Chapter 44 — Volume 4 4 — Sage within the Ship

Part 1

It took one month to finish our negotiations with the smugglers.

It wasn't all that difficult to find the smugglers.

First offer money to an information broker, and get introduced to a middle man.

Then, contact the smugglers through the middle man.

And finally, wait for a response from the middle man.

It then becomes a process of repeating these steps over and over again.

Hand over money to the information broker, hand over money to the middle man, and hand over money to the smuggler.

In no time, more than half of the money we had on hand had disappeared.

My wallet is light.

I want to believe that we will have enough money to at least pay for an inn on the other side of the ocean.

Honestly, I feel like we could've gotten a cheaper deal if we had approached the smugglers directly.

However, it seems like the smugglers move together as an organization. If you don't go through the middle man then you can't make contact.

It seems to be an intelligent way to avoid being exposed.

I don't completely understand their structure, but it seems they do get around well.

Finishing all the preparations took one month.

Which made the month feel both long and short.

But either way it's fine.

Part 2

On the specified day.

Late at night.

When the moon wasn't out.

The specified place is a certain pier near the end of the port.

The surroundings are eerily quiet, and only the sound of the waves can be heard.

There was a person there with a suspicious hood covering their face and a small boat.

Just as we had arranged, we will hand over the person we want smuggled in over to him.

We handed Ruijerd to the smuggler.

Just as it was specified, Ruijerd was handcuffed behind his back.

These handcuffs were purchased at the specified tool shop as well.

"……"

In the case of the smugglers, all the people they transport are literally treated as slaves.

The amount of money it costs to transport a slave is 5 small green coins. A uniform price.

This money had already been paid.

But according to the middle man there are also some guys who request payment during the exchange.

No good misers.

"Well then, please take good care of things."

"……"

The smuggler didn't say a single thing.

Just nodded silently, placed Ruijerd on the small boat, and put a sack over his head.

The small boat had just a single boatman.

But on board, there were a number of heads with sacks covering them.

However, judging from their size, none of them should be children.

After confirming that Ruijerd had boarded the boat, the smuggler gave a signal.

The man sitting in the front of the boat started a magic incantation.

Then the small boat took off into the ocean in the pitch black night without making any sounds.

I couldn't hear the incantation very well, but it seemed like it was water magic that controled the currents and moved the boat forward.

If that's the case then I should be able to do it as well.

The small ship stopped in the open sea for a bit and then moved to a larger merchant ship.

There, they handed over the slaves but it seems like they will depart in the morning.

Ruijerd continued to face in my direction while on the small boat.

Even if you put a sack on his head he will still know my location.

I'm seeing him off.

Donna Donna is floating away.

No, he's not floating away.

It's not like I sold him.

It's just a short separation.

Part 3

The next day.

We sold the lizard we had been depending on for the past year.

It costs a tax to bring the lizard on board the ship and people use horses in Milis Continent.

The horses in this world are fast.

There's no longer any reason to ride on a lizard.

Eris hugged the neck of the lizard and patted its body.

There were no words, but it was lonely.

The lizard was attached to Eris.

During the journey it would often lick her head, covering it in saliva.

Covering Eris in viscous liquid, what an… what an erotic lizard indeed.

Even I want to lick Eris from end to end.

Just like that I discovered a new sense of jealousy.

That's right.

That lizard was already our ally wasn't it.

It was an ally of "Dead End".

It's not good to just keep calling him a lizard.

Let's at least give it a name.

Alright, from today on your name is Ge〇ha.

A man of the sea who wants to make lots of human friends.

"It's surprisingly obedient. Did you properly train it during the journey?"

The merchant dealing with the lizard showed admiration.

"Well yeah."

The one who trained it was Ruijerd.

There wasn't anything specific to do, but there was certainly a master-servant relationship between Ruijerd and Ge?ha.

Surely, that lizard knew who was the strongest in our party.

Incidentally, it wasn't particularly attached to me and tried to bite me a number of times.

Yeah, I'm a bit irritated after remembering it.

