Chapter 52: Ocean Speed Record

It’s hard to make a good first impression, and technically, this is my second impression, but I still had an idea when I woke up. Make bacon for everyone – I mean, who doesn’t like bacon?

I show up outside the adventurers' guild before first light to find Norman and Jack standing like statues in front of the door.

“Hey, good morning gentlemen!” I call to them on my approach.

Both turn around and give me a small wave. They look sleepy.

“I brought food if you’re hungry,” I say and pull a large bag of bacon slices from my bag.

“Oh, I’d eat,” Norman says, but Jack doesn’t react.

I hand Norman the bag and wait for impact.

Crunch

“OH, wow. It’s good, bro, try this,” Norman says and hands Jack the bag.

Jack takes the bacon but chews too quietly for me to hear a crunch. His eyes light up a bit, but he doesn’t say a word.

“Lotta pricks standing around!” a man’s voice shouts to us from up the road.

Spike comes jogging down with a huge grin on his face. He’s got red and black armor on to match his hair today.

“Good morning, Spike,” I say, “I was passing out some food if you’re hungry.”

Spike looks around the gathering as Jack offers him the bag of bacon. He takes the bag and sniffs it before stuffing his face.

CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH

“OHMNOM.. newbie.. you’re in charge of cooking,” he says through a full mouth.

“Fine by me,” I reply flatly.

Spike turns to Norman and Jack.

“You seen the girls?” he asks.

“Not yet,” Norman replies while looking up at the still dark sky, “but the rest of us are a little early.”

“Ah, whatever,” Spike replies and turns to me, “I’ll tell you the basics – I’m our sword, Norman and Jack are shields until it gets dicey, and we need more slashing and Celeste blasts anything that gets close with fire. Seira’s a damn good healer, but her stamina isn’t the best, so don’t get hurt and waste the healing we’ll need on the front line.”

“Got it, where should I stand in your formation?” I ask.

“Hmm,” Spike holds a hand to his chin while thinking, “you’ll be in the rear when we’re in open areas, but Jack will fall to the back in dense terrain.”

It’s not a bad plan. Maybe Spike has more brains than I gave him credit for.

“Good morning guys!” Seira yells to us while walking up the road. Celeste is following her, and the two are matching in purple cloaks.

“The whole crew!” Spike exclaims as he tosses the remaining bacon to the girls, “Eat up, we’re going to give newbie the pack.”

Spike unslings a large bag that’s over his shoulder and opens the top. He walks around to every member of the group, and each person stuffs it with travel gear. By the time they’re done, the pack is larger than Seira.

“Sio, it’s all packed,” Celeste says softly while tying the top shut.

I heave it over my shoulders and adjust the strings to find a comfortable center of gravity. It’s heavy, but I could still break the sound barrier in a sprint with it on.

“All se-“ I start to say while turning to the group, but they’re looking at me funny, “is something wrong, everyone?” I ask.

“Is it too heavy?” Seira asks with kind eyes.

“Nope, it’s fine. Should we get going?” I brush off her concern, but everyone is still looking at me a bit weirdly. Maybe the last carrier was out of shape.

Spike leads us out of town and towards a small port. There are several smaller fishing vessels and a separate dock with signage identifying it as adventurers' guild property. We board a small sailing vessel and set off as light breaks over the horizon. Jack takes the wheel at the back while Spike and Seira stand over the bow. I sit on a barrel near the mast of the ship when Celeste walks over to me.

“Thanks for bringing the food this morning,” she says gently while ducking her head in a half-bow. She’s stunning up close. Her dark hair is pure black, and her eyes look red in the morning sun. I can see past her hat from my angle, and her face looks like it’s chiseled from marble, except for her lips, which look softer than the ripest fruit. Oh fck I’m staring.

“Ahem – you’re welcome, Miss Celeste, I hope we can get along for the duration of our trip,” I reply with a smile.

She returns a sweet smile.

“Spike likes you,” she says, “you made him look stupid earlier, so he might respect you too,” she adds with a giggle.

“Oh, I did?” I ask, genuinely confused.

“He likes to prank carriers by having us overload the bag with everything we’d carry on our persons, but you picked it up just fine,” Celeste explains.

“I see, well, I can carry it how it is, so you don’t need to hold anything extra if you don’t want to,” I say.

“Aha, you’re weird, you’ll fit in great,” Celeste says with another giggle before turning to look at the sunrise.

“By the way – how long is the boat trip?” I ask.

“It depends on the wind, but it can take up to two days,” she says. “I’m going to rest below deck,” she continues, then walks towards the stairs behind Jack.

Two days? I bet we can make it in a couple of hours if I slam the sails with wind magic.

I release magic and focus my mind. The sail starts two meters overhead. I create a magic barrier below it to protect us from the wind, then command the energy in the air to create a constant stream of wind magic that blasts the exact area of the sail. The boat lurches and vibrates as it takes off.

“HOLD ON, EVERYONE! WE GOT GOOD WIND!” Spike yells back from the bow as Seira clings to him, and we continue accelerating. This is probably an ocean speed record for this world.

***
“Holy hell, we’re here..” Jack mumbles from the wheel.

I turn and look at him suspiciously. That fucker can talk.

We dock on a sandy beach and start disembarking. Seira looks pretty green. I don’t think the high-speed ride agreed with her.

“Miss Seira, are you feeling alright?” I ask.

“Oh Sio..” she says while barely looking at me, “I’m not the best with boats, and the wind made the ride pretty rough,” she adds, “but please drop the Miss, it’s weird hearing it from someone older than me.”

“Seira, then, let me help,” I say and create a blob of ice-cold water in front of her. She takes a few sips before sticking her whole face into it.

“Ahh, that really did help, thanks, Sio,” she says with a childish smile.

I was going to weave some healing magic while she sipped it, but I guess she just needed to cool off.

Spike, Norman, Jack, and Celeste walk over to join us.

“Feeling alright, Seira?” Spike asks.

“Yes,” she replies, “Sio made me some cold water that really helped.”

Spike glances at me and nods before pulling a small map from his armor. He lays it out on a rock and waves for everyone to look at it with him. It’s not very detailed, but I can see the beach we’re on, the wooded area that’s beyond the beach, and a few Xs marking various locations.

“Last time we got hung up before we could make it to the common camp,” he says in an uncharacteristically serious tone while pointing to an X near the edge of the wooded area, “if we avoid the nests we ran into last time, we can make it there before dark,” he adds, then looks up to the orphan crew.

Everyone nods along with equally serious faces. They’re a weird bunch, but I guess they take this seriously.

Spike takes the lead with Norman at his back. I’m in the middle with Celeste and Seira on either side of me, and Jack is at the rear as we enter the wooded area past the beach. The trees are tall, and the foliage is thick, which doesn’t let much light through. It might be more accurate to say we’re walking through a jungle.