Mona didn't have trouble sleeping in a new bed.
Maybe because she'd come to a strange world and was mentally exhausted, she slept like a rock the whole night, completely unfazed by the ship's rocking, the waves pounding, or the loud singing coming from the cabin below.
She slept straight till dawn.
Still groggy, she got up, combed her hair, put on her clothes, and headed to the washroom to wash up.
Only after that did she go to the dining room aboard the ship.
Breakfast was already laid out: bacon and fried eggs, toast, crisp fresh lettuce, steamed eel, and milk.
It was way more luxurious than any breakfast Mona had ever had.
The material abundance here was a bit too much; sooner or later people would be swallowed by desire, unable to see the truth through the stars anymore.
That said, Mona didn't hold back at all.
She spread jam on the toast, added a leaf of lettuce, one fried egg, two slices of bacon, two pieces of eel, then capped it with another slice of toast.
One bite and all those flavors burst in her mouth.
Pure happiness.
Mona's appetite wasn't big; after finishing this deluxe sandwich, she was already so full she hiccuped.
"Drink the milk too."
Arion nodded at the big glass of milk in front of Mona.
"I went into town early this morning to buy it. You're still growing, so you're gonna finish it."
Mona remembered what Arion said last night about her having nothing but ribs and couldn't help suspecting he was taking a jab at her figure again.
Seeing the suspicion in Mona's eyes, Arion didn't bother to hide anything.
"You know you only grow if you eat enough meat, eggs, and dairy, right? Sailing's hard work. You barely have any meat on you, you're all ribs. If you don't eat more, you're gonna suffer when we're out at sea."
"My fat's just not distributed evenly, okay," Mona muttered a weak protest.
She wanted to say 2B was the same—her hips and legs were way fuller than her upper body—but then changed her mind and swallowed the words.
As a proper maiden, she wasn't about to casually discuss her own figure with a guy.
Half annoyed, she grabbed the milk and gulped down half the glass in one go, then couldn't drink another drop.
After breakfast, they sat around for a bit.
Hearing shouting outside the ship, Arion went out to look; dock workers had finished repairing the sails and brought them over to hang.
He leaned on the rail, watched them work, and chatted a bit with the foreman, asking him to top up the ship's fresh water tanks and such.
Once the sails were up and the ship's tanks were filled, he left Assistant behind to look after the ship and went ashore with 2B and Mona.
First stop was clothes for Mona.
While Mona browsed, Arion picked out stockings for 2B.
Even though industry in this world wasn't very advanced, the stockings here were surprisingly good quality.
All cotton or real silk, none of that petrochemical synthetic stuff, and the prices were very decent.
Arion bought a whole bunch for 2B—black, white, tights, garters, fishnets, a few of each.
Watching Arion so casually picking out women's intimate wear in the lingerie section made Mona's face burn; she could only pretend she didn't know him.
This Captain was… not exactly proper.
After getting Mona her clothes, they headed to the town bookstore to buy her some sailing textbooks, blank nautical charts, and other stuff they'd need on the voyage.
Professional materials are never cheap.
By the time they were done, they'd filled a cart with technical books and burned through over a million Belly—a serious hit to Arion's wallet.
And it wasn't all sailing manuals; a big chunk of it was on this world's stars.
Those books were niche and pricey, eating up a lot of the cost.
Arion set a hand on Mona's head and roughly ruffled her hair.
"You're gonna learn the basic sailing stuff first before you touch the other random books. Otherwise I'll tan your butt."
"Got it," Mona said, prying his hand off her head. "If it bothers you that much, count these star books as borrowed from you, okay?"
"No need. Just don't waste the thought I put into it."
"What 'thought'? You make it sound so sketchy," Mona grumbled.
But she was smiling inside.
Aside from being a bit of a perv, this Captain was actually pretty nice.
They had the bookstore owner send the books and clothes back to the ship for them, then they wandered through the market, stocking up on daily necessities, fresh vegetables, fruit, meat, and other supplies for the trip.
Since the sails were fixed, there was no reason to stay in this town much longer.
Once they finished buying supplies and asked the shopkeepers to deliver everything to the ship, Arion checked the time, then decided they might as well have lunch in town and head back later to organize it all.
They went back to the tavern they'd eaten at yesterday.
Arion ordered a huge platter of stew big enough for three, plus meat-sauce noodles as the main dish, beer for 2B, milk for Mona, and juice for himself.
"Eat more meat and get your protein up."
Arion dropped a massive piece of meat into Mona's bowl.
"If it's not enough, we'll order more. Don't be shy."
Mona just shot Arion a sideways glance.
She really couldn't be bothered arguing with him anymore.
After a hearty meal, they got ready to head back.
They'd barely stepped out of the tavern when they heard barking up ahead, and saw pedestrians forcing smiles and stepping out of the way.
Like they'd just run into the plague.
What came strutting toward Arion and the others was a pampered rich kid with two Marines soldiers at his back, a vicious wolf on a leash in his hand, a golden bowl-cut haircut, and an ugly, smug grin plastered across his face.
Seeing that face and that ridiculous hair, a name immediately popped into Arion's mind.
Helmeppo.
The son of Captain "Axe-Hand" Morgan of the Marines 153rd Branch.
Didn't think he'd run into this clown right when he was about to leave.
What bad luck.
Arion had zero interest in making trouble; he simply stepped off to the side with the others to wait for Helmeppo to pass before going on.
But they were all too eye-catching—face, build, and aura.
Even just standing by the roadside, they stuck out like a sore thumb.
Naturally, Helmeppo noticed them, his eyes lighting up.
Still holding the wolf's leash, he twisted his duck-footed steps and walked over with that ugly grin.
His target was Mona.
"Beautiful lady, it must be fate that I ran into you. Let's go have lunch together~"
He didn't even wait for Mona to answer.
He simply lunged to grab her wrist.
Helmeppo, used to throwing his weight around on his father's authority—bullying men, harassing women—didn't see any problem with his behavior.
But the wrist that got grabbed wasn't Mona's.
It was Helmeppo's.
"You dare block me?"
Helmeppo's face twisted with anger.
"Do you even know who I am? I'm the son of Marines Captain Morgan!"
"So what?"
Arion pulled the disgusted Mona behind him.
"Do you have any idea that what you just did is a great way to get yourself killed?"
The pressure rolling off Arion made Helmeppo's heart seize with fear.
Before he could react, a fist the size of a clay pot smashed straight into his disgusting banana-shaped face.
He was launched with a single punch.
Standing behind Arion, Mona tilted her head back and looked up at his sharply drawn profile.
This Captain…
Is really handsome.