The Dive: Birth of a Wordsmith (46 page)

“
Aye, aye, cap. Plot
us a course!” She grinned to me, and I began tracing out a
careful course, making sure to avoid any of the smaller islands along
the way. “You going to be a recluse again until we get there?”

“
Nah, I was thinking
about summoning Dariel a bit early if that’s alright. And then
I’ll call Lilith once it gets dark.”

“
She still demanding
a flashy entrance?”

“
Yup.”

Denise sighed and shook
her head. “Of course she is. Well, at least that is your
embarrassment to put up with.”

“
Hey!” I
laughed, and we moved out to the main deck. “Well, let’s
do this. Summon Dariel.” Extending my hand towards the center
of the ship, the white portal appeared as it had in the forest
before. Then, wearing a flowing green dress, Dariel stepped through
with a smile.

“
Had a feeling you’d
be calling soon.” She laughed when I was about to ask why she
was all dressed up.

“
You’ve been
scrying on me, haven’t you?”

“
Maybe just a bit?”

I chuckled, shaking my
head. “I got the demon queen listening in on me, and you
scrying on me. Really, what about my life is that interesting?”

“
You know, ever
since you visited and helped us, we’ve had a few other
foreigners show up. None of them were as polite or helpful as you. I
daresay that itself is pretty interesting.”

“
Yeah, yeah. Well,
Lilith will be joining us tonight. I take it you are free for a
while?”

“
Indeed. As long as
I am not gone from my people for too long, I can return at my
leisure.”

“
Cool. Well, welcome
aboard the Unity. I take it you have seen a bit about it already.”

“
If you are
referring to your encounter with the pirates, yes. That was quite a
fearsome display of power.” She smiled to me, and then took a
glance at the various cannons. “You really operate this ship by
yourself, huh?”

“
Yeah, it has an
enchantment that lets it run on my mana. You’d probably be able
to do the same thing.”

“
Maybe, but I don’t
know the first thing about sailing. Aside from my scrying, this is
the first time I have seen such a large amount of water.”

“
Really? Well, we’ve
got a few hours left until dark, and the ship doesn’t need any
attention to run. So, feel free to relax for a while. Unless another
pirate shows up. Or a sea monster. Apparently that’s not too
rare out here.”

“
Ooh, really?”
Dariel brightens up at the mention of this. “That sounds
exciting!”

“
You are very bored
back at the village, aren’t you?”

“
That obvious, huh?”

“
Just a bit.”
I smirked to her, taking a look around.

“
So, I hear you have
a new project you’re working on?”

“
Oh, right. I’m
trying to figure out advanced enchanting on my own. Lilith’s
idea, since I am usually hiding my full power she wants me to be able
to figure this stuff out without help.”

“
Sounds like a good
idea. I’d offer to help anyways if I was good at enchanting.”

I shook my head and
laughed. “Thanks, but I really want to figure this out for
myself. It feels a bit good to work out the information the hard
way.”

“
True. Besides, this
is like inventing it yourself. You might even make some new methods
nobody else has before.”

“
Maybe. So far all
I’ve figured out is how to drain an enchantment and transfer it
to another item. My current formula won’t allow me to put two
enchantments on the same object, or even one complicated
enchantment.”

“
Well, that’s
progress at least! And you’ve only been at it a couple days,
right? You’re already moving pretty quickly.”

“
Yeah, but I need to
figure this out. Oh, by the way, have you heard that I’m not
the only foreigner mage among the humans anymore?”

“
There was a rumor,
but I thought it might have just been you at a different part of your
travels.”

Nodding, I decided to see
what she knew about it. “So, what’d you hear?”

“
Just that there was
someone among the humans who graduated the mage college and began to
call himself the Frozen Flame.”

“
Huh…
probably refers to the spell he used to pass. I had thought about
doing something like that, but at the time I only knew earth element
magic.”

