As planned beforehand, we had split off from the Indigo Elder for a moment and were making our way toward the locations each of us had named.
Right now... the lake was a dark, grayish blue. Its dreariness was nauseating. The sight of pale, island-like things floating about was also just... no, damn it, what is that...
"...Looks like something's floating there."
Dante seemed to spot it first and pointed toward it with a gesture.
"That... could be an island? There are a lot of them..."
"It could be a reef. Perhaps this lake is the kind of place where navigating around these obstacles is what matters."
"The sizes are all over the place... That one's way too big to be called a reef."
Sinclair and Otis... hadn't noticed? No, it'd be weird if they had. Ishmael might, though.
"Do you sense anything, Dante? We could move toward the open space where those things aren't clustered, but if that direction is wrong, the operation will be for nothing."
"Hmm..."
"If you can at least give me a rough direction, I can calculate the likely location from there. We also have the information the Indigo Elder gave us, so I judge the prediction should be reasonably accurate."
Hm?
At Faust's rather interesting remark, Heathcliff voiced his confusion.
"What? The clock-head can play compass? You should've said so sooner..."
"It is merely a method worth trying because this is a vast, open space with the special characteristics of a lake. Cities on land are packed above and below ground with all manner of structures and dense populations, so even sensing the Golden Bough requires close range, and even if you head in the indicated direction, it is meaningless if a massive wall blocks the way."
"Tch. So outside of here, you're just a clock-head after all."
"What kind of mouth is that, Heathcliff?"
Thud, and I cracked him on the head.
"Ow, what the hell was that for?!"
"Your attitude was too damn rude for me to tolerate. What, you want another one?"
"You..."
"Ah, forget it. Let's just make up for the beating you took from that petty bastard earlier. Come here."
"Yeah, you little—! Wait, wait! Time out..."
I read his guard with my eyes and only punched the spots he failed to block properly.
Haa... this is relieving the stress. Maybe I should do this more often? It'd be dangerous if that guy came charging in swinging his bat all annoyingly, but if it's bare-handed, I'm pretty sure he can't catch me.
This could be good for another month or two...
Whether we kept at it or not, Dante seemed to understand something from Faust's words and nodded.
"...I see. That must be why. Even from far away, I keep getting a clearer sense that the Golden Bough is there..."
Then Dante pointed in one direction.
"Confirmed. We'll turn toward that direction."
Faust gave Ishmael the order, and Ishmael turned the helm accordingly.
By then, I'd stopped beating Heathcliff. The thing disguised as an island or reef was drawing closer.
Tension spread across the boat... and soon, a heavy silence settled in.
Ishmael broke that silence.
"...Ah."
The short exhale, almost a cry, drew everyone's attention to Ishmael.
"So this was the lake."
Her expression was... complicated.
No, "complicated" wasn't quite right. It was simply difficult to interpret.
The first thing I felt when I saw her face was joy. A laugh she couldn't contain after finding what she had searched for so desperately.
Then came fear. The slight trembling of her cheeks and brows, the sweat and spray of lake water running down her face, all of it carried tension.
All those emotions mixed together... and made for a strange expression. Fascinating. Had I ever seen her look like this before? When it had to do with me... had there been a moment?
"Ishmael, have you realized something?"
"...Yes. I know very clearly what we need to do here, Otis. I'm at the stern, so I can't see it clearly. So tell me everything about what's right in front of our boat—how many there are, and how big they are."
"...There are strong currents around the reefs, so we need to figure out how to avoid them quickly. Understood."
Otis nodded firmly and slowly rose from her seat, steadying herself inside the rocking boat as she looked ahead.
"At about 350 meters, there's one tiny, glossy reef with a plain surface. About 500 meters farther than that, there's one medium-sized reef with a bulging shape like a boil. Hmm. And not far from that, there's a large island with a rough texture and holes all over it... ah, on closer inspection, it looks like three or four of them are clustered together."
"...Good."
Ishmael began adjusting the helm's engine output as if she had figured something out.
Her movements were suspiciously... familiar.
"...Good. We've successfully passed the first reef."
