And then, it happened—the storm that hit us on the fifth night.

It was no ordinary storm. Our whole room tilted violently back and forth with every wave that crashed onto the ship. We could hear loud yelling coming from up above too, as the sailors were no doubt busy trying to control the ship.

“Should we check upstairs, Milord?” Felicia asked with a worried look. “Usually with a storm this violent, there would be monsters accompanying it as well.”

She was right. Remembering the monster guide I had read, sea monsters would often get carried by sea storms, and when said storms hit an unfortunate ship, they would join in for the fun as well.

“You’re afraid this ship will sink?” I asked back.

“Just in case.” She bit her lip, her face as pale as if she had seen a ghost. Or the equivalent scary being for a necromancer. She never was good with ships in general. Even though this wasn’t the first time she had boarded one, she still had to drink potions to keep herself from puking all over.

Me? Heh. This body didn’t have such a weakness, unlike my old self.

“Alright then.” I nodded. “We should wear our cloaks, if just to keep us dry for a little bit.”

We made our way to the deck, taking care not to lose our footing as we walked through the corridors and up the stairs. The ship was seriously listing now. This storm—it might just be too much for the sailors. I might be able to shoo the storm clouds away with my magic, like I did with the snowstorm back then, but I would rather not show my full capability. I would just draw attention to myself, something I did not want. But again, if it’s that or sinking in the middle of the sea, it’s not like I had any other choice, did I?

When we reached the decks, it was chaos all over. People were screaming at each other, their voices drowned by the loudness of the storm. The sailors were going back and forth, trying to get the ship back under control.

“Let them go, you wet-fingered sea-witch!”

And then, we saw him—a dwarf wielding something reminiscent of a rifle back home, only far more antique. The tip opened outwards, to the point of looking like the large end of a megaphone. Hmm, I believe the name was blunderbuss? I never really was good at my gun knowledge. And he was pointing it to—

—Holy hell what in the world is that?!

I was rendered speechless, as my eyes finally recognized the great towering shadow that stood beside the ship. And now, with my sight focused there, I realized what it was—a gigantic woman made out of the waves itself grinning with glee towards us.

“T-that’s—that’s an Undine!  A fey of a sea!” Felicia barked. “B-but that can’t be! There shouldn’t be any fey of her strength anywhere near the route this ship is taking! They should only exist in the deepest part of the sea where no men would ever go!”

The dwarf fired. The bullet flew through the air, hitting the woman right on the middle of her chest. And then, before it went through her liquid body entirely, it exploded into a flurry of ice and snow, freezing the fey from the inside.

“Ha! See how ye’ like that ye stupid fey bimbo!” The dwarf laughed.

Only for him to regret it immediately after as the fey unfroze herself, raining shards of ice at his location, piercing him.

“Gah!”

He fell, but he refused to go down still, He remained on his knees, aiming for another shot.

“Silly mortal! Your loud toys can’t harm me!” The undine giggled. “Nor the boring steel and magic of your companions.”

I then noticed them—a pair of man and woman being suspended in mid-air near the fey inside separate bubbles. They are the dwarf’s companions?

"If you want them so much then come and get them!"

The bubbles popped and one by one the adventurers inside them fell. And, since they were not above the ship, there was only one destination they could end up to.

The stormy, watery depths down below.

“Tch!”

I ran forward, drawing my wand in the process. I then cast a wind spell that blew them back onto the ship.

I then turned my attention towards the gigantic water lady. Wonder if my wind spells would be effective. Ideally, I want ice spells, but I could only cast it up to the Advanced-level iteration. I don’t think it would be enough, judging from that dwarf.

Ah, that’s right. Since my opponent is a Fey, I should bring them on. They should know what the weaknesses of their own kind after all.

Focusing my mind, I reached out to Spring Fairy and Earth Sprite, summoning them to the battlefield. I then asked them if they got any idea how to handle this oversized water spirit in front of them.

“Ooh, that’s an Undine!” Spring Fairy answered with her usual excitement.  “She’s really big though. I wish I could get as big as her. Then I can put Master on top of my head and we can fly around with ease!”

...Yeah, not the answer I need.

“Freeze her. Undines don't like being frozen." Earth Sprite answered with a deadpan tone.

