Battle Race in the Fantasy World

EP.123 A Coincidence Disguised as Inevitability

Nothing happened. That’s how we’re going to make it.

The moment she heard those words, the princess felt her heart pounding fiercely once again.

Is this stemming from fear? Or is it from excitement?

The dangerous aura emanating from the man before her involuntarily tenses her muscles.

Her instincts scream at her to either quickly dodge or prepare for a fight.

Yet, in one corner of her mind, another instinct continues to salivate.

What a man! So strong! And yet, so intriguing!

She wants to possess him. If not, then she wants to be possessed by him!

‘Ah… Should I just pounce on him?’

It would be good if she pounced and mounted him, or even if he mounted her instead.

Whatever it might be, whatever way it happens, she’s going crazy with the desire to leave a mark.

“Your Highness.”

Just as her mind was about to become hazy, Kyle, sitting across from her, quietly calls out to her.

His gaze seems to say that he roughly knows what she’s thinking.

The emotion that they shouldn’t do anything unnecessary and make each other blush is clearly conveyed.

Thanks to this, Yurika was barely able to shake off her dangerous thoughts.

There’s the imperial decree, but more than that, she fears that Kyle might distance himself from her even more.

“…Nothing happened. What does that mean?”

Struggling to suppress her instincts, she asks about Kyle’s words from earlier.

She had a vague idea, but it seemed better to hear a definite answer.

“It means exactly what I said. The independent lord remains as an independent lord. There were no sudden castaways from the alliance there. That’s the end of it.”

Kyle’s words make Yurika smile deeply.

Keeping the independent lord as is means minimizing acts of killing.

And saying there were no castaways means he intends to capture them all and send them to the empire.

They’re the hardliners of the alliance. The empire won’t let them go until the moment they die.

It’s good for the empire to eliminate dangerous elements, and it’s good for Jonathan to be able to erase even traces of the drug completely.

If there’s hardly any bloodshed on top of that, the public sentiment in the south shouldn’t be too bad.

They might even change their minds after feeling the overwhelming gap with the empire.

“You know, right? That the island is Pardal Island. That the one who received the castaways is the lord of Pardal Island.”

“Yes. Thanks to a certain someone who provided the information, I’m well aware.”

Pardal Island. The place where the royal family of one of the southern kingdoms defeated by the empire fled to.

It’s the place where they settled and spent hundreds of years as a single lord.

Inevitably, they maintain an uncomfortable relationship with the empire.

While not completely an enemy state, it’s not somewhere they can look at while laughing heartily either.

Now, it has become the center for anti-imperial independent lords.

“I’ll be careful. There will absolutely be no incidents leading to war.”

“Well. Do you also know that under their command, there’s a strong individual who can rival our Top 10?”

Oh? That’s information I’m hearing for the first time.

No, Lady Elga. How could you omit such an important detail?

I almost just went to handle the business and left. That’s disappointing, you know.

“Someone called Arcane, who used to be a pirate but for some reason joined under the lord of Pardal Island. According to rumors, he wields a sword that surges with waves? His epithet is ‘Wave Tamer.'”

“A sword surging with waves? What, does he use some kind of magic?”

“I don’t know the details. It’s just rampant rumors.”

A sword surging with waves, huh. Wow, that’s not scary at all.

Shouldn’t it at least be something like a tsunami or glacier approaching to be worth mentioning?

What can you do with mere waves? In Jonathan, they say all of that is just the same water.

“You’ll end up clashing with that Wave Tamer. Kyle.”

“Sounds fun. Honestly, I was worried it might be too boring, but now I’m starting to feel a bit excited.”

If someone unaware of the situation saw this, they would have sneered.

Thinking a young man in his early twenties is being reckless, not knowing how scary the world is.

Looking down on the swordsman considered the best among the southern independent lords.

“Hmm. I hope you can live up to that. I hope the Wave Tamer doesn’t break too early.”

But Yurika was, on the contrary, worried about the Wave Tamer.

Having clashed with Kyle several times already, she knows.

Whether it’s the Wave Tamer or any other strong individual, Kyle will ultimately win.

“If you need anything, just say so. There’s an imperial order to support you with anything.”

“Hmm. Well. I can’t think of anything in particular.”

“You don’t need anything? Kyle. Pardal Island is quite far even from the southern port. Do you know that?”

“I’ve heard it’s not a close distance.”

The princess slightly furrows her brow at Kyle’s response.

Then she beckons an agent from the Special Intelligence Department and has them explain what they know.

“Um, as far as I know, even if you take a fast ship from the southern port, with favorable winds and fully spread sails, and calm waves, it still takes more than half a day of sailing.”

“Did you hear that? This is how long it takes. It’s tough without a good fast ship.”

Even being one of the Empire’s Top 10 doesn’t mean you can do anything against nature.

You can’t split the sea. To cross the vast ocean, you must board a ship.

Even under optimal conditions, it takes more than half a day to reach.

“By imperial decree, we can requisition a ship. A fast ship shouldn’t take long to…”

“I appreciate the thought, but I don’t need a ship, Your Highness.”

