Chapter 108: Let’s Go on A Sea Travel～ Playing Tag On The Ship
「Yoshi, everyone! We’re going hoist the sailー!」
「「Hei!」」
Douglas’s vigorous voice echoes, the sailors started to climb the shroud simultaneously, aiming to hoist the sail on the mast.
It feels kinda nice to see a lot of sailors moving energetically.
「But, even though the ropes are only hung there, they can climb those rope at such a speed, huh.」
「That’s because they are also already used to it. Something like that is nothing for them」
When I exclaimed in admiration, Douglas - who was nearby - responded. Despite saying that it was nothing, he looked somewhat proud of it.
I would be fine even if I were to fall since I have Space magic and Shield, but it would be different for those sailors. The more they climb, the more they will grow distant from the ground, arousing the fear in them.
Furthermore, the rope for their foothold is unstable. It would be swayed by the wind or other sailors climbing up. I can walk in mid-air thanks to Shield, and the absolute guarantee called Teleport. Without those, at most I would only be able to climb for a few meters in the air.
When I was looking at the appearance of those sailors climbing the mast one after another one, they finally reached each sail in no time.
As for the main-mast, the height is around thirty meters from the sea surface. The scenery from up there would surely be quite beautiful.
However, there are only rope footholds near the mast. That’s scary, so let’s just get to the highest observation platform.
If it was that place, then the foothold is stable, and it’s big enough for my body size to sit on it.
「You lot, are you ready!?」
「「Heii!」」
The sailors answered while holding on to the yard.
Speaking of sea sailors, they have the image of being ruffians like adventurers, but they’re unexpectedly hardworking. A ship is not something that can be moved by a single person alone, because of that a careless, uncooperative person wouldn't be able to fit in.
Just by looking at their series of movements until now, I can see that those sailors are gutsy.
Douglas took a deep breath as he looked at the sailors on the ship as if checking them.
「All hands, hoist the sailsー!」
Douglas’s loud voice resounded, and the sailors swiftly untied the ropes.
The white sails smoothly spread out with the sounds of rustling cloths and sails, the ringing of metal fittings……… but…
「…………I thought it’s going to be more of a *basa* when it spread out.」
「It’s not a small ship after all. Don’t say something unreasonable」
When I turn my eyes, Douglas’s mouth is in the shape of the character of “へ” as he bluntly responded.
Perhaps it’s because of the influence from a certain famous pirate manga, so I think it can’t be helped that I imagined the sails will spread out like *basa*.
As we stared at the spreading sails with a subtle expression on our faces, I heard a pleasant sound of a small ship that was anchored near us spread its sails *basa*.
◆
I thought that after you untied the ropes, the sails would spread of their own accord and we could depart immediately, but that is not so.
It seems that the sails will not spread of their own accord even if the ropes are untied, but there is a procedure to pull it with ropes.
Then Douglas took the male’s group - Roomba, Mort, and Irvine -, to pull the sails and it finally spread after they single-mindedly pulled the ropes.
And now, in front of me are the appearance of those three people who have been tactfully used as labor.
「Haaa……haaa……can’t do it anymore……… I can’t put any strength into my arms anymore.」
「I thought of it as an ordinary cloth that I looked down on it. The sails are quite heavy, aren’t they. 」
「Are you that tired? It’s fun, like playing tug of war y’know?」
Irvine and Mort plopped down on the floor, while Roomba appeared to be calm as he squatted.
Only the sail pulled by Roomba was spreading out swiftly. Even those sailors who are proud of their strength are surprised.
「A ship is called a ship if the sails are spread out after all.」
「It looks like a swan with their white sails spread out like that, huh.」
Aleutia and Ilya - who declared that「 we’re weak magicians after all, and we’re not strong」- appear to be looking at us with a look as if saying ‘did they spread the sails?’.
Looking at those women, Irvine groaned coldly.
「……you girls, you look so calm, aren’t you」
「We will have our important turn after we go out to the sea, so it’s fine, isn’t it? To begin with, even if we - delicate women - joined in with you men, we won’t be able to help much, you know.」
They also paid no heed to Irvine’s gaze. Aleutia looked calm as her deep blue hair swayed by the wind.
「Oi, Irvine. She just said herself that she’s 'delicate', y’hear that……」
「Well, don’t say that. She admitted that her chest is quite modest, so it’s―― fugoo!?」
Irvine - who distorted the meaning of ‘delicate’ - calmly talked about it, but then Aleutia kicked him and he went down.
「Yoーshi, we’re sailing!」
At the same time as Irvine went down, Douglas’s loud voice resounded.
The anchor that had been lowered for anchoring was raised, the rope had been untied and the ship slowly moved forward.
The big white sail that spread out properly caught the wind and the ship moved forward steadily.
Douglas senses the wind’s strength and direction through his skin and gives instruction to the sailors.
It seems that the sails have to be adjusted according to the complex wind direction and strength. The sailors pulled the ropes and often called out to each other.
Thanks to the sailors moving with good coordination with each other, the ship is accelerating more and moving forward more and more.
