Though Ena’s mood was good for a while after I called her an angel, it visibly worsened as we proceeded through the town.
“Soma-san, up ahead is… ah, no, it’s nothing, never mind.”
She kept looking up at me, appearing somewhat anxious. Still, I tried not to let it bother me and continued walking.
“Ah, um, wouldn’t you rather go that way? Towards the main street or something?”
“Huh? Oh, no…”
She suddenly grabbed my hand, trying to pull me in the opposite direction. I wondered what whim had taken hold of her, but when I looked, she had a surprisingly determined look on her face.
“You were looking enviously at the weapon shops and accessory shops the other day, weren’t you? If you don’t have any plans today, you can look around to your heart’s content!”
Ena’s words were accompanied by her tugging on my arm. It seemed she had seen through my desire to enter other shops after leaving the item shop yesterday. I thought she was rather oblivious to such things, but she was surprisingly observant.
Perhaps this was Ena’s way of showing consideration, but there was a place I needed to visit first.
“I’ll go to the shops later. But to be able to browse them without restraint, there’s a place I want to check out first.”
Away from the town, in a different direction than the church. Ahead, where we were heading, was the departure point for the fastest means of transport in this world, the ‘Magic-Sealed Ship’.
“A ‘Magic-Sealed Ship’? That’s dangerous!”
“…Is it?”
The moment we reached the departure point, Ena uttered those words.
“B-But, a hunk of iron like that flying in the sky is just unnatural!”
“Ah, yeah. Well, I suppose.”
She’d started saying things like someone who’s afraid of real-world airplanes. Though, I could understand her feelings. Simply put, the ‘Magic-Sealed Ship’ is like a flying yacht. It’s a ship that travels through the sky by receiving magic power into a magic sail. That’s the ‘Magic-Sealed Ship’. Why they didn’t just make it a standard airship is a point of contention, but I suspect they wanted to add originality. And in ‘Nekoneko’, originality generally exists to annoy players. Regarding this Magic-Sealed Ship, specifically…
“And this ship, it falls!”
That’s the gist of it.
The Magic-Sealed Ship can accommodate about twenty passengers. It flies through the sky by riding the currents of magic in the air, known as ‘Magic Currents’, but these currents are unstable, making it impossible to make the ship too large and leading to constantly irregular operations. Moreover, slight changes can alter the Magic Currents, making accidents incredibly frequent. In the game, it boasted a crash rate of approximately 30%, a surprisingly high figure.
“And on top of that, when it falls, it’s usually into a monster den! It’s different if you have a Transfer Stone like the merchants, but to ride a Magic-Sealed Ship without one is, by any logical standard, suicidal!”
“No, I don’t think it’s *that* bad…”
For example, if you were to take this ship from Ramur to the Capital City, it would be better if it crashed near Ramur. Although returning on foot would take time, the enemies there would be within the Level 50 range. It might not be impossible to survive. However, if, by chance, you crashed on the other side, near the Capital City, the worst-case scenario awaits. The first time I rode this ship, it crashed spectacularly. Before I knew it, the ship made an emergency landing. The merchants on board used their Transfer Stones one after another to return to town, leaving me alone in an unfamiliar Field. Still not understanding what had happened, I desperately tried to return to a safe area… and died. I later learned that, unfortunately, it was the ‘Slime Forest’, a Field with an enemy level of 120. What would happen to a Player of around Level 50 if they ended up there? …Honestly, I don’t want to recall that experience. In any case, I can state with certainty that a player operating in Ramur would have no means of surviving if they fell into a place like that.
“I think anyone who rides a ship like this is out of their mind!”
So, while I understood why Ena was passionately explaining this…
“Um, this is, you know, the Magic-Sealed Ship port?”
“…Ah.”
The gazes of the people around us were incredibly intimidating. Seemingly realizing her mistake, Ena lowered her voice, mindful of her surroundings, but surprisingly, did not waver from her opinion.
“It’s not that I want to speak ill of this ship, but I still think it’s not something one should ride!”
I couldn’t possibly say, “But you *are* speaking ill of it,” given her intensity. And her voice was getting louder again.
“Er, so, Ena, are you more of a carriage person?”
“C-Carriages are also bad!”
“Eh? Why?”
I was just trying to divert her attention and calm her down, but paradoxically, she seemed to be getting more agitated.
“B-Because with carriages… they’re exploiting the horses!”
“Ah, ah, yeah. Horses are pitiable, aren’t they? Yeah.”
They’re literally worked like draft horses. Train-chan is truly a compassionate soul.
“Carriages are bad too, but, regardless, I think Magic-Sealed Ships are dangerous!”
Ena was heating up without any signs of stopping. At this rate, it might only be a matter of time before we were kicked out of here. I desperately tried to calm her down.
“W-Well, calm down a little. It’s not like I’m thinking of going somewhere on it right now. I just want to scout it out for the future…”
“N-No! If you scout it, you’ll definitely want to ride it!”
Am I a child? …It’s not that.
“Well, I understand that Ena dislikes Magic-Sealed Ships very much. If you dislike them that much, you can go on ahead to the main street.”
“Eh…?”
Why does she look hurt at that moment? Does she really want to be with me that much? Even though we’re both loners, Ena and I are of such different kinds of loner that I sometimes can’t grasp her feelings. Nevertheless, I knew that leaving Ena here wouldn’t lead to any good outcome. Now, how to persuade her? I racked my brain, trying to come up with a proposal that she might find more palatable.
“Um, you know. You haven’t sold the drop items from the ‘Trial Cave’, have you? It would be helpful if you could take care of that first, or rather…”
“That… I guess I can do that.”
