Fuck! Where the hell is the freaking captain? Did he seriously jumped overboard or something? Rose and I scoured the entire boat and we do not see him. I pointed the lighter towards the water and I do not see any floating body or even anything. Shit! My worst nightmare literally just came true!
Rose started chanting one of her spell which illuminated a broad area around the boat. I stopped using my my lighter as it is handy in emergency situations where there were no lights around.
"What do we do now, onii-chan?" asked Rose with a scared tone.
She was shivering. I was unsure whether it was due to the weather or situation. But at least her Holy Light spell helped brighten up the surrounding area around the boat. I rushed to grab her winter coat and covered her with it. Seems like Rose's intuition is correct for us to bring our winter clothings.
"Do you know how to drive a boat?" I asked her calmly.
"No. Never had the chance to try before," she said.
"Hmm, I took noticed of their driving movements before. Let's head back into the pilothouse for me to try," I gestured her to follow me.
"Let's see, if memory serves me, this is for the throttle while this is the steering. Ah, the keys are in-placed thankfully. This doesn't make any sense. If the key is here then the captain should had been on board with us in the first place," I scratched my head as things were not making much sense now.
"Onii-chan, let us focus on getting ourselves to safety first. Can you try driving the boat?" asked Rose.
"Hm, even if I knew, I don't have the brightest idea on where we are right now. Which way do we even go?" I put on a thinking face and racked my brain.
Rose stepped out of the pilothouse and looked at the sky.
"That way, onii-chan," pointed Rose.
"Huh? How can you be so sure?" I asked her.
"That is because the North Star is there, see? Polaris is right over there," said Rose as she pointed towards those stars.
"Since when did you know so much about star constellation?" I asked her.
"Don't you remember? You pointed at the North Star when you first named me. Of course I had study about stars when you literally named me after one," she smiled at me.
Huh. Who would had thought that Polaris would be here in this world as well. Hang on, what? In this world as well? Why did I think that Polaris belonged to somewhere else? Did it belonged to another world in the first place?
flash
I saw an after image of a woman dressed in red on a boat. Who.. who was that? Was that Rose? I held my head as it was starting to hurt.
flash
The woman was pointing towards the sky. It was a dark sky and the stars were brightly lit. She then turned to smile at me with her hands behind her back. Her face was blurry but I felt like I knew her. Who is this person? It doesn't seemed to be Rose or Lily. I don't remember bringing either of them on a boat vacation before. Who is this person?
"Look honey, it's Polaris," said the woman.
"AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!" I held my head as it was burning and throbbing with pain as though thousand of needles were poking at it. What is this pain? What is that vision that I just saw? Who was that woman?
"Onii-chan? Onii-chan!!" Rose came to check on me as I was on the writhing on the ground holding my head.
"What's wrong, onii-chan?! Is your head hurting?! What do I do? What do I do?!" asked Rose as she started to panic.
I could barely register what she was said to me. All I felt was the throbbing pain in my head that overcame all my other senses. I couldn't do anything at all except to roll on the ground clutching my head.
"Surprisingly resilient, aren't you?" said someone from far away.
***
I opened my eyes. W.. what happened? As I regained some semblance about what happened, I realised that I was resting on Rose's lap. Her hand was glowing as she was chanting something. My headache was gone. There was no longer any throbbing pain in my head.
I sat up to make sure everything was fine. How long was I out? Rose looked a extremely pale and I quickly checked up on her. Her lips were dry as though she had not drank water for some time. Woah, did I pass out for a such long time?
"Rose? Are you okay? Let me get you some water," I rushed out to grab our bags outside and brought them into the pilothouse.
"Onii-chan, don't scare me like that. I… was so worried that I had lost you again. You were screaming in pain as though you were losing your mind. I can't bear the thought of losing you again. Please don't scare me like that," said Rose as tears were flowing from her eyes.
"I am so sorry, Rose. I did not mean to scare you. Really, I swear. My head just started throbbing and hurting really badly all of a sudden. I am sorry," I immediately hugged her to calm her down.
"H.. how long was I out?" I asked her.
"A couple of hours. I had to continuously chant Mind Wall on you as it was the only spell that was capable of calming you down for a long period of time. I am glad that Peter had taught me more intermediate spells," she said as leaned forward on me.
