Published at 20th of November 2020 10:34:26 PM
Chapter 49
Translator: SFBaka
Editor: Thor’s Stone
Chapter 49 – Departure Part 1
『It’s morning . Please wake up . 』
It’s been quite a while since I’ve been woken up by Nanom . Since I ordered Nanom to take care of the alcohol in my bloodstream last night before going to sleep, I didn’t have any hangover at all .
And since I would be unable to take a proper one for an extended period of time after this, I took my sweet time having a morning bath .
After getting out of the bath, I wrote up the recipe for last night’s stew . But it was still a bit early for breakfast .
Then, there was a call from Iris .
『Captain, I called to discuss about Sharon and Selena’s military ranks…』
(Oh, right . Warrant Officers Selena Conrad and Sharon Conrad have done an excellent job finding their commanding officer and bringing ample supplies . In accordance with the powers vested in me, and in recognition of their exemplary service, I hereby promote Selena Conrad and Sharon Conrad to the rank of Ensign . This is your Captain’s orders . )
『Acknowledged . Normally, it isn’t so easy to get promoted like this, but since we’re under a first-class state of emergency, there is absolutely no problem . 』
I talked about Selena and Sharon’s ranks with Iris a few days ago .
According to normal imperial military regulations, the only ones a ship captain is allowed to promote in rank are formal officers . The non-commissioned ones do not have such qualifications . In other words, if the two of them were to remain as NCOs from here on out, there would be a lack of commanding officers in this planet’s branch of the imperial military . Iris told me that the only exception to this is an order from the commanding officer during a first-class state of emergency, so she requested that I promote the two as soon as possible .
With this, in the event of something bad happening to me, any of the two can be safely promoted to the ship’s captain, and they could then continue to lead the imperial military . It did make me feel quite relieved to know that .
Come to think of it, I wonder who exactly was older between Selena and Sharon? Because they had the same military rank, I was thinking of something like giving the older of the two first priority when it comes to promotion to the highest commanding officer, if it was ever needed . From the records, it seems that they did enlist at the same time after all . I should ask about it, I guess .
(Hey, Iris, just who is older between Selena and Sharon?)
『It’s Selena . 』
(How come? They were enlisted at the same time, right?)
『This is because you mentioned Selena’s name first when you promoted them earlier . That’s the sole reason . There’s even a historical basis for this action as well . 』
Can we really decide on something important like this using such a flimsy reasoning? Oh well . I guess there’s no problem if I don’t die or something . I have to be careful then .
『And Captain, I have directed one drone unit to standby at the airspace above your location earlier . Please let it accompany you during your travels . 』
(A drone? Do we really need one following us? And weren’t they all tasked with gathering intel?)
The drones were currently going around various cities while monitoring and relaying the info gathered through the recon bits installed in the pubs around the continent . Due to the effective range of the bits being limited, this was a necessary arrangement .
『Keeping an eye on you all is important . If, by any chance, we happen to lose all three of you due to some incident, the operation we are currently carrying out will come to a complete standstill, and I will end up becoming just an oversized hunk of space debris . 』
She does have a point huh . Well, I guess we can at least spare one drone for the job . It’s for insurance after all .
Since it was already time for breakfast, I went down to the dining area .
I joined the ones who were already there and drank some tea while waiting for the others to come down as well . The last one to arrive was actually Cleria .
“Uu, my head hurts… And I feel really nauseous . ” Cleria complained .
I guess she’s having quite the hangover . And we’re gonna start traveling after this too .
(Hey Nanom, can you direct the nanoms inside Cleria’s body to get rid of her hangover . )
『Acknowledged . 』
“Even taking a bath didn’t manage to make my headache go away, but I feel that drinking this tea is actually having an effect instead . ” Cleria claimed .
“Risama, you really drank too much last night . ” Elna reprimanded in a harsh tone .
“Yes, I believe I did… I do remember having a lot of fun last night, but I do not remember exactly what I thought was fun…” Cleria honestly acknowledged .
“Fufu! Watching you last night was really interesting, Clerisan . ” Sharon teased .
“I’m absurdly curious now…” Cleria sighed .
“Fufu, I’ll tell you all about it later, Risama . ”
When the dishes for breakfast arrived, it seems that Cleria had recovered enough to eat her fill .
“I want to depart immediately after we’ve finished all preparations . What do you all think?”