"Haha, as expected of The Owner of "Dead End". Since it's like this, it won't take much time to change the master. Recently many people treat them pretty roughly so retraining them is difficult."

That merchant is of the Lugonia race.

He's got a lizard head.

On the Magic Continent lizards train lizards.

"It's only obvious to treat the ally who has traveled together with us preciously."

Following that exchange, Geraha (lizard) was seriously treated like Donna Donna.

In my hand was the money received from selling my ally.

After thinking that, the money looked extremely dirty. How mysterious.

After all maybe I should have stopped with the name. It will transfer my feelings.

Goodbye, oh nameless lizard.

I won't forget your back.

"Gusu…"

I heard sniffling sounds from Eris.

Part 4

We went to board the ship after selling the lizard.

"Rudeus! It's a ship! It's really big! Wa!! It's swaying! What's this?"

Soon after boarding the ship, Eris started energetically running back and forth.

She's already forgotten about parting with the lizard.

The fact that her feelings change directions so quickly is one of her good points.

The ship is a sail boat made out of wood.

It seems like it was the newest model completed just a month earlier.

I heard that this trip to Saint Port will be its first test as well as its maiden voyage.

"However, its shape is a bit different to the one I saw before."

"Have you seen a boat before Eris?"

Even though it was her first time seeing the ocean.

"What are you talking about, there was one in Rudeus' room wasn't there!?"

Come to think of it, I do remember making something like that.

How nostalgic.

The thing that I started making to practice my earth magic. Then the thought 'I could make a figurine' came up and I started making the 1/10 scale sized Roxy.

It's been quite a while since I last made a figurine.

Since I didn't know when and how much magic power I would need, I avoided doing any training that consumed magic power.

I only worked on my body with Ruijerd and Eris during their training sessions.

Recently, I've slacked off quite a bit.

There might be a need to train myself again after things calm down.

"I did make it from my imagination after all, it can't be helped that it was a bit different."

Besides, this ship is supposedly the newest model.

Though I don't know what was new about it.

"It's amazing isn't it. Crossing the ocean in something big like this."

Eris was showing strong interest in it.

Part 5

Three days after our departure.

While on board the ship, I began thinking.

Ship.

If you're speaking of ships, then they're a treasure trove of events.

There's no way you can ride a ship without events happening.

I can say that.

I can declare it.

For example, a dolphin jumping outside the ship.

The heroine sees that and says, "Look! It's amazing!" and I look and say, "My technique at night is amazing." then the heroine says "Amazing! Hold me!" then I say, "Hey hey, in this sort of place, what a bad little kitten you are." then…

Yeah. Something is a bit different.

Also, if you think of ships, then you also think of attacks.

Octopus, Squids, Serpents, Pirates, or Ghost Ships.

Getting attacked by something along those lines and sinking, drifting away, and being stranded.

The place you finally arrive at is a solitary island, where you start your shared lives together with the heroine.

The heroine who starts off hating me but gradually softens up after overcoming a number of events.

Then, the one main thing that they can do when they are alone, as just man and woman.

The intersecting gaze. Burning passion. Young blood.

Paradise for just two.

Also, if you talk about being attacked by an octopus, the heroine's fate is already sealed.

The eight legs which you can't see very well attack and hang the heroine in mid air.

The body in agony. Chest rising to the surface. Tentacle crawling underneath.

A great spectacle that makes your hands sweaty. For the time being you can't take your eyes away.

However, reality is cruel.

Eris is currently in the cabin, in front of a bucket with a pale face.

Just as I was thinking about how excited she was for riding on a ship for the first time, she started to throw up on the way.

Even though she was fine on a lizard, I wonder what was so bad about riding on the ship.

For me who knows nothing about motion sickness; I don't understand it.

The one thing I can say is that even if the swaying is small, there is no difference for people who are experiencing sea sickness.

Just that.

Part 6

On the fourth day.

The octopus came out.

Probably an octopus. When I opened my eyes I saw a light blue colored octopus and it was super huge.

