Chapter. 20. Off-Road (8)
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“Ugh!”
Bang
bang!
“….this.”
The piles of salvage materials that made the cramped room even more cramped could not support Grimlock’s stretching.
Cool morning air and a terrible hangover.
In the past, alcohol was something that had different flavors and scents, but today’s ‘alcohol’ refers to a liquid that has a sour and spicy taste that, when consumed, causes one to lose consciousness without affecting one’s lifespan.
In that sense, ‘fish swim bladder wine’, which sailors often drink, was an essential item for Grimrock, who suffered from severe seasickness, to sleep in the port.
Of course, if you sleep in a cabin, you don’t have to worry about that, but
“Ugh. “What happened to the young monk, who is said to be Hyde?”
If he is on the ship, wouldn’t it be difficult for the ‘quarrels’ that are essential for future life on board to arise?
Kwaaaaang!
Shoot-aaa-
When he opened the window, the sound of waves crashing against the breakwater greeted him.
A salty, fishy morning at the port with a beautiful rainbow created by water droplets fluttering from broken waves.
“Ugh! Hey, this is water coming in! Fish No. 1! “Did you teach me properly?”
“That’s right! While holding the respiratory tract tightly and sucking in thinly and forcefully as if you were breathing through the solar plexus-”
“Eep tsk tsk!” That’s not possible! No. 1! No. 2! Do you guys have any ill feelings towards me? Would you like to drink some salt water at this point? “Isn’t this water that will make you sick if you just drink it?”
“Oh no! The seawater inside the port is water that has been filtered once through a filtration facility, so there is no such fatal danger…” “
….Tsk No. 3! Dive again! “Show me one more time!!”
“Yes yep! diving!”
with a plop!
Grimlock’s eyes were wide open at the unfamiliar sight unfolding in the morning of that familiar port.
A man splashing in the water next to a boat with diving gear in his mouth and his three crew members with swollen, blue faces showing them step by step how to use the gear.
And while watching this happily, a green figure spots the captain and approaches him.
“Gwok. “You had a hard time sleeping on the ground, captain.”
“I did something.” Eggwill did all the hard work. Let’s see… From what I can see, the Monk side has taken control quite well, right?”
“right.”
“Huh, really. No matter what his fighting power is, he can make those crazy colts behave like that. What did you do to end up like that? Did they tie him up and preach all night long?
“Jeohyeotda.”
“hmm?”
“All night long, I kept repeating things like, ‘At this point, I will correct your wrong ways,’ until dawn.”
“Wow, those friends have met the right people.”
The salvage ship ‘Whale’ was famous for its infamous reputation, but if it couldn’t defeat those three, it wouldn’t be qualified to enter the deep waters of the Deep Blue Line in the first place. Although the three siblings lack combat power, they are able to enter thanks to their familiarity with water.
However, given the rough start from the first meeting, is it possible for the relationship between the new crew members and the existing crew members to be good? Most of them glared and argued with each other as if they were going to kill each other throughout the voyage, and the problem was that even fairly smart new recruits went into the sea in that state and died because they could not receive help from other sailors.
The deep sea environment of the Deep Blue Line is so dangerous that you have to risk your own life to help others, so unless you have lived with it for several years, you will not easily reach out.
“Now, bite down like this! If you dive while inhaling thinly and strongly with a feeling like [grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrb
! Ettttttt! “Wow!”
.
.
.
.
“They teach you properly? That’s not deep sea breathing. Have you already finished learning general diving techniques? “He learns hard and teaches well. “I think I’m learning well now.”
Compared to the past, the current appearance of Hyde and the three beastman siblings is very unusual.
It seems like the most important hierarchy on board is firmly established.
One of them beat up the other and rushed to kill the other for no reason, but it doesn’t seem like there was any emotional connection between them.
“What magic did you do?”
“Gwok. “Captain, this.”
“…Wanted?”
“While the kids were passed out, Hyde went out and got it.”
What Eggwill held out was a wanted letter that looked fairly new. The same name as the one I heard yesterday, with the same face as the man who was now starting to whine and cry.
[Crimes: Violation of city security law, terrorism, murder, insult to nobility, hijacking of the Wigen regular magic train (12 cars including the head car)]
[10 million shillings for securing and returning the stolen train / 3 million shillings for killing and capturing the target]
“… .Train hijacking? “Are you saying that this guy is a train robber who hijacked a regular train in Wigen, a large city surrounded on all sides by outposts?”
“Gwok.”
Grimlock needed a moment to gather his thoughts.