Rose must had overexerted herself by casting multiple different spells to try and soothe my headache. No wonder she is feeling so weak now. For her to continuously chant Mind Wall is not an easy task. I reached out for her pocket watch to check on the time. It is close to dawn now. I hope we can reach the Northern continent come morning.
I set up my sleeping bag and made it as comfy as possible inside the pilothouse. Then I rested Rose on it while I tried to power up the boat with a twist of the key. Alright, it works. Let's see, Polaris is over there so that should be north. I pushed the throttle forward slowly and the boat started moving a little bit. Ok, so this controls the speed. The steering controls the direction then? Seems like it.
I continued to accelerate the boat until it was at a comfortable speed that I am comfortable in controlling properly. It was not fast but at least we are finally moving. Rose was out cold so I can't depend on her to help me cast Holy Light to light up the area. I will have to depend on my instinct and the light of dawn to help guide my way. Which is the main reason as to why I am not speeding like a maniac right now.
***
Okay.. steady.. steady… steady!!
thunk!
Yikes, I hit the boat against the wooden port a little but… I made it. I actually drove a boat to safety! And just in time too. I swore I see an indicator that looked like gas with the needle pointing towards E. I quickly leaped out of the boat to secure it to the port, making sure that I tied it as securely as possible despite the knot looking horrible.
I took a peek at Rose, she was still resting with no sign of waking up. Based on my experience with the Northern continent, it would seemed that there won't be any storm soon based on the weather. But that does not mean that I should just take my sweet time getting Rose to safety. I grabbed all our bags and hauled it to the port.
Phew, my body is just not built for manual hard labour. Huh? I rubbed my eyes to confirm myself. Wait a minute, I swore I saw dark clouds over the Western continent where the City Of Lilies Dahlee was. But it was gone, no dark clouds could be seen after I reconfirmed it with my eyes. Something is not right. I will need to check that city again when I return from this continent.
I carried Rose on my back and disembarked from the boat. She was the last item that I had to carry out from the boat. Did.. I just treated my wife as baggage? I went to make sure that the rope I had tied to the boat is secured enough. Giving some thought, I decided to tie more ropes just to make sure that it is extra secured. I do not care if it looks ugly or impractical with the way I tied. I am not losing this boat.
I stared at the small cliff that I had to climb in order to reach the town. How many trips would I need to make? What do I even carry first? Rose or our bags? Leaving Rose up there alone would be risky. I guess I would have to carry Rose as the last thing again. Just as I was about to lift one of our bags, someone called out to me from behind.
"Do you need help?" asked a voice.
I jumped in fear at the sudden request. Who the hell is it when there was absolutely no one behind me earlier? Oh, it's Kirin in his spectral form.
"You are offering to help me? W.. wow. If you are willing, then I will forever be grateful. Thank you," I bowed to him.
Kirin began to carry my belongings up the stairs as I carried Rose behind my back. Ugh, carrying someone up the stairs is no easy task I tell you. Not only does your knee hurts, you have to slant your back forward to prevent the person behind from falling backwards. And Rose is taller than me in the first place.
I made it to the top. I was panting hard as I rested on the ground after I had leaned Rose against a tree stump. Once again I looked towards the sky and saw no signs of any storm approaching. That's odd, did the weather changed here as well?
"Hop on" said Kirin as he lowered his body.
"You do realised I have to carry Rose as well, right? Without a saddle, she is going to fall off. I don't think I am capable of balancing the both of us while you gallop so quickly," I told him.
He turned to look around. His head settled on what looked like an abandoned broken wooden wagon. I understood his intention and went to check on it. Let's see, the wheels are shredded but the wood seems solid. There is also a metal bar at the front of the wagon. Hm, how is this going to work without any wheels?
Kirin came over and pulled off the rotten wheels apart with his mouth. Then he lifted the wagon by the metal bar and slung it on his back. He bit the metal bar and galloped around, making sure it was sturdy enough for Rose and I. Then he turned his head and gestured me to hop on at the back of the wagon.
Oh boy, this is going to be a bumpy ride. I am so sorry, Rose, but this is our only option right now. I tossed our bags onto wagon and carried Rose aboard. She was starting to burn up. Are those intermediate spells side effects so brutal that it causes her to have fever? I don't have much time to lose.
"Let's go, Kirin. Rose needs medical care," I told him.
