Atilia tapped her feet on the ground, making some sick beats in her mind. She couldn’t actually sing them out, though. If a demon just so happened to be chilling on the shore, grilling a fish, then her lyrics would blow her cover.

… Actually, they probably won’t be able to hear me.

She could imagine Mimiyat getting pissed, though, so she remained silent. She followed Mimiyat’s guidance, steering clear of shallow waters and rocks that littered the area. But, for the most part, it was a straight line with little twists and turns. She let out a yawn, wishing there was an autopilot.

“How far are we?” she asked.

“A long way to go,” answered Mimiyat, her hands on a piece of paper. She continuously tracked their position on it. Atilia wondered if there was an easier way to do that, maybe with magic. But when she brought it up with the guild, the guild could only provide them with regular maps. There were magic maps, but the guild could only access ones that showed areas south of the Marzendi Mountains. Any magic maps north of it were exclusively used by the military. The demon-controlled region, despite once being filled with humans, had now become uncharted territory.

They sailed at a much slower pace. Mimiyat had exhausted most of her life force for the journey between Forfoza and Inyuro beach. She restored some of her strength when they were stuck, but Atilia would rather she kept that strength for when they needed it. She also needed a lot of concentration to keep track of their locations, and going too fast wouldn’t help.

Had the delay at Inyuro Beach not happened, they should have arrived on time. Now, though, all Atilia could do was remain patient.

“What is that dumbass even doing?” Mimiyat grumbled, before looking Atilia’s way. “You’re not going to tell me?”

“Well… it’s a long story, one that I don’t have the complete information of.”

“How do you even get all this in the first place?”

“I have my sources.”

“Going to hide everything?”

Atilia clicked her tongue. “Barett is repairing your inn. That’s the simple explanation,” she said, not sure how accurate that information was. She received all of it from Kathy anyway, not seeing it for herself.

“He’s… what? Wait, wait, wait! No way! There’s no way he’s actually doing that!” Mimiyat answered in shock. Atilia had expected this answer.

“He’s an outworlder as well, right? And his cheat is that magic repair hammer.”

“That got nothing to do with that!”

“What do you mean nothing? His cheat is literally the ability to repair things.”

“Who cares about that damned inn? I’m dragging his feet back the second I see him!” Mimiyat clenched her fist, the map still in her hands.

“Mimiyat! The map!”

“Who cares!?” Mimiyat’s hands began glowing and the ship began sailing faster.

“Calm down!”

Mimiyat refused to hear her, and the ship shot forward.

* ••

“...”

“Look, tell me where we are?”

“... Sorry.”

“So those words exist in your dictionary, huh?”

Mimiyat had lost control of herself and ended up throwing them off course. Now they were in the middle of the sea, with zero idea of where they were. The sun began rising from the east, ready for a new day. It had officially been two weeks since she and Remy came here, and somehow, they now found themselves celebrating that in the middle of nowhere.

Remy was still asleep, though.

“So… umm… what should we… yawn… do?”

“You’re tired already!?”

Mimiyat nodded meekly, the most meek Atilia had ever seen her act. Without waiting for an answer, she waltzed off the ship’s bridge, an aftercastle to be exact, and went down to the middle of the deck, sleeping there.

Well, guess I’m alone for-

“You’re alone now, huh?”

“... Why you of all people?”

Kathy had appeared out of nowhere. She walked toward the railing on the starboard side, the right of the ship, and leaned back on it.

“Come on… do you really dislike me that much? Are you still angry about last time? I mean, it’s not fair, is it? I helped you a lot. You can’t still be angry with what I did to your husband.”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“It’s far more complicated than that. So, what do you want?”

“Not even going to answer that? Fine.” Kathy tidied up her hair which seemed messy for some reason. “Anyway, it seems like you’re in quite the pickle.”

Atilia frowned. “... Please don’t say you’re here just to laugh at me.”

“Nah…” She spun around for some reason, looking weirdly cheerful.

“‘Oh Kathy the great angel, please come to my aid’ Say that and I’ll help.” she grinned ear to ear.

Atilia let out a tired breath, the exhaustion threatening to take over her.

“Look, Kathy, I’m not in the mood for jokes.”

“If you’re not, then why not let me handle things?”

It was a tempting offer, but they were on a mission behind demon territory. Atilia didn’t want Kathy to break the boundary by accident. It was also a mission she, Remy, and Mimiyat took together. She would really prefer not relying on her. If anything, having Kathy on the mission was a risky move. She could imagine her mind saying that everything would be fine and growing lax because of it. It would put her in an unfavorable position during combat, and she may pay her life for that negligence.

Thus she would rather not ask Kathy for help.

“So, where’s my- ouch!” Kathy held her head.

“Shut up, or another chop is coming your way.”

“You’re pretty violent for an angel.”

“I’m a human now.”

