Risou no Himo Seikatsu - Volume 11 - Chapter 4.1

Chapter 4 — The Second Birth, the Three Promises, and the Four Magic Tools

Roughly a month had passed, and having received a dwarf wyvern from Valentia, Zenjirou finally found himself once more teleporting to the port town.

He was wearing the now completely familiar third uniform of Capuan royalty. The only difference from the norm was the small bag on his shoulder. It was a rarity, considering any such things would usually be carried by his subordinates.

Incidentally, the people accompanying him today were Ines—whom he had sent the day before—and several of the soldiers attached to the governor’s position. He would normally also have Natalio with him, but the man was currently busy and was not present. He had already chosen the three who would be on the Glasir’s Leaf but still needed to finish picking people for the knights of Duke Bilbo.

Now that he thought about it, Zenjirou realized he had delegated almost everything to do with his personal protection to Natalio. Regretting that, he had said that the knight could abstain from the trip to the Northern Continent if he wished. However, Natalio had given a strong shake of his head and said, “I am hesitant to travel by sea, but it will be far more relaxing than remaining in the capital.”

Zenjirou didn’t quite see how it worked, but apparently, being taken on by Duke Bilbo was quite the prospect for any knight currently without a position. Therefore, Natalio’s house—the Maldonado family—had been inundated by knights and their relatives day and night. Among them were senior knights who had assisted him when he was younger, sons of his father’s friends, or even younger siblings of commanders in the great war.

In a feudal society like Capua’s, such connections were often taken into consideration when selecting personnel. If those people had a certain level of competence, it was no particular problem. The issue was that there would be an extremely small number of people chosen from that group. Even if Natalio narrowed it down to those he couldn’t afford to lose, it would still be too many. Considering the order’s future, he also needed competent comrades rather than just those with sufficient connections.

There was no end to the worries of the newly elevated commander. Regardless, that was why it was only Zenjirou and Ines currently in Valentia. The two of them, accompanied by the borrowed men, headed towards the port.

The sky and sea alike were blue as the sun shone down. As it was right in the middle of the active season, the sunlight was mild and the sea breeze was pleasantly cooling.

Eventually, they came to the jetty that the Glasir’s Leaf was anchored to. Zenjirou’s arrival had been prearranged, so the main crew was there on standby.

Freya—in her captain’s garb—stood at the front, flanked by Skaji, her vice-captain, the navigator, first officer, and so on, ending with Lucretia. Zenjirou knew she had come to Valentia to instruct them on the use of the Lulled Sea and water purification tools, but he hadn’t thought that she would be on the ship directly doing so.

He raised a hand easily and spoke. “The official greetings are unnecessary. At ease.”

“Of course, Your Majesty. On behalf of the Glasir’s Leaf and her crew as their captain, I offer you welcome,” Freya said, standing straighter.

“Thank you, Captain Freya. Pardon the suddenness, but I would like to personally check on your progress. May I have permission to come aboard?”

“Of course, Your Majesty.”

Zenjirou climbed up to the ship, led by a smiling Freya.

The gangway was a set of wooden stairs, so even Zenjirou or Lucretia—one unfamiliar with ships and the other wearing a skirt—could easily get aboard. Still, even docked, there was no avoiding the shifting deck.

Zenjirou stumbled with a slight grunt as he took his first step, but it wasn’t enough that it would knock him over as long as he was ready for it. While his first few steps were slightly unsteady, he soon got used to the movement and his gait firmed up.

Freya watched it happen as she guided him. “Your Majesty, this is the first thing I wish to show you.”

She had led him to practically the center of the ship, just in front of the main mast. There was a huge wooden box there that was clearly out of place.

On closer inspection, it was not a box at all. Wood had simply been nailed to the deck to fix whatever was inside it in place. Because of how firmly it had been constructed, the structure had appeared to be a box at first glance, but looking at it from close up showed several gaps big enough to put a hand through in each of the sides.

There was a sphere of pure white, approximately two meters in diameter, within. A magic tool.

“This is the Lulled Sea?” Zenjirou asked.

The number of planks around it made it hard to see inside, but Zenjirou’s sensitivity to mana meant that he could see it blazing with light even so.

Freya nodded proudly as she came to stand at his side. “It is. Our experimentation led to it being installed here. It would have been better farther down in the ship in terms of stability, but that would make it impossible to immediately put it into action if needed. Therefore, we decided on this location for ease of use. We could not directly nail down the magic tool itself, so the base was covered in boards, which were then nailed down instead. Then, as you can see, we surrounded it with a wooden cage to make certain that it would not move.”

