The next morning, there was fog covering the island.
I hadn’t realized it last night, but in the center of the doughnut-shaped island was a pond that was a deeper blue than the surrounding sea.
I disembarked from the ship and went near the pond.
The pond was deep, to the point where I wondered if it had a bottom or not, and I didn’t see any monsters either. I couldn’t see the pond’s deepest part even when using the Search Skill. It wound about like a cave system, and there were smatterings of small monsters about, but it seems like a completely different ecosystem from the ocean.
“It’s a mysterious place.” (Velsa)
Velsa came to my side instead of saying, “Good morning.”
“Good morning. Yeah, want to try diving in to investigate?”
“No, it seems deep so I won’t. I’ve heard that you shouldn’t dive too deep in the ocean or your lungs will be squashed flat. I won’t stop you if you want to dive though, Naoki.”
That’s true, even though my level is high, I don’t know if I could win against water pressure. How would I continue breathing? There might also be places were there’s poison from dead monsters spewing out. There are all sorts of factors to be anxious about.
“No, I’m just thinking that such a strange place exists, but I don’t want to for now. Besides, it seems we have visitors beyond the fog.”
The fog hasn’t cleared yet so I can’t see them with my eyes, but I can tell that there’s a flock of monsters around the boat with Search Skill.
“Monsters?”
“Yeah. But I don’t know if they’re wary of us or what; they’re not getting any closer than a certain distance. For now, let’s try taking the ship out. What about breakfast?”
“Merumo’s grilling meat. We’re getting tired of just fish dishes after all.”
Smoke is coming from the top of the ship. It seems that it’s a barbecue on the deck. We’re going heavy from the morning.
Velsa and I returned to the ship and ate breakfast with everyone.
Ayl was on guard duty last night, so she’s going to sleep after breakfast.
“There are monsters. But they aren’t getting closer. It’s like they’re keeping guard against us.”
Ayl said as she chomped on the meat.
“Got it. I wonder if they have any other intentions aside from attacking us?”
“They aren’t coming to attack. Won’t it be fine if we just go to our destination? We can just deal with them if they come attacking, after all.”
Velsa responded.”
“Please let us deal with it if the come to attack us! If we don’t exercise enough, our bodies will become round.”
Merumo rotated her shoulder.
Seth made a ‘Am I included in this?’ face for a moment, then muttered, “Well, I am the one with the lowest level.”
By appearance Seth is the most muscular and therefore looks the strongest, but you could say he hasn’t even reached Ayl’s feet.
After breakfast, we unfurled the sails and set off.
The fog had cleared, but the surrounding monsters dove into the sea, and we didn’t see their forms.
While looking at the compass and map, Seth advanced the ship towards the southern part of the archipelago, to the island where Shiose-san and the former prince, Rucio, are.
“Could they be leading us along?”
I muttered to no one in particular.
“They may be sirens. It’s said that those who see the sealights the night before will be guided by sirens. It might be a trap if we follow them.”
Velsa responded.
“A siren’s trap? I’m interested in stepping into it.”
Velsa snorted through her nose at my words and,
“Captain! Don’t listen to what the President says even by mistake. Don’t mistake our destination!”
“OK-ssu!”」
Captain Seth responded loudly.
The monsters swam in front, matching the speed of the ship.
When Seth made a mistake in steering the ship, the monsters stopped swimming, standing still in the ocean.
When I questioned Seth with, “Could it be, you made a mistake?”
“Ah, th,that’s right.”
Saying stuff like that, he turned the rudder.
The monsters seem to know the destination of the ship.
Just in case, I looked at Seth and myself with the Medical Examination Skill, checking to see if we weren’t charmed or under confusion, but I saw that neither of us had strange conditions.
After noon, we arrived at the archipelago’s southern island. At the point where we could see the island, the monsters swimming in front of the ship scattered away somewhere.
Shiose-san and Rucio were waiting on the beach, and nearby a ship with a roof was moored.
“Hey, did you lose your way?”
Shiose-san asked us as we disembarked from the ship. As always, his beard is long and his bow is carried over his shoulder. Rucio was naked, only wearing a loincloth, and was a little tanned. He seems free, if nothing else.
“Yeah, we just went a little out of our way.”
“The sealights were out, huh?”
Seems like Shiose-san knows about the sealights.
“Do you know about them?”
“Yeah, the dry goods vendor told me. Ah, look, that’s the guy.”
