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After returning to Belrüsa, I immediately sent two werewolves to Lüenheit.

“Transform and get back to Lüenheit at top speed. Deliver this letter to Aylia. If the Demon Lord is there, make sure you report to her as well.”
“Understood!”
“Leave it to us!”

If something strange was happening in these waters, it was beyond what I could handle alone. Even for investigation, I needed help.

I had Parker make daily round trips as a liaison to the reefs where the mermaids lived.

“This isn’t an underhanded way to keep me at bay, is it?”
“it’s not. Go reassure them.”
“Alright… but let me tell you a really good joke I just thought of first—”
“Just go.”

There was a nonzero chance the mermaids were doing something suspicious behind the scenes, so this doubled as surveillance.
Just in case.
Given my position as the Demon King’s adjutant, it was painful but necessary not to trust others too easily…

Of course, the humans needed watching too. Also just in case.
I assigned that to Monsa’s unit.

“Keep an eye on them. Make sure they’re not doing anything strange.”
“Okaaay, Captain. If they do something strange, can I kill them?”
“No.”
“Hmph.”

Cute as that sulking was, no still meant no.
Also, where did she even learn to sulk like that?

As I was wondering, Rasie leaned over and whispered something to her.

“No, Monsa, you should project more of a ‘I want to be useful to you’ sort of vibe.”
“Ohhh, I see.”

You do not see.

“Rasie. It’s fine that you’ve gotten friendly with the werewolves, but could you please stop teaching them weird things?”
“S-sorry. I just wanted to be useful to you, Veit…”

She said that while sulking cutely.

That is exactly what you just told Monsa to do.
Do you really think that works when it’s obvious?

“Nope. As punishment, you’re doing swimming training.”
“Eeeh!?”

I had my reasons.
This might actually come in handy later.

I had Rasie change into a swimsuit and forced her to practice swimming at the harbor.

“V-Veit! I’m from the north! Northerners can’t swim!”
“That’s exactly why you’re going to learn. Come on, you want to be useful to me, right?”
“NOOOO—!?”

I only poked her lightly in the back, but she screamed and jumped off the pier into the sea.
I think I’ve seen comedians do this kind of routine in my previous life…

Of course, it would be bad if she actually drowned, so I had lifeguards on standby.
I shouted to the Garne brothers, who were splashing around on the surface.

“Hey, you two! Stop fooling around and take care of Rasie properly!”

Garne the younger shouted back while dog-paddling.

“We’ve only ever swum in rivers! We’re not that good either!”
“I taught you breaststroke back when we were kids. Use that.”

I had taught the werewolves my age crawl and breaststroke when we were young. They could all swim well enough not to drown.

Even back then, the Garne brothers were bad at swimming. I remember thinking I’d found an unexpected weakness.
That said, once they transformed into werewolves, their stamina shot up, so swimming in a calm inlet like this was no big deal.
I was watching from here anyway. If something happened, I could always use underwater breathing magic to help.
I sat down on the pier, opened my spellbook, and reviewed the spells I might need going forward.

In this world, magic isn’t easy to use just by memorizing incantations and gestures.
Formal spell formulas take time, and they require mental focus. Unless the spell is very simple, you can’t use it instantly.
So for emergencies, you keep certain spells ready at the back of your mind. You complete the incantation and motions in advance, leaving them in a state where all you have to do is activate them.
It’s a bit like assigning frequently used spells to shortcut keys in an MMO.

A mage’s strength in combat is basically determined by how many of these shortcut slots they have. No matter how advanced a spell is, it’s useless if you can’t cast it immediately.
For reference, I can keep about five or six spells in a ready state. That’s perfectly average for a professional mage.
Rasie is specialized in advanced illusion magic, but she can probably manage about the same number. She isn’t particularly dexterous.
Parker and Marlene have much more experience as mages, so they can likely prepare more.
As for Master, I have no idea how many she can keep ready. It’s probably on a completely different order of magnitude.

So I was loading sea-relevant spells into my mental shortcuts and endlessly debating which ones to remove.

“Strength enhancement, reflex enhancement, also, recovery enhancement is a must…”
“Veit—! P-please, at least somewhere I can touch the bottom! S-shouldn’t training be done in stages—!?”

While the Garne brothers watched nervously, Rasie splashed around frantically.

“Don’t worry, it’s not that deep there! Defense enhancement too… hmm, but maybe I should slot water-walking? Wait, wait—maybe I should also keep some healing magic ready…”

There were a few spells Master had taught me recently. I wanted to test those as well.

While I was thinking, Rasie suddenly started swimming smoothly. She’d gotten the hang of it.

“Ah!? I—I think I can do it!? Like this, Veit!?”
“Yeah, looks good! Spells I don’t need to cast instantly really should go…”

I cheered her on halfheartedly while narrowing down my spell selection.
Since I’m a buffer, I also have to consider duration when choosing spells.
If something lasts half a day, I can cast it in advance. On the other hand, spells that wear off in seconds are a pain to reapply.
This is harder than it sounds…

Eventually, Rasie seemed to have mastered breaststroke and started swimming happily.

“I did it! I did it, Veit! I can swim now!”
“Yeah, faster than I expected. Well done, Rasie. Good work.”
“Ehehe.”

As she smiled shyly, I gave her the next instruction.

“Alright, next. Swim under the bottoms of those small boats over there.”
“Eh?”
“While under there, carefully observe the water surface and the hulls. Once you’re used to it, gradually move on to larger ships.”
“Eh? Eh?”

I do have my reasons, so please don’t hate me.
Do your best, former Saintess.