I slept peacefully that night. Ann had wanted to snuggle so we had pushed both bunks together. The following day the seas were rougher and I was starting to feel sick being belowdecks. Instead, I started practicing using the stone arrow spell off the back of the ship. I had managed to learn it before I went to sleep last night.
The sky was cloudy and it was windy which was making large waves. I tried not to think about the rocking ship and instead focused on the spell. Ann was with me, but Shadow, Lin, and Lux had stayed belowdecks. Ann was fine and didn’t seem to even notice the rocking. I was a little jealous. She was still working on learning her spell so just watched me and gave me pointers since she was already proficient with it.
Like with my earth manipulation spell I was able to fire it off quickly. I wasn’t confident about the aim though. The stone arrow spell materialized the stone out of thin air instead of requiring earth like the manipulation spell. That was a good thing since otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to practice using it on the wooden ship.
The sailors seemed curious about what we were doing but most left us alone. The few that came over were the non-lizard folk who tried hitting on Ann. They were all quickly shot down. Luckily none of them tried picking a fight. I didn’t really blame them. The sisters were cute and were the only girls on board. We weren’t given food during the voyage so were living off the rations we had brought. We had resupplied ourselves at the village and made sure to pay them handsomely for the huts and food they had given us. Lux handled that which I think he gave them some of the coins we had found.
I wasn’t familiar with the money situation in this world, but the villagers didn’t seem to mind being paid with the ancient coins. They were made with gold and silver so even melted down would hold some value. A yell from the sailors interrupted my practice. Ann and I looked over to see some of the sailors pointing off into the ocean. I strained my eyes and thought I could see some spouts of water.
The captain began yelling orders and soon the cannons on that side of the ship were manned and ready to fire. I wasn’t sure what was going on. I guessed it was some kind of sea monster which was Ann’s assumption as well. She said they hadn’t come across one during their last trip across the water. The captain let the water spouts get closer before giving the order to open fire.
The magical cannons were relatively quiet and I could only hear a muted popping sound as barrages of blue light flew toward the sea monster. The blasts exploded once they hit the water but must have missed as the captain ordered them to fire again. This time the sailors started cheering as the water turned a dark color. I never did see the monster but there were no more water spouts so it must have been the only one.
I went back to practicing but then it started raining so we heading back to the room. Lin was waiting for me with a smile on her face. Ann clicked her tongue but went into the other room, leaving us alone. Lin patted my cot and I sat down. She immediately hugged me and started kissing me which led us to start fooling around. It didn’t last long however as I started feeling nauseous. Lin quickly found a bucket and I vomited much to her dismay.
The storm lasted for several hours during which time I was violently ill. It finally settled down as did my stomach. For some reason healing magic didn’t do anything for motion sickness. Lin was happy that I was in better spirits but now our room smelled like vomit. I washed up and we opened the port hole to let things air out. It was getting toward evening when Ann stopped over to see how I was doing and to see if we wanted to eat together. I still wasn’t feeling very hungry so Lin went over to eat with her family while I rested. She snuggled up to me during the night and Shadow even came to visit, sleeping on top of me for a change. I was the only one that had gotten sick, even Shadow had been fine. How is that fair? I cursed at the isekai gods.
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The sun was shining on the second day and I was fully recovered. We stood by the railing and enjoyed the sunshine. It sounded like we would be getting to the port in a few more hours. I was excited to finally see real civilization. The village was nice and peaceful but didn’t really count. I had to admit, I was a little nervous too. Ann and Lin had told me some things but I still wasn’t sure what to expect.
I didn’t know if I was ready for big crowds of fantasy peoples. In addition to various kinds of beast folk, there were elusive elves, typical sounding dwarves, different kinds of lizard folk, and even stranger people like merfolk and arachnids (people with human like upper bodies and spider lower halves). I didn’t know if I could handle seeing an arachnid in person. Just the thought of it sent shivers down my spine. Luckily it sounded like they were a rarity on the island nation we were going to.
Soon enough one of the lizard folk sailors yelled after spotting land. I still couldn’t see anything of course. Was everyone’s eyesight better than mine? Did I need magical glasses? We went below to inform Lux and grab our possessions. Besides the storm and the brief sea monster attack there hadn’t been any problems. Some of the sailors had been annoying but nothing major.
When we went back to the railing I could finally see the land and even columns of smoke rising up which must be from the city. Ann and Lin were excited to get the loot turned into money. The first thing they wanted to do was buy a big house like the mansion that we could all live in. It sounded like a good idea to me. I would be following their lead since I knew very little about this world and what little I did know was obsolete by several hundred years at least.
Before going on their expedition they had just moved around and mostly stayed at Inns. I didn’t know if that meant we would be going to another city or if we would be staying in this one. It didn’t really matter to me one way or the other. I saw a few jealous looks from sailors as both girls were hugging my arms excitedly. Sorry fellas, better luck next time.
As we neared the port city, many more ships could be seen coming and going. It was a very busy port. Most looked similar to our ship but there was a wide variety of sizes and shapes and even some enormous ones at least twice the size of ours. I stared slack jawed as we passed by one of the behemoths. Our ship docked at one of the numerous wooden docks that stretched out into the water. I idly wondered if South Port had been this busy as well.
A gang plank was lowered and we joined the line of sailors exiting the ship. It felt good being on solid land again. I didn’t think I was cut out to be a sailor. We all said our goodbyes to the captain who was smiling after Lux gave him the rest of the money for the passage (half upfront and half when we arrived had been the deal). The girls wanted to show me around the city which was called West Harbor. What was it with the naming conventions of this world?
Lux interrupted the girls and made an executive decision to find an inn first. I was carrying Shadow since the streets were crowded with people but she didn’t seem to be too bothered by all the commotion. I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by all the colorful clothing and strange sights. Humans seemed to be in the minority in West Harbor but I didn’t get any strange or hostile looks. Ann had mentioned that slavery was outlawed but there were plenty of poor people begging for food or money by the wharf.
Lux led the way while I gawked around like the tourist I was. There were a lot of lizard folk by the docks but I could see several different races. After we left the docks, the majority of people changed to beast folk including wolf types like the girls, cat types, and several others. Lin smacked me for staring too long at a couple cat girls. I apologized sheepishly but got smacked by Ann this time for staring at a busty bunny girl.
We made it to the inn without me getting smacked any more times thankfully. Lux looked like he had been amused at my predicament but I must have been imagining things. The inn was one they had stayed at before called the Light House and seemed nice enough with nautical themes throughout. Lux got us two rooms, one for him and one for me and the girls. They didn’t want to take turns again evidently. I had the feeling I wouldn’t be getting much sleep but I was OK with that.