Chapter 5
The long-awaited taste of freedom was fleeting.
No sooner had I escaped the suffocating restraints that once bound me, than my most basic human needs began to rear their heads.
That’s right.
“I’m starving…”
I hadn’t eaten since yesterday! The food and money Ian had packed for me had long since been lost in the storm.
My precious supplies…
I’d used up so much energy trying to survive the storm—exerting myself and even using my powers underwater—that it felt like my stomach was glued to my spine.
“Is there anything to eat around here?”
But all I could see was the endless open sea. The only “food” in sight were the seagulls flying above and the jellyfish chattering beside me.
“…Master, why are you looking at me like that?”
I only glanced at it—just for a moment. I was merely curious if somewhere on the continent, people cooked jellyfish and ate them.
“I’m your precious partner, aren’t I? Be honest with me.”
“Fine.”
Once I told the truth, the little jellyfish flailed in outrage.
“Jellyfish cuisine? That’s barbaric! Absolutely appalling! I worked so hard to drag you to the surface, and this is how you repay me?”
“I know. Thank you, Jelly.”
What a simple creature. One compliment was all it took to turn Jelly’s frown into a proud little grin.
“Hmph. You drank so much seawater, I had to absorb it all. Not to mention I ate some of the nasty things gnawing at you…”
“…You ate what?”
“This and that. It’s one of my abilities.”
…What exactly is this jellyfish?
I looked at it with suspicion, only to receive an oddly defensive reply.
“Not that I eat just anything, you know.”
The way it said that reminded me of a puppy sneaking scraps off the floor and nervously watching its owner’s reaction. I couldn’t help but laugh.
One Week Later
“Master! I think this one’s useful!”
“Really? Anything edible?”
At Jelly’s shout, I reached out and stirred the current. Jelly, swimming toward me from afar, rode the wave with a cheerful spin.
“Nope! Looks like it’s only useful to me!”
“Tch. I was hoping we’d at least find something I could use to start a fire.”
Thus continued the adventures of our two-man team, scavenging debris adrift at sea.
Jelly, who could freely move through the water, took charge of searching. I, still inexperienced with my powers, focused on training my water manipulation while moving the salvage Jelly located.
“Guess it’s dried fish again tonight.”
“At least we have plenty of wooden planks now. I’d say our ‘beggar raft’ is almost worthy of losing the ‘beggar’ title!”
“That still means it’s a raft.”
We took stock of our haul and patched up our precious little raft.
We had survived the first night balancing on a single plank. Since then, we’d managed to repair it enough times to build something passable.
“Master, water’s leaking over here.”
“What? Where—?! It’s sinking! My painstakingly dried fish—!”
…Okay, maybe it was only slightly passable. On the first day, it really was nothing more than a beggar’s raft.
“Whew. At least we didn’t capsize this time!”
“We need to patch this up with today’s materials. Jelly, can you handle it?”
“Of course! Leave it to me, Master!”
Surviving at sea was far harder than surviving on land.
The ever-changing weather and currents. The frigid temperatures at night. The difficulty of making fire in a world surrounded by water. Even just finding food and fresh water was a challenge.
After escaping the ship, I’d nearly died of cold and hunger within the first day.
I’m confident—even the heads of the empire’s five noble houses couldn’t survive a night balancing on a shattered plank.
But I could. I had a very competent jellyfish on my side.
“Alright, I’ll patch the hole here and expand a bit.”
“Good job, good job.”
Jelly stuck itself to the floor and puffed up to plug the leak. Then it slowly split part of its body, and the separated blob gradually transformed into a smooth wooden plank.
“Jelly, you might be the most amazing jellyfish in the world.”
One of Jelly’s abilities was to recreate something it had consumed by splitting its body and mimicking the material.
I wasn’t sure if jellyfish could even have powers, but if I had to name its ability, I’d probably call it something like “Devour” or “Transform.”
“Only now do you realize? You won’t find another jellyfish like me in any sea. Treat me well, Master.”
