Imperial Disturbance (10): At Sea in Gorbel

"Lufa! It's been a long time! I've missed you!"

Zackhart-sama greeted us—or rather, Lufa—with a beaming smile.

He had dropped everything and come along when we went to pick up Tsetsii, so it wasn't remotely a long time since we'd last seen him.

Lufa wasn't planning to go out to sea, just like Prince Zelando, but considering Zackhart-sama's mood, we decided it would be safer to bring her along.

I felt a little sorry for Prince Zelando, who watched Lufa depart from the royal capital with envy, but there was nothing to be done.

"Zackhart-sama, thank you for your help the other day. This is my husband, Tsetsedora-sama."

When the time was right, Lururia introduced Tsetsii to Zackhart-sama.

Zackhart-sama's expression turned serious, and he nodded gravely. "I've heard about you."

That said, Zackhart-sama wasn't the person we had business with this time. The one we would be relying on was Admiral Northvel-sama.

We had been informed that Northvel-sama would be a little late because of preparations, so we were passing the time here with Zackhart-sama.

Lururia had heard the whole story from Lufa and watched their relationship with a fond smile. Apparently, Lururia had actually heard Lufa's life story before heading to the Empire.

When I escorted her to the Empire, the letter to Lufa written in the language of the Southern Continent—the one I'd been entrusted with—apparently said, "If things become impossible, take this letter and go to Fezaris. If you show them this letter, they will protect you."

Lufa was loved by all sorts of people.

Whether or not Tsetsii knew the circumstances, he eagerly struck up a conversation with Zackhart-sama. They were talking about how Zackhart-sama was bigger than General Gafor.

"I know General Gafor's name. Unfortunately, I've never crossed weapons with him directly."

At Tsetsii's remark—"If the two of you ever fought, the soldiers around you would probably be blown away just from that"—Zackhart-sama frowned, but seemed not entirely displeased.

As we passed the time like that, Northvel-sama finally arrived.

"Yo, sorry to keep you waiting. Well, if it isn't the young lady—long time no see. Lucky for you we're on the same ship. You won't have to worry about me sinking you."

"Oh my, it's been a while. Since I didn't come on a warship, you can sail without worrying, too, Northvel-sama."

Northvel-sama and Lururia laughed together, he with a hearty "Ha ha ha" and she with a light "Ho ho ho."

Tsetsii stared, eyes darting, at the deeply ominous exchange, but these two were always like this, and it was nothing to worry about.

"We depart before dawn tomorrow, so don't oversleep. We'll leave you behind. We should reach our destination in about two days if the wind is favorable. We're planning to come back to this port as quickly as possible without doing anything unnecessary. Understood?"

Northvel-sama gave us the schedule for this trip, and we retired early to rest up for the next day.

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"Hey, want a ship?"

A while after setting sail, Northvel-sama came over to me as I stood alone watching the sea and said that.

He said it as casually as someone asking, "Hey, want a pie?" But I didn't need a ship in the first place.

"What brought this on all of a sudden?"

"Actually, Roa, I did some investigating after you told me. And I've reached a conclusion."

"You looked into it?"

"Come on, I'm talking about sailors' disease. Did you forget?"

I hadn't forgotten. It was the matter I'd told him could be solved with preserved food.

"I haven't forgotten, but isn't it too soon to have reached a conclusion? Isn't it a disease sailors get from spending long periods at sea?"

"That's true, but since I was curious, I also checked how they lived on land. It turned out that many of the people who'd gotten sick had barely eaten any vegetables or fruit even on land."

"How many people did you look into?"

"Hm? How many was it? I looked into as many as I could, so I guess more than two or three hundred."

Though he seemed like a larger-than-life sort, he had been doing something incredibly meticulous.

"And I told you, didn't I? If what you said was correct, I'd do anything you asked."

Had he said that? He and Lapiria-sama had been trading barbs, and he'd said something along those lines, but...

"Simply apologizing wouldn't satisfy me. So, how about a ship?"

"Even if you give me one, I don't know how to operate a ship, so I don't need one."

"?"

"?"

After we both cocked our heads, Northvel-sama clapped his hands and said, "Oh, that's right."

"I explained that badly—it wouldn't be for you to operate. I'm asking if you want to become a shipowner."

"What's the difference?"

"Let's see. For example, if you want to go somewhere by ship, we can assign this ship to you as a priority without you having to make arrangements every time. Of course, you'll need to load the supplies. And if you let me know in advance, when we go to the Southern Continent on escort duty, we can bring back goods from there, too. It's not a merchant ship, so it can't carry all that much. Normally, it'll operate as one of my fleet, so you won't have to do anything."

That sounded incredibly convenient. I had no particular reason to go to sea, but if I didn't have to do anything, I might as well accept it.

Around the time I acquired a ship of my own, the fleet carrying us entered Gorbel territory from the sea.

"There it is."

I could see a town along the shore with a small harbor. Seeing it from the sea made it clear just how large a port Gadeland really was.

We anchored a little way from the port and, after raising a signal flag, sent out a small boat carrying the Imperial envoy.

After a while, two small boats besides the one carrying the envoy approached us from the port.

The added boat carried a young man with his hands bound behind his back. That must be Fillemas, the Empire's Second Prince. He didn't seem to have any attendants. They had either been dealt with in Gorbel, or it had been decided there was no need to hand them over. Considering the Empire's feelings, the former seemed more likely. Either way, their fate was the same: once the mastermind was returned, the others were no longer needed.

Then what was the remaining boat for? A guard detail?

The small boats pulled alongside our main vessel, and the people aboard climbed up.

Fillemas was tossed aboard with a blindfold over his eyes and a gag in his mouth. He let out a strangled "Guh" at the rough treatment, then lay limp.

Tsetsii and the others looked at him sympathetically, but made no attempt to release him. He ate his meals in a private room under guard, and the brothers were never allowed to meet. Tsetsii's sole task was to bring Fillemas back to the Empire quietly while ensuring that he did not take his own life.

That much was fine.

The man who came aboard afterward was a serious problem. The moment Wickhart saw him, his gaze sharpened.

He looked around at us and said, "My name is Franklurt-Drew. I wish to seek asylum in your country through my relative, Florencia, who lives there."

He said it quietly.