Volume 4 Chapter 16 Rumors
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
When you break a rib, it hurts every time you breathe, even if you’re lying still.
Still… I suppose I can’t complain about the rest.
My bed is closed off by white curtains. The room is bright from sunlight through the windows—the air smells like the sea, saying summer is almost here. A pair of [Magic Lamps] hang from the ceiling, swaying with the gentle roll of the warship. No hum of turbines; we must be sailing under canvas. It’s quiet. Nice.
I think I’m in the medical ward. I’d like to stay here and heal without any more trouble, if possible.
I’ve been through enough lifetimes to earn a rest. While I was drifting in and out, a voice broke through.
”Larry, you awake?” Nikole asked.
”Yeah,” I replied.
”You’ve got a visitor. Can they come in?” she asked.
I said yes. A square jaw poked through the curtains—Kai, the Dwarf. He dove under the bed with a thud.
”Second Lieutenant! I am deeply, deeply sorry!”
The floor shook as he kowtowed. I couldn’t even look down; the safety sheets had me strapped tight.
”It’s fine. Stop that.”
He kept at it for another five minutes until I told him to get back to work. The only way to end it.
Not long after Kai left, Katarina pushed through the curtains.
”What exactly are you doing in here?” she demanded.
”Nursing a broken rib, as you can see.”
”You get a girl all worked up, then you ‘die’ on your own and don’t come back?”
”Camillo barged in. And the boiler was broken. Mission.”
”That’s not what I heard. I heard you attacked a Dwarf girl and got beaten bloody.”
”That Dwarf kid already apologized—it was a misunderstanding,” Nikole cut in.
”Stay out of this, big-boob lady. Just because you got one lucky hit in, don’t act like you’re Larry’s woman.”
”Hah. Who do you think you are, calling my section chief by his first name?”
”I am his senior.”
”From that dump Bizan Magic School? Please.”
”Hmph. A washed-up teacher’s aide who only got where she is because of Larry. Don’t get high and mighty, old hag.”
”O-old… did you call me an old hag?!”
”Hmm. Katarina-squad-leader, visiting a superior officer? Good work,” the Captain remarked, stepping into the room.
Pamela walked in as Katarina stepped out.
”Looking spry, aren’t you?” Pamela noted.
”I almost died just a moment ago, though,” I grumbled.
”Section Chief Larry. The second [Boiler] is broken, too. Hurry up and fix it,” the shut-in [Elf Mage] demanded.
”How are you feeling?” the Captain asked.
”My ribs are broken, I can’t get up, and even breathing hurts. It’s a problem,” I answered.
”I see,” the Captain sighed. “The [Fourth Sage] told me to keep an eye on you, saying you were bound to cause trouble regarding women… but I didn’t think you’d cause it this quickly.”
”Besides, you were doing things against public order and morals in a subordinate’s room,” the [Elf Mage] added.
”Well, what’s done is done. Be careful from now on. If you think a new problem with women is about to come up, come report it to me,” the Captain instructed. “Also, we need you working properly, so don’t be useless.”
Pamela began to undo the sheets binding me.
”Are you… going to do something?” I asked.
”It’ll be fine,” Pamela promised.
A moment later, she drained my [Mana], and my consciousness went black.
When I woke up, I was spread-eagled, my limbs tied to the four corners of the bed.
”Pamela, you couldn’t fix it?”
”You know full well I can’t treat fractures. But there’s a two-hundred-year-old shut-in on board.”
”No. No, no, no.”
”Quiet, brat. I’ve set bones before. Dozens of times,” the Elf Mage said, stepping through the curtain.
”You’ve had two hundred years and only done it dozens of times?”
”Everyone makes mistakes. Now where is the fracture?”
”The sixth and seventh ribs on the right. Near the costal cartilage.”
She placed her hands on my chest. The pain was immediate, white-hot—and through the haze, I felt a familiar brush against my mind.
*Stop it, I need to focus,* she snapped through [telepathy].
”What are you doing?” Nikole screamed, somewhere behind her.
Pamela just sighed. “Men are children, no matter the species.”
”None of your business,” I whispered.
The ship rolled gently, a cradle rocking us. I was on the bed, partitioned by a white curtain, Pamela sitting beside me. Her hand was near my waist.
I reach for her waist.
”Ouch.”
A sharp pain stabs through my chest.
”You’d better not push it for at least another week,” the Elf Mage said, her voice cold and distant.
That shut-in Elf Mage—it seems she couldn’t fully set the bone back together. She had only managed to form a kind of glue made of cartilage.1
”Still, that heals things three times faster than natural recovery,” she added, not looking up.
Is that so? Well, I don’t really want to, but I suppose I should go thank her.
At dinner that day, I met the shut-in Elf Mage in the Dining Hall, but she ignored me, so I just left her be.
* * *
The voyage itself was mostly smooth. On the fifth day after leaving, we passed through the strait between Albion Island and the mainland coast of the Empire of Charle and came out into the Western Ocean.
