Crap. The plan here was only to fish up snacks for Foll...
Nephy’s current behavior was cute in its own right, but it may have been a better idea to wait for everyone to finish catching something before feeding Foll... But in that case Foll would be rather pitiful for having to wait despite her hunger.
Foll also seemed to be flustered thinking that she did something bad, but Zagan suddenly thought of something.
“Oh! That’s right Nephy. You may want to take a look at this!”
Zagan formed a rectangle with his fingers and an image was projected there by mana. This was the Memorandum that he developed together with Gremory and Barbatos earlier. As an image of the divine guardian they just caught took form, Nephy’s expression brightened up remarkably.
“Is this the sorcery you taught me once before, Master Zagan?”
“Yeah. But it’s developed a bit since then. Now it’s possible to choose what is displayed and even project it into midair.”
“Oooh.”
Nephy looked fascinated with the Memorandum.
Great. Looks like she’s cheerful again.
His bride’s troubled expression was a delicacy, but her sadness felt like it could split his heart. Zagan was relieved that this was resolved, but now Nephy’s entire body stiffened up. Zagan realized what was going on all too late. Even now, he was hugging her from behind with the fishing rod clasped in front of them.
“Uuuh, th-this is!”
Zagan tried to separate from her in a fluster, but Nephy squeezed onto his arms.
“...Is it okay... to stay like this... a little longer?”
Perhaps because she had such liberal clothing on, Nephy seemed to be quite assertive today. And so, Zagan cleared out his throat and hugged her back.
“Only until I catch something, alright?”
Nothing had bitten on Zagan’s fishing hook yet, but it was fine for him if nothing ever did.
◇
Shortly after Nephy made the first catch, excited voices could be heard here and there from the other boats. Zagan kept a firm grip on his own fishing rod and took a glance over to the others.
“You’ve got a bite Richard!”
“I know! But what power! I feel like I’ll be the one to be pulled in!”
“Dammit man! You’re not alone! Win and wrest that reward from the Archdemon!”
“Steve, you’re such a...! Thanks!”
Richard also seemed to have hooked up a big one, and both he and the other Angelic Knight were pulling on the fishing rod together.
It paints an awfully stuffy picture over there... but they look to be having fun in their own way...
It was troublesome for both Zagan and Nephteros if he were to raise the tension like that around them, but looking at it from a distance was quite amusing. It appeared that Gremory and Lilith also had a bite at this time.
“Mistress Gremory! I got one too!”
“Mm! That small glance of your stomach under your apron the moment you stoop over is another form of beauty perfected! Swimsuits and aprons! Your grandfather may just be a genius for thinking up such a combination!”
“O-Oh come on, G-Gramps isn’t really...! Wait! Mistress!? Aren’t you going to help!?”
“I’ll help if I feel like it. However, you should still have some power in you. Won’t you allow me to have my fill of watching you try so hard for my sake?”
“...Huh? Was I maybe tricked here?”
Zagan averted his gaze in pity.
Aaaah... she noticed...
Lilith’s face stiffened up, but she didn’t show any signs of throwing the rod away and running... not that there was anywhere to go atop their little boat as Gremory continued to ogle her.
As for Foll and Nephteros, Nephteros had managed to get a bite herself.
“I’ve got one! All I need to do is pull it up, right?”
“Hang in there Nephteros.”
Her white swimsuit looked blindingly dazzling against her dark skin as the light from mana wrapped around Nephteros’ arms and legs. Nephteros was a high elf, but also one who possessed considerable power as a sorcerer. She skillfully supplemented her physical strength with mana and pulled up her prey in a single breath.
“I did it!”
What Nephteros fished up was a small fish in the shape of something like a dragon.
“...What’s this? It’s so small.”
“Nephteros, that looks tasty. Can I eat it?”
“By all means.”
Even with disappointment plastered on her face, Nephteros held out the dragon-like fish to Foll. And just like the divine guardian, Foll swallowed it whole in one gulp.
