A Happy Sea Voyage

A refreshing morning sun bathed the port town.

Liricia and I were in a harbor town on the eastern edge of the continent.

Many of the buildings had triangular roofs, with bold colors—red roofs and walls standing out.

Last night, I loved Liricia until her wings turned from gray back to pure white.

We entrusted the dungeon to Teti, Sophia, and the dragon girl, and came all this way.

All to save Edgar, who was prepared to risk his life to fulfill his mission.

We hurried through the exotic-looking streets and headed straight for the harbor.

Normally, this would have been a place to enjoy sightseeing in high spirits.

But both Liricia and I wore tense expressions.

First, we went to the harbor and asked the ticket clerk about the ship bound for the Yamata Kingdom and the appearance of its passengers.

“Hey, is this the dock for ships heading to the Yamata Kingdom?”

“Yeah, it is. You two riding as well? —Though the morning ship just left. It’ll have to be the afternoon one.”

“So we just missed it… I didn’t factor in the time difference.”

I clicked my tongue slightly in frustration.

With a serious expression, Liricia asked,

“Excuse me, did a tall man with messy hair and a small girl with a bob haircut pass through here?”

“They boarded the morning ship. …What, you know them?”

“Yes, they’re friends. We came to deliver something they forgot, but it seems we were too late.”

Liricia shook her head regretfully, her silver hair swaying.

I turned to the man and ordered tickets.

“Then sell us tickets for the afternoon ship.”

“Sure thing! —But before that. You two aren’t heroes or elves, right? Especially you, miss—you’re prettier than an elf.”

“No, we’re not. She’s not an elf either.”

I answered honestly.

—I’d already been fired as a hero, and Liricia wasn’t an elf but a fallen angel.

The clerk nodded deeply.

“The guy looks like he won’t amount to much, and the pretty lady doesn’t have pointy ears—no problem. —Just fill this out. It’s an entry application.”

“Got it.”

Taking the paper and pen, I filled out the form with Liricia’s help thanks to her language skills.

When I finished, I handed it back.

“Is this okay?”

“Hmm… ah—yeah. C-rank adventurer, huh? That’s fine. No issues.”

“There’s something else I was curious about.”

“Huh?”

“I get that heroes are banned from entering, but it’s rare to hear of elves being banned too.”

—Summoning heroes to deal with monsters meant advertising to the world that your own military couldn’t handle them.

That was why powerful nations kept heroes even in peacetime—to show they could manage threats on their own.

But banning elves was something I’d never heard of.

Even if many elves were insufferable by nature, there was no reason to refuse a race full of beautiful men and women.

The clerk grinned and explained.

“Simple, really. Elves are all gorgeous, right?”

“Yeah.”

“In the Yamata Kingdom, there’s a tribe called the Emi clan—snow men and snow women, you might say. The Yamata Kingdom used to be eight tribes fighting for supremacy, see. Anyway, the princess of the Emi clan ran off with an elf. Since then, elves have been banned.”

“I see. That’s understandable.”

—Running off with another country’s princess… someone had guts.

After that, I bought the tickets.

There were first-class private cabins, second-class rooms with bunk beds for eight people, and third-class large communal rooms.

While I hesitated, the clerk looked us over.

“You’re adventurers, right? Then first class might suit you.”

“Why’s that?”

“If monsters show up and you help deal with them, we’ll give you a discount. And outside of combat, it’s better if you can rest without worry. Lately, sea monsters have been acting up.”

“I see. Then let’s do that.”

Choosing to assist with monster subjugation, I bought a first-class cabin at nearly half price.

After killing some time, we boarded the ship bound for the Yamata Kingdom.

At dusk, the afternoon ship slowly departed the pier.

It was a wooden vessel, but quite large, with two tall masts and white sails billowing in the wind.

A one-night, two-day journey—shorter than expected.

In the past, ships took three days because they had to avoid war zones, but we were told that since a wise ruler named Mikoto unified the Yamata Kingdom and brought peace, ships could now take the shortest route.

Liricia and I were in our first-class cabin.

Exposed to the swell of the open sea, the ship rocked heavily from side to side.

I let out a long sigh.

Liricia tilted her head, silver hair swaying.

“Is something wrong, Master?”

“I’m bad with ships… It’s been so long, I forgot.”

“Huh? Do you get terrible seasickness? I can heal that with recovery magic…”

“No. Ever since I was a kid, riding ships makes my body hurt. You’re stuck inside the cabin, unable to move much. That’s why I hate it.”

“Oh, because you can’t move your body, your joints start to hurt.”

Liricia nodded as if she understood.

I wasn’t sure that was quite right, but I didn’t know either, so I stayed quiet.

The ship continued across the sea even after the sun set.

Then it was dinnertime.

First-class cabins came with dinner and breakfast.

On the tray were many small dishes: sliced raw fish, tempura, something like steamed egg in a bowl.

There was sushi, grated yam soba, salty seaweed soup, and mountain vegetable rice.

It was introduced as a “mountain-and-sea delicacy set,” and every dish was new to me—and delicious.

With a solemn expression, I bit into shrimp tempura. The batter crunched lightly in my mouth.

“…Somehow, even though we’re trying to save Edgar, is it really okay to enjoy ourselves this much?”

“On a ship, there’s nothing we can do anyway… Let’s forget everything until we arrive at Kobe Port in the Yamata Kingdom tomorrow morning.”