“Uh-huh. You’re the best.”
I gave a thumbs-up and picked up the now-smaller Jelly.
Every time it used its power, its body shrank. The more it ate, the bigger it grew, but it had to eat quite a lot to regain enough mass to use its ability again.
“Well, no more leaks on the floor. No threats in the area. Should we eat?”
“Sounds good, Master. After patching the raft, I feel like I’m drying out like a land coral.”
I picked up some dried fish from yesterday. Jelly could eat anything, so it didn’t even need dried food.
“This fresh… mmph anchovy is delicious! You should try one, Master!”
“…No thanks.”
Flap. Flap.
I turned away from the twitching, still-alive anchovy in its tentacle.
Catching fish using my powers wasn’t that hard. But eating them alive? That took courage I didn’t have.
“You’re so picky. No wonder you’re all skin and bones. Just look at your arms.”
“I just lost some muscle from not exercising, that’s all. And what if I get parasites from eating raw fish?”
“Mmph. Humans sure have a lot to worry about.”
“You’re the one who eats whatever you want…”
I munched on a brittle piece of dried fish. My surroundings were nothing but fish in the sea, the beating sun, and the cool breeze.
With no fire, drying fish was my only cooking option. I’d done it based on vague memories from books—scraping scales with a shell, crudely deboning and salting the flesh before drying it in the sun. Thankfully, the weather helped.
“For water, we’ll use what we collected from yesterday’s rain…”
“Master, why don’t you just go to land and buy supplies?”
“You know I can’t. I’m being hunted.”
By now, the empire must be in a frenzy trying to find me. Returning to land would be walking straight into my grave.
“Lucky for us, this sea is called the Sea of Silence or the Silent Waters or whatever.”
“Yeah. Humans seem scared of this place.”
After a week adrift, I’d learned a few things.
This sea was known as the Sea of Silence.
It looked calm on the surface, but ships that passed through often capsized due to unseen currents or accidents. Veteran sailors mocked any captain who dared steer a ship through here.
And I hadn’t seen a single person this entire week.
“That guy said something similar, didn’t he…”
“The sea route to the prison island is treacherous, so most ships sail a wide arc to avoid certain regions.”
Jelly popped up beside me as I murmured, chewing on fish.
“Who are you talking about?”
“Just… someone weird.”
“Isn’t that you, Master? Why are you going through all this trouble when you can control water so freely?”
It was true. Even with my limited skill, I could now steer this raft with ease.
“No human can dive for over two hours like you.”
If anyone came chasing me, I could simply dive into the ocean and disappear. Two hours underwater should be enough to shake them off.
I could run away if I wanted to. But I didn’t want to.
“I don’t want to keep running.”
“Really?”
“I didn’t do anything wrong. So why should I hide like a criminal?”
“Then why not prove your innocence?”
Simple. But if declaring innocence were enough to clear my name…
“Kanoe. I get what you’re saying, but there are priorities. Tiana is on the brink of death.”
I didn’t want to think about it. I tapped Jelly’s round forehead as it stared up at me.
“I hate complicated things. My dream is to live like a sea otter.”
“The kind that goes wild for shellfish?”
“Yeah, that one. Ugh, I wish I had a proper boat. I want to grill some clams.”
Whether it understood me or not, the tiny jellyfish blinked at me and then murmured softly:
“Then you’ll need trustworthy companions too, right?”
“…How did we get here?”
“Because you were betrayed by someone you trusted. That means you need someone trustworthy now.”
Honestly, this jellyfish had a way of stabbing right into the heart of things. Instead of replying, I just popped another piece of dried fish into my mouth.
The Next Day
“Master! I caught someone useful!”
The raft rocked violently. I had been leisurely fishing and nearly fell over at the sudden splash of a massive figure slicing through the water.
On the end of the fishing line—was an actual person.
“…Why is he here?”
Ian Frederick.
The man I had once made a deal with.