But the other party was someone from a world that rejected even such obviousness.

“Ah. Instead of a ship, may I ask for something else?”

“…What is it?”

“I’d appreciate it if you could find some exercise equipment and fill the training ground behind the villa with them.”

“Aren’t you going to be gone in two weeks anyway?”

“Even if I were leaving in two days instead of two weeks, I still need to exercise. I get anxious if I don’t.”

“…”

After a brief silence, the princess eventually nodded.

Ignoring the knights and agents who were giving looks that seemed to say, “What an absurd request.”

“Is there really nothing else? You don’t need to take a ship?”

“No. I’ll manage on my own. Since it’s come to this, I might as well finish it today.”

Make up some excuse for my absence for about a day.

Having left the aftermath to the princess, Kyle happily began to stretch.

Catching and thrashing the Raiders, chewing up, tearing apart, savoring, and enjoying the so-called strong individual.

This is killing two birds with one stone. Isn’t it a win-win situation?

Countless islands are scattered throughout the southern part of the continent.

Some places can be reached with a brief swim, while others are barely visible on the horizon.

For this reason, there are ferry boats and passenger ships for each island.

Particularly, passenger ships are a crucial means of transportation, similar to the concept of carriages operating on land.

The captain of one such passenger ship, the ‘Running Sheep’, alternately scans the sky and the sea.

“The wind is good. The waves are calm too. Seems like the sea god is in a good mood today.”

“That’s right. Just a few days ago, the storm was quite fierce.”

“At this rate, we’ll arrive in plenty of time. You’re going to win.”

“Hahaha! Thanks to that, I’ll make some money!”

At the sailor’s words, the captain laughed heartily and added that he should buy a round of drinks.

Anyway, once they enter the opposite island, today’s voyage is over.

There’s no problem with having a few drinks and spending the day.

‘Tomorrow is Pardal Island, huh.’

The numerous southern islands, the independent lords who rule those islands.

Among them, Pardal Island is the largest and most prosperous place.

They say once you go in, you don’t want to leave, and it’s certainly not an empty phrase.

‘Last time I went in, I really didn’t want to leave.’

A sailor shouldn’t long for land instead of the sea.

But once you taste the sweet life on land, it’s impossible to give it up.

The captain was looking at the sea, lost in these thoughts.

Then he let out an “Eh?” and quickly rubbed his eyes.

In the exact opposite direction of where the passenger ship was heading, someone was swimming.

He thought he might be seeing a mirage, but that was definitely not the case.

After all, how could such a mirage exist in this world?

“Man overboard! Man overboard spotted!”

As the captain shouted, the crew stopped what they were doing and scanned the sea.

Rescuing a person in distress is an obvious duty. It has been so since ancient times.

No matter who it is, the first priority is to rescue them from that blue hell.

Splash! Splash!-

Even as the ship approached, the person in distress didn’t stop.

The sight of someone swimming desperately to survive looked quite pitiful.

“Over here! We’re here! Hey!”

For safety reasons, it’s dangerous to bring the ship any closer.

So when the captain shouted with all his might, the person in distress finally responded.

“What is it?”

However, the response was far from what you’d expect from a person in distress.

Rather, his frown seemed to say, “Why are you bothering someone who’s going along just fine?”

Unfortunately, for the captain who didn’t know that expression or voice,

“I’m going to throw a rope now! Hold on tight! We’ll pull you in!”

He was just trying his best to rescue the person in distress with an urgent voice.

Splash-.

“Hey! The rope! Grab the rope! What are you doing…”

The person in distress approached the ship without grabbing the rope he was told to grab.

When he got close enough to roughly see the captain’s face, he opened his mouth.

“Excuse me. Is this the right direction to Pardal Island?”

“…Pardon?”

“I’m asking if Pardal Island is straight ahead this way.”

It is, if you go straight this way. The problem is that ‘straight’ is an hour away.

This isn’t a shallow sea where you can swim. It’s the middle of a very deep ocean.

No matter what you do, it’s absolutely impossible to go by swimming!

“Pardal Island is that way. But first, please come aboard! What were you thinking, doing this in the sea! We’ll find you a ship to Pardal Island, so grab the rope first!”

“Ah. It’s fine, please continue on your way. Thanks. I was a bit worried if I was going the right way.”

And with that, the person in distress – no, a young man – turned his body and continued swimming through the sea.

At this unimaginable sight, not only the captain but also the crew and passengers were left speechless.

What kind of crazy person would think of swimming across this sea?

“Wh-what is this, Captain? What did we just see?”

“…I, I don’t know either. Did we see a ghost?”

They all stared with bewildered eyes at the young man growing more distant.

‘…But, how did he get so far already?’

The young man who was clearly right in front of them had suddenly become a small dot and then disappeared.

Their ship had reduced speed to rescue that young man.

And as they were preparing to set off again, how did the distance grow so much?

‘Wow, he’s incredibly fast!’

At that rate, he might really be able to reach his destination.

Could this be some kind of challenge or eccentric behavior of a young man?

The captain thought he should ask about it when they arrive at Pardal Island tomorrow.