Chapter 22: Another planet?

MC POV:

"Is this really alright?" said Latifa, looking at me worriedly.

"Yeah, there's absolutely no problem," I replied. "I asked Raku to cover for me. My parents think we are on a trip with his father, and since it's already the summer break, me being gone for two weeks won't matter," I added to stop her from worrying.

The two of us, her uncle Moffle and a decently sized group of the park's "true staff" are preparing to go to Mappleland. They say it's another world, but as far as I know, that should be impossible. This record is only level 4, and while Selen told me it has several planes of existence, Mapleland can't be big enough to be one of these planes.

The Mortal Plane we are currently in encompasses all the planets in this universe. With that being the case, I am sure that Mapleland is simply on another planet instead of a different dimension.

After gathering everyone in the proximity of the stage where Latifa previously announced the disappearance of her curse, we directed our steps towards Splash Ocean, an outdoor waterpark placed in Amagi Brilliant Park.

Once there, what greeted us was the appearance of a blue dolphin mascot wearing red samurai gear. He had small round eyebrows fitting with his round blue eyes that were a gradient of three different shades of blue and contained two white sparkles. His snout was very rounded, giving him a young and cutesy look, while his belly was a lighter shade of blue. His name was Genjūrō, the mascot in charge of the Splash Ocean and its attractions.

"Wellcome Latifa-sama, everyone. We have finished all the preparations on our side and are ready to travel any moment, degozaru," he said while bowing slightly.

"Good. Let's set out right away," Latifa replied.

We entered the employees-only area of the main building of the Splash Ocean and split everyone into smaller groups. After that, together with Latifa, Moffle, Genjūrō, and a few of his subordinates, we entered an elevator and selected the lowest floor.

It took quite a while before the elevator reached its destination, proving how deep underground we were.

Once we were out, we entered a long, dimly lighted corridor, at the end of which was a metal platform and a massive concrete room. The platform was more than fifteen meters above the floor of the enormous room, but it was still a far cry from the ceiling, which was so high it wasn't even visible. The concrete room was square shaped, with each side roughly sixty meters wide and a big twenty by twenty meters metal gate on one of the walls.

"Wow... This place is ginormous..." I muttered, slightly stunned, eliciting a giggle from Latifa.

"Please wait here while we open the gate, degozaru," said Genjūrō, and together with his subordinates, went down from the platform using a metal ladder.

After approaching the massive gate, they started opening it while regulating the amount of water entering the room. After the water reached an appropriate level, they completely opened the gate, revealing a giant sapphire-colored portal made out of the water, and a massive ship with the crest of Mapleland came out of it.

Latifa and the others described Mapleland as a magical realm existing between land and water, and as such, it's only natural that the portal leading there would be like this.

After the ship entered the room, Genjūrō and his subordinates boarded it, and not long after, we did the same. In the meantime, more and more people came out of the corridor leading to the elevator, and after half an hour, we were finally ready to go.

"I am glad to see you, princess," said a mascot resembling a blue whale. He wore a long dark blue coat with golden embroidery and a similar bicorne hat.

'I swear to god... Mapleland is a furry paradise...' I thought after realizing that the captain and half of the crew were sea-themed mascots.

"Captain Shironagasukujiro, it's nice to see you too," Latifa replied with a slight smile.

"This is?" he inquired towards Latifa while looking at me.

"This is Arthur, the person that lifted my curse," she said, her smile becoming slightly brighter.

"My apologize!" he exclaimed and bowed in my direction. "I acted rudely towards our beloved princess's savior," he added.

"Don't worry. I don't mind," I replied with a relaxed smile. "I will be in your care," I added while extending my hand.

"Leave it to me," he replied with a smile and shook my hand. "Now then. Please follow me," he added after taking a few steps back.

"Where to?" I asked.

"To our cabin, of course. Unless you can breathe underwater, moffu," Moffel replied while giving me a 'are you stupid?' look.

"What do you mean?" I asked again, unbothered by his attempt at annoying me.

"The gate on the other side is deep underwater," explained Latifa instead. "We made it there because the gate was formed from a large amount of water and to prevent unauthorized use. If someone opened it forcefully, water would fill up this room, and the pressure would send their ship flying through the roof, which is why Genjūrō and others had to be careful while opening it," she added.

"I see," I replied while nodding, showing I understood.

After that, we were led to our cabins. To Moffels dismay, we had to occupy the same room, but once I pointed out that Latifa would undoubtedly let me sleep in her room, he shut up, and the rest of the voyage passed uneventfully.

***

After two days of the voyage, we finally saw our destination. It was a grand port city extending as far as the eye could see. At the center stood a marvelous white castle with many tall towers covered in cone-shaped orange roofs and surrounded by a tall wall.

From what I have heard, the whole city is surrounded by another wall, excluding the port area, for obvious reasons. That shows how much the royalty of this world, or at least Latifa's family, cares about their citizens' safety.

The view of this city truly made me realize I was no longer on earth. That and a few other things, like the color of the sky being turquoise and many unusual-looking fish and birds that I saw on my way here.

"Finally, the capital of Mapleland, Fleuranz," murmured one of the park staff standing next to me.

Hearing that, I instinctively looked at Latifa standing next to me. Thanks to my help, she stopped losing memories, so it has been around five years since she last saw her father and home. She must be feeling overjoyed at the prospect of meeting him again.

As if reading my mind, she looked at me and smiled brightly.

'I will protect this smile,' I thought to myself. 'And to do so, I will find that damn wizard and deal with him,' I added.

An hour later, the ship finally reached the port and was met with loud cheers. I guess that the return of the princess wasn't a secret.

The crew quickly created a makeshift wooden bridge for us and the other passengers to disembark the ship and officially set foot in Fleuranz. Soon after, the crowd parted in the middle, and a group of knights approached us.

"Welcome back, your majesty, Latifa-sama!!!" exclaimed the man at the front. He wore a scarlet uniform with black and golden accents, resembling the British Army's Infantry, gold aigrettes worn on the right shoulder, and a pair of white trousers.

"""Welcome back, your majesty, Latifa-sama!!!""" parroted the group of knights in similar uniforms behind him. That included a girl around my age with thigh-length golden brown hair tied into a ponytail by a black and white ribbon and a pair of golden eyes. In addition to the scarlet uniform and gold aigrettes, she wore a white ribbon at the center of her collar, a black skirt, and white thigh-high stockings.

Our eyes met for a moment, but I decided to ignore it for the time being. As a wise man once said, "if her age is on the clock, she's not ready for the cock". Although... In that case, the clock should have sixteen hours...

"Captain Lawrence. It's nice to see you again," Latifa said while performing a small curtsy.

"The pleasure is mine, princess," Lawrence replied. "It's good to see you as well, Moffle. You didn't change at all," he added.

"I see you got a bit stronger. Good work, mofu," Moffle replied.

"Thank you," Lawrence said, then looked at me. "And you must be Arthur. I am sure you have already heard this many times, but thank you for saving our princess," he said while bowing, followed by his subordinates.

"Yeah, I already lost count of how many people thanked me, haha," I said with a slight chuckle. "I just did the right thing, so you have nothing to thank me for," I added.

Hearing that, Lawrence smiled lightly. "Please, follow me. We have prepared a carriage that will take us straight to the castle," he said after looking again at Latifa and turned around afterward, leading the way.

The other passengers of the ship went their separate ways as well since they went back to meet their own families.

As for how would they return to Amagi Brilliant Park? We agreed upon a return voyage in two weeks. If they can't get back by then, it's their problem.

We entered the carriage, and soon after, it departed towards the castle.