"I know that. Anything else?”

“...No. Apologies for not being more useful.”

Damn it, I just made her sad.

As usual, to cheer her back up, I just have to make her feel useful,.

“Alright, you two! Your jobs are to protect the sailors and anyone else that’s on this ship! I’m counting on you, alright?” I said with a confident grin.

“Yes, Master!” they answered in sync. Spring Fairy flew away with her wings while Earth Sprite turned into a mud and slithered away. I guess even with her evolution, she still retained her original ability of mud manipulation.

“Ooh? Who’s this? Another playmate?” The Undine now had her attention at me. “Ooh, you’re quite the young one, aren’t you? How cute. I’ve decided. I’ll turn you into my plaything.”

“Oh no you don’t! He’s mine! I won’t let you get to him!”

It was Felicia. She rushed onto my side and put up her shadow barrier. “Leave this ship, you wretched fey! You have no right to be here! We haven’t entered your kind’s territory and thus you have no reason to attack us!”

“Urgh, an old hag. I have no interest in you. Go away and let me be with the cute one.”

“A-an old hag?”

*CRACK*

I could almost hear her veins tightening. I spared a nervous glance and sure enough, she now had an outright murderous smile etched into her lips. I knew for a fact how sensitive Felicia was about her age. Every time I brought up Sherry, she would often bring up how old she was compared to her. However, hearing it from an enemy, and another girl nonetheless, was another matter entirely.

“Stand back, Milord. Let me handle this.”

“H-hey! You’re not supposed to attract attention, remember? If you go all out with your dark magic—”

“I don’t care. We’re going to land on the Demon Continent soon. And there’s no law there that bans the usage of dark magic.”

She stabbed the dull end of her staff to the floor and yelled, “Shadow Strike!” Her shadow spread into a large circle, before firing off spheres of shadows towards the fey.

“Ooh? What’s this? Do you think a spell like this could harm me?”

With ease, the Undine created holes on her body, letting the spheres pass through without a single one landing.

“Now it’s my turn! I’ll snatch you into the depths!”

With a youthful laugh, the Undine dived towards the ship. Acting akin to a tsunami, she intended to push everyone off board.

I readied my wind wall. Felicia quickly reinforced it with her own shadow barrier. As for the other people, I glanced to the side to see them being encased inside earthen huts, courtesy of Earth Sprite to be sure. Spring Fairy on the other hand fired her own counter-wave, though it was a lot smaller than the Undine’s.

The giant wave crashed, and for a second, I thought the entire ship would have been flipped over by it. But miraculously, we survived with zero casualties.

“Boo! You guys are no fun!” The Undine pouted. "Guess I'll just cut this wooden thing in half then! If I do that, then you finless mortals would surely all drown!"

Crap! She's smartening up! We're screwed if she did that for sure! We have to take her down asap!

I readied my wand. I would bombard her with ice spells, and then—

“Alright! That’s enough, you evildoer!"

Huh?

I looked towards the voice.

And discovered that it came from on top of the ship’s observation mast.

“Cease your actions at once! Or you would have to face I, the beautiful and deadly legendary knight, Lady Ashleen of The Butterfly Blade!"

There, on said mast, stood a female knight. Her blue cape billowed on the wind—her sword pointed at the Undine. She had blue eyes and long golden hair, the latter tied to the back of her head. Her two sidebangs reached down to her shoulders and they were billowing in the wind as well. She wore a heavy armor as her top and a long skirt as her bottom. As for her race, she looked to be an elf, judging by her pointy ears.

"Ooh! Another one!" The Undine giggled. "This one is still young as well! Good! Another playmate for me to play with!"

"I'm not your playmate, you ignorant swine! I am your judgment and reckoning! And if you don't wish to die, I suggest you scram and never show your face to me or these good people again!"

"Ahahaha! This one is very funny indeed! Is this what they call a knight? I've never drowned one before so this should be a happy new experience!"

"...Hmph! I see you won't listen to reason! Very well then! I shall bring my holy blade down and exorcise the villainy out of you!"

She leaped down from her perch.

Only to slip in the process, landing face first on the floor with her butt in the air, revealing to me and Felicia that she was wearing lace white that day.

"Umm…" I exchanged looks with Felicia, who looked to be just as confused as I was.

