Wolves of Hader

Chapter 145

It was already surprising that Eilin had come.

But Hairopro?

"Has father not returned yet?"

"No. I was also worried about my dad and waiting for news, but a letter came at the end of last year."

"Do you know where Hairopro is?"

Eilin shook her head.

"They say you have to go to the southernmost tip of Beltern to find out."

So Hairopro was there.

Somehow, it felt like various points were connecting. The only one whose identity I didn't know was the old man who appeared in my dreams.

Father, Viscount Drian, and Prince Elborn.

It seemed that these men had gone to Hairopro when they were young. Just what could be there?

Viscount Drian appeared to have settled in Hairopro, and Eilin's father, who had supposedly gone to meet an old friend, had also been there.

Then who was the old man in black? Was he a kind of magical communication sent by Viscount Drian and Eilin's father? No, what did he say in the dream?

He said there was something to give me, and that there were old men who wanted to see me. Were those old men Viscount Drian and Eilin's father?

"But did you come all this way alone?"

Eilin sighed.

"Yes. I took a passenger ship to Tris, and from there came to Mouk. It was a bit scary at first, but I became friends with some women who were also headed to Mouk, so it was fine."

How likely was it that those going from Robe to Mouk would end up on the same ship? Not passengers—bodyguards.

Most likely they were Mogos' intelligence agents.

"Did father tell you to come with me?"

Eilin shook her head.

"To be honest, he just told me to come, without saying how to get here, or whom I should travel with. The letter was just a note written down from a carrier pigeon."

She glanced at me and continued.

"These days, southern Beltern is so chaotic you can't travel there by sea or land. Then my uncle told me to seek you out."

Eilin seemed a bit awkward.

I did want to see her, too, but meeting so suddenly like this made things awkward.

"We'll be departing soon!"

The cry of the sailors rang out.

They'd finished loading the cargo, so all that remained was for us to board. I spoke to Nabak, the youngest.

"Tell the captain that we'll be traveling separately."

"Understood."

"Donnie, we need to get a boat."

"Should I prepare a fast boat?"

"Yes. The smallest possible boat."

I asked the Tuji brothers.

"Will we need a crew?"

"If it's a small boat, we can manage without."

"Just load food and water."

Everyone scattered at once.

Since Eilin had come, we would go straight to southern Beltern instead of Robe. It was pretty far and likely to be dangerous.

The smallest boat held about 20 people. The Tuji brothers could act as captain and navigator, and the rest of us would be the crew. If we were to travel by ourselves, a small, fast boat would be best.

"Sorry about this. Because of me—"

"No, it's fine. We were planning to go to southern Beltern anyway. We'll do what we planned to do on our return instead."

"What business takes you to the south?"

"We're looking for Viscount Drian."

Eilin's eyes widened.

"My father went to meet him, didn't he?"

"Most likely."

It seemed that both Viscount Drian and Eilin's father had known I would meet and travel with her. Eilin didn't seem to have seen this in the vision of the divine sword.

About three hours later.

A sleek, small ship was ready.

Compared to other ships, its beam was narrow and its hull low. There was only one mast, but with a large sail, it looked quite fast. Like a sports car on water, maybe.

"We couldn't load much food or water."

"All the kitchen and cargo are inside the cabin, right?"

"Yes. We packed the storeroom with food and water, but it'll last at most fifteen days."

"That's enough."

I had already stocked plenty of water and emergency rations in my magic pouch. Even the backpack only contained food. We could last up to three months without resupplying.

"We're moving to the boat!"

The group boarded the landing craft and headed to the ship.

/ / /

"Uson! Secure the sail!"

Uson replied with a gesture and fastened the rope tethered to the sail. Tuji manned the rudder, and Uson skillfully handled the sail as his brother instructed.

With the sail unfurled, the ship glided smoothly across the water. There was a lot of rolling side-to-side at first, but as speed increased, the motion smoothed out.

It was the fastest ship I'd ever been on.