It had probably taken roughly a month of trial and error before they had settled on this method. As she explained everything, Zenjirou heard the characteristic pride of someone who had worked hard.

“When it needs to be used, you put your hand through one of these spaces and touch the tool anywhere while saying the activation phrase in the language of magic.”

“May I touch it?” Zenjirou asked, his curiosity getting away from him.

“Of course,” she replied with a smile. “However, the ship is moving, so take care not to catch your arm on the cage.”

Listening to her, he carefully reached out his hand. The white sphere was slightly cold to the touch, just like it appeared. Since it was constantly—albeit slowly—rotating—he could feel it gently slipping past his fingers.

It was cold, but solid and firm to the touch. It looked and felt like white marble, but he didn’t know what it was actually made of. Regardless, the fact that it was sturdy was welcome.

“Thank you,” he said as he withdrew his hand.

There was a lilt of excitement in Freya’s voice as she offered a suggestion. “Would you like to see it in action?”

Zenjirou couldn’t help but smile at her acting like a child who was eager to show off a new toy.

“Please,” he said. As he did, he looked as surreptitiously as he could at the watch on his left wrist. He thought it could be useful to get an idea of exactly how long the Lulled Sea remained in effect, at least in terms of minutes.

Seemingly not noticing his action, Freya happily approached the tool and, with casual ease borne of familiarity, put her hand on it.

“Very well then. Lull.”

Immediately, it took effect. The first noticeable change was the wind stopping. It had been comfortably caressing his cheeks but had abruptly died down.

A much more natural feeling in comparison, the deck’s slight nonstop shifting under his feet suddenly stopped as well.

The Lulled Sea minimized all movement of air and water within a certain radius. Standing on an unshifting ship with no wind felt rather strange.

“Incredible. It makes things feel like it’s just a really precise 3D image.”

“What? Three-dee image?”

“Never mind. I was talking to myself. This is incredible, though. While ships and the sea are far from my knowledge base, I can still understand how much of a boon these conditions are while on a voyage.”

“Indeed. With the Lulled Sea aboard, our Glasir’s Leaf has conquered the seas,” she said, so happily that a giggle wouldn’t have been out of place. Then, after a pause, she continued, “Or so my vice-captain said. I’ve seldom seen him so excited.”

She stuck her tongue out slightly. That prompted another smile from Zenjirou.

“Your vice-captain is practic—ah, pardon, is a skilled sailor, I seem to remember you saying,” Zenjirou said, correcting himself from saying that he was ‘practically the captain’ slightly too late. While she had originally been the one to say so, explicitly repeating it in front of Freya, when she held the title of captain, was still wrong.

Her smile took a wry tinge at his circumspect wording. “Indeed, he is practically the captain. I am more of a figurehead, so I can only direct the ship when he gives permission in calm seas. He once said that he’d rather take his chances in a dinghy over the ship with me at the helm in a storm. I think that was going a touch too far,” she said somewhat angrily.

“Well, he sounds like he’s got a sharp tongue. I should be ready for it as well.”

Since he was going to be spending around a hundred days on the same ship as the man who was the captain in all but name, he should be ready for a scolding from him as well.

It was mostly an idle remark from him, but Freya took it more seriously than he expected. “Well, I will stress that he isn’t to speak rudely to you.”

Zenjirou was shocked at that. “You need not bother. In fact, I would rather you did not. I’d prefer both him and the rest of the crew to know that they should not feel the need to moderate their language and behavior while we are at sea.”

There were many things more important than manners while at sea. Survival, for example. He’d much rather they yelled, “Get the fuck out of the way!” than politely come up to him and say, “Excuse me, Your Majesty. I beg your pardon but it appears there are rough seas incoming. Could I trouble you to remain in your cabin for a while?” The latter would likely see him swept away by a wave before the sailor had finished speaking. He would very much prefer surviving with a little rudeness over that.

The princess had spent long periods of time at sea, so she could rather easily understand his thinking.

“Very well. I shall do so.”

“I appreciate it, Princess Freya. Incidentally, I recall you had another magic tool...for water purification? How is that serving you?”

While it was a much less dramatic effect than the Lulled Sea, it would be just as helpful. With a magic tool that converted seawater into potable water, the greatest shortage on a long trip was solved.

Her face was a picture of joy at his question. “It is perfect as well. With the magic tool, we should be able to guarantee drinking water for everyone even without my casting the spell version. While we are here, I would like to demonstrate it.”

She almost trotted back to her cabin and returned with two blue-tinged stones, one larger than the other. They were cuboids with blunted corners. The bigger was long enough that it poked out from either side of Freya’s hand where she was holding it.

