Volume 5 - CH 16

Chapter 16 – Departure and the Stronghold

It’s morning; I take my time with my routine, put on my hood, and head to the living room. Another day of acting begins. It’s getting tedious, but I’ll do my best to be aware of it for the sake of a peaceful life.

But acting on my own ship, which I don’t have to show to anyone, is a bit vain, isn’t it? I’m thankful for the situation I’m in now because the situations where acting is useful are probably the ones I’m not good at.

“Good morning, Alessia-san and Dorothea-san.”

“”Good morning.””

We discuss our future plans over breakfast.

“What are you two going to do after this?”

“Yes, we are going to show up at our parents’ house after breakfast and talk with the other members to sort out our groups. After that, we will head to the castle to explain about the Fortress and come back.”

“Well, then, if you decide to follow me, you won’t be able to talk with your family at your leisure. Shall I delay our departure time?”

“I will stay behind to connect with the Marquis, so that’s fine, but what about Dorothea?”

“I’ll be fine. We can meet face-to-face, and I am sure we will have a chance to see each other after the importation of food.”

“I see. I understand. Then we will leave when all the members who will follow me have gathered. There is no need to hurry, so please come back slowly.”

“”Yes.””

I sent Alessia-san and Dorothea-san to the port and returned to my original position.

“What would you like to do until noon, Master?”

“I will think carefully about which ship to buy with the 120 platinum coins, and you two are free to do as you please.”

“”Yes.””

Well, if I were to buy one, it would be a ferry. In terms of use, I would say a cargo ship, but the ferry would have more new food menus, manga, snacks, and all sorts of things.

…If I stop buying the ferry and save up 120 platinum coins, I’ll be closer to a luxury liner. But I’ve already said I’ll use the ferry to carry food. Let’s just be honest and buy the ferry.

I pick up the ferry I’m interested in and compare them carefully. With 20 more platinum coins, I can buy a higher grade ship, which troubles me… If I’m going to buy a ferry, this is the one.

The rooms will be royal suites, and the meals will be luxurious with Japanese, Western, and Chinese buffets. And the best part is that the theater room will be bigger and the screen will be many times bigger.

The girls, Rimu and Fuu-chan, love movies and dramas, and they will be delighted with the bigger, more impressive screen.

“Ness, Shea, Rimu, I’ve decided on the ship I’m going to buy. Do you want to see the screen?”

“I’d better not. I think it will be more fun to see the real thing first.”

“I agree with Ness. I was very surprised and enjoyed myself on the Hideaway.”

“Well, a ferry is a ferry, and although it’s more luxurious, there’s not that much difference. What about Rimu?”

“I’ll take a look.”

“Then come over here.”

I held Rimu, who jumped onto me and showed him the screen.

“This is the boat I’m going to buy now. Let’s take a look at it.”

“Yes.”

“Look, this is the theater room. Now that it’s bigger, you can enjoy watching movies even more.”

“It’s big.”

“This is the restaurant. The new restaurant has a lot more dishes, and you can eat many different kinds of food. You should look forward to it.”

“Rimu will eat a lot!”

Rimu was very excited to see the new restaurant menu. He bounced around the room.

“Master, are there that many new items on the menu?”

“Yes. Do you want to take a look at it, too, Ness?”

“…I’ve held out this long, so I’ll hold out until the end.”

Both Ness and Shea are interested, and they seem to be curious to see Rimu’s happy figure.

“I understand. Just look forward to it.”

Rimu is happy, too, and I’ve decided on this ship. I summon the savings boat, take out the 120 platinum coins, and put them in the slot. Every time I think about it, I feel a sense of discomfort when I insert a 100 million yen platinum coin into the slot, just as if I were inserting a coin into a vending machine.

When I click the “buy” button, the 12 billion… The purchase screen has a lot of information on it. But you don’t usually buy an expensive item without even seeing the actual thing.

I clicked the buy button to purchase the ferry even though I felt uncomfortable. When I check the ship summons screen, the ferry I purchased is listed, but my level has not increased.

120 platinum gold coins won’t raise my level… I’ll have to buy a luxury liner to get to the next level. Let’s try the summons after we set sail.

“Master, you seem disappointed, is something wrong?”

“It’s no big deal. I’m just a little disappointed because I bought a ship but didn’t raise the level of summoning ships.”

“I see. The last time you bought a ferry, it went up, so maybe the next time you buy a luxury liner, it will go up.”

“Yeah, I think Shea is right, too. If I buy a luxury liner and the level doesn’t go up, I won’t know what to do, will I?”

“That’s right. Oh, the Girasole people are back.”

“All right. Let’s go pick them up.”

“”Yes.””

I brought the Lutto to the harbor to welcome the Girasole.

“Mage-sama, we are back.”

