"Stupid Algo," the girl swayed peacefully on the waves, rubbing her bruised hands, "he embarrassed me so, he should have thought twice before acting.
The girl lifted her head, surveying the company of merrymakers on the shore. Algo didn't look too cheerful, knowing the gravity of his transgression.
"Ha-ha-hm, serves him right. Let him suffer a bit, then of course, I'll forgive him, but not right away," the girl looked at the red marks on her hands, "it hurts so much. I'll have to be more careful while swimming to the shore."
The girl flipped over and smoothly swam forward.
"Hm, Krito met someone... And they're shouting something."
Suddenly, something gripped the girl's leg and pulled her down.
"Ugh, can't breathe," Leira lowered her head and saw a strange creature, human-like with scales and webbed hands, pulling her to the bottom, holding onto her leg. "What is this beast? LET GO!!!"
The girl tried to fend off the creatures, but three more of them surrounded her and seized her hands.
"I can't breathe. I should strike them with lightning, but then I'll get hit too..." the girl assessed her chances; everything seemed against her, "Algo, I hope you can save me in time."
The girl closed her eyes and released an electric discharge around her. The monsters released her and went limp, sinking to the depths. But the shock also caught the sorceress herself, and she had no strength to resurface.
Algo grabbed his sword and unleashed all the gathered wind mana. With a single leap, he caught the sinking girl and pulled her to the surface.
"Liri, hold on," Algo pressed the girl to himself and began to paddle slowly towards the shore. He didn't let go of the sword, so he couldn't use his hands for paddling.
"Oh no, it's not over yet!" Aileen looked through the spyglass at the entrance to the bay, "there are more coming."
Shadows could be seen underwater, closing in on the couple.
"Grain, can you lift them out of the water?"
"No, it's too deep; they need to get closer to the shore."
One of the shadows started approaching. A fish-like monster leaped out of the water, lunging at Algo, but three arrows pierced it in mid-air.
"We'll cover you; retrieve them as quickly as possible," Miriam exchanged glances with Aileen and readied a couple more arrows.
"Seleria, try to scare them off," I began giving orders to my companions, "Hilda, Asura, create a path for us. Vivi, assist me. Grain, as soon as you can reach them, pull us out of the water."
The ice sorceresses swung their weapons, and the shore began to be covered with an icy crust. They continued to send waves of magic until the ice became sturdy enough to walk on.
"Be careful."
I sat down on the icy surface and smoothly glided forward. The cold stung my bare feet, but I had no time to think about it. We quickly reached the edge of the ice, but Algo was still ten meters away. The girls were afraid of hurting him, so they didn't freeze the water any further.
"I'll get them," Vivien said, jumping into the water and picking up the wounded Leira.
Algo followed, trying to protect the girls with his sword, though handling the blade in the water was difficult. I used my knives to throw wind blades at him, but as long as the monsters hid underwater, I couldn't reach them. However, bursts of fireballs kept them at bay.
Vivien handed Leira to me and scrambled onto the icy edge. After pulling Algo out, we ran towards the shore. But the monsters didn't stop pursuing us.
"What the...?" Before me, a bony blade pierced through the ice; one of the creatures broke through the edge, and the ice started cracking under our feet. "Run faster, Grain, I hope you haven't forgotten my request."
We ran on the cracking ice, and the creatures tried to unleash their element on us. When we were about fifteen meters from the shore, Grain struck the ground, and with the shattered ice, a column of sand propelled us into the air.
"Kat, strike them with all your might!"
"With pleasure!" The princess gathered a spherical lightning in her hands and hurled it where we had been just a moment ago. Electric discharges shimmered on the water's surface, and we landed on the shore, a couple of meters away from the electrified water.
"Phew, what the hell was that?" I caught my breath and looked at the floating bodies in the sea. The monsters were humanoid but resembled fish more than humans.
"These are mmm fishmen. I read about them," Kurone said as she flipped through a collection of monsters. "It's strange; these monsters are aggressive only if someone swims into their territory. They usually don't come ashore. Here it says they inhabit specific places on the sea floor marked on all navigation maps to avoid unnecessary battles. And as long as they're left alone, they only cause trouble to their neighbors - the blue dragons."
"Ah, restricted zones... There's one to the east of the island, but no sailor ever goes there," I recalled the stories of the locals, "they wouldn't change their place of residence unless something extraordinary happened."
I looked at Chris, who stood quietly on the side. It was evident that she was afraid of something.
"It's been a while, Krito..."
"It's been a while... Not the phrase you should use after all that has happened... Maybe you can explain what's going on here? You clearly knew about them even before the attack."