It wasn’t that nothing happened, though. Ships from the Empire of Charle, the Albion Kingdom, or maybe the Nitrol region followed us, but it never turned into a fight. Maybe feeling bold because of that, the Captain chose to catch the current flowing south along the mainland, and we began sailing close to the coast, close enough to see the towns and the fortresses on the cliffs.
There were no big storms, and we had a pretty peaceful voyage until the sixth day. Katarina had been staying in my room since the previous night, and since she kept clinging to me, I stepped out onto the deck before dawn.
Looking east, the horizon began to turn white, the jagged coastline and the sky clearly separating, and I could even make out the lights of what I thought were houses.
As I stretched, thinking it was a fine morning, I heard voices coming from the hull near the middle deck.
”See, I told you it was about time,” a deckhand shouted.
”Damn, there’s one over there too,” another replied.
Could it be flying fish jumping onto the ship? I looked down at the sea and saw fish drawing white lines through the waves before spreading their pectoral fins to glide.
Amazing. I was genuinely happy to see they actually existed.
Wondering if any were landing on the deck, I headed toward the voices and found a few Deck crewmen gathered.
”Hey, Chief, this ain’t a show,” Pole barked, looking at me with instant hate.
I gave them a casual, friendly salute, but got nothing but spite. Pole had carried a grudge against me since the day I boarded.
”Those are flying fish, aren’t they?” I asked.
Several fish were stuck head-first into a wooden bucket used for drawing seawater.
”What are you doing with them?” I asked.
I ignored Pole and asked everyone.
”Something like this isn’t enough to fill our stomachs,” Pole spat back.
”Maybe you’re using them as bait?” I asked, feeling excited, but they shook their heads.
”It ain’t mahi-mahi. Just shut up and watch,” Pole muttered, starting to set up the line.
”Leave the fishing to Pole. The wind direction will shift once the sun rises, so the rest of you, get to your positions,” groused the deck leader.
As the crew scattered, Pole kept working on the line, attaching it to an oval-shaped piece of wood that looked like a cuttlefish bone.
”A diving board?” I said.
”You know your stuff, for a pervert,” Pole sneered.
”What the hell, why a pervert?” I shot back.
”You laid a hand on the medical team’s Elf Mage and the Engineering department’s Dwarf, didn’t you? I even heard there’s an Amazoness woman involved, too. If someone who tries to lay a hand on every demi-human isn’t a pervert, what is?”
What is he talking about?
”Hey, I haven’t laid a hand on any Dwarf in the Engineering department,” I argued.
”Is that so? So you haven’t yet. Right, you tried to touch the Dwarf and got shoved away, and that’s how you broke your ribs,” Pole countered.
”What I did was just grab Kai’s upper arm to let her rest since she was being worked too hard,” I insisted.
”Hmm, but I doubt anyone will believe that,” Pole mocked.
”Because it’s way more interesting that way,” he laughed.
I wanted to punch him.
”Chief, could you move? I’m about to cast the line,” Pole demanded.
”O-oh, right,” I stammered, stepping away.
I watched them cast the line over the side. The twisted linen thread fed out fast, pulled deeper by the current. A diving board meant surface fish weren’t the target—something was running deep.
Still, what could it be?
The surroundings gradually grew brighter. Five minutes after casting the line, the string suddenly began to pull out.
The line wrapped around the wooden frame was feeding out fast. In the blink of an eye, about a hundred meters of it had played out before it stopped.
The news that there was a bite spread, and the off-duty deck crew gathered. Pole began winding in the white line.
”Alright, give it some slack!” he yelled.
He’d give it slack when the prey started swimming, and then—
”Pull! Pull!” the crew roared.
After thirty minutes of struggle, a tuna about a meter long broke the surface.
They cut off the head right behind the pectoral fins. They scooped out the organs, cut off the tail, too. There were eggs inside, so they kept those aside, but everything else was thrown into the sea—they were about to toss the head, too.
”Wait a second!” I shouted, grabbing the tuna head just in time.
I took it to the kitchen for rock salt. The cook kicked me out before I could sit, so I ate on deck, slicing the collar meat with my knife and popping it in raw with a pinch of salt.
Delicious. Not quite melting—it had only just died—but the fat was rich. It would be perfect with soy sauce and wasabi over rice. But there’s no point wishing.
Next, I moved on to the cheeks and the top of the head. As I ate, a crowd gathered. I offered some, but no one here ate raw fish.
Then one hand raised. A square face pushed through—Kai.
”So the rumors were true after all,” she said coolly.
See? This is why they keep making a fuss.
—
Summary:
Larry recovers in the medical bay after sustaining a broken rib, finding himself caught in an escalating conflict between his senior Nikole and squad leader Katarina. The situation worsens when he is subjected to a painful, unconventional healing procedure by a two-hundred-year-old shut-in Elf Mage, facilitated by Pamela. He loses consciousness during the ordeal and wakes to find Pamela observing him with mild disdain.
The protagonist recovers from an injury while sailing through the Western Ocean, enduring the ship’s gentle motion and the presence of his companions. He encounters a hostile deck crewman named Pole and watches a specialized fishing attempt using a diving board that successfully catches a large tuna. The scene ends with the protagonist eating the raw fish collar on deck, drawing the attention of the crew and Kai as gossip circulates about his perceived perverted behavior.
