Chapter 182 |
Transportation was one of the less appreciated universal constants. Regardless of the era or the location, there was always stuff that someone really wanted to be somewhere else. In the case of the Abyss, options for getting said stuff to another place were rather limited.
The Elysium didn't need complicated transit networks because all Celestials could fly, and even when everyone was grounded by law, the elites had access to portals. For the lower castes, they had to do with simple carts and carriages, while the more elaborate methods of transportation, such as the parade chariots and the flying palanquins carried by dozens of Celestials, were more ceremonial in nature.
In contrast, only about a third of Abyssals could fly, and they had no access to portals. What they did have was a more laissez-faire approach to adopting human technology, though that had its limits. The Abyss wasn't especially rich in metals, so there wasn't much room for heavy industry to grow. I presumed they had enough copper for the electric grid, and I've heard Crowy mention how one of the families had a monopoly on aluminium, so there had to be at least some deposits around the island.
What they were lacking was industrial amounts of iron ore. It was why, despite reverse-engineering old cars and other vehicles, they were a rather rare sight on the roads, and the majority of them weren't produced domestically but smuggled into the Abyss, often piecemeal under the nose of the Magi (or, as with the case of Lord Grandpa, them looking the other way). Because of the lack of raw materials, trains were also a touchy subject. There were a few rail lines connecting the capitals of the various Noble Houses, and from what I gathered, they were running modified steam engines powered by magic.
Since the civil war broke out, rail traffic was completely halted, since these locomotives were extremely rare and precious, and absolutely nobody wanted to see them damaged or destroyed, even by accident. That said, even if they would've happened to be running at the moment, a small village in the butt-end of nowhere obviously wasn't connected to the rail network. Nor did it have paved roads for cars, for that matter.
So, what else was there? In retrospect, the answer was quite obvious: boats.
The Abyss, just like the Elysium, was a carbon copy of Critias. Critias was an island. Q.E.D., boats were everywhere. The coastline was a given, but thanks to the slightly different climate, the place also had larger and longer rivers that could be used for navigation and transportation. While a ferry couldn't take you to the big town the same way a train or car would, it could still get you to the right ballpark all right.
As such, it was obvious where the gang would be heading next. However, before they could get there…
"Josh, look! Rabbits!"
Ignoring his warnings, Angie skipped over to the side of the dog-sized bunny sporting a pair of small brown antlers on the top of its head.
"There she goes again," Judy whispered, and seeing that the large rabbit didn't run away and was looking at the Celestial girl while curiously moving its nose, she soon took out her notebook and jotted down, 'Maybe she really is a fairy tale princess?' into it.
It was still fairly early in the morning, yet our little gaggle of friends was already on the south-west road leading out of the village. They were back in their hiking gear, big backpacks and all, but they were also carrying a bunch of extra items they got from the village during their stay. My sisters were discussing the souvenirs they got for the rest of the family, while Ammy was lost in a discussion with the Grimoire about the configuration of local ley-line equivalents, or something. It was all very technical.
"Come on, Angie! You're holding us up." Josh argued on the side of the dirt road, his presence making the horned rabbit creature shrink back. "We need to get to the docks before noon. You can play with the wildlife later."
"Mou! You're no fun!" the Celestial girl whined, yet she eventually waved goodbye to the horny lagomorph and skipped over to Josh's side. "How long until we get there?"
"I haven't the faintest idea," the guy admitted, sounding just a touch awkward. "They said the road should take us right to the wharf, so I think we should be able to find it there."
"Ah! Then hold my bags for a sec," she said while trying to get her backpack off. "I'll fly up and take a look!"
"Oh, no you don't!" Josh grabbed her shoulder at once, startling her. "We talked about this. You can't just reveal your wings all willy-nilly down here. You're gonna get us busted."
"Aw, fine…" she grumbled, but then her eyes lit up again and she hefted the bag into place again. "Ah, I've got an idea! Let's ask Neige! Nobody will freak out if she flies up for a bit, right?"
"I suppose that could work…" Josh relented, so Angie slipped out of his grip and bounced over to my sisters.
He watched her go with a complicated expression, right until he was mildly startled by a giggle coming from the princess coming up behind him.
"It's nice that you're getting along again."
"… Excuse me?"
The guy's expression was frozen in confusion, but luckily Judy was there to clarify what Elly meant.
"Everyone noticed that you two were having some kind of quarrel, so we gave you some space. We're just happy to see that you two made up."
"Wait… When you say 'everyone', you mean… erm…"
"Yes, everyone," Judy said, cutting to the chase.
"Aw, man…"
Meanwhile, the princess couldn't rein in her curiosity, and she sidled closer to Josh.
"So? What were you fighting about this time?"
"Elly, please don't pry into Joshua's private matters," Judy noted, sounding detached even though her pencil was eagerly hovering over her notes still.
"But I'm curious, and they made up already, so it shouldn't matter," the princess insisted, much to Josh's chagrin.
"We didn't fight. Not with Angie, I mean."
"So it was Deus then," Judy noted, literally.
"Yes, but…" Josh let out a shallow sigh and turned away from the girls. "It's complicated, okay?"
"Do you want to talk about it?" Elly pressed him, but he reflexively shook his head.
"Nah. I tell you, it's complicated, and I don't really know how to deal with this yet, and… and…"
"And that sounds like exactly the kind of situation where you should discuss matters with someone for a fresh perspective," Judy proposed, and it made the guy fall silent for a few seconds.
"Maybe you're right…" he admitted, but just as my dear assistant was about to put lead to the paper again, he looked at her and earnestly asked, "Can I borrow your glasses? Later, I mean, not right now."
Elly blinked at the side, and it took her a second to figure out what he meant.
"You want to ask Leo for advice?"
"Yeah." Seeing that the girls didn't look too pleased by his response, he hastily added, "It's guy stuff, okay? I would feel much more comfortable discussing this with him than… You know? No offense or anything."
"The Chief can only talk a few minutes every day, so if we did that, it would mean we couldn't talk to him," Judy explained, and after glancing at the princess and sharing a wordless back-and-forth, she concluded with, "But if it's just one day, we can live with it."
Josh flashed a sheepish smile and uttered, "Thanks. I'll owe you one."
"Two!" Elly cut in, holding up a pair of fingers like a peace sign. "One for Judy, one for me."
"Sure, sure," Josh yielded right away, much to the princess's satisfaction.
