Lalakie Route

Satou here. I think exploring unknown waters is an important part of any adventure at sea. Even if you have a map that’s basically a walk-through guide…

“Master! There are seabirds circling around up ahead!”

Liza called out from the lookout post on the mast.

“We finally found them.”

“Uh-huh. I’ll finish them off with a single slice.”

Arisa grinned eagerly, and I responded with a similar expression.

Even the orichalcum alloy knife in my hand seemed keen to finally see action.

“All right, I’ll be right back.”

“Good luuuck?”

“You can do it, sir!”

I took off from the deck with a quick wave.

Near where the birds were circling, something broke the water’s surface.

Gotcha!

It leaped into the air with a spray of seawater, far larger than anything I was expecting.

“Haaaaaa!”

“Flashrunning” put me right in front of my prey within an instant, and I swung the orichalcum blade with all my might, slicing through its head as easily as cutting through cloth.

The attack, so sharp that it seemed as if it could have sliced a molecule in two, went straight through its target and cut a swath through the ocean waves behind it.

The creature continued its leap as if it hadn’t even noticed that it had been cut, but as soon as it tried to turn in midair, its body split into perfect halves, killing it instantly.

I wasted no time in grabbing both halves with Magic Hand and putting them away in Storage.

Finally! We’ve got ootoro!

I almost struck a victory pose right then and there, but I was getting ahead of myself.

“Master, behind you!” Lulu cried.

I didn’t even need to turn around to know that a school of bullet tuna was coming this way, aiming for the circling birds.

As the school of thirty-foot-long bullet tuna zoomed toward me, I prepared my orichalcum tuna knife and charged into the fray.

“Ahhh, it’s melting in my mooouth.”

“Very…yummy.”

As Arisa and Rei enjoyed the ootoro sashimi with wasabi and soy sauce, I reached out my chopsticks as well.

Sushi was high on my list, but trying out the sashimi was my main objective.

Lulu, Tama, and Pochi seemed very interested, but Liza stopped them, so they were just watching.

At last, I took a bite of the long-awaited ootoro.

The fat really did dissolve in my mouth, spreading the delicious taste of tuna across my tongue.

I’d eaten ootoro in Japan before, but this was on a whole different level.

It had an incredible depth of flavor and was rich enough that a single piece seemed like enough to satisfy me, yet I couldn’t stop myself from taking another bite.

Delicious. It’s way too delicious.

I’d prepared a few different kinds of wasabi and soy sauce with the intention of figuring out which went with it best, but I accidentally wound up eating a whole plate’s worth of sashimi with the first kind of soy sauce alone.

“Ahhh, I can die happy now.”

“Yes… It was very, very…good.”

Arisa and Rei sighed happily.

“Meeew?”

“I—I want to try it, too, sir.”

Tama and Pochi, who were still being held by Liza, had stopped squirming and were now just staring at the empty plates with drool on their lips.

“You mustn’t. Raw fish has a high chance of giving you a stomachache.”

“I want to try it even if my tummy hurts after, sir.”

“Me toooo?”

“I-I’m willing to take the risk, too.”

Liza was trying to dissuade them, but Pochi, Tama, and even Lulu seemed determined this time.

“It’s all right, Liza. I’ve already removed any parasites or eggs that could make us sick.”

“Master… Very well, then. Since the three of them seem quite firm about this, I shall test it first as a guinea pig.”

Liza’s expression looked grim.

Her spirit of self-sacrifice was admirable and all, but since some of us had already eaten a lot of it, a guinea pig wasn’t really necessary.

Still, this was my chance to finally get Liza to try sashimi.

I lined a plate with more tuna sashimi, and Liza tremulously lifted the ootoro with her chopsticks, then squeezed her eyes shut and popped the whole thing into her mouth.

“I-impossible…”

Liza’s wide-eyed expression prompted the other girls to reach out with their forks and chopsticks as well.

“Fishy, yummyyyy?”

“It’s so squishy and juicy and tasty, sir!”

“This is amazing, master! Tuna is unbelievably delicious!”

Tama, Pochi, and Lulu all praised the taste as they reached for another bite.