So, from the rock city guarded by the famous Shard Knight ‘Stone Giant’, you succeeded in stealing not a small 5-car train, but a whopping 12-car regular city train, from a large city surrounded by six outposts, without being caught? With that huge piece of metal that can only run on tracks?
“Is this guy some kind of wizard?”
“I do not know. “The important thing is that Hyde took that wanted note and pasted it on the wall of the dock, and when the three Beastmen siblings saw that wanted note, they had no intention of killing Hyde.”
“…I see.”
It’s amazing.
The reason the three beastmen are trying to kill the newcomer is because they suspect that a complete stranger might report them as they are wanted for murdering a nobleman.
For them, Hyde brought his wanted notice. That’s because of his infamous wanted list, which came with a bounty several times higher than for the murder of a village nobleman.
If they show their faces in a public place, let alone report them, they will be taken away, so the worry that Hyde will report them will inevitably disappear without a trace. In the place where the doubt disappeared, the instinct unique to the beastman tribe to turn its tail on the strong man who defeated them remained
. “I have met several mixed-race beastmen.”
“…Are there hybrids like us anywhere else?”
“uh. Was it a mule prisoner? They were dependable, kind, and good eunuch friends. The people were nice. “Sprout.”
“Uhm. “People like my brother and sister were adapting to the world and living in it.”
“Everyone is looking for their own way to live, right?”
In addition, thanks to the experience gained from traveling to various regions, the three of them were able to naturally deal with racial issues that were a problem for the three of them, and so they became friends in just one day.
“You’re a talented person.”
“It’s a talent. “It’s such a shame that we only plan to go on this voyage together.”
When I woke up feeling tired, I realized that the hierarchy on board had been fixed. It is not easy to find such a talented deck captain in these rough seas and even tougher crew.
“That guy said he was looking for a piece of the dragon vein, right?”
“right. “They said they boarded the salvage ship because there was a place where it was desperately needed.”
“Good. “At least I won’t be able to finish my work this time.”
A piece of dragon vein. A magic stone of a different class created from the twisting of dragon veins.
Found only in the deep waters of the Deep Blue Line, it is also called the ‘Sea God’s Retirement Recommendation’ among sea workers.
In addition to its terrifying rarity and terrible difficulty in obtaining it, it is also in demand as a key material for the fragment armor that all renowned Shard Knights crave.
Thanks to being at the extremes of the three factors that increase the price of goods, the price of ‘Dragonvein Fragment’ is traded at the same price as a decent magic train, and Shard Knights who are desperate to become stronger risk bloodshed to save it. This also happens frequently.
Of course, it is impossible for a beginner who has just learned diving to obtain it on their first voyage.
“Eggwill, please watch from the side and give me some valuable salvage items. They said it was absolutely necessary, so if they gave me free fare, I might be able to take the return boat and dive again. If you make money by selling salvaged goods and get used to boat work, won’t you already be a sea person?”
“Geuuu. Ascetic priest. “I will return to the temple someday.”
“It was better. “There is no better penance than living as a salvageer.”
Grimlock approached his boat, looking with greedy eyes at Hyde, who had already started swimming like a whale.
“Hey, priest! “I guess the sea water suits my taste!”
“Even though I don’t know about seawater, I now understand why you live with that trashy fermented fish water!”
“Hahaha! That’s all I’ve learned! Come up! “We’ll set sail right away!”
“Ang? already?”
“You can’t learn the rest from this ‘purified sea’ anyway! “You really have to learn by bleeding in the ocean and having your eyes gouged out!”
Hyde immediately climbs up the rope ladder with an expression of absolute disgust at his words.
He is also a good sailor. The body reacts first to the words of a superior. He must have been in the military or lived in a group like this for a long time.
Flutter, flutter, flutter –
A thick chain anchor wrapped around a large pulley is wound up
and boom –
Push!
The magic engine received from a retired old-generation magic train, which was old but had a certain output, began to wake up from its sleep with a heavy sigh.
“Ah, I really can’t stand this moment!”
It has been 30 years since Grimlock jumped into the sea. Although the sea was more familiar than the land, the excitement and tension of this moment was still the same as the day of the first voyage.
Because his treasure is somewhere in the sea.
Seueueuup-
“Sale-ho!!!”
The old sailing slogan was one of the few things that remained unchanged in this place where both the ship and the sea had changed.
“Hold the sail line! “Before the calm morning sea goes out, we add wind to the engine and hit the salvage point in one go!”
“Yeah~”
The sailors’ voices stretched out as if they were familiar.
“Gwok. Have you ever been on a monk boat?”
“Uh… no?”
“weird. “I didn’t teach you how to hold the rope or how to pull.”