“You’re right… Hey, this sushi is amazing! The sour rice and fish melt in your mouth!”

“It really is! And it doesn’t smell fishy at all—so surprising! This bamboo shoot rice is delicious too!”

As we savored the lavish meal, Liricia and I enjoyed the foreign cuisine together.

That night, after dinner.

Liricia and I went up onto the deck.

The night sea shimmered under the moonlight, waves rolling and rocking the ship.

Standing at the bow, we gazed out over the water splitting before us.

“They said monsters would attack, but nothing’s coming.”

“I heard crabs and flying fish attack in swarms… They say many ships have sunk already…”

“Could it be I wiped them out with my Holy Wave?”

“That might be it—just as expected of you, Master.”

Liricia smiled softly, eyes narrowing.

I scratched my head.

“No way. This ocean’s way too big for that. Still, let’s stay alert.”

“Yes, Master!”

For a while, we simply watched the rolling sea.

We were technically on watch, but the time passed peacefully.

Then Liricia narrowed her eyes as the night breeze fluttered her silver hair.

“As far as the eye can see, moonlit seas with whitecaps… It’s my first time seeing this.”

“Me too… I’m really glad I got to see it with you, Liricia.”

“Masteeer…”

Liricia leaned into me with a sweet voice.

The night breeze was a little chilly, making our shared warmth all the more comforting.

After finishing our watch, we returned to our private cabin.

Sitting side by side on the bed, we leaned on each other in silence.

As we sat there, the ship’s gentle rocking—sway, sway—was transmitted to us.

“…It kind of feels like being rocked in a cradle.”

“Yes… with the sound of the sea, it feels like we’re wrapped in the ocean… Such a wonderful journey… How happy I am.”

I wrapped an arm around Liricia and gently held her close.

“Then maybe you’ll be even happier if I wrap you up myself.”

“Eeh… Master, if I get any happier than this, I might melt into the sea…”

“But you look even more beautiful under the moonlit sea.”

I pulled her close and kissed her delicate, petal-like lips.

“Mmm… masteeer…”

The sound of our tongues intertwining echoed softly in the cabin.

As we kissed, we undid each other’s clothes.

Smooth curves and skin pressed together, and Liricia flushed and moaned softly.

And as the distant roar of the sea thundered, I loved Liricia thoroughly, over and over.

Wondering why love felt so much more intense in a different place— but knowing that was happiness.

Meanwhile, on the seafloor.

At a base on the continental shelf lurked Deep Drill Shells and Blade Fish.

Two of them, apparently the bosses, were larger than the surrounding crabs and fish.

The crab in particular had a magnificent drill for one claw, while the fish’s fins formed long blade-like edges.

The two monsters grinned, eyes glinting with cruelty.

“Heh… it’s about time they came through.”

“No mistake—it’s a supply ship.”

“Since we teamed up, nothing can stop us. Another feast today!”

“And we get to eat humans too—best part!”

“The way they scream and drown while getting slowly carved up—it’s the best show!”

The two monsters burst into vile laughter.

Then a subordinate swam up in a panic.

Stopping before them, it cried out desperately.

“B-boss! It’s bad!”

“What is it?”

“A ship—there’s a ship!”

“Yeah? The night raid’s according to plan, right? You punched a hole in the hull and stole all the supplies, didn’t you?”

“N-no! That’s not it—it’s bad! You gotta run! Run away!”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

The crab and flying fish looked at each other.

The underling thrashed in agitation.

“I’m telling you, it’s bad! Run—”

Suddenly, right before their eyes, the subordinate fish was shattered.

““What!?””

“What the hell—guoh!”

As the boss flying fish moved toward where the subordinate had been, half its head vanished.

The crab trembled in shock and screamed.

“W-what the hell is this!? —Th-this is Holy Wave!? Waaah!”

The night sea made visibility poor.

But as the crab strained its eyes, it saw an enormous wall of pale blue Holy Wave rushing toward them.

Facing the oncoming danger, it desperately tried to flee.

But crabs could only move sideways.

Tearfully screaming at the approaching blue wall—

“W-wait!? N-no way—gyahhhh!”

With a hiss, the boss crab evaporated.

From there, the seafloor became a scene of screaming hell.

Crabs, fish, and other monsters fled in desperation, only to be obliterated one after another.

“Gyaaa!”

“Help—gyahhhh!”

“Hogeeee!”

The fact that it was night, with poor visibility—

and that all the monsters were positioned along the shipping route to attack—

proved fatal.

“Something’s coming! Something’s coming!—gyahhh!”

“Run! Everyone run—fugyahhh!”

The moment they touched the circular Holy Wave emitted by Alec, the sea monsters were erased.

Because Alec’s Holy Wave output was immense, he continued unconsciously destroying monsters even while riding on a vessel.

This was the reason his body hurt on ships.

It was growth pain from rapidly leveling up while asleep.

Of course, Alec didn’t realize this.

In the past, during many hero journeys, he had traveled down great rivers and out to distant islands by ship, slaughtering massive numbers of aquatic monsters.

As a result, his human stats and hero-class stats were already capped, so he no longer experienced growth pain from them.

But his level kept rising.

His stats no longer increased—but his magical power continued to grow without limit.

While the sea monsters were tasting hell, Alec was in his private cabin, holding Liricia and savoring happiness— all the while, the density of his Holy Wave continued to rise.