Adventure Awaits! Huzzah! 15

The ocean.

Himmel had a certain fear of it, both in this life, and in the past one. In his past life however, he had no real reason for it, the ocean just felt scary and that was all.

In this one... things got complicated. Much like in the medieval era of his world, there were many sailor stories of encountering dangerous things at sea. The difference however, was that in this world there was a fairly high chance of those things being real.

And that was not even mentioning how pirates were very much a real threat he need to worry about.

Which was why he was currently hard at work.

He was constantly either using his Wind Magic to speed up travel, or using his knowledge of Warding to prepare the ship in case they ran into something dangerous. Before his arrival, any single fireball could have meant doom, now cannonballs were far more dangerous.

Typically he would be able to negotiate a bunch of money for such a service, but considering they barely got into this ship, Himmel was more or less doing it for free.

The actual worst part of it all though, was... "Ugh, I think I'm gonna vomit..." Sea sickness.

"Maybe you should take a break." For a moment it looked as if Faye was going to pat his back, but she wisely chose to not do so. "You look pretty sickly Himmel..."

Did he? He really hope she was exaggerating. He didn't know what kind of diseases one could get in the sea of this world, and he didn't want to find out. Surely it was too early for him to be developer scurvy or something along those lines, though?

Kliff waved her off. "He's fine, Faye. You're worrying too much." Welp, that was good to hear. "Now please keep working, Himmel."

Himmel snorted. "You know, I would believe you more if he weren't writing about everything I do in that little note pad of yours."

"Sorry, but I feel like it would be wise to learn everything I can about Warding before we arrive at Archanea. We gotta be prepared for everything." True enough.

Though they were a long way from getting to Archanea. They weren't even in open seas yet. Once they did officially leave Valentia thouch, Himmel imagined things would just get more dangerous.

If the ship encountered a sea serpent he wouldn't know what to do... Well, he knew what he would do, he would use Thunder on it. That might not work though.

Faye glared at Kliff. "Your interest in this Warding thing isn't as important as Himmel's health."

Kliff immediately waved off. "I'm sure Himmel is Warding for his own health too. It's fine."

Himmel himself almost wanted to laugh. It was strange, but even if he was sea sick, he was happy. Mostly because his friends seemed to have finally started to calm down after the whole mess with the now dead king.

He had to admit though, he was a bit jealous. Why did only he have this sea sickness!?

Kliff apparently noticed his expression. "Besides, he sure seems happy." He tilted his head. "Something worthy chuckling about, Himmel?"

"It's nothing." He then looked at Faye, to reassure her. "But you're right, I'll take a break soon." He was almost done with this part anyways.

He would have preferred to keep going until the ship was basically a anti-magic weapon of course, but his life force simply wouldn't allow it. And while typically he would then just work until he passed out, that would be unwise when he was one of the most important combatants in the ship.

And this wasn't arrogance either. In fact, he would say Kliff was equally important. It was just the case where having ranged options would be insanely important should they be attacked.

Faye let out a sigh of relief. "That makes me happy to hear... and when you rest, you're going to eat something too, got it?"

"Okay...?" He took back what he said about Faye acting normally. This was weird. "By the way, is there something wrong?"

"Hm? No." She put her hands on her hips. "I just noticed you haven't been eating much. That's no good!" It was all the fault of the sea sickness. It was hard to eat anything when he constantly felt like throwing up.

"S-sorry—" Perhaps her yandere had reached new levels? "Seriously though, are you okay?"

"She's just trying to become our moms or whatever." Kliff scoffed. "You should have seen how she hounded Alm after he got hurt from training with Claire." Alm jobbed?

Wait, that wasn't the important part here...

"I'm not trying to become anybody's mother, Kliff." Faye frowned. "I'm just helping where I can, and when I can."

Himmel smiled. "And we really appreciate that, Faye." But it did make him feel guilty.

His friends were not returning to normal. Alm was training even more than usual, Kliff had gained an analytical eye for everything and anything, and Faye was now trying to take care of everyone. In other words, they were maturing.

Which was a good thing, and also a natural thing that would have started even if Himmel didn't exist. Nonetheless, he still accelerated it with his actions. Robbed them of their innocence.

Well, the king would have done much worse, so it was what it was.

Himmel kept working, and before he knew it, it was more or less finished. Which meant it was time to rest as he had promised—

"Huh?" His Ward reacted to something.

He didn't know what it was, but it had crashed against it for a second. It definitely hadn't broken it though, and the only reason Himmel even detected was due to how he was currently messing with it.

Kliff lowered his notepad for a moment. "Is something wrong?"

"I think so—" He got his answer before he finished.

First, he heard a loud splash from the side of the ship, something had just fallen from the skies into the ocean. Then he began hearing desperate screams for help.

