Chapter 110
Chapter 110. Preparing to Set Sail
Lucian’s group arrived at the academy without incident.
Carmen escorted them safely to the academy.
“Wow, those were the most horrible monsters I’ve ever seen in my life. I want to go to Scotch Island and brag about it right away.”
As soon as land came into view, Carmen kept chatting about one thing after another. For reference, Scotch Island was said to be some kind of hub where pirates gathered.
“Well then, it was nice meeting you all. Let’s meet again sometime.”
After seeing Carmen off, the academy students staggered onto land, completely exhausted.
The only one who looked somewhat fine was Yera, who had spent the whole time lying down.
“Ughhh. I’m dying.”
“Me too.”
“This is so hard, brother.”
It had been a long voyage. Sailing across that pitch-black sea, then fighting the hideous Sea Horrors that crawled up from beneath it…
If Yul hadn’t defeated that monster in the Deep Sea at the end, they might have returned with nothing to show for it.
“In the end, we didn’t even see it ourselves.”
“Yul said the Mother Nest was teleported somewhere far away, where it can’t return. He said it shouldn’t be able to affect the academy anymore.”
After saying that, Lucian added,
“The problem is that we don’t have any evidence.”
“Right.”
While Brodin and Lucian were pondering the issue, Yera spoke.
“Then why don’t we take that? Just say it’s the head of the Mother Nest.”
She pointed at the Sea Horror corpse inside Pinky’s body, which had been torn apart and dismantled into something grotesque.
“…Urgh.”
“Even seeing it again…”
It was such a horrifying sight that if Yul had been here, he probably would have shouted for someone to censor it.
“You carried that down here, sis?”
“More accurately, Carmen threw it off the ship and down here.”
“Ahem. Anyway, since the Sea Horror Mother Nest has been completely eliminated, it probably doesn’t matter what we take as proof.”
Lucian immediately went to report to the Chancellor despite his exhaustion. He explained everything that had happened in full detail.
“Three thousand meters deep in the sea… Your friend is quite capable. Don’t worry about the corpse. If the Mother Nest has truly been eliminated, we’ll declare its extermination using the corpse you brought as evidence.”
“Ch-Chancellor, then…”
“The reward will belong to you as well. Hahaha.”
The corners of Lucian’s mouth lifted. He should report this to Yul later.
“Student Lucian Beltein, let’s talk for a moment.”
“Yes.”
Before Lucian’s group left, the Chancellor asked Lucian alone to stay behind.
“I heard you enrolled in the Department of Navigation as a double major. You’ll be the first captain who isn’t a mage. How is it?”
“Yes. I heard that as long as you can produce water, it’s possible even if you’re not a mage.”
A spell that created water could easily be handled through magic engineering.
In fact, he might even be able to create water more easily than ordinary captains.
“As long as someone can use wind-controlling magic and water-creation magic, anyone can be a captain.”
“That’s good to hear. Do you want to have your own ship as well? What do you plan to do after graduation?”
“First, I want to acquire my own ship, and then head west.”
“So you want to become an explorer.”
“Yes.”
“Hm. That’s quite a different dream from an ordinary mage. Is there a reason?”
“I want to walk a different path from everyone else.”
In truth, Lucian wanted to trace the footsteps of his father, but outwardly, he answered like this.
“Very good. You know it costs quite a lot of money to prepare a ship, right?”
“Yes.”
“How do you plan to secure the funds?”
Caught off guard by the Chancellor’s deep interest, Lucian replied after a moment of hesitation.
“I plan to gather it step by step. I’ll also look for investors.”
“It’s not that. There’s something I’d like to buy from you.”
“What would that be?”
“The artifact that produces water and the artifact that produces wind. I heard they’re modified artifacts designed for use on ships. From what I hear, you were the first one to develop them.”
“…!”
Magic engineering was currently a blue ocean. If someone developed something first, they could become the leading pioneer.
Since Lucian was the first person who was both a magic engineer and a student of the Department of Navigation, those two artifacts were also the first of their kind.
“Of course!”
“There’s been talk of testing whether the Department of Navigation at Weimar Wigma can admit not only mages but also ordinary people. The proposal came from the royal court.”
“Ah. So if an ordinary person understands ships well enough…”
“Yes, it means they could become captains.”
That was quite a surprising development. Long ago, people who weren’t mages used to steer ships, but after shared magic developed, only those capable of creating water could become captains.
But if ordinary people using artifacts became captains—
“The number of captains would increase enormously.”
“Exactly. It’s a new card we can prepare to counter the ‘Western Fleet’ currently being assembled by the Victory King.”
“The Victory King’s Western Fleet…”
The Victory King, son of the Sun King, had chosen fleet construction as his first major undertaking.
The Three Maritime Nations were all strengthening their naval forces, and the aggressive expansion by the Victory King had both Aragon and Beltein on edge.
“With the royalties from that, you’ll also earn the money needed to build your ship.”
“Thank you! I’ll do my best!”
“Hahaha. Think of it as an investment in a pillar of the future.”
The Chancellor raised the corner of his mouth before continuing.
“Oh. I heard you like ancient books.”
“Huh? Yes, that’s true.”
“I happened to acquire a few old books. Why don’t you take one? Consider it a gift.”
The Chancellor took several ancient books out of the archive.
“Is it really okay for me to accept this?”
“You see all that dust on them? They’re practically rotting away in the archive. My younger brother gave them to me as a gift, but they’re not related to magic.”