Dariel nodded, “I
haven’t heard anything else about him since then. And that
rumor came by just over a week ago, when some foreigners were talking
about it as they passed through.”

“
I see, so it’s
already spread that far. Thanks for letting me know.”

“
Is it important?”
Dariel tilted her head curiously when she asked.

“
Maybe. I’m
having Lilith investigate the matter so that I can talk to him. Since
I’m not the only one anymore, might be nice.”

“
I see. Well, I
still look forward to meeting her. If you trust her, then surely she
is not as bad as demons are typically understood.”

“
Right. Though I’ll
warn you ahead of time… she’s a succubus.” I
grinned a bit, and Dariel laughed.

“
Is that so? Well,
that’s a shock. Who would have imagined a demon of lust would
rule over them.”

I chuckled, knowing that
this would be a good way to tease Lilith. “I know, right?”

We continued talking like
this for a few hours, the ship maintaining its course until the sun
went down. Dariel, Denise, and I all gathered on the main deck to
call the demon queen. Once again, I warned her that I had to do a
flashy entrance for Lilith or else she wouldn’t appear. Dariel
smiles like it was an inside joke, and Denise just shakes her head
resignedly.

As I began calling her, I
felt the mental ping from the detection crystal, and figured that she
was coming early to watch her ‘summoning’. “Queen
in the darkness, may my words reach your ears. Hear my call and come
forth, display your awesome might. Arise, Demon Queen Lilith!”
I tried to sound as enthusiastic as I could, but knowing that she was
already around and still making me put on this show for her was a tad
embarrassing.

“
Hmm, I’ll
give it an eight for the call, but only a three for spirit. Put more
feeling into it next time~!” A web of shadows broke out in
front of me, spiraling into the air and then coalescing into the form
of a beautiful woman with small horns and blood red eyes, a thin tail
swishing back and forth behind her. As when she first appeared, she
was wearing her black armor that hid only the bare minimum of her
body.

At the same time, beside
the boat was a giant waterspout, and a massive monster emerged when
it cleared, causing the boat to shake a bit. The monster easily
towered over the ship despite only its head and neck emerging from
the water. It had two columns of three blue eyes, and various
tentacles sprouting from its head and neck like a mane of hair.
According to my Worldlore, the creature was called a Turisas.

Noticing the boat shake,
Lilith looked behind her and let out a happy sound. “I take it
back, ten on the spirit! Really, the sea monster is a great touch!”
She claps her hands like applauding a grand performance, while I just
stare at her.

“
So… he’s
not with you?”

“
What are you
talking about? It’s obvious that thing isn’t a demon.”
She turned to look at least a hundred meters long rose up from the
sea, rising directly above the ship. Going purely on instinct, I
activated the ship’s barrier and put as much power into it as I
could manage. “Seriously, all that time you spent in Hell, and
you can’t even tell when something isn’t one of us?”
Lilith, apparently oblivious to all of this, just kept talking
casually.

I had expected the barrier
to at least provide some resistance to the tentacle, but it shattered
on impact, sending a recoil into my mind that seemed like a sudden
headache. Forced to close my eyes from the pain of the barrier being
crushed, I half expected to hear the crash of the ship being
destroyed next. When that didn’t happen, I slowly opened my
eyes to see why not.

“
You okay, Jin?”
Lilith asked me, still talking as if nothing was the matter. However,
now she held a flaming red chain in her hand that ran straight into
the Turisas’s head. It didn’t seem to be doing any
damage, but its movement had completely frozen. “Sorry, looks
like this guy responded to my presence. I’ll take care of him
for you.” She smiled, and then suddenly disappeared.

The only way I was able to
follow her movement was by watching the chain that went with her, and
saw that it now led up to the crow’s nest, which was just a few
meters away from the previously attacking tentacle. “Now, now.
Big boys like you should know when it’s best to turn around and
leave. Don’t you know that being too rough is unpopular?”
She hopped into the air and smacked the tentacle aside with an open
palm, causing it to whip around and fall into the sea again.

