Ch.114The Path to the Miriam Continent (3)

A week had already passed.

And that meant there were still three weeks left.

There were, of course, small islands and archipelagos in the Fami Strait we were crossing, but this time, unless there was a supply issue, we were taking a straight course, so there was no reason to stop at those tiny archipelagos.

The islands were so small that not only was there nothing to explore, but even slightly larger ships would have difficulty resupplying. While there were exactly 3,623,402 islands in the Fami Strait, only 1,030,000 of them had urban areas with populations over 10,000.

That might seem like a lot at first glance, but considering that the total production of those 1,030,000 islands barely exceeded half of Parcifal’s, they were truly the epitome of unremarkable island nations.

It was so bad that many islands’ national infrastructure consisted primarily of brothels and bars catering to sailors who stopped by for supplies and entertainment. That said it all.

“Master, I’m going to the room next door for a bit.”

“Next door? Why?”

“Well, the wives are having a small party or something. Since I’m a married woman now, I can’t miss it, can I?”

“Oh…”

After a week, people seemed to be gradually adapting, and passengers were starting to move around, trying to enjoy the maximum entertainment available on the ship.

The gathering of married women was probably part of that.

Still, I was worried about whether a teenage girl would fit in well with a group that was, at minimum, in their early to mid-twenties.

“Will you be okay? Your age might be a bit of an issue…”

“Oh please. When my master is a knight, who would dare look down on me?”

“Ah.”

Come to think of it, that’s true.

A woman’s true power lies in her ability to leverage someone else’s strength rather than her own. She wouldn’t need to feel intimidated by women older than her (meaning older, not more mature).

Thinking about it now, she was also a Charcoal-rank adventurer who had turned dozens of men into minced meat.

“When will you be back?”

“Well… I’ll probably be there from morning until evening at least.”

“Hmm… So I have to spend today alone.”

“…Are you enjoying this a bit too much?”

“No, how could I be happy about being separated from you?”

“Then why are you smiling?”

Oops.

*

After being forgiven following thirteen rounds of intercourse, I left the cabin and headed to the galley to replenish my protein.

Large ships had separate dining halls, but on smaller vessels like the Mary Ross, cooking was done in designated areas while eating was typically done at one’s own place.

The galley was busy despite the morning having passed, and I had a vague idea why.

“Food for the wives’ meeting?”

“Oh? Uh… yes, that’s right.”

“Give me a bowl too. I had a tussle with my wife, and I’m feeling a bit empty.”

Upon my request, the chef quickly prepared a bowl of thin noodles and handed it to me.

The noodles were in a clear fish broth that was quite rich, perfect for filling the stomach.

However, I didn’t leave after receiving the bowl.

The reason was simple.

He hadn’t given me chopsticks.

*

Slurrrp…

I sat leaning against the railing, quietly sucking up the noodles.

Whether due to the chef’s skill or the quality of the ingredients, there was no fishy smell at all, making it quite delicious, which meant the women gathered at the wives’ meeting would likely become even plumper.

Splash! Splash splash!

As I sat there absentmindedly emptying my noodle bowl, a school of flying fish skimmed past the right side of the bow.

They leapt so powerfully that seawater even splashed into my broth.

“A school of flying fish…”

An interesting fact: all modern fish were genetically modified versions of Earth species, adapted to this world’s oceans before being released.

When humanity first arrived in this world, the oceans were literally otherworldly demonic realms, and by the time the first sun rose and the Empire was founded, the seas were filled with the stench and pollution from decomposing marine monsters that had been burned to death.

The Empire then launched a massive environmental improvement project to clean the oceans, creating waters so pristine that even microorganisms were absent.

After that, they released marine microorganisms from Earth to create a microbial sea, followed by adhesive organisms like seaweed and marine plants to establish a primitive ocean.

Only then could they release fish that fed on these organisms, and after hundreds of thousands of years of evolution and adaptation, the fish we know today were formed.

Perhaps the fish I’m seeing now will only be viewable in museums in the distant future.

As I was thinking this, passengers began to wander around on the deck.

Men who had nothing to do after their wives left their rooms. Some, like me, had brought something to eat, while others just stood there staring at the sea.

The weather was good, the waves were calm, and there were no dangers around, so the crew didn’t stop the passengers.

The passengers weren’t there to cause trouble either, and above all, they weren’t adventurers, so they kept their distance from the shotgun-armed crew members. As a result, only awkward-looking men were moving about on the deck.

“Men… can be such awkward creatures.”

As I said this, Lucia and Casia came up from the stairs below deck.

Lucia was yawning and rubbing sleep from her eyes, while Casia was blowing into a bottle like a trumpet.

The passengers briefly glanced at the elf sisters before losing interest, and the women approached me without hesitation and began to whine.

“Boss, Simon won’t play with us.”

“What did you want to play?”

“Card games.”

“Betting what?”

“Alcohol.”

I held my head in my hands.

Casia was silently gulping down alcohol, and judging by her flushed cheeks, she had probably emptied several bottles already.

“How much have you drunk so far?”

“Um… about thirty bottles?”

I held my head again.

If she drank 30 bottles in 10 days, she would need to drink at least 90 more bottles in the remaining 30 days to be satisfied.

“Don’t worry! We bought hundreds of bottles of alcohol!”

As I held my head, Lucia flapped her arms as if trying to reassure me.

“But why did you want to bet alcohol specifically?”

“The alcohol we bought doesn’t taste good…”

Lucia said this and entered a state of dejection.

At least Casia was gulping it down, so it couldn’t be completely undrinkable. In my opinion, they probably bought cheap sparkling wine in bulk, prioritizing quantity over quality, and now regretted their taste.

“So you came to me to ask for some alcohol?”

“Exactly.”

I sighed and took out some alcohol from my spatial storage to share with her.

The dejected Lucia returned to normal, and in exchange—though it’s hardly fair to call it that—I received a portion of the alcohol they had stockpiled.

“You crazy woman. How much alcohol did you hoard?”

“Hehehe… We cleaned out an entire store.”

After saying that, Lucia and Casia went back down, treating their bottles like sacred objects, and I put all the hundreds of bottles placed before me into my spatial storage.

As I thought, these were low-grade sparkling wines with less than 10% malt content.

“Only 5.4% alcohol… This barely qualifies as alcohol…”

One would get full before getting drunk, so drinking grape juice or cola would be better.

The fact that they hoarded this and called it alcohol gave me a vague idea of how financially clueless these elf sisters were.

And since these bottles were taking up space in my storage, which was annoying, I called over a crew member who was mopping nearby.

“Hey, you there.”

“Yes? Are you talking to me?”

“Yes. Please distribute one bottle of this alcohol to each of those gentlemen gathered on the deck.”

“Ah… understood.”

I chose the best method: “drink it to get rid of it.”

On a rocking ship, carbonated drinks like alcohol were difficult to store, and even if transported, glass bottles were easily damaged, so most were typically delivered in oak barrels.

This also meant they spoiled easily, which was one reason sailors preferred strong spirits like rum.

Soon, the crew began busily distributing the alcohol at my feet to people, and crew members also started blowing into bottles like trumpets with the leftover drinks.

Although the taste was mediocre and people’s reactions were lukewarm, drinking cold bottled beer (though it barely qualified as beer) on this ship was something of a luxury, so no one complained to me.

“Is it okay to drink while on duty?”

“Sir Knight, honestly, do you consider something with 5.4% alcohol content to be real alcohol?”

I took a sip of the sparkling wine and immediately agreed with the crew member.

“Let’s consider this a beverage.”