novelraw Chapter 76
Chapter 76
Ch.76 Why Don’t We Go Take a Look at the Ship Tomorrow?
The Hero Party—Resilmi—had fully expected to finally meet Hans.
Now, they stared blankly out at the sea.
“Leah… just in case… is he over there, in the ocean?”
At Scarlet’s question, Leah gave a small nod.
“Yeah, somewhere around there.”
The distance looked too far to justify using the Fly spell, so Leah hesitated to cast it.
After all, Hans was already far beyond the New Continent aboard a luxury passenger liner—much faster than an ordinary ship—and was enjoying a pleasant time with Selena.
Seeing the three of them stunned into silence, Mia spoke casually, as if it were no big deal.
“Well, nothing for it. We’ll have to look into getting a ship ourselves.”
“A ship?”
Now that she mentioned it—they were at a dock.
Noticing the many large and small vessels nearby, the Hero Party nodded and headed toward the ticket office.
But the sight of the long line snaking all the way to the ticket counter quickly dampened their spirits.
They did their best to exercise exemplary civic manners, standing patiently in line—and only when the sun was nearly setting did their turn finally come.
Though it had been an excruciatingly long wait, they’d kept their tempers in check and waited diligently.
The ticket clerk smiled and asked politely,
“Hello! Where would you like to go?”
The Hero Party froze.
Of course, confirming a destination was standard when boarding a ship—but while they knew roughly where Hans was, they had no idea where he was headed.
“Well…”
Scarlet and Mia exchanged panicked glances and looked to Leah—but Leah didn’t know Hans’s destination either.
‘Damn it! If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve cast a Listening spell too!’
Back when she first used the Tracking spell, she’d felt guilty, as if she were stalking him.
Now, she regretted not boldly casting a Listening spell as well.
As the Hero Party stood there unable to name a destination, the clerk’s expression grew increasingly sour.
With so many people waiting behind them—and these customers just hesitating without saying a word—it was only natural the clerk grew frustrated.
But the clerk’s worsening smile wasn’t what mattered to them.
“But we don’t even know where Master is going!”
“Right?”
“What do we do?”
As the three whispered among themselves without buying tickets—
—What are you doing?! Hurry up and buy your tickets!
—Don’t you see there’s a line behind you?!
—What’s with the dawdling?!
Shouts of reproach rained down from behind.
—Whoosh!
Leah conjured dozens of fireballs in midair and twisted her face into a demon’s snarl.
“What did you just say? Are you all itching to die?”
—Eeek?!
—Isn’t that Leah—the mage who fought in the Slave Liberation War?!
—Yeah… yeah! Why are they even here?!
Only then did the crowd realize they’d provoked the wrong people.
Everyone quickly turned their heads and stared off into the distant horizon.
“Tch. Bunch of nobodies acting all tough.”
Though their pride stung at Leah’s grumbling, no one dared challenge the most dangerous people in the New Continent.
Once Leah had quelled the commotion, Scarlet asked,
“So what now?”
“We have no choice. We’ll have to rent a ship.”
But renting a ship would cost a fortune—and Leah wasn’t happy about it.
It wasn’t as if it would only cost a few coins.
“Why spend money renting? Just take one! We killed the Demon King—can’t we handle something like this?”
At Leah’s suggestion—her sense of lawfulness clearly lacking—Cecilia shook her head firmly.
“We’re the Hero Party. Stealing someone else’s ship just isn’t right.”
“Exactly. And even if we took it, there’s no guarantee the crew would follow us.”
Frustrated by her teammates’ objections, Leah snapped,
“Then what?! We’ll lose him at this rate!”
She couldn’t bear the thought of losing her master after coming so close.
“That’s why renting a ship to chase the Sage seems best. It’ll cost a bit, but haven’t we saved up plenty from our rewards?”
The Empire had generously rewarded the Hero Party for their outstanding achievements—and since they weren’t spendthrifts, nearly all that money remained untouched.
“Where do we even look for a ship?”
At Leah’s question, all eyes turned to the clerk.
‘Why… are they all looking at me? What did I do?!’
“We’d like to rent a ship,” Scarlet said.
The clerk forced a strained smile.
“We don’t rent out ships, I’m afraid.”
“But if we buy every ticket, that’s basically chartering the whole ship, right? So we should be able to go wherever we want.”
Though her logic made no sense, the clerk nervously wiped sweat from his brow and answered carefully,
“Well… even so… there’s still a contract with the captain… it’s… complicated.”
It was a perfectly reasonable response—but the Hero Party’s faces twisted in frustration.
Gasp!
The clerk trembled in fear, wondering if he’d make it home safely today—
“Looks like it’s no use. Let’s find another way to rent a ship first.”
Scarlet stepped in, calming the visibly agitated Hero Party.
“Tch.”
“Sigh…”
Mia clicked her tongue while Cecilia let out a deep sigh.
“Aaargh! Next time I see Master, I swear—I’ll tie him up head to toe and drag him around until I’m satisfied!”
Leah roared in fury.
And so, the Hero Party remained trapped in irritation and rage.
***
I had fun playing with Selena in the swimming pool.
After splashing each other and swimming for a while, I started getting hungry, so I said,
“How about a swimming race?”
After all, if I wanted dinner, I’d have to win.
“Hehe, so eager to treat me? I’m ordering something super expensive today—you’ve been warned.”
At her words, I gave a sly smile.
“That’s exactly what I was going to say. See that wall over there? The first person to touch it and come back wins.”
“Deal.”