While they were different in color, they were almost identical in shape to the healing stone Francesco had once shown him. The differences were that there were two of them, they were different sizes, and they were connected by a silver chain, which was over two meters in length.

“Here you go, cap’n!”

While she had been fetching them, a brawny sailor had brought over a huge cask of seawater and placed it on the desk.

“Good work.”

It had been rather roughly placed, but when Zenjirou looked inside, the water was completely flat, almost like the surface of a mirror. The deck was still under the influence of the Lulled Sea.

“The water truly is not moving. Would you mind me disturbing it?” he asked.

“Feel free,” she replied.

With her permission, he forcefully smacked his palm into the water’s surface.

There was a loud clap, and a ripple spread from the place he had connected with. It died down unnaturally quickly, though.

“That’s very interesting. Does the minimization of water and air movement not impede the water purification, though?”

Freya answered immediately. “It does not. From what Lady Lucretia explained, it only limits manipulation of the water and air. We have had no issues with the purification tool so far.”

Lucretia’s name coming up made Zenjirou turn reflexively to the side-tailed girl in question.

“Is that so?” he asked her.

With the conversation having turned to her, Lucretia’s big eyes were wide as she answered firmly, “It is, Your Majesty. The Lulled Sea does not prevent water purification or creation spells. Those it interferes with are manipulation, either in full or in part, such as the waterball spell.”

The lack of hesitance in her answer made it seem like her knowledge hadn’t simply been crammed at the last moment.

“I see. You are rather knowledgeable about both magic and magic tools,” Zenjirou said. He had been looking at her solely as someone who was betting everything on marriage, but he did remember that she had assisted him with no issues when he was in the Twin Kingdoms. She might have been surprisingly competent, in fact. Still, that didn’t alter the fact that she was hunting him.

“Your praise honors me, Your Majesty. While I am still young and inexperienced, I believe I have learned enough that I will not bring shame on the Twin Kingdoms,” she said with sparkling eyes. The gleam within them looked almost hungry.

Nobility in the Twin Kingdoms, particularly those close to the Sharou family, learned many spells that would be convenient when made into magic tools. Of course, the Sharou family itself also learned those spells, but it was more efficient to have another cast the spell rather than the enchanter cast both components.

This was even more true when one took into account Lucretia’s goal to marry into the Capuan family and become royalty once again. Putting effort into her studies of magic was hardly shocking. Still, most of her efforts were directed at the man she wanted to marry.

“I see. How diligent,” he summed things up before Freya came back into the conversation.

“Lady Lucretia had much to say about the water purification tool as well, such as the optimum amount of water for a single usage.”

That prompted him to look. Indeed, the cask was only two-thirds full. That was likely the best amount, then.

“Hm? I believe I heard that you are also capable of casting the spell. Would you not already know the optimum amount?”

Lucretia rather proudly answered his question.

“When the Sharou family creates a magic tool, it can increase the capabilities of the spell somewhat. Water purification and creation are two areas that their focus and research have been on, so they are twice as effective compared to the normal spell.”

Zenjirou let out an impressed hum at that.

“Allow me to demonstrate, Your Majesty. Please, sample the water in the barrel first.”

One of the sailors to the side used a wooden tankard to scoop out some of the water. Zenjirou took it and carefully tilted it so that it barely touched his lips.

“Salty. It certainly is seawater.”

Freya got the magic tool ready. The bigger of the two stones sank to the bottom of the cask. She then put the smaller of the two into a large leather sack and tightly tied the neck shut around the chain between them.

“The Lulled Sea is currently active, so this is unnecessary, but this is to avoid the salt spilling while at sea. Now, separate.”

Her hand was still on the chain as she spoke the single word in the language of magic, activating the magic tool. It was not as dramatic and instantly visible as with the Lulled Sea, but if he strained his ears, he could hear something akin to pouring sand from the sack with the smaller stone in.

The noise did not continue for very long. Once it had stopped, plus a little longer to be certain, Freya carefully loosened the sack. Once she had confirmed that there was salt in the bag and that it had stopped pouring from the stone, she looked up from the half-kneeling position she’d taken while using the tool.

“That is complete. Would you sample the water once more?”

“Very well,” he answered, having no reason to refuse. He took the tankard again and did the same as before, barely wetting his lips, then took a larger sip, then a normal pull from it. Once he’d swallowed, he gave his honest impressions.

“It is normal water. I cannot see any problem with using this for drinking.” It was almost too normal. While it was bland, as Zenjirou had said, it would certainly quench someone’s thirst. “So, is that the salt?” He indicated the bag she was still holding to prevent spillage.