Everyone agreed with me, so we decided to start preparing for departure immediately after our meal . Since we had a lot of baggage, we decided to bring the carriage in front of the inn first, then load everything else up on it, and then depart afterward .
All of us decided to come to Tarus-san’s store to claim our stuff, and we found Tarus-san together with his entire family waiting there, wanting to send us off .
All of the supplies have already been loaded inside the carriage it seems .
“Thank you for going out of your way to send us off, everyone . ”
“No, this is just a matter of course . We owe a lot to you and your comrades after all, Alan-san . Well then, we sincerely pray for your safe travels, everyone . ”
“Thank you very much . We’ll be going ahead then . ”
Everyone uttered words of farewell as the carriage set off and we finally left the store .
When we reached the inn, we hauled off our remaining luggage and loaded them inside the carriage . This carriage had a large, box-like design, with plenty of space out front for people to sit on and ride, and equally ample space at the back to carry the luggage . It even has suspensions installed, so the ride was relatively comfy .
Since it was designed for use by a merchant firm, it had plenty of luggage space to store goods in, so we were able to fit everything with no problems . And the top of the carriage has some cargo space as well, so there was still plenty of leeway for more .
“So I guess it’s finally time for you guys to go huh, Alan . I won’t ever forget all the help you’ve given us . ”
After saying that, Verse handed a large box over to me . When I opened it to check the contents, I found that it had at least twenty portions of katsuobushi . And there was some mustard inside a large pot as well . Finally, there was a great amount of bread . So he even managed to bake all these bread even after drinking like crazy last night . I’m impressed .
“Hey, is giving us this much really alright?”
“It’s fine . Those are your farewell gifts . Feel free to take them . ”
“I see . Thanks a lot for these . We’ve been in your care, Verse . Thank you . ”
“That’s my line . Let’s meet each other again someday, Alan . ”
“Yeah, definitely . ”
And so, we left the Nature’s Bounty inn and finally started traveling out of Gotania city .
After leaving the city, Elna immediately accompanied me on the coachman’s seat . I should make it a point to learn how to drive the carriage from Elna as soon as I can . Fortunately, driving the carriage wasn’t all that difficult .
According to Elna, the two horses, Tarth and Syrah, were very smart . They were very responsive to people’s commands .
Elna, who was sitting beside me, kept herself alert as she watched the surroundings, but I also had a drone watching from above using its multi-sensors, plus Nanom’s magic sensors, so we had all angles covered .
The drone was helping me navigate the route, and the weather was clear, so everything was quite calm . I even felt like sleeping .
The drone designated as D-1 informed me that we were about to reach the place where we were scheduled to have our lunch . D-1 was this particular drone’s call sign .
『Captain, this is D-1 . 』
(What’s up?)
『Five Gray Hounds are approaching our position . They are currently three kilometers away . Shall I proceed to eliminate them?』
Five monsters huh? They’ll serve as perfect targets for Sharon and Selena’s magic practice . Even if we now have enough energy packs for the rifles, I still want to use them sparingly if I could . Thus, mastering magic is very important .
(No, we will dispose of them once they come into range . Continue to monitor the surrounding area . If there are any changes in the situation, just give us an alarm and display the potential threats on the map . There is no need for direct communications . )
『Acknowledged . 』
“Shall we have our lunch here?”
“Yes, it’s about time . We can’t be sure we’ll encounter a place like this later on after all . ” Elna agreed .
Well, it is true that there will be no other suitable rest spots after this one for quite a while . This place was a large clearing near the road . It was probably cleared out specifically for use by travelers like us .
“Are we going to take a break now, Alan?” Cleria inquired .
“Yes, that’s right . Let’s have lunch here . ”
Now then, what’ll we have for lunch? I guess I’ll use the bread we got from Verse . Let’s eat them while they’re still soft and fluffy . I’ll grill some bacon and use them as a sandwich filling, along with some crisp lettuce-looking veggies, sliced tomatoes, and mayonnaise . I managed to procure some mayo from Verse before we departed after all . I also managed to get some ketchup and the sauce I co-developed with him as well .
As I was preparing for lunch, the five Gray Hounds, that were now just several hundred meters away from us, started moving in earnest . It looks like they’ve finally noticed us .
“There are five Gray Hounds approaching us . How about you use them as targets for spell practice, Selena, Sharon?”
The faces of the two, who were currently looking after the horses, brightened considerably after hearing my announcement .