However, it was effortlessly repelled by the S ranking party that guarded the ship.

However, were there such jobs as guarding a ship?

After thinking that, I asked a merchant nearby and it seems like they are people who specialize in guarding ships.

The party's name is [Aqua Road].

It seems they have an exclusive contract with shipbuilding guilds.

But since it's them, even on this sea route, all the monsters that appear seem to be their specialty .

There were no heart thumping or exciting tentacle events.

How disappointing.

However, there was an upside to this.

In case of a worst case scenario, I was watching those battles from the sidelines.

At the beginning I just laughed at them for holding their noses so high.

The swordsman who fought as the vanguard was strong, but not as much as Ghyslaine.

The warrior who received the enemies attack and kept it preoccupied was strong, but not as much as Ruijerd.

The magician who stopped the octopus as a rear guard was below me.

In the beginning I was pretty disappointed.

Even if you say S rank, it was only something of this level.

I thought there were a lot of strong people in this world, but unexpectedly they might not be that great.

However, I suddenly changed my mind.

They're an S rank party.

What I should be looking at is not their individual abilities, but their teamwork.

Even if their individual ability is low, they were able to defeat that great octopus.

Even if their individual ability is low, they were able to rise up to S rank.

That's what's important.

Each individual performs their role and provides a great power to the group.

That is teamwork.

It's what we, Dead End, are lacking.

The individual ability in [Dead End] is high.

However, how would we do when we work as a team? I wonder.

Ruijerd's team work is outstanding.

I wonder if it's because he has experience from the army, but he matches well with the group.

Even if Eris or I make some kind of mistake he's able to follow through.

He's also outstanding at crowd control. Monsters are nailed on the spot from just a look at him.

However, he's too strong.

In reality they're all opponents he could defeat alone, but we force him to fight together with us under the guise of a team.

I won't say it's bad, but there's no mistake that it's distorted.

I, for the most part, try to keep things in mind during team matches.

Even though I say that, it doesn't mean that our movements will mesh well together.

I get too focused on methods that deal with enemies that get close to me.

We rely heavily on Ruijerd when there are a large number of enemies.

Eris is no good.

She will honestly listen to instructions.

However, she can't match her breathing together with her surroundings during battle.

When the enemy is in front of her, she becomes desperate and overextends herself.

It sounds good if you call it easy going fighting, but she has never once followed after Ruijerd or me.

Although, Ruijerd has no need for me to follow through with him.

If we end up separated from Ruijerd for some reason or another.

I have no confidence in my skill to back up Eris.

I have gotten my hands on demon eyes, but I only have two hands.

One hand to protect myself and the other hand to protect Eris.

And the extent to what I can protect with one hand is limited.

I'm worried.

As soon as we arrive on the other side, we have to meet up with Ruijerd.

"Rudeuswu…"

Eris came up to the deck with a pale face.

Her feet were staggering when she came out onto the deck of the ship, but then she started retching.

It appears that she has nothing left in her stomach to throw up.

"Wh…when people are suffering, why… are you in this kind of place…"

"Sorry about that. Since the ocean was beautiful."

"You're cruel… uppu…"

Tears appeared in one of her eyes as she embraced me.

Her sea sickness was severe.

Part 7

The fifth day, Eris is in the cabin feeling down as usual.

And I was there, giving her my undivided attention.

"Uu, uuu… my head hurts… heal me…"

"Yes, yes."

It was something I had heard from a sailor, but it seems that seasickness can be alleviated just a little with healing magic.

After I gave it a try, we confirmed that Eris started feeling a little bit better.

Seasickness results from contradictions in the autonomic nervous system.

If you use healing magic on their head, it subsides for a while.

In other words, this is what I'm doing.

Even though I say that, it's not a continuous measure, nor does it make you feel all better.

"Hey… am I… going to die…?"

"It'd be pretty laughable if you died from seasickness, huh?"

"I can't laugh about it…"

There's no one else in the cabin.

Though there's also the fact that the cabins are large, it seems there aren't many people travelling from the Magic Continent to the Milis continent.

