Chapter. 21. Into the Storm (2)
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“Ah, it’s a track.”
As expected, there was a track not far from the coast.
Squeak-squeak-
“For something that was made hastily, it’s going well.”
“Not really. “If it weren’t for troll or Oranite-level power, I wouldn’t have moved forward.”
“Gwok. All you have to do is roll it by pressing down on the pulley that pulls the sail. “It’s not that great of a thing.”
“It’s okay to move.”
Fortunately, the simple handcar carrying the four of us and the salvage ship’s magic engine somehow managed to move.
“Just as the eastern part of the Blue Line Mountains was split into three, including the Rodric Territory, Teldrat Territory, and the Free Trade Three Kingdoms Archipelago, the Western Empire Territory to the west of the mountain range was split into two, the main island and the secondary island.”
“oh.”
“Compared to the eastern part of the current Deep Blue Line, the mountain range commonly referred to as the Magic Empire, some natural features remain in this area to the west.”
“Oh oh.”
“Thanks to this, the size of the Mute group that absorbs the life force of the surrounding environment is larger than the Teldrat region. The train’s armament is that much thicker. “I heard that the frequency of operation is also less frequent.”
“Oooh….”
Eggwill was talkative enough to be suspicious.
“How do you know so well?”
“I want to be an Eggwill wizard. During the Imperial War, most wizards moved to the Western Empire. This is a place where many traces of old magic remain. I’m very interested. “I asked other continental ship sailors and read a lot of books.”
“Oooh….”
Damn, thank you, captain! Where in the world did you pick up such a smart troll?
Eggwill was taking turns driving the handcart with me, and whenever he had a break, he would sit next to me and tell various stories about the old Western Empire.
Even to an unfamiliar person, Eggwill looked very excited.
Squeak-squeak-
“Whoosh, whoosh….”
“Eggwill, what’s the problem?”
“…Hyde. “What do you see around here?”
At Eggwill’s question, I stopped for a moment and looked around.
The track and our handcar look like they need some maintenance.
Beyond that, there were traces of something like a waterway along the track on some fairly large rocks.
“Hmm… it seems like a pretty good place to live, right? If there are stones left in the open air, it means that this place has pretty good rock terrain. Although it is dry now, there are traces of a fairly large river flowing through it, so if you dig well, you may be able to find an underground water vein. Good? “There must be a fairly large fortress city not far away.”
“Rock terrain. A place where a large river flowed. Near the coastline. Wow. “This is a special place.”
“A special place?”
“Gwok gwok. The coastline is the border of a divided continent. “The coast we arrived at was originally the land right next to the Blue Line when it was a mountain range.”
“yes.”
“Next to the Blue Line Mountains. A rocky terrain that appears along a large river. Wow. “A very famous place.”
“By any chance… do you mean to say that this is near ‘Wuthering Heights’?”
In response to Tarimus’ question, Egg shook his head loudly.
“right. The final resting place of the cursed wizard and windbreaker. The journey of wizards caught by an incurable spell. “It’s such a famous place.”
“Eggwill, you must be excited. “It is the place where the greatest traces of magic remain in this era.”
“Tarim. Do you know what it is?”
“I know.”
Tarimus measured the wind with saliva on his finger and nodded toward Eggwill.
“I guess that’s right. “I see that the direction of the track and the wind direction match.”
“Gwook. It’s definitely true. This track leads to the ‘Floating Catacombs’, the tomb of the windbreakers.”
“Be careful what you say. “If this is really the place, just calling it that would be harmful.”
“Boo. “Then what do you call it?”
I should call it by its old name. “In the name of the time when all the news of the empire was delivered before it was embroiled in war.”
“….to ‘Felix Home’.”
Whiuuuung –
A piece of wind blew from somewhere and swept Tamirus’ long hair. As if that were true.
“hmm. “I don’t want to go into a place called a catacomb or a tomb without any precautions.”
“Don’t worry. “If I remember correctly, there was one village you had to stop by before entering Wuthering Heights.”
“….that?”
“Uhm. Excuse me. It was a ‘village’. Before the Imperial War.”
Squeak-squeak-
….the perspective is a bit strange. If it was the top of the castle wall that was starting to come out over the horizon, it shouldn’t have looked that big.
“….Town?”
“It’s the big city ‘Wind Hall.’ “It was originally a small town that catered to travelers visiting Felix Home, but thanks to various conditions… it has now become this large fortress city.”
“There is a reason why the Warlord attacked the Roderic Territory first rather than the Western Imperial Territory…” It was a
ridiculous castle wall that, if done well, seemed like it could block the ignorant bombardment that was seen in the sea at that time.
