Water Magician-Chapter 640: Energetic No.2-kun

Editor: Tseirp

Time: present.

Ryo and Abel slipped into a private room at a nearby teahouse, together with Friendship Token No. 2-kun.

The letter from Prince Ryun that No. 2-kun had brought was spread out and read by the two of them.

It contained a detailed account of the situation surrounding Prince Ryun’s faction, the capital, and the Emperor.

And at the end…

“A request to rescue the Emperor, huh.”

“My goodness…”

Abel’s face grew troubled, but for some reason, a pleased expression crept across Ryo’s face.

Naturally, Abel reacted to that expression with a puzzled, suspicious look.

“Why are you pleased, Ryo?”

“Huh? I—I’m not pleased, really.”

Ryo stammered when Abel pointed it out.

“The Emperor has treated us well, and it’s a terrible thing if someone like him has been kidnapped! We must do everything in our power to fulfill this request! ”

“I agree entirely… but you haven’t said anything about your expression.”

“My expression is one of resolve! I will carry out this request to the letter!”

“I see.”

Abel gave Ryo a dubious look and nodded, clearly not believing him.

While they talked, Abel had already thought of the reason.

“You’re not thinking this is some kind of classic ‘heroic rescue’ trope, are you?”

“Of course not! I’m not thinking anything like that at all!”

And yet—Ryo had been thinking just that.

He’d convinced himself that the long-awaited light-novel-style ‘rescue a bigshot’ plot had finally arrived.

Still, he also understood that Prince Ryun, the princess, and everyone else were likely suffering greatly, so openly rejoicing at the emergence of a trope would be wrong.

So he tried to hide it.

He thought he had hidden it…

Maybe he hadn’t hidden it at all, but he resolved not to say it out loud.

That said, if his eagerness translated into helping people… then it wasn’t something to blame him for.

…Probably.

“What else was in there? An order for the Tenth Ship and an explanatory supplement… and a metal plate? An alchemy tool?”

Abel examined the card-shaped alchemical device.

“That’s the one Commander Tin of the Imperial Guards had. It looks like it can tell where the Emperor is.”

Ryo fiddled with the instruction sheet as he explained.

It seemed to be able to determine distance and direction.

Ryo wondered if something related to this alchemy tool might have been embedded in the Emperor’s body.

“Commander Tin must be filled with regret.”

“He couldn’t protect his lord. But if they were up against phantomkins, it’s understandable. Knowing they couldn’t win and would only get in the way, he probably entrusted this tracking alchemy tool to us.”

“Well, yes.”

Ryo nodded at Abel’s words.

Being expected to succeed but lacking the strength to deliver… that stings the most.

“We’ll make this succeed for the people waiting for them.”

“Indeed. If we strike at the phantomkins’ stronghold, there might even be a chance to defeat the Phantom King.”

After Ryo fully infused No. 2-kun’s magic stone with mana, he wrote down the acceptance of the request and other details on paper and handed it to the Friendship Token No. 2-kun.

“No. 2-kun, I’m counting on you.”

No. 2-kun took the papers without a word and ran off.

Ryo and Abel watched him go.

“No. 2-kun’s expression was full of drive.”

“…I see.”

Ryo said with a look like a parent watching a child grow, and Abel nodded with an expression that was hard to read.

After all, Abel couldn’t tell a golem’s expression at all.

But Abel had another question and decided to ask it.

“How did that golem know where you were?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, we stayed in the capital a long time because we attended the ceremony, but still—how did it know to come here? We ought to have gone to the port town Hoi An and already set sail.”

“Oh, that’s because I made No. 2-kun.”

“Huh?”

Abel couldn’t keep up with Ryo’s far-too-brief explanation.

“I mentioned before that the thing I made has an invisible line of mana connecting it to me, right?”

“I remember you saying something like that. That you could thaw an ice coffin no matter how far away it was.”

“That’s it. Because I made No. 2-kun, something like that mana line is connected.”

“You said that the magic power comes from the magic stones embedded in it, right?”

“Yes. I don’t think I’m actually supplying mana to it now—at least, probably not—but the connection seems to be there. I don’t know the exact details either, but I think No. 2-kun found my location along that line.”

There were still many conjectures even for Ryo.

If you asked him precisely what a ‘mana line’ was, he couldn’t be confident in his answer…

“There’s so much we still don’t know about magic and mana.”

“Being a magician is tough.”

“Isn’t it hard for swordsmen, too? Mastering the way of the sword must be difficult. It’s the same for anything.”

“Maybe so.”

They rode horses borrowed from the palace straight to the port town of Hoi An.

They had intended to travel more slowly and sightsee a bit, but circumstances wouldn’t allow it.

They completed the formalities at something like the port bureau, returned the horses, and headed to the Darwei Public vessel No.10, which was moored there.

The Tenth Ship was already prepared and ready to depart at any time.

In fact, when the two boarded, the final checks began.

“Ryo-san, Abel-san, I’m glad you’re safe.”

Captain La Wu said as he shook hands with them.

Ryo and Abel tilted their heads in puzzlement.

“Glad you’re safe”? What did he mean by that?

“The hospitality in the Atinjo Grand Duchy was splendid, you know.”

Ryo, wanting to avoid diplomatic misunderstandings, politely replied that they had indeed received proper hospitality.

Captain La Wu realized his earlier words had been misleading.

“My apologies. It wasn’t the Grand Duchy—something happened back in Darwei proper.”

“Oh? How do you know that?”

“Actually, someone came asking yesterday.”

As Captain La Wu said this, the door to the stern captain’s cabin opened and a man stepped out.

“Inspector Li Wu?”

Ryo called out in surprise.

Abel was surprised beside him.

Ryo suddenly thought of something.

“Aren’t Captain La Wu and Inspector Li Wu’s names similar?”

“Yes. Li is the much older brother.”

“I see—La is the much younger brother, then.”

That seemed to be the case.

Inspector Li Wu had been asked by Secretary Shau of the Censorate to deliver something to Duke Rondo.

Having accepted the errand, he didn’t know where to go, so he traveled south along the coast and learned that the Darwei Tenth Vessel was docked in this port town of Atinjo.

And sure enough, the captain of the Tenth Vessel was his younger brother, La.

Brothers are brothers, even if they haven’t spoken in a long time.

When he checked, he found they had been waiting for Duke Rondo.

“Still, Inspector Li Wu arrived quickly.”

“Quick? No, it took about two weeks from when I left the capital Hanlin…”

“Oh… I see.”

Ryo had assumed it was coordinated with Prince Ryun and the others, but that wasn’t the case.

Secretary Shau had moved before Prince Ryun’s diplomatic corps returned to the capital and apparently wanted to hand something to Ryo.

“Here you are.”

Inspector Li Wu handed Ryo a bundle of papers.

About fifty sheets—inside a bag treated with waterproofing alchemy.

“Information on the Choouchi Empire pulled from General Yun?”

Ryo read the title and blurted out in surprise.

Abel leaned over to peer at it from the side.

At that moment, a report arrived for Captain La Wu.

“All preparations for departure are complete.”

“Understood.”

Captain La Wu turned to the three of them.

“Let’s set sail and head north first. You’ll have plenty of time to read them while underway.”

He spoke as if he already knew exactly where they needed to go.

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