Chapter 237: Surviving!?

Now that we were practically stuck on this ship with Cinc, I prevented Lazuli from killing him while I attempted to make a bad situation good, though so far, I was proving unsuccessful, which is of no surprise; we were sailing through the middle of the ocean in a rotting ship against our will, and to make matters worse, there was no food onboard or water on board. It's not like Lazuli couldn't survive at least five days without water, but Talis needed water just as severely as most animals.

"Ahh, I'm thirsty." Said Talis softly as she lazily lay in Alexander's arms while staring at the sky, causing him to sigh softly with a nod.

"I'll let you drink one of my potions tomorrow morning, so just hold out until then… Well, that is if we survive." Said Alexander softly as he glanced at Talis, who lightly nodded before closing her eyes and drifting to sleep minutes later.

Sighing to myself, I raised my head and looked at the night sky; the sun had just set probably only thirty minutes ago, yet to my surprise, the ship was still mostly intact, and we hadn't died, which was already better than I would've expected. Still, according to Cinc, we've still got five more days of this, and that sounded so incredibly stressful that I just wanted to go to sleep and worry about that stuff later; however, I don't think I could ever sleep in this situation.

"Are you not going to sleep, Lazuli?" Asked Alexander lightly as he turned and glanced at Lazuli, who blankly looked at him with an indifferent expression.

"I-I'll take that as a no." Added Alexander wryly as he awkwardly scratched his head before looking away.

I couldn't tell if Lazuli was annoyed with me because I didn't allow her to kill Cinc or because I had put us in this whole situation in the first place.

'To be fair, I also didn't want to be stuck on this ship; I just wanted to take a quick look at the interior. How was I supposed to know this stupid Dwarf was going to set sail within that small timeframe; hell, why didn't he say anything either?' Thought Alexander in annoyance as he quietly grumbled to himself while glaring at Cinc, who was dozing off at the helm.

"Are you fucking with me right now?" Muttered Alexander in slight anger as he carefully handed Talis to Lazuli before standing up and approaching Cinc.

I wasn't even in the mood to argue with him, and honestly, he may have been a Captain, but I felt far safer when I was the one at the wheel and not him, so I didn't even try to wake him up and simply picked him up by the collar before placing him on the ground. Slightly surprised he didn't wake up, I shook my head and sat atop the stacked books.

Though now that I sat at the helm, I promptly realized this was practically pointless; two pieces of very rotted wood were barely holding together the rudder on the ship, and simply a slight turn would break them, causing the rudder to fall into the ocean.

"Can I kill him now? I'll make it quick… He won't feel even slight pain." Asked Lazuli as she slowly approached Cinc, her transformed arm humming in response to her words, causing Alexander to sigh deeply.

"Haa, no, you can't kill him; despite how idiotic and unresponsible he is, he knows the ocean and how it operates; he can probably tell if a storm is coming just from the movement of the sea and the clouds above. Hmph, although I might be able to do that with [Heroes Gaze]." Replied Alexander with a shake of his head as he glanced at Lazuli, who scowled before reluctantly transforming her arm to normal while he quietly muttered to himself.

Honestly, at this point, I felt as if I was just making excuses to keep Lazuli from killing it; part of me genuinely didn't care if he died; he had put Lazuli and I in such a precarious situation without any concern for our wellbeings, hell, he didn't even ask for our input before setting sail.

'Tsk, how can you live to be 82 while being that stupid? I'm starting to wonder if Captain Spinel really sabotaged his business or if it was just his idiocracy.' Thought Alexander with a scoff as he glared at Cinc, who peacefully slept on the deck, seemingly without a care in the world.

"If we survive this, the first thing I'm doing when returning home is make sweet love with Yuki and Michelle… Then I'm marrying her and you." Stated Alexander lightly as he glanced at Lazuli, who nodded with a faint blush.

"Marriage? Why does that make me happy?" Muttered Lazuli softly with a thoughtful expression as she turned around, quietly gazing at her reflection in the ocean.

Inwardly chuckling at Lazuli, I raised my head and gazed at the three moons of Azarath, noting they looked exceptionally beautiful compared to most nights.

