Orichalcum (12)

The heavy iron-covered device groaned as the sailors strained to carry it down the corridor. I realized it was a water current manipulator—the otherworldly equivalent of an engine, connected to the ship’s rudder. It was the same magical tool we’d stripped from the pirates’ vessel, the one that could turn a wooden sailing ship as fast as anything from Earth.

‘Technically, the pirate ship it came from was worth way more.’

But Ursula had already coolly scuttled the thing ages ago. It was a pointless thought. Maybe it was because I’d seen her toss a lump of gold that could buy a fleet of supercars like it was nothing. Whatever treasure waited on the Prophet’s Island, I didn’t believe Ursula would betray us for money. Of course I was still prepared for a knife in the back, but suspecting that bold, magnificent lesbian felt like a waste of time.

‘The longer someone’s eaten steel for breakfast, the less they tend to cling to cash.’

I’d only figured that out after running real jobs these past three months. In this world, people who succeeded by risking their lives rarely acted like greedy bastards. At first glance it sounded obvious—if you succeed, you get rich, and rich people don’t need to obsess over money.

‘But that’s the kind of dumb shit only poor people say.’

Money makes you stop caring about money? What a naïve fucking take. It was the kind of clueless statement that got me absolutely destroyed in an English debate club back in high school when I took the trickle-down side. Shit, I really thought the pro side had the advantage back then. Give me back my gold medal, you bastards.

That’s just how human greed works. A millionaire cruising on a hundred-million-won yacht still envies the billionaire with the two-trillion-won superyacht. In a free-market society, even a businessman sitting on two hundred tons ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of gold bullion at home is still exploiting the poor. This world wasn’t any different.

The blacksmith guild’s sleazy love-doll scammers and the crazy auntie I met at the market were proof enough—there were plenty of money-obsessed psychos. Half-educated pricks who smelled like cheap coins and barked “How much?!” at every customer. They popped up like Team Rocket every time you forgot they existed.

Anyway, that was also why the strong in this world could be so detached from money. Eating steel for breakfast meant betting your life as the stake in every fight.

‘Anyone who picks money over their own life just ends up dead.’

Think about the stock market. Chase a windfall and fail, and your whole family goes down with you. People who gamble their lives on an investment? One failure and they’re suddenly very curious about the temperature of the Han River. To survive long in this line of work, you had to know when to let go of money and value your own neck. Those who couldn’t died before they ever got strong.

Survival of the fittest? More like the survivors become the fittest. Charles Darwin’s dick-selection theory, dusted off for the first time in a while.

The female sailor collapsed to her knees with a cry. The device immediately tilted dangerously as the person beside her lost their grip.

“Hey, hey! Grab it! She’s gonna get crushed! Catch it and set it down!”

“Be careful!!”

The sailor with the facial scar shouted. Ah, she was the maid I’d seen back at the mansion. So she really had been a sailor before. I thought as much as I dashed forward.

“Let me help. Let’s set it down first.”

“Huh? Ah, yes! Please!”

—Clunk.

Together with the flustered sailors, I caught the tilting device and gently lowered it to the side. Damn, it really was heavy. What the hell was it made of?

The sailor who’d thrown her back was getting chewed out. The scarred maid stared at her comrades with the exact look you only give to your closest dumbass friends before bowing her head to me.

“Thank you for your help. You’re Nord, right?”

“Yes. I just happened to be passing by. It looks incredibly heavy—would you like me to help carry it the rest of the way?”

“We’d really appreciate it.”

Since I was a business partner rather than a mere guest, she didn’t bother with polite refusal. I waved at Veronica.

“My lady, what does ‘wiggle-wiggle’ mean? Are you telling me to go on ahead?”

“It means get your ass over here and help, you damn goddess.”

“How cruel. Forcing such heavy labor on a frail mage who only eats grass.”

“Sorry for the trouble.”

At the scarred maid’s apology, Veronica crossed her arms and smiled smugly.

“Hmph. Pay attention. You may worry about me as much as you like. In my place, please teach our useless master how to treat his servants with kindness.”

“Huh? Um…?”

“Ignore her. She doesn’t speak Germania very well.”

“Now the master is even telling lies to enable his own abuse.”

