“Miss Yumi! Miss Karen! Please wake up! Miss Yumi! Miss Karen!”

A loud voice echoed through the wagon, pulling me out of my sleep. I groggily opened my eyes, trying to orient myself. In front of me, Karen stirred as well, her eyes opening slowly.

“Miss Yumi! Miss Karen!”

The voice outside continued and was now accompanied by knocks on the door as well.

“Yumi… What’s going on?”
“Nn… Don’t know…”

Whatever it was… we probably should respond…

“I’ll take a look…”

I climbed out of the bed. Slowly as to make sure I didn’t trip up while I was still half-asleep.

“Miss Yumi! MIss Karen!”
“Yes, yes… I’m coming…”
“Yumi… Clothes…”
“Ah…”

Halfway to the door, Karen reminded me to wear my clothes so I turned around to look for them. Once I found them on the floor, I slipped into them.

“Nn… Good enough… I guess?”

I checked myself to make sure I was at least presentable. Once I confirmed that I could show myself, I walked up to the door. The knocks were still coming.

“Miss Yumi! Miss Karen! Are you awake?”
“Yes, yes, we are.”

I opened the door as I answered, just enough to show my face. Even if I was clothed, I was still a mess since I had just woken up.

“Ah, Miss Yumi! Good Morning!”
“Nn, morning.”

The mercenary that had hammered away on our door saluted to me. I couldn’t put a name on his face but he seemed a little familiar. He might have been one of the mercenaries that helped out yesterday.

“So, what’s the matter this early in the… morning?”

I glanced up, only now realising that it was… still rather dark. The sun hadn’t shown itself yet, only giving hints at the horizon that it was early in the morning. No wonder I was still sleepy… I was a little annoyed that he woke us up but if he was hammering away on the door, it had to be pretty important.

“Yes! The Captain is calling for everyone!”
“Everyone?”

So it wasn’t just us, at least.

“Did something happen?”
“We’re not quite sure but something is going on at the lake.”
“The lake?”

The mystery only deepened.

“Well, guess we’ll see when we arrive. We’ll get ready and head to him.”
“Understood. The captain is currently gathering everyone at the nearby hill.”
“... Which hill?”
“Over there, Miss Yumi.”

He pointed to the edge of the camp. Leaning out of the wagon, I tried to follow the direction he pointed at…

You can’t call that a hill, you know?

The supposed “hill” was just a slight elevation in the terrain. Granted, it was the highest elevation in our surroundings, but it was far too small to call a hill.

Well, whatever. At least, now I knew where to go.

“I see… Thank you. We’ll come shortly.”
“Understood.”

The man saluted and left, probably to wake up the next unfortunate few people. I closed the door and retreated back into the wagon. Karen was still in bed, hugging the blanket. There was something sensual about her appearance, naked as she was. The urge to fondle her butt was quite strong. Alas, that had to wait for another time.

“Sis, the captain’s calling for us.”
“Mmm… I don’t want… to…”

Well, this was quite a refreshing sight. Karen usually got up before me so it was me who was refusing to leave the bed. But this time, our positions were reversed. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to enjoy this situation.

“Sis, come, get up.”
“Nooo…”
“Sis.”

How come someone this bad with mornings woke me up every day? Did that mean I was even worse? It couldn’t be, right?

“Sis. Up with you. The sun is smiling down on… Well, actually, she’s not up yet either…”

I gently shook Karen, trying to wake her up. All I got in response was a groan.

“Sis. Up with you.”
“Uhh… Do we have to?”
“Yes, we do. The captain’s calling.”

Oh, she finally opened her eyes.

“The worst.”
“Nn, I agree. But don’t tell him that.”
“I won’t…”

She close her eyes again and sighed into the blanket. Once more, I shook her.

“I’m awake. I’m awake, Yumi.”
“Nn, just to make sure.”
“Aren’t you just doing it so you can fondle my butt?”
“Yes.”

By the way, it was soft yet springy. It could do with a little more meat, though. I had the impression that Karen had filled out a little since we left the slums but it was so little, I could easily be mistaken.

“Sis, let’s have a big breakfast today.”
“... Is that something you say while fondling my butt?”
“It is.”
“I see.”

Karen glanced at me with an indescribable expression. After watching me for several seconds fondle her butt, she sighed again before sitting up. Her butt moved away from me!

“... Why are you looking like the world ended?”
“Because the butt left my grasp.”
“... You can always fondle it later.”
“I will.”
“... Pervert.”

Yes, Pervert Yumi to the rescue.