I wonder if it's because the voyage fees for magic races are more expensive than the human race. Or is it because it's easier to live on the Magic Continent.

I wouldn't know about those kinds of things.

Eris and I are alone together.

In the dark and quiet room, with Eris who no longer had the strength to resist.

And during the five days, the only one who looked after the weakened Eris was me.

At the beginning, I felt that this was okay.

However, just healing is no good.

Healing requires me to touch Eris' head.

So that I can heal her periodically, I've been giving her a lap pillow, and while supporting her head, I use it continuously.

In doing so, I start to feel a little strange.

Well, using the word 'strange' would be misleading, huh?

I'll say it frankly.

I start to get into an erotic mood.

Please think about it for a little.

In the cabin, the normally strong Eris was now,

with moist eyes, whilst wildly breathing, and in a frail and weak voice

"Please. I'm begging you, so please do it. (Healing)",

pleading to me.

Inside of my head, I've turned down the volume of the 'healing' part to be as low as possible.

I can't see it as anything but Eris inviting me.

Naturally, that wasn't the case.

She was just ill.

I've never experienced seasickness before, but I understand that it's painful.

I was touching her.

It wasn't anything erotic.

However.

Stroking the head of a girl about your age, and feeling her body heat.

That was something stimulating.

Though the place I was touching wasn't somewhere erotic, it was stimulating.

Though it was only mildly stimulating, doing so over a long period of time would have been dangerous.

Being touched meant touching.

Touching meant being close.

Being close meant that in other words…

Eris' face wet with a cold sweat, and the nape of her neck, and her chest…

All of it was in my field of vision.

Moreover, it was the exhausted and weakened Eris.

Eris who would always hit me even if I accidentally touched her.

Right now she was, in other words, a sitting duck.

Isn't she already mine by this point?

Isn't it fine to just do whatever I want to her?

Those sorts of feelings were starting to sprout.

Almost certainly, even if I tore off her clothes and subjected her to my lust, Eris wouldn't resist.

No, she couldn't resist.

With a feeble expression, with a resigned expression, and with tears trickling down her face, she'd probably have no choice but to accept it.

Just imagining that sort of scene, places the Excalibur that is between my legs, right in front of Arthur.

The Arthur in my mind is shouting and pleading to me.

It's shouting that right now Eris can't resist.

It's shouting that this chance won't ever come again.

It's shouting that right now is a chance to throw 'that' away.

However, the Merlin inside of me is telling me to endure it.

'You've already decided, haven't you?' he says.

'You've already decided to protect the promise of waiting until you're 15, haven't you?' he says.

'You've already decided to endure it until the journey ends, haven't you?' he says.

I support Merlin.

However, my endurance is close to its limit.

For example, I test things a bit by touching her chest.

There's no mistake that it's soft.

But it isn't just soft.

That's right. When it comes to breasts they aren't just soft.

In the middle of the soft parts is a firm part.

The Holy Grail.

It's what my Arthur is searching for.

If my Gawain (hand) found the Holy Grail, what would happen?

It'd be the Battle of Camlann.

Ahh, of course it's not just the Holy Grail.

Eris' body is growing by the day.

She's in her growth period after all.

Probably due to her genes, she's quickly approaching her mother in one particular part.

At this rate she'll surely grow up to be a voluptuous and eye-catching beauty.

The gazes of the surrounding men would be nailed to her.

There'd be a guy who'd say "Heh. It'd be just perfect if they were just a bit smaller."

Peoples have varied tastes after all.

But I'd say to that guy,

'I knew her during the time when they were 'just right' you know.'

Do you understand?

It means that I, right now, in this very instant,

can make 'past Eris' mine.

"Huu… Huu…"

My breathing is getting rough.

"Ru-, Rudeus…?"

Eris is looking at me with a worried face.

"A-, are you okay?"

Her voice hits me.

The voice that's usually shrill, needlessly loud, and a little unpleasant.

That voice, at just the right volume, numbs my mind.

