Kays Translations

Chapter 90: Thunderball, Magic Modification

“Sensei!! W-What’s wrong with you!!!”

Mizeroi, who rushed in a panic, stopped as a river shark leaped again, swinging the hammer.

Once again, large droplets of water scattered on the deck, and puddles increased.

“Nya nya nyaaa~”

Seeing this, Orihime rushed into the carriage where Isamu and the others were.

“Nyaaaan!”

“Eep!?”

Jumping in through the open hatch of the carriage, Orihime pounced straight onto Isamu’s face.

Isamu was overturned by the sudden attack.

“W-What is happening!?”

“Oi!!”

Eto and Willem exclaimed, not understanding what had just occurred.

“Ouch… What’s wrong, Orihime? Why are you in such a hurry?”

While gently patting Orihime, who clung to his neck without letting go, Isamu slowly got up.

“Ah, it’s Orihime-chan. Ah, I was surprised.”

Knowing that Orihime was the cause of the commotion, Willem sighed in relief.

“What’s wrong? You seem frightened. Is everything okay?”

Seeing Orihime behaving differently than usual, Eto voiced his concern.

“Isamu-san! Orihime-chan is…”

Anne-Marie rushed in, interrupting Eto.

“Oh, Anne-Marie-san.”

“Sorry, Orihime-chan saw a puddle and suddenly started running…”

“I see, that makes sense… Alright, Orihime, you were scared, huh? It’s all right now.”

While saying this gently, Isamu continued to stroke Orihime.

“I’ll explain in detail later, but Orihime is actually not good with water… She seems to be fine as long as it’s a small amount, though.”

“Water… I see, so she got surprised by a large puddle…”

Understanding the cause, Anne-Marie showed a relieved expression.

“All right. Shall we go defeat those guys who scared Orihime? Eto-san, Willem-san, let’s go!”

“Sure. I’m looking forward to seeing how much the power has increased.”

“Ah, finally, the magic circle I made from scratch is working… It’s quite nostalgic.”

Isamu, holding a magic tool with a long rope, rushed out of the carriage.

The battle on the ship had turned into a war of attrition.

River sharks leaped from all directions, and due to their size, only Mizeroi with his strength and hammer could repel them. Even Felix and Liddell could only dodge or lightly slash with their swords.

The crew, who were not trained for combat, were even more vulnerable. Although they had more stamina and strength than ordinary people, their lack of combat training resulted in increasing injuries.

The fact that no one suffered life-threatening injuries was largely due to the knights’ efforts and the crew members’ determination.

Gradually, the ship itself was accumulating damage, too.

With the thunderballs reaching their limit, some of the river sharks that could now approach started ramming the ship.

So far, nothing serious had happened, but if this continued, it would soon become a serious problem.

“Sorry for the wait!” 

“Oh, Isamu-dono! How are things going! Did you succeed?”

Felix, running towards Isamu, momentarily choked on his words when he saw Orihime attached like a scarf around Isamu neck.

“It’s perfect! I’d like to use this guy right away, but… I need to throw it into the water.”

“I see… Then, please go with Mizeroi. Even if a shark comes flying, he can repel it.”

“Mizeroi! I leave Isamu-dono’s protection to you!”

“Leave it to me! Isamu-dono, come here! Oh, Orihime-sensei is with you too! Rest assured, I’ll protect you even if it costs my life!”

While not wanting him to die, Isamu chuckled inwardly and went to Mizeroi. As he approached, Isamu began chanting a spell.

“Roiling blood, circulate with magic power. Become the splashes of miracles, bestow power upon me as a new flesh and blood. Full-body enhancement!”

For a moment, a faint golden light enveloped Isamu and disappeared.

Since he just wanted a long throw, he applied a slightly weakened full-body enhancement.

Checking the weight of the magic tool in the enhanced state, Isamu asked Mizeroi.

“Which direction seems to have the most enemies?”

“Well… Right now, I think it’s aft to port.”

“Got it.”

Isamu, who replied, stared at the aft to port side and activated the magic tool.

After confirming the usual activation sound, he swung it lightly and threw the magic tool.

The magically enhanced tool, thrown from the strengthened body, flew in an arc, extending the rope with a swish sound, landing about 30 meters ahead on the water surface.

Then, it slowly sank for a few seconds. The lightning, much brighter than before, flashed.

A few seconds later, another flash. And again…

After three flashes in total, Isamu began to reel in the rope. On the water surface, six river sharks had floated up.

“…………”

“Wow, the power is just as expected.”

“Good, it worked! It was a good idea to reduce the activation count to three. I thought five would be a bit too much.”

While Eto and Willem, who were involved in the modification, calmly analyzed the situation, the rest of the members were speechless, forgetting they were in the middle of a battle.

Isamu, having collected Thunderball-Modified version, stopped for a moment and asked Mizeroi.

“What should we do? Should I throw it again to the stern side? Or is a different direction better? Huh?”

With no reaction, he looked at Mizeroi again, who was staring at the water surface with an open mouth.

“Uh, excuse me. Is everything okay, Mizeroi-san?”

Shaken lightly, Mizeroi snapped out of it.

“Ha!? Uh, sorry. I was… surprised by the power… So, next, please throw it to the bow side!”

In recalling his mission, Isamu was guided by Mizeroi to the bow side.

“……”

At the bow, Liddell, who had the same expression as Mizeroi earlier, was present. Although she had some wounds with blood seeping out, there were no major injuries.