“Welcome back, everyone. Please come to the living room for a cup of tea and proceed with the talk.”

“Yes.”

“So, Alessia-san, how did it go?”

“Yes, the Marquis was very pleased with the Fortress. He said he might ask for the number of tickets and the location of the ship after he confirms it. He said he would try to place men and supplies on the Fortress as soon as possible.”

“I’m glad there were no problems. As for the war, there hasn’t been much movement in the Imperial Army.”

“Yes, I have information from the prisoners of war that they were thinking of starving the city from the beginning because it is a highly valuable trading city. Now that the blockade of the port has been lifted, there is a possibility that the Imperial Army will attack aggressively from now on.”

“They wanted to reuse Lucca as it is. But now that the food blockade is about to fail, has the possibility increased that the strategy will be changed to a force offensive?”

“Yes, but they said they had plenty of time in the siege and were well prepared to defend themselves.”

They were well prepared during the siege, weren’t they? I heard that even just the defenses were solid, and now that there was plenty of time, they added solid preparations to that. The attacking imperial soldiers are going to be miserable.

“I understand. I’ll go shopping as soon as I can, but I’ll leave one ship, the Galette, behind in case something goes wrong. Take it into the city and use it if you need it.”

“Is that all right? You would be in a situation where you are constantly summoning two ships, along with the Fortress.”

“Yes, I’m just going shopping, after all.”

“I understand. Thank you very much.”

“Now, we are about to leave. Who will go with us?”

“Yes, Dorothea, Marina, and Carla will go with you.”

“I understand. I’m counting on you.”

“””Yes.”””

I summon the Galette in the shadow of the Lutto. Well, the ability is going to be revealed by where the ship appeared from, but it’s better than showing it directly.

Alessia-san, Ilma-san, and Claretta-san returned to Lucca with the Galette, and we departed for Aarhus.

“Mage-sama, are you going to go out to the open sea without heading straight to Aarhus?”

“Ah, I didn’t tell Dorothea-san, did I? I bought a new ship, so I will go out to the open sea, complete the disguise, and then go to Aarhus.”

“Oh, now that you mention it, you bought a new ship, huh? What kind of ship did you buy?”

“It’s the same ferry as the Fortress. Just a little bigger and more luxurious… Well, you’ll just have to wait and see, won’t you?”

“Fufu, I see.”

Dorothea-san seems to have lost a lot of her nervousness. Even though she was still stiff after confirming Lucca’s safety, she must have been relieved to see her family.

Marina-san and Carla-san are also definitely much brighter than when we were headed to Lucca. Family is great, isn’t it?

Oh, Rimu and Fuu-chan are doing some kind of pull sumo wrestling thing… that is so relaxing.

Out on the open sea, we all go out on deck to board the new ferry.

“What shall we do? Can we take a look at the exterior and then summon it again to get on board?”

“Yes, that’s fine.”

“Then I’ll summon the ship. Ship summoning.”

A large magic circle appears in front of us, and a ferry is summoned.

“Looking at it again, the ferry is very big, isn’t it? This ferry is a little bigger than the Fortress, isn’t it?”

‘Yes, well, they are both too big for me, and I can’t really tell the difference in size. Do you understand, Dorothea-san?”

“No, I don’t understand it either. It must be hard to compare them when they are so big.”

“Haha, yes.”

We will go around the ship on the Lutto. Come to think of it; I should give this ship a name. What kind of name shall I give it? The Fortress is like a fortress, so I’ll name it the Stronghold, which has a similar feel to it.

“Everyone, I will name this ship the Stronghold.”

“Master, what does that mean?”

“It means like a fort or a stronghold or something like that.”

“…Master, didn’t the Fortress also mean fortress?” [T/n: It’s the Japanese thingy phrased with Katakana, Hiragana, or Kanji.]

“Yeah, but even if the meanings are similar, we can still recognize them if they are called differently, so it’s okay.”

I feel like Shea’s eyes are cold, but it’s probably just my imagination.

“Then, let’s get on board now. I’ve given you permission to board, so please jump on board when the magic circle appears.”

“””””Yes.”””””

We jump on the magic circle and move to the entrance hall.

“So this is the inside of the Stronghold… it has a different atmosphere from the Fortress, doesn’t it?”

“Marina is right. Is the style itself different?”

“Yes, it was built in a different era, so there are differences in many places. Let’s explore the place and have dinner at the restaurant.”

“Mage-sama, is the restaurant different from the one on the Fortress?”

“Hahaha, Carla-san, the menu is much larger than on the Fortress, so you can look forward to it.”

“Yes.”

Carla-san is feeling better, and her appetite is coming back, which is a good thing.　

Oh, I’ll have to set the autopilot a little ahead of the distance that a normal magic ship usually travels in roughly four days, and then I’ll just look for the rest by sight.

