Chapter. 21. Into the storm (1)
****
Rattling rattling.
“Are there no candles on our boat?”
“does not exist.”
“Then what about a small torch?”
“Uhm… Is a stick-type magic light used in the deep sea okay?”
“I should at least use that.”
Click
.
.
.
.
Whoops!
“Gwooooook!”
“Aaaah! “My eyes!!”
A nameless reef-filled coast with a shipwreck hanging on a sandbank.
Isena, seeing the two people rolling in front of the altar on the rock side by side, wiped the corner of her bleeding mouth and growled.
“It’s the funeral of my brother and youngest child. “If you don’t shut up, I’ll bite your ear off.”
“I’m sorry….”
“Uuuu sorry.”
Trolls and humans rubbing their eyes and bowing their heads in the wrong direction.
Isena placed her two freshly extracted teeth on the altar and stroked the names scrawled on them.
=========
Captain Grimlock (seafared for 17 years and 2 months)
Second Mate/Diver Toadal (sailed for 3 years and 6 months)
Deckhand/Diver Bymus (sailed for 3 years and 6 months)
===== ====
The two teeth were for her two relatives who were sleeping in the sea, not the forest.
Rattling.
The place where the bloody teeth were placed was neither on a ceremonial incense wood table nor covered with a clean cloth.
Planks torn from the deck were placed on top of parallel rocks, and instead of white cloth, torn salty sails were used to cover them. Although it was not an altar suitable for a ritual, even with empty words and a blinding luminous stick instead of brass candlesticks.
“I guess that’s enough, right?”
“Guh. “The dead captain will come to me in my dreams and swear with me.”
Still, there is a wet Bible on it and a plaque with the names of the dead, so it would be like a salvage worker’s funeral.
A proposal suitable for a salvageer who does not go to the level of a serious insult.
“Why is the captain coming? The airship also sank in the same spot where it sank. “I think they might be dancing down there right now.”
Isena looked at the man jokingly stroking his greasy hair.
Hyde. A priest and Oranite whose first voyage was this.
The battle at the Deep Blue Line ended like that, while the movement continued, unknown whether it was sailing or shipwreck, driven by the ocean current. Hyde was the most active person in the gloomy atmosphere.
He worked with Eggwill to fix a leak in the ship, brought preserved food soaked in water to the woman who lost her blood relatives, and prevented Tarimus from attempting suicide three times when he was feeling guilty. Although he was skilled in medicine, after his fourth suicide attempt by poisoning, he was tied up and hung in a place where everyone could see it.
I couldn’t deny that thanks to this, I had relieved a lot of my emotions during the past three days of drifting.
That’s how emotionally I became close to the human called Hyd.
“Hyde. Are you used to this kind of thing?”
“hmm? Oh well. I guess it’s just normal dullness? You guys have lost sailors at sea once or twice. “When I first came to the salvage ship office, the people who died on the previous voyage were being buried.”
“That’s right, but other people don’t go to the extent of caring for others like you do.”
Hyde responded to her pointing at Tarimus, who was still tied up, with the tip of her chin.
“…Different people have different ways of relieving guilt. Eggwill came out on deck every night and cried, and Tarimus insisted that he would personally go to the dead people. I’m um. “I tend to vent a little by talking nonsense like this.”
“is that so.”
“yes. So don’t hate Tarimus too much.”
“That guy escaped alone during the battle on board. “They said artillery fire hit the room where the damn sapling was.”
“Is mental illness a disease for no reason? It’s a disease because you can’t help it. Look at me. He couldn’t bear the fact that he ran away alone. “Even though I wasn’t a proper combatant, staying on deck didn’t help much.”
“Crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
tot to speak.”
Hyde left behind Isena, whose scales were bristling, and approached the tied Tarimus. Then, after whispering a few words to him, who was still swollen from the poison, he plucked off three of the freshest leaves of the sapling and brought them to the altar. Tarimus was tied up and convulsed as if he had been stabbed.
“It’s a precious, real leaf, so this would be the perfect assortment. Then let’s get started. Hmm. iced coffee.”
Clearing his throat, Hyde recited a prayer for the captain and the two beastmen. I haven’t properly converted to religion, so I don’t know the implied meaning, but sometimes form is more important than form.
“Ugh huh! Captain….”
“Brother…. youngest….”
Sometimes there are things you have to see with your own eyes to accept.
slam.
Shoot-
slap.
Sigh –
A prayer for the captain and the two prisoners on the nameless shore mingled with the sound of the waves.
That was the end of the small funeral. They wiped away their tears, made a fire, boiled the remaining preserved food, and ate it.
Anyway, since they survived, they had to think about the future.
****
The next morning.
Wow-
“It’s the captain’s chart.”
“It’s unusually delicate for something that looks human… Can you read it?”
“Eggwill is an idiot. “I don’t know how to read charts.”
Eggwill, Tarimus, and Isena were frowning as they took out the chart they had taken from the wrecked Whale.
