Chapter 5

Veronica Leylon

Hurrrrrrggh.

That summed up what Veronica was feeling. Her face, a pasty green, had inflated cheeks the size of balloons. She was near the edge of the Vadstena, nearly keeling over into the ocean from the overpowering sea sickness.

Veronica felt the bile from the bottom of her guts rise up to her throat. Each sway of the ship against the rocking waves of the ocean made the rolling sensation in her stomach much worse.

How do people manage this?! She screamed internally. It had been two days since the Vadstena set sail to the Harpocrates caverns and each moment on the ocean was torture for Veronica.

If there was one good thing out of this blasted trip was that Eleanor wouldn’t get up yet. Her mate was a heavy sleeper, and Veronica doubted her habits would change now.

She tried to breathe in the fresh air to calm her gut, but the heavy scent of seawater just made her gag.

“I...hate da oshean....” Veronica huffed.

The sick noble noticed dark clouds looming over the ship, blocking out the sun bit by bit with each passing second. “Dis...ishn’t gud,” she muttered.

Eleanor Deveena

The rocking ship made it hard to sleep. Eleanor preferred to sleep somewhere with stationary ground. Although she was a heavy sleeper, the ground beneath her kept quaking. Even Eleanor would have trouble falling asleep through all that rocking.

Wiping off what little sleep accumulated in her eyes, Eleanor raised herself up and groggily skittered to the washroom.

After attending to her daily morning needs, Eleanor donned her mage outfit and strapped her wand to her hip. Exiting her room, she made way to the deck of the Vadstena and was met with incredibly dense fog. “W-wow what is going on?!” Immediately casting a light spell, Eleanor cut through the fog with a ray of light, only for said-fog to immediately scamper back into place.

“What’s going on?!” She yelled out for Elsie, Veronica, the Professor, and even the elves, but the fog was hampering her ability to hear.

Then, a sudden crash nearly swept the noble girl off her feet. Something screeched, nearly tearing Eleanor’s eyedrums apart. “Agh?!”

“Pro- f nd!” Someone chanted behind Eleanor, but the ringing of her ears made her near-deaf to whatever the stranger said. The next moment, however, Eleanor felt stability and peace. Her bloodied ears healed and the intensity of the weather no longer roared at her.

Next to her ears was a barrier made of wind. It simultaneously healed and protected Eleanor from the attack.

“T-thank you!” Eleanor turned to see her savior. It was Veronica. She was bleeding from her temple and was heaving as if the wind was knocked out of her.

“We need to get somewhere stable, now!” She dragged Eleanor through the fog. As if on cue, a downpour started to make the ship’s floor slippery, making it almost impossible to grapple onto anything.

Finding a pole, Veronica grasped it and tried pushing herself against the pole while holding Eleanor’s hand, but she just wasn’t strong enough to pull two people. The harsh weather seemed unnatural. “Why do I smell mana in the air? Someone’s changing the weather! They’re doing this!” Eleanor screeched.

“Yes,” Veronica said tiredly, “We’re being attacked by Sirens.”

“What?! But there haven’t been any sightings in over fifty years!”

“And nobody has been to the Harpocrates caverns in fifty years either,” Veronica remarked dryly. “The waters were too still. I should’ve realized it sooner.”

Eleanor shook her head disapprovingly, “No, if anything, we have all been too lax about this whole trip. It was my idea too.”

Veronica’s silence hurt Eleanor’s heart, “...Let’s just get someplace safe. We can’t be stuck out here in the open,” Veronica said.

Eleanor drew her wand out, chanting [Wind Resistance], which made the journey a bit easier. Unfortunately, “It didn’t do much...This wind is mana-induced. Not natural.”

“Then think of something else!” Veronica screamed. She grew desperate as her fingers holding onto the pole started to slip one by one.

With all the strength she could muster, Eleanor chanted, “[Water/Implosion]”. Implosion, a high-tier spell, would absorb anything labelled in the chant and use that energy to create an implosion. Since she labelled the chant “Water” all the rain droplets would be consumed by the spell and propelled Veronica and Eleanor forward.

In an instant, they crashed into the Captain’s room, through the window. If Eleanor hadn’t been holding onto her classmate tightly, Veronica would’ve fallen off the ship.