He started a slow gallop at first towards the only town within our sights. Upon making sure that it was still comfortable, he started galloping faster. But the wagon was still not in a bumpy state. How strong are Kirin's teeth to be able to stabilise the wagon while he galloped at such speed?
It did not take long for us to reach the town when Kirin galloped all the way. Kirin crouched lower to allow me to carry Rose easier. I tossed all of our bags to the ground quickly and carried Rose over. I gave my utmost thanks to Kirin and bowed to him. He nodded and vanished into thin air along with the wagon. Did he just.. took the wagon along with him? He can do that?!
As I wanted to rush towards the tavern, I noticed a couple of lizard people staring at what had just happened. I told them to please keep it a secret and all of them nodded as they welcomed me into their town. It was not the first time that I visited here with my current title, but it was the first for them to see Kirin in his spectral form.
I pushed the door opened with my foot and rushed into the tavern. Sliddy was chatting with another customer when she saw me rushing in while carrying Rose in a piggyback with our bags around my neck.
"Goodness! How can I help sss?!" asked Sliddy with a surprised look.
"A room for two, please. I'll pay after I set Rose down," I told her.
"Of course, of course. Right this way sss," said Sliddy as she guided me upstairs.
***
"She is burning up sss. What happened? I don't see your guide with you sss," asked Sliddy.
"Our boat captain disappeared in the middle of our journey. We do not know what happened to him. We did not see any floating body in the midst of darkness. I was lucky enough to be able to drive us to this continent," I said as I passed her some stone coins.
"W.. what? Not you too sss," she said.
"What do you mean by that? Are you saying this had happened before?" I asked her.
"It happened quite recently actually sss. A few survivorsss were travelling from the west sss. They said that their captain vanished into thin air on the way here sss. It was sheer luck that their boat drifted to this continent a few daysss later," she explained.
"Did they mentioned where they started their journey from? Is it from the City Of Lilies Dahlee? And did they mentioned about the weather changes?" I asked her.
"I… I think so sss. They did not said much on where they came from sss. Just that the incident had spooked them up real good sss," she said.
"Are they still here perhaps?" I asked.
"No, they left back to the west sss. Hopefully they actually made it this time sss. Alright, enough chit-chat. Let me grab a cloth and some cold water to lower Rose's fever sss," she headed out of the room.
"Thanks Sliddy, your hospitality is always the best," I bowed to her.
I placed the back of my hand on Rose's forehead. It was hot but it would seemed that the fever had lowered now that we are indoors. I hope Rose is fine. I hate to see anything happen to her when we are in this continent.
***
I opened my eyes. Where.. am I? It looks like I am in a room. My head feels heavy as I tried to sit up. Onii-chan was sleeping at the edge of the bed. Why didn't he just sleep next to me? The bed was big enough to fit both of us. He always cared about me more than himself. I guess the same goes for me.
"Hm.. Rose? You're awake? How are you feeling?" he asked me.
"Much better. Head still feels a little heavy but I'm alright. You actually got us here safely. Talk about a miracle," said Rose as she rested herself.
"I am not sure if miracle had a role but there is something wrong with the City Of Lilies Dahlee. We will need to investigate more when we returned there," I said to her.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Before I begin, let me tell you what happened back at the boat. I… saw a vision of some sorts. There was a woman that I had not seen before in my life. We were on some large boat and she was pointing towards the sky towards Polaris. It was then that my head started throbbing with pain. I am sorry if I worried you," I explained to her as I held her hand.
"I see. Perhaps it is some lost memories of yours? Or from a previous life? I used Mind Fortification on you which sort of stopped your pain for a while but after the effects were gone, you started writhing in pain again. So I had to use Mind Wall to continuously keep you calm until you felt better. I was not expecting the side effects to be this bad," Rose smiled a little with her tongue out.
"I do not know where that vision came from but I certainly hope that it does not return. I hate to see you torturing yourself just to keep me calm. Either way, Sliddy mentioned that we were not the only ones who had their boat abandoned in the middle of the ocean. And I swore I saw dark clouds momentarily at the City Of Lilies Dahlee from this continent. Something bad must be happening there and I wish to check it out. I hope we can complete our tasks here quickly," I said.
We rested for about two days before we decided to head out. To my surprise, not a storm occured during those two days. It would seemed like the weather here had changed completely as well. Is that what is keeping Sladar preoccupied here? I have a bad feeling that things are going to get worse as I need to search for this human settlement.