“…Delicious.” Liza put a hand to her cheek and murmured blissfully.

I guess she must have liked it, too.

“I see now why you were so beside yourself about acquiring this, master,” Liza added.

I wasn’t really that worked up, was I?

I turned to Arisa to ask her, but she quickly averted her eyes. Ridiculous.

“Want to try it…Nana?”

“If you insist, larva, then I shall do so, I consent.”

“You too, Mia…”

“Mrrr. No.”

Nana gave in to Rei’s adorable request, but Mia hated fatty foods, so she made an X in front of her mouth with her fingers.

“It is delicious, but it would be even more so if cooked, I declare.”

“Yes, tuna steak might be good, too.”

My Japanese instincts cried out in protest at the thought of cooking such high-quality tuna, but I had read somewhere that it was good that way, so I decided to cook some per Nana’s request.

“Ahhh, what a waste…”

“It smells good, though, doesn’t it?”

I understood Arisa’s feelings, but Lulu was right: The scent certainly piqued one’s appetite.

Tama and Pochi were visible proof of that. They were standing next to the charcoal grill, sniffing the air and drooling excessively.

Once it was finished, I cut it up and gave Tama and Pochi the first two pieces.

“Yaaay!”

“Thank you, sir.”

The pair picked up the tuna steak with their forks and brought it to their lips.

“Très bieeen?”

“It’s almost as strong as Professor Hamburg, sir!”

Tama and Pochi burst into huge smiles immediately, waving their fists around gleefully.

Just flailing their arms evidently wasn’t enough to express their feelings, as they soon started stamping around on the deck, too.

It may have been my imagination, but I thought I even saw tears in their eyes.

“Master, as I surmised, tuna is better cooked than raw, I insist.”

“It is…really good…cooked. But I think…the sashimi…was even better…”

Nana was head over heels for the tuna steak, while Rei quietly stated her own preference.

It was nice to have someone else who understood the deliciousness of sashimi.

“Grrr, I hate to admit it, but it is really good.”

Arisa frowned reluctantly even as she stuffed her cheeks with the tuna steak.

“It’s quite delicious. The taste is somewhat similar to beef.”

“Yes, it really is tasty.”

Liza and Lulu seemed satisfied, too.

“Satou…”

Mia rubbed her cheek against me, clearly feeling left out, so I decided to make a dish for her before moving on to sushi.

Hopefully everyone would like the sushi right away, though.

“Ahhh, that was delicious.”

Arisa, who’d been tidying up after the meal with the other girls, flopped down next to me, sitting back against the forecastle.

“Did you finish cleaning up?”

“Why, of course we did. So have you figured out our route from here?”

I used the Light Magic spell Illusion to display the map information of the Kraken’s Domain, which was next to the Kingdom of Sorcery Lalagi.

“This is where we are now, and these four points are the Sealtower Islands.”

The Skeleton King was likely planning to place a gem similar to the one from the Crimson Cane at one of these four islands to raise Lalakie.

It was a pretty gamelike setup, but if I had to use force, there were plenty of ways I could stop him. I could even destroy all the islands without a trace if I had to.

Not that I was looking to use that option at the moment.

“What’s the scale on this map?”

“One inch is about twenty miles.”

“Wait, then they’re super far apart! Won’t it take days to get to all of them?!”

Arisa jumped up in surprise.

She was shouting pretty loudly, but I’d used the Secret Field spell to put a sound barrier around us, so the others didn’t seem to notice.

It certainly was far, but if I had to, I could sacrifice my clothes and use “Flashrunning” to travel around in no time.

“Right now, we’re trying to get to this spot.”

“The middle of the four islands? But there’s nothing there, is there?”

Arisa frowned in puzzlement, so I zoomed in on that part of the map.

“Another island?”

“That’s right. We could go to each of the islands, but they’re all pretty far apart. It seems likely that there’d be something important on the center island, right?”

“True. And even if there isn’t, if something happens on one of the islands, we can get to any of them in about the same amount of time, so…that makes sense, yeah.”

It didn’t take Arisa long to catch on to my line of thinking and nod in agreement.

“Hmm? But up is north on this map, right? Aren’t we going off course?”