“I can read it.”
“Oh, of course Jangsaengjong. “Do you know how to read charts?”
“Of all the cabins, the captain’s cabin has the most sunlight, so when the wind is strong, I always go there with the saplings…”
“Your life really revolves around trees.”
Tarim was still dispirited, but he did not attempt suicide like before. Although he was forced to do so, he offered some of his most precious possessions as a tribute. Originally, that kind of guilt ‘paid the price.’ In many cases, there was considerable improvement just by creating awareness.
Tarim stroked his still numb wrist and pointed out various places on the chart.
“This is the port of Semeiren. “I came all the way from here to the center of the Deep Blue Line.”
“You moved more than I thought.”
“It’s because we came here in a typhoon. According to the original voyage plan, we would have finished salvage at this point and then rode this current to reach the southern part of Old Rodrik…”
“Geuuu. an accident happened.”
“Thanks to this, we ended up completely deviating from the intended current.”
Slurp –
Tarimus’s charcoal left a cross mark in the old Rodrik area.
“So where have we drifted now?”
“Hmm… It is a mystery that the half-broken ship was able to float safely in the first place without being attacked by any waves, storms or sea water, but considering the position of the sun and wind direction that I saw on the way and the vegetation on the coast here….”
widely.
“I guess we drifted all the way here.”
Tarim carefully picked up the dried moss from a crevice in the rock and pointed out a corner of the chart with his finger.
“….really?”
“maybe.”
“Tarim, that is realistically impossible.”
“It was impossible for us to board that broken ship and reach land safely in the first place. Did you receive any special help under the sea? “Are they the highest spirits or equally great beings?”
“No, well… I heard that a certain grandfather would help me…”
I compared the point Tarimus touched several times with the map of the fragmented continent that I knew.
“So you’re saying we drifted all the way to the old Baltin Empire in three days?”
Tarim nods his head with a bright expression on his face when I ask my question, and Eggwill’s eyes shine for some reason.
The area we arrived in, the Baltin Empire, commonly called the Western Empire, was a completely different continent located far to the west of the old Rodrik land, which was our original target.
[Follow the waves. The waves will guide you….]
….clatter.
The feel of the small blue gem in my pocket brought back memories from a few days ago.
It would be Ottoman. What sent us here.
‘Then it means that there is something in the Western Imperial Territory.’
Otman said it was still too early. It probably means that I am not prepared for what I need to do, whether it is memory or other arrangements. Our ship was sent to this faraway imperial territory to make up for the shortcomings.
Excited. Excited.
The heart, as usual, became a compass, pointing in the direction we had fled.
Now I know clearly. What was I looking for and what did he want?
Deaths glimpsed through his memories.
Pablo’s resentful face.
The captain’s last appearance came to mind one after another.
‘….I have work to do.’
Perhaps those are the Warlord’s ‘things to do’.
Maybe that’s why I found that guy.
“…It probably means that I have work to do, too.”
He was strong like a mythical being, and due to the nature of the Shard Knight, the more people he killed, the faster he would become stronger.
If the guy who had become so strong hits his limit and goes berserk…
‘I don’t want to even imagine. A warlord who became a horse.’
Perhaps it is safe to say that the name Warlord is synonymous with the destruction of the world.
There was no time to hesitate.
“Western Empire. “It is the land of emperors and magic knights.”
You have to be strong. So that the next time we meet, I don’t lose so vainly.
“….then. “What do we do now?”
When no more significant information came out of Tarimus’ mouth, the three salvagers naturally turned their attention to Hyde. He was the one who took the lead while floating here, and he was the strongest among the four people here.
“Let’s rip it.”
Hyde, who was quietly looking at the map, said.
“That boat. Even though you drank some seawater, there are still a lot of things left, like magic engines and good wood, right? “I don’t have anything right now, but if I want to catch a passing train, I need to get something to make money.”
Or… make something to ride yourself.
Hyde, who noticed the planks, pillars, and protruding metal frame and pulley wheels of the wreck, recalled the ride of so-and-so who roamed the soft land alone.
There are trolls, orunites, and even beastmen, so it’s not like there’s a lack of power.
There are sturdy wooden planks stacked on top of the metal frame, as much as a boat.
“Because it has wheels, it is easy to drag something like a heavy engine to the track, and compared to just carrying it, noise and vibration are reduced when you carry it. Hmm, good. “This is okay.”
“..???”
“What… are you ripping?”
Ujikkeun!
Doubt turned into astonishment along with the torn boards.
“Hyde! “That is the salvage ship that the captain tried to protect by eating debris and running away!”
“Now you’re stranded! And the captain will have sunk anyway and will be messing around with the wreckage of the airship, so what! He doesn’t need a salvage ship anymore! Because we reached airship number 1!”
