CH 267

Now then, we’re going on a boat trip from today, but will Marianne be okay? Marianne did come when everyone gathered for breakfast after finishing the morning preparations. She looks better than yesterday.

“Good morning. Are you feeling better, Lady Marianne?”

“Yes, thanks to you, I’m feeling so much better,” Marianne said.

Her words seem to match her appearance. But that’s just for now… it’s hard to believe that a sea voyage is okay if our carriage makes her sick despite having such control over its swaying. I don’t know how effective it will be, but let’s take countermeasures.

“We’re going on a boat trip from today, so please be a little careful,” I said.

I will explain some points to note to Marianne. Certain measures against motion sickness … avoid sleep deprivation and hangovers. This is natural in a way. Also, avoid hunger and satiety, right? It’s not okay to not eat or eat too much just because you’ll throw up regardless. You should be eating in moderation.

Also, avoid eating right after waking up, right? If you adjust the departure time here, it will be fine. If we finish breakfast now, she should have enough time to rest.

Other than that… I wonder if peppermint or ginger would be good. Something refreshing or something that suppresses nausea should be good. I’ll serve peppermint tea later. After asking if she’ll have such a drink… it seems that she also likes mint.

Other than that, I don’t know how effective other methods are, such as keeping an eye on the course of the ship, not reading anything like a book, or talking to people to distract yourself. I don’t know how effective any of them are, or if they really work in the first place, but for the time being, I talked about that after the meal.

Take a good rest before heading to the port. Loading and unloading work should have been done since dawn, so unless there is a serious problem, I think the ship is ready to depart.

“Thank you for your hard work, Schwartz,” I said as we arrived at the port and the Santa Maria. “Are you ready to depart?”

“Your Lordship,” Schwartz said, saluting. “Aye, it’s perfect.”

Well, it wasn’t that he was waiting for us, Schwartz was just watching the ship’s work from a distance. The loading and unloading seem to have finished, but the sailors are still rushing around.

“Schwartz?” I said. “My guests will be on board today. Please don’t embarrass my name as Flora Charlotte von Carruthers, okay?”

“Aye, Lady Flora. Please leave it to me,” Schwartz said.

When I subtly called for his obedience, Schwartz put his hand on his chest and lowered his head. Schwartz is by no means stupid or rude. He just doesn’t usually behave well when he goes out to sea. That’s why his words are a little crude and his attitude is different from an officer’s.

Just like I said earlier, he’s not stupid or ignorant of manners, so if he’s careful, he can behave properly. I have a guest today, so if I am careful, they will be careful.

“La-Lady Flora… y-you’re not telling me this is House Carruthers’s ship, is it?”

“Huh?” I said.

When I was thinking of introducing Karl to him, I heard him speak. I look back, and Karl had a surprised expression on his face. Marianne also seems a little surprised. Come to think of it, no one has a ship of this scale outside of our House. It is so big that the other ships in the harbor feel like small boats.

“This ship is owned by me personally, not by House Carruthers,” I said. “Schwartz, this is Karl von Reingen, the Former Head of the Reingen Marquisate and his wife Marianne.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Lord Reingen,” Schwartz said. “My name is Schwartz, the captain of that ship.”

“Ah…, aah, a pleasure as well…” Karl muttered.

He still seemed stunned and didn’t seem to have any emotions when he responded to Schwartz. It’s not like he’s being rude to Schwartz, but… I’m sure you’ll be a little surprised when you see our ship for the first time, but is that justification enough?

Well, Karl said he had never been to a port town, so maybe he didn’t see many ships. Was he imagining a small boat going through a river when I said a “ship?” If so, is it surprising that there are large ships lined up in the port?

“Then let’s board right away,” I said. “Lord Karl, Lady Marianne, I will guide you.”

“Please do……” Karl muttered.

Hmmm… he’s staring blankly at the ship where the top meets the sky. It’s okay, but…

The Santa Maria left Steltin and was sailing smoothly. I go out to the upper deck and talks to Marianne while she looks at the scenery

“Are you feeling alright?” I asked.

