「U-UWAAAAAAAH-!」

A sailor gave a scream as he saw Rei and Set come down towards the ship deck.

However, Rei and Set didn’t care at all as they landed on the ship.

「Look, it’s alright now. Just get off. Explain the situation to the men on the ship. I’m going back to resuce more people.」

「Y-Yes. Thank you very much for your help. Without you I’m afraid we would have……」

A woman in her 20’s got off Set’s back as she spoke. In her hands, she held a baby.

Even after being thrown into the sea, she had desperately protected her baby, so while they were wet from the sea water, the baby didn’t appear to have any injuries. The mother seemed to have a few injuries on her legs from the monsters, but none of them were fatal and the worst one was a bite several cm deep.

「H-Hey! You guys are……and, that monster……」

The sailors and adventurer who saw Set land all held weapons such as swords, spears and axes in their hands, but Rei helped the mother and child without paying them any attention.

That said, the presence of Set, who was by Rei’s side, kept everyone at bay as he created an atmosphere that stopped anyone from doing anything stupid.

Even if no one had actually seen a real Griffon before, they knew its shape. That was why they were even more scared.

「I’m sorry, but I don’t have time to talk. You can think of me as an ally. I’m going to pick up the people who’ve been thrown into the sea, so get ready to receive them.」

Saying that without caring for a response, Rei signalled to Set, who flew back into the sky after a few steps.

「W-Wait! Give me more details!」

「Ask the woman for more information!」

As Set flew away, Rei heard a shout trying to stop them from behind.

After Rei’s response, the sailors and adventurers who had been dazed by the situation immediately recollected themselves and began to prepare blankets, warm drinks and medicine to treat injuries.

Quickly giving orders to his men, the captain in charge of the ship called out to the woman who had been brought over to ask about the situation.

「That monster that was with the kid just now……was that a Griffon?」

The captain asked, as if he couldn’t believe his own words. He was an older man in his 50’s, but his expression was amusingly one of shock. If the woman hadn’t just gone through the ordeal she had and had seen what the captain usually looked like, she probably would have laughed. The captain’s expression was just that blank.

However, having just been in danger of losing her life, she couldn’t laugh in this situation and simply just nodded at the question.

「Yes, they were the ones who came to help me and my child after we were thrown into the sea. There are still many others out there, but because of what the Griffon is limited to carrying, he said he would rescue the women and children first.」

「……I see. An adventurer followed by a Griffon……could it be that Crimson who became famous in the last war? No, that’s not something I need to care about right now. Anyhow, I have to make the highest priority protecting the people he brings over. Hey, boys! The adventurer with the Griffon will be bringing people thrown out to sea. I don’t think they’ll get sick due to the weather, but prepare blankets, cloths and warm drinks anyway!」

At the captain’s command, the sailor sprung into action. Their discipline was much better than that of the average army.

「Captain, we left in a hurry, so we barely have anything to drink. What should we do?」

「……Then tell the cooks to hand out what we have.」

「Captain, I brought a blanket!」

「Leave it there. We’ll be right over.」

「A monster, a monster is coming here!」

「Tch, if you’re not doing anything, start intercepting them! This ship is big enough that it wouldn’t get done in easily, but it’s still not good to take any damage!」

Following the captain’s orders, the sailors and adventurers on board took up their positions to attack with weapons such as bows, harpoons or short throwing axes.

As the captain busily worked, he soon heard the flapping of wings again.

As he turned his eyes to the sky, he saw the adventurer again with two children in his hands. Where had the large scythe he had previously gone?

The captain didn’t know that Rei had an item box, but he didn’t care too much about it either. He waved his arms towards the Griffon to signal it to land on the deck.

「Hey, this way! Come down here!」

Hearing his shout, Rei signalled to Set, who descended as he glided through the sky.

「Two children. There are more children, so I’m going back. Come on, get down.」

「UWAAAAAAAAH-! Dad, dad!」

「Eguehegueh……sister……」

Had their families been attacked by monsters before their eyes or had they gone down with the ship? Either way, the two children were crying in Rei’s arms.

The mother that Rei had rescued first quickly came over to receive the two children from Rei.

「Here, you’ll be safe. This brother will help all of you, so don’t disturb him. ……Please save who you can.」

Nodding at the woman who bowed her head at him, Rei flew off on Set again.

The woman kept her head bowed as they left. It seemed more correct to say that she was giving a prayer. At least that was what the captain seemed to think when he looked at her.

「Hey, young man, keep bringing them in! This ship can’t can’t be taken down by monsters, so bring as many as you can!」

Waving the back of his hand at the captain’s shout, Rei and Set returned to where the magic ships were gathered.

「The water is clear enough that you can still see the monsters, but the sea is a nuisance. So much of my attack power keeps getting absorbed……hah!」

While flying, Rei took out a spear form the Misty Ring and threw it at a monster swimming in the sea. But……

「Tch.」

As Rei had said himself, the power of the spear was greatly weakened by the water and it simply bounced off the large shell that the monster he targeted had on its back.

「Not to mention the loss of power due to the impact with the sea water, the refraction of the sea water is also a pain.」

While muttering to himself bitterly, Set arrived back where the magic ship had gathered in less than five minutes.

「Hey, please take that parent and child over there next!」

As Rei came down, the adventurer who he had previously saved from the shark like monster waved his hand at Rei as he shouted. Rei nodded as Set flew down.

