Ch.159159. Deserted Island (1)

The beginning of this incident was when we both decided to return to the Frankish Kingdom by ship.

“This is what traveling should be like. Don’t you think?”

“The Prophet thinks so too!”

My entirely personal opinion that teleportation lacks romance, and Sophia who sympathized with my view. Add to that the ruling party of the council who wanted to quickly cover up this incident somehow.

As a result of everyone’s opinions aligning.

Instead of returning home via transfer magic, we decided to enjoy a pleasant voyage aboard a luxury cruise ship provided by the Elven Kingdom.

The ruling party of the Elven Council could buy time until the incident was resolved under the pretext of a farewell ceremony for heroes, and the two of us could enjoy sightseeing while receiving the best VIP treatment.

So it should have been a win-win situation for both sides, but….

The real problem arose at this point.

“…Gregory, I see strange omens.”

“Again? Again?”

On the morning of the second day of our cruise. While I was eating Eggs Benedict (muffin topped with bacon and poached egg) for breakfast, wouldn’t you know it, Sophia suddenly brought this up?

Despite sighing heavily and yawning profusely at the thought of yet another tiresome incident—I’ve lost count of how many—I simultaneously contacted the cruise management to prepare for what would clearly happen.

“…Understood, we’ll take immediate action!”

Because elves are accustomed to prophecies and foresight, and because it had only been a few days since we were regarded as heroes who saved the elves, the cruise management took this very seriously and began their own preparations.

And while I was also making thorough preparations for any possible situation….

That night. In the dead of early morning when everyone was asleep, the incident occurred.

As I’ve mentioned several times before, the seas in this fantasy world are dangerous beyond normal comprehension.

Various non-human pirates swarming the seas, merchants (pirates-in-waiting) ready to switch to robbery whenever they encounter someone who looks vulnerable, sea creatures boasting sizes approximately 1.5 times larger than land creatures of the same rank.

Add to this the undead vessels—ghost ships—innately filled with infinite hatred toward living beings, and the oceanic races (peoples) who consider the sea their domain.

While the sea is notorious for silently swallowing the unprepared, there exist several particularly infamous entities in this world….

And the named monster attacking our cruise ship single-handedly, “White Whale Moby Dick,” is one of those notoriously powerful magical beasts.

This magical beast, presumed to have originally been a sperm whale, has a unique appearance with its body completely dyed white, and unlike ordinary sperm whales that boast body lengths of around 20 meters, Moby Dick’s length is estimated to be at least 70 meters.

Its rank is, of course, high-class, and because it’s so enormous, its physical mass is so great that the waves generated just by its movement are said to become tsunamis by the time they reach land.

Additionally, Moby Dick doesn’t appear in specific regions but wanders restlessly throughout the world targeting human ships, so no one can accurately predict where this magical beast might appear.

And the most troublesome special ability possessed by this Moby Dick, the white whale, is undoubtedly its unique stealth capability.

Moby Dick can achieve complete invisibility using its special ability, and this ability is transcendent to a degree that doesn’t allow comparison with other invisibility or magical concealment.

At best, one can roughly estimate its position by the unusually large waves it creates, and it’s impossible to detect its form until it’s about to attack directly.

Despite having abilities specialized for assassination, its actual battle strategy is simply to overwhelm with its superior physicality.

Against opponents inferior in size, they can’t offer any resistance before being crushed, but in the opposite case, it becomes a typical strong-against-weak, weak-against-strong magical beast.

Anyway, for these reasons, the cruise ship was exposed to Moby Dick’s surprise attack without being able to resist, and naturally, the ship couldn’t withstand the attack of this super-sized high-class magical beast and was shattered to pieces.

….The one fortunate thing was that we were prepared in advance thanks to Sophia’s prophecy.

In fact, there wasn’t a single passenger besides us, and thanks to this, everyone had hidden in the panic room inside the ship when….

[■■■■■■─!!!]