“Liddell-san, sorry for the wait! I’m going to throw the modified version, so please wait.”

“Ah, yeah…”

Without any particular enthusiasm, Liddell replied to Isamu, who was about to throw a formidable weapon.

“Alright…”

With a peaceful shout as if throwing a bundle of harvested wheat, a weapon that turned the water into hell flew in a parabola.

Plop… Flash x3.

“Okay, Okay…”

And with a face devoid of any tension, he began to collect it again.

As five river sharks floated at the bow, they smoothly flowed to both sides of the advancing ship, riding the water currents.

After that, he exchanged the magic stones once and threw one each to the left and right sides, but sensing danger after the first two shots, none of them resurfaced.

Everyone watched the now quiet water surface for a while, and a voice came from the lookout.

“E-Enemy sighted! The remaining river sharks have fled with their tails between their legs!!!”

“Uwaaaaaaah!!!”

And a great cheer echoed on the deck.

“All right!”

“We made it~!”

The crew, who had given their all, collapsed.

Members of Team Orihime, too, finally had relieved expressions.

“Alright! Orihime, are you okay now!? I’ve driven them all away,” 

Isamu gently strokes Orihime’s back, who had been clinging to his neck.

“Nyaa~nyaa~”

Finally detaching from his neck, Orihime perches on Isamu’s shoulder, rubbing her forehead against him.

At that moment, a voice that seemed to speak directly to the heart echoed abruptly.

“Hehe, I came to check if you were worried, but it seems I was unnecessarily meddling.”

“Eh!?”

Isamu looks around at the sudden event.

“What was that?”

“Did someone say something?”

“Did they come to see us!?”

It seems like not only Isamu but everyone heard it.

“Nyaniya. Nyanya~”

Orihime makes a sound while rubbing her cheek against Isamu.

“Hehehe, I’m getting jealous. The youngest god in this world is being doted upon. Well, go ahead and proceed as you wish.”

And the voice echoes again.

“The youngest god in this world? What in the world…”

Isamu’s voice, about to ask a question, is drowned out by the lookout’s voice.

“Uh-oh!! Something unbelievable is surfacing directly below!! Huge… It’s ridiculously massive…”

The latter half had become more of a murmur.

Everyone peers into the water surface from the ship’s edge simultaneously.

Orihime, who had never approached the edge, jumps off Isamu’s shoulder and leaps down, looking into the water from the bow.

As the lookout said, something unbelievably enormous is trying to surface directly below the ship.

Certainly larger than the ship. It’s still surfacing, but it seems to be about 100 meters long.

Gaining speed, it emerges from directly below the ship, slipping through and surfacing ahead.

“Hah!! Grab onto something!! If something that huge surfaces, the ship might flip over!!!”

The lookout shouts again.

Indeed, if an object of that size breaks the water surface, there will undoubtedly be quite a large wave.

Even though it’s a stable ship, it seems like it won’t be easy.

While everyone clings to the railing, it finally reveals itself.

With a vivid cobalt blue body adorned with numerous sparkling white spots, it looks like a gigantic whale.

Splashing as it breaks the water surface, it jumps into the air.

The ship is completely covered by the shadow cast by the massive body, and the surroundings suddenly darken.

The beauty of the sparkling giant body and splashing water droplets reflecting sunlight leaves everyone speechless.

The great whale, without hesitation, rotates in the air and dives headfirst into the water.

Then, as if nothing happened, it returns to the underwater depths.

Strangely, both when it surfaced and when it dove, not a single wave or drop of water fell on the ship.

In Isamu’s eyes, it felt like the giant whale looked at them while diving, squinted its eyes, and smiled gently.

Amidst the stunned silence on the ship due to the extraordinary event, someone’s muttering breaks the stillness.

“It’s… the incarnation of the goddess. Lady Rusarsa…!”

As someone utters this, excitement rapidly spreads among the crew.

“Whooooa!!”

“Amazing, we met the goddess!”

“Today is an unbelievable day!”

The crew members are greatly excited. It’s only natural since they might have met the goddess they worship.

After a while, when the excitement of the goddess fever subsides, the topic shifts to the exploits of Isamu, the modified Thunderball, and the knights who showed remarkable feats.

“Isamu-sama, what power does that Thunderball have? It was on a completely different level than what we were using!”

Captain Revecchio asks excitedly.

“I just modified the Thunderball a bit. It should be about five times more powerful, and, more importantly, it’s not disposable, so you can use it multiple times.”

“A bit of modification… No, no, no, you can’t normally do something like that…”

“Haha, well, I’m a wanderer… But please don’t tell anyone. Keep it a secret from the crew as well. In return, I’ll give you that magic tool. To prevent replication, I’ll make some adjustments to the magic circle later…”

Smiling slyly, Isamu says.

“What are you saying!? We can’t just accept such an incredible thing!”

The captain refuses such generosity.

“It’s okay. Oh, by the way, does that thing come in handy?”

“Of course! With one or two of those, you can practically drive away most monsters. It’s a must-have item for sailors.”

“I see… Then I’ll give you that as well.”

“What are you talking about!? There’s no way we can accept it, Isamu-sama!”

“Silvio-san!! Let’s have a little chat!”

Saying that, Isamu dashes towards Silvio.

“Nyafuu.”

Jumping onto Isamu’s shoulder as he runs, Orihime rubs her cheek against him affectionately.

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