Chapter 31: Each-uisge

「Sensei, it’s done—!」
「Looks like we somehow got things ready on our end too.」

I answered Ruful, who was dragging along the big boat.

It’s been almost a full year since we worked out a plan to run a boat using a spirit.
At last, the preparations were complete.
Getting a boat big enough for Ruful to ride down to the coast was no easy task.

Bringing it as-is would obviously be far harder than transporting her herself, so we ferried the materials and parts by waterway and spent several months assembling it next to the merfolk settlement.

In the meantime, the centaurs hauled in food and daily goods along the roadway—making this, in a sense, the culmination of Ruful’s years of work.

「All right then, Rin… I’m counting on you.」
「Yeah!」

Ruful, Tia, and me.
After confirming all of us had boarded, Rin placed her hand on the conduit line drawn down to the shore.

「Thou who art the flowing, the formless, the cold—」

Everything has many aspects.

「Thou who art the swift and hastening, the advancing, the gentle wave that bears us—」

Just as fire that incinerates and destroys all can also warm the body and make delicious food, even in the sea’s seemingly capricious waves there always exists within them a current convenient to us.

「Show thyself before me! Thy name is—」

I isolate only that.

「Wave Horse!」

With Rin’s spell, mana flowed through the conduit line into the magic circle on the seabed, and a great wave suddenly reared up.

The heaving seawater formed a horse’s head, the white foaming crests becoming its mane.
Next, forelegs and a torso seemed to be born out of the sea, and its lower half, with a fish’s tail, slapped the surface and sank again.

Fluttering her waist fin, Rin took the chain affixed to the bow, looped it round the Wave Horse’s neck, and tied the end back to the boat.

「Wave Horse, tow this boat—go forward!」

Obeying Rin’s command, the Wave Horse surged into motion.

Spirits are like paper cutouts—snipped from the natural phenomena that exist in this world into whatever shape one likes. When I heard “water spirit” I couldn’t help picturing a capricious, fickle beauty—especially after the waterwheel refused to budge for me.

But there was no need to be bound by such an image. As when Rin fashioned that gigantic Undine, you only have to extract the properties you need.

The Wave Horse is a horse-shaped monster from Scottish lore said to dwell in seawater. Kelpie may be the more famous name, but kelpies are water-horses of fresh water and, strictly speaking, a different creature.

The name itself could have been anything; I borrowed this one because it was easy to convey the image to Rin. In the original tales it drags riders into the sea and drowns them—not exactly auspicious—but I didn’t tell her that part, so it should be fine.

This spirit was the portion cut out from among the waves that rise on the sea—only the ones traveling in the direction convenient to us. Waves do not arise within the water; they exist only on the surface. Therefore the Wave Horse will not drag us under—the foaming white mane must, by its nature, remain up at the surface.

「At this pace, we’ll probably arrive in about a full day.」
「It’s going to take that long?」

Estimating by the wave length, I said so; Tia pulled a face and asked back, fed up. Even by air it takes hours—can’t be helped.

「There’s nothing in particular to do until the Wave Horse fades, so let’s take it easy.」

Saying that, I flopped down. Not being able to move a boat by current or sail is inconvenient, but not all bad—since we won’t get carried off, as long as the wave-horse keeps straight we can’t stray off course.

「Okay, then I’ll go get us some food!」
「Huh?」

Before I could stop her, Rin dove into the sea.

「Rin!」

With the speed steady and nothing around to gauge by it’s hard to tell, but the Wave Horse is moving quite fast; the plume of water Rin kicked up raced away behind us and vanished in an instant.

「…I’m going to help her!」
「Hold it. What are we supposed to do if even you disappear, Sensei!?」

As I put a foot on the gunwale, Tia yanked my clothes to stop me.

「Rin knows where we’re headed, right? Then worst case, if we just wait there, she’ll swim or fly to us.」
「Ah… you’re right. Sorry.」

Looks like I’d lost my cool too. Even if I can’t catch up by swimming, Rin can fly.

It was two hours later that Rin returned, arms full of fish.

「Oh right, boats move. I totally forgot—ended up having to search for you.」
「We packed enough provisions for the round trip to begin with. I told you that, didn’t I?」
「Huh, did you? Sorry, Sensei.」

As she said it blithely while grilling the catch, my shoulders slumped. Did this girl have any idea how worried I’d been these two hours?

「Maybe it’s because you got younger, but lately it feels like you’ve gone back to the Rin from when you were a kid.」

The forgetfulness, the total freedom.
I’d thought she’d really settled down, but maybe that was just aging…

「Ahahaha. Sensei, you kinda sound like Sig.」
「Ah, yeah… I truly can’t help but feel for him.」

Looking back, I can’t help but think how well he put up with this kid.
Well, maybe that’s my issue to begin with.

「Right—about what we do after we land.」

It was while we were taking a break after finishing the meal from Rin’s catch.
All of a sudden, Tia brought it up.

「Ruful, take that out. …Yes, that—go ahead and put it on.」

What Ruful produced looked like a hooded cloak. There was one sized for everyone except Tia.

「What’s this?」
「A Concealment Cloth. If you wear it and I cast, I can extend my Concealment to others. You two aside, Ruful sticks out no matter what.」

I see. I… honestly hadn’t thought of that. There’s a fair distance between the cave and the village, so I figured we could slip through—but with this, all the more reassuring.

「Heeey, that’s super handy. Teach me how to use it tomorrow, okay?」

Rin turned the cloth over and felt its texture, duly impressed.

「There’s nothing to learn—just wear it. I’ll do the magic.」
「Oh, got it.」

Saying so, Rin threw on the cloak and pulled up the hood.

「Shall we try it? Let thy body be as shadow. Voices of grass and trees, a cat’s footfalls, a fish’s breath, an insect’s heartbeat—」

Chanting, Tia circled around Rin; golden motes sifted from her wings and, the moment they wrapped Rin’s body, all trace of her presence vanished.

「…Huh? I’m gone right now?」
「We can hear your voice. Yeah—can’t see you at all.」

I reached out to where Rin had just been, but couldn’t even touch her.

「Uh… Sensei.」

As I groped around for Rin, Tia cleared her throat awkwardly.

「Even if it feels like you can’t see or touch her, that doesn’t mean she isn’t there or that you aren’t touching her.」
「Eh?」

With a soft rustle, Rin’s hood was flipped back.

「Sensei… um, this is a little embarrassing.」

My hand was squarely planted on her chest as she said it, face blazing red.

「S-Sorry!」

I yanked my hand back in a panic.

「Anyway… even if you can’t be seen, once they know you’re there, attacks will still hit—so be careful.」

Tia said, as if to reset the mood.
More than anyone, I felt like I’d just taken a brutal hit.