“...! The mana is overflowing with such a rich taste! It’s like Nephy’s pudding. 93 points.”
“Huh? Even though it was so small?”
“It was small, but its mana was amazing. Also, it was tasty. I want another.”
It seemed that size wasn’t all that mattered in terms of score. Nephteros puffed out her chest in pride having received a score higher than Nephy’s and thrust out her fingers in a V towards her.
“Master Zagan, Nephteros looks so happy, it’s cute.”
“Well, she is your sister Nephy. It’s only natural that she’d be cute.”
Nephy and Zagan talked about such things as they waved back to her, but Nephteros was too far away to hear them. Nephteros then gripped her fishing rod once more.
“Hey, Big Bro. It’s fine to keep fishing even if we’re not going for points, right? Can I keep going?”
“Well, just a bit is fine.”
If they over-fished the area too much then Lilith would be left in distress, but it was surely fine to fish up two or three more snacks up for Foll. Hearing Zagan’s reply, Foll hugged Nephteros.
“Thanks. I love you Nephteros.”
“...Geez. It can’t be helped then.”
Everyone was starting to show results here and there, but Barbatos and Selphy were still sitting there in silence with nothing going on.
“Mister Barbatos, if you don’t get rid of that gloomy atmosphere around you the fish will just run away, you know?”
“Tch, why do I gotta go along with this childish bullshit?”
“Huh? Aren’t you doing it ’cause you wanna get along with Miss Chastille?”
“I-I don’t really want to get... wait! Why do you—!
Zagan exchanged looks with Nephy.
Barbatos... you’re more of a wreck than Chastille here...
Selphy replied to the perturbed Barbatos with a carefree smile.
“It’s okay. Mister Barbatos, you’re like, an amazing sorcerer who can even fight with Mister Zagan, right? You can surely fish up a huge one!”
“...Ain’t this area your ocean? Is it fine for sorcerers to damage it?”
“Ahahah, I don’t get all the hard stuff, but if Lilith says it’s okay then it’s A-OK!”
Lilith never said it was alright though...
Moreover, she was being played around with like a toy, but unfortunately her childhood friend didn’t realize any of this.
Are those two really friends...?
But perhaps her carefree words eased the air around Barbatos anyways, and he gripped the fishing rod as if to pull himself together.
“Oi, what’s the biggest thing around here?”
“Let’s see... Oh yeah. Old gramps Archwhale should be around this area.”
“Archwhale...? You mean the king of the ocean?”
Excepting dragons, it was said to be the world’s largest living being. There were also rumors as to whether it was actually a subspecies of ancient dragons.
“Yup. He’s like, the king of all whales. He’s a big ole fish but he can talk, cause tsunamis, and even fly. I got to ride his back when I was a kid, too.”
“A whale ain’t a fish, right...? Actually, is it fine for us to fish up someone you know? We’re feeding that little brat you know?”
Somehow or other, Barbatos was the one who ha
d more common sense between the two of them. However, this was still Barbatos. He had doubts about it, but he wasn’t one to hesitate in the face of doubts. To the contrary, he cast his fishing line into the sea, now overflowing with fighting spirit.
“Hmph, whatever. I’ll fish up that Archwhale or whatever it is!”
“That’s the spirit! Ah, but is fishing, like, something you can pick your target for though?”
“What do you think a sorcerer is? All I gotta do is slam the hook into the place with the most condensed mana. I’ll bring ’em down in one strike!”
Apparently Barbatos was using some impromptu sorcery on his fishing hook to search for signs of mana within the ocean. The hook was changing directions within the water automatically and dove deeper down as if it were swimming.
Huh, that’s a good idea. Should I try it too?
Zagan had yet to catch anything. It peeved him to copy Barbatos, but it really was a good idea. Before long, perhaps having found the Archwhale, Zagan’s undesirable friend put on a convinced sneer.
“Hyahaha, eat shit Archwhale!”
