Chapter 760

「Slurp…」

『Is it good?』

（Nn.）

Fran was lying on a deck chair that she had taken out for herself, drinking a tropical fruit juice. In front of the chair, Urushi was lying on the floor and acting as a footrest for her.

His back was being lightly stomped by Fran's feet, and he was squinting his eyes happily. Is that really what you want, Mr. Ragnarok Wolf?

They gazed up at the blue sky, squinting against the gentle sea breeze.

「Great weather.」

「Woof.」

『Really is. And it's rare for a boat trip to be so trouble-free.』

（They said we arrive today.）

Fran's return to the Kingdom of Belioth was met with a rousing welcome.

Admiral Brunen even said, "You brought his disciples instead of Dimitris himself? …Well done! This is more than I could have hoped for!", despite the fact that Hilt and her crew were right there.

I'll never forget the wry smile on Hilt's face. She must have had some rough times.

Brunen quickly realized how rude he was being and apologized to them. But there was no way to hide the look of joy on his face.

Someone on Dimitris's level would be needed to replace Weena Rhyn, but he must have had some concerns about actually hiring him.

It seemed that they weighed the risk and the return, and the return just barely outweighed the risk.

In the first place, they were not sure if Dimitris would accept their request. It would have been a headache if Dimitris accepted the request, but it would be a problem if he refused. They were in a complicated situation either way.

However, as it turned out, they ended up with the main forces of the Dimitris school, with the rank A Hilt as leader. That was an unexpected windfall.

If they wanted to hire Hilt and the Dimitris-style disciples in the first place, it would be difficult to gather them. They were all active in different regions, and some of them would refuse to work depending on the nature of the job.

That's why they decided to take a chance and send a request to Dimitris instead.

「Slurp…」

「Y-You're very relaxed, aren't you?」

「Brunen.」

Brunen called out to Fran with a slight tone of disapproval, since she was just sitting around drinking a glass of juice. We glanced over to see Admiral Brunen, who I would say looked more like a pirate than an admiral, standing next to the deck chair.

「If you were any other adventurer, I'd be pissed at you for not doing your job……」

「Woof!」

We actually have been doing our job as escorts. After all, Urushi has killed all the high-level monsters that have appeared so far.

When we brought over the shark monster, Brunen begged to buy it off of us, so we handed him everything but the magic stone. Apparently they could make complete use of all the parts, like the shark fin and liver oil.

It was quite a spectacle to see a huge shark of 10 meters class being butchered on the deck.

The ship we are now on is one of the few in Belioth that is large enough to be capable of sea travel, capable of fitting several of those giant sharks. The size is probably comparable to the large vessels of the commercial fleet we saw on the lake.

「With those sunglasses on too…… You're certainly having fun, aren't you?」

「Nn. I don't mind boats.」

We've had a lot of dangerous events happen when we go sailing, but Fran doesn't seem to have developed a dislike for ships at all. Even though I wouldn't be surprised if she was traumatized by the Leviathan encounter.

Rather, she seems to have an image of a ship as a fun place.

「Sigh…… Well I don't mind that much.」

Besides, we already made an agreement that we are free to do whatever we want on the ship, as long as we perform our assigned tasks. You have no right to complain if we relax a little!

Well, if someone was lying down in vacation mode right next to the busy sailors, I can see why they would want to say something.

「Enjoy the short rest of your cruise. There's not much danger from here on out anyway.」

「Really? No monsters?」

We saw some powerful monsters in the area a few days ago. It wasn't a bunch of krakens and water dragons like our voyage to the Beast Kingdom, but we did see a ship-eating shark that was threat level C.

Or does he mean that the types of monsters inhabiting the area ahead changes drastically?

「For some reason, no monsters appear from here on out. They say it's the effect of the barrier, but I don't know if it's true or not.」

Apparently almost zero monsters live in the waters surrounding the Gordicia continent.

There is no clear reason for this, so someone came up with the theory that it was due to the divine barrier, which is still believed to this day.

「And the pirates aren't stupid enough to go to work around here either.」

「Why? Aren't there many ships from other continents?」

No monsters around would make it easy to lie in wait, and I'm sure there are plenty of ships that would be easy to attack. Many of them should be supply transports with few soldiers.

「Look, if someone attacks a ship bound for Gordicia, they're picking a fight with all the nations that are trying to do their Gordician Duty, right? With their honor on the line, navies from all over the world would move to crush the pirates immediately.」

They can't afford to let the pirates go free, so it makes sense the various nations will deploy. If the pirates were allowed to run loose, it would affect their entire supply line.

There apparently used to be some hard headed pirates in the past, but after much blood was spilt, pirates all over the world have come to understand that the area around Gordicia is a no-go zone.

Nowadays, no pirate dares to enter these waters.

「There is a slight fog, which is a sign that we are approaching the mainland of Gordicia. We should be able to see land in less than an hour, so it's about time to get ready for landing.」

「Don't worry. I can put it all away.」

Brunen watched on with envy as she put the juice in dimensional storage right in front of him.

「Man, such ridiculous abilities. Are you sure you don't want to work for our country after all? I could ask the higher ups to give you a count title at least?」

「Unwanted.」

「I thought as much.」

Brunen would rather be voyaging on the open sea, or lake I guess. However after several promotions, his career has been giving him more and more desk work, so he has little opportunity to sail anymore.

He showed sympathy with Fran, who just dismissed the nobility title as "unwanted".

「When we get on shore, we'll rest for the night at the planned accommodation. After that, it depends on the situation over there, but you'll have to accompany us on the first march, okay?」

「Okay.」

In Gordicia, we will be basically free to do whatever, but we won't be released immediately. First, we will have to do a collaborative hunt with the soldiers in Belioth's assigned region.

I guess they wanted us to keep an eye on the soldiers who were unaccustomed to Gordicia, at least until they got used to it. Once we had achieved a certain level of success, we were free to go on our own.

「I'm looking forward to it.」

「I wonder how many people in this world would share that sentiment…… You really are high ranking adventurer.」

Brunen looked even more dismayed than when he saw Fran in vacation mode.

You mean to say that you're amazed that Fran is so dang strong, right? You better not be meaning that she's a weirdo like those other high ranking adventurers.

Don't you dare to compare Fran with them!