“Salkenia, why don’t you exchange greetings with him, at least?”
[If it is an order, I will gladly do so.]
“It’s a question, not an order. Lorenzo is a sailor now, so you can at least have a conversation with him, can’t you?”
[Salkenia’s words will not reach someone who is neither her Captain nor one of the dead.]
“Then I can relay them. Just as you relay Perero’s and Ines’s words.”
[I do not think Salkenia will be the one to speak first.]
“Come on. He’s the navigator.”
Salkenia acted as though she was not particularly willing. Lorenzo, on the other hand, was interested.
“You’re talking to the ghost ship, Captain?”
“That’s right.”
“A chance to talk to a ship. As a navigator, I’m a little excited.”
I turned my gaze to Salkenia. As though she had no choice, Salkenia stood in front of Lorenzo.
[I can show you my form briefly, at least. My voice will not reach you, but I ask that the Captain relay it.]
“All right.”
[Then I will make myself visible for a moment.]
***
Lorenzo had been looking forward to it. He thought of the weeping skeleton beyond the Unknown, but the skeleton sailors were not particularly threatening despite their frightening appearance. So even when Howell said he would let Lorenzo greet his ship, Salkenia, Lorenzo thought it would be nothing to worry about.
‘Even if it’s a ghost ship, Mr. Howell…… No, Captain talks to it without any trouble.’
What navigator would ever have the chance to speak with a ship? Even if it was a Relic, Lorenzo wondered what he should say. But that consideration did not last long.
Shhh.
The shadows cast across the deck slowly gathered and took form. They became the hem of a pitch-black dress. A woman in a dress, her face covered by a hat and veil, appeared as secretly as the night.
“Ah?”
The moment Lorenzo saw it, he was seized with terror. It clearly had a human shape, but it was not human. A sharp chill brushed past the back of his neck and ran down his spine. The fear filling his mind tore through the greeting and questions he had prepared.
“Uh, uh…….”
It was nothing that could be compared to a moving skeleton. Howell had called her a ghost ship, but Lorenzo could think of her as neither ship nor ghost.
‘What is this?’
It was the Unknown made real. It had the shape of a woman, but it was not a woman. It was described as a ship, but it was not a ship. Ghost was merely a word for something that most closely resembled that existence. Then a voice like the death rattle of a drowned person sounded.
[…….]
The words were outside the water, yet submerged. The heavily crushed language had lost its meaning. Howell, standing beside him, relayed the words. Lorenzo felt as though he would suffocate to death, but Howell remained completely calm.
“Her name is Salkenia. She says that, as a navigator, she hopes you’ll serve the Captain well.”
Lorenzo tried to answer aloud. But the words caught in his throbbing throat showed no intention of reaching his tongue. The only thing he barely managed to get out was a short answer.
“……Yes.”
As though anything more was unnecessary, it said nothing else. It simply stood in an elegant, statue-like posture and looked down at Lorenzo. It almost seemed as though it were waiting for him to greet it. Lorenzo felt as though he should kneel before it, but he had to devote all his strength merely to staying conscious.
“Gasp.”
Sweat ran down his whole body. How could Howell stand with something like this behind him? And how could he remain so calm? Lorenzo did not want to show it, but his body began to shake pathetically.
Clack, clack, clack.
His clenched teeth kept coming apart and striking together on their own. Just before he suffocated beneath the rising fear, Howell intervened.
“Lorenzo, are you all right?”
At those words, Salkenia scattered and vanished. The tension that had been holding Lorenzo’s body together released, and he collapsed onto the deck. The terror and relief tangled deep in his chest turned into strange breaths.
“Haaah. H-huh.”
***
Fortunately, Lorenzo came to his senses quickly. After seeming to think deeply for a while, he said that facing Salkenia was not a particularly good idea. Salkenia agreed.
[Most ordinary people cannot even face Salkenia.]
Come to think of it, I, too, had felt something like intimidation when I first saw Salkenia. It had faded considerably after I became her captain.
[For someone so young, he held up well. The weak sometimes lose consciousness before I even appear.]
“Really? This is the first I’ve heard of that.”
[I was in the ship graveyard for a very long time. From time to time, vagrants or people chasing vain dreams would come aboard the deck. They had not found me as you did, Captain. It was merely by chance.]
Salkenia tilted her head up slightly, as though searching through an old memory.
[Most of them were interested in the captain’s cabin, but they could not even enter it. They fled like frightened herbivores or fainted. Unpleasantly, some even wet themselves.]
“When you say most, it sounds as though there were people who faced you.”
[There were two. They imagined treasure was hidden inside. One jumped into the sea of filth and drowned, while the other went mad, wandered around the harbor, and died.]
“Since they died, did you recruit them?”
I looked around at the skeleton sailors. Salkenia shook her head.
[Those who encountered me were not fit to be sailors, much less captains.]