“Understood! We’ll do it!” Sharon excitedly exclaimed .
“Please leave them to us!” Selena followed up .
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“What about me, Alan?” Cleria asked .
“You’ve already had enough practice before, right, Cleria?”
“I’m still not as good compared to you, Alan . There’s five of them, so please let me join in as well!”
“Oh alright then . I guess the three of you can do it together . They’re approaching from that direction . ”
Selena and Sharon should already know the monster’s positions, but I’m sure Cleria still had no idea .
After facing the direction the enemies were going to come out from, I, Selena, and Sharon brandished our rifles and took a firing stance, while Cleria and Elna unsheathed their swords .
Gray Hounds leapt out from within the mountains one after another and headed for the clearing aggressively, without any care for potential retaliation .
Flame Arrow spells were cast and headed straight for the Gray Hounds . Selena and Sharon each managed to cast one arrow, while Cleria casted three .
A total of three arrows hit the first one to exit the mountainside . Selena and Sharon prepared to fire off their next spells after the first ones hit the target, but the remaining two arrows from Cleria’s spell hit the second and third Hounds already . Selena and Sharon’s arrows ended up finishing off the remaining two instead .
As a result, Cleria got a total of three monsters while Selena and Sharon got two each . It looks like Cleria really does exceed the both of them when it comes to spell control and output . In any case, the three of them managed to bring down five Gray Hounds in a snap .
Selena and Sharon were quite frustrated that Cleria was able to bring down more monsters than them, and Cleria instead looked really happy about it .
“Good job, everyone . So you’re actually more interested in bringing down Gray Hounds than having lunch huh . You all look really excited, you know . ”
We then proceeded to collect the magic stones from the Gray Hounds . Can’t we do something about this collection process? The act of having to pin down the corpse with my foot while trying not to touch the body as much as possible really feels overly tedious .
In order not to inconvenience other travelers, we dragged the monster corpses toward a cliff near the side of the road and dropped all of them down the valley below .
We used the Water spell to wash our hands clean and proceeded to have our lunch . The bacon and lettuce sandwiches turned out quite well .
After finishing our lunch, we jumped back into the carriage and started off once more . I’d like to reach the designated camping area as soon as possible .
We did manage to reach the campsite at about four o’clock in the afternoon without encountering any more problems along the way .
“Let’s pitch our camp near that river over there . We can easily reach that place via carriage; it’s relatively spacious and even offers a good view of the surroundings, so it seems fairly safe . ”
“Yes, that does seem to be the case . Let us do so then . ” Elna expressed her agreement .
Of course, I’ve already confirmed the overall layout of that area beforehand . I checked an overhead view of the entire area taken by the drone flying in stealth right above us . The riverside was really suited for camping, and the river was fairly wide as well . It also had a spot that looked perfect for fishing . I want to try fishing there by all means .
First, we divided the work among ourselves and proceeded to pitch our camp . Cleria, Sharon, and Selena were in charge of settling down and securing the horses . I and Elna were in charge of pitching the tents .
The tents were well designed, so after teaching Elna how to set them up, everything went smoothly . There were a total of three tents that can house two people each . We had them ready after just a short while .
Great . Now, what’s left is just preparing dinner . That said, let’s get to fishing . It was a really nice way to procure some food .
“I’m thinking of going fishing over there for a bit . I probably won’t take long, so you girls are all free to do your own stuff in the meantime . ”
I took the bag with the fishing gear inside and headed for the river . Everyone else actually followed after me .
“Hm? I thought I said you’re free to do what you want, girls?”
“I want to observe you while you fish . ” Cleria replied .
“That’s right . I’m also quite interested . ” Elna followed up .
Okay then .
When I reached the bank of the river, I started preparing the fishing gear . Since I had no live bait, I decided to use the lures instead . I did have a bit of fishing experience, so I managed to prepare everything without any problems .
These reels were not the electronic type, but the manual type instead . I guess these were owned by someone very particular with his or her fishing preferences . Great . We’re all set . I chose a lure that looked like a small fish .
“This fake bait will be used to attract the fish in the river by throwing it on the water . Once the fish takes the fake bait as prey and bites at it, their mouths will be stuck to this hook, and then I’ll be able to pull them out of the water . That’s basically how this tool works . ”
“Amazing! This thread is made out of some sort of transparent material!” Cleria exclaimed .