“It is. Would you like to sample that as well?”

“Very well,” he said, bringing his hand up as she lifted it and taking a minuscule pinch of the white powder to place on his tongue.

“It certainly is salt,” he said after a moment. “It is slightly more bitter and complex, though.”

Unlike the salt Zenjirou had on his table back on Earth, this was slightly more distinct. Well, it would have all the other impurities present in seawater, so it was not entirely surprising that it was not pure sodium chloride. It might even be that this was the norm in Capua, but unfortunately, while he had eaten finished meals, he had not put the salt directly on his tongue before. Whatever the case, the initial combination of water and salt had been separated into its constituents in moments.

“This is truly incredible. I cannot even begin to guess just how valuable it is on a long journey. Even outside of the tools, I assume it is more efficient than making salt from seawater as you normally would?”

Freya nodded in response to his marveling. “It is. If we use it the most number of times we can, it can guarantee enough water to slake the thirst of every sailor on the ship.”

It was an incredible boon for long sea voyages. It would be no exaggeration to say that drinking water was a sailor’s biggest concern on a long journey. While it was indispensable for human life, it was also heavy and took up space, in addition to being hard to store due to its liquid state.

Being able to solve that problem with nothing more than a magic tool and an empty barrel would at least cut the issues of long journeys in half. The space not taken up by water could be used for extra food, vastly increasing the distance that could be traveled without resupplying.

The Lulled Sea made it possible to weather storms, and the water purifier made water shortages a thing of the past. While there was still the fundamental concern about traveling in a vessel made of wood, much of Zenjirou’s fears had been alleviated.

“Wonderful. This is truly groundbreaking progress.”

“It is!” Freya said with a confident smile.

The Lulled Sea was still in effect. Zenjirou casually checked his watch and saw that it had already been more than thirty minutes. It was a heartening result for him. Still, he had other things to do besides kill time here.

“Princess Freya. I actually have magic tools of my own that I would like to bring when we depart for the Northern Continent. I believe they will both be of assistance during the crossing, but I am very ignorant when it comes to the sea and ships. I cannot, therefore, risk exposing the ship to danger and would like your opinion as well. Would that be acceptable?”

He lifted the bag that had been on his shoulder until that point. Lucretia had the most dramatic reaction to his words.

Her side tail flicked like a galloping horse’s tail as her blue eyes went wide.

“You are going to the Northern Continent, Your Majesty?”

Apparently, she had been completely unaware of that right up until now. She was clearly considering something, but Zenjirou focused his gaze on Freya instead, holding the bag out to her.

Freya looked at the bag for a few moments before coming to a decision and nodding. “Very well, Your Majesty. I can certainly offer my opinion, but the final decision on whether you may use them aboard will rest with the vice-captain. Is that acceptable?”

It seemed her claims of figurehead status were more apt than he had thought.

“Very well, if you would,” he said, having no other way to answer.

A static magic tool like the Lulled Sea was one thing, but there was no need to explain and demonstrate these out on the deck. Once he had been led to the biggest room on the ship—Freya’s quarters—he took out the barrier and static flame magic tools and explained their function.

While they were in her quarters, it was still a cabin on a ship, so the space was small. Other than the two royals, only Skaji and Ines were present.

There was only a single chair, so Zenjirou and Ines were seated on two beds. Once he had explained how the tools would work and how he saw them being used, the princess had an awfully conflicted look on her face. The strongest component of that expression was surprise. There was a roughly equal mixture of admiration and wariness, and the slightest hints of happiness. It seemed the tools he had brought had been fairly impactful.

Once she had her emotions in order, Freya thoughtfully began to speak. “First, the static flame. I believe it is a highly effective tool. However, I cannot definitively say that it is safe, so I believe that the vice-captain should inspect and make a final decision.”

The tool was exactly as he had requested. It attached to a surface such as a desk with its base and would remain in place. It was currently fixed to a table in the room and would not separate even if there was a strong wave. The one disadvantage was that the force it attached with would inevitably leave marks on whatever it was attached to.

As the name implied, the flame defied nature to remain unmoving. It was surrounded by a large metal sphere, so it would not leave the confines of the tool, making it safe to use the flame even aboard a rocking ship. However, the metal around the flame had several small holes, so a long and thin piece of flammable material—a strand of straw, for example—could potentially get inside, which meant the possibility of the flame spreading was not zero.

“The vice-captain will make the final decision, so this is only my personal assumption, but I believe it should be acceptable to use it even when the waves are high. Naturally, there will be conditions, though.”

“Such as what, specifically?”