"Hmm, I wonder if you can fly to them." Said Alexander quietly with a thoughtful expression, only for him to shake his head as he remained focused on their surroundings while his eyes softly glowed, searching for any signs of danger throughout the entire night.

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Unsurprisingly, these six days at sea passed by rather slowly; after all, every minute, Lazuli and I were expecting some huge monster to emerge from the ocean and swallow us whole, so I'm sure thinking like that didn't help.

Though we also had next to nothing to do except talk amongst each other, which isn't bad, but for that to be the only activity for six days… It was boring, to say the least. Lazuli and I couldn't even make love; hell, even making out felt luxurious since whenever we got into the mood, Cinc would stalk us, and being so intensely watched while trying to express my love felt very uncomfortable… Lazuli nearly killed him again for that, as well.

However, to whatever god was watching over us, we had experienced the most calming waters possible; the most dangerous thing that happened was encountering a small wave a few feet tall. I had used my mana to reinforce the ship, similar to how I did so with the carriage several years ago, though the only difference was the sheer size of the ship compared to the carriage. Yet, I was only required to reinforce it for no more than ten seconds, so I was fine, though, to this moment, I'm still skeptical whether the boat could've survived that wave by itself.

"Hahahaha, there she is… The Asckbon Continent!" Said Cinc with boisterous laughter as he stood on the stack of books and gazed at the faint silhouette of land far off in the distance.

Hearing Cinc's words, Lazuli and I glanced at each other before instantly standing up, only to spot a faint silhouette of land in the distance; while gazing at the land, I felt as if all of my troubles had vanished. Embracing Lazuli, I gave her one deep, passionate kiss, uncaring that Cinc started to watch like a creep; only after several minutes did we finally part our lips.

"Oh, I fucking love you, Lazuli!" Stated Alexander with a joyous smile, causing Lazuli to also faintly smile.

"I love you as well, Alex." Said Lazuli softly, her voice full of genuine emotion, a rarity for her.

Although I wanted nothing more than to make love with Lazuli right about now, I figured we should wait until we officially make it to land, though that didn't stop me from feeling up her butt, which fit perfectly within my hand. Only one cheek, obviously.

"Talis, wake up!" Said Alexander lightly as he gently nudged Talis with his foot, causing her to aggressively chirp before opening her eyes.

"Ugh, what's the deal, Alex? I don't wake you up in the middle of a fantastic dream." Said Talis in annoyance as she eyed Alexander while rubbing her face with her wings, though he promptly ignored her every word.

"Oh, be quiet and look." Stated Alexander with a faint smile as he pointed toward the direction of the land, causing Talis to grumble under her breath while taking to the skies, only for her eyes to widen.

"Eh, i-is that land?" Muttered Talis in disbelief as she stared out at the land in the distance, only for her to loudly chirp in glee.

"Hahaha, land! The Queen of the Skies has returned! Time to show all those land dwellers who truly rules them!" Added Talis enthusiastically as she flapped her wings, speedily shooting off toward land, only for a loud boom to accompany her.

"And, there she goes." Said Alexander lightly with a wry expression, only to shake his head afterward.

Unfortunately, we weren't as fast at Talis. It took another twenty minutes before we finally arrived at the dock, and the instant we did, neither of us waited a second before hopping off that boat and destroying part of the deck.

"Hahaha, now, go and tell all those Elves about the greatness of Captain Cinc!" Stated Cinc proudly as he raised his head, only for him to glance at Alexander and Lazuli in confusion.

"Umm, w-why are you two making huge fireballs?" Asked Cinc in confusion as he nervously gulped while eyeing Alexander and Lazuli.

"Oh, no reason, though you should probably move." Said Alexander with a smile as he glanced at Cinc, who tried to dissuade their action.

"W-Wait! S-She's my life and soul, my only remaining ship! P-Please, I'll have nothing without her!" Said Cinc pleadingly as he got onto his knees, begging for them to spare her.

Ignoring Cinc, Lazuli and I tossed our fireballs directly at the ship, causing Cinc to leap overboard while the ship was quickly set ablaze, sinking only a few moments later.

"There, now you won't be able to kill anyone." Said Alexander with a relieved smile as he dusted his hands off.