Barbatos let out an evil laugh and swung his fishing rod. As he did, the fishing hook deep within the water vigorously changed directions and certainly did sink into some massive shadow deep within the water.
“...How’s that?”
Maybe there was some resistance? Barbatos’ voice was filled with tension, and immediately following that...
“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!”
A tremendous roar broke out, and the surface of the water exploded. The boat Barbatos and Selphy were riding was blown to bits, and the two of them were thrown into the air.
“Oh, that’s not good.”
Barbatos deserved what he got and Zagan didn’t really care about him, but Selphy would probably die if she were to hit the surface of the water with that much force. Zagan secretly stretched out his hand while making sure his own boat would not capsize.
As he quickly wove together a magic circle on the spot, an invisible mass of mana caught Selphy in the air. It was a variation of the sorcery he used to suspend the divine guardian in the air. Barbatos plunged head first into the water, but Selphy touched down relatively softly onto its surface. An enormous wave spread out, and even the boats far away from them were rocking greatly.
“What happened!?”
“It’ll capsize, be careful!”
That being said, basically everybody here was a sorcerer or an Angelic Knight. Nobody would actually capsize from only this much force. After the wave eventually calmed down, ‘something’ was floating in the air above Zagan and the others which was easily the size of the uninhabited island they were visiting. Looking up at it, Nephy let out a trembling voice.
“M-Master Zagan, just what is that...?”
“Hmm. It seems that’s the so-called Archwhale. According to Selphy, it apparently possesses enough intelligence and mana to speak human language.”
Nephy gulped down.
“In other words, that means...”
“Yeah. It can probably use something as simple as sorcery. It’s up there floating in the air, after all.”
The world truly was vast. There was much that Zagan had gained by visiting Liucaon, including knowledge of Liucaon’s Holy Treasures. The being above in the sky seemed to be quite ancient. It had green moss growing thickly on its cranium, and it had six stone-like fins grandly paddling in the air.
Also, blood was pouring out of its forehead like a fountain. Barbatos did in fact get a direct hit with his fishing hook, but...
“Hey, this counts as fishing it up, right?”
Barbatos clenched his fist and made a ruckus, having not learned anything at all from this. Next to him, Selphy, now reverted to her form as a mermaid, cocked her head to the side.
“Huh? The boat, like, broke, so didn’t we fail?”
Fortunately, perhaps, both Barbatos and Selphy didn’t seem to have any major injuries from being flung in the air and were just chattering in a carefree manner. Unfortunately, there was a certain crybaby who didn’t even notice any of this uproar from being so engrossed in fishing.
“I did it Kuroka! Something finally bit my line!”
“Um, Lady Chastille...? Isn’t there something strange going on here...?”
“Huh? Now that you mention it, the fishing line is going up...?”
After following the fishing line, she found it going splendidly right into the Archwhale’s mouth. It seemed that when it shot up through Barbatos’ boat, it ended up swallowing Chastille’s fishing hook. As for Barbatos, who had actually pierced it with his fishing hook, he was already burying himself in a watery grave.
“Uhhh...?”
The scenery looked just like Chastille was the one who had fished up the Archwhale. It wasn’t clear whether the two girls in the boat were aware of this, but they should have at least understood that what was attached to their fishing rod was a truly ferocious being. Both Chastille and Kuroka’s faces cramped up.
Nevertheless, this girl was one who was strong at the eleventh hour. She regained her composure, stood atop her boat, and made a declaration filled with resolution.
“My name is Chastille Lillqvist. I am sure that you are one who can claim to be a great king of the ocean. It seems that we have committed quite the discourtesy to you, but I would ask that you forgive us.”
Now then, did what she say get conveyed at all? Chastille’s declaration resonated in the skies, and the Archwhale’s gigantic eyes squinted. Gazes filled with hope for the situation to settle down gathered on Chastille. However, it was wrong of them to forget. This girl was an unfortunate wreck without parallel when it came to her private life.
