Two days have passed, and aside from encountering a merchant ship and asking questions that yielded no info, they continued their journey across the sea.
Yesterday, Henry encountered the seagull, Scuttle again. Perhaps the bird isn't as useless as he thought as the seagull with bloodshot eyes, told him how he roamed the entire ocean surrounding Arendelle and found no sign of the pirate ship, which just confirmed Henry's suspicion that the pirate Regor has already left the vicinity of Arendelle's waters and is probably heading to the Pirate's Paradise island.
After that, Henry gave him a piece of bread and his gratitude.
In the meantime, Henry kept himself busy by training both physically and magically. The former is mostly to maintain his top-shaped body. As for the latter, it was more of an improvement to his Water Magic.
The entire ship is flammable, and he's not going to risk casting fire spells while atop it. And so, within the two-day timeframe, his reputation amongst the crew grew leaps and bounds when he showcased his new Water Magic spell.
He called it Octopus Arms, casting this spell would coat his arms in long tentacle-like whips reaching 5 meters in length that he can manipulate with his arms. Using it with a source of water nearby halved the consumption of his mental energy.
Of course, as usual, he used a fictional character as a reference. Mainly Katara from the Avatar: The Last Airbender series.
That entire franchise is simply filled with references to the four basic elements that Henry could use. No doubt his future magic spell arsenal would have half of it belonging to the said series.
"How far are we from the island?" Henry approached the same old man who had now taken the helm of the ship.
The old man contemplated for a few seconds before answering, "Sailing from Arendelle to the Pirate's Paradise, I estimate the travel to reach within a week and a half but considering we didn't take any stops to resupply, we'll arrive there in another two days."
Henry nodded his head. Perhaps he should try to learn a spell that could manipulate the ocean water?
'Hmm. Worth a try then.' Soon, he retreated to his cabin and started figuring out the mechanics of the wind spell.
First of all, he needed something that could be constant and continuous without much strain on his reserves. Preferably, lasting more than a few hours in terms of duration.
'So I'm gonna need something that can last long. Manipulating the water to push the ship's keel would work just fine. Pulling the water would also work wonders. If I could just pull the water ahead of the ship's stern—which would lessen the water resistance and the stress on the ship's hull.'
Henry rubbed his chin several times. Grabbing a barrel and filling it with water. Then used a paper to fold it into a boat before placing it on the surface of the water-filled barrel.
Henry then focused on pulling the water in front of the boat, watching the water ripple slightly and the paper boat leaned forward.
Another idea flashed inside his head and combined the pull on the front and push from behind. Logically, such a thing as this wouldn't work in real life but perhaps it was through magical means that the paper boat started to move on its own.
Of course, he had to blow it from behind using his mouth just to kickstart the paper boat but after that, the paper boat started to move on its own until it hit the edge of the barrel.
In layman's terms. Henry pushed the water to the paper boat's stern while pulling the water in front, making the vessel lean forward and glide faster with less water resistance.
"Fan-fucking-tastic. Didn't think this would work." Henry clapped for himself for a few good seconds before frowning, "But doing it to a real ship is different from paper boats." With a rub on his forehead, Henry left the cabin and went back to the deck.
Amidst the curious gazes of the ship's crew, Henry closed his eyes and used his magical senses to reach out to the ocean water below.
It's too chaotic. The water from the barrel earlier is calmer than this.
'This'll take a few hours to get used to.' Henry muttered to himself and soon applied the water spell.
First was the pushing of its behind. Letting the water behind the vessel gather and bubble up, making the entire ship lean forward. But since he hadn't applied the pulling method, the ship was starting to destabilize.
But the moment he pulled the ocean water in front, the ship stopped shuddering and the speed became noticeable. It was twice or even three times faster compared to before.
Much to the crew's wide eyes, the wind starts to slap them harder and they can immediately tell that the ship starts to sail faster.
"Magic is so…fascinating." The old man at the helm murmured to himself, "At this rate, it wouldn't take less than a day to arrive at the island."
That's supposed to be the case but unfortunately, just a single hour passed and Henry started to feel the strain on his mind and body.
Things such as magical reserves and capacity don't exist. The entire environment around already carries magic, stemming from nature such as the sea, the air, and even the earth itself, which produces magic.
It wouldn't be wrong to say that every wizard and magician in this can cast magic spells indefinitely by utilizing the magic around them to form spells.
However, the human body still has its limits. Casting magic spells may not consume a magic reserve inside the body however, it consumes two things at once.
Mental energy and stamina.
Imagine yourself working for a whole day, not physically but mentally—multitasking your activities such as teaching, programming, or simply just thinking too much and too long, would consume mental energy.
That is the case of casting magic spells. It consumes mental energy and the more you do it, the more exhausted your mind becomes.
That's why Inner Peace is the first thing a wizard must achieve before starting their study on the arts of magic. Without it, casting more than three spells in a single day is considered a miracle.