Lucian’s eyes sparkled when he saw the book the Chancellor handed to him.
“Thank you, Chancellor. I’ll make sure to read it well.”
* * *
The technology and magic of this world, in some ways, completely surpass those of Earth.
For example, if a civil engineer from Earth saw this scene, they would probably cry out that it was unrealistic.
“Whoaaaa! Another new building!!”
“One more is going up!”
“It’s rising! Rising! It’s going up!”
Without using steel, buildings were being constructed using the island’s available resources.
And at an absurd speed, at that.
Yul had already grown accustomed to this like a magic wand phenomenon where things appeared with a quick bam, and he was now building a planned city.
All the materials were either wood or stone. Occasionally, if there was metal available, it would be used.
With the temple as the center, a residential district was built to the north.
To the south, a stone harbor was constructed so ships could easily come and go. If they could obtain iron later, it could be reinforced.
Roads were also completed in an instant, to the point that anyone looking at it would think the buildings had been constructed over several years.
-In all my life, I’ve never seen someone waste karma in such an inefficient way. Haven’t you already spent more than twenty thousand karma just building these structures?
[Current Karma: 7,458,000]
“Looks like everything’s mostly finished?”
-Save your karma… I mean, it’s nice for me since it reduces my debt, but this is far too inefficient. Buildings like these could be constructed with manpower and time.
“You sound regretful?”
-Of course!! Do you know how rare a resource karma is!? Someone like you, a higher species who accumulates karma just by breathing, wouldn’t understand!
“I guess I wouldn’t?”
-Kraaagh! I’ll kill you!
“You can’t kill me, though?”
While Yul and Kaiman joked around like that, a ship appeared far beyond the horizon.
He recognized who it was instantly. The captain standing at the bow had wave-like mint-blue hair.
It was Shillenwe Arkatil. She had rested on the island for a while, and as soon as she felt the rejection symptoms easing somewhat, she immediately took a ship and set sail.
That was why Yul hadn’t seen her even once while building the temple.
Yul used telekinesis to lift his body into the air. Recently, he had somewhat mastered the method of flying even in his human form.
The trick was to carefully push himself with telekinesis as if he were molding clay.
But if he misjudged the force even slightly, he would immediately plummet or slam into a wall, so he had to be careful.
The moment Shillenwe saw Yul flying gracefully through the air, she cried out in surprise.
“Hey there, Admiral Shillenwe. Did you just return from outside?”
“Ah! Lord Yul! You were on the island.”
Shillenwe’s heart was already beginning to pound. The moment she saw Yul, she felt it thumping wildly, though she didn’t show it outwardly at all.
“I-it’s been a while. I’ve been carrying out the tasks you assigned me, and I went out sailing for the first time in a while.”
“Right. I checked on the elves who were cultivating rice. They didn’t do it perfectly, but it seems they at least took the first step. But there are more ships behind you?”
“Ah, those people are all refugees suffering from rejection symptoms.”
Behind Shillenwe were six ships. They were clearly smaller than the three ships she had originally brought.
They looked like they had once been used as merchant vessels somewhere. They hardly had any cannons.
They were sea elves from nearby waters who had begun experiencing rejection symptoms and had come here after hearing Shillenwe’s message.
“Some of them don’t have rejection symptoms, but they’re family members of those who do.”
“Well, that’s fine. As long as they’re willing to work under me, they’re welcome.”
Even so, it would only increase the number by a few hundred.
Yul felt satisfied seeing that Shillenwe was carrying out her mission excellently.
“Even so, the ones we brought are only a very small portion of the northern sea elves. Most of the rejected ones are still wandering from island to island. And those who are farther south in the Archipelago Ocean…”
“It means they’re beyond your reach.”
“Yes. They’re probably still under the princes riding wing ships.”
“So I’ve decided something. On the next voyage, I’m coming along.”
“…What?”
“For starters, I want to let the surrounding area know that the Island of Boundaries is my territory.”
In short, a moderate show of force.
“…!”
There were several reasons. There might be another creature like the Kraken somewhere, and he also wanted to see the other factions in the Archipelago Ocean that he had only heard about.
“So prepare for it when you set sail next time.”
“Understood. It sounds like it will be quite a large voyage.”
As they talked, the ship drew closer to the island, and soon the harbor came into view.
“Huh? I don’t remember it being that big.”
“I reinforced it.”
“…What?”
The closer they got to the harbor, the more astonished Shillenwe became.
“T-this, in such a short time…”
“Ad-Admiral? What happened over there?”
“Lord Yul built it.”
“Ooooooh…!”
As soon as they disembarked at the harbor, Aranmas approached.
“Welcome back, Admiral. How many are there?”
“About 450.”
“Then the number of sea elves on the Island of Boundaries is approaching one thousand. It’s good that the island is large, but food is still an issue…”
Yul cut in.
“You don’t need to worry about that. I’ll procure it from all over the Archipelago Ocean.”
“Ah! Lord Yul, you’re here too?”
“I came out to greet them.”
Yul made a V-sign with his fingers, but Aranmas tilted his head in confusion.
“Then I’ll send the newcomers to the northern district we built this time.”
“Do that.”
“The northern district?”
“Yes. Well, the explanation is a bit long.”
A little later.
“There definitely wasn’t anything here before…”
Shillenwe walked around the island with her mouth hanging open.
Stone roads, neatly arranged buildings, and the temple.
Seeing everything that had been built during the short time she had been away seemed to fill her with even greater awe.