—
Trivia:
Larry’s ribs were broken while trying to save a sleep-deprived Dwarf from a toxic work environment.
The ship is sailing under canvas as the turbines are currently out of order.
Nikole-senpai has a history of working at an antisocial entertainment facility.
Larry utilizes the Heart Sutra during a moment of intense stress to attempt mental defense.
The protagonist’s ribs were injured after a failed attempt to help the Engineering department’s Dwarf, Kai, which the crew misinterprets as a failed sexual advance.
The ship is passing through the strait between Albion Island and the mainland of the Empire of Charle.
Pole uses a wooden diving board to catch deep-swimming fish, specifically targeting tuna rather than surface fish like mahi-mahi.
The crew on this ship lacks the cultural practice of consuming raw fish, creating social friction when the protagonist tries to share the tuna.
—
Translation Notes:
Notes:
• Nikole – A Level-3 Nikole medical mage and repeat Bizan Magic School graduate, this Izumo health officer, former Student Council VP, and Chulpan’s assistant is Larry’s senior colleague she once hoped to marry. Sporting silver-streaked shoulder-length hair, a rune-etched coat, and a sailor uniform with a vermilion Rhein insignia, she battles alcoholism and a haunted past of club work for tuition.
• Larry – Sammy I (Larry-sama) is a 16-year-old bald, dark-haired protagonist, Grand Duke, and Second Lieutenant/Section Chief. A serious, flustered reincarnated professor, he uses tech and mana to design ships. Despite nursing a broken rib, he butchered a tuna on deck and defended the ship from an overnight Amazoness raid. He maintains heavy influence through his four wives and children.
• Niko – An elderly, dignified former slave, he is a loyal bondservant to the protagonist and the Getys household, helping raise her child alone. As the family’s oldest male servant, he drives carriages and manages groundskeeping, preferring the stable loft. His deep knowledge of the local landscape and the sugar beet business allows him to aid their estate transition with quiet wisdom and steadfast service.
• Kai – A 20-year-old Dwarf sailor and ship’s smithy in the Engineering department. Appearing as a square-jawed, ash-covered young boy with a non-erotic build, this crew member possesses raw mana but lacks fine control. Prone to overly dramatic apologies, he is easily drawn from a crowd by the smell of tuna cheek meat, which he enthusiastically consumes.
• Katarina – Tall and stunning with long limbs, this assertive 30-year-old Flight Section leader is a former Chief Researcher who pilots a twin-engine fixed-wing drone. Prone to getting carried away by an explosion-triggered instability, she serves as Earnest’s telepathic attendant, plans to marry her partner Larry, and maintains a strained yet intimately close relationship with the protagonist.
• Camillo – A tall, silver-haired Elf Mage from Great Norden Island, this introverted Engine Department Chief acts with superiority as the former mentor to the First Sage. Though a hermit who prefers his engine room, peers view him as untrustworthy. Despite his arrogant exterior, this Section Chief secretly struggles to maintain composure under pressure and manage his subordinates.
• Bizan – The Viscount of the Bizan family name is the lord of a territory associated with a popular local fabric shop. He owns a castle built within the Danube River.
• Pamela – A sharp, cynical female slave and Medical Mage in a Corporal’s uniform. Sharing a bed with Larry, this bold medical professional playfully mocks his finances and looks while monitoring his interactions with other women. Known for using arcane techniques to instantly knock out patients or intruders by draining mana, she also previously issued strict movement instructions to Katarina.
• Pam – An escort to the protagonist who is observant and loyal.
• Ho – Ho is the family name of Oliver, a 17-year-old deck crew member and comrade of the protagonist. As a member of the military unit that defended Garao Village, the young man was ultimately murdered during a night watch, slaughtered alongside Marx-san.
• Fourth Sage – The Fourth Sage of Schweilitz is an enigmatic, cool-headed, elderly high-ranking official and advisor who believes diplomacy relies on military might. Aloof yet manipulative, they oversee the protagonist’s life, facilitate status changes, and issue cold, lethal bureaucratic orders while controlling Larry’s housing and insisting on his crucial role in the New Continent mission.
• Fourth – An enigmatic and cunning figure also known as the Fourth Sage. This mysterious entity actively seeks advice from Larry while simultaneously insisting on Larry’s crucial participation in the upcoming New Continent mission.
• Sage – An elderly instructor and mentor who acts as a schemer behind the scenes. He is responsible for recommending Larry for various academic and safety-related positions.
• Al – Alberto (Al), a massive red‑haired man recently wed to Mary, lives near the Dish Basin. He’s a companion of Hans, helping intimidate and rally elders as a villager and leader.
• Mana – A non-commissioned officer and liaison who previously had their mana drained by Larry.
• Pole – A tough-acting deck crew member and crow’s nest scout for visual reconnaissance who has picked fights since the protagonist boarded. An orphaned sailor from the Celt Kingdom military who recently lost a friend to murder, he shows a deeper side after snatching a piece of tuna meat, later opening up to the protagonist in a long conversation about his past.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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