“I know? Strangely, I feel like I’ve done this before somewhere?”
“Boo. After all, I was born with it.”
And strangely enough, a new sailor combat priest who can easily perform tasks that were not even taught to him.
‘This voyage feels good! very good!’
For the first time in a long time, Grimlock drove the ship, enjoying the sailing atmosphere that was free of murderous intent and anger.
To the distant sea. To the legendary sea where sea people do not let people grow old and die.
****
…..
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..
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[It came.]
[It finally came.]
And there was someone quietly looking at the surface of the water in the center of the distant sea.
The center of the exploded dragon vein. The bottom of the deep, deep ocean where even the smallest drop of air bubbles becomes so large that it capsizes ships at sea level.
He caught the end of a wave flowing in from a distant port and carefully sent a small wave down the bridge of the nose of the being crouching next to him.
[Get up slowly. He came.]
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.
.
Gurgling –
What wasn’t a rock, but looked like a rock, took a deep breath at the sound of his voice.
My eyelids slowly lift at the familiar body odor mixed in the seawater I inhale.
Vertically slit pupils and eyes deeper than the sea.
『…I see you woke me up. I guess they came again this time.』
[It was faster than last time. Isn’t he truly like a salmon? I left and came back again without me knowing.]
『It’s even more surprising than that. It is insulting to dismiss it as something like fleshly instincts.』
….Deuddeuddeuddeud!
『Then I guess I should prepare what he entrusted to me.』
Kuhuuuk-!
When the being that woke up from a long sleep with a small earthquake took a breath, the air that had been trapped for decades pushed out the sea, forming a large bubble.
Cloudy sea water and scattered coral fragments.
White beard fluttering along the side of the head.
[No, I guess not.]
『Hmm?』
[I’ll have to do ‘a little more’ than that this time.]
『…A little more?』
The old man’s figure quietly nodded in response to the huge being’s question.
[I told you so. ‘He’ came.]
『Oh my.』
.
.
.
.
Cooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
! Kwaja Jajajak!
『This, this, this….』
The dragon shook his head and stood up.
The broken wings shook off the coral that had covered his body after a long sleep, and the eyelids that he thought were rocks brought light into his eyes that had been hidden for a long time.
Only one blue eye remained where there should have been two originally.
Broken wings and broken scales, making it meaningless to count the number of wounds.
Obligations and promises. The scars of time brought on by waiting.
『…Which one?』
The old man’s figure answered the dragon’s question.
[It’s both.]
The answer I’ve been waiting for for a long time.
[The one who is lost and the one who is finding the way. They both came.]
The shape of the old man, which seemed to have been created by waves coming together, touched the shining blue gem at its center.
My ocean that will flow towards the place you need it at the moment you need it most.
It finally arrived. At this moment.
The dragon, who was looking into the old man’s eyes filled with many things, cast his eyes towards the distant sea and said.
『If we’re the ‘first’, it’s still a bit early.』
[That’s right. Isn’t it impossible for everything to go as planned?]
『Yes. But ‘both’… Isn’t it really a coincidence?』
The dragon said, enjoying the joy he felt for the first time in a long time.
Both. At the end and beginning of such a long wait, both have arrived
….
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Kuhuuuk!
『You are right. Isn’t it truly like a salmon?』
[It must be heavenly
law.] 『Or a will equivalent to it.』
The dragon and the old man cast their eyes toward the small waves on the sea surface.
Sigh!
“rock! Looooook!!!!! Captain Rock!!! My stomach! My stomach perked up! The bow is looking at the sky!!! “Try something!”
“I’m doing everything I need to do, so if you need anything else, you do it! Oranites on a large continental ship can easily cut through waves like that!”
“I’m half Oranite!”
“I wish I was incompetent! If you can’t, go and help Will! “I’m going to lower the anchor halfway and use that as my balance to overcome the waves!”
“…Half?”
“Hold on to the pulley and hold on with your body!”
“Gwoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”
A small steamboat crossing the waves precariously and people shouting evil on it.
Among them, the man looked familiar to both of them.
[Hyde, that friend is still the same.]
『Surprisingly.』
The two caught the image of Hyde using evil in their eyes and cast their gaze in the opposite direction.
The sea of a country formerly called Rodrik.
A familiar face to both, as was another continental ship that left port around the same time as Hyde’s salvage ship.
[It looks like they are running towards each other.]
The wizard, who had already grown old a long time ago, could not help but sigh at the terrible sight of the two.
It was still early, but after more than 200 years, the moment had finally arrived.
Towards the two who had forgotten that they were riding the waves and waiting.
****