As for stamina. It is directly connected to mental energy. The brain is part of the body and vice versa. Using each would consume both.
Perhaps that's why Master Elias and Master Pabbie took him under their tutelage. Henry is gifted in both body and brain.
Soon enough, Henry lifted off the spell and knelt on the ground. Sweat covered his entire body and his brain was throbbing in pain. He overused his mental energy and stamina.
'I feel like I just did cardio for an entire week non-stop.' Henry huffed and puffed, pulling himself from the ground and settling in by leaning on a nearby barrel.
Some crew members surrounded him with concern on their faces but with a wave of Henry's hands, they dispersed.
"I can do this all day." Amidst the exhausted mind and body, Henry couldn't help but grin.
———
—{Liam Johan}—
The journey to Arendelle was very eventful. We encountered what can only be called Earthquake but on the ocean. The ship rattled and rumbled as if we were drifting inside a heavy storm even though the sky was sunny.
We're not sure what's happening but perhaps the gods were angry and punishing us. Punishing me for my failure.
Every day, the weight of letting someone I swore to protect, drown himself to death kept piling up.
I was there that day, he was just in front of me, within my arm's length and yet, I was unable to reach him as that damned pole kept pulling him down faster than I could keep up.
I'm a failure. I deserve to lose my knight captain status. No doubt I've become a laughingstock amongst my peers, even though I left Lioncrest the same day I arrived back then, I feel like I can hear the whispers behind my back, the mocking laughs, and pointing fingers.
"…Ptain….Captain!" I was pulled from my thoughts as one of my retinue, Sylvester was standing in front of me.
"We've arrived, captain. We're in Arendelle's port right now. Someone from there wants to talk to you."
Oh, right. Arendelle is in a state of lockdown and they're not allowing foreign visitors aside from merchants and they're not allowed to stay more than three days.
Thankfully, I brought the Lioncrest Kingdom's insignia. I've been using it a lot to express my identity and the disguised purpose of my visit. The news of the crown prince's death must not spread yet, so we concealed our mission as searching for an important Lioncrest Kingdom official.
Deboarding the ship, I approached a large, balding man with a balding top head, leaving only a patch of hair on the sides of his head. From the looks on his face, it seems like we're not welcome.
However, what caught my attention was the lady beside him, wearing a bright blue dress and platinum hair tied on her back, she was staring at me, more specifically at the insignia attached to my chest.
For a moment, I noticed the look in her eyes, as if she recognized the insignia. Which is understandable considering Lioncrest Kingdom is one of the Five Great Kingdoms around the continent.
It's normal for Arendelle, even with its history of years of isolation and cutting off ties with their partners, to have heard and studied the five great powers around them.
"Good morning." As I approached them, I slightly bowed my head in respect. Lioncrest or not, I've come to learn that all members of nobles, especially royalty should receive respect.
I saw the girl nod her head, trying to act discreet about her stare at the insignia. I feel like there's something more to her state but unfortunately, I'm not in the place to ask.
The rounded man stepped forward and addressed me, "May we ask what's the purpose of your arrival, ser?" Right, I almost forgot I'm wearing a standard knight's sword on my waist, along with its recognizable scabbard.
Although I have my custom longsword that every knight captain earns, which I named Lionmane, my expulsion from being a knight forced me to surrender it to the barracks.
So I stated my intentions, "We're here looking for someone. He's a very important official of Lioncrest Kingdom." Then I proceed to describe Prince Henry's face.
However, while in the middle of it, the white-haired, whom I presume to be Arendelle Kingdom's princess, suddenly interrupted me, "You're talking about Henry, right? Your crown prince."
I found my eyes widening in surprise, and so did my retinue behind me.
"I-I'm sorry?" I feigned ignorance, making the princess chuckle.
"He was here. In fact, he has been here for the past few weeks. It's a bit of a long story but please allow me to invite you back to the castle."
I barely registered her words as the significant revelation made me freeze on the spot. Prince Henry was alive? Well and alive?
And he has been here for the past few weeks? Whereas during those weeks, we've been avoiding Arendelle due to its strict lockdown and distance.
When I finally realized what she was saying, the words got stuck in my throat, and I wanted to refuse her. To tell her that I don't have time for it as my utmost priority is to confirm if she's telling the truth or not. If she is, then I must do everything I can to bring him back at all costs!
Even if it costs me my own life!
Just as I was about to raise a question, to confirm her words, she interrupted me again, "He's not here in Arendelle as of now. He just left, to save a friend. I'll tell you everything on the way."
With a deep sigh, I decided to trust her for now and fought against the urge to ransack the entire Kingdom just to see a glimpse of Prince Henry's figure.
"A-Alright, Princess?"
She smiled and replied, "Elsa. Call me Princess Elsa."
————————————
[Man, that massive drop in rankings is discouraging but understandable. The Little Mermaid arc is definitely not as interesting as the Frozen arc—at least to others.]