That was true. The skeleton sailors were more capable as sailors than I had expected. They could do most shipboard work, demanded no rest, and carried out orders absolutely. It might have been because they had lost their sense of self, but Perero showed that was not always the case.
“Lorenzo, how are you? Have you calmed down?”
“Yes. I’m all right now.”
I had worried that Lorenzo might get off the ship, but surprisingly, he said he was fine.
“I have to do it. I got paid.”
I lightly patted Lorenzo on the back.
***
Smack!
The newspaper that struck Leon Dias across the face fell to the floor. Leon lowered only his eyes to check the front page.
<A New Unknown in Semeln? A ghost ship the Maritime League could not handle>
The journalist who wrote the article had been disciplined by the Maritime League, but it was impossible to recall every newspaper that had already been printed. Apparently, throwing the newspaper had not been enough to calm him. The head of the Semeln Branch of the Maritime League pointed at Leon, frothing at the mouth.
“A retreat! A retreat! What humiliation! What utter humiliation!”
“We had to retreat.”
Leon spoke without the slightest change in expression.
“That darkness was devouring even the moon and stars. If we had entered carelessly, we might have been defeated.”
“What? Defeated? Is that what you think you’re there to say?”
“Even if I returned, I would give the same order.”
“Leon Dias!”
The branch head was enraged, but Leon did not waver in the slightest. He knew that the order to retreat, which he had given based on his judgment at the time, had been entirely reasonable. He had already explained that, and the branch head knew it, too. But something else was more important to the branch head.
“The Maritime League’s honor has been damaged. In the blue sea, no less!”
The Maritime League’s influence was not limited to the blue sea. That was why an incident in the blue sea, which was said to be the safest of all seas, could not be ignored. A flaw in flawless authority would one day become a long crack.
“I will take responsibility.”
“How will you take responsibility?”
“By tracking him down and capturing him.”
At Leon’s calm reply, the branch head frowned.
“How?”
“The ghost ship is presumed to be a vessel from the ship graveyard. According to the investigation, the man who murdered someone and fled using the ghost ship is Howell Crave. He is a traveler who arrived in Semeln only a week before the incident.”
It was a clear, organized account of the case. Some of the branch head’s anger subsided, and he dropped into his chair and leaned against the backrest.
“Go on.”
“The murder he committed in front of the Maritime League was an impulsive crime. We heard that he was chasing a beggar, so he probably only settled a personal grudge or problem with a gun. The beggar fled to the Maritime League in order to survive.”
“This is frustrating. What’s your point?”
“He committed the crime and could not handle the consequences, so he fled. If he sailed away in haste, his supplies would not have been sufficient, either.”
At that point, the branch head finally understood what Leon meant.
“Which means?”
“Yes. He will try to dock at a nearby port and replenish his supplies.”
“Are there only one or two ports nearby? Telt, Baramium, Ashen…….”
“He will not have gone to a large port city. Since he is being pursued, it is likely that he avoided places where the Maritime League might have a presence.”
“Can you be sure? He was bold enough to kill a man in front of the Maritime League.”
The branch head’s eyes met Leon’s.
“Howell was not a sailor. He would not think to stow away at a large port.”
“Then where did he go? Kantal?”
“Kantal was one of the candidates. It is closer, but it is too close to Semeln, and it lies in a different direction.”
Leon Dias pointed to a spot on the nautical chart spread across the desk. It was a small harbor village three days from Semeln. The branch head murmured,
“Lindana.”
***
“This ship has a serious problem.”
“What is it?”
“It has neither a sea monster hunter nor cannons.”
Although Lorenzo had been quite frightened by Salkenia, he made a cool-headed assessment.
“Of course, the blue sea is the safest of the seas, but it is still underarmed.”
“I did buy all this after coming here.”
“It’s the age of firearms and gunpowder, Captain.”
“That’s true.”
I, too, wanted to give each skeleton sailor a gun. But a pistol was an expensive weapon that cost at least a dozen gold coins. I was not in very comfortable circumstances.
“You need sea monster hunters to fight sea monsters, and cannons to fight ships.”
“We won’t lose if we get into a boarding battle.”
“At this rate, we’ll be hit by cannons and sink before we even reach a boarding battle.”
“Urgh.”
Come to think of it, Salkenia had said that we would need cannons, too. But what could I do? I did not have the money to buy any.
“Besides, you said you’re wanted, Captain. We have to prepare for naval battles. The blue sea has fewer sea monsters, but it has many pirates. Because it’s relatively safe, there are a lot of merchant ships. There’s a ship coming in over there, too.”
I followed Lorenzo toward the bow. A ship was entering Lindana through the gap between the cliffs. A galleon with a blue flag and a lion figurehead.
‘That ship.’
The ship that had pursued me in Semeln had reached Lindana.