Chapter 30
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 30
On the way back, Turan sat in the boat and carefully examined the mysterious treasure he had recently acquired.
It was just large enough to fit in his palm. The edges were smooth and rounded, and the front and back were relatively flat, making its overall shape similar to the compass he had brought with him.
One peculiar feature was a small button on one side; pressing it produced a crisp click, and the lid popped open. The interior was completely empty, leaving its purpose a mystery, but it undoubtedly possessed some kind of function.
Fortunately, he didn't need to hold the object in his hand to use it. As long as it was in his "possession"—even if it was just tucked away in a pocket—he could manifest its power at any time.
Turan closed his eyes and felt the countless presences passing beneath the sea.
A swarm of hundreds of tiny sparks, a group of a dozen or so slightly larger lights, and even larger lights moving individually...
The detection range was usually about a dozen meters, but if he focused his consciousness, it expanded to dozens, or even over a hundred meters. Only after practicing the detection ability several times did Turan pull out his compass again to check his heading and proceed east.
He steered the boat for about an hour. On his fifth attempt at using search magic targeted at the scent of humans, he finally caught a faint whiff from afar.
Found them.
He silently steered the skiff and moored it alongside the Blue Marlin. When he leaped onto the deck, the sailor on watch let out a yelp of surprise.
"Gah! A mon—oh, it’s you, Sir Knight? I thought you were staying on the island..."
"I had business to attend to."
Just like Armani, a very faint spark flickered within the sailor's heart; everything else was a dull gray. Turan wondered if the difference was due to their race, or if that other fellow was special because he was royalty.
Receiving a crisp salute, Turan returned to his cramped cabin and lay down on the bed. Perhaps because he had so much on his mind, his head felt unusually heavy.
*
The next day, Turan slept until the sun was high in the sky, only to be jolted awake by a strange smell. What roused him from his deep slumber was the thick, metallic scent of blood.
What is it?
They weren't in the middle of the ocean; why would blood be spilled so suddenly on an island where various merchant ships were anchored? He went up to the deck and immediately saw the reason.
"Argh..."
"It hurts like hell! Someone put some medicine on this!"
Sailors were groaning, blood trickling down their backs. Beside them, Renak the boatswain was munching on some unknown herb while snapping a blood-stained whip through the air.
"Now, everyone! Repeat after me! Tardiness!"
"Will not be tolerated!"
"Disobedience!"
"Is death!"
The sailors shouted back like a chorus, their faces twisted in misery.
"What’s all this about?" Turan asked.
"Oh, you're awake? We're punishing the bastards who stayed out late partying last night," Osban, the first mate, explained as he watched the whipping with a blunt expression.
Come to think of it, the captain had mentioned something like that before they left yesterday, but Turan hadn't expected him to actually whip them for being late.
Turan stared at the blood-slicked deck for a long moment before shaking his head. It looked like someone might actually die if this continued, but it wasn't right for him to intervene and break their discipline. They had their own rules, and above all, he had seen the sailors agree to them yesterday.
Instead, Turan focused on how the other sailors appeared through the vision granted by the relic. Most looked the same, but in those who had been whipped, he could see parts of their blue sparks turning red and scattering from their wounds.
"Where is the captain?"
"He went down to the island. Said he was going to find a buyer for the ship."
"I see."
As the owner of the ship, Turan headed toward the island to check on the progress of the sale.
"Woo-hoo! Hahaha!"
"Blegh—"
"You bastard! You think this is a toilet?!"
Miguel Island survived on the business of merchant ships stopping for supplies during their trade routes. Naturally, a significant portion of the people on the streets were sailors from the ships anchored in the harbor. Even though it was broad daylight, there were men with glazed eyes screaming drunkenly, men vomiting, and men openly pissing in the street...
It was enough to make one think that these men had at least maintained a minimum level of dignity while on the continent.
Passing through the crowd of sailors toward the center of the island, he came across a relatively clean and large building. It was a high-end tavern that supposedly only captains were allowed to enter. As he approached, a burly bouncer guarding the entrance held out a hand with an incredulous look.
"Hey, this isn't a place for greenhorns like you. If you're missing your mother's milk, go find one of the whores over there."