"Hahh… Hahh… I'm alright. Please don't worry. We've made a promise after all…"

"…If it's painful, then it's fine to not force yourself you know?"

"!"

By "it's fine to not force yourself", does she mean,

'It's fine to not hold yourself back'?

That it's okay to do whatever?

…

Just kidding.

I get it.

She's wondering if I'm running out of magic power due to using Healing.

I get it.

She trusts in me.

That by no means would I lay my hands on her in this moment.

And I won't betray that trust.

Rudeus Greyrat won't betray it.

This is what you'd call 'living up to trust'.

Alright, I'll become a machine.

I'll become a machine that applies healing.

I'll become an emotionless robot.

I won't look at anything.

If I see Eris' face, I'll rampage.

After thinking about that I close my eyes.

I cannot hear anything.

If I listen to Eris' voice, I'll rampage.

After thinking about that I plug up my ears.

I'm an unsociable person.

I don't have any desires, therefore I won't rampage.

While thinking about that, I close off my heart.

However, the warmth of Eris' head and her scent…

Because of these two, in an instant my determination fades.

I feel like my mind is about to go blank.

Yeah, I can't hold on any longer.

I've endured up to my limits.

"Eris, I'm going to the toilet for a bit."

"…Ahh. So you needed to go to the toilet, huh?… Take your time…"

Glancing back at Eris who easily believed me, I leave the cabin.

I move quickly.

A place with no one around. I immediately spot one.

And then, a moment of bliss.

"Phew…"

Just like that I became a sage.

However I don't stop there, I close my sage eyes and transform stronger.

"I'm back."

"Yeah, welcome back."

I returned to the cabin with a facial expression like a Bodhisattva and became a healing machine.

"…Hm? Rudeus, did you eat something?"

"Eh?"

"-sniff sniff-… You smell funny…"

I forgot to wash my hands.

Tehepero.

Part 8

After we got off the ship Eris quickly regained her energy.

"I never want to ride another ship!"

"No, we still have to ride one more to get from Milis Continent to Central Continent."

Eris clearly became dejected after hearing that.

But then she remembered what had happened on the boat, and said in a worried expression.

"Hey, hey. When that time comes, could you use healing on me again?"

"It's fine, but next time I might end up doing something ecchi."

I said it seriously.

Really seriously.

Trying to cope with that half-dead state of hers is close to torture.

"Uu… Why would you say such a mean thing?"

It's not mean.

This is the painful truth.

Understand the feelings of a dog who has had a meal put in front of him but is forced to wait.

It feels like your stomach is empty and the meal says 'eat me and make yourself full.'

You can drink lots of water to stave off hunger but by no means will it satisfy your empty stomach.

The meal won't disappear and your stomach will soon become empty again.

"I'm desperately trying to endure because Eris is cute."

"It…it can't be helped then. Next time it's fine if you touch, just a little bit, ok?"

Eris' face was bright red.

It's truly cute.

However, the difference between her "little bit" and my desire is too great.

"Unfortunately, it's not something that will end with just a little bit of touching. Please be resolved because it will turn into a mess."

Eris was at a loss for words.

I would prefer that you didn't hold too many expectations of me.

Please allow me to protect our promise.

If I end up breaking our promise, then we'll both end up harboring bad feelings.

"For the time being, let's go."

"Yea…yeah. I get it."

Eris changed her mood quickly and we started to walk towards town with high spirits.

In front of our eyes was a townscape that resembled Wind Port.

This is Saint Port.

The northern most town in Milis Continent.

It's Milis Continent.

We've finally made it this far.

But then, the path ahead is still long.

"Rudeus, what's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing."

Let's forget how far the path ahead of us is.

What's important now is to aim towards the next town.

"Now then."

The time to pick up the smuggled goods is tonight.

We've already finished exchanging our money on the Magic Continent.

So there's no need to go to the Adventurer's Guild.

For starters we need to find an inn.

Then we need to rid the fatigue that accumulated during the boat trip

After that, we'll casually head off and meet up with Ruijerd.

---

Like that, we arrived on the Milis Continent.