Chapter 296: Good Spot
I transported the others back home while leaving Celestine, Victoria, and I to continue our travel to Varadis.
"What a shame, huh? You didn"t get the mine." Victoria said.
"It"s not like I have to get the mine. And I think the Empire might need it more than me. Anyway, the sea is vast. I can dive in any part of the sea and I will find some treasures. Even right now, we"re about to cross the sea. But I"m not going to dive. Let"s continue running toward Varadis. We"ll stop when we find an island to rest, or if we can find a ship on the way, we can sneak in and rest there. It"s best if it"s a pirate ship. We can also grab their treasures. Celestine, were there any pirates in around the area we"re going to travel?" I asked Celestine.
"There used to be some. I don"t know if they are still there or not." Celestine said.
"That"s good enough. Let"s go!"
Claudia said that it usually takes a few days to cross the sea, then about one month to reach the capital. I will try to get there in two weeks or less.
With Celestine on my back, and Victoria who wanted to tag along this time on my shoulder, I started running on the sky.
When there"s no one around, I descended and run on the surface of the sea. Since the travel takes a while on ship, there"s only about one ship every day to cross the sea. And we just pa.s.sed the ship that going toward Varadis a while ago, so I descended.
Since there are the three of us, the conversation never stopped. But Celestine decided to take a nap on my back, and there"s only two of us talking. At least I"m not bored. Though these two women would sometimes talk about something only women understand.
I continue running until I see something swimming fast under us. The speed is much faster than my running speed. Just to be safe, I ascended to the sky again.
"Roy, what happened?" Victoria asked.
"Something big and scary is swimming below us faster than me. It"s safer for us to be in the sky. There"s no soil as well so it will be difficult for Celestine to fight here." I said.
Celestine who noticed that her name is called, woke up. I explained to her about the monster under us.
"What kind of monster?" Celestine asked.
"Big, long, scaly, sharp fangs, mustache." I explained how the monster look like.
"How big?" Celestine asked again.
"Hmm… about a hundred meters in length. Why?"
"That"s probably a Sea Serpent. It"s considered as a sacred beast by the people in the sh.o.r.e of the Empire. It"s even called as the protector of water. That monster is why there have been no attack from the sea by other countries for centuries. Though I don"t know if it"s true or not." Celestine explained.
"So, it"s about as old as Victoria? Maybe the Sea Serpent knows Javier."
"Are you going to greet the monster? Please don"t do that. The monsters you greeted before are all weaker than you. But this one should be much stronger. Let"s just flee. Go higher, Roy!" Victoria said.
"It"s too late. The monster is about to jump and block us. Let"s dodge it first and then escape. If this thing is a protector of the Empire, why would it attack us?"
"…I killed people for fun." Celestine said.
Oh, right. The lady I carried on my back is a really evil woman who killed people for fun. Even if she"s the princess, if the serpent is the protector of the Empire, she is her target to kill.
"Let"s dodge first. If we can"t escape by running, I"ll use portal to transport us elsewhere." I said.
The Sea Serpent jumped out of the sea very high, and it blocked us from moving forward. I was about to change direction to dodge the Serpent, but I noticed that"s impossible.
"It flew!"
The giant Sea Serpent which size is over a hundred meter is flying right in front of me. It stopped while focusing its eyes on us. I can feel that it"s an intelligent monster. There"s no way we can defeat it. I guess I should greet it.
"Hey there! We came in peace! We just want to cross the sea to get to the kingdom as soon as possible!" I greeted the serpent as it still focused on us. I don"t sense any hostility so I hope we"re safe. Though I have prepared to open a portal in an instant just in case it attacked us.
But still, a Sea Serpent that can fly. Doesn"t that make it a Sky Serpent? Or is it called Sea and Sky Serpent? What about on land? I don"t see any legs so I think it can"t walk. Maybe it moves like a snake on land?
The Serpent opened its mouth. Is it a breath attack?
"Oh, my! An Aura user! It"s been a long time since I met one! A thousand years? Nice to meet you too!" The Serpent replied back.
"…"
I was too shocked to comprehend what just happened. Let"s calm down first.
First, it talks! Second, it"s very friendly! Third, it knows about Aura user!
Alright, I calmed down now. Let"s have a small chat then.
"Well, I never expected that you can talk. I have never met any monsters in this world that can speak. Those who can are summoned from Monsters World. I want to continue our talk, but… as you can see, I"m unable to stay still while in the air. How about we find an island to rest so we can have a chat easily?" I suggested to find an island.
"Oh, sure! It has been a while that I met a human as polite as you! I know an empty island. I"ll take you there! Get on top of my head!"
Oh, G.o.d! This Serpent is so friendly that I felt guilty thinking of it as enemy! Since we have been permitted to stand on its head, I jumped there. The serpent then flies and carried us on its head.
"Oh! So fast!"
"Ahaha! This is not even my fastest speed! I can go faster, but I"m afraid that you will fall off my head!" The serpent spoke kindly.
"Don"t worry! I can stick my feet on your head with my Aura. It shouldn"t be a problem for me."
"Then, I"ll go faster!"
The Serpent fly faster than before. Much faster than the speed it used before. I can feel Celestine tightened her grip around my neck, and Victoria make a tentacle around my arm so she won"t fall off. Though even if she falls, I can still summon her back. I doubt she will die anyway if she falls.
The Serpent brought us to the direction of Varadis Kingdom. It must be so kind that after I said that I want to go there, it"s considering which island is best for a chat and flew to an island in the direction of the kingdom.
If I"m a tamer, I would tame this monster right away. But I"m not a tamer so that"s impossible.
We arrived at the island, and I dropped Celestine on the ground. She must be feeling better since we"re on an island.
"Let"s talk now! Who are you?" The Serpent asked with its head rested on the sh.o.r.e of the island.
"My name is Roy. And as you noticed, I"m an Aura user. These two are my companions during my journey. She"s Celestine, and that one is my summon. A Black Slime named Victoria." I introduced ourselves to the mighty and friendly Serpent.
"Oh, you"re also a summoner! I was also my master"s summon! He"s also an Aura user! I don"t remember much about the world I was born since I made a contract when I was just a baby. I am a hybrid of Sea Serpent and Sky Serpent. Which is why I can fly as fast as I swim. As for my name, my Master gave me the most precious name in the world! My name is… Spot!" Spot proudly announced his name.
…that"s a name for a dog. Not a serpent. What kind of master was he?
I won"t say anything about his name. He treasured that name very much.
"I was just swimming around happily when I noticed the contract with my Master is broken. It was about a thousand years ago. I don"t know what happened to him, and since I"m in this world when he died, I can"t go back to my home world. That"s why I thought that if I ever met another Aura user, I want to talk to him and ask if he knows about my master. He died a long time ago so I don"t think you know about his death." Spot said.
"…no. Actually, I might know why your Master died."
If it"s a thousand years ago, that"s when that Evil G.o.d started to hunt on Aura users. It"s easy to guess why Spot"s Master died.
"Really? Please tell me!"
This might be a chance for me to gain him as our ally. Having the king of the sea as our friend will be beneficial against the cult.
But… let"s just be careful to not anger Spot. He seems to be a good boy.