"Yeah… love is love… but is it really love?" I exhaled, clinging to the hull of the ship and feeling the seawater splash against my skin. I was slightly below the bow, just thinking while staring into the water.
I could confidently say that I liked Anna, but… did I love her? Probably not… love was too strong a feeling for me, or at least that was how it seemed. I enjoyed spending time with her and Elsa, but did that mean I loved them both?
Overthinking things was kind of my specialty.
But not relationships, since I had never really understood myself or my feelings. Somehow… rational thinking in my head was stronger than raw emotions. So I never got completely swept away by feelings the way Anna often did.
"I see land!" a voice from the mast interrupted my thoughts, and indeed, an island was visible in the distance. It was already the sixth day of sailing, and it was…
Not perfect.
It still could not compare to cruise liners or modern yachts equipped with everything for comfortable living. This was a relatively old sailing ship, even if repaired, with mice on board… thankfully, the cabins were decent, and I had improved them a bit. As for the regular sailors' quarters… Spartan conditions, yeah. But expecting anything else from what was basically the medieval era would be too much.
And as I knew, this island was the only trading stop before the mainland — the island kingdom of "Corona." From what I understood, it was quite a famous kingdom because of its location, and like Arendelle, it was a major торговая точка… trade hub. But they also mined resources and gold on the mainland, and farther inland, about three weeks away, there were other kingdoms.
The wealthy kingdom the merchant was heading to — Tirulia — was about a week away by sea from Corona and was also a powerful state with a strong navy and rich resources.
"Sea devil!" a sailor shouted when I climbed onto the deck from the bow.
"Wrong guess," I replied, walking past him.
"Vi-ic!" Anna ran out of the cabin and rushed to the edge of the ship, so I had to grab her before she stepped overboard. "A new kingdom, new lands! Should we call Elsa?" she looked at me.
"Um, Elsa is the queen of Arendelle… and kings usually cannot just show up in another kingdom unannounced. Normally, you warn them in advance through envoys…"
"We can be envoys! I am a princess, and you are my prince!" she hugged my arm, excited by the idea.
"I am not good at diplomacy… with you two, I talked more or less normally, but real diplomacy is… difficult. You need to know traditions and customs so you do not accidentally start a war with the wrong word. You need to be smooth with words, and I definitely am not…"
"We will manage! We will form an alliance!" the princess suggested with shining eyes. "But only if they are not bad…" she added, at least acknowledging something logical.
And we did bring Elsa onto the ship, just without announcing to everyone that the queen was on board. Strengthening relations between kingdoms was not a bad idea. There would definitely be benefits.
And for the two sisters, it was basically a whole new world, since they had never left Arendelle. So new types of ships, different clothing, and even unfamiliar fruits caught their attention… especially Anna's. The people here were cheerful too, just like in her kingdom, so she felt quite free.
Elsa, dressed in simple clothes with a hood, did not attract attention either. People simply minded their own business.
"And all this is just a week away by sea…" Elsa said quietly, smiling as she bought a basket of fruit from a little girl. She paid several times more than necessary. And yes, the currency was quite similar to Arendelle's coins — we had already discussed it with the merchant and the captain.
"The world is huge, what can I say," I replied… and it really was.
The world was huge. Especially when it was not just one world…
I could visit any world I knew and take things from there… within reason, and if I chose the right moment. And just seeing the beauty of different worlds was… interesting. And dangerous.
I remembered Servants from the Fate world and their abilities, or the Marvel and DC worlds… there were beings so powerful they could practically do anything. Even in my own world, it turned out, such things existed… hopefully, they were gone now.
The people of this kingdom treated their monarchs with great respect, because under their rule, no one starved, and the kingdom prospered through trade. So much so that every year, on a certain day, they released lanterns into the sky like candles of remembrance for the king and queen's daughter, who had been kidnapped as a baby…
"That is ужасно… horrible…" Anna reacted with shock.
"Humans are the most dangerous and terrifying creatures on the planet," I said, recalling something someone once said in my world.
"It is not that bad…" Anna replied, as if defending people.
"There are many good people, but out of a thousand, there will be one who is far worse. There are thieves, pirates, criminals… Anna, you are still naive," I smiled at her, and she let me hug her. "Elsa was trained to be a queen, so she understands this better…" I glanced at Elsa, who was watching us with an unreadable expression.
"Vic is right, sister. The world is not that kind… even in our kingdom, we have a prison, though it is usually empty. But people… sometimes do unimaginable things for their desires and ambitions."
"But that is not a reason to lose faith…" I gently lifted Anna's chin with my finger. "So let us go to the castle and try to talk…"
Surprisingly, the guards believed us and sent word to the rulers… I thought they would just turn us away, which would have definitely happened in my world. It was hard to imagine someone walking up to a president's residence and claiming to be an envoy and actually being taken seriously. But… maybe people here were just used to things being relatively peaceful. No disasters, no wars, no maniacs…
I looked at all this from the perspective of a twenty-first-century person used to comfort. And speaking of comfort… I had installed a proper bathroom and toilet in Arendelle using items from The Sims. I did the same for Elsa and Anna, since they usually washed in something closer to bathhouses.
There were many such bathhouses, along with bubble solutions for bathing and something resembling shampoos… it kind of broke my brain that this coexisted with medieval carts and worn-down houses.
Disney, I guess…
And since I mentioned envoys, Elsa asked me to bring one of her people. Not exactly an envoy, but someone who handled economic matters and advised her. He should manage. So I opened a portal, Elsa found him, and he quickly prepared.
I did not want to attend the meeting with royalty, so I waited outside with Elsa and Anna. Elsa because appearing personally could undermine her authority, and Anna… because she was Anna.
But eventually I got bored and went for a walk, reaching the beach. It was a beautiful place.
"A dolphin…" I noticed one washed ashore. "How did you even get here?" I asked, approaching the large creature. I was not a fan of sea animals, especially dolphins, since I had heard about the things they could do…
Though humans were worse.
"I think you are not supposed to drag them by the tail…" I recalled reading something like that.
The dolphin just lay there, staring at me with a strange look… almost conscious.
"Dolphin sushi…" the "fish" started twitching more. (Not a fish, i know)
"Relax, I am joking," I pulled out the portal gun, and the dolphin froze. "Where in the ocean do you want to go?" I smiled, and it… closed its eyes.
I fired a portal beneath it, and another a few meters away above the water. The dolphin fell through, paused for a second, then its head emerged from the water.
"Go on, swim away and try not to end up like this again. Someone else would probably take you and eat you," I said.
It made a sound, almost like gratitude, and disappeared beneath the waves.
"Guess I improved my karma a bit," I muttered quietly with a sigh.