When I narrowed my eyes, I could see that the only thing I could see was more than 20 guns lined up on the magnificent castle walls.
And most of them are turning their guns towards this direction.
“Hey hey hey! Hang the white flag, the white flag!”
“…Gwok?”
“Have you never taken the magic train? “An unauthorized magic train approaching a city only happens when an opposing city attacks that city!”
“Hyde, no matter how carefully you look at it, there is no way this rag we made can be seen as a magic train.”
“You put the engine in the back! Taken from a boat! Common sense tells us that if something with wheels is loaded with a magic engine and rolls on the tracks, it is a magic train!”
“Oh, I see.”
“Not ‘Oh, I see!’ “Even if they shoot us from over there right now, we’re not guilty!”
Meanwhile, the port was firmly in place, and I could see people, who began to look like dots, busily walking up and down the castle walls.
“The white one! Anything white! “Where’s the sail?”
“Oh, it’s not there! “I put it there to hold a funeral on the coast!”
“Because of that, we have to pay a funeral now!”
Guuuuung-!
“The castle walls are on fire!”
“….underwear! Diving underwear! It’s white too! Take it all off! Shake that at least!”
“no, I do not want. “I would rather die than expose myself in front of many people.”
“I didn’t tell you to take off your clothes too! “One piece of troll underwear is enough!”
“Nana? “Eggwill is like that too-”
“Hey, don’t show your delicate details at times like this!”
Thanks to the genius design of the troll vegetable engineer, the handcar without brakes was moving toward the castle wall with dozens of floating spheres.
Although it is small, it is a magic train (estimated). If it crashed into the gate with the engine overloaded, the gate could be blown away, so the city guard had no choice.
-Flutter!
….No, there weren’t going to be any circumstances.
On a strange magic train that came into view at a very high speed, humans and trolls suddenly took off their clothes and were swinging their underwear on sticks.
“Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!!!! “We are just ordinary drifters!!!!”
“Hehehehehe….”
“Eggwill! “Don’t squat, shake it louder, dude!”
“Gooooh, it’s the shame of a skin troll without a single witchcraft tattoo… Uuuuu…”
Flap. Flap –
After Eggwill spent a few humiliating seconds that felt like an eternity.
“….stop! The train is accessing Wind Hall territory without permission! Stop right away! Reveal your identity and affiliation!』
Finally, a somewhat perplexed voice flew towards them from the castle wall. While Tarimus and Isena’s relief cries and Eggwill’s melancholy sighs fall.
In an instant, the Wind Hall guards came out of the castle gate in formation and surrounded the four of us.
“Geuuu. Are we okay?”
“The reason I rode it was because there was nothing wrong with the handcar that was driven by human power. “Well, you’ll be released in about thirty minutes.”
Slam!
“Unauthorized access to the city and operation of private trains! I will take you away for the above crimes! “Return the train and submit to arrest calmly!”
“Yes, thank you for your hard work~”
Is there any reason to disobey here?
We exchanged quick glances and raised our hands in response to the security guard’s arrest.
“…What is this?”
“Wooden… handcar? Does something like this work?”
As we were being dragged by the guard’s hand, we heard the guard’s voice as if he wanted to see all the absurd things.
****
Quack!
When you ask travelers about the differences between the Teldrat region and the Western Empire, the first thing they say is the diet.
Sigh! Squeak!
Unlike the areas west of the Blue Line, where mushrooms are mainly eaten, the difference in mineral distribution makes mushrooms harder to eat, but edible moss cultivated on a large scale accounts for most of the diet here.
“Guuuu….”
“Um…. Hyde?”
“why! what!”
The moss that was now steaming appetizingly on Hyde’s plate and being plucked by his nervous fork was one of the representative foods of the Western Empire.
Quang!
“You damn bastard thieves!”
“Hyde. “If you speak loudly, everyone will look at you.”
“Oh yeah?”
Seeueu-eup-
“The Wind Hall Guards are a bunch of day robbers like no other in the world!!!”
Instead, I shouted as hard as I could to make him listen.
The crowded bar became quiet for a brief moment, but soon became noisy again as if nothing had happened.
….Yes, it is a bar. Not a security interrogation room, but a bar. A relic of the past that Teldrat could not have imagined.
Half a day after entering the large city of Wind Hall and being taken to the security guard for interrogation.
“Still, 15 million won’t be a good deal….”
“Tarim, you shut up! “Open your mouth and say what a good thing this idiot has done!”
“Hmm…”
Our group was sitting around the bar with a large bag of silver coins.
