The Developer Reborn As Archmage

The shipyard was another full day away, with all the sails and all the coal they could restock along the way. Fominel planned all the supply stops and the fastest routes with good winds. Master Lam aided him by performing some forward-seeing rituals to see any bad weather, pirate troubles, or delays. Once everything was cleared, they set off.

Darya wanted nothing more than to snuggle with the pretty elf for hours. She was glued to her for at least eight, properly sleeping the journey and the rest of the excitement off. Seris was the greatest walking stress reliever that she was most grateful for.

“You’re going to melt into the sheets if you sleep more,” Seris said at some point, still keeping Darya’s head on her chest.

“What, you want to go out and do things again?” Darya asked, her voice muffled between Seris’s breasts. “Because that went so well the last time.”

“Pirates do things, you know!”

“Not Desert Rose pirates. We do things, and we go on vacations. In fact, we do things because we plan to go on vacation.”

The European way of working. I need at least six months off for the shit I did in Galtea. But no, now we have to fire cannons at sea monsters in a day or two…

Seris laughed, squeezing her closer. “You just keep changing the rules as you see fit!”

“That’s the kind of captain I want to be.”

Snuggling with Seris put her to sleep for another hour. They decided to dress up and head out once they got sick of the bed and hungry enough to eat the entire kitchen.

They found Nerima on the floor with a water bucket next to her and Lurim splashing her tail with a small cup with Enta floating above his head.

What in the kindergarten is going on here?

“Princess, You’re awake!” Nerima said excitedly, crawling onto her elbows. Hearing these words, Lurim dropped the cup and jumped on Darya, and Enta crawled onto her as well.

Darya squeezed Lurim’s head and messed with his hair. “What are you doing in the kitchen? preparing your sister for lunch?”

Lurim gave a sheepish smile and hid his face on her thigh.

[Inspect]

Creature: Dragon Mana Wisp

Kind: Magical

Level: 2

HP: 20/20

MP: 27, 895/34,268

SP: 1/4

Oh, look. The baby leveled up when I wasn’t looking.

“You’re going to have to level up faster to keep up with this little brat, Enta.” Darya patted the baby wisp. Enta hovered closer and plastered himself on her cheek.

“At this rate, he’s going to level up because of it,” Seris laughed, helping Nerima stand upright.

“We were just cooling off. We caught some fish, and I got tired hauling them all.” Nerima explained.

“What! You went alone?”

“Oh, not too far, just three hundred feet or so.”

Three hundred goddamn feet for some fish?

Darya’s eyes brushed a veritable mess on the other door in the kitchen that opened up to the deck. She saw what could’ve been a bluefin tuna if not for the orange coloring.

“What in the—” Darya exclaimed as she walked over. At least thirty fish had been piled on the deck. There was one long-nosed swordfish-like thing stabbed on a wall. “D-did you just throw them from the water?”

“That one was Lurim,” Nerima giggled. “Yeah, we can fish this way. The fish does half the work; we just have to guide them out of the water. Give them a little speed and aim right.”

“Oh, crazy children,” Seris said, trying to hide her surprise. “We need ground rules. You can’t just jump in the water without telling anybody!”

Nerima puffed her cheeks, trying her best not to look guilty. “I looked for master Lam, you see, but he was busy with master Fominel, so…”

There’s no point trying to keep merfolk kids on a ship. They’re going to jump at the first chance they get.

Darya cleared her throat. “I think we can solve this easily if we have a way to tell where you are. I’ll find some kind of item for that somehow. Until then, you have to stay where someone can always see you, or we have to use ropes or something.”

Nerima and Lurim nodded studiously.

“These fish- I don’t think I’ve eaten a Koarin in a decade. Where did you even find it?” Seris asked, poking the orange missile of a fish with her foot. It flapped its giant tail, drenching everyone in a rain of fishy water.

“Hell, just what I wanted after I woke up,” Darya said, spitting fish scales from her mouth.

The advantage of Fominel doing the fishing is that the damned things come to the ship fully dead.

Nerima pushed off the deck with her hands and whacked it across the head with the lower half of her tail. The impact shuddered the wooden floor, and the fish went limp.

“There, all done,” she said in a cheerful voice. “I don’t know how to prepare it, though. I don’t eat a lot of fish.”

Fominel came into the kitchen a few minutes later while Seris and Darya were doing their best to pull the fish. Darya had never seen him so surprised. He quickly took over the job of butchering and storing everything.

The lunch was several dishes of Koarin, roasted, grilled, stewed, and fried with batter. Fominel also cleared up a bunch of ‘land meat’ that was old. Nerima and Lurim watched Fominel roast two large pieces of pork with a hungry fire in their turquoise eyes. According to them, they had never seen pieces so large.

Darya and Seris joined lunch after a quick bath.