“
That’s
better. Don’t worry, I don’t hate guys like you, so I
won’t kill you this time. But those humans down there are with
me. I suppose the elf too, now.” Lilith smiled down to Dariel,
who shuddered a bit after the massive display of strength. “However,
I do have to punish you.” She gripped the chain again and
raised it up. “How about I send you flying for now?”

As if responding to her
will, the sea monster rose further above the water. What I thought
was the neck was really just its body, with it having a dozen of
those giant tentacles extending from the base of it. And it didn’t
stop rising until the entire creature was hovering above the sea,
dangled on that thin chain coming out of its head like a fish caught
on a hook. But still, it didn’t-- or couldn’t-- offer any
resistance.

Finally, Lilith jumped at
it, almost vanishing from sight again. When she reached the creature,
she did a spinning kick in midair, striking the Turisas on the head
with the flat of her foot. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for
the poor sea monster as it was literally sent flying beyond the
horizon from that one attack.
So… she
really is the queen of all demons…

Beside me, Denise was
wide-eyed with awe and respect after witnessing the display of
strength. Dariel, on the other hand, was pale as she looked at me as
if to say ‘She’s the succubus right?’. Then Lilith
landed back on the deck and sighed dramatically.

“
Sorry, guys like
him tend to show up when I’m around. Hope I didn’t cause
you any trouble.” She smiled to the three of us, unable to read
the atmosphere.

“
It’s…
alright. I guess that kind of strength is to be expected from you,
huh?”

“
Right! I keep
telling you I’m really the queen, but no, you don’t
believe me!” Lilith laughed a bit, shaking off some water that
had fallen on her from her brief melee with the monster. “So,
are you going to introduce me to your elf lady friend?”

Dariel coughed a bit, and
began speaking. “Oh, uh, my apologies. I am Dariel Vinehaven,
high priestess of the Vinehaven clan of elves.” She curtsies in
her dress, and Lilith repeats the motion. Though, it doesn’t
look the same when you do it in armored underwear.

“
Pleasure to meet
you. I am the Demon Queen Lilith. I take it we’re both friends
of Jin here?” She smiled towards me, and Dariel confirmed it.
“Then let’s get along, okay? I already had to do
something rather brutish in front of you all, so please forgive me.”

Denise shook her head
rapidly at that statement. “That was awesome! I thought for
sure we were done for! I’ve never seen anyone that strong!”
Lilith blushed a bit from Denise’s compliments, but didn’t
retort.

“
Out of curiosity,
what was that spell you used on it just now?” I decided to ask,
since the tense atmosphere had been mostly cleared.

“
Oh, that? I don’t
think you’d want to learn it. It’s the enslavement spell,
Infernal Chains. It can bind anyone to your will, as long as they are
weaker than you. You don’t seem like the type to enjoy that
kind of thing so I never bothered to show you.”

“
No, that’s
alright, I understand. Thank you for answering my question. Did you
bring the items I asked for?”

“
You mean stuff to
practice enchanting on? Yeah, I brought some rings, a couple swords,
and a few necklaces. Also mixed in some magic items since you seem to
be working on removing magic from items as well~.” Lilith
grinned to me, shamelessly confirming that she has been listening to
anything I say when I’m in a dark area.

“
I swear, both of
you like to spy on me…”

“
Oh, Jin, with your
personality there will be a lot of people watching you eventually.”
Dariel nodded after Lilith said this. It seemed that they found a
point in common after all.

“
I get it. And,
about that other matter?”

“
The mage? I
actually found him right away, but figured I’d wait until I
visited to tell you.” Lilith laughed lightly as she continued.
“He goes by Xiao, the Frozen Flame of Eastal. Well, lately he’s
just been calling himself Xiao to reduce attention. That guy didn’t
have your foresight and immediately announced himself after
graduating. Even claimed that he was the first one, though some of
the established mages refuted that.”