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Chapter 16
What poked its head out from above the sack was none other than a monkey.
“W-Why is there a monkey in there?!”
Not food, not tools, not supplies—why was a monkey inside the emergency bag?
Angelina was genuinely bewildered, but Franz looked even more dumbfounded at the question.
“That’s what I’d like to ask.”
“……”
Wait. Before they ran into the natives, they had left the sack on the ground.
Did it crawl in back then?
Since no one had put it there themselves, that was the only possibility.
“You little… this damn monkey.”
Angelina grimaced after seeing what had become of the fruit inside the sack.
The creature had gnawed through nearly all of their already meager food supply.
If she’d noticed earlier, she would’ve thrown it straight at the natives chasing them.
“Isn’t that the monkey from before?”
Naomi spoke up.
Ah, the coconut thief!
No wonder it looked familiar.
“Should we roast it?”
Naomi sounded oddly entertained by the situation.
“Not interested.”
Maybe if they’d been starving for a week, but right now it didn’t look like food in the slightest. Just an irritating, shameless little creature.
“The old men ate them just fine.”
“Then you eat it.”
“…Can’t I just cut this part off and eat the rest?”
Naomi had already grabbed one of the fruits. Carefully carving away the ruined flesh, she opened her mouth wide and bit into it.
At this rate, everything left in the sack would end up in Naomi’s stomach.
Would they even reach Latria before then?
Angelina stared out toward the distant horizon. Aleksei, watching the sea as well, spoke.
“Are we even heading the right way?”
“If my assumptions are correct.”
Franz dipped a finger in liquor and drew a rough diagram on the deck.
“When the collision happened, the bow was pointed toward Rio Kingdom, and the pirate ship struck from this side. We escaped off the starboard side and reached the deserted island. We were probably somewhere around here.”
Aleksei nodded while studying the vague sketch.
“Since we set sail again from there, the bow should still be facing toward Rio Kingdom. Once we’ve completely cleared the island, we can change direction. That direction should be… west.”
Franz pulled out a compass.
“How long will it take?”
“Unless we hit reefs or run into pirates again, we should arrive around sunset.”
A wonderful dinner.
A safe, comfortable bed.
Parting ways with an annoying person.
A hefty pile of money.
The three of them gazed up at the brilliantly blue sky, each freely indulging in their own hopes.
“Wake up and smell reality.”
With the same bright voice she’d had when they first met, Naomi completely shattered the mood.
“You said this is your first time sailing, right? Yet you’re all talking like you’re in some dream.”
“You saying we won’t arrive today?”
“You don’t even know your exact starting point. Do you really think following wherever that compass points will magically get you to your destination?”
“Then what?”
“There are routes on the sea too. The reason routes exist is because they’re safe, even if they take longer. If you set out without knowing any of that, you can wander forever and still end up nowhere.”
Surely not.
“And more importantly.”
Naomi pointed a finger dramatically toward the sky.
“It’s going to rain. The wind’s going to go crazy too.”
Angelina looked up suspiciously. The sky looked perfectly fine. Storm clouds couldn’t just appear out of nowhere in ten seconds.
“The sky’s completely clear. At least make your lies believable.”
“Believe it or don’t. I warned you.”
Whistling, Naomi flopped down and lay flat on the deck.
Maybe a sea snake should bite her or something.
Unaware of Angelina grinding her teeth at her, Naomi curled up like a shrimp and promptly fell asleep.
When she’s asleep, she really does look like an ordinary girl.
They say if you want to hate someone, you should never look at them while they’re sleeping.
Angelina sighed lightly and tossed a blanket over Naomi’s body.
After that, all she could do was pray desperately.
That Naomi’s words were not prophecy, but merely a petty curse.
Perhaps the gods had decided to grant Angelina’s wish, because even late into the afternoon, the weather showed no signs of changing.
A peacefully sleeping Naomi.
Peacefully calm weather.
Just as Angelina muttered that maybe everything really was peaceful, the men began arguing.
“Shouldn’t we be seeing land by now?”
“That statement is meaningless when we don’t know the exact distance.”
“Then maybe we turned at the wrong point.”
“I already factored in that possibility.”
