Two or three hours later, dawn broke.
By then, Queen Catherine's six-warship fleet, bound for a funeral, had left the waters where they had been attacked the previous night. Now they had slowed down, sailing in a single-file formation across the boundless blue sea.
They had no choice but to slow down!
After all, although they had won a great victory after last night's chaos and bloody battle, the ship attacked by the octopus Siren had still suffered considerable damage.
So, even though the other ships were mostly fine, they had to slow down and accommodate the damaged vessel as much as possible, both for its sake and to keep the sailors, crew, and carpenters from falling into the sea during emergency repairs.
Meanwhile, the soldiers, sailors, and crew aboard the other ships took the opportunity to tend to the wounded, deal with the bodies, and tally the various losses that had been difficult to count in the dark.
And sure enough...
Once the gentle glow on the distant horizon grew brighter and hotter, Christian finally finished his work and came before Queen Catherine. She, too, had stayed awake all night and was now eating slowly in the officers' quarters outside the galley. He saluted and reported, "Your Majesty!"
"We've finished tallying everything."
"The damage to that ship isn't too serious. With some basic repairs, it can finish the voyage. Once we reach Erathia, we can find a dry dock and have it properly refitted."
"We've lost practically no supplies. Only the ship that was attacked lost some fresh water, but it isn't a major problem. There's no need to replenish it from the other ships."
"As for our people—"
Christian paused and stole a glance at the queen, who continued to eat her dry bread, cheese, salted fish, and