I’ll skip the facilities I didn’t use on the Fortress and focus on the ones I used to use often.

At the stores, I look for items I’ve never seen before and immediately purchase anything I’m interested in… The system seems to have been completely figured out.

Whoa, there’s butter, soy sauce-flavored popcorn. I like it. I’ll buy some. Rimu brought chocolates that he had never eaten before. I think Rimu is a genius for choosing chocolates that are new to him.

After shopping, we went to the game corner…

“This is… It’s going to be a big hit with Claretta-san.”

“She’s definitely going to have a blast.”

“She will definitely insist on taking all of them.”

Ness and Shea agreed. There are three ufo catchers set up in the front of the room. I can imagine Claretta-san having a great time.

I’d like to play slot machines, pachinko, arcade games, and Tetris later.

After visiting the royal suite, I was surprised at the size of the theater room. The screen is so big; I’m looking forward to the movie.

“Everyone, would you like to take a bath in the observation bath before dinner?”

“That sounds great since we were in a hurry to get to Lucca and haven’t soaked in the hot water for quite a while.”

“Dorothea-san worked very hard. Now we have more time than before when we didn’t know what was going on. You can take a long bath and eat a good meal.”

“Fufu, that may be so.”

The Girasole group went into the women’s bath, and Ness, Shea, Rimu, and I went into the men’s bath.

“Master, everyone is looking much brighter now.”

“Yes, I think they’ve calmed down a bit now that they’ve met their families.”

“Fufu, that’s good.”

Soaking in the hot water and having a lovey-dovey time after a long time. There was some kind of tense atmosphere on the ship, so we weren’t having any lovey-dovey time at all, so it’s been a lot of fun.

We left the bath after having a lot of fun. The Girasole group got out of the bath before us… Maybe we’re having too much fun.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

They are wearing T-shirts with no bra after a long time; it’s the best.

“No, we just got out too. Since you are not wearing your hood right now, I wonder if it’s okay if I call you Wataru-san?”

“Yes, it’s important to get into the habit, but I’d like to take a bath and have dinner without acting.”

“Fufu, I guess so.”

“Have you all had a beer yet?”

“Eh? Yes, I thought it wouldn’t be a good idea to drink at a time like this.”

“Dorothea-san, the ship is on autopilot right now. It doesn’t make any difference if we drink or not until we reach our destination. A good drink is relaxing. Let’s have a little fun. Marina-san and Carla-san, would you like to join us?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll have a drink.”

We buy a beer from the vending machine and chug it together.

“Phew, that’s good.”

“Yeah.”

“Delicious.”

“Well, the next stop is the restaurant. Let’s eat plenty of food and get some strength.”

“””””Yes.”””””

When we entered the restaurant, I found a lot of Japanese, Western, and Chinese dishes on the table. In terms of food, the Stronghold is better. I was excited by the many dishes.

“It’s a buffet here, too, so let’s eat as we like.”

Everyone scattered around and took the dishes they liked. What should I eat first? First of all, I would like to eat sushi… or meat. I take and eat garlic steak, paella, salad, corn soup, and the same thing for Rimu.

I can’t get enough of the garlic chips and steak sauce that covers the meat. The smell is a bit distracting, but I’m okay with that as long as I encourage everyone else to try it.

“Rimu, the meat is delicious.”

“Mmm, I love meat.”

“Let’s eat a lot.”

“Eat.”

“Ines, Felicia, have you found anything you like?”

“I like tantanmen and gyoza.”

“I like steak. The omelette was delicious, too.”

“I think I’ll try the tantanmen and gyoza. Next time, I’ll have an omelette and a butter roll.”

“Ufufu, if you eat too much, you won’t be able to move.”

“It’s been a long time. Ines and Felicia should eat a lot too.”

“”Yes.””

Sushi, tantanmen, gyoza, omelets, bacon, butter rolls… I just eat whatever catches my eye. And finally, the steak.

“Carla-san, how do you like the buffet on this ship?”

“Yes, it’s very tasty. I’m glad there are so many of them.”

“Haha, I see. It’s almost time to go, so you might as well have some dessert.”

“Yes, thank you.”

I think it’s better if Carla-san eats a lot of food.

“Have you finished eating already, Marina-san?”

“Yes, I’m full. Fuu-chan says she has more to eat, though.”

“Haha, Rimu says he’s going to eat more, too. I envy them.”

“Fufu, you’re right.”

I had another steak one last time and… I reached my limit.

“Thank you very much for the food. Well, I’m going to rest in my room now. Please feel free to rest in your preferred room. Good night.”

“””Good night.”””

I couldn’t enjoy the royal suite because it was too painful. Let’s enjoy it to the fullest tomorrow. Good night.