Perspective: Dale Location: Rezhou

"Can't your mechanical gryphon carry us back together?" Mary complained to me as we were on our way to the harbor to buy a boat back to the lost continent.

"Sailing can be quite miserable, right? Seasickness is one thing, but the real problem is how boring it is! It would take at least half a month for us to get back!"

"Stop kidding." I kept explaining, "My mechanical gryphon is designed for combat, not transportation. It can only carry around two people at most. If we add a few more, we'll probably end up in the sea."

"Ugh, why isn't it more versatile?"

"…."

Do you think I'm Doraemon?

"Alright, alright, it's no big deal. It's just sailing, right? We don't really need to rely on machinery. Dale could just install an acceleration device on those ships, right?"

"If it's just an engine... I do have a trial version," I shrugged. "But I haven't tested it yet."

"Well, now's a good time to test it! Let's hurry; I don't want to stay in this hot and weird place for another minute," Mary said, picking up her pace.

"You're always so busy, just look at Blanche, she doesn't have half as much going on."

"What? That's because you haven't looked closely. The little sprite around her is constantly cooling her down with a breeze!"

I turned to Blanche, who just smiled and said nothing. But there was indeed a green halo floating around her... Oh well, you guys are quite something.

"Are you guys going back to that place called the Ais Empire? Where is that exactly? I remember it took about two weeks to reach the Northern Kingdom of Nortia, even at the northern tip of the West Continent," quietly asked the Black Domi following us.

Now, only Black Domi is following us out of the academy. Even though Quark said he would leave with us earlier, seeing three mages living on the mountain either dead or gone, he decided not to leave.

Probably hoping to find valuable things in their house after we leave, well, even though I want to tell him that we've taken all the valuable stuff, thinking about it, let's just leave it.

In the end, the harvest this time is a bunch of magical experimental equipment, some magical gear we couldn't be bothered to check, and some books.

There might be some valuable things in there, but let's take them back and show Fir and Aliyah to decide whether they are valuable or not, after all, they are good at judging.

"Well... it's probably about the same distance, and you'll know when you get there," I smiled at Black Domi.

I can't really tell her that we're heading to a long-lost continent, otherwise, she probably wouldn't dare to follow us. But this setup really feels like kidnappers, something doesn't seem right...

Oh well, let's not dwell on it.

"So... are there any fun places there? Rezhou is all tropical jungles and some simple cities, it's been boring here all along. Speaking of which, our academy is considered one of the better places in Rezhou." I looked back at Black Domi in surprise. "I didn't expect you to be a fun-loving person, never noticed that before."

"N-no... I'm not." Black Domi scratched her head.

"Dale, what are you saying? You can't call Black Domi 'dude,' she's a girl after all," suddenly Fran said.

"Well, I'm just not used to calling people by their names," I shrugged.

"I didn't expect you to be quite shy," Fran looked up from her book with a teasing expression.

"That's not right! You just said not to call others 'dude'."

"You're not a girl, so what's the big deal?"

After finishing, she went back to her book.

Geez, they all talk so much.

I really don't know where Fir found so many odd friends, they are all so abnormal...

...

Did I just include myself in that scolding now? Well, except for me...

"But, who will steer the ship?" Suddenly, Black Domi asked a very crucial question.

This question made all of us stop in our tracks, looking at each other.

The expression on our faces grew serious.

"Well..."

"Perhaps if we install that engine thing you made, Dale, that would be enough, right?" Fran closed her book silently.

"It's not that simple. Even with an engine, if not operated properly, we won't be able to sail properly. Even if we can navigate in a general direction, the relative speed will be very slow. Then how will the crew eat?"

"What should we do then? Buy a ship and recruit a crew? We have no idea how to describe where we're going to them," Mary frowned.

"Wait, the problem is we seem to have no way back except for a compass and an old map," Fran shrugged. "And the old map was torn out from an old book, we have no idea how accurate it is."

"Well, luckily I have a sea navigation program compiled by someone in the Thane Gateway. With map scanning and some additional crosswind devices, we can roughly calculate the course of action... but we'll probably need actual sailors to understand it."

"Still quite troublesome."

Mary sighed.

"Why didn't we think of this before?"

"Well, actually..."

Suddenly, Pure White, who had been silent all along, spoke up.

"I can sail, but I need two helpers to handle the other two positions."

We all paused for a moment, then shouted in unison.

"We knew someone must know how to do it! Pure White, why were you so quiet just now?"

"That's right!"

"Could it be that you were..."

Fran suddenly spoke up.

"secretly enjoying the show?"

"Not at all, I just found it interesting."

Pure White nodded as she spoke.

"I don't know why."

This guy is like an upgraded version of a Shikigami, right? Whose soul does this guy have anyway?

Or maybe this guy doesn't have a soul, and is constantly reshaping the morals from us?

I can feel the murderous intent from everyone, but more of it is probably resignation.

Even though she tricked us, at least she can sail, and we'll have to rely on her to navigate the ship later.

"Alright, let's just set off since we can. Hurry up," Mary smiled wryly, even though she said it was nothing, I could feel that she was not happy right now.

Helplessly looking at Pure White, she still had a standard smile on her face as if nothing happened.

Annoying, who the heck did she learn from, this hatred is about to explode.

Let's not dwell on this right now, let's head to the harbor.

"Hm?" Suddenly, Pure White stopped and stared ahead.

"What now? Did you forget how to sail again?"

"Not... it's that enemies of a familiar category are approaching."

"Familiar category?"

"Yeah." Pure White pointed in the direction of the sea.

"Many Aquatic Tribe members are coming this way."