“Well, if it wasn’t transparent, the fish would easily notice it after all . ”
“Um, I feel that’s actually not the real reason for using such transparent material . ” Elna countered .
It was getting dark already . Let’s go ahead and start .
I tossed the lure out . It flew quite a distance . My fishing experience came in handy after all . After tossing it out two more times, I finally felt something pull at the line .
“Here it comes!”
This one’s pretty tough . But a normal fish won’t be able to snap this fishing line at all . If I remember correctly, this type of line can handle fishes weighing up to fifty kilos . It’s the same with the rod . There’s no problem even if I wound it with some force .
I finally managed to fish one up .
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“Amazing! You really caught one!” Cleria exclaimed in glee .
“This is how fishing goes, Cleria . ”
I ended up fishing a pretty large trout . It was a bit smaller than the fish Cleria and I caught during our time in that makeshift camp, but it wasn’t bad .
“Alan, I want to try as well!” Cleria requested .
“”Me too!””
It looks like everyone was interested in trying fishing out . But I also want to continue fishing as well .
It looks like I need to prepare all three rods then .
I set everything up and gave them a simple lecture regarding how to throw the lures .
“If you press this spot on the reel, the fishing line will be held in place . If you release it, the line will come out . You need to raise your arms at this angle, and then bring them down with a snap . Once you do so, the lure will fly out to the water . If you want to stop the line from lengthening further once you’ve thrown the lure inside the water, you can just press here again to hold it in place once more . ”
When I had them try for themselves, it seems like everyone has managed to somehow get a knack for it . After two to three practice throws, they were able to successfully land the lure at a good place on the water . Everyone sure learns fast .
Chapter 49 – Departure Part 3
Translator: SFBaka
Editor: Thor’s Stone
“Great . Now then, it’s time for a fishing competition! In this corner, we have the Sharon and Selena team . In this corner, we have the Cleria and Elna team . And I’ll be alright by myself . Take it as a handicap since I have prior fishing experience . Once someone manages to catch something, she’ll get replaced by the other member . The team with the largest fish caught wins . ”
Each team only had one rod after all, so me being alone wasn’t much of a handicap, but it looks like they haven’t noticed .
With this, we’ll be able to enjoy fishing more .
We took some distance from one another and started to fish .
Whoah . It looks like Selena managed to land a fish straight away . Like I thought, these waters were quite deep . Selena cheered at her success . Hou, the fish she hooked seemed pretty big . Even if she was reeling the fish with all her might, I believe the rod and the line can take it . It wasn’t allowed for someone else to assist in reeling in the fish during the competition after all . Since it was getting dark, there wasn’t enough time for us to fish .
I’m not landing any hits yet huh . Oh, this time, it was Cleria who got a bite . She’s also reeling it in with all her might . I’m gonna switch areas .
This time, it was Sharon . She also seems to have landed something rather large . Then, Elna managed to land one as well . It was a double hit .
Ugh . It’s no use . It’s getting pretty dark already, and since it looks like I’m gonna have to cook a lot of fish dishes for dinner, I guess we should wrap things up .
Elna took the most time to reel in her catch, and it turned out that she got the largest of the bunch . It’s actually a salmon that surpasses a meter in length .
“Ehem . And the winner for the party’s first fishing tournament is the Cleria and Elna team . The runner up is the Selena and Sharon team . ”
Cleria and Elna seemed really happy about their win .
Selena, Cleria, and Sharon’s salmon were all about eighty centimeters in length, so it was a bit difficult to judge who one out against the other .
By the way, my trout was a measly fifty centimeters .
“Right then . I’ll go ahead and prepare dinner . ”
“Fishing is really fun, isn’t it, Alan? I want to do it again if possible,” Cleria happily exclaimed .
“Yeah… And next time, I won’t lose!”
I started filleting the fish on the riverbank . Except for what I caught, the rest of the fish were pretty big, so preparing them felt great .
The girls were still not over their excitement from the fishing tournament as they started gathering firewood to make a bonfire . We brought several light-producing magic tools, but a bonfire was still brighter .
Now then, let’s think about the menu .
I’ll make canapes by putting thin slices of cheese, salmon sashimi, and mayonnaise on top of lightly toasted bread slices . I’ll season them with some salt and pepper as well .
Next, I’ll make salt-grilled salmon and trout .