As Selena and I lined up at the starting point,
I wrapped myself in divine magic and shouted,
“One, two, three!”
—Splash!
We both dove in and swam as fast as we could.
Selena was pretty quick—but I had divine magic on my side.
Not just any divine magic, but the kind a saint would wield.
I assumed I’d win easily—but Selena kept pace better than I expected.
Just as we neared the finish line—
“Huh?!”
I collided with someone right in front of me.
—Thud!
“Ow!”
“Are you alright?!”
A melodious voice reached my ears. Instinctively, I reached out to check if they were okay—
“Where are your eyes? This is exactly why humans are hopeless.”
I recognized that familiar face—and felt a pang of embarrassment.
A pair of Sand Elves with chocolate-brown skin stood before me.
The male was slightly shorter than average and wore a blindfold—triggering a memory of someone I knew.
“Huh? Brother Hans?”
“Nephert? Nekhuf? What are you two doing here?”
“Hans! I won!”
While I’d stopped swimming, Selena had already reached the finish line.
She hurried over and asked,
“Do you know them?”
“Yeah. These are Nekhuf and Nephert—Sand Elves. We met here during our travels. And…”
As I tried to introduce Selena to them—and them to her—I hesitated.
How should I introduce her? This world doesn’t even have the concept of ‘dating.’
Calling her my ‘girlfriend’ might trigger Selena’s possessiveness.
After all, though we’d spent a lot of time together, neither of us had confessed or openly expressed affection.
“Uh… this is Selena. We met while traveling together…”
Uncertain what else to say, I glanced at her—and she blinked her ruby-red eyes slowly.
“Oh? Really? Well, it’s been a while, Brother.”
Nekhuf smiled brightly and continued,
“But where’s Sister Leah?”
“Ah…”
I had met them together with Leah…
And now I felt a chilling presence beside me.
“Leah? Who’s Leah?”
“She’s… my disciple. We’re not traveling together right now. We split up because of separate matters.”
Selena smiled sweetly—but her eyes were murderously sharp.
“Oh? So you have a disciple too? I had no idea.”
She tilted her head with feigned curiosity.
“How nice—still young, and already have a cute female disciple?”
Why did she emphasize ‘female’ like that?
Before I could clarify Nekhuf’s misunderstanding, he spoke again.
“Oh? You don’t know Sister Leah, Selena-ssi? She’s the one who helped defeat the Demon King!”
At that, Selena turned to me with wide eyes.
“You mean… Leah from the Hero Party?”
Nephert, Nekhuf, and Leah all turned to look at me.
I gave an awkward smile.
“Yeah. That Leah… is my disciple.”
***
Meanwhile, Hans’s disciple Leah and her companions were scrambling in all directions, desperately trying to rent a ship—
“But why can’t you just rent us a ship?!”
“How can I rent you a ship when you don’t even know your destination?!”
Scarlet offered money, but the captains remained coldly uncooperative.
No sane sailor would risk their life at sea without knowing the destination—no matter how much gold was offered.
Yet Scarlet couldn’t seem to grasp this.
Ultimately failing to secure a ship, Scarlet returned to the inn—but not before Leah put on a spectacular fireworks display.
It might’ve been tolerable if the refusal had been simple—like Scarlet’s—but…
—Hey, kid! It’s bad luck to have women on a ship!
Upon hearing such nonsense, Leah cheerfully reduced the vessel to ashes.
Meanwhile… Cecilia simply stayed in her room reading romance novels.
So Scarlet and Leah returned empty-handed.
Downstairs in the inn, they sipped beer, waiting for Mia, who hadn’t arrived yet.
“Ugh, I swear—I just want to burn the whole New Continent to the ground.”
Though Leah muttered darkly, the others ignored her and continued their conversation.
“What do we do now?”
“I never thought renting a ship would be this hard…”
“Seriously—everyone’s got full bellies, that’s all. It’s not like we’re asking them to sail into some cursed sea. Why turn down that kind of money?”
Just as the three sighed in unison—
Mia walked into the inn, leading an elderly man with a sturdy build and a full head of white hair.
“Huh? Mia’s back! But who’s that?”
As the others eyed the unfamiliar old man, Mia stepped forward to introduce him.
“This is Captain Harald Nilssen of the herring-fishing vessel.”
“Pleased to meet you. I heard you’re looking for a ship.”
“Ah…?”
“Oh…”
The three exchanged silent glances.
—He’s a captain? Can we really trust an old man like that?
—Wait… a herring boat? Isn’t that just a fishing skiff? Like a rowboat?
—So what if he’s muscular? What if he dies mid-voyage?
As they shared these skeptical looks, Mia cleared her throat.
“Ahem. I know what you’re worried about, but don’t. Herring boats travel long distances. And Harald here has over forty years of sailing experience.”
“That’s right,” Harald added proudly, puffing out his chest. “In my youth, I sailed to many places. I heard you don’t know your exact destination—just the direction. Well, I know every sea like the back of my hand. I’m your man.”
Leah bluntly asked,
“But isn’t a fishing boat just a rowboat?”
Locally, people usually used small rowboats for fishing—after all, fish were cheap and spoiled easily, so no one invested in expensive large fishing vessels.
“Ah! A herring boat is different. Not as big as a trade or passenger ship, but still quite sizable. If you’re curious, why don’t you come see it tomorrow? I’ve already checked it out myself.”
They had no other options anyway.
If the ship turned out to be no good, they could always look for another.
“Tch… fine. No choice.”
At Mia’s words, all three reluctantly nodded—though their eyes remained full of doubt.
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