Because the draft was shallow, it was as if we skimmed the surface of the water.

But with the low draft came low stability; it could capsize more easily. The ship was vulnerable to storms, so it would be dangerous in the open sea.

"Water's getting into the cabin!"

"Mop it up, quick!"

We ran around fervently, mopping. Like a motorboat, each time the bow slapped the water, waves crashed aboard and flowed into the cabin from the deck.

"Let's slow down a little!"

"Understood!"

We adjusted the sails.

The main sail had one auxiliary sail on each side. We furled the main sail by about a third, which took the speed down a notch.

So our voyage began.

The group finally caught their breath.

Eilin came out on deck as well. She'd been feeling seasick and had stayed in the cabin, but now came out to get some air. She stood beside me, gripping the railing, gazing at the sea.

"Are you feeling better now?"

"A bit, yes."

"How's the Laiza Merchant Guild these days?"

"Haven't had any trouble. It's probably because the Laiza Guild has begun trading directly with the Empire's merchants, so there's a slightly more favorable atmosphere. Although no one has come in person."

For the Laiza Merchant Guild, giving up on copper and such was offset by the huge profits from other trade. Trading directly with the Empire couldn't even be compared in scale to before.

So it was hard for anyone to interfere with our business. If anyone realized why the Order fell, and how Tern and the Empire had begun trading, they wouldn't be able to interfere.

"Uueegh!"

From behind came Allen's retching.

He must have held it in as long as he could. He hung his head over the side, looking pale, and vomited.

"Ugh, I feel like I'm dying, uuegh!"

"Donnie! Pat his back, will you?"

"Should I push him over while I'm at it?"

"Maybe you should?"

"Ugh, I'm dying. Dran, save me~"

Laughing, Donnie patted Allen's back. Even I—who doesn't get seasick—felt queasy from the ship's motion. I wondered if Allen could endure it.

"Young lord! Should we slow down a bit more?"

"No, this is fine."

"We'll reduce speed a little more at night."

"That sounds best."

"Uueegh!"

Allen retched again.

"Don't throw up, swallow it! Or just don't eat! If you keep eating and throwing up, we'll run out of rations!"

"Oh, I'm dying. Dran, save me~"

Even Donnie's teasing got no reaction from Allen. Normally he'd have complained, but he was feeling so wretched he couldn't even hear it.

Anyway, the ship sped on.

Soon, everyone would be worn out.

/ / /

We reached Ta-iki on the eleventh day.

The voyage with Eilin felt somewhat different. Every day was a sort of "date", you could say. Neither she nor I showed it outwardly, though.

We talked of the previous trade deal, the Robe branch of the eastern merchant guild, the weather at sea, constellations, the situation in southern Beltern—so many topics across more than ten days.

She in particular was extremely curious about our house. So I told her everything I could.

Sometimes we'd have fishing competitions, sometimes Eilin cooked for us herself. We once caught a huge fish and ended up drunk, eating it as a snack with drinks.

Everyone else knew about the tender atmosphere between Eilin and me, except for Allen. But both Eilin and I pretended not to notice.

Eilin always looked me in the eye when talking and smiled often, but seemed to be hiding something. That, too, made me hesitant to show my feelings.

So things stayed vague.

Was it that I missed the timing?

Or was I just waiting for the right moment?

"It's a mysterious island."

"Faeries live here."

"Really?"

"I'll introduce you someday. They're shy about meeting outsiders."

"All right."

"We're setting sail!"

"Damn! Am I going to get seasick again?"

The boat headed south again.

This time, we met the Iki Tribe and obtained various magic stones. We traded with about eighty mana coins instead of mana stones themselves.

Two pairs of golem magic stones.

Two pairs of shrinking magic stones.

One spirit stone of light.

Twelve jump spirit stones.

The golem magic stones this time could create a huge rock giant, unlike before. We planned to combine these with the ones we had for use as weapons, or give them to Rungha for his body.

