699 - - 21-11 Marcia in distress
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There is an uninhabited island named Io Island in the eastern part of the southern tip of the Elias Peninsula. This island is used as a turnaround point for the annual Golem Boat Race.
There is another uninhabited island further to the east, called Tru Island.
Marcia has been testing the new ship from the beginning of December from her base on the island of Trieu.
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She had been doing this all along in order to experience firsthand the stability and comfort of the open sea, and to improve where improvements were needed.
"There's hardly anyone going beyond Io, Arrow, so we'll be careful!"
"Yes, Miss Marcia."
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The Arrow, improved by Jin, speaks fluently and is now Marcia's assistant in both name and reality.
"I heard that in other countries, they are building ships larger than 30 meters. I can't lose to them, can I?
With these words in her mouth, Marcia steers the ship.
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At one point, she is working on improving the rudder.
"Well, the rudder doesn't work very well. Maybe we should increase the rudder area a little more.
At other times, she reviews the balance of the hull.
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"If we use both hulls for storage, one empty and the other full, it will still lean a little. ....... I guess I need to think about how to stack them."
And at other times, he makes improvements to the cabins.
"Well, at least I can take a nap. Then I'd like to be able to fold down the backs of the seats. ......"
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Thus, Marcia repeatedly tested the new ship and improved its maneuverability, load capacity, and comfort.
"...... is, oh, I'm sure Jin would get it done in no time."
It will take some time for Marcia to fix it by hand. Recently, Bacchus has been helping her, which has made things a lot easier, but it is still a world of difference from the time when Jin was around.
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"Yes, this is a passing grade!
After several revisions, the test run was completed. Finally, Marcia was satisfied with the performance.
The maximum speed is 20 km/h. The payload is 3 tons. Capacity for two people, four in an emergency (except for Golem's Arrow).
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Marcia is happy and, as usual, goes to the island of Trieu and anchors there.
The stars are beautiful tonight. The waves are calm. I think I'll make a break for it and report back to the mayor ...... or maybe even the lord."
Marcia, covered with a blanket and leaning back in a chair in the cabin, was soon asleep, looking at the sky through the window.
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It was the morning of the 25th when something unusual happened.
There is a sea-dwelling monster called a Bowall. They resemble whales, the largest of which can grow up to 20 meters long, and the average size is 10 meters.
They mainly live in the northern seas, but on rare occasions, some of them migrate southward on the ocean currents. They then return to the northern seas.
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They are gentle demons (basically, they consume only free magic element (ether)), but when they see a large floating object, they mistake it for an enemy and have the habit of striking it with their bodies. One of them was migrating to the vicinity of Tru Island.
At dawn, it meets up with Marcia's new ship as it leaves Tru Island for Potrock.
The bowsall that emerged from the surface of the sea was enormous. It quickly disappears back into the water.
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"Whoa! What is that thing?
"Lady Marcia, it's a demon! Let's get out of here!
Marcia is startled, Arrow shouts. Arrow puts everything he has into the pedal.
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But alas, the drive is far too fragile compared to the one Jin had built.
Both of the belts that drive the water wheel have broken.
There was no time to replace them.
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"Marcia, I will push," says Arrow.
Arrow says. He decides that he has no choice but to get in the water and push the boat.
"Oh, yes. Arrow, please!"
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At this point, Marcia realized that in order to go out to sea, she should have anti-demon weapons and a backup propulsion system, but it was already too late.
And the eight-meter ship, even the Arrow, was a little too big to push around.
"Whoa!"
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Bowall's body slammed into the ship.
Even though the ship was a new model, it was basically made of wood, and could not withstand the force.
"Whoa! Arrow!
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Lady Marcia!"
The stern section of the ship was blown off by the first body blow. Naturally, the Arrow is also thrown overboard.
The second blow shattered the entire hull. Marcia was thrown into the air and fell into the sea. She suffered a laceration on her right thigh from a piece of the hull.
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The impact and the pain caused her to pass out.
Calmed by the crushed floating debris, Bowall left the area as if nothing had happened.
Although the Arrow is waterproof, it is not designed for underwater use. Arrows made of ordinary materials have a specific gravity much greater than that of water.
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This means that the Arrow will sink by itself.
Furthermore, the left arm was broken by the first body blow, and seawater entered inside the Arrow.
This caused her to lose even more buoyancy and she was submerged in the sea at a depth of several tens of meters.
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Meanwhile, Marcia was still in the water.
She was bleeding from a laceration on her right thigh and was swept away by the current, turning the surrounding sea vermilion.
Fortunately, the laceration was rather shallow and the bleeding stopped little by little. It is also fortunate that he clung to a large piece of debris unconsciously when he fell into the sea, thus avoiding drowning.
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Portoa town.
Jin runs out of the store and goes behind the building. Of course, Reiko is with him.
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Jin takes out a manacam from his pocket and contacts the old man. Reiko puts up a barrier around him to prevent his voice from leaking out.
"Mr. Oo-kun, I would like to confirm something. How is the covert task force (SP) that was attached to Marcia?
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"Well, I knew it. ......"
He could not follow Marcia out to sea, let alone on land.
"You were late in equipping the force field generator ......."
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If she had been equipped with a force field generator, she would have been able to fly or go underwater and secretly follow him, but there is no point in saying that now.
"That would be ......."
Jin thought that if Arrow was with him, if he could locate Arrow, he could find Marcia, and that's when he thought.
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"Arrow!
Reiko spotted Arrow coming out of the water.
It had been about four hours since they had encountered Bowall, and they had walked 60 kilometers back to the bottom of the sea.
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He had decided that with his damaged body, he would not be able to swim around and search for Marcia, so he came back as fast as he could.
"Creator(s),Jin-sama ......"
Arrow crawled ashore and collapsed.
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"Reiko, take Arrow ......."
Jin was about to say, when Rodrigo, who had come outside looking for Jin, appeared. Reiko quickly releases the barrier.
"Jin-dono! That golem!
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"Mr. Rodrigo ......"
Reiko holds Arrow in her arms and Jin returns to Marcia's workshop.
"This is ......"
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"It's the Arrow! What in the world?
Naturally, Jeremy and Buckaroo were astonished. The Arrow, which should have been able to answer them, was malfunctioning due to overwork.
Jin decides to give it some first aid.
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He opened the chest, poured out the seawater that had gotten inside, and washed it with fresh water. After drying it well, Reiko gives him some mana.
The consumption of mana temporarily exceeded the output of the ether converter, and the internal magic circuit was stopped.
"Thank you, Creator."
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Arrow acknowledged Jin and thanked him.
"Don't thank me. What's more important is what's going on? Where's Marcia?
"Yes, Marcia is at ......."
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Arrow told the whole story.