Granleft, GFRS Headquarters
The capital of Granvaloa was a massive city-ship of the same name—active since the country’s founding—as well as four other city-ships, connected to the central one in the four cardinal directions.
To the left of Granvaloa the ship, there stood Granleft—a city-ship belonging to the merchant fleet. It contained the Granleft family mansion, and the fleet’s most powerful clans had their headquarters there.
The biggest of these was the one belonging to GFRS, Granvaloa’s top clan, and at the moment...
“THAAAT FOOOL!”
...the enraged voice of a young lady echoed throughout the building.
“Satomi! You idiot! Military nerd! Navy cosplayer!” Her name was Melisande Granleft, and she was the daughter of Merchant Fleet Commander Nash Var Granleft, as well as the special advisor to GFRS.
GFRS was Granvaloa’s largest clan, and they had greatly influenced the development of shipbuilding technologies over the years. Because of this, the merchant fleet had established a cooperative relationship with them, and they had sent Melisande to oversee their operations.
But now, this overseer was overcome by profound rage.
“I head to Keyora for some negotiations and this is what you do?!” With the South Sea routes being essentially nonfunctional, trade with the east was suffering greatly, so Melisande had gone to Keyora—a port city in Altar—to import some necessities from them.
Her trip was very important for the people of Granvaloa, and it was during her absence that Satomi departed to the South Sea to hunt the Adventure II for his comparison test.
“Ugh...! This is what happens when you give him a request that leaves room for interpretation...!” The request GFRS had received regarding the issues in the South Sea had come from Granvaloa itself—a request which had asked them to defeat Abyss Shellder as well as the Mocks, and to find the Adventure II and convince them to return.
However, had Melisande been in Granvaloa when the request was issued, she would’ve insisted that they also forbade any use of force against Adventure II.
The treacherous environment in which Granvaloa had been forged meant that its people relied heavily on their allies and trusted them absolutely. Considering that and the dire situation, those who made the request had likely assumed that Satomi surely wouldn’t do anything as foolish as attack the Adventure II, but Melisande knew well that that line of thinking was naive—too naive.
“That fool doesn’t care about the state of emergency! He always puts his own desires above everything else!” She’d known Satomi for a while now and understood exactly how he operated. “Satomiii! If you so much as scratch Rielly—or any other member of the adventure fleet, for that matter—your entire collection is going in the garbage!”
Satomi’s room was decorated with many model warships. He’d fully memorized their real-life designs and had passed that on to crafting jobs to create models of exceptional detail and quality.
Satomi treasured these as much as his actual ships, so if he was here to hear Melisande’s words, he would surely beg her to reconsider her punishment.
“Urgh...! And to think I went out of my way to buy you some materials and items I thought you’d like! Why couldn’t you be a good boy and just stay home?!”
“Oh, advisor. You’re back.”
As Melisande puffed her cheeks in anger, a GFRS member noticed her and ran over. He was holding some sort of complex apparatus about the size of a small drum.
“Umm, this is the power core of a small ship we were testing today, and—”
“There’s a crack on one of the inner screws,” Melisande said the instant she glanced at the object. “If you take it for a test run, it’ll break in half an hour. Take it apart and replace the screw. It’s the third one on component C.”
“Oh dear. Okaaay... Thank you very much.”
“Don’t rush the disassembly. You could damage the other screws.” The crew member expressed no surprise at her words—he simply turned himself around and walked right back to the workshop.
Here in GFRS, this was a fairly common sight. Melisande Granleft’s “eye” was, in a way, more trustworthy than even the prowess of their Superior leader.
After all, she held the appraiser grouping’s Superior Job—Appraisal Princess, Melisande Granleft.
She was a candidate for the next commander of the merchant fleet and its representative for the upcoming Four Seas Journey which would decide the next navarch—the fleet’s “eye” for the next generation.
Melisande let out a sigh as she looked in the direction of the distant South Sea. “You better come back in one piece.”
Were those words directed at her unruly childhood friend? Or her capricious colleague?
Regardless, she prayed for the safety of someone close to her—someone who was now sailing the distant seas.
✦ ✦ ✦
Granright, Military Fleet Headquarters
To the right of Granvaloa the ship rose Granright—a city-ship belonging to the military fleet.
In one room within the military fleet headquarters, a single person was silently filling out some paperwork.
She was a woman of around twenty years of age. The fleet had many female members, so she was not unusual in that regard.
What did make her special was the Granright family crest on her uniform.
Her name was Berenice Granright, and she was the daughter of Military Fleet Commander Morgan Granright, a bearer of the rank of “captain,” and the one in charge of defense.
Even as the entire nation of Granvaloa was being shaken by Abyss Shellder and everything else happening in the South Sea, she was busy fulfilling her usual duties and working tirelessly to keep Granvaloa safe.
But suddenly, her hand stopped.
A few seconds later, a siren rang out throughout the base... No, throughout all of Granright. They had a number of sirens for different situations, and this one warned of the approach of a High-Dragon-tier monster.
“...That’s the seventh that’s managed to get close before the siren went off. I suppose that really shows how badly this matter is affecting our daily operations.”
With those words, Berenice resumed her work.
It was as though the siren wasn’t even worth worrying about.
✦ ✦ ✦
Infinite Dendrogram’s cities weren’t complete safe zones.
While the save points established by the Control AIs had the side effect of repelling ordinary monsters, they did nothing to deter the more powerful ones—such as UBMs—as well as monsters under the direct influence of the Control AIs themselves. The save points in Granvaloa, a country whose territory consisted almost entirely of massive ships, were even weaker than those of countries upon solid ground.
Because of their harsh environment, the people of Granvaloa were more united than most, and they relied greatly on the powers of the increasingly numerous Masters. Cleaning out the seas—exterminating nearby monsters—was one of Granvaloa’s most fundamental activities.
Recently, though, this hadn’t been going as smoothly as it once had.
Many powerful Masters—including the Seven Great Embryos of Granvaloa—had left to deal with Abyss Shellder and the problems it was causing, and all the fleets were stretched just as thin.
However, the environment around Granvaloa remained as treacherous as ever.
“K H O K H O K H O K H O...”
The capital, currently anchored in the West Sea, was currently being approached by a seadragon—one with a shape that called to mind a plesiosaur.
With fewer ships around Granvaloa, it had seen the giant vessel as an easy feeding ground and moved its gargantuan, hundred-metel-long body toward what seemed to be a feast like no other.
Sensing its approach, a siren began to blare from the ship. The seadragon saw this noise as its prey’s expression of fear and showed no intention of slowing down.
But as it approached, it became confused, starting to feel as though something was off.
It was trying to use its fins to paddle forward, but the destination wasn’t getting any closer.
Actually, its fins weren’t moving at all.
The kinetic power that was meant to propel it forward remained trapped inside its body.
It was then overcome by shock as it realized that the incomprehensible anomaly wasn’t limited to its own movement.
All the water surrounding it was also as still as ice, even though it was still liquid.
Even the waves maintained their shape. It was as though the dragon and the waters around it were nothing but a static image.
Even sound was lost. Anything around the dragon that could be called “energy” had completely vanished.