Himmel didn't know why he moved, be it curiosity or the desire to help, but he moved. And as one would expect, so did everyone else. They quickly ran to the side of the ship to see just what had happened.

He saw a mermaid.

That was the first thing his brain communicated to him, because surely that beautiful woman could be nothing else but a delusion caused by the sea trying to attract him to certain death. Alternatively, she was just a normal woman desperately trying to keep another mini-version of her afloat why trying not to drown. That is to say, a mother trying to save its daughter.

Once his brain rebooted, Himmel concluded it had to be the latter.

He clicked his tongue. "Tsk. Now what...!?" He wanted to help, but it wasn't that simple.

There was a reason why him, his friends, and the sailors around them were just looking. Jumping into the ocean was terrifying and risky. He did know how to swim, both in his past life and this current one, but swimming in a pool or near the village's lake was completely different from trying to save two people from drowning in the ocean.

Kliff began throwing out suggestions. "You think you can raise them up here with your Wind magic?" The fact that he could still keep his cool showed how he was indeed growing.

But the answer to his question was not one he was going to like. "No. I don't have enough control for that." He imagined it would be difficult even for his Fire magic. Which obviously would do nothing here.

Neither would Thunder of course. Unless their solution was giving the woman and her presumed daughter a quick mercy kill.

Faye grimaced. "We can't... we can't just let them die..."

"I know...!" He was typically a guy who didn't really went out of his way to help people he didn't know.

But watching a mother and her daughter drown in the ocean? He would have to be a different kind of monster to not do anything. Basic human compassion was telling him to move and do something already—!

And so he did. "Faye, Kliff, make those sailors stop scratching their heads and throw one of those rescue boats or something. I'm gonna go keep them afloat." He put a feet on top of the ship's edge.

"Wait—!" And before Faye could tell him to stop, he jumped off.

It was time to be a dumbass. Again. This was becoming routine for him, really.

He hit the water and the water hit him. The day hadn't been particularly cold, but the water was freezing. Himmel could handle it though, all this accomplished was making him worry for the woman even more.

So he swum his way to her, trying to fight any waves along the way. Thankfully the ocean was very calm today, or he would definitely have gotten hit with a massive wave and died before he could do anything.

As soon as she spotted him, she somehow got even more pale than she already was. "A-a ghost...!?" And begun fighting even harder.

She was terrified enough to think she was hallucinating? That was understandable, but he didn't think he looked particularly like a ghost of all things— That didn't matter at all! This was not the time to space out!

"I-it doesn't matter what I am!" As soon as he opened his stupid mouth, water entered it, but he ignored it. "Just grab onto me, and I'll bring you to safety!"

It would be hard, she was a grown woman carrying a brat that looked a bit younger than Himmel himself. And that was not even mentioning how they both were dressed extremely lavishly, and that clothing was dragging them down.

But Himmel would have to pull through. His Brand would need to do some heavy lifting, that was for sure!

The woman did not follow his orders however. "P-please just take my daughter, young man!" As one would expect from a mother, she was willing to sacrifice herself for her daughter.

Himmel would just try to save both though, so her sacrifice would go ignored.

This really wasn't the time for them to be arguing however, so he rose his voice. "Just shut up and do it! I can carry both!" And perhaps she also knew that, because she didn't try talking further.

Instead, she awkwardly held onto him with one of her arms, while still holding her daughter with the other. Immediately, Himmel felt the new weight and regretted his decision.

It didn't matter how strong you were. It didn't matter how much of an amazing mage you were. The ocean trumped all of it. Even back in his old life, his grandfather, who had lost a brother to the sea, made to sure to imprint on his dumb head to respect the ocean.

And yet here was Himmel, being very disrespectful.

Despite his words about his status as mage not mattering however, they weren't exactly true. There was something he could do since the woman was holding onto him and letting his hands stay free.

He started casting Wind magic, using it to propel himself. It was a messy process, but it was also at least keeping him from drowning and taking the women and the girl to the afterlife with him.

And so, he started making his way to the ship. The woman awkwardly trying to make herself as least intrusive as a whole adult body could be for a teenager.

In this moment, Himmel really wished had some lessons as a lifeguard in his past life.

Still, he wasn't the only one in the move. Looking up to the ship, he could see many sailors, and Alm, the little savior that he was, raising a small boat. With his enhanced strength, the boy basically threw the boat onto the ocean.

For a moment, Himmel feared the boat would make as soon as it hit the water. Thankfully, it didn't. Today was his lucky day.

Now having a target to reach, he felt as if his body was being filled with newfound strength. Though that could perhaps be his Brand trying its best to keep its dumb little human alive.

He made it to the boat, helped the woman and her daughter onto it, and then got aboard it himself.

