After Charlotte returned with a somewhat finished document and we filled in the rest of the agreements, the king signed it. With having a somewhat convincing paper we returned to the port where warships already started gathering.

Mostly there were galleys and some carracks. I used binoculars to examine the ships and confirmed that only the largest ships have some cannons, 4 at most. The usual weaponry of these warships consists of archers and there was even a ballista. While the majority of the ships was docked at the port or dropped anchors at the roadstead, there were some daredevils who anchored near my ship.

When I started loading the girls onto my back, a carriage drove towards the pier and stopped nearby. Two persons stepped out and approached.

“Daddy?! What are you doing here?” Charlotte looked like a part of a certain Norwegian painting.

Unlike Charlotte I was more surprised to see that the king indeed sent crown prince Michael.

“Your Highness.” I barely squeezed words. Not only would they hinder my time with Lilith but they will also interfere with my work.

“I am glad we managed to catch up before you set sail.” The prince looked at me in satisfaction.

“Tch. Wait until I deliver the MOST important crew.” I would be surprised if the king just sent them to observe me from the distance. There is no doubt they would want to find out everything they can so I just resigned.

The men started to explore the ship, like everybody does. Meanwhile, I started making the preparations. I checked the weaponry, the engine, and the most important feature, the aircraft.

I have no idea who had this ingenious idea of turning a normal fighter into a floatplane but I still have to applaud them. It is an artisanal conversion of a proper fighter but it works marvelously. Even the landing gear is still there.

After a lot of tests and the data from previous uses I confirmed that as long as the aircraft is launched it does not suffer from any malfunctions. So, I am the weak link here.

While I was checking the aircraft the duke approached me.

“Young Lady, are you going to stay here forever or the fleet will set sail?” (D)

“Oh my, did Sir think it is done that fast? We will not be going anywhere until the morning.”

“Why? What prevents you from setting the sails? Every ship here must be waiting for you.” I could only facepalm.

After the several days of staying, the boilers cooled so much that even if I was to burn everything, the steam pressure would not be enough. Also, there is no way to kick-start the system.

I knew we will stay for a few days here so I decreased the amount of fuel burnt and now I need some time to return to the operational pressure. They better be grateful I did not stop the engine, otherwise we would be waiting for it to start for a few more days.

The next morning I checked if the other ships are ready and then hoistered ‘Papa’ and ‘Tango’ flags. The pillar of smoke coming from the funnels also has increased. I was making the final preparations for departure.

“Wuaaaah… Good morning, Miss Delight. Are we about to start sailing?” Lilith entered the bridge half-asleep.

“Oh my, did I disturb your sleep?” She nodded.

Soon, the rest of the sleepy crew showed up.

Some of the ships in the port set sail and slowly moved towards us. However, most of the ships did not understand what is going on.

‘AH-OO-GAH’

‘AH-OO-GAH’

‘AH-OO-GAH’

Out of the entire fleet only one ship woke up and started setting sails. The rest of them in this case will have to catch up because I do not plan to wait for them.

I pushed the handle of the order telegraph to ‘Dead slow ahead’ and a bell rang. A minute later the ship started moving forward.

“What is going on? How a ship can sail without sails?! I don’t remember anybody setting them!” (M)

“Exactly because it does not need any. Now, do not distract me.”

I turned the rudder to starboard and the ship slowly started turning towards the open sea. When I entered the desired course I increased the speed until we reached 10 knots (18.5 km/h). The way ahead of me was clear and I prepared to increase the speed to 14 knots.

[Oh c*!]

“Brace yourselves! We are turning to port!” A merchant ship crossed the trajectory and to avoid the collision I had to turn the rudder up to the point of overloading the steering engines.

‘SHRIEK’

‘PUM’

I turned so hard that it broke the steering and now… well, as long as the other ships stay away from us we should not crash into them.

When I looked at the following warships I was speechless. They were trailing behind more than a kilometer away. I measured the distance a few times to calculate their speed and then…

“Uwaaaah!”

“W-what happened?!” (L)

“UUU! UWAAAH!”

6 knots… Just brilliant…

NOT ONLY DID I HAVE TO REPAIR THE DAMNED RUDDER BUT I WILL ALSO HAVE TO SNAIL AT THEIR SPEED!

This f* up cruise will last forever…