Surprisingly, this money bag was the reason why I had such a tantrum.
“Tarim. “I need to ask you something.”
“Umm….”
“We said it right before we went in. We decided to pretend that we were ‘crew members of an intercontinental sailing ship who managed to get to the shore after crossing a rough storm!’ “Is it that difficult?”
“Elves are a race that cannot tell lies-”
“Who wants to lie? Intercontinental voyage I took a boat from Teldrat Territory to the Western Empire Territory! The crew of that ship! We were hit by storms for a few days after leaving! “It’s all true, so why can’t you say it!”
Contrary to my expectations, being taken to the security guard did not go as smoothly.
To be precise, it went very smoothly for the friends of the Wind Hall Guard.
“The man at the table next to there! “Do you want me to tell you something interesting?”
“Are you a foreigner?”
“yes! You are a foreigner! We came over by boat from Teldrat Territory, and after three days of being washed up on the waves on a wrecked boat, we arrived here! “It’s really amazing, isn’t it?”
.
.
.
.
“Foot fuhahahaha! “Your skill at telling nonsense is excellent!”
“From Teldrat Territory to here, the Deep Blue Line? “From there, you floated down on a wrecked ship?”
“It would be more believable to say that a wind wizard lives in the countryside, right! Wahahahaha!”
As you can see, it’s nonsense that even drunk people wouldn’t believe.
“Did you see it? I mean that’s a normal reaction. “If you use your brain just a little, you can tell that it’s a story that no one will believe!”
“Ha, but that’s definitely not true! We arrived here on a half-sunken ship, washed up on the sea for three days-” “
We got there! And that’s a story the guards will never–never believe!”
It was like that.
Isena, a clever Eggwill beastman, and I managed to come up with plausible answers to the guards’ questions, but it wasn’t that easy for our vegetation-addicted elf.
‘Who is where?’
‘How did you come here and what do you do?’
To the question:
‘Seven salvage workers from Semeiren Port. During the fishing trip, I happened to meet the most famous Warlord and his subordinates in the wide open sea, and surprisingly, I survived the fight against that crazy murderous group. Our ship, which was half-wrecked in the aftermath of the battle, stayed calm for three days without any sea attacks or storms. ‘I suddenly floated here.’
He answered,
Naturally, the security forces defined us as an ‘extremely suspicious multi-ethnic group’, and the interrogation that was supposed to be completed in 30 minutes turned into an in-depth interrogation that lasted about half a day using numerous threats and threats.
“…Hey, give me some water. “I’m just so choked up.”
“Gwok.”
Gulp-
“Khaaaa.”
….In fact, our innocence would have already been proven. As soon as we came in, we would have naturally sent a magic message to the city on the other side of the tracks, and there would have been someone separately dispatched there, so we would have known right away that there was no train leaving from that side. It wasn’t a magic train that was dragged in the first place, it was just a torn-off salvage ship engine loaded onto a handcart.
“…Only fifteen million! No matter how old the model, a magic engine that is still in active service and capable of intercontinental voyage is being sold for less than half the price!”
The reason the security guard showed such high-handedness was because of the salvage ship engine and other parts we brought with us.
=========
‘Did you… say Hyde? From the looks of it, he seems to be the leader. Suspiciously, the testimonies among my colleagues were different.’
‘yes? ‘Who who?’
‘Ah, of course the elves have a mental problem. It doesn’t just happen for a day or two. Since there are no particularly dangerous substances or charges, they can just let him go… but anyway, since the testimony is conflicting, they can put him in prison.’
‘….Write it. ‘What do you want?’
‘You talk fast. No matter how many magic train parts there are, there is never enough. Especially things like engines that you can’t get even if you have money.’
‘Hey sir-’
‘Fifteen million in all. ‘I’ll pay you in cash right away.’
‘…I think they think I’m being held here because I don’t have the strength, but even just by rolling over the bars, it’s as big as a cookie
.’ It’s because we need people who are lords and nobles. It’s an item that has to be sold here anyway, but if the lord says something like, “Anyone who buys that will be expelled from the city,” who will bid? If you do anything for nothing, you’ll end up being branded a criminal and the goods will end up being thrown away without being able to sell them.’
‘….Nimi.’
=========
Escape from prison is not a task, but if we do that, all four of us will be labeled as criminals, empty-handed and with nowhere to go, so what can we do?
In exchange for releasing the somewhat suspicious quartet, they had no choice but to hand over the salvage ship’s magic engine and other parts for 15 million shillings.
This all happened because Tarimus gave an excuse.
“Wow, my stomach is really bursting.”
