Heading back to town, we returned straight to the Skia Coffin Ele.
We were starving, so Hoss made us pasta.
It was loaded with cheese and meat, a huge portion, and absolutely hit the spot.
Mineha and Shaldina still hadn't come back.
Daga was asleep on the sofa in the observation room.
I ate, had a drink, took a bath, flopped onto bed, and passed out.
I must have been more tired than I'd thought. I slept like the dead.
The next day. Mineha and Shaldina were in the dining room.
They were drinking tea Anna Kreuzen had brewed and chatting away.
Apparently they'd come back the night before.
They were eating breakfast Hoss had made.
Four-layer pancakes with honey and raspberry jam.
Bread-bean French toast. Scrambled eggs.
I ordered the simple buttered version, then on a whim made a request.
"Can you make a pancake with potato in it?"
"Huh, now that's a new one. Sure, I can do that."
Hoss cheerfully obliged.
The witch was in her workshop. Guess she wasn't planning on coming out today either.
We talked it over and decided to stay in town for about two more days.
I got her okay through the door too. I was a little worried about what she was up to.
The Delver Knights had been hunting black dogs in the area.
The town's delvers pitched in too, and they were all but exterminated.
No matter how much we searched the surrounding forest, we never did find the villains.
Two days later. Early morning.
Skeer Coffin Eleave was leaving town.
The Delver Knights had come out in full force to see them off, even at that early hour.
They'd be heading out themselves in a week's time, heading east to take down a large bandit ring that had been causing trouble.
There were rumors of another Dragon Fang Gang connection there.
Villains pop up everywhere, don't they? Peony said with a wry smile.
She also apologized to me again.
Apparently her initial rude attitude had been caused by the rumors about me.
She'd heard I was the Conquest King who'd toppled the unassailable, and had been on guard lest she be conquered too.
Conquered… I wouldn't do anything like that.
Besides, I can't imagine there's any man out there who could conquer Peony.
Still, I couldn't help but find Peony being on guard about it a little adorable.
"Just so you know, that thing stays between us."
"That thing?"
"…The, um… underwear thing…"
Peony's cheeks flushed slightly red as she turned her face away.
"Oh, I understand."
"The tentacles… the number of times… as well."
"Yes. Understood."
I received the letter from Harus, who had stepped smoothly forward.
"A wish of mine. Would you pass it to Pakira?"
"Understood."
I accepted the task.
On top of that, I was given the formal commission and 20,000 oro. Wasn't that too much?
"Let's meet again, Wof."
"Yes. Let's."
I shook hands with Peony and promised we would meet once more.
And so we resumed our journey toward Heizen.
Encounters and partings like these — that's the real thrill of traveling.
I wake up.
I was standing on blue sky with white clouds drifting across it, my feet planted right on it.
Cold. This was water. I looked up — white clouds drifting across blue sky.
Blue sky above, blue sky below. A fantastical sight.
"Oh, right. This is the Uyuni Salt Lake. But why the Uyuni Salt Lake?"
The Uyuni Salt Lake… come to think of it, yes. It was when I'd drunk the Awakening Water.
A mental landscape deep in my heart… except right now, I hadn't drunk any.
"I……am the Quiet One."
A man's voice suddenly rang out.
Who is that.
"I……am the Holy One."
A different man's voice came from another direction.
That's a second person!?
"I……am the Blue One."
A woman's voice spoke from yet another direction.
What on earth is going on.
"We……the Blue Saints!"
"The B-Blue Saints…!?"
The Blue Saints… hmm? Isn't someone missing?
"The Quiet One disappeared?"
What does that mean? And then.
"I……am the Holy One."
Ah, yes.
"I……am the Blue One."
Right.
"We……the Blue Saints. We are here!"
They redid it and pretended it never happened… what even is this.
"…You'll understand eventually…"
"…You'll understand soon…"
I really didn't want to understand.
"…You'll understand very soon."
"…You'll understand soon…"
"Then I don't want to understand!!"
I shouted and woke up.
"……A dream, huh."
If anything, it was just a dream.
"Na?"
Dagaa was sitting right in front of me.
"Good morning."
"Na!"
"…Right. We were at the inn."
We weren't on the Skia Coffin Ele.
This was the port town of Leez. One of the port towns along the Great Rieve River — or the Rieve River, rather.
We had been staying at an inn in Leez.
To cut to the chase, we couldn't fit the Skia Coffin Ele on a ship.
Even a large ship that could carry a caravan's giant wagon as cargo couldn't manage it.
If we wanted to get to Hyzen, we had no choice but to leave the Skia Coffin Ele behind.
It was a terrible waste. More comfortable and pleasant to stay in than most shabby inns or houses.
But the witch had known that.
So she had arranged for the ship to connect to the Skia Coffin Ele in advance and keep moving.
But that work would take three days. Which meant we were stuck here on the Uka.
Well, three days. It wasn't the end of the world.
This port town of Riese. Apparently its main source of income was serving as a bridge to Hyzen. They did some fishing too.
The Rieve River, which flowed from the source, was so vast you couldn't see the other side, and they caught a fair number of fish.
"Man, I was surprised they had tuna, though."
Hoss-san had bought a huge amount when we found canned tuna on the first day.
He'd told us he used a lot of tuna back when he was staying in Hyzen too.
But it felt a little different from the tuna I remembered from my past life.
Were they a different species? Tuna was tuna, wasn't it? Bluefin, or something like that?
There were other fish too, I think.
Well, whatever.
I gave Dagaa a light pat.
I got up, changed clothes, washed my face, and had breakfast on the first floor of the inn.
That was when Bidd came down the stairs carrying a fishing rod.
"Morning."
"Mornin'."
"So you're going fishing."
My gaze drifted to her fishing rod.
"That's right. Hydrangea's water dungeon. You remember, right?"
"Ah, that's not something I could forget."
Pulling an aerial turn on an ancient jet bike and blowing it to smithereens — I still remembered that.
That was bad. My fault, too.
"I can't forget it either..."
Bidd rested a hand on the pommel of the Flash Step Sword at her hip and said quietly.
Her Flash Step Sword was an OOPArt — it granted the Relic [Flash Step].
I'd found the sword in the Junkyard, hidden inside the water dungeon.
And on her wrist, the bracelet I'd given her glinted in the light.
A black band with a white gem — it suited her perfectly.
"So what about the water dungeon?"
"There's a spot in there that's famous for fishing. I used to fish there once in a while."
"Really?"
I had no idea.
Then again, it was a water dungeon, so I guess it made sense there'd be places like that.
"Wof — if you'd like, how about we fish together?"
Fishing, huh? Honestly, I didn't have many good memories of actually catching anything.
"Sounds good."
I had nothing better to do, and maybe in a different spot I could actually catch a fish for once.
Plus, there was something nice about going with Bid.
Bid's face lit up, and he hurried out of the inn to borrow another rod.
While he was gone, I tried to finish breakfast, spooning clam soup into my mouth.
Steeping the black bread-bean in it made it taste great.
Just before I finished eating, Bid came back.
He was carrying a fishing rod and gear for me. I took them with a thanks.
Alright, let's go fishing.