Meanwhile, there was some movement further down the road as Snowy, dressed in her Magiformer, descended from the sky and de-transformed back into her hiking gear. Josh took this as his cue to pick up the pace, and he marched over to their side.
Penny already asked, "So? What did you see?" by the time he got there, but the Abyssal girl waited for everyone to gather around her before responding.
"The road goes on behind that hill, and there's a river leading to the sea. I could see some wooden structures there, so I think that's the pier we're looking for."
Ammy beat Josh to the punch by asking, "How far is it?" before he could get a word in.
"On foot? Um… I-I'd say about half an hour?"
"Aw, man! We're super early, aren't we? I could've totally petted that rabbit!" Angie griped, but Josh reflexively poked her in the side.
"Don't act like it's the end of the world. It's infinitely better than being late."
The Celestial girl stuck out her tongue, but didn't bicker, and instead the whole gang followed Snowy's instructions and picked up the pace. Her initial estimate turned out to be a bit optimistic, since it took a little over forty minutes to get to the docks on the river, and nothing particularly outstanding happened on the way.
However, once they arrived and saw that there weren't any ferries in sight, they all piled up for a tactical discussion.
"What's the plan?" Penny asked first, prompting Josh to raise a critical brow at her.
"We wait."
"No, I mean, what are we doing while we wait?"
"Oh, oh!" Angie raised her hand over her head and exclaimed, "I wanna try out my gift!"
"It wasn't a gift," Josh retorted again. "We had to pay for it."
"But it was at a steep discount!" the Celestial girl argued back and reached for the bow tied to the side of her backpack. It was the same one she was fascinated by at the shop where they got the book with the prophecies, and right after the impromptu farewell party the village threw in their honour in the morning, the shopkeeper sold it to her for a 'nominal price' of fifteen coins. "And look! At that price, it was as good as free! Look how cool it is!"
"We don't know the proper value of the local currency, so there's no telling whether it was—"
Before she could finish, Angie's eyes shifted as Deus took control, and she pulled on the string of the bow in her hands, making it light up with a golden light and let out a melodious sound.
"While this isn't nearly as finely crafted as the Girl's heirloom, and it lacks its explosive capabilities, it is a shockingly exquisite weapon. I would not have expected us to encounter such craftsmanship in such a backwater village, so it must have been the hand of fate at play to deliver us such a fine replacement. Don't you agree, Boy?"
"Erm… Yeah, sure. Whatever."
Deus smiled at him, and it turned into a toothy grin when Angie got in the driver's seat again, followed by a sudden 'Ah!' and her turning to the slightly distracted class rep.
"Ammy! Can you make me some targets to shoot at?"
"W-What?" Jolted out of her discussion with Grimmy, the class rep glanced left and right, and once the Celestial girl's words finally registered with her, she pointed at herself and asked, "Me?"
"Yeah! Didn't you get a whole lot of practice making all kinds of bricks with the well-makers? Can you make me some of those, and then throw them so I can practice with my new bow?"
"Throwing bricks?" the princess chimed in with a frown. "Wouldn't it be better to make them into disks? You know? Like the kind people shoot at the Olympics."
"The proper term is 'clay pigeon'," Judy stated on the side.
"Yes, that!"
The exchange made Angie's eyes sparkle with expectation, and she directed an insistent, "Can you make those?" at the class rep.
"I… probably can, but…"
"Awesome! Let's go…" Angie paused to look around, and she pointed at a lightly wooded area not far from the pier. "Over there! That spot looks great!"
"W-Wait, I still have to…!"
Before she could get a word in, Ammy was already getting dragged along, leaving the rest of the group behind. Meanwhile, Penny was staring intently at the river, and it didn't escape Snowy's attention.
"Is something bothering you?"
"No, I'm just…" My knightly sister vacillated for a bit, then suddenly declared, "Let's fish!"
Snowy was taken aback, but not as much as Josh, who blurted out an incredulous, "… Where the heck did that come from?"
"I-It's Brotherhood tradition!" Penny insisted with her hands on her hips. "When you go to a new place, you have to try out the local specialities! We had vegetable stew and boar barbecue and even snake soup, but we didn't try any seafood yet!"
"… With every passing day, I'm more and more convinced that I'm the only one who takes this whole infiltration missions seriously."
Josh's grumbles fell on deaf ears, as my sisters were already discussing how to prepare their makeshift fishing gear. Seeing that, he turned to my girlfriends.
"Let's put down our bags in the shade and wait for the ship. Any objections?"
Judy responded with a curt, "None," and the three of them headed over to the spot under the nearest tree. Meanwhile, the class rep and Angie figured out how to use earth magic to make clay pigeons. Launching them was a bit trickier, but once Ammy summoned Petra and explained the proper discus-throwing form, things were starting to work out pretty well.
"Ready? Go!"
Following Ammy's instruction, the golem spun in place and tossed a clay disk the size of a dinner plate high into the air. A moment later, a streak of golden light cut through the sky, drawing a bright locust in its wake, and even though it clearly changed its trajectory in an attempt to catch the oversized clay pigeon, it still missed by a hand's width.
"Aw! So close! Next!"
Ammy seemed annoyed on the surface, but she still played along with Angie's whims and cast her next spell. It gouged some soil out of the ground, then the floating clump began spinning and changing colour as it formed a symmetrical flat disk. Once finished, it floated over to the golem's side, and the stone figure gingerly picked the projectile out of the air before taking a discus-throwing posture again.
They continued to repeat the process a few more times, right until Angie finally managed to hit the clay target mid-flight on the sixth try.
"Wohoo! Josh, look! I hit it!"
"Good job!" the guy called over from the shade of the tree, where he was unpacking and repacking their bags with my girlfriends. "How's the bow?"
"Pretty nice!" she yelled back, then after a beat, she added, "Deus says you have to watch when it's her turn!"
"S-Sure!" Just responded, sounding ironically uncertain in the process.
In the meantime, Ammy let out a tired breath and wiped her forehead, followed by a thoughtful hum. She stared intently at the Celestial girl, visibly hesitating, but then she finally mustered up the courage and tapped on her shoulder.
"Hey, Angie?"
"Hm? Ready for the next round?"
"Yes, but before that… there's something I wanted to ask you about for a while."
The Celestial girl let her bow down and turned to properly face her.
"I'm all ears."