“So, why does Mr Captain need us this early in the morning? It’s still dark outside…”
“I’m not quite sure either. Something about the lake, I was told.”
“The lake…”

I shrugged my shoulders at Karen. After all, I had absolutely no clue what was going on either.

“We’ll have to take a look, I guess.”
“Mhm…”

Karen rubbed her eyes and yawned.

“I’m still tired…”
“Nn… Maybe we can take a nap later.”
“I hope so.”

If not a nap, we could always try and go to bed early today. But that was something we could worry about later. For now, we had to get ready and go to Korwen and the others.

“Just what could be matter… Haa…”
“No matter how often you ask me, I don’t have an answer…”
“I wasn’t exactly asking, you know…”

Karen out the blanket aside and got up from the bed, stretching her arms.

“Nn, that’s a nice view.”
“Lecher.”
“You were showing off everything.”

Not like she had much choice. Since we slept in the nude and all that.

“Where are my clothes?”
“Over there.”
“Mm…”

Karen picked up her clothes, inspecting them for a few seconds. The underwear fell down to the ground, so she picked it up again. After staring at the underwear and the clothes in her hands, she turned to me.

“Hey, Yumi.”
“Yes?”
“Why is your underwear here?”
“... Oh.”

That wasn’t hers? Well… Now that she mentioned it… That’s why it felt so… unrestrained down there.

“Also, I think you’re wearing the wrong shirt.”
“I am?”

I looked down, stretching the shirt a little. Sure enough… it was quite big. It definitely was Karen’s. Curious, I lifted it a little higher…

“Smells like Sis.”
“... Does it now?”
“Nn.”

At least, I believed so.

“... Here, take your shirt and underwear.”
“You’re not going to sniff them?”
“... I’m not.”

There was a pause! She considered it!

“I don’t mind, you know?”
“Just wear your clothes and give me my shirt back. If I need to sniff anything, I can just go directly to you.”
“... You’re quite bold, Sis.”
“It’s the truth, isn’t it?”

Yes, it was, but even I felt embarrassed when she was so upfront about it.

“Your clothes.”
“Ah, yes, thank you.”

Still embarrassed, I accepted my clothes from Karen before slipping out of her shirt and handing it over.

“Oh, it’s warm.”
“I just wore it after all.”

A few moments later, we put on our clothes. This time, the correct ones. Including underwear.

“Yumi, sit down. I’ll fix your hair.”
“Nn.”

Karen beckoned me to sit down in the chair. Despite the enormous length of my hair, it wasn’t all that unruly. It didn’t take long for Karen to straighten it out. In fact, it took her longer to fix her own hair.

“Need help, Sis?”
“I’ll manage…”

So she said… It did take her a while, though.

“Okay, done…”
“Nn, looking good.”
“So do you.”

Now, the two of us were ready for the day.

“We didn’t forget anything else, right?”
“Nn… I don’t think so.”

After doing a final check, we figured we were good and left the wagon.

“It’s so dark…”
“The sun is already coming up, though.”
“It’s still dark.”
“Nn… It is.”

Seriously, way too early.

“Where is Mr Captain?”
“At the hill over there.”
“... Hill?”
“That’s what he said.”
“But… Hill?”

Yeah, it couldn’t be called a hill. It was probably about as high as Korwen was tall. In other words, if you piled up some dirt you could easily reach that height. That’s the level we were talking about.

“There seem to be quite a few people around, though.”
“Nn…”

Just as Karen said, there was a veritable crowd gathering there. And they were excited, to boot.

As we approached the crowd, we could spot a few familiar faces, including Fenna and Merim. They both looked tired and sleepy. I was a little relieved seeing we weren’t the only ones that had been kicked out of bed.

“Oh, it’s Yumi… Morning.”
“Good morning, Fenna. What’s going on here?”
“You haven’t heard yet?”
“Nn, we just came. We only heard it was something about the lake.”
“Ahh, I see… Then, you best get to the captain and hear it from him. He can show you what this is about.”

Fenna yawned, quickly hiding it behind her hand.

“Sorry, I’m still tired. Spirits, couldn’t this have happened in the evening or so?”
“Ahaha…”

I could only laugh wryly, sympathising with her complaint. I wanted to sleep for longer, too, after all.

“We’ll go to the captain first then. He’s…”
“Captain’s over there. At the top of this… hill?”

She stared at the ground, doubt clear in her eyes.

We thanked Fenna and then made our way through the crowd. I could hear the excited mercenaries. Whatever was going on, it seemed to be a reason for celebration.