A mother's love was impressive, because before the woman did anything else, she checked on her daughter and did CPR. Himmel would have made a comment about it being hot, but it really wasn't the time.

As soon as she realized her daughter was already, she closed her eyes and passed out. Adrenaline leaving her body.

The same thing was happening to Himmel of course, who could only pant out of tiredness. "Shit..." And now he also felt like vomiting. Apparently that precious adrenaline had been working to make him forget he was sea sick.

He had to fight through it though.

First things first, he sent a thumbs-up to Alm, who nodded in the distance and then left his field of vision. Himmel guessed the boy would now start brainstorming a way to get the small boat back in the ship. Probably with a rope of some sort.

Now that had been done, it was time to use Recovery Magic on the woman and the girl. The mother had made sure her daughter didn't drown, and now Himmel would make sure neither of them died to some other cause.

They didn't seem wounded though.

Now all that was left was taking care of hypothermia. That was something that would be done once they were back on the ship, though.

He twitched. "...U-urgh." Something strange through his body. He didn't know what it was, but it felt similar to when he had burst into action and killed the king.

His blood was singing.



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"You are such an idiot."

"I know, I know." As expected, Kliff was criticizing him for his solution.

But hey, it had worked! And now the two people he had saved were inside of the ship and being taken care of. More specifically being taken care of by Clair and Faye. They would need their clothes removed to prevent hypothermia after all, and so the girls were chosen for the job.

Well, Faye wanted to stay by Himmel's side, but Clair was wise enough to drag her out as support. Two girls were faster than one.

"If you know, why do you do it?" Kliff was definitely super angry.

Himmel didn't really have a good answer. "I don't know, I was the only capable of moving, and so I did." Maybe he should have used more time thinking of a plan, he didn't know.

But if he had done so, and they had died... He wouldn't say he would never forgive himself, he didn't know the two, but it would certainly be a bummer. And considering his life had become full of those after killing the king, he'd rather avoid extra emotional baggage.

Kliff flinced. "Well, I...!" Shit, he definitely made the brat feel awful just now.

That had not been what he hoped to accomplish, so he tried to clarify. "I wasn't trying to call you useless or anything Kliff. I just happened to have the right skillset for the moment." Wind magic really had come in-clutch.

Himmel didn't know if he would have died without it, but he was fairly sure he would have failed to save those two.

Before Kliff could respond, Alm came into the room with the captain by his side. He threw a towel and some clothing Himmel's way. "Here! Dry yourself and change!"

Right, hypothermia was something he should avoid too. Even now his body was shivering from the cold. Though annoyingly enough, he didn't want to change his clothing with everyone else here. His Brand was still a secret, and he doubted he could claim it was just a birthmark like Alm usually did.

So he just began drying himself without changing. "Thanks." Though now that the shock was passing, an idea came in his mind. "Though I do have this." With a snap of his fingers, a small fire ball began floating around his body.

Magic was seriously way too convenient. Even in this world where it wasn't omnipotent like the usual isekai it was still incredible.

Alm whistled. "Man, that is always so impressive. Maybe I should get on the Kliff bandwagon and start learning it too." That would be depressing.

Not because he would be bad at it, but because with his Brand he would probably surpass Himmel before this journey was even worse. Though Himmel would still teach him if he asked, of course.

The captain interjected. "Speakin' of crazy stuff... You have any idea where the two lasses came from, Mister Mage?" The captain put a hand on the back of his neck in shame. "My lads tried looking around, but we didn't spot any wreckage or anything."

Himmel put a hand on his chin. "Well... I do have an idea. Actually. It may sound crazy, but I think they teleported here." Which would mean the mother was a master mage of White Magic.

If his theory was right, then that would explain why she seemed so pale. It was mana exhaustion, the consequence of using too much life force. Even for an Archanean or Jugdralian mage who used Staves, Warp would still have been pretty tiring.

It was kind of scary though, that they had a unknown master mage on-board.

The captain's eyes widened. "Seriously—!? Wait, why would anybody ever teleport into the ducking ocean!?" Because they were stupid?

That aside, it could have been a training attempt gone wrong, or most likely... "She actually attempted to teleport onto the ship. My Warding... erm, my magic defenses prevented it, so she ended up on the ocean."

Warp was an amazing spell, but it was also very unstable. So even though that woman was most likely a greater mage than Himmel if she could use it in the first place, his decent Warding capabilities still screwed her over.

"So, Captain, do you know any master mages who would need to urgently see you?" He was actually quite curious. Though he did have a secondary theory on why she had shown up.

The man shook his head. "Hell no. You're the only master mage I know... Actually, are ya sure she ain't here for you?" That was certainly a interesting question.

But Himmel didn't think so, unless she was a friend of Sonya's. "Nah, I doubt it. I also only know of one master mage besides me, my old teacher and—" Himmel suddenly stop.