"Thank you." Ammy still needed to steel her nerves a bit, but then she gestured for her to lean closer, and she whispered, "So, we're kind of in a similar situation, aren't we?"
"Are we?"
"I mean, with having a different person in our heads," the class rep clarified. "It's like… I'm usually happy to have Grimmy around, because she knows about all kinds of things and spells and gives good advice, but sometimes… how should I put this…" She leaned even closer, her voice barely audible at this point. "How do you deal with someone else watching when you want to be… uh… i-intimate with your boyfriend?"
Angie blinked in surprise. Or was it incomprehension? Either way, she didn't seem to get the question.
"I mean, isn't it embarrassing when you want to do… that with Josh, and Deus is watching?"
It was only at this point that the proverbial lightbulb lit up over the Celestial girl's head, and she let out a dismissive grunt at once.
"Nah, it's not a big deal." She fortunately didn't stop there and put a bit more thought into it, and then she started absently pulling on the bowstring in her hand while saying, "Honestly, I don't think our situation is that similar. I mean, the Grimoire isn't you, right?"
"No, of course not," Ammy responded reflexively, her tone saying that the question itself was preposterous.
"You see? That's the difference. Deus is me. Or rather, if the eggheads in Elysium are right, I'm Deus, and the only reason we're different is because she woke up too late." She pulled a bit too hard on the string, and it automatically created a thin yellow magical arrow. Lacking a flying target, she let it loose at a nearby tree trunk, pretending that she did it on purpose, and hurriedly added, "I-I mean, we're more like two sides of the same coin, while you and Grimmy are two different people or… hologram-thingie. Whatever. It's different."
"I… think I understand, but…" Ammy eyed the other girl for a while, and finally worked herself up to ask, "But if you are two sides of the same person, then… do you share everything with each other?"
"Mostly. Whenever we're not sleeping."
"So… does that mean all sensations?"
"Yeah."
"Including… you know? That?" Once again, it took a few seconds for Angie to figure out what she meant, but then she nodded, causing the class rep to flush. "W-Wow… That's actually worse than my situation."
"But it's not," Angie insisted with a hint of a pout, then she shook her head. "Let's get back to practice! I still wanna get a few more hits before letting Deus give it a go!"
"O-Okay."
While Ammy played along, the expression on her face remained complicated, clearly trying to figure out how serious the other girl was and how all of that worked out, not even realising that while they got lost in the discussion over Angie's body sharing semantics, she never got a response to her original question.
Like that, time passed slowly. Josh and the girls finished reorganising the backpacks and stuffing away all the extra stuff they received from the villagers, mostly in the form of snacks, memorabilia, and even more snacks. Penny and Snowy also finished fishing using a makeshift hazel branch for a rod, and while they managed to catch a handful of small freshwater fishes, they didn't have time to make a campfire and fry them, so they reluctantly let them go.
"This was just practice!" Penny declared as she watched her catch swim away. "Next time, I'll catch something big enough to make even dad jealous!"
There were a few more small intermezzos here and there, such as when Elly decided to try her hand at clay pigeon throwing and accidentally sent one into orbit (or more likely into the dimensional wall), or when Snowy tried to use her magic to cool down everyone's drinks and accidentally froze them solid instead, but otherwise things were rather laidback and peaceful. It was only after the sun reached the peak of its path that the ever-vigilant Josh noticed something on the horizon and called out to the others.
"Guys, I think our ride is here."
Just as he said, there was a strange white vessel coming from upstream. It was kind of like an old-timey steamboat, with the paddle wheels on both sides and everything, but the body of the ship was closer to a galleon, except without any sails. Or smokestacks, for that matter.
It wasn't exactly fast, so the group had more than ample time to pack up and make their way over to the pier. Noticing the small gaggle waiting for them, the boat changed course and came to an agonizingly slow halt next to the wooden structure. As soon as it stopped for good, a pair of deckhands extended a long plank from the ship to allow boarding.
However, before Josh and co could do so, a rosy-cheeked middle-aged man walked down it and onto the pier. He had a bushy beard with streaks of white in it, and he wore an unadorned blue navy pea coat and a similarly plain tricorne hat. He looked jolly even at a glance, and when he opened his mouth…
"Arr, and a bucket o' chum! Jolly day to ye, me heartie landlubbers! What brin's ye t' ship o' barnacle-covered Cap'n Vieuxloup Demer?"
Oh. Oh no. Was he… was he doing pirate-speak?
I wasn't the only one who was confounded by this development, because Josh was also left speechless.
"Ah, l-let me!" Snowy exclaimed as she made her way to the front. "A-Ahoy, Sir C-Cap'n? We seek passage t' th' l-land o' Ninhursags."
Both the captain and the deckhands behind were startled for a moment, but then they all burst into laughter more or less in unison.
"Ahaha! Ayy, lil' wench! Me Istanu accent a wee bit strong may be fer yer maties, but understand ye just fine, I can! What say ye? To where ye wish to sail on me ship?"
"We'd like to go to…" Josh tried to speak up, only to immediately falter. "What was the place called again?"
"Digirmah, the administrative center of House Ninhursag," Judy supplied the answer.
"Yes, to Digirmah," Josh repeated after her and addressed the captain again. "We were told your ship makes a trip around the coast once a week, and that you could take us there."
"Aye, ye be told right, me hearties!" the man responded with an ear-to-ear grin. "Tharr be seven of ye, aye? Me ol' bucket o' bolts'll take ye most o' the way, but it'll cost ye some doubloons! Savvy?"
"How much?" Josh asked without batting an eye, and the boat captain's smile widened even further.
"Aye, I be thinkin' fourteen doubloons'll be just 'bout enough."
"Fourteen per passenger, huh?" the guy blurted out, and I could tell that he was already doing the math in his head, but he immediately stopped when the captain let out an incredulous scoff.
"Nay, for all ye seven buckos! A weathered sea dog I be, but a blaggard, I ain't!"
"Oh… Okay, then. We'll be in your care?"
The man let out another hearty laugh and gestured towards the plank.
"All hands on deck, me hearties, and make yerselves shipshape!"
"Ah… um…"
This time, it was Snowy who whispered, "He says we should come aboard and make ourselves comfortable."
"Yes, we will, thank you." In the meantime, Josh fished out the required coins from his pockets and handed them over to the captain while whispering, "I knew those villagers were ripping us off. I knew it."