“Oh, there he is. Captain!”
“Mm? That voice… Yumi? Give me one moment.”

After weaving through the crowd, we found Korwen holding up a spyglass and looking out to the lake.

“Mm… No good, I still can’t make it out for sure.”

He put down the spyglass and frowned, still staring out to the lake. After a few seconds, he turned around and faced us.

“Now then… Good Morning, Yumi, Karen.”
“Nn, Good Morning.”
“Good Morning, Mr Captain.”
“Mm. I hope you two had a good night.”
“...”
“...”

Was he seriously asking that after kicking us out of our bed?

“Hahaha, guess someone is not so happy, eh? Sorry about waking you two up this early.”
“... So, what’s this all about?”
“Straight to the point, huh? Well, that’s fine. How about you take a look for yourself?”

Korwen offered me the spyglass… I was a little suspicious about all of this but… Either way, I took the spyglass from him, turned to the lake and took a look for myself.

There’s water. A lot of it…

Frankly, there was nothing else I could see there. Only water, as far as the eye could see. There were a few ships here and there, probably fishing boats setting out. I couldn’t do that, this early in the morning.

“Err, Captain? I only see water and a few boats.”
“Yeah, that’s what I figured.”
“...”

Great… I needed an explanation.

I put down the spyglass and turned to Korwen, expectant eyes directed at him.

“A short while ago a few of the men on the night watch saw something… bright.”
“Something bright?”
“Yes. They couldn’t clearly make it out what it was but according to them, it was bright enough to illuminate the entire lake. Well, whether it was really that bright is something I doubt but either way, it was noticeable.”
“I see…”

So, they saw something bright…

“And… what does that mean?”
“That’s a good question. We’re not sure either. But we did see a few water sprouts raising in the distance. So… Something is there for sure.”
“Nn…”

A bright light and water sprouts…

“Maybe a monster?”
“Could be. But most of the monsters in the lake are of a small variety. Nothing that should be able to cause such a disturbance. Of course, it’s possible a larger monster swam in from the sea…”

But if it wasn’t a monster… then the only other option was… people. A ship.

“Are people fighting there?”
“That’s quite likely.”
“I see.”

If people were out fighting on the lake this close to Auria, that couldn’t be good news. No wonder he woke up everyone then. But that still didn’t explain one thing.

“If it’s people fighting out there… Why is everyone so excited?”
“That’S…”

Korwen sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“It’s less about the fact that people are fighting but more about who is fighting.”
“Huh?”

He motioned with his arm to a nearby group of mercenaries, prompting me to listen to their conversation.

“Ten on the girl, I say!”
“Ten on the girl, here’s the tag.”
“Five on the girl!”
“Five on the girl. Here, your tag.”
“You all got no balls! Fifteen on a monster!”
“Fifteen on a monster. Your tag.”

Several men surrounded someone, shouting numbers, handing money to him and then receiving a wooden plate in return. This was…

“You say I got no balls?! Don’t make me laugh, ya wimp! Watch all your money go to me! Fifty on pirates! Fifty!”

The declaration got a lot of “Ooh!”s and “Ahh!”s from the crowd…

“Sorry to burst your bubble, Captain said the limit’s twenty.”
“What?!”
“So, twenty on pirates or nothing?”
“Ugh, twenty on pirates.”
“Twenty on pirates. Take your tag.”

The man snatched the wooden tag out of his hand, looking a little disgruntled.

“Captain… They’re gambling?”
“They’re gambling, all right.”
“... On whatever caused the disturbance?”
“Yes.”

Wow… That was quite… something.

“And you limited how much they can bet, even.”
“If I didn’t, they’d waste their money in an instant. Just imagine if everyone betted all their monthly wages on this.”
“...”

Yeah, that would be terrible.

“So… who is this ‘girl’ that most of them are betting on?”
“...”

It was hard not to notice how like four out of five people betted on the same person.

“Captain?”
“... My daughter.”
“Huh?”
“They’re betting that it’s my daughter.”
“...”

I stared out at the lake again. It was still quiet. Serene, even.

“Mr Captain doesn’t have it easy.”
“Nn. He doesn’t.”
“I don’t need you two to pity me.”

No, seriously, how could we not pity him? Just what kind of person was his daughter… Seriously, every time I heard something about her, I seriously wondered if everything was all right.

“So the captain says, but he also bet twenty on her!” chimed a mercenary in from behind us.
“Shut up there! I have to get at least something out of all the trouble she gives me!”

The mercenaries broke out in laughter hearing his annoyed response. But seriously, even he bet on her?