“There’s a place I want to stop at on the way.”

Since we were stopping at islands to set seal slates as we traveled, our course was already pretty zigzagged, but it was still farther south than it should be.

“I have some business over here.”

“What is it?”

“The roc lives on this island.”

“You really want to go sightseeing right now?”

Arisa raised her eyebrows, but I shook my head.

“No, no. The Sky Lord is on that island.”

The Sky Lord was supposed to be kin to the Dogheaded Demon Lord, an enemy of the floating island Lalakie, so I didn’t want to risk it interrupting while I was facing down the Skeleton King.

That guy was already pretty quick to flee, so the last thing I needed was to give him another chance to do so.

“So this is the roc, huh?”

When the bird spread its wings, it was around the same size as the island it was using as its nest.

PYWEEEEEWN!

With a loud cry, its enormous heavy bomber–like body took off into the sky. It was most likely supporting itself with Wind Magic.

At level 87, it was a little stronger than the Flame Lord. Its species was roc, while its individual name was Sky Lord.

I put magic power into Claidheamh Soluis, elongating the blade, and then added Sacredblade to the tip, making it long enough to cut the Sky Lord.

PYWEEEEEWN!

The Sky Lord produced a tornado full of wind blades, so I blew it apart with a wind spell of my own, Air Cannon.

I thought I saw surprise flash through the Sky Lord’s eyes, but that might have just been my imagination.

Dodging the compressed-air shots that zoomed toward me like anti-aircraft missiles, I swung my glowing blue blade almost casually and cut through the Sky Lord’s thick neck.

“All right! Poultry!”

I wasn’t sure how it would taste yet, but it was easy to run low on poultry, so I was genuinely happy to acquire it in such a large quantity.

Grilled chicken skewers were one of Liza’s favorite meals, so now I could make plenty for her.

I put the enormous body into Storage and headed for the nest in the middle of the island.

The nest contained twenty-odd enormous eggs the size of small houses, a huge amount of bones, and a pile of treasure.

Rocs seemed to share with crows a love of shiny objects; there were even gems the size of large eggs, like emerald and sapphire.

Most of the bones belonged to monsters, fish, and other creatures, but there were more than a few human bones in there, too. The nest itself seemed to be made of the remains of ships.

I recovered the treasure, the eggs, and the human bones into Storage before returning to the ship.

I planned to give the latter a proper burial at sea later.

“That was…a big…bird.”

The ship had been pretty far away, but I guess they could still see it from here.

Luckily, the island wasn’t in view to give a size comparison, so nobody seemed to have noticed just how gigantic the bird was.

“Yeah, I guess it was called a ‘roc.’”

I probably should’ve said “Sky Lord” in the hopes that it would jog Rei’s memories, but I didn’t want to remind her of the downfall of her home, so I decided not to mention that name.

I should also note that we dined on roc meat that evening, which was a little tough but very flavorful in a rustic way.

“Satou…”

As I was sitting in my usual after-dinner spot behind the forecastle, watching the sun set on the horizon, Rei came over to me.

“Can I talk to you…about that girl…?”

“You mean Yuuneia? Sure.”

Arisa would probably be better at giving advice than I would, but since Rei had gone out of her way to ask me, I didn’t want to pass her off on someone else.

“Do you think you can…remove her shackles?”

“Yes, of course.”

Rei breathed a little sigh of relief.

If that ghost bird hadn’t gotten in my way the first time, I’m sure I could’ve gotten rid of those miasma shackles.

I had been able to do it for Rei when we initially rescued her, after all.

“Then…please…do it. Remove…that girl’s…shackles.”

“No problem.”

When I agreed immediately, Rei broke into a smile.

She’d only seemed scared of Yuuneia, but I guess she was concerned for her after all.

“So you’re worried about Yuuneia, Rei?”

“Yes… She’s scary…and I don’t remember her…but she calls me ‘Sister’…and she seems to…miss me.”

That made sense. Rei did seem to care a lot about other people.

“We’ll be…at Lalakie soon…”

Rei gazed at the seas ahead.

“If I go there…do you think…my memories…will come back?”

“It’s very possible. But try not to stress out about it too much.”