“Guh. Don’t do that too much. “Anyway, if it was an item that a nobleman was interested in, it had to be handed over somehow.”
“I could have gotten 3,000! The depth you go into is different between stabbing without any excuse and stabbing while holding on to a weak point! “There are already a lot of places to put money, so if you divide it by 4.7 million shillings per head, whose nose is that on?”
This was the reason why my fork was ruthlessly egging on the [Traveler’s Meal made with fresh moss lightly stir-fried in chicken fat and seared over a fire]. Tarimus is a severe plant addict, so just picking grass makes him flinch. So even now, I’m just ordering a thumb-sized piece of chicken and crunching on it for rice.
‘…Anyway, thanks to paying such a high price, I became an official visitor to Wind Hall. I also sold the items I brought with me.’
Anyway, right now I have money to live on. This is not to mention the shattered Pasan sword, which Kaibuen hasn’t taken care of in some time.
Now that I think about it, there was something I overlooked earlier because the situation was urgent.
“…Eggwill. You said you were interested in wizards, right? “I know a lot about that.”
“Don’t make me talk while I’m eating.”
“Just chew and talk. They say that Wind Hole was a village a little far from Wuthering Heights. So where is Wuthering Heights? “What do you mean by catacombs, cursed wizards, and pilgrims?”
“That? Umm, about that-”
“If you’re talking about that, I’ll do it! “They are customers who have ordered a lot of expensive menu items for the first time in a long time.”
The answer came out of the tavern owner’s mouth instead of Eggwill’s, which was choked.
“My name is Hans. “My family has been running an inn since Wind Hall was a small village, so we know every detail about the Wind Wizards over there, from old times to today.”
“Oh yeah. thanks. So what happened? “Everyone seems reluctant to talk about wind magic.”
“Of course it has to be that way.”
Rattling.
The middle-aged man, one by one, put down our share of the food that Tarim had ordered, spoke in a quiet voice as if he was telling a secret.
“Isn’t the mana of the wind no different from a curse that sends those who dwell in it on a journey of death?”
“curse?”
“yes! The moment you settle in, you leave the safe city and wander through this crazy land. Isn’t that a curse? The bachelor who was digging for coal and the woman who was picking up moss were suddenly driven out of the city by the wind for no reason and died suddenly in an unknown place. “It is truly the worst curse.”
The innkeeper sighed and spread his arms.
“The place where all those damned people pass through is Wind Hall Fortress.”
“…Wizards probably aren’t that common. “If everyone dies like you said, wouldn’t there be only a few people who arrive here?”
“no. This is a story that most people in the world don’t know, but after the world got to this point, the most common thing that appeared was not an earth wizard, but a wind wizard. “The one who died the most would also be the wind wizard.”
“A wind wizard?”
“Aren’t we all trapped? Among those who live without being able to die, how many have not thought, ‘I want to escape this prison-like city?’ The mana of the wind dwells in the heart that longs for such freedom. “That’s how you leave and die.”
“So is it a curse?”
“Geuuu. right. I want to be an Eggwill wizard, but I hate wind. A magical curse that will cause you to wander around the threat of a soft land for the rest of your life. You can’t always be lucky. “A wind wizard can never die of old age.”
I felt a little weird because it was such an unusual story.
Because my situation was no different from theirs.
“Wuthering Heights is both the only destination and a stopover for all wind wizards on this path of death. Even if it was destroyed a long time ago and only the cornerstone and traces remain.”
Shake!
“what?!”
The scream jumped out of my throat without me even realizing it.
“Wuthering Heights is where Felix Home is… is there only a trace left?”
“Oh, it hasn’t completely gone away. Would you like me to show you?”
The innkeeper took out a piece of twice-folded paper from his apron and placed it on his palm.
“Hmm. Come on….’I’m sending it to the wind.’”
….tick.
“You saw it, right? “It just occurred to me a little bit and then ended.”
“Geuuu. sorry. “It was my nose.”
“No, it’s not like that! This is proof that the letter magic of 200 years ago is still vaguely alive! This is a letter prepared for foreigners and magicians who come as guests! The recipient is George, the chicken farmer. He also lives in this city.”
The innkeeper was joking, but my eyes were glued to the letter in his hand.
A memory that can only be seen as a milestone that comes with him.
=========
….Pararalak!
=========
It was the image of a group of letters splitting the sky in the early morning light and a balloon flying between them. The contrast between the letter
filling
the red and blue sky at dawn and the piece of the letter trembling in the man’s hand was so stark.
“…Where should we go to Wuthering Heights?”
Perhaps I had visited that place when it was still intact.
****
