Today, we departed.
Daddy prepared the finest Caravel currently owned by House Roderick for this journey.
Fast.
Stable.
Luxuriously equipped.
And expensive enough that several guild members visibly questioned his sanity when they learned where it was being sent.
Yesterday, I accompanied Miss DeLuna through the markets while she purchased supplies for the voyage.
Most of those supplies were snacks.
An unreasonable quantity of snacks.
At first I assumed this was simple personal preference.
However, after observing her complete seriousness throughout the shopping process, I am now forced to conclude that her earlier statement regarding Isla de la Luna lacking snack markets was entirely genuine.
This remains one of the more concerning discoveries so far.
At one point, I asked what sort of gift would be appropriate for her parents.
Miss DeLuna considered the question carefully before answering:
“…maybe oranges?”
I immediately decided not to include her recommendation within my official preparation plans.
At this stage, I am increasingly convinced asking Miss DeLuna for diplomatic guidance regarding her own homeland may be strategically unwise.
Daddy personally prepared several bottles of our family’s finest wine for the journey.
He also attempted to provide me with various sealed documents, emergency authorizations, transferable agreements, and what appeared to be at least three separate economic contingency packets.
I quietly left most of them behind.
At this point, Daddy’s level of concern has escalated far beyond normal parental caution.
I suspect he now believes I am sailing toward either: an ancient hidden kingdom, a politically unstable noble territory, or an immortal western civilization disguised as an island village.
Possibly all three simultaneously.
Mommy hugged me longer than I can remember her ever doing before.
Long enough that even I began feeling slightly uncomfortable.
Then Ronan hugged me too and informed me with complete sincerity that if anything happened to me, he would immediately negotiate emergency deployment contracts with the Royal Fleet to retrieve me.
I still cannot determine whether that statement was serious.
Unfortunately, with Ronan, uncertainty itself is usually dangerous.
As for Spathian—
He never appeared at all.
Apparently the emotional devastation caused by being excluded from the expedition completely destroyed his ability to behave normally.
According to one servant, he locked himself inside The Resistance sometime last night after declaring: “No one understands my spirit.”
Miss DeLuna actually seemed somewhat disappointed by his absence.
Which honestly worries me almost as much as everything else.
Before departure, she hugged every member of my family goodbye.
Including Daddy.
Watching Daddy attempt to process being emotionally adopted by an unidentified western noblewoman was genuinely fascinating.
I believe his soul temporarily left his body when Miss DeLuna thanked him warmly for “taking care of her.”
Eventually we boarded the ship.
As the harbor slowly drifted farther away behind us, I looked back one final time toward the docks.
My family stood together watching silently.
And strangely enough…
They looked less like people sending their daughter to visit a friend’s homeland—
And more like people sending an expedition toward an unknown frontier from which survival was uncertain.
The truly alarming part is this:
Even when I traveled to Yggdra for negotiations involving The First Veil herself…
They were not this nervous.
The voyage has now begun.
At this point, I can only hope for the best.
And perhaps prepare emotionally for the possibility that Miss DeLuna’s “small peaceful island” may somehow violate several known laws of civilization.
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