And that's how the second leg of the group's journey began towards the capital of House Ninhursag. Good for them. As for me… Let's just say that my grievances with Fulgor's world-building choices were swelling by the day, and I was going to let him know every one of them one of these days.
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I mean… pirate speak? Really?
As I mentioned before, the Abyss had to get creative when adapting human technology. The electric grid could be easily supplied by a few hydroelectric plants and jury-rigged wind turbines, relying on the predictable weather patterns of the island. The lack of fossil fuels was a bit more problematic, but cars were generally owned by the nobility, and they could afford to smuggle in gasoline from the outside. Steam engines, though? Well, that was a different story.
Sure, coal could be substituted by charcoal, but the Abyss had only so many trees. What they had in abundance was manual labour and magic, and so that's what they used to compensate.
"Wow! This is so much cooler than I thought it would be!"
Penny wasn't alone in that assessment, as the rest of the gang also nodded or grunted in agreement in the engine room of the ship. Realising that this was their first time riding a paddle boat (or any boat, I reckon), the jolly captain was all too eager to give them a guided tour. Surprisingly enough, that also included the large chamber in the middle of the boat, dominated by a mass of metal pipes and gauges surrounding a large boiler attached to the heavy machinery of the engine.
At the moment, the whole group was watching intently as a shirtless middle-aged Abyssal made a series of long, complicated arm movements in front of the round door of the firebox. His upper body was surprisingly toned, and it, along with the engine room, was illuminated by a pair of brightly glowing fireballs in his hands. As he moved, they drew bright traces in the air that lingered for several seconds.
A couple of others, including the captain and one of the deckhands from before, were standing next to the gang and clapping or tapping their feet in unison, some even humming a wordless song. Abyssals had a Celestial heritage, and the latter's magic was based on melodies and harmonics, so I couldn't help but wonder if this was a vestige of that, or if they were only serving as a sort of human metronome to keep the dancer in the middle in the rhythm. Or maybe, just maybe, this whole thing was just a big theatrical performance they put up for the kids. After all, if the villagers mistook them for Abyssal noble scions travelling incognito once, it could've happened a second time, so catering to them and making a show of the refuelling process for their entertainment made some sense.
At last, the man in the middle let out a sharp breath and brought his hands in front of his chest. The two fireballs merged into one, and then, with a posture that reminded me of a famous spiky-haired martial artist readying his big blue beam attack, he pushed it through the aperture of the furnace. All the gauges around the machinery sprang to life, but once the door was closed and one of the engineers pulled a few levers, everything normalised, and the shirtless Abyssal raised his hands to his chest again before moving them down, kind of like a martial artist after finishing a kata.
My knightly sister took that as the signal that the 'performance' was over and she started clapping, with the rest belatedly following after her, much to the man's visible embarrassment. Meanwhile, Judy was busy taking notes, and I didn't even have to peek at her notepad to know why.
If we were back on Critias, this man would’ve been a basic placeholder at best. His showing a reaction, let alone a sheepish one like that, would've been an outlier, yet down here in the Abyss, he was more of a rule than an exception. It once again drove home the idea that the Abyss, as the all-but-confirmed setting of a previous scenario, was generally more 'developed' than Critias, and that reflected on the common Abyssals as well.
But back to the scene. As soon as the 'refuelling process' was done, the captain let out a satisfied chuckle and turned to the gang with an ear-to-ear grin.
"See? I told ye it'd be an interestin' watch, did I not?"
Ammy immediately responded with an unusually eager, "It was certainly educational! Next time, can I give it a try?"
"Arr, I see ye be a keen one, but I reckon that furnace be fine 'til we make port, har har!"
"And when will that be?" Josh chimed in with a question, making the captain rub his chin for a moment.
"Aye, 'bout three hours, I'd wager."
"In that case, we should settle down and rest a bit." A beat later, he amended, "And prepare."
"Thank you for the tour!" Penny exclaimed on the side, bringing another smile to the man's face.
"Aye, no need t' mention it, ye scallywag! We ain't got no fancy cabins, but ye can use th' mess up th' deck 'til we reach port, savvy?"
Josh frowned, but soon gave up and turned to the girl on his left, "Erm… Lili? Translation, please?"
"He says we can use the commons room above deck until we arrive."
He whispered a soft 'Thanks,' and then smiled back at the man.
"Thank you, we'll do just that."
He wasn't mincing his words, because they quickly left the engine room and headed to the large cabin on the main deck. It was the first place they were shown, and by retracing their steps, the group soon settled down there once again. It was called a 'commons room', but if anything, it kind of reminded me of the waiting room at a coach station; a rectangular floor plan with large windows on all sides and benches set by the walls, as well as in the middle.
It wasn't exactly high-class, but said benches all had cast iron frames, and it was clean enough. This was primarily a cargo ship, if the captain's bragging was to be believed, but since there were so few boats commuting here in the ass-end of the Abyss, they had this one spot set aside for passengers, and by the looks of it, it could easily carry about thirty people when necessary.
It was only the gang on board at the moment, which meant they had the whole place for themselves, yet they didn't spread out. They clustered around Josh as soon as they put down their baggage, and he was ready to start some kind of last-minute meeting, except…
"Look, Angie! Narwhals!" the princess cried out in delight, with the Celestial girl practically hopping with excitement by her side.
"Wooow! Awesome! Guys, look! They are real…" She fell silent and squinted at the group of horned sea creatures. "Wait. Aren't narwhals supposed to be really big?"
"Maybe they are horned dolphins?" Elly proposed on the spot, and when she looked at her funny, she hastily clarified, "Think about it. The boar Penny caught had a horn, and the rabbit we saw in the woods had antlers. Maybe dolphins also have horns here."
"That… makes a lot of sense, actually. Should we ask the captain what they're called?"
"Good idea!"
Elly was eager to get going, but they both froze up when Josh pointedly cleared his throat.
"Guys, can you do that later? This is important."
"Aw, fine," Angie relented with an over-exaggerated shrug and morosely walked over to the rest of the group, with the princess following closely behind her.
Once they all settled down, the guy cleared his throat again and spoke in a low voice, as if afraid that the boat crew would listen in on them over the sound of the waves and the engine.
"Let's make sure we're all on the same page, okay? Who can tell me what our primary goal is?" The girls were surprised by the sudden question, but Judy dutifully raised her hand, much to Josh's thinly veiled irritation. "Yes, I know that you know, I just want to know if the others remember as well."
