"Oh nooo... this is bad..."

Looking at the two men lying side by side inside the cabin, Tie let out a heavy sigh.

After checking on Allerik and Bale’s condition, Raul rose to his feet.

"They’ve already taken medicine, so they should improve soon. Though they’ll probably still suffer for a while."

"Raul oppa, should Tie just heal them? Tie has lots of holy power!"

But Bale immediately cut in.

"Urk... kid, we’ve got something big coming up soon, don’t waste holy power on this."

Tie reluctantly nodded.

Just as Bale said, they needed to conserve their strength as much as possible.

Besides, treating internal bodily issues was far more difficult than healing visible wounds.

Ribia, who had been watching from the doorway, cautiously stepped closer.

"Allerik. Was your diarrhea really that bad...?"

The lying Allerik twitched and snapped his eyes open.

Scratching the back of her head, Ribia continued:

"I heard it from the paladins. They said you stayed at the bow of the ship forever? Apparently everyone handles their business there."

"R-Ribia, well..."

"So what are we supposed to do now? It’s all my fault. Honestly, it would’ve been better if you’d just thrown up like Bale instead of having your backside catch fire..."

With a groan, Allerik collapsed back onto the bed.

Thunk. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

The back of his head hit the wooden frame.

"Alright, I’ve decided."

Ribia approached him with a determined look.

"The navigator said he spotted clouds in the distance. If we’re lucky, it’ll rain by evening. If not, tomorrow."

"......"

"You know what that means, right? Once it rains, nobody can use the bow for bathroom business anymore. Everyone has to go below deck and use chamber pots."

Bale squeezed his eyes shut tightly.

"Uuurgh..."

There were exactly two people in the room who were not grimacing at the topic.

Tie, whose eyes sparkled with fascination at the new information, and Ribia.

"They say if the pots aren’t emptied immediately, the smell gets absolutely terrible. Which means!"

"......"

"I’ll personally take responsibility for your chamber pot!"

"Ah, Ribia..."

Ribia poked Allerik in the side.

"Hey, it’s fine! If it rains, the ship’ll rock around. You think I’d make a sick guy like you carry a chamber pot by himself? You should be grateful. You’re practically about to cry from happiness, aren’t you?"

"You seriously..."

"Tie will help too!"

At that moment, Tie shot her hand high into the air.

Ribia’s eyes widened when she saw the little girl bouncing excitedly in place.

"Young Lady too?"

"Mmhm! Tie wants to help too! Tie wants to try it too!"

Tie’s eyes gleamed brightly.

"Tie wants to poop in a chamber pot too!"

She grabbed the edge of Ribia’s clothes.

"And when it rains, does the ship rock really hard? Really really hard?"

Ribia puffed herself up importantly.

"Really hard. The front of the ship’ll probably rise all the way up to the sky outside that window."

"Ehk!"

"That’s why nobody can do their business at the bow once it rains. You could fall into the ocean in the middle of it."

"T-then what do we do...?"

"What do we do? Why, Young Lady and I will have to take charge of the temporary bathroom below deck."

Tie gulped loudly.

Then she copied Ribia’s serious expression.

"I see... Tie and Auntie are the special toilet squad...!"

"No."

At that moment, someone entered the cabin.

"Ehk."

It was Tesetan.

He stepped inside while shaking water from his damp hair.

After looking at Ribia, he let out a long sigh.

"Ribia. What exactly are you teaching my daughter right now?"

Ribia opened her mouth, but Tie immediately darted forward and shielded her.

"No! Tie wanted this herself! To protect the toilet during rainy days, the two of us—"

"No."

Tesetan mercilessly cut her off again and walked over.

As though already accustomed to situations like this, he crouched down to Tie’s eye level and spoke calmly.

"When it rains and the wind picks up, the ship rocks. It’s dangerous enough just standing around. Why would you go below deck on top of that?"

Deep shock appeared across Tie’s face.

Her wide eyes dropped downward before lifting back toward Papa.

Her lips puffed out miserably.

"Buuut..."

"Sigh. Before we left, you promised Mama, remember?"

Tie answered gloomily:

"I promiiised..."

