I had spent a few minutes in thought when the ship suddenly rocked wildly.
"What was that?!"
"Attention! We're headed into a storm!"
"What?!"
What kind of nonsense was that? There hadn't been a cloud in the sky five minutes ago. Surely there wasn't suddenly a storm?
Bewildered and skeptical, I hurried up on deck. When I got there, the ship was under the attack of fierce winds and high waves, and when I looked out at the ocean around us, I noticed an even more distressing problem.
"Captain! We've lost my brother's ship!"
"Forgive me, Your Highness! It's all we can to do keep this ship from capsizing! It would be impossible to go after the other ship now!"
"Isn't there anything you can do?!"
"I'm afraid not! This isn't a natural storm! It came out of nowhere, without any warning! It must be the doing of a sea monster!"
Upon hearing the captain's shouted response, I recalled my conversation with Elna earlier. I'd mentioned sea dragons to her. The most common story you heard about sea dragons was that they created sudden storms and capsized boats. That was exactly what was happening to us.
Another thing that substantiated that theory was Albatro's actions. They'd sent out the princess and prince, along with three warships, and they'd asked us to change course. What if Albatro had known there was a sea dragon within their territorial waters and had come out to investigate?
They wouldn't have wanted to reveal their purpose. Albatro was founded on maritime trade, but no sailors from any nation would send ships to Albatro if they heard there was a sea dragon around. That would be suicide.
Having deduced that much, I immediately used detection magic to investigate the scope of the storm. Upon learning how far the winds spread, I thoughtfully clicked my tongue. The storm was massive in scale, and we were on its edge. In other words, this wasn't where the storm had originated.
It seemed probable that the storm's center was within Albatro territory. Even more worrisome was that our ships were gradually being blown in that direction. At worst, we'd end up battling the sea dragon itself. That was something I wanted to avoid at any cost.
"Captain! Get us out of this storm!"
"I'm on it!"
Thus, I was swept up into the storm, still acting as my brother.
3
"Where are we now, Captain?"
Continuing my charade as Leo, I asked about our location. The storm had somewhat calmed, but during the worst of it, Leo's ship had become separated from mine, and we'd lost quite a lot of time. The sun was already starting to set.
It was a bad enough storm that we might have easily capsized. We had managed to safely weather the conditions thanks to the fact that our ships were imperial envoy vessels crewed by sailors trained by the imperial navy.
"We should be in Albatro waters now. We stayed afloat, but we've sailed well off course. Or I suppose more accurately, we were blown off course. There was clearly something abnormal about that storm."
"So, you think it was something to do with a monster?"
"Yes, I think that's safe to assume. My father and grandfather were both sailors, and what just happened was exactly like their stories of sea dragon storms."
"Sea dragon storms? What more do you know about them?"
"They're literally storms created by sea dragons, and apparently, the dragons try to drag ships closer and closer toward themselves. That means even if a ship survives the storm, it ends up near to where the sea dragon is. Just mentioning a sea dragon storm is enough to scare any sailor. Sea dragons are the highest class of all monsters living in the ocean, you know. Just seeing one means all but certain death."
Hmm. The sea dragon storms of sailors' tales did seem to match the description of the storm we'd weathered. Did that mean there was a sea dragon in the ocean nearby?
If so, we were in big trouble. First of all, dragons were monsters who cycled through active and dormant periods, with the dormant periods lasting far longer than the active ones. There were reports of dragons remaining dormant for hundreds of years. They would rest for years and years, then wake for only a short period of time. That was a dragon's natural life cycle, and sea dragons were no exception.
I would have to look through records to be certain, but based on what we knew, it seemed that a once dormant sea dragon had just become active. The main problem was Albatro's booming sea trade industry. Although not engaged with our own empire, Albatro had a vast trading network with other nations. If a sea dragon had appeared within their maritime territory, it would be a devastating blow to their economy.
Knowing that, they must have sent out a top-secret investigation. And based on that storm, they'd seriously pissed off the sea dragon in the process. It was probably Eva and her brother who'd caused the storm, and equally probable they had not survived it, considering its intensity. What a tragedy.
"Hmm. In that case, there's no point in sticking around. I'm concerned about my brother, too. Let's proceed straight to Ron—"
"H-hey! Look at that!"
In the middle of me giving my command, one of the sailing crew cried out.
With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I looked over. As expected, pieces of a wrecked ship were floating in the water.
"One of Albatro's ships?"
"Most likely. They must've gotten caught up in the storm just like we did."
"That's too bad."
I was about to end the conversation there, when Elna's knight beside me whispered, "Your Highness, Prince Leonard would order a search for any survivors!"
"We don't have that kind of time. There could be a sea dragon out there, remember? We have to get out of here as soon as possible."
"I understand that, but you have to act like Prince Leonard would. Even if you are twins representing the empire as ambassadors, it would be a disaster if anyone found out you'd switched places!"
"I know, but all of the crew are still shaken up by that storm. No one's going to notice if I act a little out of character!"
"That's all the more reason you must act like Prince Leonard would. Having your deception discovered now would lead to even greater unrest. You won't be able to keep the crew quiet, either. What do you think Rondine would have to say about this?"