Instead of answering with words, Turan lightly snapped his fingers to conjure a flame. The bouncer’s face turned pale. Turan walked past the man, who was now bowing deeply, and entered the tavern.
"Is that really true?"
"I'm telling you! The number of people who fled from there is at least in the tens of thousands. It'll probably remain a land of death for the foreseeable future."
Captain Pires was in the middle of a heated conversation with another captain who appeared to be around his age. When Turan approached, Pires noticed his presence and hurriedly bowed his head.
"Lord Turan."
"Good morning."
"Yes. Though it's a bit late to call it morning... Ah, this is Captain Samudel of the Winter Crow. Unlike me, he is both the captain and the owner of his vessel, and he's the one who has agreed to buy your ship."
"A pleasure to meet you, Lord Turan."
Captain Samudel was a middle-aged man wearing a pointed tricorne hat. Unlike Pires, his eyes were intact, but he had a hook in place of one hand. Turan wondered if having a physical disability was a requirement for becoming a captain. Or perhaps, if one worked as a sailor long enough to become a captain, injury was simply inevitable.
"Nice to meet you. So, what about the price?"
"We've agreed on a deal for one thousand Zahar gold coins, including the ship and all the miscellaneous goods on board."
Turan had never seen a Zahar gold coin, so he couldn't tell if it was a fair price, but since he had promised Pires twenty percent of the profit, he doubted the captain would have sold it for a pittance. Turan nodded and naturally took a seat.
"Where are you from, Mr. Samudel?"
"I'm on my way from the Enril Desert. My destination is Abacha, so you could say my route is the exact opposite of this fellow's. I was actually thinking of buying another ship in Abacha, so I'm glad I could get one for a good price."
"Oh."
Whether Samudel had heard a rough description of Turan from Pires or not, he didn't look down on him for his youth and answered sincerely. After spending a few minutes chatting while snacking on salty ham and date palms from the table, Turan brought up his main business.
"Would it be possible to buy something like a magic device? Or even a small item of equivalent value?"
He explained his situation to the puzzled Samudel. He was traveling alone, and it wasn't practical to carry such a large sum of money. After hearing the details, Samudel gave an immediate answer.
"This is just a transit point, so no one here will have something like that. You'll probably have to go as far as Komad."
Even though Miguel Island was a strategic point for North Sea trade, it was ultimately just a place to stop, eat, and drink. The island itself was too small for the economy to be active enough to support such luxury items. In fact, the natives of the island were not very wealthy, earning their living by selling alcohol and their bodies to sailors.
In contrast, Komad—the port city north of the Enril Desert and the Blue Marlin's destination—was the second-largest city in the Zahar territories. It was highly likely they would have what Turan wanted.
"If you'd like, shall I write you a letter of recommendation? I have a bit of a connection with the Dirmin family who rules Komad. They possess the Tamer bloodline, so you might be able to buy a tamed magic beast."
Hearing that, Turan thought of Asiz's horse, Tilly. That horse had also been tamed by a noble of the Tamer bloodline before the Berk family bought it as a gift for Asiz. If it was a creature like that powerful and intelligent red horse, he thought it might be worth raising one.
"I appreciate the offer, but..."
Understanding the unspoken question—What do you gain from doing this for me?—Samudel gave a wide grin.
"I'm giving you the money, so I know you have the wealth to buy a tamed magic beast. I'm just acting as a middleman between a seller and a buyer, so don't feel burdened."
*
Two days later, the Blue Marlin set sail again, having fully replenished its supplies of food and water. The physical and mental health of the crew had recovered as well—save for those who had been whipped.
With about two-thirds of the voyage behind them, the crew's morale was high.
"This voyage really isn't bad at all. The pirates became our purse, and the weather is fantastic..."
"Isn't it all thanks to having a descendant of the gods on board?"
As if the sight of the snickering sailors was an affront to the heavens, dark clouds gathered in the sky ahead on the third day of sailing. The second mate on watch spotted them and immediately spread the word.
"Dark clouds ahead! Everyone, prepare yourselves!"