“Yes. Thank you. I seem to be fine for now,” Marianne said.

She took a rest early yesterday, and thanks to various measures against motion sickness since this morning, she doesn’t seem to be that ill today.

Well, it may be that it hasn’t been that long yet. The waves are calm and if it stays like this, will it be okay until we reach Cobenhaven?

It doesn’t seem to be too far away so if the waves and wind are good we should be there soon. Let’s ask Mikoto why we have to go to the port of Cobenhaven.

Yes, I agreed to stop by Cobenhaven as Mikoto asked me to, but I didn’t ask why or what she was going to do there. You might think it foolish to have allowed it just because of that, but Mikoto wouldn’t deceive us, so I trusted her and allowed it.

“Mikoto, do you have a moment?” I asked.

“Hmm? What?” Mikoto asked.

I’ll leave Marianne to someone else and Mikoto and I will talk a little bit apart from her. It might have been better to ask a little bit more in advance, but in the worst case, we can change course even now.

“You said you wanted us to stop by Cobenhaven, but what are you planning to do when you go to that town?” I asked.

“Ah, it’s not a big deal. I just thought since we were going to return by boat already, maybe we could stop by and say our greetings,” Mikoto said. “After all, I am borrowing the ‘Vandenlissen’ name from the Kingdom of Del.”

Cobenhaven seems to be something like the real capital of the Kingdom of Del. It doesn’t seem to be clearly stipulated as the royal capital or a capital city, but the royal family also lives in Cobenhaven, and it seems to be the heart of Del’s business.

When Mikoto went to study in the Kingdom of Ploiss, she used the name Mikoto Vandenlissen instead of her real name Sumeragi Mikoto, but she already mentioned that Vandenlissen was the name of the Royal Family of Del.

The Kingdom of Del is like a protectorate of the Demon Country and also participates in the Kamaal Alliance. The Caanza Alliance has the nature of a mutual aid organization between free cities, but the Kamar Alliance is a league between nations on the Hulk Sea coast. Of course, at this point, the scale is different from the Caanza League.

“Is it really okay for a Caanza Alliance ship to enter their port?” I asked.

“It’ll be fine,” Mikoto said, pointing. “As long as you raise that flag, we won’t be attacked without question.”

“Is that so……?” I said, looking up and nodding vaguely.

We didn’t fly it when we left port, but I know for sure we’ve been flying a certain flag since we got close to Del Kingdom. Apparently, it’s a signal that it’s a ship that has Demon Country citizens aboard. The Kingdom of Del is like a protectorate of the Demon Country, so it seems that they won’t attack ships with demons on board. But that flag is…

A red circle on a white background, and a design that looks as if the light is shining radially from the circle… it looks like the flag of a certain country on Earth.

Certainly, there is a good chance that the design will be similar by chance. Symbols and flags representing the sun, moon, and stars could be inspirations everywhere. It wouldn’t be strange to find similar designs here and there. But this is too similar.

No… in the first place, this world’s affinity with Earth is too high. They have developed differently due to the element of magic, but as far as I know, they are very similar in terms of geography, history, culture, and economic development.

Of course, it doesn’t match perfectly. It is certain that this is not the earth because there are parts where the topography is visibly different. In addition, there are many parts of the history of the earth about historical events and the rise of nations. On Earth, things that happened in later years happened earlier, and conversely, on Earth, things that should have happened a long time ago haven’t happened yet.

Although they are very similar, they are not exactly the same, nor are they completely different. For someone like me who knows both, it’s an indescribably strange sensation.

It’s not like it’s simply the difference between a scientific civilization on Earth and a civilization with magic… the fact that I was born in this world in the first place means that if the flow of time is the same in both worlds, is this the world after earth as I knew it? Or simply another world that is less developed than Earth?

However, they are not necessarily on the same time axis. People from the Edo period may appear in this world several hundred years later than this world now, and earthlings who lived in the future before me may appear in the primitive age of this world. Traveling between the two worlds may be chaotic regardless of time and space.