Pushing his way noisily through the forest’s weeds, a darkly tanned man wearing shorts and a T-shirt appeared. His age is in the 30s or 40s, about. His glistening face didn’t have a single wrinkle. He had quite a bit of flesh, and his teeth were white. If he had a can of beer, then they could have used him just like this in a commercial, smiling as he walked towards us. It’s just that he was holding the corpse of a beasel in his hand.
“’ello-!”
<t/n: truncated ‘hello’>
“Ah, ‘ello!”
He greeted us in a loud voice, so I also responded as energetically.”
“I’m the world’s free-est dry goods vendor, Bori!”
“I’m the exterminator and cleaner Naoki. Nice to meet you.”
Bori-san waved his hand next to his ear. It appears to be a greeting, so I also waved my hand next to my ear.
“What do you mean by the world’s free-est dried goods vendor?”
I tried asking.
“Lessee, I don’ belong to any country. See, I live on that ship, not tied down to any land. It’s free, right?”
Bori-san said as he pointed at the boat with a roof on it.
“That sure is free.”
“I don’t belong to a country, so I don’t gotta listen to any commands, and everything’s fine if I don’t go anywhere I don’t like.”
I see, he seems to be a ‘free’ person. But is that enough to say he’s the world’s free-est I wonder?
“Aah, and also, my wives are monsters.”
“Ha?”
My mouth dropped open like a fool.
“See, my wives are sirens. They were guiding your ship, did you notice?”
“Those monsters were Bori-san’s wives?”
“At first there was only 1, but they increased. Marrying monsters is pretty ‘free’, right?”
“You can do that?”
“I did. It’s fine to try it out.”
“That sure is free.”
He doesn’t belong to any country, he married sirens; that really might be ‘free’.
“Well, I’m just making dried goods from the monsters my wives catch and selling them. There isn’t anyone but free people in this part of the sea, so look, there’s a self-proclaimed monster researcher and a self-proclaimed former prince, for example. So I’m also saying I’m the world’s free-est dried goods vendor.”
“Also, you attack slave trader ships and free slaves.”
Shiose-san, next to him, said.
“You attack slave ships as a dried goods vendor?”
“That’s just how things turned out~. They’re the ones who came attacking me, so I just requested my wives to open up a hole in the bottom of the other side’s ship. The slaves were pitiful, so I saw them off to a nearby island, and that happened many times, and so a former slave village came into existence on that island, teehee-.”
He said, “Teehee-,” but could it be he’s actually an amazing person?
Handing the purchase salt over to Shiose-san, we received some potato-like vegetables from Shiose-san.
“That’s really good~. It’s easier to grow than wheat. When I went northwards, I brought it with me to sell.”
Bori-san boasted.
“I’m the one who grew it, right?”
Shiose-san said to Bori-san. The two seem to be on frightfully good terms, as he pokes him with his elbow.
“’Cause I’m on a boat, now way I can grow them.”
“The former slaves are growing them, right?”
“See, those guys are desperate for their own share. Even though they’re free, they don’t really seem all that free. Even though they it would be better if they went out to sea soon.”
“There’s probably guys who are tired of the sea, right? Like me.”
“Shiose-san is the strange one, though. By the way, what are you doing with that?”
When I turned to look at the direction Shiose-san pointed his finger in, my employees were cutting trees. We’re planning on staying the night on this island, so I guess they’re gathering firewood. No, they’re felling trees, so it’s going to be a bonfire, huh?
“I think it’s probably for a bonfire. Ah, that’s right. I’ll introduce our monster scholar. Velsa-!”
“What!? We’re busy with the bonfire preparations!”
So it really was a bonfire.
“This is the self-proclaimed monster scholar Shiose-san!”
“Aah, is that so. Hello hello! I’m the monster scholar Vesla! Naoki, come help out over here. Live wood burns poorly, so dry it out with a magic circle.”
“Got it-!”
I went to the forest to cut trees, and Velsa began to talk to Shiose-san.
“Magic circles, he’s able to use magic circles at that age?”
Bori-san asked Velsa.
“Aah, That’s a little on the weird side so please don’t worry about it … anyway, it was the gagapo, wasn’t it?”
“Aah, that’s right, that’s right.”
“It wasn’t within Lisa’s Monster Notebook, so I want to see the monster itself.”
“You read that book?”
“Yes, Lisa is my Master, after all.”
“What did you say!? Really!?”
That was the conversation I heard.
