Chapter 266 – Western a.s.sault ArmyMost of the warships anch.o.r.ed at Dew Roke were painted in gray. The moment Vireocean decided which one to get, the soldiers began carrying their belongings, doc.u.ments, and other goods out. Three ships remained to load all of these, while the rest of the fleet departed Dew Roke the same day.
Silver Face"s party—three persons and a hidden creature—were given a guest cabin. Although not as a hotel room, it was s.p.a.cious and clean. Oil lamps were the only source of light, no magic items.
Luke Landon and the Healer he was escorting were on a different ship.
「U-Um… Besides us, the rest of the people onboard are from the other continent, right? Will we be all right?」Paula asked, worried.
Hikaru thought there wouldn"t be any problem. The crew witnessed how he sank a ship with just one attack. Surely they wouldn"t harm them when they were aware of the risks.
If they wanted Silver Face dead for certain, they would have to blow up this room without being noticed or fill the room with poison gas. But the room clearly looked normal, not one built to kill someone.
Besides, with Hikaru"s Mana Detection, he had a general idea of the crew"s movements. If he sensed something strange, he could just take action.
「So… I know it"s a bit late, but are you two sure about this?」
The decision to travel to the Ruined Continent was made by Hikaru without prior consultation. If Lavia or Paula was against it, he would"ve thought about reconsidering. But contrary to expectations, they immediately agreed.
「I"ll go wherever you go, of course.」Lavia said.
「M-Me too.」Paula added.「If I can be of use, I"ll go anywhere.」
「O-Oh, thanks.」
「What"s wrong?」Lavia asked.
「He"s just feeling embarra.s.sed.」Paula said.
「Okay, no need for odd remarks now.」Hikaru said as he cleared his throat.「We, the New Moon Star, are finally crossing over to a different continent. Now what do we do once we get there…」
「The library!」
「I doubt there"s any big libraries there. They seemed to have lived their lives feeling cornered all the time. Besides, you can"t read their language.」
「Hmm.」
『Here, here! Food tour!』Drake raised his hand.
「You want to go there for the food?」
『Wait, we"re not going on a food tour? I"m sure they have rare ingredients and cuisine.』
「I guess we can do that.」Hikaru said.
Lavia and Drake cheered as they high-fived. When did Lavia become such a glutton?!
「So Drake, why do you want to go there?」Paula asked.
「Now that you mention it, we were in a hurry, and you didn"t have time to explain.」Hikaru said.「Well?」
『Well, you know how I ate the dragon stone and slept. While I was asleep, I dreamt of something.』
A dream about drakons and their long, long history.
「So drakons have this ability to share memories or something?」
『Apparently. I think I remember the elders talking about it a long time ago. But they said we don"t have the dream while we were in our hometown. We didn"t need to.』
「So those who left your home needs to have this dream. These drakons leave your hometown to kill dragons, right? So the dream is essential in killing dragons, I guess?」
Drake nodded. A dragon stone was evil in crystal form that a dragon possessed. Eating one kindled a drakon"s fate and they were able to access the memories of other drakons.
『This is all just a guess, though.』
「It makes sense. So why Grand Dream?」
『I smelled a lot of evil from that place. Even now, it stinks. I think there are a lot of traces of evil over there.』
Hikaru didn"t even know what “evil” was exactly, let alone traces of it. Perhaps Drake was referring to those slimy black things underneath the Tower in Bios.
「The monsters over there are apparently strong. Maybe they"re related. Also the citizens of Grand Dream can"t use magic.」
「Maybe these two things have something to do with whatever Drake is sensing.」Lavia placed her index finger on her chin and stared into s.p.a.ce.
Hikaru copied her as well, though there was nothing there.「We just have to go and check it out.」
「You want to go to Grand Dream because there might be someone from Earth there, right?」
「Yeah.」
Hikaru already told them about the reason he wanted to visit the continent.
「I hope you get to see them.」Paula said.
「I hope so too… if possible. For that, we need you. 」
If Paula healed whoever they wanted to be healed, their att.i.tude towards Hikaru should change quickly, which means he could have more freedom in moving around.
「Just leave it to me…」
「You don"t sound too confident.」
「Illnesses are quite hard to cure.」
Healing magic wasn"t all-powerful. Just like how it couldn"t cure a cold in one breath, it was also less effective against illnesses.
I might have to max her Healing Magic stat.
Right now, she had eight points on Healing Magic and it maxed out at ten. She had two points available as well. A new job cla.s.s might pop up then and she would become a master of Healing magic.
According to Deena, Hikaru"s interpreter, the name of the fleet led by Commander Grucel was the Western a.s.sault Army.
There were very few people proficient in both continents" languages; Gorja went with Luke and the Healer, while Deena was a.s.signed to Hikaru"s party. When she first arrived in their room, Deena bowed deeply.
「I am deeply sorry about last time.」
Those were the first words out of her mouth. Hikaru was silent, and she never raised her head, so he approached her.
「Deena.」
The woman gave a jerk.
「Like I said that night, I didn"t mind killing everyone.」Hikaru said.「But I changed my mind and simply destroyed one ship. I won"t be nice next time. You get what I mean, right?」
「Y-Yes…」
As he watched Deena tremble slightly, bowing still, Hikaru thought that was enough to scare her.
Deena was an interpreter, but it was also safe to a.s.sume that she reported back to Grucel about their conversations and actions.
「Raise your head. Do you plan to interpret with your head down all the time?」
Deena finally raised her head, her face pale as a sheet. Afterwards, Paula commented how terrifying he was, while Lavia covered for him.
「Hikaru doesn"t show mercy against enemies, but is kind with allies.」she said.
「So when are we arriving?」Hikaru asked.
「W-We will arrive on the western side of the continent in twelve days. After that, it"s a three-day trip by the coastline.」
「Hmm.」
Hikaru felt that was too long. It took them two days to travel from Ville Zentra to Dew Roke. Kaglai mentioned that the distance between Dew Roke and the Ruined Continent was twice the distance between Dew Roke and Ville Zentra.
「If we go straight, we should get there in four days, right? So why does it take twelve days?」
「Well…」
「It has something to do with the method you use to avoid monsters, yes?」
「No matter. Please show me around the ship.」
Deena"s silence meant a “yes”. Hikaru was interested in the method they used to cross the ocean. He could simply figure it out on his own little by little.