Having witnessed Kiryl topple into the water and Orania dive in after him, Mia’s head was left spinning. Wh-What in the moons should I do?! That’s it! Since my fishing prowess was able to catch the King, I should be able to catch Kiryl and Orania too!
There was something...not exactly right in her thinking, but something awfully right about it too.
“Y-You can’t! You’ll end up drowning too!” came a panicked voice. Mia turned to find Anne, desperately holding Yanna back from jumping into the water after them.
And the pandemonium only continued. “Wait here, Your Highnesses. Please reel me back on board.” Fisherman Santeri Bandler naturally barked some orders to the boys and dove straight into the water, exhibiting the mighty, brave figure of a man raised on the sea! But wait, was he even a fisherman in the first place? There seemed to be another more important job he had as well...
In any case, Santeri and the other watermen dove into the lake right as Orania resurfaced with Kiryl. The tide must have carried them away, as they seemed slightly farther from the ship than where they had started.
Orania floated on her back, resting Kiryl’s head on her left shoulder as she approached the boat. Santeri swam up to her and assisted as Abel, Sion, and Keithwood prepared to haul them back on board.
Meanwhile, the girls watched on with bated breath. There was nothing they could do to help, and very few noble ladies knew how to swim anyways. Even Rafina, a girl who had once been depicted in portrait as a mermaid princess, had only been cosplaying the role. She was a lousy swimmer herself. In fact, she was quite confident she couldn’t swim at all considering she had only ever dipped her feet in. Thus, the only one among them who could swim was Mia, the Waning Aurelia! It was the perfect set of circumstances to birth the whack-job theory of Mia-Omnipotentism.
As the girls stood around, Orania and Kiryl were eventually brought on board. The latter coughed up some water, but he had retained consciousness. He seemed to be fine.
Orania, on the other hand, was panting, but she seemed perfectly healthy herself. Mia let out a dramatic sigh of relief.
“Take this.” Tiona and Liora rushed to bring the two towels.
Orania glared at Kiryl as she wiped herself dry. “If you can’t swim, then you can’t lean out over the water like that... It was warm today, but you may have frozen had it been colder,” she said, giving him a stern scolding. Then, she turned her attention to Yanna. “You too... You’re a pirate, but you don’t know how to act around the water at all! Averting your attention away from your brother even for an instant is inexcusable...! Pay more attention next time!” she shouted, sounding awfully angry.
“I-I’m sorry,” said Yanna, hanging her head. Having come from such an experienced fisherman, her scolding had quite the impact.
She’s right. As Kiryl’s older sister, she’s responsible for looking after him, and letting down her guard could have led to something disastrous. Wait...responsible?
Mia had finally regained her usual composure. Once Kiryl had toppled into the water, she had been completely focused on rescuing him. But now that he was safely back on board, she could think again.
So think she did. No one was hurt, and no lives were lost, so all was fine, but...was that really true? A child had fallen into the lake, and a princess had dove in to save him, which definitely sounded like a problem.
Then, who bore the burden of that responsibility? As the man who prepared this event and led them to these dangerous waters, Santeri was definitely partly responsible. But in general, the one who had decided to hold this fishing competition in the first place was...
Wait, if you trace things back to their source, I’m the one at fault, aren’t I?!
A cold sweat began to flood down Mia’s back. If the academy wanted someone to take responsibility for the incident, then what would happen? Not to mention, the one who had risked her life and jumped in to save the drowning child was a princess on unfriendly terms with Mia. There was a good chance she’d want payback!
I-I need to make the first move! Having come to that conclusion in a flash, she immediately jumped into action!
First, she took hold of Orania’s hand, interrupting her belligerent berating.
“I’m so glad you were here, Orania,” she said gently.
“Huh...?” Orania clearly hadn’t been expecting this development.
Mia looked her straight in the eyes. “Kiryl could have drowned if you weren’t here to save him, which would have been terrible. I have so much admiration for you, jumping in without hesitation to save an innocent child despite your standing as a princess. You’re so incredibly kind. Being so lucky as to have an amazing swimmer with a heart like yours on deck could only be thanks to the Holy Deity’s providence. I thank you from the bottom of my heart,” said Mia, clearly exaggerating and sounding awfully passionate.
Her goal here was to put things nicely and to settle on a story that would obfuscate who was at fault here. Basically, to rephrase things as “We had a bit of an accident, but it was no biggie thanks to the illustrious feats of the amazing swimmer Princess Orania!”
That very princess muddled her words. “I-It’s nothing... Y-You don’t have to thank me. I-I just... That’s right! I wanted to catch the King with my bare hands. I don’t care what happens to the children of pirates... Not at all...” she said, speaking quite fast—the same speed as when she babbled about fish.
But Yanna bowed her head, undermining her words. “Still, thank you so much for saving my brother. He’s the only family I have left. So really...thank you.”
“I-I don’t need any thanks from a pirate!” Despite her words, Orania’s cheeks were tinged pink. All who saw it watched with kind, gentle smiles. Really, the atmosphere on the boat was excellent, and if possible, Mia wanted to end things there. Alas...
“Still, we need to keep incidents like this in mind for the future. Nothing happened today thanks to Orania, but she may not be around next time,” said Mia, glancing at Rafina.
She nodded. “You’re absolutely right. Since these waters are quite dangerous, this was a bit of an exceptional incident, but it could still very well happen in the future. We need to make sure swimmers are posted near the students, and strictly ban entering waters like these.”
Santeri directed a deep bow at Rafina.
Well, anyways...
Mia successfully pretended to take responsibility by adjusting the story of what transpired today and instating new rules that would prevent any similar incidents in the future.