Vol. 1 - Ch. 96 - Sail (2)

"Yay, I caught another!"

Cheers --- this marked the 4th time today --- erupted from the stern (ship's tail). The cause of the cheers was the apparently small-sized mana squid hooked to the huge feed at the tip of the wire, which was further connected to the drifting rope. The used wire was the product of several threads --- made from a mineral called Greyphite --- bundled together.

The greyphite-made wires were exceptionally resistant to rust and had excellent tensile strength. Though their price was also just as exceptional, they have often been used for fishing big hauls like this.

It seemed --- though I didn't know what the hell was happening precisely --- like crewmates had gained another haul. My back was currently facing toward the direction the cheers were coming from as I shot down the flock of Sea Falcons one after another from the center of the ship. A small mountain of arrows was arranged beside me. Sea Falcons were currently targeting our ship from all directions while folding their wings at shallow angles and diving down.

Oh, right. The said crewmates were the staff of the Serene Wind Co and Dan was operating the ship.

It was my first time shooting arrows from a special terrain that wobbled my aim, initially I mainly lost my aim midway or at the time of shooting the arrow when the ship rocked due to the movement of the waves. After a while, I got quite used to the rhythm of the waves so everything was now panning out in my favour.

However, a huge credit was still due to Dan's excellent assistance. I honestly admired his skills even more after I tried controlling the ship by myself. He would synchronize my aim and the rhythm of the boat and then create a window of opportunity by minimizing the swaying of the ship with expert maneuvering, so I didn't face too many hiccups like sudden jolting and the like.

Then, he would also give me signals with his eyes when he was going tacking or jibing (turning the ship downwind).

I was honestly dying to see what was happening behind the cockpit and what they were fishing up, but it was just that this damned potato face kept blocking the view. And he was even giving me a thumbs up with a broad smile for some mystified reason...... Does he know he was committing a crime by blocking my view?

I think I had shot down 300 Sea Falcons already --- I wasn't sure since I was shooting down more than I could count --- while keeping an eye on the surroundings. Soon, Gutx, who had gone to take a look at the celebration of the crewmates, returned and said while replenishing the arrows in the quiver I was carrying.

"...Man, you really got some sick skills. I have been watching all this while and except for the starting 2 or 3 arrows, the rest have hit the bull's eye. I was honestly surprised when the Young Miss was ready to dish out a 1 million rea reward... but now that I'm seeing this with my own eyes, the world of the top is really unbelievable for an ordinary person like me.

Oh, and the rest of the bunch have just caught their fourth haul. Honestly, fishing probably was never this easy with Dan's skill. He maneuvered the ship to weaken the momentum of the Deareise while the others winded up the rope.

Anyway, it would be impossible to take back anymore, so once they're done reeling back the current target, we'll stop fishing. "

Kuh, damn you, Dan...

So he was even supporting the fishing crewmates alongside assisting me in my aim? I completely didn't notice since I couldn't see what was happening at the back. There really was a world of difference between doing something for fun and doing it as a passion.

"I'm honestly no top class---"

'The rope has been cut?' A stir rose from behind before I could complete my words.

"Huh, what? The greyphit-made wire was actually cut off?"

Gutx had just expressed his surprise when the stern of the ship was suddenly lifted. It stayed in the air for a moment before stern once again fell onto the sea surface. At the same time, the yells of the members from the stern echoed.

""I-It's a White-tailed Orca!!""

◆◆◆

The ship was nearly tilted to a dangerous level, and honestly, it would have capsized if Dan hadn't momentarily corrected the ship's angle and opened the sail while jibing in the direction of Solcoast.Gett your favorite novels at no/v/e/lbin(.)com

"Match my timing! I'll handle them!"

Dan understood my aim in a heartbeat and gave me a thumbs up...... Argh, how did he even have the time for that when he should be handling line work!?

The rest of the White-tailed Orca circled the White-tailed Orca I shot down, as if mourning its death, for a short while and then went back to chasing us.

I tried to re-enact the same scene to at least take down one more and shot down the Sea Falcons, but no White-tailed Orca appeared anymore... They were quite intelligent.

I think they were most likely communicating with each other through sound, like dolphins or killer whales on Earth. Hmm, the situation was more dangerous than I thought.

Soon, we left the Corrinda Strait, and simultaneously, the Sea Falcons also stopped coming after us. On the other hand, the White-tailed Orcas were still chasing us in obstinacy, but they changed their strategy to stay inside the water as much as possible and rammed onto the ship from there.

They do appear back on the sea surface to breathe but at a distance from the ship which rendered the arrows ineffective due to the distance. It was too risky to use the MacAquate arrows as well. Besides, my detection range was a bit ineffective under the sea so I had been contracting the range and focusing on the nearby signs over the sea surface.

The ship was somehow hanging on for now, but honestly, we were treading on thin ice, just one mistake and we might be the next titanic of this world.

I calculated the timing and jumped over to the cockpit again.

"I really don't want to take that route, but should we throw the Deareises? They weigh around 1.5 tons combined I believe."

I asked Dan, who shook his head.

"I also had the same idea. We might be able to speed up but that wouldn't be enough to shake off the Orcas from our trail. If anything, I would rather wish for more weight to stabilize the ship and prevent it from capsizing."

...Oh, so he had already thought of it and was even using them as ballast? I guess I still underestimated his skills.

"Alright. But we're going to lose all our options at this rate. I have 5 high-performance arrows, I'll try to reduce their number. Handle the starboard!"

I explained my plan and jumped over the starboard rear deck. I knew Dan would understand my target without putting much into words.

I had trained in archery using both hands, but speaking of preference, I find it easier to nock an arrow with my right hand.

I nocked an arrow while straining my ears to capture any sound and shouted as soon as I noticed a presence. Since the sound from underwater was virtually impossible to pick up with detection magic, I was concentrating my senses on capturing the disturbance on the water's surface or the rise of bubbles to determine the target.

"Star---Board---Jib!"

Almost instantly reacting to my voice, the helm sharply cut to the left just as a looming shadow from the right appeared on the water's surface. I released the MacAcquate arrow targeting the area our ship was just a moment ago.

The next instant, a screen of bright red spread in the water. I believe the arrow must have pierced the head of the White-tailed Orca given the timing.

Alright, 4 more to go.

E/N - Quite an action-packed chapter. Also, lol at Dan's potato face blocking Allen's view. I wanna ask though, can't he see what's going on with his detection magic?