Chapter 99

Seeing the orcas circling around their fallen comrade, I felt that they were not about to give up.

Rather, I sensed a kind of hatred towards us for the loss of their comrade.

"Dan! Let's turn on the magic device switch."

Since they were already angry, it would be easier to unsettle them further by making an unpleasant noise.

If they communicate through sound, there's a chance we could disrupt their communication with their companions.

My strategy worked, and a young orca, about 6 meters long, charged straight at me on the aft deck.

Its dorsal fin emerging as it approached was evidence of its lack of composure.

I drew it in sufficiently, and as its head surfaced, I fired three iron arrows in quick succession, taking it down.

Three left.

Then, the orcas neither rammed us nor showed any signs of giving up; instead, they began to track us from a certain distance.

Occasionally, the largest individual would spray a large amount of water using water magic, seemingly to harass us. However, it seemed that the magic couldn't be used repeatedly, and as long as Cazzo and the others kept draining the water, the ship's speed could be maintained.

I asked Dan,

"…What's their aim… Just harassment?"

"…It's unlikely they've given up.

Are they waiting for the right moment to attack, or is there something advantageous for them ahead—"

Before Dan could finish, the answer became clear.

The 10-meter-long water magic user, which had been alone until now, was joined by three more on both sides of the ship, and they simultaneously launched water magic from four directions.

…This is seriously bad…

If we keep getting drenched at this rate, the drainage won't keep up, and the ship will start to sink.

Moreover, the problem is that the water coming from both sides is severely affecting the sail operation.

A square-rigged ship loses speed when the wind is taken out of the sails during a turn.

Even when hit by water magic and the mainsail is blown back, Dan manages to steady the ship, but with such frequent turns, even Dan can't maintain the ship's speed.

The orcas, as if celebrating their victory, started jumping from a distance, one after another.

I thought about piercing them with a mackagate arrow but held back.

It seems they've brought a large number of others, with 17 remaining.

Reducing the number of smaller ones with the four remaining arrows would be like pouring water on a burning stone, and it would be a waste of time.

I stood next to the mainsail and shouted to Dan,

"Going all in, I'm using wind magic!

Coordinate with me!"

Of course, I had in mind the idea of using my wind magic to accelerate the ship by hitting the sails.

But the wind was already blowing at about 15 meters per second from a diagonal rear direction, which was the limit of my magical power circulation. That's about 54 kilometers per hour.

Creating a stronger wind wouldn't help because I couldn't circulate the magic power released outside back into my body.

If I pushed the wind speed to 30 meters per second, my magical power would be exhausted in three minutes.

But if we continued like this, we would definitely be in trouble.

We needed to break through the encirclement and find a way to run aground on the continent or something.

I made the decision and directed the wind magic towards the inside of the sail.

◆

Instantly, the ship moved in a way I hadn't anticipated.

The sails, which had been fully inflated by the wind, suddenly flapped and became disordered.

The ship's speed dropped sharply.

Dan immediately adjusted the lines and turned the ship, protesting,

"Hey!"

"Thinking!"

…Instead of accelerating, I didn't expect it to decelerate.

What was the principle behind how a yacht moves…

I remember seeing it somewhere, but I can't recall it.

Why was I so stupid in my previous life…

I would definitely remember it if it were from this life!

Cold sweat trickled down my back.

But thanks to my practical experience, my mind was sharp.

I realized that even in such a crisis, my hands didn't shake when I drew the bow, unlike when I faced the Grithesnake.

While desperately thinking, I was surprised to have the space in my mind to notice such things.

To feel the flow of the wind, I tried to merge with the wind blowing through the sails, circulating my magical power at about 15 meters per second.

Then I finally remembered.

"Right! Bernoulli's principle!"

"What?!"

Dan asked, but I didn't have time to answer.

Using my magical power circulation, I slowly weakened the wind passing through the inside of the sail.

◆

The ship suddenly accelerated.

I continued to adjust the wind speed gradually.

The ship accelerated dramatically.

Dan shouted,

"Wait, Ren!

The heel is too severe! We'll capsize!

Cazzo!

Move all the Duarize to the port side and shift everyone over. We need to shift the center of gravity to the left as much as possible!"

Heeling is when the ship leans towards the leeward side.

While engine-powered ships generally move straight, a square-rigged ship always leans in the direction the sails are pulled.

Dan's order meant that the force pulling the ship diagonally forward was too strong, and the lateral righting force was reaching its limit.

Cazzo and the others quickly moved to the side of the ship that was rising, shifting the ship's center of gravity to keep it as straight as possible.

Seeing this, I further weakened the wind passing through the inside of the sail, accelerating the ship.

◆

Bernoulli's principle.

It's the reason airplanes can fly and yachts can sail into the wind.

In the case of an airplane, the wind passing over the top of the wing, and in the case of a yacht, the wind passing over the curved outer side of the sail, moves faster than the wind on the opposite side.

This results in a decrease in pressure on the faster side, creating a force that pulls the object upwards, known as lift.

The lift generated by the pressure difference is powerful enough to lift even a large passenger plane into the air, much stronger than the force of the wind pushing against it.

By utilizing part of this lift, a yacht can sail into the wind.

In this case, I slowed down the wind passing through the inside of the sail to increase the speed difference with the outside, thus increasing the lift.

The key is the meaning of this "slowing down."

According to Bernoulli's principle, which is based on the conservation of energy, it doesn't hold if external energy is applied to the fluid.

Whether the magical slowing of the wind converts kinetic energy into pressure (density) or acts as a brake from external energy was something I couldn't determine without trying it.

Based on the fundamental laws of magic and motion in magic power transformation mathematics, I thought it might work, but I wasn't sure.

What I did was simply slow down the wind, but as a result, the wind passing through the outside of the sail accelerated for some reason.

Further verification would be needed to understand the details.

Incidentally, when I initially accelerated the wind on the inside, the sail flapped and the ship decelerated, which was the opposite effect.

The significant advantage of this method in the current situation is that it allows for sustained acceleration as long as the wind is blowing similarly, without straining my magical power.

The ship is now traveling at about 30 kilometers per hour.

The cruising speed of orcas is about 15 kilometers per hour, so they must be swimming quite hard now.

Evidence of this is that the water magic attacks have stopped.

Even if this turns into a test of endurance, I don't feel like I'll lose at all.

Then, Dan called out from the cockpit with a worried look,

"Hey, Ren!

We need to jibe soon or we'll hit the continent!

Can you do it again if we stop…?

Can you do it?!"

I gave Dan a thumbs-up with a confident grin.

Thank you as always.

Sorry, I'll take a break tomorrow!