Then, I’ll cook up some salmon meuniere
Then, we’ll have some bread on the side .
That should do it . It was also possible to place the salmon meuniere between bread slices and spread mayonnaise on it . That’s pretty good too .
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Since we managed to get some fresh fish, I wanted to try making some salmon sushi, but since it’s already becoming dark outside, there was no time . I’ll just try it next time .
We also brought a folding table and some folding chairs with us, so we brought them out and set them up .
It was already quite dark when we finished preparing dinner .
But we placed two light magic tools on top of the table, and four around the sides of our makeshift dining area . With the light from the bonfire added, our surroundings were pretty bright .
“Let’s go ahead and dig in then . ”
“They all look delicious!” Sharon exclaimed .
“They don’t really resemble dishes eaten while at camp . ” Elna commented .
First, let’s try the canapes . Mm . It was pretty good . The combination of the fatty salmon meat and cheese was perfect . The mayonnaise added depth to the overall flavor . The crisp texture of the toasted bread also enhanced the taste .
“I can’t believe it! So raw fish can also taste this good!?” Elna exclaimed .
Cleria already tried these, so she wasn’t surprised at all .
The salt-grilled salmon was pretty standard stuff, so there were not many excited reactions over it . They liked it all the same though . The crispy skin was really nice .
I tried the salmon meuniere sandwich I thought of earlier and placed some lettuce between two slices of bread, followed by the salmon and some mayo . It was pretty good . Everyone else ended up copying me as well .
“I feel that the dishes are made more delicious by the fact that we caught them ourselves . ” Cleria pointed out .
Everyone else agreed with her statement . Well, I did manage to catch a fish myself, so I guess I can share the feeling too, somehow .
It was a really fulfilling dinner overall . We didn’t manage to finish them all, so we’ll leave the rest for breakfast tomorrow .
We then drank some after-meal tea and made small talk .
“Elnsan, what kind of magic is earth magic?” Sharon asked .
Oh yeah! There was that kind of magic too . Cleria wasn’t familiar with it, and I failed to learn it through the Magic Guild in the end . It seems it was quite a rare type of magic .
“I also haven’t gotten opportunities to meet people who can cast earth magic spells that much myself, and I only have one experience of seeing earth magic being cast in person . It was during a military drill between different regiments . A company of military mages made a pitfall using earth magic at that time . ”
“That sounds like some amazing magic! I wonder what happens to the soil that gets displaced in the process of making that pitfall though . Don’t tell me it disappears?”
“It doesn’t . The soil and dirt swell out and eventually pile up around the completed pitfall . ” Elna explained .
“Hm . But it still sounds amazing . It seems like it’s a pretty convenient magic type, so why isn’t it widely used?”
“According to what I heard, there aren’t many people who can manage to learn it even after reading the corresponding magic tome . And there’s also the fact that, apart from service in the military, there’s no chance for people to make a living if all they can do is dig holes and pitfalls . ”
Hm, I see . But it sounds pretty useful for building construction and digging graves for cemeteries though . Maybe it’s due to the amount of soil and dirt a single mage can dig out by him or herself then?
“How large was the pitfall you saw that day, Elna?”
“If I remember correctly, it was four meters at all sides, and had a depth of two meters . ”
“And how many people were required to make such a hole?”
“About twenty people . ”
“Can they make an even bigger hole than that?”
“Well, I’m not sure, honestly . I just happened to come across it by coincidence that one time after all . ”
I see . They managed to move quite a lot of earth, but since twenty people were needed to do that, it wasn’t as impressive as it first seemed . But I still want to learn earth magic after all . There might be an opportunity to learn it in the future . I’ll look out for it then .
When we finished cleaning up after the meal, there wasn’t much else to do, so we decided to go to sleep . We planned to wake up once dawn breaks tomorrow and continue on our way after having a quick breakfast .
“Alan, what is the order for lookout duty?” Elna asked .
“We don’t need any lookouts . I will be able to wake up once my scanning magic picks up any monsters that come close, then I’ll be able to warn everyone, and we’ll be able to prepare for whatever comes . ”
“What!? …Is that true?”
“It’s true, Elna . During our journey from Talas village to Gotania city, Alan always woke up every time monsters approached even if he was deep asleep,” Cleria assured .
“Haa… I understand . Even so, that sounds awfully convenient . ”
Elna made a deep sigh for some reason .
With this, our first day of traveling came to an end .