Volume 9: Voyage
Chapter 123: Sea
“Oh! Beautiful. As expected of a battleship—it’s fast.”
After departing from a port of the Austin Empire, I stepped onto the deck of the battleship sailing across the Mediterranean and cheered at the blue scenery around me.
The sea breeze passing over me felt pleasant.
“What do you think of the battleship that’s the pride of the Lunoa Navy? It’s quite splendid, isn’t it?”
The man approaching me as I spread my arms and took in the ocean was Captain Fall Yurick, the commander of the battleship.
“Yes. I can’t help getting excited.”
To be honest, although it was inappropriate amid a war, aircraft and tanks had excited me a little.
But this battleship was something else entirely.
A colossal mass of steel raced across the sea. Its enormous guns were so long that I couldn’t judge their full length even when looking up at them. It carried many weapons, and other warships sailed alongside it.
Every part of it stirred a man’s heart.
“Exactly! Our navy receives little attention in the Lunoa Kingdom, and I understand why. The army is unquestionably where our country must concentrate its strength. But this ship—and this vast sea—are worth devoting my life to! Do you understand how wonderful they are?”
“Yes. What man could fail to understand? It’s magnificent.”
“Exactly! That magnificence alone makes it worth risking one’s life.”
He was a naval captain overflowing with passion.
It was admirable to love one’s work. As the man commanding a battleship on which others entrusted their lives, he seemed reliable.
“I’d like to keep admiring the ship, but I can’t keep looking away.”
Having enjoyed it enough for the moment, I finally looked beside me.
“Ugh… I feel sick.”
Second Princess Emma was crouched there with a deathly expression.
“Are you all right?”
I crouched to meet her gaze and rubbed the back of the thoroughly seasick princess.
“Ugh… I-I didn’t know a ship could make me this sick.”
“You didn’t know?”
“I-I’ve never ridden on one… Urp.”
“Wait! Please don’t vomit!”
My face went pale at Emma’s expression, which suggested she might do so at any moment.
“I-I’m fine. I would never do something like vomit…”
“If you say so…”
I nodded and continued rubbing her back before she could finish saying that she wouldn’t.
Perhaps that set a flag.
“I-I won’t… Bleeeurgh!”
“Aaaagh!?”
When Second Princess Emma suddenly emptied her stomach beside me, I screamed and leaped away from her.