I told Ayl and the others that searching for fallen trees would be quicker than cutting trees and drying them. Rucio came out on his own to guide us to where there are fallen trees. Rucio hasn’t lived on the island for a long time, but even so, Shiose-san seems to have shown him around.
Whiling walking within the forest,
I wonder how you marry a monster, right?”
Merumo questioned, full of curiosity.
“Let’s try asking Bori-san later.”
“Okay! To marry a monster, it’s so romantic.”
Normally I’d say, “What are you talking about?” but if we’re talking about sirens, I feel like it changes the discussion.
“If there’s a monster with my preferred feelers, I wonder if I should try ‘attacking’ it…”
Is Merumo wanting to marry an insect monster?
Seth and Ayl aren’t participating in the ‘romantic’ conversation, teaching Rucio how to swing a wooden sword.
Pretty soon, we arrived at a place with a large fallen tree, Ayl cut it apart with her sword, and Seth and Merumo tied it up with vines.
When I lifted the tree on my shoulder, Rucio was very surprised.
“I thought you were strange people, but for you to be this strange”
He muttered.
Returning to the beach, we stacked the wood in the shape of a well and built a bonfire.
Did Bori-san’s wives have interest in our ship? They’re diving in the ocean around our ship. We haven’t seen them even now.
When I Bori-san that Ayl can dismantle the beasel Bori-san had, Bori-san said, “Dismantle?” When Ayl dismantled the beasle, he was surprised, saying, “You can do it like that!?” Somewho it seems that Bori-san doesn’t know anything but roasting unskineed monsters over the fire and peeling off the blackened parts.
“Have you never lived on land?”
“No, I lived on the continent 20 years ago. But I’ve never seen dismantling before.”
Never seeing dismantling before; was Bori-san a person of great status?
“By continent, is is the Virginia continent to the west?”
“No, the eastern continent.”
“That’s the the continent we’re going to.”
“Is that, so…”
For just a bit, Bori-san’s eyes lost focus. He’s thinking of something from the past, I assume.
At that moment, we heard singing from the sea.
“It looks like they’re welcoming you. My wives seem to like you.”
Bori-san grinned.
The sun began to set.
“O-i! We’re going to start-!”
Ayl, who had finished dismantling before we knew it, seems to be starting the bonfire.
The next morning, there was fog covering the island.
I hadn’t realized it last night, but in the center of the doughnut-shaped island was a pond that was a deeper blue than the surrounding sea.
I disembarked from the ship and went near the pond.
The pond was deep, to the point where I wondered if it had a bottom or not, and I didn’t see any monsters either. I couldn’t see the pond’s deepest part even when using the Search Skill. It wound about like a cave system, and there were smatterings of small monsters about, but it seems like a completely different ecosystem from the ocean.
“It’s a mysterious place.” (Velsa)
Velsa came to my side instead of saying, “Good morning.”
“Good morning. Yeah, want to try diving in to investigate?”
“No, it seems deep so I won’t. I’ve heard that you shouldn’t dive too deep in the ocean or your lungs will be squashed flat. I won’t stop you if you want to dive though, Naoki.”
That’s true, even though my level is high, I don’t know if I could win against water pressure. How would I continue breathing? There might also be places were there’s poison from dead monsters spewing out. There are all sorts of factors to be anxious about.
“No, I’m just thinking that such a strange place exists, but I don’t want to for now. Besides, it seems we have visitors beyond the fog.”
The fog hasn’t cleared yet so I can’t see them with my eyes, but I can tell that there’s a flock of monsters around the boat with Search Skill.
“Monsters?”
“Yeah. But I don’t know if they’re wary of us or what; they’re not getting any closer than a certain distance. For now, let’s try taking the ship out. What about breakfast?”
“Merumo’s grilling meat. We’re getting tired of just fish dishes after all.”
Smoke is coming from the top of the ship. It seems that it’s a barbecue on the deck. We’re going heavy from the morning.
Velsa and I returned to the ship and ate breakfast with everyone.
Ayl was on guard duty last night, so she’s going to sleep after breakfast.
“There are monsters. But they aren’t getting closer. It’s like they’re keeping guard against us.”
Ayl said as she chomped on the meat.
“Got it. I wonder if they have any other intentions aside from attacking us?”
“They aren’t coming to attack. Won’t it be fine if we just go to our destination? We can just deal with them if they come attacking, after all.”
Velsa responded.”
“Please let us deal with it if the come to attack us! If we don’t exercise enough, our bodies will become round.”