“Haaa… Seriously, just where did I go wrong with her… Mh? Oh?”

Just as he was about to wallow in self-pity again, he lifted his spyglass and looked out at the lake again.

“It’s too dark to see anything… Hey, Yumi, you take a look.”
“Huh? Ah, yes.”

He handed me the spyglass again, prompting me to look once more.

“Nn… Water… Water… Nn? Oh, there’s… a small boat?”
“A boat?”
“Nn.”

A tiny rowing boat, completely unsuitable for a lake this large. Yet, there it was, straight in the middle. Unfortunately, it was so far away I couldn’t make out who sat inside. The only thing that I could discern was…

“It’s fast. Like, really fast.”

The boat sped over the water at a speed that reminded me more of a motorboat. It was even accompanied by water sprouting up high behind it as if to complete the picture.

“Guess there’s no doubt about it anymore…” murmured Korwen.

Curious, I glanced at him only to catch him smiling wryly. At first glance, I would have thought he was exasperated. But the raising corners of his lips betrayed him. He was actually happy, wasn’t he?

“Shit, so it really is her?”
“Ha, I told you not to bet on anything else! Your own damn fault!”
“Wait, there’s something else coming up on the horizon!”

Prompted by the words from behind, I lifted up the spyglass once more to take a look. The boat was still speeding away on the water. However, when I took a look behind it… something else came into view.

“Yumi, what do you see?”
“... To be honest, I don’t know. I can only see water flying everywhere and something… black.”

Whatever it was, though, it was huge.

“Are they being chased?” he asked.
“I… think so? It does look like it is following the boat?”

It was hard to make out whether it was moving at all or just flailing around, though. It was too large.  And maybe it was just me, but was it growing even larger?

“Hey, Captain… Is it growing larger?”
“How should I know, you’re the one with the spyglass.”
Oh, right.

After remembering I was still looking through the spyglass, I handed it to him to let him take a look as well.

“Mm… There really is something big there… But what is that?”

He kept looking, muttering to himself in a quiet voice. After a short while, he put down the spyglass and frowned.

“I don’t know. It’s too hard to make out.”
“Nn…”
“Either way… We should get ready.”
“... Ready? Because it might be a monster?”

Korwen shook his head, still frowning.

“If it’s a monster… Well, we don’t have a boat so even if we wanted to, we couldn’t do anything about it. Not to mention we aren’t used to naval combat. It’s a whole different thing from fighting on the ground. It’s one thing if the governor asks us for assistance but I don’t think we’ll have to worry much about it. Of course, it’ll be a different matter if it comes on land.”
“So, we’re not going to fight it, huh…”
“We don’t even know if it really is a monster. These are just my thoughts but I don’t think it is.”

So he didn’t think it was a monster.

“Maybe it really is pirates?”
“That… would be interesting, to say the least. The lake is an important trading hub for Lafria and Krohmea. There’s no chance they would allow pirates to settle here. Not to mention, even if the lake is enormous in size, it would be near impossible to hide along the coast for long.”
“Ahh… That makes sense.”

But wait, if it was neither pirates nor a monster…

“Then what is it?”
“... Hell if I know.”

That wasn’t very helpful…

“It looks like they’re coming closer, so why not take another look.”

And so he handed me the spyglass again… I wondered for a moment why he kept giving it to me as if I was the choice… then I remembered, I had already good eyesight. Maybe that also meant I could see further with spyglass?

Whichever the case, I held it up and took another good look. There was still a lot of water in my view but the shape slowly became clearer.

“Nn?”
“Something the matter, Yumi?”
“Nn… Well…”

I tilted my head, unsure of what to say. What I saw resembled the bow of a ship… A black ship. But what bothered me was… the massive hole it had. A ship shouldn’t be able to set sail with a hole like that in its bow. Not to mention, the more its shape got revealed, the more I could see the extensive damage it had suffered.

“Yumi.”
“Nn? Ah, sorry. Err, I think I can see a ship…”
“A ship?”
“Nn, but… It looks really damaged? Maybe I’m just mistaking…”

Hearing my words, Korwen let out a small “Ah.” and chuckled.

“So that’s how it is.”
“Nn? Captain?”
”It’s a Phantom Ship.”
“A… Phantom Ship?”

I tilted my head again.

“Is that like a ghost ship?”
“No, they’re different. A Ghost Ship is a very real… Mhm, it’s hard to call it a monster but it technically is. They can be very dangerous, too.”

So ghost ships actually exist… Well, hopefully, I’d never have to encounter one. Did that mean the undead existed?

