Chapter 197: Escape (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 197: Escape (2)
“We can’t fly!” Jin shouted reflexively.
However, the ship was already hurtling toward the sea, launched like a cannonball.
“Don’t worry! This won’t get picked up by those Imperial bastards’ magic!”
The ship had no wings, nor was it a living creature. Cosmos knew that because Order No. 7 wasn't performing actual 'flight,' it wouldn't be detected by the Red Chain Barrier.
Riding a flying ship was not a common experience.
Not for Jin of Runcandel, not for Casimir the former royal, not for Alisa of the Special Task Force, and not even for Siris, the successor to the Secret Palace. Even the dragons, who had lived for thousands of years, were experiencing this for the first time.
Rumble—!
Though the launch was temporary—a simple effect of the immense water pressure that had been held back by the cavern wall—Jin’s party stared with their mouths agape.
Unbelievable. A mere pirate prepared something like this?
That was the thought shared by Jin and his companions. Cosmos had installed the ship in the island’s basement in advance, ready for an emergency escape at a moment’s notice.
“Kuhahahaha! This is exactly why I built the Order!”
If this was Order No. 7, they could only assume that Orders No. 1 through 6 had been used in a similar fashion.
The companions could barely hear Cosmos’s boisterous laughter over the roar of the wind. It felt as if their very souls were being left behind as the ship was fired like a projectile by a force of water pressure none of them had ever encountered.
The pirates, on the other hand, seemed completely accustomed to it. Every last one of them was hooting like an excited monkey, reveling in a speed that should have been impossible for a ship.
The wind pushed hard against their cheeks. Trying to face forward felt like their eyelids would flip inside out, and their hair was whipped into a tangled mess in an instant.
Looking down, they saw other ships.
It was the fleet of the Marquisate of Bellado, which had been surrounding the island. The men on the decks of those ships could only stare up blankly, their faces a mask of disbelief at the absurdity of the situation.
Order No. 7 soared past them like a bird. It continued its flight for a long while even after passing the fleet, eventually arcing down toward the distant sea.
It was a surreal sight. The fleet commanders couldn’t even bring themselves to order their cannons or mages to fire. They simply stood there, dazed, their expressions asking, What in the world was that?
“Hahaha! We’re dropping now! Hold on tight!”
Even before Cosmos could shout, Jin and his companions were already jamming their fingers into the crevices of the deck.
They braced themselves, doubting the ship could possibly withstand the impact. Unless the sea welcomed them with a gentle embrace, Order No. 7 would be smashed to pieces.
However, the only ones filled with doubt were Jin, his companions, and the Bellado fleet.
K-BOOM…! CRACK…!
Columns of water erupted in all directions as if a localized tsunami had struck.
The ship crashed into the sea, and a deafening crack echoed at the same time. It was the sound of the vessel’s parts shattering from the violent jolt.
Debris flew everywhere. An alarming spray of wooden splinters filled the air, and an entire section of the deck snapped clean off before bouncing across the waves.
Despite this, the pirates were busy laughing and chatting. A few could be heard remarking that this landing was much smoother than the last one.
Even though the ship had been spectacularly smashed.
Amazingly, once the towering columns of water subsided, Order No. 7 sailed onward, as nonchalant and leisurely as if nothing had happened. The keel, it seemed, was intact.
“Whew…”
Jin let out a sigh he hadn’t realized he was holding. Looking back, the island and the fleet were now as small as peas.
“Do you know how we pirates survive among monsters like you? It’s because of things like this. At sea, not even the Imperial fleet can catch us, let alone some pissant Marquisate.”
“The ship looks pretty damaged, and I think I heard the keel creaking. The deck is all smashed up. Can we really lose our pursuers with this thing?”
Cosmos laughed, patting Jin on the shoulder.
“Of course. The sea loves us, don’t you worry. Once we finish some urgent repairs, they’ll be mere dots on the horizon in thirty minutes. After an hour, you won’t even see them. Repair crew, get to work! Navigators, snap out of it and grab the helm!”
At Cosmos’s command, the snickering pirates moved to their posts in perfect order. Only Jin’s party and Cosmos were left standing with nothing to do.
“Impressive. How did you manage this?”
“Prying into our trade secrets could get troublesome.”
“Anyone who experienced that would have to ask.”
“Kuhahat! This is something even the Runcandels can’t imitate. I’m not called the Pirate King for nothing.”
The rest of the companions still looked as though they hadn’t recovered from the shock.
Why on earth is someone with this kind of ability living as a pirate?
Jin wanted to ask, but he held his tongue. Cosmos seemed to take immense pride in his profession, and now was a time for gratitude.
“Anyway, thank you. Thanks to you, we got off the island without a hitch.”
“Hmph, is that all the thanks I get? You wouldn’t have escaped at all if it weren’t for me. Just make sure you keep your promise. Even if you swore an oath, it’s hard to trust people these days.”
“As long as my companions and I reach land safely, there will be no problem fulfilling the promise. What’s the route?”
“We’ll head toward the vicinity of the Jhan Kingdom without stopping, then replenish supplies at an allied island nearby. It’ll take exactly two weeks. You guys can get off then and go your own way. So, how much money are you going to give me?”
“More than you can imagine. An amount that will make your Arena earnings look like pocket change.”
Jin didn’t feel it was a waste to offer even more. Escaping on Murakan or Quicantel would have been the worst possible move, especially with the Red Chain Barrier deployed. He had been prepared to lose a few companions while swimming away, but thankfully, he had run into Cosmos.
