of clothes.
"You... forget it."
As I took them, Monica wore a triumphant expression.
"Hmph, at this rate, the completion of a useless human who cannot survive without me is imminent. It is fine. I shall look after you until the day you die."
At those words, which didn't make me happy at all, I threw my discarded jacket at her.
Outside—having gone out to the deck, I finished a light meal and came to breathe the fresh air.
The one who came with me was Eva, who looked pale. She had followed me because she wanted to breathe the outside air, but I was currently lending her my shoulder.
"Hey, are you really okay?"
Eva, with her breathing ragged and her face blue, replied.
"I-I'm okay. I was told that if I'm outside, I can just throw up into the sea."
This girl is not okay at all. Thinking that, I sighed and headed toward a spot on the deck that wouldn't be in the way.
As I gripped the railing, Eva looked into the distance. She seemed to be trying a remedy for seasickness she had heard from the crew.
"...I should have stayed at the mansion."
Eva had tears in her eyes, but I was the one who had encouraged her to stay at the mansion. However, both Clara and Eva had shown interest in foreign lands and followed me.
While rubbing her back, I said with exasperation.
"You followed me, so give up. You'll probably get used to it in three days. Still, I can't believe the land is that far away."
To the left of our course, land could be seen far off.
Looking at the land, Eva complained.
"I want to go back to land."
As I was rubbing the back of the completely weakened Eva, a voice called out from behind. Turning around, Vera-san was standing there, holding a red parasol, her twin-tails swaying in the sea breeze.
"That looks quite terrible. Is this your first sea voyage?"
"For me and my companions, it's mostly the first time. Our hometown is Vanseim, so we just never had any connection to the sea."
There is almost no sea in Vanseim. Even if there are lakes, it wasn't a place with any connection to the ocean.
Holding the parasol in her right hand and brushing back her hair with her left, Vera-san approached me.
"Conversely, a sight without the sea is rare for me. I've never even climbed a mountain. I wonder, is it actually fun?"
When I tried to remember climbing a mountain, the memory of going on a picnic with my family came back. There were guards around us, watching over our family with smiles.
At that time, Father and Mother were kind, and Celes was...
Once I remembered that far, I covered half my face with my left hand.
(Celes... I wonder what kind of face she was making?)
No matter how I tried to remember, I couldn't. Then, Vera-san drew closer to me.
"Are you alright? Don't push yourself and get some rest. The sea area where we have work is several days away, so it's fine as long as you get used to being on the ship by then."
I shook my head.
"No, I'm fine. Eva is—"
When I looked at Eva, she had a blue expression, her cheeks puffed out, and she was covering her mouth.
"Evaaaa!!"
"I... I can't anymore..."
Vera-san gave a wry smile and gave me some advice while twirling her parasol.
"It's painful when there's nothing in the stomach when you want to vomit. Have her eat even a little, or keep her drinking water. Alcohol is a no-go."
She offered me a handkerchief, and as I took it, I became bewildered. It looked like an expensive handkerchief.
"You may use it. Wipe her mouth for her. It would be a waste of a beauty."
As I wiped Eva's mouth as told, the crew hurriedly rushed out onto the deck.
Then, a crew member on the lookout tower rang a bell and shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!!"
At that, Vera-san folded her parasol and tossed it to me. Pulling a golden gun from the holster at her lower back, she held a gun with a black grip embedded with jewels.
"That's a favorite of mine, so don't lose it."
Seeing the golden gun, the Seventh Generation became excited.
"A revolver type! In my era, they were larger and held four shots... Hmm, this one has six! The barrel is long, but it's square rather than round? The hammer part is compact... Nice! I want it, Lyell!"
I didn't particularly want it, but I could honestly think it looked cool. Moreover, I felt it looked picturesque when Vera-san held it.
Brushing back her hair, she checked the cylinder and looked around.
"Same as always. Make sure you don't engage in friendly fire! If you break the ship, you'll be fish food!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Leave it to us, Young Mistress!"
"I'll turn them into a honeycomb!"
The crew gathered on the deck with weapons in hand. They had sabers. Some crew members also had guns. Not handguns, but guns about one meter long that they held with both hands.
The Fifth Generation noted.
"Doesn't every single one of them have a knife attached to the tip?"
The Fourth Generation seemed to notice.
"If they run out of ammo, they use them as spears... Thinking about it that way, maybe guns are good?"
The Seventh Generation was excited.
"Exactly! Exactly! As I thought, guns change the world!"
However, the Third Generation was negative.
"...Fighting with those, does that iron part of the gun? The part that shoots the bullets, doesn't it bend?"
The Seventh Generation made an excuse.
"...They are delicate, so they can break. But! You just have to repair them! Besides, isn't it a wonderful weapon that allows you to fight even when you run out of bullets!"
While listening to the voices of the successive heads, I snapped my fingers and made a treasure chest appear on the deck. Two sabers flew out from inside.
Taking them in hand, I held out the parasol to Eva.
"It seems to be something important, so don't get it dirty. Well, this will probably be over soon anyway."
I drew a saber and handed the scabbard to Eva as well.
"I won't get it dirty. But she clearly has an aura that suggests she can handle combat. Were we even necessary?"
While I thought Eva's question was reasonable, the Second Generation's skill—All—informed me of the reactions of the monsters around us. Carrying hostility toward us, they leaped out from the sea surface.