“So, we’re going to get to the Belkian shipyard in the evening,” Fominel said as he dipped a piece of fish in a red sauce.

“Have any contacts there?” Darya asked curiously. There had to be. This was a ship fanatic she was talking with.

“Loads. Old Kardukan’s the best. If we need canons in a hurry, that’s who can find them.” He paused to bite his food. “Only problem is I haven’t seen him in two years. He could’ve died.”

Master Lam wiped his lips after a careful bite of roasted pork. Nerima and Lurim had their faces on their dishes next to him, eating like hyenas. “We’re going to need a crew to fire cannons. I think that’ll be harder than finding canons.” He said.

“Very true,” Sarka said. “The kind of crew is important for the waters that we’re heading towards. I’d rest easy if they had some merfolk with experience.”

“Harder to find still,” Master Lam said. “New generations are all about fishing. Haven’t seen a sea monster in a nightmare, let alone at sea.”

“Can we rent out a crew for the right price?” Seris asked. “How many do we need?”

“At least one per canon, and some more to load them in turn.”

“With twenty canons, that’ll be thirty people. Not enough space for them.” Darya said. “We have to reduce the canons. Let’s do…”

She counted with her fingers, trying to place them where they were most needed. “Six. Big one at the front. Longest range. Two others next to it. Maybe not as big. Two big ones on the sides. Should be able to rotate and move them. One on the back just in case.”

“Make it twelve people then, two for each. Faster loading.” Master Lam said.

“And get them some powerful guns,” Darya added. She had been on sea raids in the VRMMO. The supply list was based on what she knew as the minimum configuration. They needed more to fight real sea monsters.

It’s going to be up to me to punch holes through these ugly things somehow. I need to find different Manacers.

“What if we got a mage or two? They can maintain a shield.” Seris suggested.

“That’ll take some weight off you. Good, we’ll have to find them fast.” Darya agreed.

“Master Lam, Magus Sarka, have you dealt with sea monsters before?” Seris asked.

“Yes, I’m still not sure about this ship, Lady Seris.” Master Lam rolled his lower lip. “I would suggest hull reinforcement, but that’s going to take a lot longer than cannons. Time your friends don’t have.”

“In my day, it took no less than a reinforced galleon to sail the center of the crescent,” Sarka said.  “Sea monster meat was a prized commodity. The organs were important for various medicines. Their wax burned like no other. The crews back in those days didn’t use magic. There was a great divide between the rich and poor when it came to magic. It was considered high art not fit for peasants, and peasants managed just fine.”

“You won’t need a lot of magic, Princess,” Nerima said, swallowing a large chunk of meat. “I’ll swim ahead and show you the path. I can draw them to me as well if I sing the right tone.”

“You’re not going to act as bait, Nerima,” Darya said, eyeing master Lam. He seemed as shocked as she thought he would be.

“They can’t catch me. I swam with them since I was Lurim’s age.”

“These aren’t the temperate ones around the colony, Nerima,” master Lam said sternly. “These are anywhere from three to ten times larger. They can swallow this ship whole. You can’t outrun them if you already swam into their open mouths without even realizing it.”

Ugh, I wanna throw up. Fish that big? Do they look the same as the VRMMO? Are they Eels or Chinese dragons? What were we thinking, making these things? Goddammit.

She wasn’t a fan of deep-sea gigantism. Definitely not when those hell creatures could break the surface, where she could witness them. She looked at Enta and nuzzled him until the image of Lovecraftian horrors that could swallow her ship faded away with his indomitable cuteness.

In any case, we can’t tell the siren to stay on the ship. She’s going to do what she wants no matter what.

“Nerima, if you want to do this, you have to be tethered. You have to be ported back to the ship within a split second.” Darya looked at Seris. “That’ll be your job.”

“I have to learn a new spell,” Seris groaned. “I remember seeing one somewhere for porting within line of sight.”

“We have to split up at Belkian port. Who goes where?” Fominel asked.

“You and master Lam,” Darya said. “You should deal with everything there. I’ll go with Seris to find mages and buy some other supplies. I’m going to need some Manacers. In case our plans fail.”

“What about me?” Nerima raised her hand. Darya pulled the Soulstone ring from her finger and put it on her thumb.

“You and Lurim stay together. Stay out of sight, but close to the ship. Listen to Magus Sarka.”

“I’m on childcare duty again!” Sarka said dismally.

“You’re fully authorized to take over her body if she doesn’t listen,” Darya said sternly. Nerima’s eyes widened when she remembered being trapped in the soulstone.

Good, that’s a good enough threat for some discipline.

“We have one day to sort everything out. We’ll gather back at the port.” Fominel said, quickly wiping his mouth.

“Better stick to the schedule. Remember, Rossarie needs us fast.” Darya said.

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