"Mama said that if Tie gets sick, it’ll hurt her a hundred times more. Remember? If Tie falls on deck, Mama will hurt a hundred times more too. And you still want to do it?"

Tie shook her head.

Mama had stayed behind in the capital to deal with the Imperial Palace’s complicated affairs all by herself.

Tie couldn’t make her worry about her too.

“...Hing.”

But that didn’t make the disappointment disappear.

"Tie wanted to use a chamber pot too..."

Hearing her near tearful voice, Tesetan lightly scooped Tie into his arms.

Then he lowered his voice as though about to reveal the greatest secret in the world.

"Alright then. Let’s make a deal with Papa."

"A deaaal...?"

"When tomorrow’s rain stops and the sea calms down, we’ll go together and let you experience using a chamber pot."

Tie’s face instantly brightened.

"Okay!"

"Until then, no whining. No asking Auntie Ribia ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) to take you below deck. And when the ship rocks, you stay close to Papa. Deal?"

"Deal!"

Only then did Tesetan smile softly.

Looking over Raul, Bale, Allerik, and Ribia, he said:

"Take care of yourselves. Victor has everything you need."

As he opened the door and stepped out, Tie hummed to herself:

"Chamber pot experience~ Tie gets a chamber pot experience too~"

At that exact moment, Enzo was walking into the cabin.

He froze in place.

Then he looked at Ribia.

"Squad Leader seems to be in a good mood today. Did you find some kind of entertainment on the ship? A chamber pot experience?"

Lying on the bed, Bale answered for everyone in a dying voice.

"She’s happy because she gets to use a chamber pot... urgh..."

"What?"

"She’s excited about using a chamber pot as a toilet. You can totally tell she’s four years old. I knew it from the moment her worst insults were ‘idiot’ and ‘you smell like poop,’ uuurgh."

Behind Enzo, the cabin door creaked shut.

"Kyaa—"

Meanwhile, Tie had gone up onto the deck with Tesetan.

Now she sat on a chair Leonardo had brought her, noisily slurping fruit juice.

"So coooool!"

Sitting beside her, Edmund stroked her head.

"There’s plenty of ice, so drink as much as you want, our beautiful niece."

Tie giggled and turned around.

At that very moment, Alexander was coming up from the storage area at the stern.

He carried two glasses filled with floating ice cubes.

Tie smacked Tesetan’s arm excitedly.

"Papa! Yours is here!"

The iced beer was for the adults.

Alexander chuckled quietly and stopped behind Tie’s chair.

"Tesetan, that was a smart idea. Putting an icebox at the stern was brilliant."

"Well, what choice did we have? We’re going to be sailing for three weeks. How else are we supposed to survive this humid trip?"

Edmund agreed immediately.

Tie swung her legs while listening to the adults talk.

Just as Edmund said, this voyage would take three weeks.

At first, Tie had wanted to ask Marbas to create a teleportation portal across the entire continent, even if it was difficult.

But—

'A-across an entire continent? No, if something like that were even possible, crazy Papa would’ve used it first!'

'Ehk, so it doesn’t exist?'

'That’s not the point! You’re asking for something absurdly impossible so casually...'

'So it doesn’t exist?'

'No, that’s not what I’m trying to say!'

'Got it! Marr still can’t do something like that yet. That’s okay~ Tie’s leaving now!'

Unfortunately, Marbas wasn’t capable of creating portals that powerful.

Though Pupu’s comment of “...Kkyut! (Useless guy)” seemed to wound him a little.

Tie shrugged.

Then, before even finishing her fruit juice, she lifted her head.

"Then what do we do for fun for three weeks?"

Even though enormous things awaited them ahead, Tie secretly liked this journey.

In the middle of the endless sea, there was only one thing.

Their expedition ship.

Here, Tie didn’t need to hide anything or conceal herself.

'Grandpa, the uncles, Papa, everyone from the squad is here.'

Tie covered her mouth with both hands and giggled quietly.

"It feels like summer vacation!"

It felt as though she had finally gone on the kind of family trip her kindergarten friends always talked about during break.

"This is a cruise vacation!"

Tesetan smiled.

And then Tie suddenly remembered something and abruptly jumped to her feet.

"Right! Tie wanted to do something with the uncles!"

Then she scampered off somewhere in a hurry.