Chapter 552
"Ah, I see...."
At last, a faint smile spread across Thesaya. "Those fragments of islands were out beyond, weren’t they?"
Ian just gave a slight nod, his gaze still sweeping across the western sea. Thesaya turned her head back in the same direction. Faint ripples of magic shimmered in her eyes, and then her pupils widened, like those of an owl. In her now pitch-black eyes, the ships that had looked like flickering lights came into sharp focus.
"They certainly are a motley crew. I’d believe you if you told me they were pirate ships," said Thesaya, scanning the ships.
It wasn’t just the shape and number of the sails that were different. The sizes of the sailing ships varied, and even to Thesaya, who knew nothing about ships, some looked downright unnatural.
"Officially, they deny it, but in reality, that’s likely what they are," said Mukapa, his voice tinged with hostility uncharacteristic of him.
In any case, he didn’t seem surprised that Thesaya or Ian could make out the shapes of the ships from this distance.
"How many lords rule the archipelago?" Ian asked then.
Mukapa answered immediately. "As far as I know, there are four. That is also the number of the largest islands that make up the archipelago. The remaining smaller islands are ruled by them jointly, I believe. That includes the islands they’ve seized in the Black Sea."
"Then one is on its way or not coming," Ian replied with a nod.
Thesaya, her brow furrowed slightly, added, "How do you know?"
"There are only three kinds of crests on the flags."