That wasn’t all. Thanks to participating in Cosmos’s Arena last year, Jin had met Veradin and Dante and obtained the map to the Colon ruins.
In truth, Cosmos was nothing short of an irreplaceable benefactor.
Cosmos let out a smirk.
“I only took you on because I had no choice… but you’re soft for a Runcandel. Isn’t the Runcandel way to just kill us all once you’re safe? We’re not clients, just a bunch of pirates.”
“Is that what you want me to do?”
“I’m just saying. But you lot take your oaths seriously, unlike us, so let's not have a change of heart. Hehe, I’m looking forward to it. Don’t forget you promised to wipe my debt and pay a separate reward.”
“Of course. You’ve more than earned it.”
*
His irreplaceable benefactor, Pirate King Cosmos, did not fly into a rage.
He didn’t even get angry when Jin informed him that not only the Marquisate of Bellado but also the Viment Special Task Force and the Zipple might be pursuing them.
“Those guys chase us every day anyway. And they lose us every time, just like now.”
“They might send dragons this time. No matter how fast Order No. 7 is, it can’t outrun a dragon.”
“Do you think we’re idiots? We’ll take the money you send and lie low for a few years. There are so many islands in the world; how are they going to search them all? So don’t you worry, and just make sure the money arrives.”
June 18, 1797.
The moment all the companions gathered in Tikan again, the first thing Jin did was send a shipment of gold bars to the Cosmos Pirates.
He also included a letter, advising Cosmos to consider reforming. If the pirate kept his misdeeds within reasonable bounds and avoided any truly depraved acts, Jin wrote, he might one day find a home for him in Huphester.
“Young Master.”
Gilly’s eyes welled up as soon as she saw Jin. From his departure to the Mitra Great Desert to the mission to steal the compass immediately upon his return, it had been an agonizing wait for her.
However, she didn’t make a fuss. She was a martial artist before she was Jin’s nanny, and she could see it at a glance: Jin had grown truly strong.
“You have grown. And you’ve achieved what you wanted.” Gilly smiled as she held out the Golden Compass. “To think everyone had to go through such a separation for this one thing.”
“While you were away, I worked with the Seven-Colored Bird members to figure out how to use it. Just like any other artifact, it operates when mana is injected.”
“I have many other stories to tell, but I’m sure you want to examine this first.”
“Yes. I want to check it quickly, and then have some of your cooking for the first time in a while.”
“I will prepare it as soon as you are finished.”
Holding the compass, Jin calmly began to inject his mana.
Ching, chi-ching, click…!
The components inside the compass whirred and rotated. A moment later, mana reflected off its surface, projecting a map into the air.
‘Is this… the continent?’
At first glance, it didn’t look much different from a standard travel artifact, except that the projected map was larger and its colors were more vibrant.
However, it was the red dots floating all over the continent that made the group marvel.
The red dots were heavily concentrated in the lands of Viment, Zipple, and the Lutero Magic Federation. There were only a few in the Huphester Alliance, with others scattered sparsely elsewhere.
“Could those all be contractors…!”
“It seems so, Sir Casimir. And they are certainly almost all gathered on the Zipple and Viment sides.”
It didn’t pinpoint a contractor’s exact location. The red dots were simply markers indicating the number of contractors in a given area, glowing over the center of each region. It didn’t reveal their appearance or status, either. However, the mere fact that a red dot was in a region meant a contractor was there, which was more than enough for a power like the Zipple.
They could easily find them by using their wealth and manpower to narrow down the search area.
For a small territory with a single red dot, like the Mamit Lawless Zone currently displayed on the map, a search would be laughably easy. But across the vast continents where multiple red dots glowed, finding anyone would be difficult, even with the compass.
“I examined it several times before you arrived, Young Master,” Gilly said. “The positions of the red dots change slightly every day. It’s likely because the contractors are moving.”
A chill ran down Jin’s spine.
“It’s a good thing Enya, Yuria, and I left Tikan half a year ago. I don’t want to think about what the Zipple bastards would have done if we had stayed here.”
The Zipple must have known for a long time that three contractors were concentrated in Tikan.
Tikan Free City was an island. Unlike the continental territories, if red dots appeared there, there was no need to narrow down the search range. It wouldn’t matter if there was one contractor or several.
“If we had stayed, three red dots would have been glowing brightly right here in Tikan. Just like… hmm?”
Jin stopped mid-sentence, his eyes fixed on Tikan on the map.
For some reason, not a single red dot was glowing there. This, despite the fact that all three contractors—Jin, Yuria, and Enya—were present in this very room.
“Could it be… is this a fake? Why are there no red dots in Tikan?”
At Jin’s words, all the companions looked at the same spot.
“That’s strange,” Gilly said. “It seemed to have the function of searching for contractors. Three days ago, a red dot appeared in the Kingdom of Schuteron, and this morning, a small article was published saying that a person who contracted with the God of Shells appeared in Schuteron…”
“The God of Shells? Was its name Olmango or Olungo? Anyway, it even marks minor gods like that with red dots? That fellow is so incompetent it’s hard to even call him a god.”
Murakan snorted, but the other companions all wore grim expressions.
“…Something is wrong,” Jin said. “If what Gilly says is true, the item seems real. But why does it say there are no contractors in Tikan?”
Quicantel, who had been watching silently, seemed to have an idea and looked at Jin and Murakan.
“You two, step outside for a moment.”
“Why all of a sudden?”
“Just go.”
“Where to?”
“Outside Tikan.”