The following morning, Alex and the girls had already boarded the ship to traverse the endless sea; it was a medium-sized ship especially prepared for Alex and his crew. The number of people onboard numbered only ten, Alex's group and the ship crew members. The ship was the fast type; it was loaded with goods to the Far East Empire.
The ship passed between Drexia Empire and the Holy Crux empire; the sea was calm and beautiful.
But there's one person who is currently relentlessly shaking on the ship.
"If you already shaking this much on such a calm sea, you won't be able to survive if we arrive at where it's the most chaotic, you know?"
"I, I don't even want to go there in the first place...….."
That person was Sakuya, who was covering herself in a blanket on top of her bed.
Lilith was reading a book; she was so focused that she wasn't paying attention to the shaking Sakuya.
''Hahahaha! To think that the S queen has something she was afraid of, how unexpected. Come on, let's go out and watch the beautiful sea.'' Alex said and closed the report he was reading; this report was about his private force's recent activity and their next mission; Sera also suggested that he must come with a name, a codename for the group, it what Alex was thinking about.
''I will skin you if you approach Lex,'' Sakuya said threateningly; however, because she was under the blanket trembling, her threat didn't sound like a threat at all.
''Curse them the gods that created the sea...! I won't forget this grudge…..! I will never forgive them; one day, I will change it…..!"
"You don't sound convincing when you are shaking so much, though," Alex said as he rubbed his forehead; Lilith acted like she did not hear anything, but from the way her shoulders were shaking, she was doing her utmost not to laugh.
Sakuya was afraid of the sea. She was okay with baths, but she's the type that turned useless in rivers and the ocean. It's something called Aquaphobia if Alex remembers correctly. To the almost perfect Sakuya, one could say that this was her only weakness. Even though Sakuya herself hates losing, this was the one weakness that she couldn't overcome.
Looking at the sea, she will start feeling nausea and dizziness due to anxiety, and when she gets on a ship, her body can't stop shaking due to her unexplainable fear. If she went to the deck right now, she would probably faint from shock. Alex truly wished to see why he was teasing her, suggesting they visit the deck to enjoy the sea breeze.
''To think that you would be so afraid of the sea. Is there a story behind your Aquaphobia ?" Alex said as he closed the report he was reading.
''Uhh! I slipped and fell into a small river once in Japan when I was little; I thought I would drown to death; fortunately, the part where I fell into wasn't profound, so somehow I got out, but since then, I have had an inexplicable fear of river and ocean, it as if they would swallow me and never let go.'' Sakuya explained, eyes full of shame.
''I see; no wonder when we were about to take the cruise to Italy, you and the girls went missing. Well, I understand your fear, but why you didn't say anything until we are now on the sea? You could have told us, and we would have found another alternative instead of letting you suffer like this.''
''What Alex said is right. You should have told us.'' Lilith agreed with Alex.
''Well, ugh! I didn't want to be the one to slow us down. Taking this route will save us a lot of time. People have things they are not good at; this is one of mine. Also, I want to use this opportunity to cure my Aquaphobia; I could not continue dragging the same problem even after my reincarnation; it would be too pathetic. We are bound to travel on the sea again in the future, fight on sea. So tell me, will I not die if I still have this same problem?"
Alex and Lilith exchanged looks. Putting like that they could understand, she ought to cure her Aquaphobia soon as it may one day cause her a serious problem. What if she was fighting and suddenly sent flying in the ocean? Wouldn't the enemy successfully deal her a fatal blow after seeing she had Aquaphobia? She can lose her life because of this Aquaphobia.
While Alex and Lilith were thinking about how they should help Sakuya overcome this phobia of her, the ship shook a little.
It wasn't shaking a lot, but it seemed Sakuya was taking it as a huge impact.
"KYAAAAA!!?? Ouch!?"
She rolled around her small bed, struck her head, and now crouching in pain.
This scene was impossible to witness on land, so it felt rather refreshing seeing her like this now. Alex thought.
"You are useless on water, huh. If pirates attacked us, then it would be over for us, right?"
"D, don't look down on me...! If push comes to shove, I…..! KYAAAAA!!?? That was a big one, wasn't it!? Did it make a hole in the ship!?
"If push comes to shove, then you will be useless, right. I guess that it won't come to that, but it would be a different story if a Sea Dragon showed up, though."
The scariest thing on the sea was the Sea Dragon, the king of the sea. A gigantic monster classified between A to S, depends on its age, the Endless sea is known to be a house of such terrible monsters, it was why people didn't like taking ship, especially during this period of the year where Mana was abundant and was likely to cause a monster wave. Sea monster waves are terrific as every sea monster would attack any nearby coastal city.
''Please don't say such a dreadful thing. N-nothing will happen I- guess.'' Sakuya said, trying to comfort herself; Alex chuckled while Lilith returned to her reading; the group's first day passed peacefully.