"Captain, circle around to the left."
"Right away! Open the starboard gun ports! That snake's going to get a taste of what cutting-edge magical cannons can do!"
In anticipation of Arn's action, Leo also had his ship sail to the portside.
The two brothers then simultaneously opened fire from opposite directions with the sea serpent between their ships. Their timing was precise down to the millisecond.
"Fire!"
The cannons on both ships boomed in unison at their signals.
Magical cannons were weapons that fired cannonballs using mana infused into the cannon by the gunner. The cutting-edge versions from Albatro could fire powerful cannonballs even farther, using even less mana.
"Yes! What power! Keep firing! Keep firing!" The captain leapt and shouted with childish glee.
I totally get it, Arn thought to himself. The sea serpent, so feared by all seafarers, was being helplessly bombarded. It must have been a great moment of joy for someone like the captain. Once the attack was over, the sea serpent toppled over and sank into the water.
Cries of victory went up from both ships, but the battle wasn't over yet.
"Other monsters are heading toward my brother's boat. Captain! Do you think you can sail over beside him?"
"Piece of cake!"
"Knights, prepare to go aboard! We're going to fight the monsters off hand-to-hand!" Arn ordered while at the same time searching for Marc.
If he and Leo switched back during the battle, it would be Leo who'd have the most difficulty catching up. There were a lot of things he'd have to do, despite knowing nothing of the current situation with Albatro. The knight could help out a lot if he were aware of the situation. Hence the search.
"Sir Marc!"
"Yes, Your Highness?"
"I'm going to go help my brother. Can you take over here?"
"I see. Understood, and good luck."
Through that short conversation, Marc intuited what was really happening and bowed his head. Arn let out a sigh of relief. It was awfully nice having someone who comprehended without needing to have everything explicitly spelled out. After all, Arn had way bigger concerns on his mind. He had to get himself over to the other ship while wielding that heavy sword.
Leo's ship was under siege by many small monsters. They must have figured there was less danger there than on Arn's ship. Once the two ships were alongside one another, a battle party composed chiefly of knights boarded to lend assistance.
"Go!"
Arn swung that heavy sword and called out the order to fight. Then he immediately frowned when the gesture nearly broke his arm. How on earth did Leo manage to use such a heavy sword? The thought filled him with a mix of awe and envy as he made a beeline for his brother. He was hoping to find him in his room and switch back identities, but things didn't go quite so smoothly.
"Gyaaaah!"
The ship was suddenly inundated with water as the sea serpent they'd ostensibly just defeated launched itself from the waves with a loud, shrill roar.
While everyone else's attention was on the monster, Arn and Leo had another mission on their minds.
Arn half-ran and half-slid across the slick deck, then flung the sword and its scabbard toward his brother. Leo caught them with ease and, just as the sea serpent lunged with its mouth open wide, jumped up and dealt it a harsh blow.
Leo had aimed his attack at the sea serpent's eyes. It let out a screech of pain and retreated.
After that, once Leo got closer to Arn, they put their backs to each other. Immediately, Arn curved his spine back into a slouch, and Leo straightened up from his. With their hair and clothing wet and disheveled, their posture was the only thing that differentiated them at that moment. That one small correction allowed the two brothers to switch right back into their own selves.
"What took you so long?!"
"Sorry. I got caught up in some trouble."
"I think we're in enough trouble right here as it is."
"Just wait. There's plenty more."
"Great..."
As they were speaking, a frog-shaped monster leapt at Arn. He spun to the left. Without a word, Leo matched his movement and killed the monster with one swing of his sword.
"I don't know how you manage that heavy thing. I'm going to be sore tomorrow."
"Don't be ridiculous. All you did was carry it to me."
"No, I actually swung it."
"Yeah, only once! Maybe this is a good chance for you to take up sword training. That would've sure made things easier for me."
"No thanks. And I'm never switching places with you again, either. I'm done."
"Why? What happened? You didn't do anything that's going to get me in trouble, did you?"
"No way. I played you perfectly. That's why it was so exhausting."
"I can sympathize. Working hard at being you was exhausting, too."
"The fact that you even describe being me as 'working hard' is where you went wrong."
While Arn and Leo were conversing, the knights eliminated the monsters. Deciding it was about time to shirk everything off onto Leo, Arn gave a yawn and said just as much with a deliberate air of laziness.
"You can take over here now, Leo. I'll go work on defending the harbor."
