It was also in the sea (1)
Inside a tent filled with only the faint light from candles.
There, Sigmund looked at the report posted by Godin and ended up laughing.
“Even the flag was taken away?”
“That’s right.”
“…And that for only about ten brats and barbarians?”
Although he was smiling, there was a deep chill that was buried deep inside.
For Sigmund, whose anger had already passed the critical point and stretched far into the distance, a cold smile would have been the only way to express it.
Wagner, the commander of the 3rd Cavalry, who was standing there feeling guilty, did not dare to face his smile and just lowered his head.
“Furthermore, the city of Nassau was tearing apart only the intact sailing ships and flying them away…” A
bitter taste rises with each word he utters.
A burned down port city. Nassau.
News of Baron Iznik going bankrupt before the war even started was already spreading throughout the West.
Perhaps the news of each family’s joining, which is being delayed little by little, cannot be said to be completely unrelated to this matter.
“I don’t know how Count Bayezid has been holding back all this time.”
Sigmund smiled faintly as he turned the glass he was holding.
Bayezid’s hands move nimbly, as if he had been waiting.
The plans that Peter had come up with so far were clearly too painful to have been accomplished with impromptu ideas alone.
“Well, it’s been too easy so far.”
Seeing how things were going, Sigmund had no choice but to admit it.
That they were not the only ones who had been waiting for this war.
In the midst of the turbulent times, Bayezid was also one who was looking for an opportunity.
“…As expected, it was difficult, but it was the right path.”
Sigmund took a sip of the drink he was holding and let out a sigh-like sigh.
Peter Bayezid. As expected, it is not an easy opponent.
It was not just a single family, but it was gathering forces from the west and moving up, but rather than being shaken, it was trying to take the lead in the war.
“It should be like this, after all.”
However, the reason why Sigmund is willing despite being a difficult opponent is because Bayezid is a valuable person.
The brighter the game caught, the higher the value of the hunter.
As long as they catch the big man named Bayezid, not only the West but no other family will be able to call themselves usurpers anymore.
“Godin. “Be prepared to send a telegram.”
“Where should I send you to prepare?”
The tip of the candle flickers.
Sigmund quietly opened his mouth as he watched the candles swaying here and there in the wind.
“Dragullia. To the Dragon Blood Lord.”
I know why the last Ravnoma was taken.
They probably wanted to set a spark behind the unstable West.
But Bayezid should know better.
“It’s about time.”
It was Dragulia, not the North, that first lit the fire in the rear.
The central forces, which were stuck like stakes in Baron Utman behind Bayezid, were gradually changing the direction of the flag.
※※※※
“It’s really wide.”
Vlad was leaning on the railing on the deck, looking at the blue waves beneath the sky.
It was my first time seeing the sea.
The size is on a completely different level from the gray walls of Shoara, which I promised to leave someday.
Vlad was once again amazed at the vastness of the world as he looked at the endlessly expanding sea.
‘It would have been really unfair if I had died without seeing this.’
The blue waves that reach right into your heart along with the strong salty wind.
A deep blue wave, which I had never seen in my life, was forming white foam and slowly flowing into Vlad’s world.
“Wooweeeek.”
Vlad was admiring the blue of the sea for a while.
However, even when looking at the same sea, each person’s impression was different.
“Are you okay?”
“……no.”
The cheeks became thinner and the skin became noticeably paler compared to yesterday.
As he watched Rutger’s eyes becoming more and more narrow, Vlad couldn’t help but think of Josef.
As soon as I put shade on their eyes, wondering if they were brothers, they were two people who looked incredibly similar.
“…Why are you fine?”
“I guess I have the constitution of the sea.”
“What kind of guy has lived in the city his whole life?”
Rutger just waved his hands as if Vlad’s answer made no sense and fell on the railing again.
“If you were going to buy it anyway, why didn’t you buy a bigger boat?”
There was no reason to be resentful, but I just wanted to be.
It’s a tiny Cog ship that inevitably shakes more because it’s small.
Since horses and people were loaded to the limit, the burden on Rutger, who was prone to motion sickness, was bound to double.
“If I had more money, I would have bought a bigger boat.”
“…So, I told you to come under me, not Josef.”
Rutger’s words are unclear whether he is joking or serious.
But knowing that there was no turning back now, the two men just stared quietly at the sea.
“thank you. “Thank you for waiting.”
Vlad knew that the reason he was able to board Haven’s ship safely was all thanks to Rutger.
If it weren’t for Bayezid’s knights who intercepted hundreds of others, he would probably still be running away, wandering the wasteland without rest.
“I just did it because it was worth doing.”
With those words, Rutger began to collapse onto the deck as if he had used up his last strength.
Even Bayezid’s boastful knight seemed unable to help the seasickness that came from inside.
‘It’s worth it…’
Vlad quietly pondered Rutger’s answer.
What level of skill do you have to have to be able to make such a decision even in front of hundreds of people?
“I don’t know yet.”
Vlad turned around and leaned against the railing, raised his head and looked at the highest point of the ship.
A red flag waving back and forth in the wind.
Vlad, squinting one eye, perhaps because of the stinging sunlight, looked at the flag and quietly muttered.