I can hear the sound of the ship pushing the waves aside, as the ship leaves the harbor.
A lot of people wave their hands at us at the harbor, perhaps they are watching our ship depart.
Even if the other party is a stranger, they sent out their prayers for the safety of our travel.
This is probably the kindness of the people who live in the port city of Esport. For the residents of Esport, this is a common sight. It might be such a warm city.
I can help but answer them if I were being sent out like this.
We waved our hands with all our might as if to show our thanks to the people who sent us off. Until the people became far away…until they became a dot in the distance.
◆
We’ve been leaving Esport, and now we’re being swayed by the waves for some time now.
The white Esport’s townscape has already become out of sight and right now our field of vision is entirely filled with blue color.
We can only see the calm sea and the clear sky around us.
When I tried to get an unbroken view of that beautiful scenery of the sea from the observation platform, I was caught by the bored Irvine, Mort, and Roomba.
「Hey, Alfried-sama! Let’s play a game of tag on the ship!」
「Ooh, that’s a good idea! There are so many ropes here, it’s going to be fun and complicated!」
「We can't play that on-board of the ship, right?」
Oi oi, you want to play a game of tag in place with this many ropes…… that looks kinda athletic and it might be interesting. I have Teleportation and Shield to ensure my safety, so it’s not bad.
Once I decided to do it, now let’s get out of here immediately.
I ran at full speed, put my foot on the shroud, and aimed for the top.
「Ah! This guy forgo the role of the oni without warning!」
Irvine shouts and points at me.
Fuu, how naive. The game of tag has already begun.
In fact, even Mort and Roomba have started running the moment he did that.
「The first one to be the oni is Irvine!」
「The oni will stand there while counting to ten!」
「You guys are cheating!」
For this kind of thing, it’s an early victory if you’re faster and forces the others to take up on the role. Children’s games are extremely merciless and unreasonable. You won’t be able to understand it with something like rules and common sense, the rules are easily created and decided on the spot by everyone’s will.
Needless to say, we pushed the oni role on Irvine and climbed the rope.
I climbed the main-mast in the middle while Mort climbed the mizzen-mast behind me. Then Roomba is climbing the foremast at the front.
No matter how you look at us, our appearance when we climb up the rope might look like a monkey or a gorilla.
How can I climb so skillfully just like those sailors, you ask?
The sailors are looking at us climbing awkwardly with a warm gaze.
I’ll tell you the trick to do it later.
「……eight, nine, ten! Alright! Just wait you guysー!」
Just when I’m thinking like that while climbing, Irvine - who had been counting slowly and faithfully - began running.
「I’ll bring the slowest guy among you down and make it your turn!」
Irvine’s first aim is Mort who climbed the mizzen-mast.
It’s probably because Mort is the slowest one to climb up among us. Mort still hadn’t even reached the yard yet.
Irvine’s expression was like a hyena chasing after its prey as he climbed up.
「Hey! Stay away from me! Your way of climbing is gross!」
Is Irvine used to it I wonder? He climbed so easily, though still not as skillfully as those sailors.
「Fuhahahaha! Don’t say something so unkind, alright? Look, I can almost reach out and touch your foot, see?」
「Hiii!」
You would just get scared when you see a man with a vulgar, old-looking face is approaching you from below. I’m glad he didn’t chase after me.
There are two guys chasing after each other behind me on one side, while on the other side, Roomba - who is in front of me - is dexterously climbing without the ropes by hugging the mast for some reason.
Are you a gorilla?
As I was retorting like that in my mind, I hear a loud voice coming from behind me.
「Yeah, touch! Mort, you’re the oni now! 」
「Haa!? But you didn’t touch me! Don’t lie!」
「I did touch you. I grazed your shoelace with this finger of mine, y’see」
「Liar! You can lie as many times as you want. But grazing is not counted!」
I wonder what it is… I’ve done this kind of argument dozens of times back in elementary school. I feel like they’ve done it numerous times.
「Okay, okay I understand. Hoi, touch.」
「That doesn’t count just now, right!?」
「 There are no such rules, you know. The one at fault is Mort who stopped, see. 」
……from my experience, what may occur at the back after this is……I think they will just fight from the return touch.
「Whattt!? Look Irvine, touch. You become the oni again. 」
「Oi wait a minute! There is no return touch, right?」
「 There are no such rules, stupid.」
Mort declared that to Irvine who was dumbfounded, then jumped off from the yard without pause.
Since he jumped off, Irvine can’t reach him. So he can’t do the return touch.
I see. Mort also thought about it.
「Ah! Darn it! That jerk! I’m going to touch him and push him off to the sea after this!」
That’s really an oni right there.
I guess it wasn’t cool looking at Irvine groaning exasperatedly, but then my eyes met with that guy who thought about something oni-like.
「…………」
「…………yosh, next I’m going to chase Alfried-sama! 」
The moment Irvine decided that he jumped off from the yard and he came directly below me.
「Hahaha! Waitー!」
With a villainous smile on his face, Irvine ran up to the shroud.