"Yeah, yeah. I get to deal with all the cleanup, right?"
"You've got it. Elna can handle the monsters on land, so you're in charge of the water."
"Typical. Oh well. Back to our usual roles, then, huh?"
With that, Leo returned to the ship Arn had been on, and Arn remained on Leo's.
At last, they were back to their original places.
"Your Highness. How far back should we pull the defenses?"
"However far you want, Captain. I'll be in my room having a nap."
"E-excuse me?"
"Go do whatever you want. Leo will handle everything."
"...Geez. I thought maybe you'd actually grown up a little while Prince Leonard was away, but I guess not," the captain muttered as he walked away.
Arn heard it and smiled wryly at the thought of Leo's efforts. When he was finally back in his room, he flopped onto the bed. After that, Arn's boat remained uninvolved in the fighting, and he was able to savor some long-awaited indolence.
9
I awoke just as the sounds of gunfire came to a stop.
When I went up on deck, the battle was over.
Leo and his men were apparently out searching for any remaining monsters.
"If we're done here, then get us back to Rondine. I want to sleep in the castle."
"...All right. I'll take us back."
I had to endure the captain's sighs and eye-rolls from the rest of the crew as the ship returned to the harbor, where I set foot in Rondine for the first time. The harbor itself wasn't much different from Albatro's, with just slightly less development and activity going on.
I was observing that when Elna came leaping across the rooftops toward me.
"Arn!"
"Hey, Elna. Looks like you've had your hands full," I appreciatively greeted her with a wave.
From the look of things, Elna had defeated almost all of the monsters that had reached land. The dozens of bodies scattered around, most dead after a single blow, was all the proof I needed.
"Not really. I bet you've had a much harder time than I have."
"Probably. I'm exhausted."
Elna had clearly known me long enough to tell that I was the real Arnold. Her sharp powers of observation were nothing to laugh at.
As I was contemplating that, I looked up. I realized then that I was in just the right place to see up Elna's skirt. Of course, she was wearing black tights, so I couldn't see her underwear.
If it were Leo looking, that alone would have him scolding her for being immodest, I imagined.
"Hey, Elna. You might not want to climb up on high places like that."
"What's that? Are you trying to act like Leo? Well, it's not going to work."
"I mean, if you don't mind, then I guess you don't have to listen to me."
Elna didn't even flinch. She obviously had unshakable self-confidence. "There's no point in trying that! I've got tights on!"
Her brazenness made me want to take her down a notch.
"Uh-huh... But you do know they're ripped, right?"
For a moment, the confidence drained from Elna's face. Then, faintly blushing, she retorted, "I-I'm not falling for that!"
"That's why I said you don't have to listen to me, right? But just so you know, light colored underwear stands out when you have black tights on."
"Wh-wh-what?!"
That did the trick. Elna turned her back to me and checked under her skirt.
I knew that she generally favored white or other light-colored underwear and had a feeling that a vague reference to color might at least give her pause. Indeed, she fell for it perfectly.
"Where? Where are they ripped?! ...Arn?!"
"Obviously I was lying. Come on," I replied while leisurely beginning to walk toward the castle.
Leo would be going to talk to the grand duke later, and he'd probably say he wanted to speak with me, given the emergency situation. That was really his only option. Until then, I had nothing to do, so I figured I'd get some sleep at the castle.
"Arn...? Where are you going?"
"The castle."
"You really think I'm just going to let you go?"
"I think you have to."
The area had been a battlefield earlier. There was no telling when more monsters might show up. If it were Leo, he might stick around, but I had to get out of there.
"You're safer with me. Stay here."
"Are you listening to yourself? Do you have even one instance of proof that I was ever safer being with you? All I can remember is all the times I've come close to dying."
"Only because you always run your mouth like that! God! Why do you even bother telling such stupid lies?!"
"Because of that right there. You seem so full of yourself, I thought I'd teach you a lesson."
"You're exactly like the emperor in that way. He's always saying he doesn't like seeing people acting overly confident."
"Like father like son. Well, anyway, I'm sorry. But I do think you should try wearing some more adventurous underwear sometimes."
"I don't want your advice about my underwear!"
Elna grabbed me by the collar and roughly shook me forward and back.
Whoa, I thought. Everything's going all fuzzy...
Just when I thought I was going to pass out, she finally released me.
I found myself unable to move from that spot for some time and ended up getting a ride in Leo's carriage later when it came to pick him up.