After a short beat, Snowy also raised her hand.
"We need to get Amelia near a Mana Well."
"Yes, that's the end-goal," Josh affirmed with a deep nod. "If we didn't get thrown off-track by that portal accident, getting access to the Mana Well of House Shamash would've been a given, but as is, getting to the Ninhurshags is our best bet. As for how we get to their Mana Well… that's gonna be tricky, but first we should try diplomacy. Lili?"
"Yes?"
"You said we can't use the token the vampire lady gave us, right?"
He was apparently referring to some previous discussion I must've missed, because Snowy nodded along like it was self-evident.
"That's right. House Ninhursag is… um… not like the other Noble Houses."
"It's because they have an Elder Council that balances the main branch of the family," Angie chimed in with a proud little smirk. "You see? I've been paying attention."
"Yes, sure," Josh whispered a tad patronizingly, but the Celestial girl didn't seem to mind. Meanwhile, he tapped a finger on his chin and asked, "So at the end of the day, we'll have to get the main family's approval to get to their Mana Well."
Snowy raised her hand and said, "I'm not sure it'll work out like that." Josh gestured for her to continue, so she sucked in a deep breath and told him, "House Ninhursag is currently doing its best to avoid participating in the civil war. If we ask them for access in the name of House Shamash, then they will most likely refuse us on those grounds, but if we don't use their name, then they'll have no reason to even consider giving us access."
"So the diplomatic route is a bust," Josh concluded, but then Angie chimed in again.
"Let's not be hasty. Maybe we can do a quest for them to get in their good graces, or something."
Josh squinted as his girlfriend, but seeing that she was serious, he eventually let out an exasperated sigh and sternly told her, "Take this seriously."
"But I'm always serious!"
In the end, he decided to ignore her and return to the discussion.
"What are our alternatives?"
"We can sneak in!" Penny cut in with a daredevil grin. "Just leave it to me! I'm getting really good at it!"
At this point, Ammy reached for her glasses and said, "Not that I don't trust you, but does that help me get in there?"
"I can find a good infiltration route," Penny argued back, and then pointed at my other sister. "Oh, oh! And Snowy can also come along, and she can disable the security with her Sigils."
"W-Wait, I only said that I m-may be able to do that," Snowy objected at once while nervously fiddling with her fingers. "I can't say for sure until we get there."
"But if you disable the security, won't they realize something's wrong?" Elly asked a pivotal question, and Josh responded readily.
"They'll figure out something's up as soon as Ammy connects to the Mana Well anyway. The better question is, what do we do after that?"
Judy chose this moment to say, "In the worst-case scenario, we'll become public enemy number one of House Ninhursag, it'll be used as a casus belli, and they'll enter the civil war on the side of House Inanna."
Her assessment made the class rep have a double-take, and she uttered, "But… But if the plan works, then it won't matter!"
"That's why I called it a worst-case scenario," Judy insisted. "There are also several fracture points in the plan that we have to take into account. Such as what we should do if you can't connect to the Mana Well."
"But I can! Grimmy says I can!"
"Yes, and she's a Celestial AI a thousand years out of date. We can't take everything she says for granted, so we should come up with an exit strategy, just in case."
Much to everyone's surprise, Angie backed her up with a firm, "That's a good point! We shouldn't put all our eggs into the same basket, especially when we can still fall back on the other Mana Wells! Or at least that's what Deus says…"
"I guess taking a direct approach is also out of the question," Penny mused, prompting Josh to raise a critical brow at her.
"Direct approach?"
Before she could answer, Elly responded with a rather flippant, "Breaking down the front door and beating up everyone in our way," as if that was reasonable.
"Yeah, that's what I meant," Penny doubled down, and I was once again reminded that despite their centuries-old feud, Draconians and the Knights were weirdly similar in their thought processes.
"No, absolutely not," Josh stated in a tone that bore no objection.
"I also don't recommend it," Snowy commented a touch wearily. "The Mana Well is the most well-defended area of every Noble House's castle. It will most likely have multiple layers of wards, dozens of guards, with hundreds more joining as soon as the alarms ring. Not to mention the Faun Ninhursag. If we try to gain forced entry, we'll turn everyone in the castle our enemies, and unlike the other Noble Houses, their forces would be stationed in their capital."
"Right, because the others are spread thinner due to participating in the civil war," Elly noted, and seeing that her eyes were lighting up with excitement, Josh decided to nip it in the bud.
"No, we're not going to attack another House. We don't even know where they are."
"I know where House Nergal's castle is," Snowy volunteered, but then hastily retracted it. "B-But getting there would take too long, and if we run into Noir there…"
Her words trailed into silence, and after a few long seconds, Josh crossed his arms and summarised the discussion.
"In short, our best bet is to try diplomacy first. If that fails, Penelope can scout the castle. If sneaking in turns out to be too difficult, then we find a way to regroup with the vampire lady at the Shamash family. We'll avoid direct confrontation unless we're attacked first. Any objections?" Seeing that nobody was raising any, the guy let out a troubled noise, as if just realising that their plans weren't exactly foolproof. It would've probably ended there, if not for the inexplicably hard-coded and borderline inescapable rules of dramatic irony rearing their collective ugly heads at this moment, causing the whole boat to shake violently. "What the—?"
The vessel shook again, and before the gang could collect their wits, the loud voice of the captain roared at the bow of the ship.
"Avast! What d'ye think ye be doin', ye manged scurvy dog!?"
"Silence, fool!" a young man's voice responded with a haughty scoff. "Rejoice, for you and your ship are hereby commandeered in the name of the Emperor of the Abyss!"
The gang shared a long, startled silence, but then they sprang to action and rushed out of the commons room, with Josh leading the charge. When they arrived, they found the captain on the ground nursing his cheek. In front of him, near the bow of the ship, stood a man in his early twenties. He was in his Abyssal form and sported a pair of large wings sprouting from his lower back. As for the rest of his body, his legs and torso were covered in greenish, round scales, while his head had a single curved horn jutting out of it.
His face was youthful, with a haughty grin plastered on his face, and his blonde hair was fashioned into an enormous cowlick that covered the hornless side of his forehead. Upon noticing the group, his smile widened even more, and he let out a grating chortle.