“I’ll have you serve as Foll’s snack right here!”
A hellish silence enveloped the area. It was difficult to gauge a whale’s expressions, but it looked like the whale was trembling from being insulted to such an extent for the first time in hundreds of years. The whale opened it massive mouth, lined with so many teeth they almost looked like hair.
“HYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”
A brief howl. Zagan could tell that this was a chant for a spell. A massive magic circle formed at sea level directly below the Archwhale.
Oh, this is bad. This guy’s trying to make a tsunami.
If it were to unleash a tsunami here, the uninhabited island behind them would surely get swallowed away. Even the lives of everyone around them would be smashed to bits just like Barbatos’ boat. Nephy seemed to be sensitive to such forms of power.
“Master Zagan!”
“Don’t worry. I know.”
Zagan immediately prepared to devour the Archwhale’s sorcery — but ended up stopping.
Well, to this guy, we just smacked him on the head then disparaged him for no reason at all...
Having said that, he couldn’t just let Chastille and his subordinates die, so he decided to just devour half the sorcery. Immediately following that, the Archwhale’s sorcery activated, and the ocean became astir. An enormous wave was given form, and all five remaining boats were easily swallowed away.
“WAAAAAA!?”
Screams broke out here and there, then all sound was swallowed by the waves.
Zagan didn’t overlook the fact that the Archwhale’s eyes shot open in shock.
A wave certainly did break out. It was a big wave that easily capsized all their boats, but it was just a wave. A tsunami was more akin to an avalanche. It didn’t just consist of a shockwave, it carried a mass beyond human understanding and swallowed everything away. Compared to that, the wave that was created was nothing but a wet sheet.
I just quietly took it, so satisfy yourself with this.
Zagan tried to communicate that with just his gaze. And perhaps having understood that, the Archwhale didn’t weave any more sorcery. It simply sank back into the ocean. Several minutes later, everyone clumsily drifted away back to the uninhabited island.
“A-Are we alive?”
“Th-That... was horrible...”
“Someone! Lilith’s like, not breathing here!”
“Keehee, you may leave it to me. It’s standard for a sleeping beauty to be awoken by her mistress’ kiss is it not?”
“...Miss Gremory, you’ll do naught to trouble Master Zagan, right?”
“I won’t!”
“Ugh, sorry everyone. It’s all because I fished that thing up...!”
“Aah, no, that was kinda my bad...”
Everyone called out to each other in their own way to check on each others safety. For the time being, everyone was accounted for and uninjured. Zagan felt like he had heard something about Lilith not breathing, but Gremory and Nephy were present so that was probably fine. In any case, regardless of it being an Archwhale, just what were sorcerers and Angelic Knights who were famous across the entire continent doing taking on a single animal all together?
“Pffft, ahahahaha!”
As that thought passed his mind, Zagan was unable to suppress his laughter at the absurdity of it all. Nephy curiously tilted her head to the side.
“Master Zagan?”
“I never played around in the water like this even when I was a brat. Hey Barbatos. How long are you going to wear that stuffy looking robe?”
Zagan splashed water at Barbatos as he said that. Although, this was a splash of water from an Archdemon. Barbatos was completely blown away by the sheet of water coming in at him like a bomb blast.
“Th-The hell was that!?”
“You were just sitting around like an idiot is all.”
His unkempt hair looked like dried up seaweed. Several others burst into laughter upon seeing that, yet someone else also splashed water at him.
“Bfwah! Who the hell was that!?”
Taking a closer look, the one scooping up water with both hands was Chastille.
“Hahaha, this is payback!”
Chastille was surely looking for a trigger to make up with him. And Barbatos seemed to have been finally unbound from his troubles, let out a laugh, and started to retaliate.
“Don’t get carried away crybaby! GYAAAAAAH! What the!?”
The moment he tried to splash water back at her, all the Angelic Knights present began their offensive.
An Archdemon's Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride: Volume 7 (Premium) Page 7