Since they were all veteran sailors accustomed to the North Sea's fickle weather, their preparations to face the storm were swift. Renak the boatswain ordered the sailors to loosen the ropes and lower the sails, while the helmsman gulped and gripped the wheel tight. Others, like the cook, scrambled to move items that had been left on deck back inside.
However, the weather always struck more capriciously than expected. Before their preparations were even finished, lightning flashed and wind-driven rain began to pour down. Rain and wind in a season where snow wouldn't be surprising could sap body heat in an instant. The sailors, their lips turning blue, shivered violently as they struggled to complete their tasks.
Just then, a massive wave slammed into the side of the ship.
"Aaaaaagh!"
One sailor, who had climbed the mainmast to loosen a rope, was thrown off by the recoil and screamed. Whether he hit the deck from dozens of meters up or fell into the sea, it was clear he was as good as dead.
In the moment everyone's face froze, the falling sailor's body suddenly came to a dead stop in mid-air.
"...Huh?"
"This way."
Following Turan's command and gesture, the sailor's body slowly drifted back down onto the deck. From a mage's perspective, an ordinary person without innate mana was no different from an animal or an inanimate object. In other words, with the same effort it took to move a human-sized rock, he could move an ordinary person.
"Get below!"
"Yes, sir!"
Even after rescuing that one man, Turan's activity continued. He used his power to manipulate ropes and cloth to fold the sails that hadn't been tucked away, and he pushed the cargo rolling across the deck back into place. Along the way, he saved two more sailors who had slipped and were about to be tossed overboard.
After confirming that every sailor except the helmsman had gone below deck, Turan was the last to enter, closing the door behind him. Though it had been a short time, the extreme focus had left him sighing in exhaustion.
"Whew..."
"Th-thank you, oh God! Thank you so much!"
The sailor who had almost flown away earlier was now kneeling and sobbing, looking as if he were worshipping Turan.
"You're not hurt, are you?"
"No, sir!"
"Good. That's all that matters."
After patting the shoulder of the grateful sailor to calm him down, Turan sought out Captain Pires. The captain was in the middle of a serious discussion with the other senior officers. When Turan approached, they stopped talking and bowed respectfully to express their gratitude.
"Thank you, Lord Turan. Thanks to you, the crew and all of us have been saved. If those sails hadn't been lowered, we would have capsized by now."
"I am currently one of the crew on this ship, so it was only natural. How is it? Can we weather the storm?"
"We have to trust the ship and the helmsman's skill. The officers and I will have to keep going out in shifts. More than that, I'm worried about everyone being so soaked..."
Because all the cargo from the deck had been moved below, the cabin was packed so tight there was hardly room to step. The sailors, their body heat stolen by their sodden clothes, were shivering uncontrollably, trying to warm each other with their bodies.
Turan watched them for a moment before calling out in a loud voice.
"Everyone, form a circle!"
Though lightning was still thundering in the sky, his voice was heard clearly by everyone in the cabin. This was a crude imitation of the voice-amplification magic used by the head of the Arabion family during processions. Though it was far more unrefined than theirs, it was more than enough to reach the dozens of people in a cabin of this size.
"I am going to start a fire! Gather in a circle around me!"
"Lord Turan, starting a fire now could lead to disaster," Captain Pires tried to stop him with a troubled expression. If the ship lurched and the fire accidentally spread to the walls, it would be a catastrophe.
"It's fine. I have a way to start a fire without it spreading."
"Is such a thing poss—"
Pires cut himself off before he could ask. He, at least, knew that the mage before him was a powerhouse on the level of the high nobility.
A moment later, after confirming that all the sailors had gathered in a circle, Turan conjured a flame above his hand. Since he held his body firmly in place, the position of the flame did not waver even as the ship tossed. At the same time, he manipulated the flow of air to spread the heat in all directions, allowing a bone-melting warmth to permeate every corner of the cabin.
"Oh, God..."
The sailors stared at Turan, who stood holding the fire and sharing its warmth, with enchanted expressions. This was a completely different kind of emotion from the thrill they had felt a few days ago while watching him slaughter pirates with overwhelming power.
Humans shall serve mages, and mages shall reign over humans while also looking after them.
For the first time in their lives, they felt they were truly being looked after by a mage.