1047 Anomaly in Jilbard
「Hey, thank you so much for the hard work. We’ve filed your report and are very satisfied with your performance. With this, the request is officially complete. I’ll make sure you get a bonus too.」
「Nn!」
「But man, this year’s trip to Gordicia was a mess, wasn’t it? We were so lucky to have you and Hilt along with us.」
Fran was in the captain’s quarters facing Brunen.
We had nothing to do on the way to Gordicia, but the return trip was a different story. Fran needed to fill out all the paperwork and complete her written report on the voyage back.
She kinda burned out halfway through.
I’ve never seen Fran’s eyes so devoid of life, even on Gordicia.
However, it seems that everything worked out. The request a.s.signed to Fran was deemed fully complete.
「I’d love to throw a party, but we barely have any supplies left for the return trip.」
「It’s okay.」
「It might be difficult to have a party when we get back too. I have to head to the border as soon as we arrive.」
「For work?」
「Yeah. It seems things are getting a little sketchy over there. They went all their way to send me a messenger bird.」
The Kingdom of Belioth’s borders? Didn’t they border several countries?
「Raydoss?」
「Right. Seems like they’re running a big military exercise on their side. I highly doubt they’ll suddenly intrude on our borders, but…」
「Raydoss might do it.」
「Pretty much. Thanks to them, all the generals have to stand by at the border in case of an emergency.」
The military officers have it rough, getting deployed immediately after experiencing the turbulent events of Gordicia.
「So you’re fine getting paid in gold?」
「Nn.」
「Then I’ll transfer it to your guild account. Seriously, thanks for your help. We’ve even made a connection with Hilt and her school.」
It seems that Brunen re-signed the contract with Hilt and her disciples. Adding the Rank A adventurer to their border defenses would be the best deterrent, after all.
「Again, thank you for everything.」
「Thank you too.」
Finally, Fran shook hands with Brunen before leaving the captain’s quarters. Now we should be clear to move on from the Gordicia stuff.
Fran stretched her body with a look of freedom. I guess that feeling was from not having to do any more paperwork.
『Man, it’s finally over. When we get back to the continent of Jilbard, our next stop is the Academy of Magic.』
「Nn!」
Then we’ll obtain the heavenly dragon materials, which was our goal in the first place.
『I’m also concerned about Raydoss’s movements, but we can always ask Weena about that.』
「I wonder if Alessa is okay?」
『Well, they have Amanda and Jean, so I think they should be fine. Klimt is there too.』
They’d need to bring out Rank S tier forces to capture that town.
「True.」
「Woof.」
「I wonder if they can fix this when we get back to the Academy.」
『I think we should be fine even in any big city, like the capital.』
Fran took out a broken mug, the memento of her parents that she dug up in Castel.
We were so busy in Gordicia that we never managed to find an alchemist to fix it. Sure, the dwarves might have been able to help, but asking royalty for something like this seemed a little overkill.
In the end, we decided to take our time finding an alchemist when we got back to Jilbard.
『The capital of Belioth should have plenty of alchemists too.』
「Nn.」
After getting rea.s.sured by my words, Fran put her hands on her stomach.
「I’m hungry.」
『Then it’s time for food!』
「Nn!」
「Woof woof!」
We enjoyed a few days of calm sailing like this.
But right when we were about to arrive at Jilbard, our s.h.i.+p was overcome with a flurry of activity. These didn’t seem to be simple landing procedures.
We went out on deck and asked the crew.
「What’s wrong?」
「The port is on fire!」
「!」
I see. Now that you mention it, there was a reddish light in the distance. It’s still barely a dot, but the sight stood out in the darkness of night.
Many sailors have the Farsight skill. They must have clearly seen these flames originating from the port.
And that was not the only thing out of place.
「A fleet is approaching! They seem to have us in their sights!」
「Fleet?」
After taking another look, I also saw some s.h.i.+ps heading toward us from the same direction as the flames. They must have discovered the light coming from our s.h.i.+p.
Moreover, the panic of the sailors means――.
「An enemy?」
「They are waving the flag of Raydoss. I also see the Kingdom of Seedran’s flag as well.」
『Seedran? That should be the island nation to the west of Kranzel, right?』1
They’re said to have one of the most powerful navies in the world, employing powerful battles.h.i.+ps known as “Water Dragon Battles.h.i.+ps”. We once fought against a member of their royal family who had escaped from Seedran after losing a political battle.
「Are Raydoss and Seedran friendly?」
「It looks to me like Seedran is working for Raydoss now.」
So in other words, they’ve been integrated into Raydoss’s navy.
「What about the Water Dragon Battles.h.i.+ps?」
「Can’t see any yet, but the entire fleet is chasing us. There’s no way this is gonna end peacefully…」
I guess that means we’re on the run.
Getting captured by Raydoss wars.h.i.+ps wasn’t an option, so we quickly retreated.
Fortunately, they seemed to not have the Water Dragon Battles.h.i.+ps among them, so we managed to escape. They apparently had no intention to chase us forever either.
I guess they simply noticed we were a s.h.i.+p from Belioth, an enemy nation, so they attempted to take advantage of the opportunity.
「Hmm. We’ve come a long way south.」
「True. We’re already in southern Jilbard.」
「Food is getting pretty tight. Rationing as much as possible will leave us only seven days. We have to resupply somewhere.」
Brunen and the vice-captain discussed the future course of action while staring down on a map.
It seems we’ve drifted off course to the south side of the continent as a result of our escape from the Raydoss wars.h.i.+ps.
In order to return to Belioth, which is a landlocked country, we must land at a port somewhere and travel overland.
However, their s.h.i.+p could not be entrusted to just anyone. Cutting straight up through the south edge of the continent would be a bit difficult too.
In that case, we needed a convenient country that was both trustworthy and close to Belioth.
「So, the Kingdom of Kranzel then.」
「That seems to be our only option. There’s no telling which of the southern nations are connected to Raydoss.」
Thus, we hurriedly set course for a port town in the Kingdom of Kranzel, Bulbora.
Translation Notes
Unlike in the light novels/manga, Fran and Master never visited Seedran in the web novel version of the story. ↩