The sheer momentum and the crash against the glass window knocked the wind out of the two. While Veronica’s fall was cushioned as she landed on Eleanor’s bosom, Eleanor herself wasn’t so lucky, landing directly on broken glass.

“Ahhh!” She shrieked. The mage felt the tiny pieces of glass tear through her skin. While her magical clothing was enchanted, it wasn’t able to fully absorb the impact from the magically-propelled force. The glass pierced her legs, back, arms, and hands.

The force had already caused blunt force trauma to her head. Blood dripped from her forehead down to her already-drenched clothing. Her senses were in a haze, just like the fog surrounding the Vadstena.

She saw Veronica hovering over her, screaming something but all Eleanor heard was muffled sound. Light drops of rain fell on her cheeks, presumably from her crying friend. For a moment, the mage lamented on how she broke Veronica’s heart.

Broke her heart? She was confused as to why she thought that.

Eleanor was confused by a lot of things at that current moment. She couldn’t focus on a single thought. Whenever she made a mental connection, that idea would seep away into the fog.

A greenish-blue light appeared over Veronica’s hands as she held them over Eleanor and for a moment, the redhead thought that was the entryway to heaven. She felt tired and wanted to do nothing but rest.

But the longer the light shined down on her, the clearer her hearing became, the more jointed her thoughts were. It was like the haze was disappearing from her mind. Finally, she was able to see Veronica clearly.

However, the clearer her senses became, the sharper the pain all over her body felt. Each piece of glass was embedded deep in her skin and tore farther from pressure. “It….hurts...Veroni...KA!”

“W-what? But I heale-” Realizing her mistake, Veronica felt a ball of pain clutch at her chest. Ignoring that pain, she gazed over a bloodied Eleanor; crimson liquid poured out of her mate’s skin. “I’m going to have to take out the shards, alright?” She held her own robe and tore off a piece of fabric, rolling it into a ball.

“Open your mouth,” Veronica said almost calmly. Nodding tearfully, Eleanor complied as the fabric was placed in her mouth. “It’s so you won’t bite your tongue off. I’m sorry, I wish there was another way.”

She’s being...awfully nice right now. I don’t think I ever remember her being this...caring. Eleanor was lost in thought even amidst the pain. The way Veronica looked at her was breathtaking. The way she wrinkled her nose in frustration and panic was just too adorable. Even though the air smelled like sewage water with all the corrupt ambient mana everywhere, Eleanor still smelled a hint of rose and vanilla from Veronica’s skin; it relaxed her.

Eleanor never noticed it before, but Veronica’s short black and silver hair dancing against the rain was picturesque. Veronica’s hair was organized just like the girl herself. She had no bangs which gave the impression Veronica had a bit of a wide forehead. There were times Veronica even appeared doe-eyed.

Although slim, the black-silver haired girl had hints of muscle, especially when she craned her neck. A slight hint of clavicle showed how powerful Veronica’s body really was. Her undone ponytail made her seem a bit younger.

Veronica was absolutely stunning. Eleanor couldn’t believe she only noticed just now. Even feeling the shards in her skin, the mage girl was still entranced by Veronica.

Then, intense pain shredded that tranquility into a million pieces. The mage girl felt each individual glass shard slide out of her skin. Worst part, they didn’t happen simultaneously. Veronica had to tear out each one individually, otherwise the healing spell wouldn’t connect probably.

“SHMMMMM!”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry.”

Veronica had used her wand to cast wind magic to pull the shards out of Eleanor. It was precise but slow, making the process agonizing. Veronica apologized over and over again to Eleanor, but the pain was too intense for the redhead that she didn’t process the other girl’s apologies.

While the pain was a searing heat, what Eleanor felt next was a mind-numbing cold. It chilled her down to her very bones. Darkness started to overshadow her senses.

Until a warmth as invigorating and embracing as the sun itself wrapped around her skin. Looking up with new vigor, she spotted EE-Thirty next to Veronica, also applying healing magic, but the elf was just much more proficient than her classmate.

“Get up,” the Sanctuary Elf’s tone was icy, “We’re being attacked by Sirens and we don’t have time to wait for you to be at one hundred percent.”