“A Phantom Ship is a little different. It’s closer to a spell.”
“A spell? Then someone cast that?”
“Probably. You do hear about stories of naturally appearing Phantom Ships but Ria says that those aren’t possible. As such, it’s likely they pissed someone off. Really badly. It looks weird but it’s on the level of ritual magic.”
“...”

Well now… That wasn’t good…

“Mr Captain, are you not worried?” asked Karen.
“Mm? Well, I can’t say I am happy about it but it’s still better than the last time she returned.”
“Just what the hell did she do…”
“Let’s say she pissed off just the right people and they chased her down. It’d be a long story so I’ll tell you another time about it.”
“Nn, got it…”

Then the question was… was it really that different from this time? She was being chased again, right? By ritual magic to boot. Yet, he says this time was still better.

“Well, we still don’t know for sure that it’s really her. I don’t think there’s any mistake anymore, though. Yumi, can you see anything on the boat?”
“Err… One moment.”

I had to search for a few seconds to find the tiny boat again. The Phantom Ship was so massive that it obscured a lot of my sight.

“There it is… Nn… I think I can see people on it but…”
“Nothing detailed?”
“Nn. But I think there’s more than one person on that boat.”
“Huh? That’s unusual.”

There were at least two human-shaped silhouettes on the boat. Unless I was seriously mistaken, of course.

“Mr Captain?”
“Something the matter, Karen?”
“I was just thinking… If that Phantom Ship is a spell, how long does it last?”
“... Good question.”
“...”

The tiny boat was approaching Auria’s port. And with it the Phantom Ship that was chasing it.

“Now, this could be a problem… Where’s Ria... Has someone seen Ria?”

Korwen turned around, shouting for our resident magical professional. The mercenaries looked around for Ria… Alas, nobody found her.

“Seriously, just when you need her…”
“Cap, the lake! The lake!”
“What?”

All eyes went once more to the lake. The Phantom Ship was still chasing the tiny boat. However, something was strange. The Phantom Ship slowed down all of a sudden, down to a crawl. The water fountains that rose on either side died down and now, with the morning sunlight slowly brightening the day, the full shape of the ship finally came into view.

“Woah… That ship is massive…”
“It is. Definitely not something cast by an amateur.”
“Can a spell like that even be cast by one?”
“Give him enough mana and he just might. But I meant that the people involved were really skilled.”

Skilled, huh…

“Huh? Captain, look, the ship.”
“Now then… I guess that answers Karen’s question.”

Smoke rose from the ship and it slowly fell apart. The wooden hull broke apart, the mast and the sail fell, turning into literal ash and disappearing. Shortly after, the ship finally keeled over and disintegrated while it sank.

“What just happened…”
“Don’t know. Considering the timing, it might have to do with the sun.”

The sun… Did the sun disintegrate the ship? Like, I vaguely recalled stories about vampires or other undead burning in sunlight. Maybe this ship, even though it was effectively just magic, counted as one such undead… being?

“Yumi, Karen.”
“Yes?”
“Get your things together. We’re going into town.”
“... Nn, got it.”
“Understood, Mr Captain.”

It was about time then… to meet his daughter.

“Hey, Cap, you can’t do that! We need the two for our welcome!”
“Right! Don’t spoil our fun!”
“Yeah! Leave them here!”

The mercenaries behind us shouted in protest. I had to admit, I didn’t expect this.

“Seriously, you all… You can do your welcome later!”

The men all booed in response, making Korwen sigh in response.

“What a pain… I got it, I got it. Sorry, Yumi, Karen. Humour them, will you?”
“Huh? Is that fine?”
“Yes. Maybe this is for the better anyway. She’ll come on her own.”
“Well then…”

From the looks of it, he didn’t intend to go fetch her at all now. Was that really okay?

Well, the men are cheering, so it probably is…

Not quite what I expected but okay…

“Sis, what should we do?”
“I wonder…”

Karen closed her eyes for a few seconds before making a suggestion.

“How about we get our gear and your flag? We can ask the others for anything else then.”
“Nn, I guess so.”
“Mr Captain?”
“Mh?”
“How long will it take for her to come here?”
“Probably less than an hour. Maybe around half an hour.”

That wasn’t a lot of time left…

“Then we should hurry.”
“We should. Let’s go.”
“Nn.”

Leaving behind Korwen and the others, we hurried back to our wagon to fetch our gear.

Well, it’s going to be an interesting meeting, that’s for sure.

Just what kind of person was his daughter… I was looking forward to finding out.