In the first place, is it possible to come and go between this world and the earth? At least I, who lived on Earth, was born in this world with memories of my previous life. Are there others like me? Otherwise, it is impossible to explain why this world is so similar to the earth.

“Why did you suddenly go quiet?” Mikoto asked.

“Huh? Oh… I’m sorry. I was thinking a little,” I said.

Mikoto’s voice brought me back from the whirlpool of thoughts. That’s right…. even if I think like that, it’s a shame. No matter how much I think about it, I don’t know the answer. And even if you know the answer or not, nothing will change. I just want to live in this world until I die.

“Look, you can already see it,” Mikoto said.

“So that’s it…” I said.

I could see the town vaguely on the horizon. It seems that we have arrived at Cobenhaven. Since the flag is raised and Mikoto is also there, I want to leisurely land and do some sightseeing in the Kingdom of Del.

“………… Mikoto?” I asked as I looked at Cobenhaven.

“What?” Mikoto said.

I looked at Cobenhaven and called out to Mikoto. Is this just my imagination? I have a feeling that ships scrambled to launch and are heading toward us…

“Did they just leave port? Or are they coming to pick us up?”

“Huh?” Mikoto asked.

Hey……. I don’t think we’ve been marked as an enemy… it’s true that Mikoto’s flag is raised, but our flag is also raised with it…

In this world, there are still no rules for national flags or warship flags. Although they are written rules for the time being, there are no internationally unified rules, and they vary depending on the country or region where the ship is operated, the organization to which the ship owner belongs, etc.

“That ship over there! Stop! Who are you!?”

Woah……. a small ship from Cobenhaven surrounded us and said such a thing. I think they’re certain we’re enemies… was Mikoto’s flag useless?

Being surrounded by a large number of small ships is very bad. No matter how fast our galleon ship is, it’s not a large ship. As expected, there are times when it is inferior to a small ship that excels in speed, and in the sense of turning in a small radius, it is inconsistent. Of course, even small ships can be slow, so I can’t generalize based on size alone…

Anyway, if you are surrounded by small ships that are excellent in speed and turning radius, even a large ship is in serious danger. If each of the enemy’s small ships had someone who could use Fire magic on board, it could end up being set on fire while being circled around.

Just like forming a fleet and having not only battleships but also destroyers and cruisers accompanying them, it’s not as simple as simply having a large ship with excellent bombardment power to win a naval battle. In fact, if they attacked all at once in this situation, it would be more dangerous for us. We should try not to get into a fight here.

“Hold a moment!” Mikoto yelled. “Do you not know I’m Sumeragi Mikoto!? Do you know what will happen to you if anything happens to me?!”

“Wha…?!”

“Sumeragi!?”

Mikoto snapped at the small boats surrounding us. Hey, Mikoto… I thought it was going to go smoothly, but she suddenly ruined everything…

“Do you have any proof that you are of Sumeragi?”

“Proof? I am your proof!” Mikoto yelled. “I’m the one who raised the flag! You all must be blind!”

Wow……. Mikoto really knows no fear at times like this… in the first place, she says “I am royalty! I’m the proof!” but won’t that just make them suspicious? That’s why they’re asking us to show them evidence to prove it…

The small boat seems to be talking secretly. Some people who were at the head of the ship in the lead are talking. Are they the officers?

“… Understood. We will lead the way to the port. Follow our instructions.”

Ah….that must be it. It’s suspicious and they still don’t believe us, but in the unlikely event that it’s true, it’s dangerous, too, so I guess it’s something like letting us land for now and meet someone who will know if it’s true. They’re totally skeptical… Was I stupid for believing what Mikoto said…?

“Schwartz, did you hear that?” I said. “Don’t provoke or cross them.”

“Aye!” Schwartz said. “You bastards! You heard what the Lord said! Let us be graciously hosted, eh?!”

“Ouuh!” the sailors yelled back.

As expected, the man of the sea has guts. I can’t believe he can joke around in such a dangerous situation. Anyway, I decided to follow the small boat that was leading the way because I had no intention of resisting or fighting.