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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Mod7
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Unfortunately, Arthur’s attack missed slightly. We had to be content with wiping out half of the Stormfish.
“I am a sailor of the sea!”
Ted’s thunderous roar echoed through the storm, barely audible over the crashing waves and howling wind.
We were fighting in the midst of a raging storm.
It was a mess. I could barely open my eyes. The rain was relentless.
“A sailor is not defeated!”
Even after seeing Arthur’s golden mana, Ted continued his ridiculous boasts.
The Stormfish attacked again.
I stood on the rocking deck, fighting off the fish that came too close, my body still reeling from the seasickness.
Dozens of Stormfish were sliced in half with each swing of my sword. But I couldn’t block them all. They slammed into me, their bodies like projectiles.
It was surprisingly effective.
Thankfully, we managed to avoid the leader of the pack, the Stormshark. Being bitten by that thing would be like being bitten by a shark.
The Stormfish circled back, flapping their fins like wings.
They were preparing for another attack.
“Old man! We have to take down the leader! Then they’ll retreat!”
“I know! I’ll crush its spine!”
Ted glared at the shark in the center of the swarm.
“Yes! That’s the one! Show them the power of a sailor!”
“I’ll show them!”
“A sailor is not defeated by such a thing!”
“Of course not! This is the power of an old man!”
The Stormshark led the pack in another attack. They were fast.
“Haaaa—!”
Ted roared and swung his oar.
Crack!
The oar snapped. A sailor might not be defeated, but an oar could.
But it was okay. The Stormshark seemed to be injured. I threw a dagger at the twitching shark.
Thwack!
The dagger, infused with blue mana, embedded itself in the shark’s fin. The shark, its momentum broken, fell into the sea.
The impact created a large wave, and Vivian almost fell overboard.
I quickly grabbed her wrist.
“Are you okay, Vivian?”
“…Y-yes! I’m fine. How about you, my lady?”
I pulled Vivian back onto the deck and looked for Sepia. She was slumped against the railing, completely drained.
The Stormshark’s defeat seemed to have demoralized the other Stormfish. They sank beneath the waves. I collapsed onto the deck, exhausted.
There was no point in chasing after the remaining fish.
“Thank you, everyone! Especially you, Ted!”
I meant it.
Ted had played a crucial role in defeating the Stormshark. He grabbed a spare oar and started rowing again. Arthur and I also picked up oars and helped him.
“How much further?”
I had to shout to be heard over the rain.
“Almost there! Almost there!”
The ship continued to plow through the waves. The rain was still pouring down. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the ship capsized. If it did, we would all die.
“We’re here! We’ve arrived!”
Suddenly, the world seemed to calm down. The rain stopped, and the ship stopped rocking. I was stunned.
It was peaceful and quiet.
As if the storm had never happened.
We had reached the eye of the storm. And I could see the entrance to Atlan.
“We’re here! We made it!”
A giant sinkhole had appeared in the ocean.
We were heading towards it. Its waters were a deeper blue than the surrounding sea.
Sepia struggled to sit up.
“Wow… so this is…”
“It’s been twenty years. This is the entrance to Atlan! The Atlan Blue Hole!”
Ted said, a nostalgic look in his eyes.
“How do we get to Atlan?”
Sepia asked.
We had to dive into the blue hole.
Sepia seemed to have figured it out.
“You’re not seriously suggesting… we jump in there, are you?”
“Of course!”
“…I can’t swim.”
“Then have one of the boys carry you.”
I looked at Arthur and Vivian. Arthur could swim. I wasn’t sure about Vivian, but she was an all-around maid, so she could probably handle it.
“I can swim. Ethan, you should take care of Sepia.”
“Let’s go! To a new world!”
Ted ripped off his shirt and jumped into the water. I also removed my shirt and prepared to jump.
“Jump in? There? Are you serious?”
“Of course. Or do you want to sail back through the storm?”
While Sepia was panicking, Vivian whispered something to her. Sepia’s expression brightened.
“What did she say?”
“It’s a secret, Ethan. Just between us girls.”
Right. Whatever.
I stored my lead weights and my sword in my shadow. I wouldn’t be able to find them if I dropped them in the ocean. And the lead weights would only make it harder to swim.
“Sepia, hold onto my neck. We’re diving.”
“W-what? Okay!”