A concerning idea on why a master mage could have come for him arrived at his mind. And one could see from the widening of Alm's and Kliff's eyes that they had come to the same terrifying conclusion.

What if Zofia Castle had sent a super mage after them?

It was... certainly possible. Scaringly possible even.

Shit, could Himmel beat her? Maybe... Being able to use White Magic to a insane level did not mean being able to use Black Magic to a insane level. And the woman was out of it right now, so really, anybody could take her—

"Mister Mage? You okay?"

"H-huh? Yes, I'm fine. Sorry for spacing out." He put a hand on his head. "I just came to a dumb conclusion, but... well, as I said, it's a dumb conclusion." There was no way she was a mage who came here to kill him.

The panic he still felt due to killing the king made him feel that way, but now that he thought about it, if that was the case then why would she bring her young daughter with her? And would they really send such a small group after king slayers

The captain grinned. "Well, I'm so lost right now that I'll even listen to any dumb conclusions. So feel free to lay it on me."

Himmel waved him off. "No need. Instead let me tell you a smart one." It was the one he had been thinking of before he freaked out. "The woman showed up here because her magic registered this place as safe."

He continued. "It may sound strange, but sometimes magic can be kind of autonomous. It's possible she was in a tough spot in some nearby island, and since she couldn't think of a concrete place nearby to escape, her magic automatically took her here." And then his Warding kicked her off.

Admittedly however, one would expect such results from a Stave. Much like a Tome, those were more or less pre-programmed. If she was a Valentia mage however, she shouldn't really be the type to use those.

But it was possible. Himmel was a Valentian mage but learning Tome Making had been part of his curriculum, as an example. Not to mention how though it was expensive, it was possible to buy Tomes and Staves from other continents.

In fact, before boarding the ship, the group had gone around to resupply their broken weapons, and found a few basic Tomes and Staves. They were... insanely expensive, basically a scam even, but they did exist.

It was kind of insane to think of how much a Warp Staff would cost though.

The captain hummed. "I'll take your word for it. Though I'll also just ask the lasses when one of them wakes up." Fair enough.

Alm raised a hand. "Speaking of that, are you proficiently enough to stop them from using magic with Warding, Himmel?" He was surprised Alm even knew that existed.

Kliff, as always curious about magic, raised an eyebrow. "Is that possible?"

Alm nodded. "It's not just possible, it's a highly prized skill in the military. If you want to capture a mage, you need to be able to restrain them." Oh, he has most likely learned about that type of Warding through learning tactics.

For Archanean and Jugdralian mages, simply taking their tools away meant they couldn't do shit for the most part, but the same did not apply to Valentian mages who did not rely on such things. All this meant though, was that Valentian armies were forced into coming up with a solution.

And that solution was Warding that negated a person's magic. Depending on how skilled someone was with it, they could apply on anything from clothes, to items, to even someone's skin.

Alas, Himmel was not that guy. "I can kind of use it, but I'm no master at it." He would inscribe the room with some stuff, but if that woman truly was a master mage then she would be able to fight through it.

In the end Warding just wasn't Sonya's specialty, and so it never became Himmel's specialty either. He knew the basics, and some intermediary stuff, most of it focused on Tome Making, and that was all.

Alm smiled. "Knowing you, that means you are a master among master." The brat would sorely regret his expectations. "Even if you aren't though, we'll take what we can get."

At this point Himmel had more or less dried up, so he readied himself. "Well, then let's go. If I'm going to do this, I should try to finish it before any of them wake up—"

Once again, they heard footsteps. This time, a panicked Clair and Faye made their way into the room.

The Pegasus Knight In-Training seemed utterly flabbergasted. "H-Himmel! A urgent matter has come, and I'm in need of your council!"

"Okay...?" A realization soon reached his mind. "Wait, is one of the two hurt!?" Maybe his Recovery had missed something!

"N-no, but as I undressed them, well..." She seemingly did not know how to say it.

Faye however, seemed to have no clue what was going on. "The two had some neat tattoos. I don't know why Clair freaked about it though." No way. Absolutely no way.

Himmel looked at Clair. "Are they Brands?"

"I believe so..." She recomposed herself. "I think... I think the two are Jugdralian nobility, Himmel." First the king, now this...?

Why did the universe suddenly hate him?




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AN: Maybe Himmel should just throw them mysterious ladies back to the ocean.

Anyways, Himmel's back! Back as a victor who won the polls! Glory to the son of Sigurd! Or something along those lines. It sure feels nice to write about him again. I'm probably not gonna write more of those 8k chapters this fic used to receive during its peak though. Mostly because they were super tiring and long to make.

I need instant gratification damn it! As soon as a chapter reached 3k words I already want to release it!!!!