The girl quickly recovered, however, (how did she not get brain damage from that?), standing up once more with her blade drawn towards the fey.

"Stand back, you two! I'll handle this!"

Uuh, yeah, judging by that leap of yours, I don't think you'll be handling anything anytime soon.

“Hey, you should—”

“Aaah, take this, you villain!”

Before I could say anything, the elvish knight already ran towards the Undine. In a move so stupid that it beggared belief, she leaped to the railing of the ship, landed her foot on it, and then used it as a stepping stone so she could leap right towards the Undine.

"Take this! Vorpal Blade!"

She made a series of rapid thrusting motions with her rapier, and then—

She fell.

Right into the stormy waters outside the ship.

Never before had my palm fly into my face this fast.

"Should I help the idiot, Milord?" Felicia frowned.

"Uh, yeah, you should."

Felicia tapped her staff, fishing her back onboard using her shadows. She shook her body up and down, making her cough some water out of her mouth, before throwing her back below deck through the nearby door.

"Stupid old hag! How dare you do that to my playmate?!"

The undine's booming voice returned our attention to the real problem. It seemed she wasn't happy with our rescue of the idiot knight. And now, neither was Felicia, as she just called her an old hag for the second time.

"I have a plan, Milord," she said with a cold smile. "In my storage, I have kept a jellifying agent. It should work with all sorts of water, even the one that made up the body of an Undine."

"Do you really have enough to turn that much water into jelly?"

"No, but all we need is the core. Or rather, cores."

"Cores? But I thought undines don't have cores. I certainly don't see anything resembling cores inside of her."

"Any living creature has a core in them, even feys. It is where us mages get our power and it is where the fey draw their power as well. And since she's so big, she must have multiple cores spread around her body. However, unlike, say, slimes, you can't see them with naked eyes. They are far subtler. I tried to determine where they were using my shadow spell, but the Undine was clever enough to dodge it without revealing any obvious weak spot she tried to protect."

"...This core. What's it's size?"

"About the size of a grape each."

"I see. Leave it to me then. I think I know how I can find those cores."

"H-huh?" A look of surprise was drawn on her face. "How would you do that, Milord?"

I smirked. "Just watch and see. Oh, and give me your jellifying agent. I'll use them immediately once I reveal those weak spots. Meanwhile, your job is to cover for me from a distance. Distract her as much as you could."

Heh, judging by her expression, she didn't really understand my plan. No matter. There's no time to explain. She summoned the bottle right into my palm. I quickly stored it safely inside my pocket.

“Oh, also, prepare an antidote for the process.” She raised her eyebrows, opening her mouth to protest, but she was interrupted by the Undine.

"Are you two done talking? Really, you start to bore me! I'll sink this ship! Truly!" The fey pouted.

"Sorry for the wait.” I smiled, taking a few steps forward. “I'm ready to take you on now."

Using Wind Step, I dashed forward and up, right towards the Undine. Felicia on the other hand fired her shadow tendrils—one of them grabbing my waist so she could fetch me in case anything went south.

"Ooh! A combination attack! How exciting!"

Mimicking Felicia's spell, the Undine created her own water tendrils. Some of them went after me, which I blocked or parried with my sword. The rest went to Felicia, who used her tendrils to counter them.

I focused, closing my eyes in the process.

And then, my Vision activated.

Dots of light now colored the blackness behind my eyelids. If I had to describe, it was akin to a constellation, but with the lines already drawn.

It was her Mana network. This was my new ability—to see the flow of Mana in all living things.

After I learned how to dispel spells—barely I might add—I kept training to increase my range. That made me realize I could now increase the range where I could sense Mana. Normally, a mage would only sense his or her own Mana. But now, as long as I focused, and the target wasn't too far away, I could feel their Mana as well as my own.

There! The grape-sized spots! There are five of them! And they are really sending Mana to the other, lesser spots!

I wonder if I could just… do this…

Repeating the same process to dispel a spell, I tried to disturb the flow of Mana at one of the spots.

A loud shriek immediately ensued.

"Ouchouchouchouch! Human! What are you doing?! It hurts!"

It works! But, the core is still there. I need to shut it down, not just disturb it. Seems like I still need a lot of training.