Arthur grinned at us.
“Be careful. I’ll see you guys there.”
Arthur jumped into the water. Vivian gestured for me to go first. She was probably planning to follow us and provide backup.
“Hold on tight.”
“O-okay.”
I carried Sepia and jumped into the blue hole.
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“Ha!”
I gasped for air, breaking the surface.
We had finally arrived at the entrance of Atlan.
A long tunnel led into the depths of the earth.
“Okay, get off me now. I can’t breathe.”
“I was just about to!”
The weight of Sepia’s ample bosom lifted from my back. Vivian emerged from the water, and we followed Ted into the tunnel.
I retrieved my lead weights and my sword from my shadow.
“What are those? Sandbags?”
“It’s a long story.”
Sepia pouted. I ignored her and strapped the weights to my wrists, ankles, and waist. I had been wearing them constantly since my training with Master, except when I was sleeping or bathing.
“Why don’t you just wear armor?”
“These are special alloy lead weights. They’re heavier than most metals.”
That’s what Master had said. They were incredibly dense.
“Master Ted, you seem to have had quite the adventurous life. You said you’ve been to Atlan…”
Arthur asked curiously.
“I might look like this now, but back in my day, I wrestled a Kraken and ripped off its tentacles with my bare hands!”
Arthur, the ever-gullible protagonist, listened intently, nodding along.
“I even sailed to the desert kingdom of Schumann!”
In the original story, Ted’s backstory was as follows:
He had grown up by the sea and dreamed of adventure. At twenty, he joined a ship’s crew and was captured by pirates. He spent seven years as a slave on their ship.
Then, he had a chance to escape.
He killed the pirate captain and escaped, eventually reaching the desert kingdom of Schumann in the southeast. He liked it there and stayed for a while, working on various ships.
He had lived there for almost ten years.
Then, on his way home, he encountered a storm and was shipwrecked, eventually reaching Atlan. That was twenty years ago.
Those experiences had made him a proud sailor.
“So, my adventures began like this!”
And as expected,
He started recounting his adventures as we walked.
“Those pirates were after the treasure of Treasure Island! And they weren’t the only ones!”
After seven days of fighting and adventure, Ted’s crew had managed to retrieve the treasure.
“I seized the opportunity and killed the enemy captain! The battle was fierce. I shouted, ‘Stop! I’ve killed your captain!’”
Thanks to his actions, Ted had been promoted from a lowly cleaning slave to a full-fledged crew member.
And the Redbeard Pirates had claimed the treasure.
Then they encountered the navy.
“And I finally got my revenge! I killed Redbeard, the man who had enslaved me for seven years!”
It seemed more like a betrayal than revenge. Ted, rescued by the navy, decided to stay in Schumann for a while.
He experienced a new world, then returned to the sea.
The story was coming to an end. Which meant we were almost at the end of the tunnel.
“And on my way home, I encountered a storm! And that’s where I met the dragon!”
Ted’s voice echoed through the tunnel. I suddenly remembered something I had to check.
“Arthur, let me see the egg.”
I had put the egg in Arthur’s inventory to protect it from the storm. If I remembered correctly, it should be hatching around now.
Arthur retrieved the egg from his inventory.
To others, it would look like he had pulled it out of thin air. The egg was supposed to hatch as soon as it entered Atlan, reacting to Arthur’s mana, but…
It remained stubbornly inert.
What was going on?
Was it broken?
Had I missed something?
Had the hatchling died during the battle?
“Arthur, give me the egg.”
I was starting to get worried. The most likely explanation was that the egg had been damaged during the fight with the thief. I had been carrying the bag.
“Here, Ethan.”
I took the egg and held it close to my ear. I heard a faint cracking sound.
Huh…?
It was reacting to my mana. I turned to see a deep indigo hatchling emerging from the egg.
“Good heavens! I can’t believe I’m seeing an Indigo Dragon hatchling!”
Ted exclaimed. But that wasn’t the important part.
“D-daddy? Daddy!”
The hatchling looked at me and giggled. It flapped its tiny wings, then transformed into a little girl, about three or four years old. Hatchlings imprinted on the first creature they saw and used polymorph to mimic their appearance.
But that wasn’t the problem. The problem was, I was screwed.
I had just stolen the protagonist’s power-up.
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No Mikey no!