As expected, after seeing Set fly down so many times to rescue the people who had been thrown into the sea, the middle-aged woman desperately grabbed Rei’s outstretched hand while a 10 year old boy clung to her back.

「Listen, if you keep moving about, you’ll fall off. So stay still and don’t move.」

「Yes!」

While Set kept an eye on their surroundings, the adventurers nearby also watched for any monsters approaching Rei and Set. Making sure he had a firm grip on the woman’s hand, Rei pulled as hard as he could while Set flew up at an angle.

Putting them on Set’s back, they started the trip back to the larger ship again.

(Come to think of it, if I used Set to intimidate the monsters, at their level, it should be fine……but they’re too spread out.)

Rei glanced behind him.

In this situation where magic ships and people in the sea were spread over a large area, if Set used King’s Awe, it would definitely affect their allies. No, if you considered that most of the people that had been thrown into the sea were ordinary people, the damage to their own side might even be greater.

King’s Awe could only be pointed in a rough direction. In this case, if he directed it towards the sea, it wouldn’t affect just monsters.

「Thank you, thank you very much.」

The woman continued to thank Rei as she rode on Set’s back.

She had just experience a narrow escape from death, so it couldn’t be helped.

But in the end, Rei and Set were only able to help 1-2 people at a time. And even as they carried people to safety, the more unfortunate were dragged down into the sea while still alive before being eaten by the monsters in the sea.

The adventurers on the magic ships desperately tried to keep the monsters in check, but even so, the difference in numbers was too large and they were basically using cups of water to put out a fire.

It was because the woman knew of this that she continued to express her gratitude.

(The rescue boats are finally getting close enough. But how much can they help?)

Because the ships had gotten closer, Set’s flights had also become shorter. However, compared to Set’s speed flying through the sky, they were still as slow as turtles.

(My original purpose was to leave a good impression on the people in Emoshion, but now I don’t feel good about just watching innocent travellers become monster bait. Somehow……)

Rei desperately tried to think of a countermeasure, but he couldn’t come up with anything.

While working his mind, he once again closed the distance to the deck of the ship where he had previously dropped off the children.

 

 

「Two more!」

At Rei’s voice, a sailor came over with a blanket.

As the woman got off Set’s back, she almost collapsed onto the deck.

Rei called out the captain as he saw that.

「Can you speed up the ship? If things continue like this, there’s a limit to how many I can help. Quite a few of them will become sea monster food.」

「I know! But this is as fast as the ship can go. I’m sorry but please keep doing what you can.」

「……Alright.」

Rei already knew. The rescue ships had been moving at full speed ever since they left the port. However, Rei had no choice but to ask as he had no other solution to their current situation.

It was probably the same for the captain. He may have replied bluntly to Rei, but his expression was distorted with regret.

「Anyhow, please just help whoever you can. We’re on our way……please.」

「Okay.」

Nodding at the captain’s words, Set flapped his wings as they flew back up into the sky.

As they were flying back to the smaller ships where the people had been thrown into the sea again……

「Gururururu~!」

Set suddenly gave a high pitched cry and rapidly tilted his body.

Rei also responded quickly, wrapping his legs tightly around Set to stop himself from being thrown off.

What just happened? As Set’s body levelled back out, something went past where Set had been just a moment before.

「A tentacle? ……No, that’s not right. Seawater!?」

Sea water shaped straight like a bamboo pole had rapidly shot from the sea surface. It was clear that it wasn’t a natural phenomenon. It was definitely caused by something on purpose. And that wasn’t the end.

「Gururu~!」

Set gave another high pitched cry and rapidly changed his position in the sky. Then, as with before, pillars of sea water pierced through the location Set had been just a moment earlier.

「Tch, was that magic!?」

As Rei looked into the sea to find the monster that had used that magic, he found that all the monster that had been there previously had disappeared.

(All the monsters that were there are gone. I definitely couldn’t have killed all of them, so they must have run……run? Why? That could only mean that there’s something stronger than them……here.)

「It’s the one with the bounty! Set, avoid it for now!」

「Guru~!」

Pillars of sea water shot out at him from the sea……no, at this point, they should probably be called spears of sea water instead. Set gave a loud cry at Rei’s voice.

As Set dodged the spears, Rei looked into the sea but couldn’t find the monster targeting them.

「Tch, is it somewhere on the seabed?」

Even if the sea was quite clear, it didn’t mean Rei could see all the way to the sea bed. As there were no monsters as far as he could see, it could only be attacking from somewhere he couldn’t see……which meant it was likely attacking from the seabed.

「It’s too disadvantageous to us if it can attack one-sidedly from this distance!」

As Rei said that, a sea water spear suddenly bent in mid air as the tip turned towards Set……or rather it turned towards Rei.

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Rei swung the Death Scythe, which he had swapped a spear for, and slashed through the sea water spear.

The moment the tip was cut, the sea water spear turned back into water as it fell back down.

As expected, it wasn’t possible for Rei to rescue people while being attacked by such an unseen enemy. He moved away from the place where the monster had sunk the ship as Set changed courses and spent about 5 minutes looking for the monster. But in the end, he couldn’t find it and the sea water spears disappeared as well.

Yes, it was almost as if it had gotten tired of playing with them.

Frowning at the one-sided attack he had received, Rei returned to where the magic ships were located to resume rescuing people.

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