Reef, reef... as Otis kept calling them that, Hong Lu, who had grown curious, asked a question.
"Something about it... doesn't really feel like what I imagined a reef would be?"
"Correct. That is not made of solid rock or soil."
Otis kept up the briefing regardless.
From the sound of her voice, we'd just passed the second reef.
Of course, the prisoners had no interest in such constructive topics. The first prisoner who couldn't stand not knowing anything, Heathcliff, raised his voice.
"Hey, I can't see it because it's blocked by that big guy and the long one up front, but what's weird about the material?"
"Hmph. That thing is alive and breathing."
"...What?"
As soon as Heathcliff's idiot sound came out, the boat headed toward the third reef.
"...Wait. You damn seal! Where the hell are you steering? At this rate we'll crash into the third reef!"
"We're going the right way, Otis. We're getting off there."
Hm... so she had a plan. Fine, let her handle it. She'd know better than I would.
"Wait, you mean that thing? That disgusting island full of holes? Hey! If you've gone crazy, at least do it on your own! There isn't even a single tree up there, let alone people—what are you supposed to get from—"
Thud!
"Would you shut up and stop making a scene? What do you know that you're butting in like that?"
"Gah! Hey, you really want to die?!"
"..."
Ishmael glanced at me again after I'd once more cracked Heathcliff on the head.
What are you looking at? Why?
...I didn't say it out loud.
After holding my gaze for a moment, she silently looked away. Her eyes landed on Heathcliff.
"...You're wrong from the very way you think."
"What's wrong with—"
KRAAANG!!!!
Before Heathcliff could even finish, a massive impact rang through the boat, followed by the screeching scrape of the hull against something hard.
"Hey, damn it! Can't you drive properly?!"
"...No? I did it right. Hehe."
Ryoshu had definitely noticed. The position we'd reached.
Then Sinclair, who had been looking around, noticed something.
Something very important in the current situation.
"Th... white. Don't tell me, Ishmael?"
"Yes. They weren't islands to begin with."
As soon as Ishmael finished speaking, the thing that had looked like an island beside the boat began trembling with a soft, rumbling vibration, as if an earthquake had struck.
"All of them... are parts of some whale."
As if waking from a long sleep.
And then merfolk began crawling out of the holes.
Hmm... looks like we really did come to the right place. Those merfolk look suspiciously similar to the pale whale's merfolk. Though they don't seem to be the same species.
"Hey... what the hell is that—!?"
"Everyone disembark! Form up!! ...Seal. You'll have to explain this later."
"Yes. I'll explain as much as you want."
With the situation turning urgent, the prisoners quickly took combat formation.
I had my own questions, too... but I was certain she knew this place better than I did, so I decided not to ask.
There wasn't much for me to do in battle anyway.
The first role was Dante's dedicated escort.
There's no better position than that in a battle where staying stable matters.
"...Aren't you just not going out there?"
"Now, now. It's important that Dante not get swept up in a stray attack. Yi Sang said it before, too. Since thirteen lives depend on Dante, we need to be thirteen times more careful."
"That's true, but..."
"And if I'm going to provide support, this is the right spot. If Dante just keeps swapping identities, I can recover my spear, can't I?"
The second role was ranged support.
Those old spear throws from back then. I've practiced a bit lately, so I'm getting good use out of them.
Whoosh──!!
"Woaah?! Hey, you bastard! You almost hit me!"
"I'll be more careful next time~!"
"That guy..."
As I grinned to myself in amusement, Dante asked cautiously.
"...You're not doing this for your own amusement, are you?"
"What do you take me for? I'm still killing them one by one just fine, aren't I? I'm providing support properly, too."
"That's true, but..."
To be honest, I can't say there's no personal satisfaction in it. Still, I'm controlling the throws carefully so they don't get hit, so there's no need to worry.
If they do get hit... that's not my fault. They'd be the one who went out of their way to get in the way.
I'm thorough like that.
"..."
"Did something get on my face?"
"You seem to be thinking something strange."
"I wasn't thinking about Yi Sang."
"That's not what I meant..."
Well... there's no problem.
...Probably?