NOVEL NEXT Chapter 78: It Was a Gorgeous Passenger Boat
「I-It seems this one is our ship… A-As expected of the Hero King… he even arranged an extremely luxurious ship for us.」
Albeit an understatement, it just as the female Holy Knight had said—the ship prepared for us was an extremely splendid one.
Its length was close to two hundred meters, and measured by eye, its height was around five to six meters.
I ended up wondering just how many people could board this giant vehicle.
A ship as big as this one didn't exist back when I was still alive.
Existing aside, I'd never even seen a ship that looked like a lump of metal back then.
The ships that I was familiar with were made entirely from wood.
After all, just how in the world did this lump of metal manage to stay afloat on the sea.
Maybe they were using some sort of magic to make it float.
Numerous people were lining up to board the ship. On the other hand, we were taking a slightly different path from them.
Since the Hero King had prepared a special room for us, we apparently could enter from a special entrance too.
By the way, the room seemed to be divided by grade starting from special grade as the most luxurious one, first grade, second grade, and lastly third grade.
The passengers of first grade and above seemed to be able to enter from different entrances too.
When I was looking at the ticket, a physically fit, tanned man in his fifties and a nervous-looking, slender man in his forties welcomed us.
「Oh, we've been waiting. Limule-sama, Zion-sama. My name is Popol, the captain of this ship.」
「I'm Pein, the vice-captain.」
It turned out, they were the captain and vice-captain of the ship.
It seemed they had specially come to greet us since the Hero King had personally booked the ticket for us.
Popol's appearance screamed "I'm a man of the sea," and his being overflowed with confidence.
「In addition to the twelve cannons, this passenger ship is also escorted by an adventurer party that specializes in naval battle. Please get along with them so that we don't encounter any personal trouble along the way.」
「We'll make sure that you have a comfortable journey until we arrive at our destination. Well, this way please.」
Pein, the vice-captain who was dressed in stylish uniform, said to us as he guided us into the ship.
So we followed after him from behind.
I could board the ship without any problems, even though I looked like a suspicious man, since I wore my hood to hide my face.
This was thanks to the Hero King.
Nevertheless, the sense of stability when I stepped on the floor of the ship made me think that it was different from the ships that I used to know.
I recalled when I experienced an extremely nauseating feeling when the ship that I boarded on—the size of which was even less than a tenth of this ship—swayed greatly due to the waves.
When a monster appeared, the adventurers who specialized in combating sea monsters would fight it, but the hull of this ship was huge.
An average sea monster wouldn't even be able to climb such a height.
「This is your room.」
The room was even bigger than the room in the inn we stayed at yesterday.
Could it be that we had to share this room with a few people?
Or so I thought, but I was mistaken.
「As expected of a special grade room… It even comes with a huge living room and bedroom inside. It even comes with a private toilet and bathroom.」
—Eh, we were going to use this entire room by ourselves?
「We have room service too. Feel free to call our specially trained staff if you have a request. Well then, I shall excuse myself.」
Vice-captain Pein left the room as he spoke and bowed as he expressed his silent gratitude. I stood there, silent.
However, I had no idea what he meant by "Specially trained staff." I should ignore that for now.
Nevertheless, I ended up in the same room as the female Holy Knight again.
However, there was more room today since this room was bigger than the room we stayed at last night…
「…」
「…」
W-What was with this awkward silence?
She didn't speak to me again unless it was necessary since the mighty "C" incident last night.
I wasn't a chatty person to begin with, but when the female Hoy Knight did the same, the atmosphere became really awkward.
Although she was really scared of the "C," she ended up hugging a man in her birthday suit. It seemed she got really embarrassed once she snapped out of it after that.
If I knew that things would turn out this way… maybe we should have shared this room with a few people.
If not for this, I would've already strolled inside this giant passenger ship along the deck to enjoy the scenery of the open sea.
A while after such an awkward silence, a loud sound of a steam whistle resounded from outside.
It seemed to be the time for the ship's departure.
「…A-About yesterday.」
Thereupon, the female Holy Knight started to break the ice.
She looked at me with a timid expression. There was a tint of pink color on her cheeks.
「P-Please forget about it!」
「O… Okay.」
「Am I clear?! You must forget it at all costs! I won't forgive you unless you forget about it, you hear me?!」
「U-Understood!」
Being overwhelmed by the female Holy Knight's pressure, I ended up nodding my head repeatedly.
And then, she muttered something again, but I failed to hear it properly.
「Well, I'm going to be purified after this after all… so this matter will eventually be lost along with me… if it succeeds, that is…」
「…Yeah, you're right.」
…Eh?
Although I said this to reassure the female Holy Knight, she looked sad for some reason.
But she coughed as if to clear her throat immediately.
「Anyhow, the trip will take five days. Let's use those days to arrange countermeasures to prevent yesterday’s incident from repeating.」
「…Countermeasure?」
「Exactly! First… make sure to check every nook and cranny of this room! Especially the toilet and bathroom, you must check it thoroughly! I'm going to stand by outside of the room during that time!」
…What the heck, was I the only one who had to work hard?