Just then, she saw another ship sailing the waters. It had a Juskon flag on its front mast. Atilia turned the helm, steering the ship closer. She looked through the signal flags stored below the helm, finding the one with a white cross and blue background. She remembered what it meant, reading about it back in Purwa. She wasn’t expecting to sail her own ship back then, though. Just happened to get interested after looking at the cover.

“Hey, don’t ignore me!” Kathy complained, yet Atilia didn’t bother.

Instead, she began swinging the flag left and right, calling for the ship’s attention. The ship replied with a signal, flashing three times. Atilia did the same. She pulled closer, careful to not hit the other ship.

“Good morning. I’m Captain Adabert from the Juskon Navy. May I know how I can help?” A large burly man with a long beard stepped to the side of the ship. He wore a white-blue uniform with the Juskon emblem on the right of his chest. Sailors stood on his sides, their weapons at the ready.

“We’re lost,” she said, before showing him the documents and permit to cross the line.

“If you’re just lost, then I can help with that!” Kathy complained, but Atilia covered her mouth.

“Shut up,” she whispered with a glare.

“... Madam, you do know that you are in demon territory, right? I advise you to turn back at once, we can escort you back to safe waters.”

“We have a special mission, and things were going fine until some mishaps last night. We will be alright if we know where we are now.”

“Very well.” Adabert turned to one of his crew members. The sailor quickly disappeared behind the rows of people looking toward them.

“I will provide you with a magic map that can track your position.”

The sailor returned. Using magic, the captain sent it across the gap and onto the Urkon Maria’s deck. Atilia picked it up, finding a map of the North Sea. Atilia felt a sense of relief as she held the map in her hands. The map had a small speck of dust showing where they were. They were surprisingly close to their destination.

“Be warned, that map only spanned the Northern Sea east of the Makinea continent. Do not use it for any other region, as you will not find what you are looking for. Please bring a magic map the next time you set sail to unsafe territories. The demons may not be able to swim, but who knows when they’ll find a way to tackle the waves.”

How do I get one, though? Not like the guild provided it.

Maybe it was the captain’s way of telling them to get out. He technically had no right to force them out, as Atilia had the permit. It took a bit of work, with Atilia needing to contact Natiria for assistance. She found out that as outworlders, they had access to some things that inworlders didn’t have. No wonder Mimiyat envied them so much.

“Yes, will do. Sorry for taking your time and thank you very much for your assistance.”

“Not a problem… but if you don’t mind me asking, is that the Urkon Maria?” The captain pointed to the ship.

“Yes, it is.”

“I was a crew member of that ship when it ran aground. An entire year has passed since that day…”

“So do you know Barett?”

The captain’s eyes widened when he heard his name.

“It’s been so long…” He began caressing his beard.

Since he knew him, Atilia decided to tell him about their mission to search for Barett. He looked surprised when he knew that Atilia knew of Barett’s location, with Kathy smiling smugly next to her.

“Yeah, yeah, I know you provided the info. Now stop smiling like that,” she whispered, yet Kathy elbowed her side.

“Oh… What’s the magic word?”

“Thank you.”

“If you are looking for him, may I offer my assistance? He helped both me and the kingdom of Juskon many times in the past. It would be an honor for us to participate in his rescue mission.”

“The more the merrier.”

“Lads, prepare to set sail. We’re following the Urkon Maria!”

“Aye-aye!”

Following the map, Atilia made her way back to the shoreline. Kathy decided that she didn’t want anything to do with this and disappeared without saying anything. A sailor from the Juskon ship, known as the Ravart, came onboard to help with communications.

“Thanks a lot for your help,” Atilia told Louisa, the sailor sent to sail with them. She had bright yellow hair tied in a ponytail, wearing full-body knight armor, looking quite different from the other sailors. She had a shield on her back, and a sword on her left hip.

“Just doing my job. Besides, I heard of Sir Barett, they say he helped a lot in the war against the demons.”

“He can repair anything, right?”

“I don’t know about that, sorry.”

“Ah, it’s alright. We’re happy to just have you onboard.”

Mages from the Ravart began pushing both ships with wind magic. Louisa constantly communicated with her home ship using magic paper, telling them Atilia’s orders. With the support of their mages, they managed to reach their destination within an hour.

It was six in the morning when they arrived, far behind schedule. The two ships anchored at an old abandoned dock, its name lost to the war. They would need to walk for another hour to reach the village of Lorto, or so she thought.

The captain was kind enough to lend them a magic carriage and guard the Urkon Maria for them, while Atilia and the others ventured deeper to pick up Mimiyat’s friend. Louisa came with them. She wielded a large shield and would be acting as their vanguard. Once they were ready to go, Atilia went on and woke Remy up. Waking him wasn’t hard, Mimiyat on the other hand…

It took a while, but they managed to successfully find a way to carry her.