Merumo rotated her shoulder.
Seth made a ‘Am I included in this?’ face for a moment, then muttered, “Well, I am the one with the lowest level.”
By appearance Seth is the most muscular and therefore looks the strongest, but you could say he hasn’t even reached Ayl’s feet.
After breakfast, we unfurled the sails and set off.
The fog had cleared, but the surrounding monsters dove into the sea, and we didn’t see their forms.
While looking at the compass and map, Seth advanced the ship towards the southern part of the archipelago, to the island where Shiose-san and the former prince, Rucio, are.
“Could they be leading us along?”
I muttered to no one in particular.
“They may be sirens. It’s said that those who see the sealights the night before will be guided by sirens. It might be a trap if we follow them.”
Velsa responded.
“A siren’s trap? I’m interested in stepping into it.”
Velsa snorted through her nose at my words and,
“Captain! Don’t listen to what the President says even by mistake. Don’t mistake our destination!”
“OK-ssu!”」
Captain Seth responded loudly.
The monsters swam in front, matching the speed of the ship.
When Seth made a mistake in steering the ship, the monsters stopped swimming, standing still in the ocean.
When I questioned Seth with, “Could it be, you made a mistake?”
“Ah, th,that’s right.”
Saying stuff like that, he turned the rudder.
The monsters seem to know the destination of the ship.
Just in case, I looked at Seth and myself with the Medical Examination Skill, checking to see if we weren’t charmed or under confusion, but I saw that neither of us had strange conditions.
After noon, we arrived at the archipelago’s southern island. At the point where we could see the island, the monsters swimming in front of the ship scattered away somewhere.
Shiose-san and Rucio were waiting on the beach, and nearby a ship with a roof was moored.
“Hey, did you lose your way?”
Shiose-san asked us as we disembarked from the ship. As always, his beard is long and his bow is carried over his shoulder. Rucio was naked, only wearing a loincloth, and was a little tanned. He seems free, if nothing else.
“Yeah, we just went a little out of our way.”
“The sealights were out, huh?”
Seems like Shiose-san knows about the sealights.
“Do you know about them?”
“Yeah, the dry goods vendor told me. Ah, look, that’s the guy.”
Pushing his way noisily through the forest’s weeds, a darkly tanned man wearing shorts and a T-shirt appeared. His age is in the 30s or 40s, about. His glistening face didn’t have a single wrinkle. He had quite a bit of flesh, and his teeth were white. If he had a can of beer, then they could have used him just like this in a commercial, smiling as he walked towards us. It’s just that he was holding the corpse of a beasel in his hand.
“’ello-!”
<t/n: truncated ‘hello’>
“Ah, ‘ello!”
He greeted us in a loud voice, so I also responded as energetically.”
“I’m the world’s free-est dry goods vendor, Bori!”
“I’m the exterminator and cleaner Naoki. Nice to meet you.”
Bori-san waved his hand next to his ear. It appears to be a greeting, so I also waved my hand next to my ear.
“What do you mean by the world’s free-est dried goods vendor?”
I tried asking.
“Lessee, I don’ belong to any country. See, I live on that ship, not tied down to any land. It’s free, right?”
Bori-san said as he pointed at the boat with a roof on it.
“That sure is free.”
“I don’t belong to a country, so I don’t gotta listen to any commands, and everything’s fine if I don’t go anywhere I don’t like.”
I see, he seems to be a ‘free’ person. But is that enough to say he’s the world’s free-est I wonder?
“Aah, and also, my wives are monsters.”
“Ha?”
My mouth dropped open like a fool.
“See, my wives are sirens. They were guiding your ship, did you notice?”
“Those monsters were Bori-san’s wives?”
“At first there was only 1, but they increased. Marrying monsters is pretty ‘free’, right?”
“You can do that?”
“I did. It’s fine to try it out.”
“That sure is free.”
He doesn’t belong to any country, he married sirens; that really might be ‘free’.
“Well, I’m just making dried goods from the monsters my wives catch and selling them. There isn’t anyone but free people in this part of the sea, so look, there’s a self-proclaimed monster researcher and a self-proclaimed former prince, for example. So I’m also saying I’m the world’s free-est dried goods vendor.”
“Also, you attack slave trader ships and free slaves.”
Shiose-san, next to him, said.
“You attack slave ships as a dried goods vendor?”
