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The Vogel Continent was sometimes described in comparison to a bird spreading its wings. That was because the vast land mass extending from east to west with the slightly protruding sections at the top and bottom resembled a bird's wings, head, and tail. In the center of the continent, dominating the bird's body, was the Adrasia Empire. And the location Leo and I were being sent now was the tail section.
The name of that nation at the southern end of the continent was the Grand Duchy of Rondine, one of two nations in the "tail."
"One of the two countries that were victorious in the Southern Civil Wars..."
I read over materials about our destination as we sailed. I was aboard one of the ships that made up the imperial envoy of which Leo presided as ambassador extraordinary. There were two ships in the fleet, and both held a cargo of gifts to be presented to Rondine. As a precaution, Leo was riding on one ship and I on the other, just in case of an accident. The ocean in this region was fairly calm, and really there was no chance of something dire happening.
Among the crew on my ship, there was one individual in particular who couldn't stop trembling.
"You should never go out on the open ocean if even such peaceful waters scare you."
"Th-that's fine with me..."
Lying in her bed with a blanket pulled over her head, trembling from head to toe, was Elna. Why was she here and why was she so freaked out? Well, that wasn't too long a story.
Basically what had happened was that Elna had been chosen to be our bodyguard. It was customary for a knight of the Imperial Guard to accompany the ambassador extraordinary, and our brothers and sisters had nominated her. Most likely, they wanted to get as many of the people on our side out of the capital as possible. Of course, that much didn't come as any surprise, and as a back-up, I'd left Lynphia with Finne. They'd be fine.
There were a few fairly big problems with sending abroad a knight of the Amsberg household who could wield the holy sword, but it also had the advantage of displaying the sincerity of our goodwill to our host nation. In the end, Father had accepted our siblings' nomination; he'd probably been considering Elna a possibility himself.
There were two reasons sending Elna with the envoy was such an issue. First of all, the Amsbergs, who could use the holy sword, played a large role in Adrasia's formidable military power. Any other country would be unable to defend itself if the Amsbergs were dispatched within their borders. That was a problem for the host nation to consider. The second problem was for the Amsberg household itself. The holy sword could not be used abroad without permission from the empire. This was a safeguard set by the first-generation Amsberg hero in case any Amsberg should betray Adrasia and enter another nation. This fact wasn't well known, since it was rare for any of the supreme archduke's household to be sent abroad in the first place.
"Those three blasted siblings of yours... I'll get them back one day...! They'll pay for doing this to me...!"
"You're not very convincing when you're shaking in fear like that."
So, why was Elna so afraid? She was simply scared of the ocean.
Elna had no problem with being in a bathtub, but she was the type of person who couldn't cope with rivers, oceans, and the like. She had a phobia of open water. It was arguably near-perfect Elna's sole weakness. Or more precisely, the one weakness that Elna, for all her loathing of ever losing a battle, was unable to conquer.
Whenever she looked at the ocean, anxiety would kick in, and she'd become dizzy, nauseous, and short of breath. Just the act of getting on a boat was enough to make her tremble uncontrollably with abnormal fear. She'd probably go into full-blown shock if she ever caught a glimpse of the wide-open sea.
"I'm amazed you made it this long without anyone ever finding out. I thought everyone would know!"
"A-Amsbergs who can use the holy sword almost never leave the Adrasia Empire...it has so much land mass. That's why I was so utterly desperate to learn how to summon the sword when I was twelve...because I didn't ever want to have to ride a boat..."
A teardrop rolled down Elna's cheek. She'd probably been the first Amsberg in history to learn to summon the holy sword for such a personal and insignificant reason. And now all that effort had been for nothing. I couldn't help but find it all a little amusing.
"Hey, you just smirked at me...! Who laughs at their friends when they're scared...?!"
"Remembering how you came to have such a phobia of water is pretty laughable, don't you think? Especially for me."
"Y-you're partly responsible, you know! It was seeing you nearly drown that made me so scared!"
It was like Elna said. We were about eight years old at the time, and she and I had been taking a bath together. I'd apparently said something that upset her, so she gave me a solid punch in the gut. After that, I'd passed out and sunk below the water, nearly drowning.
Then for some strange reason, seeing that happen to me had made Elna afraid of the water, and she'd developed a full-blown phobia. It was the most ridiculous, illogical thing I'd ever heard in my life. Even the most tyrannical of dictators wasn't quite that crazy.
"That's what you get for attacking me. It could've easily been me who developed a phobia of drowning. It's called suffering the consequences."
"Th-this is one hell of a consequence..."
Elna looked uncharacteristically fragile as she struggled to keep herself from crying.
Sheesh. If she was that scared, she could've just turned down the job. Why was she even here?
"My father probably would've let you off the hook if you'd just told him, you know."
"I-it would be a complete scandal if people found out the supreme archduke's heir was afraid of the ocean! P-plus I'd feel like a loser, admitting I'm scared of the water..."
"A loser competing against who? Yeesh, you're impossible."
At that moment, the ship faintly rocked side to side. It wasn't even a big jolt, but it seemed to be shocking to Elna, and she let out a loud wail.
To make matters worse, she managed to hit her head rolling over on the bed, causing her to curl up in both pain and fear.
You would never see her react like that on the mainland, so it was kind of fun to watch.
"You're completely useless out on the water. We'd be dead meat if we happened to get attacked by pirates."
"D-don't make fun of me! If it were really an emergency, I... Oh my god! That was a really big one! What if it made a hole in the ship?!"
"No, you'd be useless even in an emergency. And a wave isn't going to cause holes in the ship. Maybe if we ran into a sea dragon or something, though."