Chapter 42: The Sea
As the car continued through town, it merged onto the expressway.
“Onee-san, where’s the sea?”
Takamiya-san asked while looking out the window.
Mountains and buildings blocked the view completely.
“You might catch glimpses of it now and then, but it’ll be like this for a while.”
“Aww…”
“Just be patient for another twenty or thirty minutes. The view of the sea from the bridge is beautiful.”
“Oh… Hey, Ayaka, summer’s almost here. Want to go to the beach sometime?”
The sea…
“To go swimming?”
“I don’t know when we’ll finally get to Tokyo, but we’ll be traveling to all kinds of places. There might be some really nice beaches.”
“The sea, huh… I haven’t been since elementary school, so it’s been over fifteen years. Sure, why not?”
“Let’s go! Let’s go!”
The sea…
“Hey, why didn’t you invite me?”
Kitaura-san pouted.
“You were already included from the start. You love the beach.”
“True enough.”
Huh.
Was it because her surname was Kitaura (“north shore”)?
I like pears myself.
Realizing it wasn’t really a conversation I could join, I turned my attention outside.
“Hmm…? There are hardly any cars, are there?”
Tilting my head, I looked at Ayaka.
“Now that you mention it… you’re right. Linda-neesan, the expressway isn’t some kind of ogre nest, is it?”
“No. That’s in Oita. The ogres around here are fighting the humans farther west.”
I’d heard the demons on this side were fighting the people of Fukuoka around the Onga River.
“Then why isn’t anyone driving here? It’s not that early, is it?”
“This route leads toward Oita and Yamaguchi. Nobody’s heading to Oita right now, and the road to Yamaguchi is closed, so no one can go that way.”
“Huh?”
“Closed? I heard security was tight, but it’s actually shut down?”
“Expressways are generally dangerous. The human side targets them too, and there are traps set up.”
“I see… Wait, what?”
“Is… is that really safe?”
Traps…?
“But we’re in demon territory. Doesn’t that make it safe?”
Umm…
“Onee-san, let’s get off the expressway.”
“I don’t want to run into land mines.”
Kitaura-san, don’t say scary things like that.
“It’s fine. Besides, this is the only road to Yamaguchi. All the other routes have been destroyed.”
Seriously…
“I’ll put up defensive magic.”
I cast a barrier spell over everyone in the car, as well as the vehicle itself.
“As expected of Yuu-kun.”
“Way to go, Shicchi.”
“That’s our dependable leader.”
Sorry, but…
Riku’s the one who’s actually good at defensive magic.
Mine isn’t nearly as impressive…
Even though I was worried, nothing happened.
After passing through a tunnel, the sea finally came into view.
“Oh! There’s the ocean.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“Hey, I can see ships!”
Sure enough, the sea was beautiful, and several ships were visible in the distance.
“Linda-neesan… is this what you meant by the road being closed?”
The road ahead—or rather, the bridge—was blocked off.
“That’s right. We’re pulling into the service area.”
Before reaching the bridge, Linda-neesan turned left into the service area and parked the car.
There were about ten other vehicles in the parking lot, but not a single person walking around.
However, several orcs were standing in front of the road leading back onto the expressway.
“Is this really okay?”
Elvis asked Linda-neesan.
“I’ve already made arrangements. In the end, everything comes down to mana. Mayumi gave me some.”
“I see…”
“Well then, I’ll go take care of it. Please don’t get out of the car. There are harpies flying overhead.”
With that, Linda-neesan got out and walked over to the orcs.
“Harpies…”
“There they are.”
The sky above the bridge was filled with bird-like humanoids.
“So they’ll attack us… Takamiya-san, how much mana did you give Linda-neesan?”
“No idea. I just held her hand and let some magical power flow into her. It wasn’t all that much.”
I hadn’t given Elvis much, either.
Even so, we’d been treated like honored guests.
“Come to think of it, you can actually transfer magical power. Well… technically it’s mana, not magical power.”
Now that she mentioned it…
Passing magical power around was something we did all the time.
I did it when crafting things, and Ayaka infused it into her weapons.
“Ayaka, try receiving some of my mana. Might as well experiment.”
“I’m the one receiving it? Wouldn’t it make more sense, role-wise, for me to be the one giving you mana?”
Well… she had a point.
The enhancement magic Ayaka and the others mainly used didn’t consume much magical power.
“Then just give me a little.”
“Okay.”
Ayaka held out her hand.
I took it, feeling oddly nervous.
Her hand was just as soft and warm as I’d expected.
“Go ahead.”
“So…? How’s it?”
I could definitely feel magical power flowing from Ayaka…
“It’s hard to tell. Elvis, do I seem any stronger?”
I asked him.
“A decent amount of mana is flowing into you, but the difference is probably within the margin of error. I can only tell because of how much mana I have now.”
Probably because Elvis had inherited Yamane’s mana.
“Want me to send a huge burst?”
“…Let’s not. That sounds kind of dangerous.”
Ayaka and I let go of each other’s hands just as Linda-neesan returned.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. We have permission to pass now. We can’t stop on the bridge, so enjoy the view of the sea while we’re driving. All right, let’s get going.”
As Linda-neesan started the car, the orcs manning the checkpoint stepped aside, allowing us back onto the expressway.
A moment later, we drove onto the bridge, and the vast sea stretched out on both sides.
“Oh… it’s the ocean!”
“There are ships too!”
“This is really nice.”
The view was incredible.
The Kanmon Strait sparkled beautifully beneath us.
We only had about a minute to take it all in as we crossed the bridge, but it was more than enough to enjoy the scenery.
Even though this journey had plenty of serious objectives, I couldn’t help feeling that it was going to be an enjoyable adventure as well.