The girl nervously twisted her fingers, restraining her unease.
"These are dangerous creatures. You and your friends better run away from here before the others arrive."
"So, there are even more of them here?"
"No, I... It doesn't matter. You won't be able to handle them anyway; it's better if you leave."
"Hah, as if. As you can see, we're already involved in this. And I think our ship won't get out of here intact if there really are so many of them. But if you tell us what's going on, we might be able to scare them away from the island."
"But why do you want to risk like this?"
"Well, we're a guild that accepts any orders."
"So, the feudal lord did send you to the Academy, was it true?"
"Oh yes, though he had quite a disagreement with the inquisitors, he managed to get me back from them and decided to send me for training. And these are my comrades."
The girl shyly glanced at my companions.
"I see you finally got some friends," she smirked slightly, "I thought with your unpleasant character, you'd live like a recluse."
"Oh, you're not far from the truth," Seleria snorted and gave me a sidelong glance, "even in such a company, he manages to be secretive and unsociable. Sometimes, I wonder why he bothers with us."
"Enough of that! We're getting off track. You know what kind of monsters they were and why they attacked? We can help, trust me; it's not the first time we've dealt with something dangerous."
"Mmm, I can't say like that... You need to talk to the elder. Outsiders are better off not appearing in the city right now, so head to the mill, and I'll bring him."
"Hey, will anything happen to the ship?" Aileen anxiously scanned the bay.
"No, they don't attack docked ships. But they might sink those that venture out to sea without their lord's permission."
"We'll wait for your return home," I nodded to Chris, and we went to collect our belongings.
Having changed back into our Academy uniforms, we had to resume our duties. We headed uphill through the hilly terrain in the center of the island, where a solitary mill could be seen.
"I bought so many clothes, and we had to change back into these uniforms again?" Seleria was most disappointed with her old attire. "I won't have time to wear them all this summer."
"We're not on vacation anymore. Let's help these people first, and then you can change outfits every half an hour if you want," Katrina replied with annoyance.
"Yeah, yeah, Commander... By the way, do you have any interesting places in your city? You know, where I can show off my new clothes?"
"Hmm, not really. It's quite a large port with many drinking establishments around, a couple of big taverns in the city center, and a trading square where goods from merchants all over the world arrive."
"Hmm-hmm, but the market sounds interesting," her fiery eyes sparked with new ideas.
"Don't get your hopes up. The port doesn't have new ships now, so there probably aren't many goods there, and I think it's because of the attack by these monsters."
"Hmm, but if we get rid of them, the ships will start coming again, and that's where I'll shine. Perfect! Let's drive these creatures out of the city!" Fueled by her new goal, the red princess ran ahead of us.
"Sometimes her motivation scares me... but it's better than nothing," Katrina shook her head sadly.
"Master, are you home?" I gently knocked on the door of a large structure next to the mill.
"Phew, it looks bigger up close," Vivien admiringly raised her head. "In our village, it was three times smaller."
"Nothing can be done; it's the only one on the island. Most of the grain is imported. The local grain isn't enough for all the residents, so they need to grind large quantities at once. Thus, it's the only source of flour on the island."
"But without trading ships, the supplies won't last long, will they?"
"No, they'll have to live on fish alone, and people won't endure that for long."
Heavy steps were heard from inside the building.
"As I said, there's nothing left. I can barely feed my family," the door creaked open, and a stout man in his fifties with bushy chestnut hair emerged. "Hmm... What a motley company... I guess you didn't come for flour?"
"Harod, you still can't recognize old acquaintances?" I glanced insolently at the old miller.
"Hmm, what an impudent voice," the man bent down towards me, scratching his chin. "Aren't you that kid who used to carry sacks of flour for modest payment?"
"I've told you before, buy yourself some glasses. You can't even recognize me up close."
"Hmph, they're quite expensive, and vision isn't that crucial in my line of work. Tell me instead, where have you been disappearing all this time?" Harod patted me on the head, and I slipped out of his grip, annoyed.
"I was studying at the Academy; Chris said rumors reached you."
"But I found it hard to believe, but it seems people weren't lying," the miller's gaze glanced at my companions and stopped around Seleria's neckline. "Hmm, I see you're surrounded by female beauty; a heartbreaker, indeed."
"Hey, hey, you seem to have a selectively poor eyesight," removing the smile from my face, I returned seriousness to my voice. "We thought of taking a little break here, but it seems things in the city are not going so well."
"Heh, it looks like you've already met them. You came back at an inopportune time. Well, come in, let's talk."