Even while complaining, Veronica still helped carry the water current manipulator all the way to the storage room. Nice to see the chain of command working properly.

—Clank.

The scarred maid locked the device inside the storage room.

‘That lock looks pretty old, though.’

Well, there probably wasn’t much risk of theft. This voyage was crewed only by people Ursula trusted.

“We performed a full inventory check before storing the items. Even if something is stolen, we’ll know immediately, so please don’t worry.”

“Ah, my apologies.”

She was sharp. Of course, I hadn’t been thinking of stealing it—I was worried someone else might. It seemed Captain Ursula wasn’t too concerned about theft.

‘She’s the type who doesn’t cling to money, after all.’

How did I know? You couldn’t miss it after watching her casually punch holes in a brand-new pirate ship until it became a submarine (that would never surface again). Just how much must that ship have been worth?

‘She probably figured the navel was bigger than the belly even if we kept it.’

We had no way to tow the captured pirate ship for more than ten days. The Golden Ship had been crewed exclusively with trustworthy sailors under Ursula’s lead, so there simply weren’t enough spare hands to man a second vessel. Thinking you could split one team into two and still function was the mindset of a small-business owner. And keeping the pirates alive to work the ship was obviously ridiculous. Even assigning the minimum crew was impossible.

Could two or three people even sail a ship?

‘Even if they could, it’d still be a problem.’

What if monsters or more pirates showed up? The helmsman and whoever else we left on the pirate ship would turn into hamburger patties. Ta-da! Your sailor has been replaced by the Flying Dutchman. A moment of silence for the fishermen who came to catch shrimp in Germania’s coastal waters only to pull human dumplings out of their nets.

Looking at it that way, Ursula was an excellent captain who coldly prioritized survival. If you wanted to enjoy adventure and still live to tell the tale, that level of ruthlessness was apparently necessary. So all we really had to watch out for was her sailing off without us.

‘Actually, that wouldn’t even be a problem. She can’t break the barrier without me or Veronica.’

Go back to land and spread rumors? Yeah, good luck explaining how you’re going to break the barrier without us. If she carelessly spread word about a resource-rich tropical island and ended up looking like “Liar Nord,” she’d be lucky. Yeah, Hawaii sank into the ocean! Totally!

Not funny at all, you damn woman.

“Just say the word! I can even transform into a rat, you know!”

“I didn’t ask, I don’t want it, and stop sending telepathy.”

She ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was way too excited. Had her sense of personal space shrunk too much? Whatever. It was still better than her keeping a cold distance. Fuck it, I’ll take the improvement.

We reached the Mare Strait in just half a day. We anchored beside an island so small it made Dokdo look big—practically a reef—and spent the night aboard the ship. Ursula had decided we wouldn’t be able to find anything in the dark, but that turned out to be unnecessary.

Veronica had already located our destination before dawn.

Whoosh—

The Golden Ship sailed forward on the wind, heading exactly where Veronica had indicated. Franc, leaning against the railing on the deck, spoke with open wonder.

“You can really see something? All I see is the horizon.”

“There is an enormous barrier over there. It appears to cover the entire island.”

Veronica pointed in one direction with her finger.

‘I don’t see a damn thing.’

Even my eyes couldn’t perceive the barrier. I’d secretly hoped I might be able to see the island thanks to that “ancient god’s mana” nonsense, but apparently the conditions weren’t right. Dana, resting her head on my shoulder, muttered in surprise.

“There really isn’t much to it. I got all tense for nothing. I was worried there’d be some whirlpool or crazy violent monsters or something.”

“Same here.”

They said there were unusual currents, but since I wasn’t an expert, I had no fucking clue. It felt like being a middle-schooler in the passenger seat, tilting my head every time my dad honked the horn.

“Still, isn’t it better that it’s not special? If something was obviously visible from the sea, other scholars wouldn’t have left it alone.”

“That’s true too. If you only said smart stuff like that every day, you’d look way smarter.”

“Just where in this conversation did a line that deserves me hitting my husband come from?”

“Just flip all the good things about our husband. There are so many that anything works.”

“Where did all the compliments left after making insults go?”

“Mom’s saving them in her bank. She’ll give them back later. When you have kids, she’ll pass them to your child.”