It was a shot in the dark, but it worked. Perhaps due to her long history of being alone, she really loved being useful to others. The joy of being given a task clashed with the anxiety of leaving me here, and I could see her internal struggle.
“You’re not going to ride the Magic-Sealed Ship while I’m gone, right?”
She asked, sounding worried. Realizing this was my chance, I denied it with exaggerated gestures.
“Of course not. Look over there. They haven’t even finished preparing for departure yet. Even if I wanted to go, the ship isn’t leaving anytime soon.”
Perhaps my earnest explanation worked, as she finally nodded.
“…Understood. Then I’ll go on ahead and sell the items I got from the cave.”
“Yeah, please do.”
I had given all the drop items from the Armored Knight to Ena. She had said that she wanted to share them since she got them thanks to me, but I readily agreed when she asked me to just keep them. I had intended to gloss over it and give them all to Ena, but that’s no longer possible. There might be a dispute over the distribution of money, but I decided to think about that later.
“I’ll be there soon too, so be careful.”
Suppressing my inner thoughts, I said words of farewell. Ena replied,
“Yes! Ah, but in return, please come quickly! If you don’t, I’ll write lots of bad things about Soma-san on the plaza bulletin board!”
With that ominous parting shot, she ran back the way we came. Her steps were light. It seemed she was genuinely happy to be entrusted with a task. *(She’s such an odd person…)* Why does she seem happy about being burdened with a troublesome task? It’s truly beyond my comprehension.
“…Haa.”
Still, I never expected Ena to hate the Magic-Sealed Ship so much. If I had known, I would have come up with some excuse to act separately from the start. Perhaps the reason the game’s Ena never left Ramur has a partial explanation for this. Ah, no, that’s probably not very relevant.
“Um, more importantly, the departure schedule is…”
I looked around and found it quickly. The next departure was at 9 PM today. Then at 8 AM the day after tomorrow, followed by noon the next day, and then three days after that, a perfectly irregular schedule. Utterly inconvenient, truly ‘Nekoneko’ quality. The one-way fare to the Capital City was a staggering 50,000 E. It wasn’t an amount I couldn’t pay using the remainder of Melipe’s inheritance, but it would be a tough price for an early-game Adventurer. Well, considering the 30% chance of the ship failing, they probably wouldn’t make money if they didn’t charge this much for the cost. It’s a disturbingly realistic aspect.
Incidentally, the ‘Transfer Stone’ Ena briefly mentioned allows for instant travel between towns. However, it’s usually a rare drop item found in the mid to late game, and although it sometimes appears on the market, it costs around 300,000 E. That’s currently beyond my reach. Other means of transport are walking or taking a carriage, but carriages can sometimes be more dangerous than walking due to various events, and walking would take an extremely long time. I recall trying it with a cleared save data, taking the shortest route, and it took nearly two full game days. There were Fields along the way that would be insurmountable for me now, so the Magic-Sealed Ship remains the primary option for traveling to the Capital City. The danger level of the Magic-Sealed Ship varies greatly each time, as its departure times and routes change. I spent a while comparing the departure schedule and route charts, trying to determine which time had the lowest accident rate, relying on my vague memories.
“It took longer than I expected.”
I got a bit too engrossed in choosing the Magic-Sealed Ship route. Coming back to my senses, I hurried to the weapon shop, but Ena wasn’t there. I thought she might have come here, as there were a few weapons among the drops, but perhaps she had gone to another shop. Or maybe she had already finished selling and moved on. I considered looking for her at another shop immediately, but the sight of the weapons adorning the walls made me pause. She must have known I wanted to visit a weapon shop, so she might come looking for me. Making that excuse to myself, I began gazing at the weapons displayed throughout the shop.
“Hey there, kid! You look like you’re having a tough time deciding, huh? Want me to give you some advice?”
As I was admiring the weapons, a man with a shaved head spoke to me in a somewhat intimidating voice. With his robust physique, eye patch, and bald head, he looked more like an Adventurer than a shopkeeper, exuding an impressive aura.
“Just a moment longer, please.”
However, I ignored the pressure emanating from behind him and continued to gaze at the countless weapons. Although I had experienced it in the game, I didn’t have much experience seeing actual weapons. Swords, spears, axes – the weapons, arranged by their type, presented a breathtaking sight. My eyes were drawn to the weapon with the highest price. It was labeled ‘Piercing Spear, 6,000 E’, matching the appearance and price from my game memories. I expected prices to change with the addition of real-world elements, but so far, that hadn’t happened. Oh, and just in case you’re wondering, E stands for Element.
As I was looking at the Piercing Spear, a teasing voice came from behind me.
“Haha! Forget about it, kid! That thing costs 6,000 E for just one. It’s not something a rookie Adventurer like you can afford.”
With that voice, I finally realized. I had lent Ena my Mithril equipment. Was I being approached multiple times because my equipment was for beginners? *(What should I do…)* It would be strange to try and prove I wasn’t a beginner here, and considering my level, I was indeed a novice. But I have some pride. If I’m being dismissed so easily, wouldn’t it be human nature to want to surprise them a little and strike back? I had been wanting a weapon for a while, so this might be a good opportunity. I stopped looking at the weapons on the wall and turned back to the bald shopkeeper.
“Hmm? Kid, what are…”
Then, as if to cut off his words, I rapidly followed up.
“I’ll buy one of each weapon type, the most expensive one in this shop. Please ring me up.”
When I said that clearly, the shopkeeper’s eyes widened for a moment, as if he hadn’t understood what I said. Then, scratching his bald head, he replied,
“Ah, sorry kid. I’m a customer too…”
I was utterly embarrassed.
