The Ultimate Sage Who Faked Incompetence and Was Disinherited Just Wants to Enjoy His New Life! - Episode 103: The Dark Sea

Episode 103: The Dark Sea

We began moving in two separate groups as planned. After saying farewell to Ardan and the others, our group—the “coastline-moving members” consisting of me, Lilia, and Pii-chan—immediately soared into the sky. Beyond the horizon, the morning sun was about to rise.

“I hope there aren’t any flying monsters.”

“It’s okay. I’ll keep a proper watch on our surroundings.”

With Lilia tucked into my chest, we aimed for the coastline. It was to avoid using up Lilia’s magic power as much as possible. Absolutely *not* because of any lewd thoughts. Pii-chan was gliding alongside me.

Flying through the air was undoubtedly faster than running on the ground. In no time, we could see the coastline.

“Please look! It seems like a part of the sea is dark and moving toward us from over there!”

“It’s true.”

Seen from the sky, it was perfectly clear. The dark sea had tall, surging waves. Since the sky wasn’t covered with dark clouds, it surely wasn’t due to a storm. The sea was simply darkened.

We landed on the coastline. If the dark sea kept advancing, it would reach the fishing town of Mizuna within today.

“Did either of you figure anything out?”

“Yeah, it seems there’s no doubt the Water Spirit is there. I can feel magic power similar to the Fire Spirit’s, far in the distance.”

“I can’t feel anything. Maybe it’s already become something else entirely.”

Pii-chan stared intently toward the sea. Lilia said the Water Spirit was in that direction. The person you love becoming someone else must feel so helpless.

“It’s okay. We’ll definitely bring the Water Spirit back to how she was.”

“Aniki…”

“Alright then, let’s hurry to Mizuna. We have to tell everyone the sea is going to get rough. Since we already interacted with them during the Ghost incident, the people of Mizuna should be willing to listen to us.”

With the decision made, there was no time to stand around. We rose into the sky again and flew toward Mizuna. There, they were just about to send ships out to sea.

We immediately told them that the sea was likely to become rough soon.

“There’s no way we’d doubt the people who saved our town. Alright, I’ll let everyone know not to send out the ships today.”

“Thank you very much.”

“No, no, we should be the ones thanking you. Thanks to your warning, we should be able to keep the damage to a minimum.”

We offered to help, but were turned away with, “Don’t you have more important things to do?” Though we were concerned about Mizuna, we decided to leave it to the townspeople. We hurried on ahead.

There’s a decent distance from Mizuna to the port town of Suiren. If we flew straight there, we could arrive by early afternoon. But since we were checking the sea’s condition as we went, there was a possibility we wouldn’t arrive until evening.

“Lilia, how far is the dark sea from us now?”

“It’s quite far behind. At this rate, Mizuna won’t be covered by the dark sea until after noon.”

“With that speed, it might reach the port town of Suiren by tomorrow morning?”

“Yeah, about that. Let’s get moving with preparations right away.”

We really want to at least get the base for the final battleground done today. As long as we get the fine adjustments done first thing in the morning, we’ll be good. After that, we kept checking the speed of the dark sea’s movement as we pushed onward.

We arrived at the port town of Suiren a little past 3 PM. We managed to make it before sunset. We quickly looked for Ardan and the others.

“Looks like Ardan and the others made it safely.”

“They’re aboard that huge ship. Let’s go to them.”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

We crossed through the port town heading for the massive ship Eleonora. It seemed our arrival had been announced in advance. As someone called out to us as we approached the ship.

“You must be Fel-san, the Platinum Rank adventurer. We were told to bring you on board once you arrived.”

“Thank you.”

We crossed the pier set up at the dock and boarded the ship. We made our way to where everyone was. It seemed they were in the captain’s quarters. When we knocked on the door, there was an immediate reply.

“Sorry we’re late.”

“No problem. How was the state of the sea?”

“At the current speed, the ‘dark sea’ will reach here by tomorrow morning.”

“The dark sea, huh. That does seem to be the case.”

The captain was still half in doubt about my report. He tilted his head. Ardan and the others had probably explained the situation, but it seemed he hadn’t fully believed them.

“On the way, we stopped by Mizuna and told them not to go out to sea.”

“I see. Hopefully, they’ll handle things well.”

“It’s fine. They said they’ll make sure not to go offshore.”

It was only after talking this far that he finally seemed to sense things were heading in a bad direction. The captain gave a small cough. The other crew members in the captain’s quarters also looked slightly pale.

“This ‘dark sea’ you speak of—is it really only the surface of the sea in that one area that’s rough?”

“That’s for certain. We checked at the coastline, and it seems the Water Spirit is deep within it.”

At my statement, the expressions of everyone in the room changed. Of course, Ardan and the others too.

“Are you sure about that?”

“I’m sure. I sense the same type of magical presence as with the Fire Spirit.”

Pii-chan was not here at this moment. That’s because the Fire Spirit is supposed to have been extinguished. Ideally, it would be best to have Pii-chan explained directly. But that would have to wait until we returned to the inn. Still, this should be enough for Ardan and the others to understand what we’re trying to say.

“If we don’t stop the Water Spirit here, not just Suiren, but even this ship could be in danger.”

“The Water Spirit, of all things…”

At Ardan’s words, the captain stood there in a daze. It was unclear whether he had heard the story about the Fire Spirit trying to cause a natural disaster. But he seemed to grasp that the Water Spirit held hostile intent.

“That’s why we plan to create a place on the sea where we can fight the Water Spirit. If it goes well, we might be able to deal with it without causing damage to the town or the ship. Will you cooperate with us?”

“Of course, we will fully cooperate. If a Platinum Rank adventurer of our nation is taking charge, nothing could be more reassuring.”

I’m really glad I became a Platinum Rank adventurer. If I were just Gold Rank or something, they might not have trusted me as much.

We immediately explained the plan of what we were about to do.

“The place for the final battle should be around here. If it’s here, it shouldn’t get in the way of ship traffic. We’ll take a small boat loaded on the Eleonora to get there.”

“It’s good to know the main trade routes for the merchant ships. The ‘dark sea’ is coming from this direction. So if we deal with it in this spot, it should be enough.”

“I’ll inform the city officials myself. I’ll also tell the nobles onboard. That should get things moving, at least a little.”

“That’s a big help.”

It looked like the captain would handle the troublesome explanations to the bureaucrats. After checking two or three more things, we headed out to the sea to create the final battleground.

The waves were still relatively calm. But unlike a massive ship, a small boat sways much more.

“I didn’t think it would shake this much.”

“You should’ve taken some motion sickness medicine.”

“Still, it’s better than a shared stagecoach, right?”

Like Jill said, it’s probably better than a stagecoach. If the roads are bad, your butt hurts so much you can’t even sit.

As we got farther out to sea, the swaying grew more intense. I clung to a rope and mast to avoid falling off the boat.

“That area looks good.”

“Looks like the distance from the shore is fine. How’s the distance from the merchant shipping route?”

“Um, we’re here right now.”

A map created with Auto-Mapping was displayed on the deck. It showed the map from the land to our current location. Looking at that, the captain of the small boat checked carefully.

“No problem. We’re far enough from the shipping route.”

“Alright then, Lilia, I’m counting on you. I’ll handle the supply of magic power.”

“Got it.”

Saying that, Lilia began chanting a spell in some unfamiliar language. The reason I can’t use wood-element magic is because I don’t understand that language well. Apparently, it’s the Fairy language. That was the first time I learned such a language system even existed.