“We might be leaving the East Sea entirely.”
“If that were true, we’d have reached Cohortland by now.”
They had been drifting across the sea for over four hours, yet there was still no sign of land—not even a tiny island.
Their assumption had been that they started somewhere around the Winterland islands. If they had correctly turned eastward, they should have reached either Latria or Cohortland, fifty miles from Latria.
And if they were drifting between Latria and Cohortland?
Even then, they would eventually crash into the long southern coastline of Latria extending into the sea, so it wouldn’t be the worst outcome.
But what if they’d made a mistake while changing direction?
What if the assumption about Winterland itself was wrong?
Maybe they were wandering thousands upon thousands of miles from land, slowly drifting into the Western Sea.
That would truly be the worst-case scenario.
“Are you two just going to keep arguing?”
“We’re not arguing. We’re narrowing down possibilities.”
“Exactly. We can’t exactly split the boat in half and go separate ways.”
Honestly, splitting the boat might be preferable.
“So what’s the conclusion?”
“We need to figure out where we are.”
“And Franz?”
“He thinks we should keep going for now.”
“Why?”
“Instinct honed through extensive travel experience.”
Angelina wasn’t lacking in travel experience herself. Though hers had been from another life—and hardly travel in the pleasant sense.
“Is there any way to figure out our position?”
This time she asked Aleksei.
“We can roughly determine it through celestial observation.”
“How?”
“The weather’s clear, so we should be able to observe Polaris and the Big Dipper. By measuring the height of Polaris and the angle between the stars, we can calculate latitude and longitude. Then we compare that to Latria’s coordinates to estimate how far away we are.”
Without being asked, Aleksei launched into an excruciatingly thorough explanation of the calculations involved. It was unbelievably boring, yet for the first time ever, his bookworm knowledge actually seemed impressive.
But was this really a situation where such grand knowledge could even be applied?
“I can’t see anything.”
“The sunlight is too strong.”
“I know that. What I’m asking is why you’re bringing this up now.”
“I mean we should slow down and wait until sunset.”
“You want us to just sit here like this?”
“I don’t want to spend the night stranded at sea either. But if we keep sailing in the wrong direction and use up all the fuel, then we’ll truly have no hope left.”
The two men had chopped plenty of firewood, but nowhere near enough for a prolonged voyage.
Franz lowered his eyes and stayed silent.
Angelina could practically hear the sound of his tail tucking between his legs.
“I think the decision’s been made then?”
“Seems so.”
Franz lightly agreed with Angelina.
Logically, she agreed with Aleksei’s opinion too.
But emotionally, her heart yearned for something else.
Please, just let us see even the tiniest speck of land before sunset!
Yet as the sea slowly turned crimson beneath the setting sun, her hopes of reaching Latria faded away.
Even a tiny island would do.
An island full of hostile natives would do.
A barren island with not a single fruit tree would do.
Angelina prayed desperately, but at least today, the more desperately she wished, the farther hope seemed to drift away.
The sun completely disappeared, yet they remained stranded in the middle of the endless ocean.
Contrary to expectations, not even the stars were visible.
“Once it gets darker…”
Aleksei kept feeding them hopeful reassurances, but not a single speck of starlight appeared in the black sky.
“I told you. We weren’t getting there today.”
Naomi muttered. No one even knew when she’d woken up.
Well, whatever. A shabby hut on a deserted island or a ship at sea—what difference did it make?
At least they had enough blankets to survive one night.
Maybe sleeping aboard a ship was even better than being stranded on an island.
As long as there wasn’t a storm.
“I’m hungry.”
Naomi rattled the sack, still as empty as before she fell asleep, then tossed it aside irritably.
“I thought this trip would be different, but it’s just as boring. No food either.”
“That’s why people say leaving home only brings hardship.”
At last, the bratty runaway was beginning to regret leaving home.
If only they could send her back now.
Angelina resentfully glared at the rolling waves.
The monkey playing around the mast suddenly screeched.
“Finally.”
Naomi blinked while looking up at the sky.
“Finally wha—”
A raindrop splashed against Angelina’s cheek.
Startled, she tilted her chin upward.
The sky was black.
Storm clouds.
