I Don't Expect the Sun to Love Me Back

7: Castaways, We are Castaways!

A typical ship can have about twenty to thirty crew members just to maintain the ship and the others who are on it. There's the deck department, the engineering department, the steward's department, and other shit that varies from ship to ship. There are so many mates? For some reason? Well, not just for some reason, each crew member has an important role in keeping the ship up and thriving. But there's just... so many mates...

Anyway, in terms of who accompanied Caboose aboard the ship are as follows: Royal Advisor Nao Kazuki, Chef Local, military General Ana Andrea, and five soldiers who were brought along because they were either mermaids (aside from Ana, two others were mermaids) or excellent swimmers. Nao and Ana were reassured beforehand that the crew responsible for transporting them already had enough cooks. In case of anything happening, they also had plenty of capable fighters so there wouldn't be a need to bring any extra soldiers. However, Ana still brought along the other five just in case. Local was brought along because he knew all the preferences and allergies of Caboose's group, and also partially to learn more sea meals.

All in all, the group was solid, and the gang was ready for its ten-day trip! This is Caboose's first time having anything remotely related to the ocean, so she's super excited!!

There's nothing more unsightly than someone vomiting their breakfast over the side of a ship for the third day. Caboose sobs pathetically while she lay over the edge of the ship first thing in the morning. Local, bless his soul, was being a pal and holding her short hair while rubbing her back. The others weren't even awake yet, and Local only knew about this because he was up to get breakfast prepared and just so happened to see her stumble by.

"I hate the sea...!" Caboose sobs like a sad kitten who just woke up from a nap and also got dunked in milk. "This is not as sexy as they make it out to be in light novels I've read!"

"I know, Caboose, I know," Local coos, giving her gentle pats on the back, "May I ask... why do you keep coming out here then if you're just going to get sick?"

She sniffs quietly, perhaps too embarrassed to admit her reason why. It didn't take long though, she just needed a second to build up courage.

"I really like the water out here," She says with a weak, wobbly voice, "It's so pretty and... I really love blue... I want to try to memorize it so when we get back home, I can paint it."

"You want to–... You don't paint."

It came out as a curious statement rather than a judgemental one. From all his years of knowing Caboose, she never expressed much interest in participating in the arts. She loves music, she appreciates different paintings she'll randomly come across, and she always has something nice to say about the different forms of art as well. Local could almost call her a romantic artist, but the only issue is that Caboose has never actually created anything herself.

The Princess forces a chuckle, "I don't have the time to learn or to try."

"Oh..."

Local can say nothing else as he continues to rub her back to comfort her. It's true that she hardly has time for leisure as of late. Whenever she does have a break, she spends her time with him or Nao, whoever manages to hog her attention first because God knows the two men cannot be in the same room in peace. Local likes to draw as a hobby, but never really invited her to participate with him.

"Would you like to draw with me when we get back home?" Local asks gently.

She nods as eagerly as she can without getting nauseous.

"Great, sounds like a plan," The elf grins, "Now, I think it'll be best if you just stay in your cabin for the entire trip to avoid seasickness, okay?"

"Okay..."