The spirit stone of light was something the chief gave me when I asked if they had anything like a glowstone. He said the elemental within it would light up darkness and sense mysterious presences.

There was only one spirit stone of light, and it was in the form of a necklace, so I wore it. This elemental had originally been in Elin's stone and had come late to Ta-iki.

And the jump spirit stones.

These contained spirits of the same kind as those in the Bouncy Boots. They emit powerful magic, propelling the user upward.

I tried one on the shore.

It only let me jump about four meters. If you lost the spirit stone, you'd fly off at random into the air.

So we discussed how best to use the jump spirit stones. There were exactly twelve to match our party, excluding Allen.

"I think it'd be good to embed the spirit stone in the palm of a glove. You could soar instantly just by extending your left hand."

"But how would you hold your sword with it in your hand?"

"Would it really be effective? The jump height doesn't seem much higher than what you can do with skill alone."

"I also think the hand is best."

"As Mont says, attaching the stone to your left palm is best. You just need to stretch out your left hand."

Everyone looked at the round spirit stones.

They were about the size of a palm.

The engravings weren't that complicated.

"What do you think they used to carve these?"

"Maybe red clay mixed with mana stone powder?"

That's what it looked like to me.

It was like a very shrunken magic array. As long as you use the same material and carve the same symbol, it should be possible to engrave it anywhere.

"I guess we only need to engrave this symbol onto our hands?"

"As a tattoo?"

"Yes. The elemental was once in Elin's stone, and now it's in a stone inscribed with a magic spell. If we copy this symbol onto our hands, maybe the spirit will dwell there."

"We have elementals in our bodies, too."

It wasn't impossible.

Whether they dwell in our bodies or in our hands, it's the same. The spirit stone is just a rock.

"Wait a moment."

I asked the elementals with me.

Is my idea possible?

And I got a positive response.

"I think it'll work."

"Really?"

"It doesn't even have to be a tattoo."

The Tuji brothers and Eilin, watching from behind, were interested. Inscribing the spell as a tattoo was best; you could also carve it on a glove.

First, I drew the symbol on my palm. Then, I ground mana stone powder into saline solution and tattooed the symbol. Without ink, the tattoo would be faint and whitish.

"Who wants a tattoo?"

"Me."

"Me too."

Everyone opted for the tattoo.

Except Eilin, who couldn't decide.

"I'll give you gloves with the symbol inscribed, Eilin. There are plenty for armor lining, so you can always inscribe the spell on your hand later."

"All right."

"Jerin, you're good at drawing, right?"

"Yes. Leave it to me."

We all decided to inscribe the symbol of the jump spirit on our left palms. And I tattooed the symbol of the light spirit on my right palm as well.

So we inscribed the spells during the voyage.

Carefully, stitch by stitch.

I also granted Eilin an elemental of the same level as mine, and taught her the basic skills, passing on knowledge whenever I had a chance, so she could protect herself.

As we went about living with the tattoos—

A surprising change occurred.

Now, not only could we use the spirit's magic to jump,

—But also our own magic power.

Thanks to this, our jumping ability greatly increased.

/ / /

On the 28th day of the voyage.

We had steered only by the stars, sailing south and further south, but couldn't tell just where southern Beltern was.

"Are we really going south?"

"Yes! We did come south! I can't be certain because we haven't seen any stars for three days!"

In my previous life, I hadn't come to the southern hemisphere much. I navigated by islands I'd seen before, but three days ago, we lost our bearings.

We'd been adrift for three days in wind and rain. No familiar islands, no stars because of the rain, and the boat seemed ready to capsize at any minute.

Crash—

Lightning struck the rain-soaked sea in the distance. The waves ahead were fierce.

"To the right!"

"Turn the bow! It's a storm zone!"

The boat quickly veered right. It was a dangerous area with plenty of reefs. We narrowly escaped the storm zone.

But out of the rain and wind ahead, ships began to appear. Like ghost ships. Four strange vessels were slowly approaching us.

Everyone tensed.

Because we had no idea where we were.