"Kahahaha! How wonderful! I didn't expect to find such fiery young conscripts at such an unlikely place!" He made a vague gesture towards the gang and exclaimed, "Count your fortune that you met me, for you are now drafted to the glorious cause of House Ninurta!"
"What kinda daft rot be spillin' from yer gullet, ye bilge-sucking barnacle!?" the captain roared as he rose to his feet again, much to transformed Abyssal's irritation.
"I said silence! The days of Ninhursag are finally behind us! Swear allegiance to House Ninurta now, or bear the consequences of going against the Great Emperor's decree!"
In the meantime, Josh poked Snowy and asked, "House Ninurta?"
"I-I think the Ninurta family are the leaders of the Elders Council in House Ninhursag, but… They aren't a Noble House, just a branch family."
"Meaning, we're walking into a coup," Judy commented, notepad at the ready. "How convenient."
"Plot hook!" Angie added on with almost childish glee.
While they were whispering to each other, the newcomer let out a loud harrumph and pointed at Josh.
"You, lad! Stop standing around, and prepare to move out! Every able-bodied man and woman of fighting age is to join the glorious revolution, and you're no exception! I'll even allow you to one day boast to your children, and your children's children, that you were personally recruited by none other than the great Hareng Asag Ninurta himself!"
"He really wanted to say his own name, didn't he?" Elly whispered, and Judy casually nodded along while taking notes.
Before any of them could respond though, the captain straightened his back, readjusted his tricorne hat, and then bellowed out, "Avast there, ye lily-livered landlubber! Ye be on me ship, and there'll be no shanghaiin' while I draw breath!"
"Stubborn old man! Don't you realize?! Your ship and your life all belong to House Ninurta now!" the one-horned Abyssal roared back as he raised his hand over his head. His nails, or rather his fingertips, shimmered for a moment before suddenly jutting forward, forming five huge claws ready to strike down the defiant captain in front of him.
His swing made an eerie whistling noise as his talons cut through the air, ready to maim and disembowel everything in their path, yet the grandiose display only resulted in a sudden, hollow metallic clang.
"What the…?"
The man's eyes opened wide in the face of the round shield that seemingly materialised out of nowhere, with Josh braced right behind it. He managed to insert himself between the two of them in the blink of an eye and blocked the incoming strike, but he apparently didn't have a follow-up planned in advance, because he remained stock still even as the clawed Abyssal reeled back.
The momentary lull popped like a bubble when Deus asserted herself and yelled out, "Boy, be careful!", and it was at this point that he let his shield down and balled the fingers of his free hand into a fist.
It wasn't a particularly skilful strike, and even the most semi-competently trained combatant should've been able to dodge or guard against it. This Abyssal… he wasn't.
Josh's fist dug right into the defenceless left cheek of the Abyssal. And then he flew. Right over the bow of the ship, and then into the waters below, and none was more shocked by this development than the guy delivering the punch himself.
"Argh! Why did you do that!?" Deus yelled out again as she rushed to the railing at the side of the boat. "I told you to be careful when you hit him! We need to interrogate him!"
"I didn't hit him that hard!"
"Then why did he fly over the deck?"
"How the heck should I know? Maybe he was light. Like a bird, or something."
While the two bickered, Judy let out a soft sigh and gestured for Elly. My draconic girlfriend responded with a curt, "On it!" before donning her Magiformer, sprouting wings, and then diving after the man in the water.
"I think we just entered into an internal conflict on the side of House Ninhursag," Snowy noted on her right, sounding just a tad dispirited.
"It seems so, yes.
"Does this mean we'll need a new plan?" Ammy asked on her left.
"Probably."
"That means we might get to do a frontal assault after all! Yay!" Penny exclaimed on the side, and this time Judy didn't respond.
All in all, things were rapidly and irrevocably spiralling out of control. In other words, business as usual.
"I be still not sure 'bout this, ye know?" the captain of the ship groused while pacing up and down in front of the door of a small utility room near the stern of the vessel. "Ye youngsters didn't need to be intervenin' at all. I'd have only gotten a few wee scratches 'n' been done with it, but now, who knows what'll happen to ol' Vieuxloup Demer, arr..."
"Don't worry, captain! We'll take full responsibility!" Penny declared with solemn gravitas, but it didn't seem to make the man feel much better.
The rest of the group was waiting outside as well, and they all perked up when the door opened… only for their anticipation to turn into confusion when Josh walked out holding Angie in a bridal carry.
"P-Put me down! I told you this is embarrassing!"
"Not until you're calm."
"I'm calm!" the Celestial girl yelped in a decidedly non-calm manner.
Meanwhile, Josh used his feet to close the door behind him, and after considering his options, he carried Angie over to the class rep's side and finally let her down, with the words, "Please look after her and make sure she doesn't do anything counter-productive," in tow.
Angie protested with a resounding "Boo!", yet didn't offer any counter-argument, and seeing that the rest of the group (including the captain) were waiting for an explanation, Josh turned to face them.
"Wasn't Angeline supposed to heal the captive?"
Judy's deadpan question made him flinch, followed by a sigh.
"She already did. Twice."
"Twice?" Snowy repeated after him, and this time Josh's face twisted into an awkward grimace.
"It's a long story."
"Is he conscious?" Judy pressed on, and Josh nodded, but then she also asked, "Did you question him already?", at which point the guy reflexively shook his head, so she imperceptibly raised a brow in a way probably nobody else in the room noticed. "Then what were you doing in there? Wasn't Deus supposed to interrogate the captive?"
"She was really insistent about it, too," Elly commented, making Josh send a sideways glance at the girl by Ammy's side.
"That was the plan, but then she almost killed him, so I had to resort to… drastic measures." His words sounded heavy, but considering that he just carried her in his hands, it just sounded all the more comical. Seeing that the onlookers were also on my wavelength, he exhaled a shallow sigh and jerked his head towards the door. "You'll get it when you see it. By the by, who's gonna try to interrogate him next?"
"Oh, me!" Penny volunteered with a hand over her head. "I learned about this from Uncle Percy!" She then turned to the owner of the ship and asked, "Captain! Can you lend me some tools from the engine room? I need some pliers and hammers and clamps and—"
"Anyone other than her?" Josh cut in before my knightly sister could gather steam and, ignoring her petulant 'Hey!', he addressed my other sister next. "Lili? Do you think you can maybe work your… erm… magic on him? In the literal sense, I mean."