How shocking. My unborn child, whose name I hadn’t even picked yet, was already sticking a straw into my spine. Our big sister was subtly sex-appealing even in casual conversation. At this rate I might end up like Franc and start getting excited when people insult me.

“Senior~! There isn’t another ship in sight anywhere~.”

—Swish!

Larilura slid down from the mast like a rhythmic gymnast. She’d gone on scout duty because having another ship witness us entering the barrier could cause problems. She’d volunteered, saying she wanted to do it herself.

Veronica adjusted a pair of glasses like a secretary—some magic item she claimed could see through the island’s barrier—and turned to Ursula.

The sailors echoed Ursula’s order in perfect unison and obeyed without complaint. The ship sliced through the water, heading straight into an empty sea. Glasses-mode Veronica recited the countdown as if on cue.

“Five, four, three, two, one… We’ve passed it.”

In that instant, the scenery flipped completely.

—Flash!

Like a mirage vanishing, a lush tropical jungle appeared before our eyes. Even from a distance we could see trees heavy with ripe fruit. It looked like the perfect tourist island.

Ursula drew her sword with a bright laugh and pointed it toward the white sandy beach.

“Drop anchor!! We’ll moor at the shore ahead!!”

“Aye!! Prepare to moor!!”

“Prepare to moor!!”

—Rumble!

And so the Golden Ship dropped anchor on the sandy shore and began unloading cargo. Larilura, stepping across the soft sand, whistled at the sweltering heat.

“It’s seriously hot~? It feels exactly like summer.”

“Everyone brought summer clothes, right? Change before we start exploring if you don’t want heatstroke.”

Franc said as she pulled light clothing from her own bag. For a second I thought she looked like a mom taking her kids on a picnic. She’d probably be happy if she heard that, though.

Anyway, summer was an uncomfortable season for people like us who fought often. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠The disgusting feeling of sweat pooling under armor was an extreme discomfort you couldn’t understand without experiencing it.

—Drip.

Veronica, whose cleavage was glistening with sweat from unloading cargo, wiped it away with a handkerchief.

“I hate summer. The prickly heat is annoying, and when I’m in my other form my body temperature rises and I get dizzy.”

“Sweat rash on your chest is still manageable. When I’m performing high up and my hands get slippery with sweat, it sends chills down my spine~.”

“In those cases, wearing a magic cloth underneath helps. I suffered a lot when I was young too.”

“…Hey, Nord. Don’t just silently hug me. It pisses me off even more when it actually feels comforting.”

I ignored Dana’s protest and gently stroked her hair. Our pretty noona, what if you have trouble breastfeeding later and end up getting NTR’d by Franc’s breast milk?

Once the cargo was fully unloaded, Ursula approached with her sleeves rolled up.

Ursula formed teams with her sailors and set off. We also began exploring the surroundings, making full use of Franc’s detection abilities. Within ten minutes we concluded that there weren’t any monsters—there didn’t even seem to be any other animals.

“It’s a pretty small island, but there are only plants? Is that really possible?”

Larilura asked in amazement, carefully avoiding a fallen fruit. Franc picked up some acorn-like nuts and other fruits from the ground and showed them to us.

“Yeah. These are staple foods for tons of tiny animals, but even if the island’s ecosystem is different from the outside, it’s weird for so many to be scattered all over the ground like this.”

“No small animals means no other creatures that eat them either,” Veronica said as she accepted one of the fruits.

Franc brushed off her knees and nodded.

“Probably. There aren’t any footprints, and no territorial markings on the trees. We should look a bit more, but there are no traces of animals even along the shore. Even if there are dangerous creatures, I think it’s safe to assume they barely move.”

“…So, what? We can treat this whole place like we rented it out?”

“Pretty much?”

The moment I heard that answer, I opened my mouth almost on reflex.

“Franc!! Dana!! Let’s go swimming!!”

“My lady. I understand how you feel, but please wait another thirty minutes.”

Veronica calmly pulled a stone slate from her luggage. I felt like someone had dumped cold water on my excitement and drooped in disappointment.

“Oh dear? It seems our master is disappointed. But I’d like you to be a little happier.”

After doing some calculations, Veronica took out a mithril horn pillar embedded with orichalcum from the slate. She set it on the ground and said,

“With this piece of orichalcum, we won’t need to search for the Burning Branch.”