The next morning, Claude wasn’t in the cabin when I woke up.
Lydia and Milly were still sleeping.
She was probably wandering around the ship.
I’m also wide awake now, so shall I go enjoy the outside sea breeze?
When I went up the deck, I saw a flock of Island Seagulls in the skies above.
Island Seagulls
Level 29
Magical Value 2980/2980
Recently whenever I saw a monster, I would instinctively use scout scope in order to examine it. I’ve rarely fought the Island Seagulls but unexpectedly they seem to be pretty strong monsters.
Although they seldom attack human beings, if they were to attempt to attack they would gather in large groups and unless you had a magician that was capable of dealing with multiple foes, it is difficult to deal with them.
While giving them a side glance I was walking towards the deck, and that was when I saw Claude whose hair was fluttering as the wind flew past her.
「Claude」
When I called out to her, she turned to face me.
「You are quite the early riser aren’t you, Zeph-kun?」
「Ahh, normally it is even earlier」
In these past few days, so that I could properly heal my wounds that I sustained from the battle with Grain, I did not get up in the middle of the night to train.
Besides there wasn’t much you could do inside of this ship, it’s probably better to train once I reach the capital, right?
「Rather isn’t Claude an earlier riser than me?」
「Yesterday, I couldn’t….. really get much sleep….」
「Ah…… I’m sorry, I even tried to keep Lydia’s voice in check」
「That made it even more…….. Eh, nevermind」
Claude lightly slaps her crimson face with a pitter-patter.
Well, the stimulation was probably too strong for her.
To be honest, it was for me as well.
It became a little awkward so I tried to change the topic.
「Claude, you’ve been practicing magic recently?」
「Yes, right now I was meditating in order to recover some magical energy」
「Let’s have a look, perhaps I can help teach a thing or two」
「Are you serious? Hooray!」
Clapping her hands together, Claude jumps up and down joyfully.
「If I am not mistaken, you learned the Blue Gale spell from Milly the other day?」
「Yes. Watching Milly-san use it. It definitely looks really cool」
Yesterday, Claude was reading the Blue Gale scroll that Milly had with her and learned the spell. However, because Claude had a low amount of magical energy, she couldn’t really use such a large spell as of yet.
Therefore, Milly opened Claude’s magical lines and shared the sensation of using Blue Gale in order increase the level of the spell so that she could reduce the consumption of magical energy.
While it may take some time, if she did this, it would become possible for a low levelled person to use powerful magic.
Well the basic theory and concept of such is thing is very similar to how I am trying to directly increase the level of Growth Spell within Lydia. However, if the person in question had some talent with magic it was not that difficult to accomplish.
I grabbed Claude’s hands and pointed it towards the flock of Island Seagulls.
When I connected with her magical power line, Claude’s hands jolted and trembled.
And just like that she was holding her hands out towards the Island Seagulls.
「In that manner, try to cast Blue Gale」
「With my limited magical power, I would not be able to defeat it you know?」
「I’ll properly follow you up, so don’t worry」
「I understand」
Are there around ten or more of th
e flock of Island Seagulls?
Holding her hands towards them, she chanted Blue Gale.
Generating a small tornado at sea, she engulfed the Island Seagulls.
When I used scout scope to check I could see that their magical value had decreased by half.
Obviously angry at the sudden attack, the flock of Island Seagulls were headed towards us.
Claude was taking on a fighting stance and I immediately cast my own Blue Gale, in an instant a tornado is created as it devours the Island Seagulls and completely annihilates them.
「Mmm, I feel kind of sorry for them……」
「You’re too naive, Claude」
「Ehehe, I’m not really…..」
Claude was being bashful.
I wasn’t giving you a praise you know? (TL: Naïve can also mean sweet in Japanese, so Claude was assuming Zeph called her sweet-hearted)
「Oi, you bros over there 」
A sailor with a huge body build was calling out to us.
Being called a bro, Claude had a slightly displeased expression on her face as she looked at the sailor. However as if he didn’t realize it at all, he had this big lively smile pasted across his face.
「I’m about to go do some fishing, do you bros want to join in? If we catch a good one, we could be in for a wonderful breakfast, what do you say?」
When I looked at the other side of the deck, I could see a bunch of sailors who were fishing.
「Fishing?」
Now that you mentioned it I’ve never gone fishing before.
It seemed like all you had to do was sit down blankly staring at the ocean, so I never thought it looked that interesting.
「I’ve never gone fishing before」
「I’m an expert at fishing, you know?」(Claude Speaking)
「Here you go! I’ve still got two rods left so give it a go」
I received a fishing rod from the sailor and Claude was holding on to the other one.
「All we have to do is throw this in?」
When I was about to swing the rod and sink the hook into the ocean, Claude stopped me.
「If you don’t use any bait, it won’t work you know? Umm excuse me, but could we have some bait please?」
「For sure! it’s over here so just come grab as much as you need」
When he passed us a small wooden box, there was small fish and crustaceans inside of it.
「Put these on the hook and then we will be able to cash a big fish」
Claude seemed like she was familiar with the action as she put the fish bait on the hook of my rod and passed it to me.
「I’m going to throw it in, so please have a look okay?」
Brandishing the rod, she swung in a large motion and throws it out towards the sea.
The hook flies across the sea in a beautiful arc before plopping far into the distance.
「……..Well it’s pretty much like that」
「You’re really good」
「I often used to fish in a stream as a hobby. Besides, when I used to travel alone, there were times where I would go fishing in order to eat」
What an impressive thing.
I tried to learn from Claude as I swung the rod towards the sea.
However, it didn’t reach as far as Claude and it plopped around half way from where Claude’s hook landed.
「Muu, that didn’t go so well」
「It’s not just about how far you can throw the hook」
Claude places her pole and leans it against the ship as she took a seat, I also sat beside her.
Leaving it for a little while Claude’s thread started to shake, Claude stands up and winds up the spool of thread.
Perhaps the fish she caught was huge? Claude was struggling to reel it in as she used her body to bear the weight.
I grabbed hold of her thin waist and used all my strength to assist her.
「Ku…….Uuuuu!」
Claude’s face became red as an expression of agony floated across her face.
Her hands seemed to be slipping and the rod was bending, it seemed as if the thread would break at any moment.
I’m also trying my best to stand firm as I could tell just from Claude’s body how big this fish was.
「Teryaaaaaaah!」
Along with a shout Claude hauls up the fishing rod and when she did, a huge fish flutters around in the air, whilst still holding on to Claude I collapsed onto the deck.
You could hear the sound of this huge fish flapping its head.
As expected its quite a big one.
Claude’s breathing was a little ragged, and the body I supported was moving up and down for air.
While I was feeling a comfortable sense of accomplishment, Claude moved her body.
「Umm…… Zeph-kun, can you let go of me….?」
Claude shyly looks towards me.
「What? are you embarrassed?」
「Not really but……Hyaaah!?」
When I lifted Claude up from behind, she raised a cute voice.
「Mouu……. Zeph-kun…..」
This Claude she’s being shy isn’t she.
She really makes me want to tease her.
When I looked again, as expected the fish she caught was really big.
It’s about half my height.
What a big shot.
「You’re really awesome, Claude」
「It’s all thanks to Zeph-kun, without your help I don’t think I can catch this one myself」
Claude was being bashful and I pat her head. Noticing what happened the Sailors who were fishing gathered around us.
「Ou, that’s quite the big shot you’ve bros got there!」
「You bros had a nice combination effort!」
「You bros seem pretty close with each other!」
Several of the crew members were praising us and Claude had a complex expression on her face before responding.