“Tek here, whenever I hear about traveling by ship, I think about gorgeous passenger ships, or even ferries. But in another world, when I travel by ship, it is a combination of both--though I’m not complaining.”
“Bird?”
“Bird!”
A Bird-kin, who’s flying near the surface of the water as if gliding, passes over the ship. Tama and Pochi are waving to him, and he makes several turns and does a full revolution of the ship before flying off.
So far, its basically been a leisure cruise.
Yesterday, the ship was attacked by two aquatic Monsters, but before we could go to fight it, the Finmen soldiers who were covertly escorting the ship showed up and killed them--there was also a group of pirates, but I attacked them from a distance with Remote Arrow, out of sight of the others.
Since it’s so peaceful, I continue practicing Signal Magic with Nana.
“You’re being all affectionate again, this early in the day!”
<Karina, it’s normal for human males and females who like each other to be affectionate. Besides, the two seem to be doing some kind of training for Signal Magic.> Raka spoke to Karina in my place.
“I want to do training too!” Karina plopped down in front of me, next to Nana. She held out her hand to me with pink cheeks and swimming eyes.
I took it, feeling slightly amused, “Well, raise your free hand if you feel the signal.”
She nods, her eyes narrowing as she focuses.
Unfortunately, it seems that she can’t receive any of the signals, though I see Raka flicker every time--but I did enjoy holding her small, warm hands. She soon gave up and just sat there holding my hand with a slightly goofy grin, though she would sometimes randomly raise and lower free hand to pretend she was still trying.
It was quite cute.
Nana had wandered off and was sitting on the couch and cuddling Mara, who had a slightly resigned look on her face--she didn’t dislike it, but Nana did it all the time.
“Now then, it’s Arisa’s turn!” Arisa walks up while breathing heavily.
While Karina was playing…practicing, Arisa had taken my short staff and went over to the corner of the deck--it seems that she was using Signal Magic. The reason why she was breathing heavily was because she had used Signal without the Nature Magic.
Mia sees Arisa and clapped her hands, Arisa handed her the staff. She chanted the Signal Spell, she is following Arisa’s example. It seems that Mia has successfully cast the Magic--but, far from breathing heavily, she collapses.
I was going to take her to the cabin to sleep--but she insisted that she wanted to sleep out here, on my lap. Laying her head on my lap, she fell asleep.
“Hey, I’ve struggled to be able to be the receiver, so please, start the training!” Arisa sits down in front of me, gently moving Karina out of the way.
I take her hand, squishing it a few times, which I was pretty sure she wanted--she smiled happily. Then I began casting Signal while poking her hand when I sent the Signal.
After trying several times, it’s obvious that they can’t receive it as well as Nana.
At that time, Pochi and Tama, who were watching the Bird-Kin, come back.
“Lap pillow?”
“Lap Pillow.”
Maybe they want to mimic Mia, who was now partially asleep with her head resting on my leg. They place both hands on my leg, before laying down side by side--face down.
No, that’s not how a lap pillow usually works.
I pat their heads, before telling them to get up, because that kind of ‘lap pillow’ is only for when not in public. The girls looked confused at my words, while Arisa giggled. Karina paused to think about my words, before Pina whispered in her ear--she blushed a deep crimson, with a contemplative look in her eye.
Seeing me poking Arisa’s and Mia’s hands, they say they want to play too--so I have them hold their hands out and poke them. At the same time, I send various Signals of differing interval and strength.
Every time I send a Signal, Tama’s and Pochi’s ears twitch, matching the Signal. Looking puzzled, they tilt their heads in unison.
I focus on Pochi, and find out that she can only receive the short-wave Signal.
“Next, Tama, okay?”
“I’ll manage somehow, sir!”
It seems that she may have gotten some of the vocabulary, that Arisa taught her, confused. She probably wanted to say, “Aye Aye, sir!”, like she does fairly often.
It looks like Tama can receive both type of Signals, but strangely her sensitivity is weaker than Pochi’s and the range of Signals that she can receive is narrower--that reminds me, Tama did find Magic Traps in the labyrinth.
I don’t know if its a Racial characteristic, or her individual ability, but she is quite reliable.
With this, I can communicate with them if we’re separated--at the very least, the Signal could be sent from one end of the ship to the other, I will do a more thorough examination of the range once we get off the ship.
I decide on several urgent patters. At first I’m worried that Tama and Pochi wouldn’t be able to remember Signals which were too complex, but Arisa suggests that Tama just says the signal out loud.
***
“Now then, honoured guests, please close your eyes and wait. Please do not open them until I give you the signal.” The tour guide is making a speech to us, who are sitting on the seats that have been prepared on the deck. The ship is going to enter a 3 kilometer-long cave soon. There’s a legend that says this cave was created with Magic when the canal was being created--the Mages of the time just blasted through the area instead of removing the mountain, like they did in other places.
The reason they asked us to sit with our eyes closed, is to make so we can get our eyes accustomed to the darkness quickly, so we can see the tourist attraction ahead.
A small boat comes out of the harbour in front of the cave begins to guide our ship into the cave, and a person using a special light signals to the people on the other side of the cave.
Since the cave is narrow, only one ship can safely pass through at a time, they are regulating traffic.
The ship’s sails have been folded down, the smaller ship uses Water Magic and is towing our bigger boat. It almost feels like we are entering a cave that leads into the stomach of a giant Monster.
Of course, it’s nothing like that and we uneventfully enter the cave, the light rapidly dimming. I’m the only one with open eyes, observing the surrounds--everyone else has obediently closed their eyes, following the tour guide’s instruction.
Since I have the Light Intensity Adjustment Skill, I can immediately get accustomed to dark places--it’s truly convenient.
Ooh!
The tour guide gives the signal, “Now, everyone, please open your eyes slowly! This is the famous Phantom Firefly Cavern!”
It’s quite the spectacle.
Glowing moss on both walls, growing all the way up to the ceiling of the cavern, are generating faint light in various colours. It’s almost like a painting. Crystals located here and there are reflecting and refracting the light. If it was just those, it would already be incredibly beautiful--but there are a lot of small lights, which look like fireflies, flickering and dancing around.
“Glittering? Flickering?”
“Amazing! Master! Amaaziing!”
Pochi and Tama, who are sitting at my sides, get incredibly excited as they lean against me, wrapping their arms around me and each other, bouncing in place--it makes me a little dizzy.
“Beautiful.”
“Amazing.”
Arisa and Lulu watch this magical scene, leaking out small sighs, looking as though their souls were stolen. The two of them get off the sofa and sit beside my feet, and grasp my legs.
“It’s beautiful, yes, truly beautiful.” Mia is muttering feverishly, while watching the fireflies dancing wildly.
With a ‘thud’, Liza’s spear fell onto the sofa next to her. Liza, who comes to her senses because of the sound, embarrassedly picks up the spear. Everyone’s sight gathered on her for an instant, but is soon drawn back to the beautiful surroundings.
Liza apologizes for her impoliteness and returns to her standing posture, but she looks obviously embarrassed.
Mara is silent, staring is awe at the glowing beauty.
“Master, my vocabulary is insufficient. I request the installation of a second Language Set.”
“You don’t need to mind about vocabulary. It’s enough with the word ‘beautiful’.”
“Yes, Master. It’s beautiful!” Nana leaks out an enraptured sigh as she hugs my head from behind, encompassing it in her bountiful breasts, and resting her chin on top of it.
