Manuke FPS - Chapter 260

Summer blues are hittin’

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It’s the day I depart to Labyrinth Island. In addition to food and supplies, Malta-san prepared all other necessities for traveling to the Filtonia Islands Alliance. It takes about two weeks by ordinary merchant ship to reach Big Ship, the gateway to the Filtonian Islands Alliance. I don’t think it will take that long because I’ll be sailing on a U-Boat Type VII, but unlike last time――I won’t have anyone to follow.

Malta-san showed me the nautical chart used by the Marida Company Shipyard, and I did save it as a screenshot, but… to be honest, there wasn’t much information that a layman like me could glean from that chart, let alone knowing how to actually read it.

Even so――if I rely on the solitary islands and reefs marked on the chart, and if I use the small unmanned reconnaissance aircraft RQ-11 Raven to find passing ships, I should be able to somehow navigate the open sea.

In the worst case scenario, I could always make landfall on a suitable small island and teleport back to Amar.

“Are you ready, Schwartz-san?”

“Yes, Malta-san. All preparations are complete, including the emergency evacuation plan. I’ll sail slowly and rest on a small island in the south.”

“As expected, always so well organized.”

“Schwartz, don’t overdo things, alright? Don’t forget to contact us regularly!”

“I know, Ashley.”

It was late at night in Amar harbor―― the blue moonlight was reflected on the surface of the sea, making the blue sea glitter, illuminating the numerous anchored ships fantastically.

Ashley and Malta-san were the only two people who had come to see me off. Roy and Rachel of the “Lily of the Valley” were a little further away, but these two were here as Ashley’s escorts.

I took out a disposable lifeboat from my inventory and tossed it to the sea. As soon as it touched the seawater, air started to fill and expand it, transforming it into an orange rubber boat. I jumped off the quay into the lifeboat and looked up at Ashley and Malta-san――.

“Wish me luck!”

I raised my hand lightly as I said so, while pressing the ignition button of the outboard motor. The sound of the spinning rotor overlapped with Ashley’s and Malta-san’s voices, shouting “Be careful on your way!”.

Once I entered the open sea, I switched from the lifeboat to the U-boat. Then began the sailing trip by heading south.

I navigated underwater during the majority of the day, then shifted to surface navigation to recover the drained battery. During those times, I would fly the RQ-11 Raven for recon. The sea swayed quietly without being rough, and the dots on the radar that indicated something swimming in the sea moved away as if to avoid the huge U-boat. The voyage to the Filtonian Islands Alliance was actually rather uneventful.

Thus the days spent in the submarine were pretty much boring. During the first few days of the voyage, there were many things to do, such as confirming supplies, maintaining firearms, and checking the amount of ammo stored in the inventory. But if that’s all I have to do, then it’ll be over in no time.

I ended up having too much time on my hands, so I decided to take the U-boat to the surface level, went up to the conning tower and headed outside.

“Phew, it’s hot…”

Leaning my back on the upper deck of the conning tower and looking up at the brightly shining sun, I involuntarily muttered those words. This world is just like my original world――a spherical planet. The Filtonian Islands Alliance is probably situated near the equator line.

Activating the TSS and accessing the avatar customization, I picked a sailor-like clothing that is fitting for tropical countries.

“I think there was something like that in the ghost pirate costume set pack――Found it.”

The newly selected costume is a pirate sailor style consisting of a white shirt, light trousers, and a sleeveless jacket. It’ll be difficult to conceal an ARF assault rifle in this getup, but a handgun can be carried with a shoulder holster.

While moving around the upper deck of the conning tower, I checked the comfort of my new clothes. All I could hear was the sound of the U-boat turbine and the waves. While sweating with the sea breeze caressing my cheeks, I remembered the tropical countries I visited in the previous world――Southeast Asian countries I visited at the FPS World Tournament.

“It was hot over there too… huh?”

At that time, I saw a black shadow in the blue sky looking up. Black――something big, an ellipse with wings on the left and right sides, and a faint tail――. The moment I thought I could see it, it disappeared beyond the pure white clouds. It was flying higher than the clouds.

Something was flying far above the U-boat――the moment I realized that, the sweat that ran down my cheeks absorbed the heat from my body, and a chill ran through my body.

“Rapid dive!”

It might seem like I was talking to no one, but it was the command for the U-boat to submerge. I immediately slid back inside and activated multiple windows of monitors via TSS. The image of the periscope, and the map information of the current location. Also, I displayed the nautical chart that has been mapped so far and checked what is in the direction where the black flying object flew.

“Unexplored territory huh… but it really exists… a dragon.”

The silhouette of the black object that disappeared beyond the clouds could only remind me of one thing――the strongest monster in this world; the dragon, known as the ruler of the surface world.

From the black silhouette, all I could tell was that it was a Western dragon type with a fairly large body, four legs, and large wings. According to the materials I found in the general guild museum, it is a rare monster that only a few have been confirmed to inhabit the continent of Orlando where I fell.

Dragons have a habit of building their nests in places where mana is more concentrated, and it seems that they also spread mana themselves to attract magical beasts to feed on. Is it also heading for the labyrinth island?

However, the traditional magic stone hunting method of the Filtonia Islands Alliance is to intentionally run the labyrinth out of control and hunt the overflowing magic beasts and demi-humans. If it becomes the cause of summoning greater threats, it is too dangerous to become a traditional culture.

Then, did that dragon just happen to be flying over the sea?

While getting lost in the labyrinth of thoughts with no answer, the U-boat continued to sail south.

It was 12 days after leaving the seaside city of Amar that I finally caught sight of the port city of Big Ship, the gateway to the Filtonian Islands Alliance. Considering the speed of the U-boat on the water, it took too much time, which was the result of my anxiety at the time of departure.

I lost my landmark in the middle of the ocean and continued sailing by relying only on the direction, but it was too difficult for an amateur like me to navigate long distances.

A normal sailor would probably figure out their current location from the position of the moon or stars shining in the night sky. But in my case, the only thing I could do was to fly the RQ-11 Raven to look for ships sailing in the direction of Filtonia. I was never really sure of my exact location.

As a result, the latter half of the voyage was spent diving behind large, slow-moving merchant ships.

The Big Ship, which consists of 200 large and small ships that float on the sea like a single island, is recognized as a country within the Filtonian Islands Alliance. However, even if it is called a country, it does not mean that it has a monarchy like the Kingdom of Kurtmerga. It seems that most are governed by the beastmen, and that each of the islands that make up the allied nations has a similar system of government.

While monitoring Big Ship’s situation with a periscope, I quietly waited for the passage of time――for the darkening of the night.

After the lights on the ship had dimmed and the city had fallen asleep, I boarded the lifeboat from the U-boat and approached the stern of the large merchant ship that I had been tailing.

The immigration inspection for the Filtonian Islands Alliance is not that strict. As a trading port, trade with the Orlando continent in the north is the main source of income, so businessmen are allowed to enter the capital if they present a guild card and a merchant ship crew certificate.

At the entrance examination, I plan to present the guild card of the commercial guild as “Daikokuya Schwartz”, but without a boarding permit, I will be considered a stowaway. This was resolved by asking Malta-san to prepare a crew certificate for the Marida Merchant Ship, but it was still necessary to blend in the waves of people only at the moment of entering the capital.

Then, early in the morning, when the large merchant ship was docked at the Big Ship dock, I boarded the ship and headed to the immigration office along with the triumphant disembarking sailors.