My grin grew bigger. Now that I knew where the cores were, I just needed to splash the content of his bottle all over it. For a grape, one drop ought to be enough.

"Get away! Get away!"

She fired a volley of water spears at my direction as she tried to flee. With a swipe of my wand, I deconstructed them mid-air before any could land. I had trained this as well, using Felicia as my partner. The concept was basically the same with Dispel Magic, so it wasn't that hard.

I then aimed it at the core in her left thigh. "Aaargghh! It hurts! It hurts! Stop! This isn't fun anymore!" She lost her balance, making her fall down into the ocean. I chased after her, not intending to let up in the slightest.

"Haaaaahh! Just drown, you stupid human!"

She formed into a wave, no doubt intending to swallow me whole straight to the ocean floor.

"Felicia! Make a Shadow Barrier!"

"Got it!"

The Undine wrapped herself around me. As she couldn't get through my barrier, she switched to trying to shatter it with water pressure.

I focused once more, conjuring the image of her Mana network once again.

Good. All five are really close. I could do this then.

Reaching out with my own Mana Network, I sent disruptive energy towards all five of the cores.

"AAAAAAARGHHH! GYAAAAAAHHHH!"

The fey violently trashed about as she lost control over her own body from the pain. Basically, she was having a spasm fit.

It was the perfect opportunity to deliver the finishing blow.

I took the deepest breath I could before dispelling Felicia's barrier. And then, I swam to each of the cores, firing the jellifying agent. The bottle possessed some magical quality, in which it would only expel its content if you pressed into it. Basically, like a plastic ketchup bottle.

It immediately took effect. The water surrounding the agent hardened in an instant, turning into a jelly that the fey could not control. Quickly, I swam upwards, not wanting to be caught in the process. Just in case, I activated my Vision once more as I did. Sure enough, the flow of Mana coming out from those five spots was halted. In fact, they were coagulating, almost like a blood clot. And, I wasn't a master of biology or anything, but I was pretty sure she would die if that continued as her Mana would rupture. She would dissolve into nothingness, and whatever Mana remained would return back to Fey land where it would spawn a new fairy completely.

I flew above the water surface using Wind Step, and as I did, I saw her face on the water, pleading at me to give mercy.

"STOP! STOOOPPP! I DON'T WANT TO LOSE THIS FORM! PLEASE! I'LL DO ANYTHING! ANYTHING YOU WANT!"

I stopped. There was indeed something she could do for me.

"Tell me your name then. Your true name."

“S-SAVE ME FIRST, HUMAN!”

“No. Tell me your name first.” I wasn’t so stupid to just throw away my advantage.

"F-FINE! M-MY NAME IS— MY NAME IS DYNU! DYNU NENEDI!”

“Then, Dynu Nenedi. First, I command you to never be hostile to me, Felicia, or anyone else without my permission. Secondly, I command you to make a pact with me. Become my familiar.”

I needed more strength. A giant-sized Undine would certainly be a significant addition to my arsenal. I didn’t care that I was basically enslaving her. For sinking human ships for fun, it’s a fitting punishment.

She reached out to me with her remaining strength, wrapping me inside a water ball made out of herself. However, this time, she did it gently, and I could still breathe inside. Now that I had given her orders, she had no power to resist.

This is it! The tether linking a summoner and his summon! I could feel it permeating me!

Only for a sharp pain to stop the process.

“Gah!” I knelt down. “Damn it! I still can’t add more summons, huh?”

There was a limit to how many summons a mage could have a pact with. Most mages, ones that possessed the talent for summoning, would only have one. I had two, while Marina had three (or even more). I had tried adding more summons years back, but this was the result.

I could send the other two packing, but I wasn’t that kind of a person. Getting stronger was not my end goal anyway. I only got strong so I could be the kind of man I wanted, and I wouldn’t want to be a man who abandoned his loyal servants that had served him for years just because he wanted a stronger one.

I quickly stood up. “Oh fine. You don’t have to be my familiar. In exchange, you shall protect this sea route from other sea monsters.” Might as well put her to do something good.

“Hey, Felicia! The antidote!”

She nodded, using her shadow tendrils to deliver me another bottle. For this one, I liberally spread its contents all over the undine’s face. In fact, I just threw the entire bottle into her mouth once she opened it.

