Returning to the Ship
Though the leviathan, the Divine Beast, had saved us, it’d also kind created its own sort of trouble for the sole reason that encountering it was nothing short of extraordinary. Upon returning to the ship, we’d realized that everyone had totally lost their wits.
Some had spaced out, whereas others had started smiling like idiots. There was even a group that’d started to offer the heavens their prayers.
Like basically everyone else, Jerome and his first mate had been unable to respond in their usual manners. Instead, they’d started laughing dryly.
I was honestly impressed that the Algieba was still upright and floating. The crew’s current state seemed to indicate that it should’ve already capsized, especially given what’d just happened. The leviathan was huge, so massive waves accompanying its advent were only a given—
—Except they weren’t.
It somehow managed to avoid disturbing the ocean and creating waves despite its massive size.
Does that mean it was trying to avoid capsizing the Algieba? Nah, no way, right? It was probably just coincidentally using something that let it swim faster through the reduction of water resistance or something.
Mordred, Jerome, and Buphett regained their senses in that order, mostly because that was the order Fran decided to lightly shake them in.
Despite being known for his calmness and rationality, he was panicked. The event had shocked him enough to make him start shouting hysterically the moment he finally regained his capacity of speech.
“Shit! I just sweat enough cold sweat for a whole goddamn lifetime. I’m surprised my heart didn’t stop. Holy fuck, that was absolutely terrifying. I think I’m not going to accept any boat related escort jobs for a good while!” Mordred screamed.
We ran into a water dragon, some kraken, a midgard wyrm, and then the S ranked leviathan to top it all off. We had a total of four different encounters in a matter of moments. Each one of the four groups of creatures was powerful enough to cause instant death, and hence, we’d ended up getting swept into a series of fierce battles. It’d been far too much to take in, even for Mordred. The experienced adventurer had been reduced to a terrified mess.
“Dude. Woah. Shit. Did ya see that thing? Did ya!?” Jerome, on the other hand, was excited as all hell. He was leaning over the ship’s edge and staring off in the direction the leviathan had went.
“Aye, captain… But I do have to say, I never did imagine we’d see it around these parts…” Buphett commented. “Wait, what if…”
Unlike the other two, Buphett’s state was more akin to one of suspicion. He’d already moved on to questioning the leviathan’s motives.
“Leviathan, wasn’t supposed to only show up in demonic ocean?” Fran directed her question towards Jerome, as his state of mind had seemed much more sound than that of anyone else present.
Man, that thing was god damned massive. It would’ve have measured somewhere in the 100m range even if you only looked everything from the base of its neck up till the tip of its nose. Its head alone seemed to be about 40-50m tall. I didn’t see how it could’ve possibly even fit around these parts. The deepest areas apparently only go 300m down, meaning there are likely many spots with a depth of 100m or less.
Given its size, the leviathan most likely would have ended up scraping itself around the ocean floor as it moved about.
“That’s how it’s always been in the past, but the past and the present are clearly two completely different things. S’true that it’s only ever been seen in the demonic sea, but, that ain’t enough evidence for us to say that it’ll never show up anywhere else. The thing’s a goddamn legend. Ain’t no way for us humans to understand everything ’bout it,” Jerome shrugged.
Yeah, makes sense. There isn’t any reason for it not to leave its nest to hunt and what not, especially seeing as how it literally just did exactly that.
There was no reason for the leviathan to stay in a small, confined area given its speed. There seemed to be a good chance that it just so happened to have only been sighted in the demonic sea, and that it was actually moving around and going wherever it wanted while remaining under water all the time.
“Alrighty, now that that’s over with, we should probably get the ‘ell out of ‘ere,” the captain quickly recovered and got back on task.
“That seems like quite a good idea. All the kraken have fled due to their fear of the leviathan, so we’ve got ourselves just the chance we need.” Likewise, his first mate also refocused himself on a more current set of priorities.
The kraken were no match for the midgard wyrm or leviathan, so they’d all long escaped the area. Likewise, the pirates we’d cast into the ocean were also nowhere to be seen. They’d all either been dragged off by kraken, swallowed by the sea serpent, or simply caught in the massive waves that resulted from the creatures’ advent and washed away.
“So what are we going to do with him?” The first thing Mordred did after regaining his wits was kicking the prisoner rolling around at his feet. Suarez just happened to have gotten brought back to the Algieba because that was simply the most natural flow of things. He was still unconscious, mostly due to all the pain Mordred had inflicted on him while trying to get him to fold.
“What do you say to randomly dumping him somewhere?” He commented while giving the man another kick.
There isn’t really any point in keeping him alive much longer seeing as how the dragon is already gone and whatnot, but, he is still royalty, so keeping him alive might present us with some sort of merit.
He could be used as a sort of bargaining chip, but at the same time, it was also possible for him to end up functioning to ignite some sort of political conflict. There was no way for us to know the consequences of our actions for sure, so we instead chose to leave the decision in a more qualified person’s hands. That is, we had Jerome, a man officially sanctioned by the Beastkin’s country, make the final call.
“Hmm… I’d say we’d best keep ‘im in the ship’s hold for now,”
“Aye, captain, I agree, especially seeing as how he might even have some sort of bounty on his head,” Buphett added.
“You don’t say. Stealing one of those Water Dragon Warships is a surefire way to earn a country’s ire,” the captain smirked.
A part of me had thought that it might’ve ended up being some sort of gift, but apparently that was definitely not the case. Every Water Dragon Warship was a vital part of the country’s forces. Having one rampage about was prone to leading to diplomatic problems.
In other words, there was no way Suarez had any claim to the ship he’d been in possession of.
“It’d be much more convenient for us to get rid of ‘im, but I’d say he’s got enough use to keep around,” Jerome grumbled.
With that, Suarez’ fate was decided. Mordred took him in the hold and organised the adventurers so they could keep watch.
“How are you feeling, princess?”
With all urgent business dealt with, Jerome turned back towards Fran and asked her about her condition.
“She looks quite exhausted to me,” his first mate commented.
“Nn… Body feels heavy.”
The Black Lightning Advent Fran put all her power into had drained her of most of her stamina and magic. She could still walk, but she lacked the ability to engage in any sort of serious conflict.
“I would expect so, seeing the amount of power behind the attack you launched. I doubt you’ll be able to perform too well in combat given your current state, so please do get back to your room and get some rest.” Buphett dismissed her from her duties so she could heal up and be ready for any battles to come going forward.
“Nn. Will do.”
We decided to have Urushi guard the deck in Fran’s place while she rested. He and Mordred would probably be more than enough to handle any magic beasts that came the ship’s way while Fran was out of commision.
“We’re counting on you Urushi.”
“Do best.”
“Woof!”