I transformed into “Venom Kraken Lord,” a high-class magical beast capable of swimming quickly in the sea, and hurriedly carried this panic room to a nearby deserted island.

And this was precisely why we ended up sitting so miserably on the shore of this deserted island.

※ ※ ※

The deserted island we arrived at was quite large, more than I had imagined.

According to what an elven sailor told me, this island was neglected due to its ambiguous size and chaotic surrounding currents, and apart from a few wealthy individuals eyeing it for its moderately beautiful scenery, it wasn’t considered particularly valuable.

Well, thanks to it not being some remote deserted island, the elven sailors informed us that they would be rescued before long….

“Please come this way.”

“Thank you! Thank you so much!”

“Blessings upon you, hero!”

Since things had turned out this way, I cast the “Nature’s Portal” spell that high-class druids can use and transported all the sailors to the port area.

And thanks to that, on this island now completely devoid of human presence, we lay down blankly, not minding each other’s miserable state.

“…What are we going to do about this?”

“I wonder….”

As the weather was quite nice for late autumn, we were lying there blankly without thinking about anything when….

“…Since we’re already here, should we rest a bit?”

“Shall we? The Prophet would like that.”

While lamenting our fate that seemed cursed to be involved in one incident after another, we decided to take a brief rest on this quiet island since the situation had already come to this.

The life energy felt throughout the island was all below low-class. Although there weren’t any particularly outstanding features, peace existed on this island instead.

Valleys, lakes, waterfalls, fields, a quiet forest. Beautiful white sandy beaches and small hills.

Looking at this peaceful scenery, we agreed that we needed a rest, even if just for a while, and decided to take a break for however long it might be.

Having made up our minds. We moved as vigorously as possible to prepare for stretching out and relaxing to the maximum.

I contacted my mother to let her know we’d be resting for a while, and expressed my intention to purchase this island to the Elven Kingdom.

Fortunately, its value was quite reasonable, and the purchase itself was completed almost in a single payment, which was an added bonus.

And having been able to purchase the island at a price cheaper than expected, I happily released my animal friends onto the island without hiding my joy.

[Yahooo!!]

[I’ll be back, Gregory.]

Whether due to my influence or not, Corin, who had recently started growing again, flew ahead excitedly, followed by Astra and Minerva.

Meanwhile, the squeakers who had hesitated briefly soon gathered together and scattered in all directions, while Robo also walked steadily into the forest, seemingly pleased with this rare free time.

[Lady Gretel. Would you perhaps like to practice coordination with me?]

[I’d love to, Sir Lancelot.]

Additionally, Lancelot, who had recently been practicing coordination with Gretel, also departed into the forest with her, and Kezak, for some reason, disappeared into the forest while fiddling with the feathers that had begun to grow on his body unlike his parents.

With this, only Sophia and I remained on this shore.

“Ugh….”

“…It’s quiet.”

Unlike modern beaches, this quiet white sandy beach was devoid of any trash. Lying down in a spot where we could see the clear, cloudless sky, we both soon felt drowsiness washing over us, perhaps a reaction to being awakened by the white whale’s attack last night.

Of course, since we’re both superhumans who have long surpassed the intermediate level, going without sleep for a few days wouldn’t be a major problem, but feeling some fatigue was natural nonetheless….

However, through my wild instinct, I sensed a subtle tension emanating from this sandy beach and couldn’t comfortably take a nap.

Not knowing the reason, I was lying down with my eyes closed, unable to sleep properly….

“Gregory, are you asleep?”

“…No.”

“That’s good. Actually, I have something I want to tell you.”

“…Something you want to tell me?”

“Yes. …Perhaps, the Prophet might be in love with you.”

“……Oh.”

At the sudden love confession that came during our calm conversation, even though I had somewhat anticipated it, I momentarily froze at Sophia’s voice as she revealed her feelings….

“Actually, I too—”

After a moment’s hesitation, I immediately voiced that sincere feeling which we had both only been guessing at for a long time.