The pained look on her face quickly changed into relief. “Oh thank you! Thank you so much, kind human! You really kept your promise! I was wrong to think that your kind are all liars! I promise I’ll do as you say!”

And with those words the Undine disappeared, sinking herself back into the deep dark waves. Hmph, what shame. I really wanted her as a familiar. And there’s no guarantee my “summon slot” would increase once I was older or when I became a better mage. Like Marina said, normally, a mage couldn’t grow the maximum amount of pacts he or she made.

And would you look at that? The storm and waves had. So it was the undine’s fault after all.

I made my way back to the ship, landing without any further incident. Felicia, who had the biggest smile I had ever seen on her face, rushed towards me and gave me a big, hearty hug.

“Ooh! You’re safe! I’m so happy, Milord! So happy…” She sniffed as she buried my face inside her cleavage, as she often did.

“Hey, hey, I told you before, didn’t I? I’ll handle that oversized water balloon. No need for theatrics.” I patted her back.

She released me, though still keeping her hands on my shoulder. “I’m proud of you, Milord! You were really cool back there, you know!”

Being praised like this, and by a pretty woman too—I couldn’t help having a stupid grin on my face.

It wasn’t just her, however. The rest of the sailors, and the adventurers we had saved—all took their turns thanking us. The captain, who was an ogre, placed his big red hand on my head, saying with tears how he hoped his infant son could be just as brave as me when he grew up.

It didn’t take long until they started to ask for our names, however. Thankfully, we had recited this beforehand.

“I’m Hugo Greenwood. And she is Felicia Myne. We're a pair of traveling adventurers. It's a pleasure to meet you all." I gave a smile and a bow.

Yes, we were using our real names. After some discussion, we decided on this option, as our fake name was already "tainted" by what we did against those Inquisitors. As for our real names, only the Magocracy, who was now two continents away, was after us. I had told Felicia what happened with Ilymhyrra and Elun. Both had promised to make the Magocracy leave us alone (well, in Elun's case, after her defeat, she just gave up on the whole thing).

But honestly, the real reason why we decided to take up our old name back…

It was me.

I was the one who insisted.

I was sick and tired of running away, using false names and hiding my true strength… I was done with all of that.

"Y'er woman there—she's a black mage, ain't she?"

I was broken out of my thoughts by the dwarf, who was eyeing Felicia with suspicion.

"Don't give me that look, lad." He turned his attention towards me. "I don't have any problems with black mages. I am just worried ye'll get into trouble with those templars once ye get off. They had been looking for a female black mage—a necromancer they said. And ye woman look just like her. Scarlet hair, ample bosom, slim legs, beauty that any men would kill to sleep with."

A chill appeared behind my neck. There are bounties for our heads already. Slowly, my hand traveled to my pocket, close to my wand. Felicia's grip on her staff tightened as she readied for combat as well.

"Relax lad." The dwarf smiled, patting my kneecaps. "None of us are any friends of those holier-than-thou bastards. Not after you saved our lives.”

“Yeah, that’s right!” One of the sailors responded.

“Hear hear!” Another one followed.

The captain put his hand on my shoulder with a big toothy grin on his face. “Kiddo, look at me. I’m a big scary ogre. Even if I wanted to sell you and your lover out, those bastards won’t give me a fair amount of coin for it. And don’t worry. These landlubbers won’t speak up either.” He gestured to the rest of the sailors, who all had grins on their faces—some with missing and yellowed teeth.

I glanced towards Felicia. She still stood there all tense like a cornered cat. Well, I wouldn’t blame her. I wasn’t sure if I could trust them either.

But, it was no reason to be rude.

“Then, I am in your debt.” I gave another bow. Seeing me do it, Felicia quickly followed.

“Good! Good!” The dwarf laughed, patting my kneecap some more. “Now, how about we go inside and have a good drink? Oi Captain! You can handle the rest on your own, right?”

“Bah, of course, you bearded old fart!" The ogre laughed as well. "Tell the bartender that all the ale is on the house for tonight! Oh, and lad." He put his hand on my shoulder before shaking it. "Go drink my share, will ya?" He grinned.

I could only nod with a nervous smile.