She looked anxious, so I placed a hand on her head and rubbed it gently.

“S-Satou…?”

“Oops, sorry, sorry.”

I’d automatically done the same kind of gesture that I would normally use to comfort Tama or Pochi.

“Don’t worry. Whether your memories return or not, you’ll still be Rei. And you’ll always be our friend.”

“…Thanks.”

Rei’s eyes almost looked teary as she smiled back at me.

Our conversation ended there, and together we enjoyed the sunset in a pleasant silence.

Although Arisa’s and Mia’s faces as they stared at us from around the corner were a little bit frightening.

“Is that our destination? I inquire.”

“That’s right.”

The other kids gathered around the helm to see where Nana was pointing.

A subtropical-looking island had come into view, with a little inlet and a small mountain wreathed in trees.

Along the way there, we’d been attacked by octopus, horned swordfish, and other such sea monsters with relative frequency, but I took care of any threateningly high-level ones with Remote Harpoon, so to the rest of the group, it probably seemed like a pretty boring journey.

“I wonder if that’s Lalakie, then?” Arisa asked Rei in a light tone.

“…I don’t…know.”

Rei lowered her head sadly, so I reassured her.

“You don’t need to try to force yourself to remember. This place just happens to be near the Sealtower Islands, so we don’t know if it’s part of Lalakie or not.”

With that, I steered the ship into the bay.

“Swirlyyy?”

“So whirly, sir.”

Up in the lookout post, Tama and Pochi were excited about something.

The entire island was surrounded by a whirlpool-like current, as if to prevent ships from entering, with sharp reef outcroppings hidden in the water.

I checked it out with the map and my scouting gargoyle golems, but there didn’t seem to be any suspicious barriers or defense mechanisms hidden in the vortex.

“An island protected by a whirlpool… Do you think Poseidon’s going to show up?”

If I remembered correctly, Poseidon was the Greek god of the ocean, but knowing Arisa, this was probably some kind of anime or manga reference.

Our ship easily flew over the whirlpool and proceeded into the bay.

“Sea turrrtle?”

“It looks delicious, sir!”

The waters were so clear that it was easy to see the ultramarine-shelled sea turtle swimming slowly past.

Liza threw a harpoon at it, but I’m afraid it got away.

I was busy making sure nothing unusual was happening on the island, so I wasn’t able to participate in this particular hunt.

“It’s so peaceful.”

“Yes, it seems that way.”

We laid anchor near the beach, and there was still no reaction. The island seemed to be very quiet.

I had been half hoping that some mysterious objects would rise from the sand or the sea, but I’d probably read too many stories.

“What a beautiful beach.”

Lulu gazed at the near-paradise-like island with an admiring sigh.

I wanted to take a picture of that expression.

“I imagine there are plenty of shrimp and shellfish here.”

“I hope to find more tropical fruits, I propose.”

Liza and Nana seemed more concerned with food.

I did a map search across the island.

There were no monsters within the circumference of the whirlpool; the island seemed to be inhabited by normal animals and rare mythical beasts.

We could already see palm trees laden with coconuts, but there seemed to be other fruit trees growing elsewhere on the island, like bananas and mangoes.

Until anything strange happened, we could probably just enjoy a relaxing vacation.

“First we should find a safe place to set up camp.”

We went to shore in a small rowboat, then set up a simple camp on the beach a safe distance away from the tide line.

I placed a magic tool on top of a waterproof sheet and poured magic into it, and it produced cloth and a frame with a little pop, forming a tent in no time flat. The tent was big enough for everyone to stand inside.

I’d made this myself in the elf village, since they had textiles that expanded and contracted magically, the magic version of a shape memory alloy, and other such materials.

I could’ve simply produced a bungalow from Storage complete with all our everyday needs, but since it was the first day of our little trip, I thought it would be more fun to camp out.

“All right, everyone, time to change!”

“Aye-aye, sirrr!”

“Roger, sir!”

Tama and Pochi struck a dramatic pose, and the three of them ran into the tent, followed closely by the rest of the group.

Mia and Nana tried to drag me in as well, but that would defeat the purpose of putting up the tent in the first place, so I slipped out of their grasp right before the entrance.