“When I return to Shoara later, I’ll have to ask them to change the name of the ship first.”
A small boat heading north through the calm waves.
The Redhead Gemina was currently heading to a small port town near Deirmar.
※※※※
Three men huddled together under the night sky.
The sea’s night sky, which had more stars than the city’s night sky, looked bright even if you didn’t bring a lantern.
“I think Noir has lost a lot of strength. “I guess it’s not suitable for the sea.”
“…I guess so.”
Vlad could only nod quietly at Otar’s report.
Noir had no choice but to be loaded into the luggage compartment because the ship was narrow.
Regardless of his damn temperament or whatever, Noir was unable to come to his senses on the rocking boat.
“But you are also really amazing. “There are people who don’t get motion sick like this.”
Vlad just quietly suppressed his temper as he saw Haven smiling at him.
Since it was Haven that waited at the port until the end, this incident had to be passed over quietly.
“…Still, isn’t it a bit weird to put Jemina’s name on a ship?”
“Did I do it because I wanted to? “Jemina said I had to do it, so I did it.”
Haven slyly turns the steering wheel with his answer.
The sight of him driving a boat now seemed as familiar as the captain’s hat on his head.
“You said you have a share in this ship. “He said it all started with the sword he gave me.”
“under!”
Vlad stopped snorting after hearing Haven’s words.
Or, by that logic, does that mean that from now on, he will go through everything one step at a time?
“It’s not exactly wrong, but it’s wrong.”
“Well, you two can figure it out on your own.”
They were telling us to solve it together, but the way they were smiling was very suspicious.
It was clear that when Jemina told him to name it after himself, he thought it was right and accepted it.
“No, I wanted to make it Marcella, the rose smile.”
“…Why on earth are sailors so anxious that they can’t name their ships after women?”
The world of sailors who are sensitive to superstitions.
It was a superstition that I don’t know where it started, but even at this very moment, countless ladies would be wading across the sea, cutting through the wind.
“Well, let’s come. “I don’t know about that.”
“…….”
Haven was always a little intimidated.
However, the sight of him naturally taking a swig from the bottle of rum next to him was filled with nothing but laughter.
Now, relying on the steering wheel rather than a cane, his appearance didn’t seem to have even the slightest wrinkle.
It’s an odd name, but it was a good thing they bought me a boat.
“Anyway, is business going well?”
“Our situation is okay. “Because we have regular customers.”
Before Vlad left Shoara, he had connected the Kannor family with Haven.
Perhaps his skill in handling animals came from the experience he gained from trading with Kannor.
“But winter is inevitable. “Because the river is frozen.”
This is unavoidable in the cold north.
This was the reason why Shoara did not have a navy even though it had a wide river leading to the sea.
“That’s why all the merchants of Shoara were driven out during this Nassau. “It’s a floating port that doesn’t freeze even in winter.”
“Is that something like that?”
War is an opportunity.
I heard that the merchants of Shoara volunteered for this work to seize the opportunity that might arise.
If Bayezid secures control over Nassau through this war, the merchants who followed this raid will be able to establish themselves in the new northern port.
“If we only had Nassau, the northern route would become quite diverse. “It’s an opportunity for us too.”
Haven, who had been rotting in a small room at the edge of the river, was now looking beyond.
Vlad was not the only boy in the back alley who was hungry for opportunity.
“Please continue to treat me well, driver.”
“If you want to ask for something in the future, please be kind enough to repay it.”
Feeling embarrassed for some reason, Vlad took Haven’s bottle of liquor.
“huh?”
Vlad, who had been following the calm flow of the sea near the steering wheel and looking away, was soon able to spot luminous objects shining around the ship.
“Haven. What is that?”
“What where?”
As I moved my gaze along Vlad’s fingertips, I saw clusters of light starting to stick around the ship, as if blue paint had been released.
Otar, who was quietly watching the scene by Haven’s side, quickly passed through the deck and checked underneath.
“Otar what is that!”
“……hmm.”
Instead of responding to Haven’s words, Otar quickly grabbed a harpoon and began looking down at the bottom of the ship.
A dark-skinned man who always shows his actions rather than his words.
“Sigh!”
At the end of the harpoon, which had powerfully left his hand, was something struggling helplessly.
“calamari.”
“what?”
“This is squid.”
A white sea creature writhing on a black hand.
What was held in Otar’s hand was a squid that looked substantial and the size of a person’s forearm.
“……calamari?”
Vlad, who was curious about seeing sea creatures for the first time, rushed to Otar, but Haven, who was watching, only narrowed his eyebrows.
“Is this okay as a side dish with drinks? “This is my first time eating sea fish!”
Vlad takes the squid from Otar and shakes it as if he is excited.
However, as Haven looked at Vlad like that, he just tilted his head as if he did not understand.
“…It’s summer now.”
Although Haven had little experience at sea, he had certainly learned common sense about it, and he knew very well that there was no way squid could be in the south at this time.
Squid, a cold current fish that moves along cold water.
However, the things currently glowing with a pale light and surrounding the red-headed Gemina were clearly squid.
And it’s so huge that we can’t even count it with our eyes.
From Vlad’s sword, which was happy holding a squid, little sparkling pollen was flying without the owner’s knowledge.