"I… could try," she confirmed a touch hesitantly, but then my dear assistant forcefully cleared her throat.
"Why don't we try to question him normally first before we jump to the…" She glanced at my sisters and concluded with an extra-flat, "… 'advanced interrogation techniques'?"
"Yeah, let's start small," Josh agreed and swept his gaze over the group. "Let's all just go in and put some pressure on the guy."
It was at this point that the captain let out an ambivalent noise, followed by, "Aye, shiver me timbers, lads, but I be wantin' no part o' this here."
"Perfectly understandable," Judy responded at once and gestured towards the stairs leading to the deck. "Please attend to your duties in peace. We'll take care of this ourselves."
By this point, the captain must've long since realised that he wasn't dealing with just an average group of young nobles having a joy trip in the countryside, so he made a swift decision.
"Aye, that sounds shipshape to me, matey. I be wishin' ye fair winds, I reckon."
With that, he bowed out of both the conversation and the scene, trotting up the stairs just fast enough not to look like he was running away. In the meantime, the class rep raised a hand over her head and asked, "What about me?"
"You keep holding onto her," Josh instructed without batting an eyelid, much to his girlfriend's chagrin.
"Hey! Don't act like I wasn't entirely justified! You wanted to hit him, too!"
"Right, but not with a magic missile to the head," he griped back, then slouched his shoulders and turned to the rest. "On that note, you guys should prepare yourself before we go in."
"Is he that bad?" Elly inquired, sounding more curious than anything else.
Josh responded with a mysterious, "You're gonna see for yourselves," before stepping up to the door again.
"Can I be the bad cop?" the princess asked with a grin, probably to ease the mood, and after a short beat, my other girlfriend nodded.
"Mm. I'll be the good cop then."
"Then what will we be?" Penny inquired while pointing at herself and Snowy.
"The worse and better cops?" Josh quipped, much to her unusual delight.
"I like the sound of that!"
Meanwhile, he steeled his nerves and opened the door. On the other side, surrounded by the humming of the engine at the other side of the partition wall, sat a shirtless man on a plain wooden chair. He was no longer transformed, and his wet blonde hair clung to his forehead as he looked up at the group streaming into the room.
This was something of a storage room with metal shelves on both sides. Those, as well as their contents, were secured tightly so that they wouldn't fly all over the place when the waters were rough. There were also a couple of pipes in the back, or maybe just structural metal bars, and the Abyssal's chair was currently secured to one of them, his arms tied behind his back with the same kind of thick ropes the ship crew used to fasten the cargo.
Despite his sorry state, his eyes lit up at once when he saw everyone gather around him, and he tried his best to flash a suave smile.
"Ah, hello, my fellows! Has the misunderstanding been finally resolved?"
"Misunderstanding?" Elly echoed him, but then she seemingly remembered that she was supposed to be the bad cop, and she hastily crossed his arms with a harrumph. "W-What foolishness are you talking about, fool!?"
Okay, so… on one hand, she was pretty bad at being the bad cop (which was surprising, considering how cutthroat she was when arranging contracts), but on the other hand, the way she was trying to glare and glower at the guy was bloody adorable, so I couldn't complain in good conscience.
"Yeah! What a foolish fool!" Penny chimed in from the back and… eh, also kinda adorable, so she also got a pass.
Judy showed a palm to make them stop, and once they calmed down, she looked the Abyssal in the eyes.
"You're Hareng Asag Ninurta," she stated, and I was once again impressed by how she could remember that. I completely forgot about the guy's name already.
"Yes, that's me!" he responded with a cheeky smile and a wink. "Now that we're clear on that, could you please untie me?"
"Not so fast!" Elly cut in to uphold her role, and she let out another harrumph. "We're not letting you go until we've wrung you dry!"
"Ah, what a pleasurable predicament!" The Abyssal beamed an even brighter smile at my girlfriends, followed by a chuckle. "My lovely lady, I completely understand your feelings, and while I absolutely and categorically respect your taste in bondage play, I would much rather you wrung me dry under different circumstances. Could you please visit me in my private chambers after—"
Before he could finish, the princess abruptly slapped him across the face so hard the only reason he didn't fall off the chair was because he was tied to it.
Judy turned to her with a reproachful, "Elly," but my other girlfriend was more startled than anything.
"S-Sorry, he just really creeped me out and my hand moved on its own!"
"We're trying to question him in a civilized manner. Corporal punishment is beneath us."
"I-Indeed, my ferocious fair lady," the guy responded, still trying to look suave even though his smile was getting a bit lopsided. "Listen to your handmaiden. Her looks may pale in comparison to your violent charms, but her head is certainly in the right place."
"… Elly, I changed my mind. Slap him again."
"With pleasure!"
What happened to the good-cop-bad-cop routine? Not that I wasn't in full agreement with Judy on this one, but come on, they didn't even last five minutes!
Luckily, Josh was ready to intervene right away, probably because he was already foreseeing that something like this would happen, and he stopped the princess before she could turn the guy into pulp.
"Come on, guys! We aren't getting anywhere like this!"
"Right! How about you leave him to me, after all?" Penny proposed as he stepped forth and theatrically cracked her knuckles, yet even that didn't seem to deter the bruised Abyssal, and he immediately put on his game-face again.
"Ah, my fierce young lady, please be gentle with me! Your passion may burn brighter than the fiery red of your beautiful hair, but as you can see, I'm in no shape to accept your fervour!"
That made Penny stop in her tracks. By the looks of it, her brain was momentarily engaged in a fight-or-flight response, and while I would've honestly expected her to punch the guy's lights out, the latter won the tug of war, and she hastily hid behind Elly of all people.
"A-Awawawa! W-What's wrong with the head of this pervert!?"
"I told you to be ready," Josh commented on the side, instantly earning my sister's ire.
"You didn't tell us to prepare for this!"
Before they could start arguing, Snowy inserted herself into the conversation by noting, "Uuu… I might be wrong, but… I think he's a Seducer."
That made the conversation come to a screeching halt, right until Josh blurted out, "But he's a guy, right?"
"T-There are male Seducers too," Snowy insisted, and so the guy let out a slightly baffled hum.
"Huh. I learn something new every day."