Freya’s ice-blue eyes made their way to the ceiling as she considered it for a while. “Well...that it not be left unsupervised while lit, that there be preparations in place to extinguish a fire should the need arise, and that if there were a fire of any size, the tool would be in our custody until the end of the trip.”

They were all sensible, easy-to-understand conditions. Zenjirou had no qualms about accepting them on the spot.

“Understood. I have no problem with any of that. What of the other tool?”

He had thought that one would be much easier to accept than the static flame, so his voice was light as he spoke. However, Freya’s expression was far harsher than he’d expected. Her icy-blue eyes narrowed further as she gave her decision in a single breath.

“I apologize, but the barrier magic tool will need to be in our custody, to be returned when you disembark. Should it be lost at sea, we would be unable to provide a replacement but would pay a suitable fee. However, I ask that you not bring such a tool aboard our ship.” Still seated, she gave a deep bow.

“Would you share your reasoning?” he asked.

It was an obvious question. He would much prefer that the tool never see any use but believed it would earn its keep in a situation where the ship would inevitably sink. In terms of danger, he had assumed that the static flame—since it involved fire, the biggest enemy of ships—would be far worse.

His doubts faded away upon hearing her explanation.

“I am aware that you have no such intention, but I cannot allow a tool that could cause the ship to simply halt to be in someone else’s possession.”

“Ah...”

It was, now that she had pointed it out, obvious. While Zenjirou had said he would only use it in the final hour, that would still be from his perspective. Freya had no firm guarantee that he would only use it when there was no other choice. What would happen if Zenjirou used it while the voyage was fully underway? It went without saying that the damage would be extreme. Anyone working on the decks or masts would likely be thrown into the sea.

Freya was not optimistic enough that she could leave such a dangerous thing in a passenger’s hands. Likewise, Zenjirou was not so selfish as to insist otherwise when he understood the situation as he did.

“Very well,” he replied with a small smile. “Then I ask that you take care of it while we are at sea.”

With the topic mostly finished, the conversation turned to idle chatter.

“Oh?”

“We’ve started to move again,” Freya commented.

The ship had begun to sway once more. The Lulled Sea had reached the end of its effective period. Fortunately, everyone in the room was seated, so no one was hurt even upon the sudden change in the ship’s movements.

“Is it always around this amount of time?” Zenjirou asked as he nonchalantly checked his watch again.

“I believe so, yes.”

Having checked the time, he repeated it firmly in his head to memorize it. Fifty-two minutes. That was how long the tool had remained in action.

Of course, he was only checking his watch, and there was no guarantee that the length of effect was correct to the second—or even minute—every time the tool was used. Still, it was a useful approximation.

That was everything he had come there to check. “I should be going, then,” he said, standing.

Skaji promptly opened the door for him. “Of course.”

“My thanks.”

The four of them left the room and were greeted by those who had not entered: the guards and Lucretia.

“Good work,” he praised the guards. “We will be leaving now.” He stepped out onto the deck and the group headed directly for the gangplank.

“Allow me to walk you to shore,” Freya said.

“I would be glad of that,” he replied.

The two of them exchanged some small talk with smiles as they moved through the ship. The gangplank was steeper than when they had embarked thanks to the ship being slightly higher relative to the jetty now. Fortunately, it was well-built and had a handrail, so it was not particularly difficult to use, but it would be somewhat scary to run across in a hurry. Still, he wouldn’t fall if he paid attention.

Once he was safely back on dry land, Zenjirou turned to exchange farewells with Freya.

“Excuse me, Your Highness. I have a request,” came a shaking voice before he could. It was Lucretia. Though her voice was shaking, her expression was serious.

“Does it need to be now?” Freya asked after a pause with a purposeful look at Zenjirou.

Lucretia took a deep breath, her nerves evident, but she still nodded firmly. “It does. I cannot waste time, so I would like to make the request now,” she said before practically diving into a deep bow and sending her hair bouncing. You could never call her actions the refined manners expected of nobility, but it showed how desperate she was.

“Your Majesty?” Freya asked shortly.

Zenjirou gave a brief nod of acknowledgment. “I do not mind.”

He couldn’t honestly say that he was feeling particularly positive about this, but it was hard to decline. His gaze moved to Lucretia and, inevitably, so did everyone else’s.

Whether it was due to the attention on her or what she was about to say, Lucretia was visibly shaking. Still, she spoke clearly. “Princess Freya. Please allow me to accompany you on the Glasir’s Leaf!”

The worst option Zenjirou had imagined was right on the money, and he couldn’t spare the mental capacity to pay anyone else there any mind. He just looked up at the sky and sighed.