While everyone was changing, I used my “Quick Change” skill—transformation sequence excluded—to put on a pair of knee-length trunks.

Arisa wanted me to wear some kind of thong-like swim briefs, but I didn’t think anyone but athletes and pro swimmers wore those, so I declined.

I wasn’t really interested in showing off my beach bod anyway.

“Master, look?”

“Look at Pochi, too, sir.”

The first two to pop out of the tent were Tama and Pochi.

As they sent the tent flap flying on their way out, I thought I caught a glimpse of Lulu’s pale skin, but I’d just pretend that didn’t happen.

Tama was wearing a peach-pink two-piece swimsuit, while Pochi wore a similar getup in yellow. The bottom of Tama’s was skirt-shaped, while Pochi’s consisted of shorts.

“The two of you look very cute.”

Both of them grinned bashfully.

“Master, the three of us will go harvest some seafood, if that’s all right.”

Liza appeared in a crimson two-piece, wielding a harpoon made from a land urchin spike.

To cover for her lack of volume, there was a rose-patterned decoration over her chest.

“All right. I’ll put some magic on you for safety, but don’t rely on it too much.”

“Understood.”

“Aye-aye!”

“Yes, sir! Get ready for a big haul, sir!”

No doubt the three of them would return with some tasty prey.

I would have preferred for them to simply enjoy some normal swimming and relaxation, but everyone has fun in different ways. No doubt Arisa would invite them to play after we ate later.

“Satou.”

Wearing a white-and-aqua-striped bikini, Mia did a little twirl in front of the tent.

Her usual twin tails were braided into buns.

“Master, the larva and I are ready as well, I declare.”

Instead of a bikini, Nana was wearing a plain one-piece suit, probably thanks to the iron-wall pair.

Unfortunately for them, their plan had backfired: The plain swimsuit only increased the sexiness factor, especially considering her bust size increase from the cultivation tank.

“How do I look…Satou?”

Rei hesitantly peeked out from behind Nana.

She was borrowing one of Arisa’s spare swimsuits, a bikini that matched the design of Mia’s.

“All three of you look extremely cute. They look great on you.”

They smiled, looking pleased.

“I’m ready, too, master.”

Lulu appeared from behind the other three, clad in a pink cardigan over a black-and-white one-piece with a low back. The cardigan covered her back and shoulders, but the open front revealed a glimpse of her cleavage and cute belly, giving her an innocent charm.

“I’m sorry—it took a while to braid everyone’s hair.”

Come to think of it, Nana and Rei had the same braided-bun style as Mia.

Lulu seemed to be the one who had done their hair for them. Her own long black hair was held in a simple braid.

“That’s all right. You look wonderful.”

“Th-thank you, master.”

Lulu turned adorably bright red, although the way she pressed her shoulders together and ducked was a little dangerous.

“Ta-daaaa!”

Finally, Arisa appeared in a white swimsuit, announcing her own arrival with a little tune.

“Obviously, you’ve got to save the star of the show for last!”

…Oh, Arisa.

“What’s the matter? Have you succumbed to the adorable Arisa’s charms?”

I rolled my eyes at Arisa, who was wearing a classic old-fashioned school swimsuit. There was even a name tag on the chest that said ARISA in hiragana.

The school swimsuit was a staple of anime and light novels, but I had never seen someone wear one in real life outside of cosplaying.

Dryly averting my gaze from Arisa as she struck pose after pose, I turned to address the others.

“Why don’t you all go for a swim while I prepare a barbecue?”

“Awww, c’mon, swim with us!”

“Master, if you’re preparing food, I’ll help you.”

Lulu seemed determined to help me rather than enjoy herself, so I agreed to go swimming with everyone instead.

“It’s the oceeeeean!”

Arisa shouted as she made a mad dash for the water.

“Mm, ocean.”

“That is without a doubt the ocean, I confirm.”

“Yes…ocean…”

Nana took Mia’s and Rei’s hands and ran after Arisa.

Nana usually seemed oblivious to anyone else’s pace, but this time she did shorten her strides to match the smaller girls’ as they ran.