Putting that thought-terminating cliché aside, everyone turned to the Abyssal again, and while his expression didn't change much, she still muttered a somewhat dispirited, "Busted already…"
While they were dealing with that, I also couldn't help but grumble. I mean, Seducers were supposed to be super-rare. The entirety of House Inanna had two, yet the Nergal patriarch not only managed to round up a small gaggle of them, allegedly just to distract me until Crowy and future-me arrived at the scene, but now the gang just randomly ran into one in the wild.
Gripes aside, Judy focused down on the captive and seemingly returned to her good cop routine by saying, "Listen. We can either do this the easy way or the hard way. We have no grudges with you…" She paused to glance at Elly and Penny staring daggers at the guy, then amended, "We have no serious grudges with you, so as long as you cooperate with us, you'll come to no harm."
The young man on the chair stared at my dear assistant, as if trying to weigh her words, and for a moment, I thought he was finally going to give a proper answer. I was wrong.
"Please accept my apologies, my lady. I failed to look past your appearance and realize that your sharp mind and eloquence shine brightly, elevating your looks from within!"
His words were followed by a long silence, then Judy mechanically turned to my other girlfriend.
"Elly. Two or three more."
"Slaps?"
"Yes."
"Two or three more it is!"
Once the painful echoes of his face getting flattened died down, Josh stifled a groan, held his face in his palm, and asked, "Should we leave it to Lili after all?" Seeing that Snowy was about as reluctant as it got, he followed that with an un-stifled groan. "Scratch that. I'm gonna give it a go first."
"Maybe that's for the better," Judy acceded and stepped aside to allow him to stand in front of the captive. She didn't go far though, because she took out her notebook and instructed, "Ask him about the situation in House Ninhursag first."
"On it." Josh inhaled hard and glared at the blonde guy. "Hey, shithead? I'm already a bit miffed after you hit on my girlfriend before… sorta… Anyhow, I don't have the patience for this shit, so give me a straight answer, or being slapped around a bit is gonna be the least of your problems. Understood?"
While the Abyssal didn't look too frightened, at least he didn't have that stupid Casanova grin on his face anymore. Also, with that threat, was Josh the 'worst cop' of the group, and if he was, would that make the class rep the 'best cop' by process of elimination? Food for thought, but for later, because the guy in the chair nodded along.
"Good. You've heard the question, so answer it. What's going on in House Ninhursag?"
"We're taking over," he said, but then he quickly corrected himself. "We've taken over."
"And by 'we', are you referring to the Ninurta family?" Judy continued her questioning, with Josh's intermittent interjections to keep the conversation on track and to stop him from bombarding my Dormouse with terrible pickup lines, and over time, a picture started to emerge.
"So to summarize," Elly spoke up at the end, trying her best to put things into a context she could parse. "You're the sixth heir of this clan that's like a branch-line of the main clan, and your clans have been fighting over the control of the estate for generations, and then the Inanna clan offered a deal to legitimize your takeover so long as you joined them in the war, and your clan took it and overthrew the main clan. Did I get that right?"
"Yes, my fair lady," the guy responded with a cheesy grin, but by this point, everyone was used to his weirdness enough to just ignore it.
"Meaning, you already dethroned House Ninhursag," Josh concluded, looking just a tad skeptical of the claim. "Then what were you doing out here?"
"Oh, that…" The Abyssal hesitated for a moment, but eventually admitted, "While we control Castle Ninhursag, there were some… other matters to consider. I was…. regrettably busy elsewhere until recently, so I thought I would build some merit for myself by attending to them up, but…"
"But?" Josh prompted him, and he let out a bitter sigh.
"I didn't expect to run into more than half the Faun Ninhursag out here in the middle of nowhere! All my retainers were subdued, and I barely escaped myself!"
"Oh… So that's why he had no Barrier…" Josh mused with a hand rubbing his chin. "That explains why he was so easy to knock out."
"I-I don't think that was the reason," Snowy tried to interject, but by then Judy was already asking the next question.
"Why would the Fauns of House Ninhursag be stationed outside of the city, especially during a coup d'état?" She imperceptibly narrowed her eyes at the man. "You also tried to immediately press-gang us and have us follow you somewhere. What are you not telling us?"
"My fair lady, your intellect is—"
"Answer the damn question," Josh growled, and this time the man in the chair flinched.
"What I was trying to say is that…" He weighed his options, and eventually he forced a grin onto his face and explained, "The Emperor and his Herald really care about the Mana Wells, right? You see, the Ninhursag patriarch locked himself in, and since his family escaped the castle, we had no one from the direct bloodline to open the Mana Well Chamber from the outside. My father didn't care much for this development, as it would hardly stop the Emperor and his Herald, but my dear brothers convinced him that we should still try to track down the fugitives, and so I volunteered… well, I was volunteered, but same difference, eh?"
"So the Faun Ninhursag were protecting the survivors of the coup," Snowy concluded in the back, and didn't seem surprised at all by the information.
"Interesting…" Josh followed her up, sounding just a tad nefarious. "Since there was a battle just the other day, and all the Fauns left, everything should still be chaotic, and the security around the Mana Well must be full of holes. Veeery interesting…"
"That same chaos should make sneaking into Castle Ninhursag exponentially more difficult," Judy pointed out quite studiously, but Josh's expression didn't change at all.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," he insisted, followed by a not-at-all ominous chuckle. "In fact, I think I already have the outlines of a plan that will not only let us get to the Mana Well, but also screws over Lili's bastard ex-older-brother and Bel at the same time!"
"W-Wait… Are you serious?" the guy in the middle blurted out, sounding like he just realised the situation he was in. "Are you… Are you from the Noble Alliance?"
"Kinda, but not quite," Josh responded flippantly, making the Abyssal pale at once.
I was wondering why he was so forthcoming, but by the looks of it, he was labouring under some kind of weird misunderstanding until this point. Maybe he still was, because he exclaimed, "H-Hey, listen! I'm actually pretty influential around here, you know? I can make a great hostage! O-Or do you want me to show you where the Ninhursags are? I can do that too!"
"That… might not be a bad idea," Snowy whispered quietly in the back, but when the others turned to her, she raised her voice a bit to say, "Maybe we could use their help to get to the Mana Well?"
Josh responded with an ambivalent, "Maybe…" before looking at the Abyssal man again and declaring, "… or maybe we can hit two birds with one stone."
In retrospect, I might have set a bad example for Josh to follow, but at this point, it was hard to imagine how big of a kerfuffle this would turn out to be in the near future…