Chapter 246: The Algieba Sets Sail

Chapter 246: The Algieba Sets Sail

A sailor brought Fran to a room not too far from her own, one labeled as the Captain’s Quarters.

「I heard that you met the other adventurers, and that you seemed to get along quite well. Do you think you can work with them?」

「No problem.」

「Good to hear.」

The captain seemed really relieved to hear that Fran was capable of getting along with the other adventurers. At first, I didn’t quite understand why, but then I recalled the rumours. It seemed that he had been worried that she might start a fight with one of the other people he’d hired.

Fran was strong, and honestly speaking, probably one of the best escorts he could get. Therefore, as captain, he needed to consider what his options were. Jerome had to be ready to make a choice between Fran’s might and Mordred’s experience in case she ended up antagonizing him.

「Chances are, we’ll be running into magic beasts, and maybe even a couple pirates. But until that happens, you can just kick back, relax, and do whatever you want.」

「Nn. Got it. Want to explore ship.」

「Explore? I mean, I don’t mind, but I don’t quite see the fun in it.」

「Okay to?」

「It shouldn’t be a problem as long as you don’t enter the sailors’ private quarters without their permission. I’m also going to have to ask you not to mess with the magic item we use for propulsion.」

「No problem.」

「Oh, and don’t mess up the storehouse. We don’t really have anything to hide to begin with, so that should be it for the off limits areas.」

「Really okay? No fear of theft?」

「You’re bound by the contract you signed with the Adventurer’s Guild, and we’re rather inclined to assume it’ll hold. ‘Sides, none of the stuff we have is valuable enough to warrant you risking your reputation.」

We managed to get the captain’s permission to explore the ship, but we didn’t go looking around at every nook and cranny right away. We were going to be aboard the ship for quite some time, so we decided to take our time and explore it bit by bit as the voyage went on.

「Oh yeah, can you show me that Beastkins’ Country ID you got?」

「This?」

「Is that space time magic...? Sure seems convenient.」

「Nn. Very.」

「I’m jealous. That’s something any merchant would want. Anyway, I’d better get to checking this thing for authenticity.」

The captain’s voice slowly shifted over to carrying a more serious tone as he spoke. Though he himself couldn’t technically be called a merchant, the function he served was rather similar. To that end, he shared many of their sentiments.

Apparently the captain’s ring had a sort of function that allowed him to double check whether the ID thing we were given was legit, as he pressed the two against one another.

The cityscape slowly began to drift away from us. We weren’t being seen off by a crowd of people with streamers and whatnot, but that was probably because we were on a merchant ship as opposed to one meant to transport civilians. Besides, tens of ships left the port every single day. There was no way every single one could be sent off.

『This ship sure is fast.』

The ship was moving much more quickly than I’d expected. I wouldn’t have been surprised if its current speed was what it had with its sails hoist, but they were all currently still in their folded up states.

I started to grow curious about the magic item that propelled the ship forwards. It had to be really powerful to be able move such a large vessel so quickly.

One of the first things that I considered was its shape. I really wanted to know whether it used a propeller, an aqua jet, the wind, or maybe even something else altogether.

『Let’s go check it out once you’ve calmed down a bit.』

「Explore!」

『Hell yeah.』

Jerome, the ship’s captain, approached us as we continued to look over past the deck.

「Hey. You catch sight of something interesting or somethin’?」

「Moving.」

「Huh? Oh, I’m guessing you don’t really spend too much of your time at sea then.」

「Nn. First time on big ship.」

「Makes sense then.」

「Moving using magic item?」

「You got it. This ship has actually get the newest magical propulsion system on the market. That’s not all either. It’s also equipped with a barrier and eight turrets to help drive off monsters and the like.」

It turned out they were using a whole slew of magical items. Though the ship looked like something from my world’s middle ages, it was actually far more technologically advanced. The magical engine system it was using would allow it to continue moving even without the wind’s assistance.

Wait, they even have a barrier to help keep things away from them? Why would they need to hire escorts if they had something like that?

Fran relayed my question to the captain, to which he reacted by informing us that the barrier wasn’t perfect. Its main function was to hide the ship from larger magic beasts, and thus, it had very little effect on any of the small or medium sized ones, which, to me at least, made a lot of sense. The sea was full of larger magic beasts, and many of them would sink the ship if they struck its hull.

There was a second barrier device that worked against the smaller-scaled magic beasts as well, but all it did was make them less inclined to approach.

One of the bigger reasons ships hired escorts was because they needed more hands on deck to fight off pirates. Most pirates avoided ships that worked directly under a country’s command because they were concerned that they would ultimately get wiped out after catching the country’s attention. That, in other words, meant that the only thieves interested in targeting the HSS Algieba were infamous pirates confident in their own abilities.

The Algieba’s access to the newest magic engine model made it capable of outrunning most of its attackers, but it would still sometimes be intercepted, rammed, and subject to an attack.

「I’m going to be counting on you, Black Lightning Princess.」

「Nn. Leave to me.」

「Hahaha. You sure do sound reliable. Looks like we’ll be getting to our destination in one piece.」