Uwa, so fast! He’s fast, but……somehow I have a bad feeling about this. He climbed up just like a spider *shakashaka*.
「The way you move your body is gross, Irvine! Don’t come here!」
I feel a strange pressure just like when a spider crawled from below. And probably because Irvine's face looks old, it became even more horrifying.
「……that looks like a spider.」
「There are such people. Even though his way of climbing look gross, he’s climbing so fast.」
「You guys keep saying ‘gross, gross’, can’t you stop it! You’re going to hurt my feelings you know!」
Irvine shouts in response to Roomba and Mort’s comment.
Even if he knew that they’re just joking when they said ‘gross’, it is still a fairly sensitive word.
「Don’t use words such as ‘gross’ so thoughtlessly!」
Perhaps Irvine is pleased that he said it bluntly, but then he pulled himself together and started to run straight up.
「It’s been strangely loud since some time ago. Just what the heck are they doingーーeh, Irvine’s way of climbing look gross, isn’t it……」
Aleutia came out precisely at that moment from the cabin and immediately said the ‘gross’ word straight out.
It’s a voice filled with feelings unique to women. For those who have a particular fetish, her phrasing would just cause pleasure in them.
「I told you not to call me ‘gross’ again!?」
「What? What’s wrong with me saying ‘gross’ to something unpleasant to look at?」
「So, I’m free to say the fact that your breasts are small, right?」
「What was that!? This and that is a different matter, you know!」
……different, huh? Women are complicated and mysterious creatures. I’m sure that having room for dessert despite being full is also a different matter.
「Funn, let’s leave this flat-chested person alone. I grow weary of her.」
「I can hear you! You’re going to pay for that later!」
Aleutia returned to her cabin, while Irvine sighed as if saying 「Good grief」.
You won’t know what will happen later, you know?
「Now then, shall I quickly touch Alfried-sama and make him the oni then? I’m tired chasing people.」
After muttering that, Irvine started moving again.
His hands and feet are wriggling like a totally different creature.
Expressing how to describe that appearance with a single word, that would be……
「Gross!」
「I won’t forgive you anymore! Each and every one of you calling me gross!」
Irvine finally snapped, after seeing that everyone was saying ‘gross’.
Irving rushed up toward me with an angry look on his face. That’s because you’re gross!
「Hiii!」
「No, you won’t! 」
I was scared of Irvine’s gross appearance, so I grabbed the shroud and shook it with all my might but it was not too effective.
It’s a tightly stretched rope originally. It would be difficult to climb it if the rope were greatly shaken.
And perhaps it’s because of Irvine’s spider-like movement, the shroud looks like a spider thread spread around him.
This place is his territory. If I continue to climb the shroud like this, I will surely be killed.
With that thought in my mind, I stopped dashing up to the shroud and moved to the yard.
「Fuhahaha! Escaping to the yard!? With Alfried-sama’s height as a child, you wouldn't be able to jump down from there. You will break your bone or sprain yourself if you do something rash, y’know?」
That Irvine is truly childish.
Certainly, even the tallest yard is pretty tall. It would be dangerous for a seven years old kid to jump down from the yard.
This guy, so he targeted me because he anticipated it, huh.
「You should just wait there if you don’t want to get hurt, alright? For the crime of hurting my feelings by calling me gross. I’ll forgive you only after I push you down to the sea.」
That’s dangerous enough, isn’t it?
I really don’t know what that hopeless guy would do to me if he gets closer to me. Can I escape to the sky from here even if I use Shield……?
When I was thinking about that on the yard, I noticed that there is a single rope dangling right in front of my eyes.
When I followed the rope with my eyes, I found out that it was a pulley-type rope that was secured tightly to the mast.
With this, I could probably be like that Tarzan guy, right?
「Hehehe, just you wait there. I’m coming over to you now」
Irvine moved from the shroud to the yard.
Tsk, I had no choice.
I moved to the dangling rope, grabbed it tightly with my hands, and jumped off.
「Whuaatt!?」
I held on to the rope and my body floated in midair.
And then my bodyweight hung on the rope, and the rope made a *shurushuru* sound as it came down with the weight.
「Ahー! Aaaaaaaahhhhh ooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh!」
Yelling like Tarzan, my whole body tears through the air.
The feeling of cutting through the wind with my whole body, the moderate thrill of throwing your body into the air, and it feels good roaring in the air like this.
My line of sight moved diagonally downward for a moment. And when I fell at a proper height, I let go of the rope and landed on the deck.
Well executed.
「「Ooooooooooh! What was that! That looks interesting!」」
Seeing me doing the Tarzan rope thing, Mort and Roomba exclaimed happily.
That feeling. I might get addicted to it.
「Yoshi, I will also do that!」
「Ah, but Roomba-san! There is no pulley-type rope here!」
「Whaaat!? So the rope is only in the middle!? Can’t be helped then, when Irvine climb up here everyone jumps down and goes to the middle……」
「But you will have to wind up the rope, so Irvine will catch up.」
「Then, we’ll stop playing tag. Let’s play that jump-off thing with the rope now.」
「Naa!?」
The childish games constantly change.
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