“The We Whale was like a companion ship that sailed the seas with us! We have lived and died together for several years, and rather than face such a miserable end, it would be better to have it buried in the sea and sent to the captain…”
“If you throw away good things for such sentimental reasons, it will be of use. Sailors should give up their habits of overconsumption? Anyway, people who spend a lot of money don’t know the fear of small expenses. I can’t believe I’m thinking of throwing this big money into the sea when I’m on a continent I don’t even know. “Agh, you haters!”
“How can you be so reckless….”
Ujikkeun! Knock knock!
The three crew members of the Whale tried their best to stop it, but they could not prevent the already half-broken Whale from disintegrating under Oranite’s cruel touch.
Tarimus, who was reliving the memories he had with that ship as he saw the sight of the Whale with all its outer shell removed and its bare metal frame and magic engine exposed, quietly approached Eggwill and whispered to him.
“…If I die, please quickly take my tree and run away to a sunny place. “Before the author sells it out.”
“Oooh. When I die, please cremate me. “Hyde will take all my blood and sell it.”
“Very… a secular priest. “Hyde.”
.
.
.
.
The three of them watched in a daze as Hyde worked.
….Jump up!
Among them, Eggwill was the first to wake up and walked towards the Whale, which was in the process of being disassembled.
“I will go with you. If this was the territory of the Western Empire, there was a place I wanted to visit at least once as someone who dreamed of becoming a wizard. It would be safer to go with Hyde than to go alone. Gwok, what about you guys?”
“I… I don’t know. The reason my three siblings and I got on the boat was to avoid being arrested, but since we came this far, I don’t think we need to worry about that. “I have no money, no brothers, and nowhere to go, so I have no choice but to be with the people I know.”
“I need money. Fertile soil to keep my trees alive, the almost disappearing abundance priest’s blessings, holy relics, and my eating habits that prevent me from eating grass, I have to constantly earn money. Since I can’t work on salvage ships, right now… I guess I have no choice but to follow Hyde, who is used to making money by wandering around like this, and learn how he makes money.”
“Gwok. Well, now that the conclusion has been reached, don’t just watch, everyone, stand up.”
After making up their minds, the three rolled up their sleeves and approached Hyde, who was struggling with the skeleton.
“help.”
“I already felt so guilty that I thought I was just watching this. there! Isena and Eggwill, please take out the magic engine. Is there a tool to loosen the fastener somewhere? “I just couldn’t figure it out.”
“I have some medicine that increases the rust on metal. I will try to do something with it.”
“…Medicine? “Isn’t that alchemy?”
“To elves, all natural objects are one thing.”
“Tarimus also learned some alchemy. “It will be used to make plant-based nutritional supplements.”
“The elf went around without a bow, so I wondered what that was like, and it turns out he was quite talented.”
Creak-clack-clack!
“The prejudice that elves shoot bows is a racially discriminatory view.”
“The prejudice that elves like trees is correct.”
“Connecting biological characteristics and perspective bias is a common mistake discriminators make-” “
That’s the kind of elf he is. Understand.”
“That’s right.”
Empty! Teuong!
“Hyde, get out of the way. I know what you plan to make. “I will make it better.”
“Isn’t this… not as good as you thought?”
Knock, knock, knock!
Half a day to eat and earn money.
After eating, I spent half a day selecting useful items from the raw materials I had ripped off and making something.
“….hey. “You can make a good living even if you don’t have to become a wizard, right?”
“Eggwill has always been a troll who can’t do anything.”
“Gwok. I couldn’t cut off the captain’s head. A troll who has nothing to do when it really matters.”
In front of Eggwill, who was sweating hard while holding a hammer, a decent hand car was already built.
The pulleys used to hang ropes when reeling in thick sails were excellent and sturdy wheels, and the ship’s frame and wooden boards became the frame and exterior of the handcart.
“There will be a track not far away. The ground near the coast is soaked with sea water, making it difficult for burrowing bugs to move around. So, there is usually at least one line running along the coastline. You just have to push it there. If you follow the tracks, you will come across a city or an outpost.”
After loading all the remaining luggage, the final deep-sea light pole was placed at the back of the handcart. It would be a big deal if you were on the tracks at night and got hit by another train.
“Then we’ll go, Captain. Beast No. 1 and No. 3 Toadal and Baimus are also well.”
After looking back at the altar left on the shore for the last time, the four people pushed the handcar inland.
Flap –
The sea breeze blows the cloth covering the altar, blows it over the cliff on one side of the coast, and
then
clatters!
A dusty sign that happened to be there happened to fall on the blown tent.
The beach of a fragmented continent refers to a place that was once inland. An explosion centered on the Blue Line Mountains split the continent and sea water came in through it.
A fluttering tent blew away, wiping away signs covered in dust.
[->Wuthering Hill]
[No entry for civilians]
[No entry for normal people]
An old landmark that would have been next to the Blue Line Mountains before this place became a coast.
Indeed, the milestone, which had played its role for the first time in a long time, fell towards the four people who were moving away with the sea breeze.
****