“That’s just how things turned out~. They’re the ones who came attacking me, so I just requested my wives to open up a hole in the bottom of the other side’s ship. The slaves were pitiful, so I saw them off to a nearby island, and that happened many times, and so a former slave village came into existence on that island, teehee-.”
He said, “Teehee-,” but could it be he’s actually an amazing person?
Handing the purchase salt over to Shiose-san, we received some potato-like vegetables from Shiose-san.
“That’s really good~. It’s easier to grow than wheat. When I went northwards, I brought it with me to sell.”
Bori-san boasted.
“I’m the one who grew it, right?”
Shiose-san said to Bori-san. The two seem to be on frightfully good terms, as he pokes him with his elbow.
“’Cause I’m on a boat, now way I can grow them.”
“The former slaves are growing them, right?”
“See, those guys are desperate for their own share. Even though they’re free, they don’t really seem all that free. Even though they it would be better if they went out to sea soon.”
“There’s probably guys who are tired of the sea, right? Like me.”
“Shiose-san is the strange one, though. By the way, what are you doing with that?”
When I turned to look at the direction Shiose-san pointed his finger in, my employees were cutting trees. We’re planning on staying the night on this island, so I guess they’re gathering firewood. No, they’re felling trees, so it’s going to be a bonfire, huh?
“I think it’s probably for a bonfire. Ah, that’s right. I’ll introduce our monster scholar. Velsa-!”
“What!? We’re busy with the bonfire preparations!”
So it really was a bonfire.
“This is the self-proclaimed monster scholar Shiose-san!”
“Aah, is that so. Hello hello! I’m the monster scholar Vesla! Naoki, come help out over here. Live wood burns poorly, so dry it out with a magic circle.”
“Got it-!”
I went to the forest to cut trees, and Velsa began to talk to Shiose-san.
“Magic circles, he’s able to use magic circles at that age?”
Bori-san asked Velsa.
“Aah, That’s a little on the weird side so please don’t worry about it … anyway, it was the gagapo, wasn’t it?”
“Aah, that’s right, that’s right.”
“It wasn’t within Lisa’s Monster Notebook, so I want to see the monster itself.”
“You read that book?”
“Yes, Lisa is my Master, after all.”
“What did you say!? Really!?”
That was the conversation I heard.
I told Ayl and the others that searching for fallen trees would be quicker than cutting trees and drying them. Rucio came out on his own to guide us to where there are fallen trees. Rucio hasn’t lived on the island for a long time, but even so, Shiose-san seems to have shown him around.
Whiling walking within the forest,
I wonder how you marry a monster, right?”
Merumo questioned, full of curiosity.
“Let’s try asking Bori-san later.”
“Okay! To marry a monster, it’s so romantic.”
Normally I’d say, “What are you talking about?” but if we’re talking about sirens, I feel like it changes the discussion.
“If there’s a monster with my preferred feelers, I wonder if I should try ‘attacking’ it…”
Is Merumo wanting to marry an insect monster?
Seth and Ayl aren’t participating in the ‘romantic’ conversation, teaching Rucio how to swing a wooden sword.
Pretty soon, we arrived at a place with a large fallen tree, Ayl cut it apart with her sword, and Seth and Merumo tied it up with vines.
When I lifted the tree on my shoulder, Rucio was very surprised.
“I thought you were strange people, but for you to be this strange”
He muttered.
Returning to the beach, we stacked the wood in the shape of a well and built a bonfire.
Did Bori-san’s wives have interest in our ship? They’re diving in the ocean around our ship. We haven’t seen them even now.
When I Bori-san that Ayl can dismantle the beasel Bori-san had, Bori-san said, “Dismantle?” When Ayl dismantled the beasle, he was surprised, saying, “You can do it like that!?” Somewho it seems that Bori-san doesn’t know anything but roasting unskineed monsters over the fire and peeling off the blackened parts.
“Have you never lived on land?”
“No, I lived on the continent 20 years ago. But I’ve never seen dismantling before.”
Never seeing dismantling before; was Bori-san a person of great status?
“By continent, is is the Virginia continent to the west?”
“No, the eastern continent.”
“That’s the the continent we’re going to.”
“Is that, so…”
For just a bit, Bori-san’s eyes lost focus. He’s thinking of something from the past, I assume.
At that moment, we heard singing from the sea.
“It looks like they’re welcoming you. My wives seem to like you.”
Bori-san grinned.
The sun began to set.
“O-i! We’re going to start-!”
Ayl, who had finished dismantling before we knew it, seems to be starting the bonfire.