Their appearance—they were the Sahagin I had seen in the labyrinth before.
However, compared to the previous Sahagin, many had scales and skin of an eerie color, and wounds in various places.
Their movements also had a certain sharpness, unlike the Sahagin I had seen in the labyrinth.
Vera-san aimed the golden gun with one arm and fired.
Smoke erupted from the muzzle, and the head of a Sahagin that had leaped from the sea and landed on the deck was blown away.
As the deck was stained with an eerie green or blue-like blood, using that as a signal, Sahagin holding harpoons in their hands leaped out one after another from the sea surface.
I stood as if to protect Eva behind me. One of the Sahagin that leaped out rolled across the deck, stood up in front of me, and took a stance.
However, as a gunshot rang out, the Sahagin was blown sideways.
Turning my gaze opposite to the direction it had been blown, Vera-san was aiming her gun with an expressionless face.
The Seventh Generation was excited.
"Did she improve the gun into a magic tool! To think it has progressed that far... and to handle a gun with that kind of caliber with one arm!"
I was glad he was happy, but I broke into a cold sweat.
"Please don't hit me."
Then, Vera-san shot dead a Sahagin that had approached, opened the cylinder, and was exchanging bullets.
As the heated shell casings fell to the floor, several light metallic sounds could be heard. Around us, the crew also began combat, and gunshots and angry shouts could be heard.
Vera-san, loading bullets, said.
"Don't move too much. Also, the next ones are coming."
Perhaps she grasped a wider area than the Second Generation's skill—All; looking where Vera-san was gazing, Sahagin leaped out from the sea surface.
While thinking about what incredible jumping power they had, considering there was a considerable height to the ship's deck, I sliced upward from bottom to top, cleanly bisecting a Sahagin that was charging toward me with a harpoon.
While shooting through a different prey, Vera-san said with admiration.
"You're as famous as they say. You've cut them cleanly again."
Saying so, Vera-san shot through the next prey with her gun. Looking at the sight of her shooting Sahagin one after another with a cool face, a cold sweat ran down me.
Her dress was not splattered with blood. However, I had the illusion that it was dyed bright red with blood.
"They keep coming. These things are really numerous."
Saying so with exasperation, Vera-san fired three consecutive shots toward the sea, and the Sahagin shot mid-air fell toward the sea surface.
Then, the crew member on lookout shouted.
"A big one! The headless one has appeared!"
At that, Vera-san put her left hand to the side and shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Prepare the cannons! The enemy is slow! Aim slowly!"
When I looked at the situation outside, a turtle shell was surfacing on the sea. Hundreds of tentacles were extending from the shell, approaching us.
"Was it a Shell Jellyfish? I'd heard they were called headless or one-eyed."
As I moved near the railing, Eva also stood up and looked at the monster, which was half the size of the ship, floating on the sea surface.
"If something like that charges... Lyell, look down!"
Told so, I looked down at the side of the hull, where a door opened and a cannon emerged. However, it wasn't a cannon like the ones I knew.
"That's a strangely long and thin cannon."
At a Sahagin approaching from behind, I threw the saber I held in my left hand. The saber, rotating, pierced the Sahagin's head. Then, the Sahagin slowly fell backward just like that.
Returning my gaze to the sea, Vera-san was giving orders.
"Ready?"
"Anytime!"
A crew member, having heard something from a tube-like thing attached to the wall, gave Vera-san a thumbs-up to signal that preparations were complete.
Vera-san grinned.
"Don't think that body-slamming will work forever. ...Fire!!"
As the five barrels protruding from the hull spat fire, the ship shook violently. Then, Novem and Miranda rushed out onto the deck.
"Lyell-sama!"
"Good grief! If I hadn't been told not to go outside... wait, what is that..."
Novem looked at me and felt relieved, while Miranda watched the large monster, whose shell had been blown apart, sinking.
Looking around, the Sahagin were fleeing. And the battle was coming to an end.
While watching the sight of the monster slowly sinking into the sea, spurting blood after its shell was destroyed by the cannon fire, Vera-san put her gun back into the holster.
"This is our strength. How is it? Do you still think an escort is necessary?"
At that provocative gaze, I gave a wry smile.
"True. But if you have this much power, I wonder why you hired us. You must have been extremely worried."
I laughed self-deprecatingly, thinking that our help was absolutely unnecessary. However, Vera-san brushed back her hair, looking slightly sad.
"...It's an excuse. They want to make it seem like they did what they could. It's always like that. Binding me to the ship. The Goddess of Fortune would be appalled if she heard this."
Vera-san's profile as she looked up at the sky seemed as if she were enduring something.
...At the same time.
(Ah, wait...? My vision is shaking... and my body is suddenly heavy)
As I staggered, Novem and Miranda rushed over to me.
"Lyell-sama!"
"You're kidding. Not at a time like this..."
I broke into a cold sweat at this abnormality in my body.
"...Why... now of all times."
Inside the jewel, the successive heads spoke.
"Hoho. It has finally come. The timing is off again this time."
"No, isn't it perfect?"
"We have time. I just hope he recovers by the time we reach the target sea area..."
"Well, in any case... Lyell really has the knack for it. To have a 'growth' at this timing."
Internally, I thought.
(No way. Not this... someone tell me this is a lie!!)
I felt terror in my heart at the fact that I had reached a growth.