“Captain, we’re here.”
Jerry shook Leon awake. Leon seemed exhausted. He kept his eyes closed for a while before finally forcing himself up. He had investigated information about Howell in Semeln day and night, then sailed straight to Lindana.
“Are you all right? You look awful.”
“I think I’ll feel better once I destroy that ghost ship, capture Howell, and put him on the gallows.”
Pressing a hand to his throbbing head, Leon put on his coat and stepped onto the deck. The sailors were shouting as they prepared to dock.
“Haul the lines!”
“A little more to port!”
Leon watched the familiar scene before turning to Jerry. Jerry was looking over the harbor with a telescope pressed to his right eye.
“Do you see it?”
“No. I don’t. I think we might have guessed wrong.”
“Of course you don’t see it. If he had entered the harbor in a ship like that, it would have caused a huge commotion. It makes more sense that he hid the ship somewhere.”
Jerry suddenly looked at the cliffs on the right side of the harbor. Their sheer faces overlapped one another. He could not see clearly into the shaded interior. If someone had hidden a ship in that narrow gap, they might not be able to find it.
‘Come on. Would anyone in their right mind dock a ship in a place like that?’
According to the investigation, Howell, whom they were pursuing, was not an experienced sailor. Unless he was insane, he would not dock a ship in such a dangerous place.
“There’s nowhere else he could dock. The cliffs concern me. Should we check them?”
“No. If we go all the way there to check and come up empty, we’ll only give him time to escape. Even if he did dock there, it will take time for him to get out. We’ll disembark first and confirm whether he came here.”
To replenish his supplies, Howell would have had to buy them in the village regardless, so the harbor was the better place to determine his whereabouts. With that, Leon Dias’s Blue Lion docked at Lindana’s harbor.
“A tall man with sandy hair and blue eyes. Have you seen him?”
Leon went to the Trading Post and immediately began asking questions. The owner looked at Leon as though he were absurd, and Jerry hurriedly took something out. It was an identification token bearing the symbol of the Maritime League.
“Ah! My apologies. You are from the League!”
“That’s right. So answer me. He would not be someone you had seen before recently.”
“I saw him. I certainly did. He was a polite, good young man.”
Leon frowned. There had been one common testimony ever since Semeln. A good person. It was not a description that suited a man who killed someone in the middle of the street and laughed maniacally aboard a ghost ship.
“When did you first see him?”
“A few days ago. He was buying this and that, so I thought he was a merchant. But he was too nice for a merchant, so I thought he must be someone running errands. Is something wrong?”
“Is he still here?”
The Trading Post owner stopped speaking with an uncomfortable look at Leon’s questioning. But after quickly snatching up the silver coin Jerry held out, he wet his lips.
“He probably is. He bought something again this morning.”
Leon and Jerry exchanged looks. If Howell was here, then his ship must be docked somewhere, too. Considering that he had to move supplies, he could not have docked too far away.
“It must be at the cliffs. What will we do?”
They could gather troops and raid the cliffs, or take the ship there and force a naval battle. Leon’s choice was already made.
“We’re returning to the ship. If we immediately block the entrance to the cliffs, he won’t be able to escape.”
Leon turned sharply and collided with someone who had come to the Trading Post. Leon tried to ignore it and move on, but the person he had bumped into grabbed him.
“Hey. You.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll apologize on his behalf.”
Jerry hurriedly apologized. But the woman who had grabbed Leon did not accept it because Jerry was not the one she wanted an apology from.
“If you bump into someone, you should apologize or ask for their understanding.”
“Come now, don’t be like that. Please take this…….”
Jerry habitually took out a silver coin to buy the woman off, but he stopped when he saw her face. Flowers blooming over her body. A blood-colored harpoon.
“Kalena the Blood-Drinker!”
“You know me?”
“There is no one in the seas around here who does not know Lady Kalena.”
Kalena thought for a moment. Then, as though she had remembered something, she smiled faintly.
“There is.”
“Is that so? In any case, I am truly sorry about this. When the Captain gets fixated on something, he does not notice anything else very well.”
“I will not accept your apology. You have no reason to apologize.”
Leon wanted to ignore Kalena, but her strength was not something he could ignore. Unable to shake off the hand gripping his wrist, Leon finally turned his eyes to her.
“Kalena, the sea monster hunter? What do you want?”
“It is not a matter of what I want. You just bumped into me.”
“……I did not realize. My apologies.”
One word of apology was enough. Kalena released Leon’s wrist, and Leon rubbed it. Seeing that, Kalena frowned.
“What is your name?”
“Leon Dias. Do you have any further business with me? I am in a hurry.”
“Not really, but…….”
Kalena shook her head.
“……We have been meeting often lately. Go ahead. I do not know what you are doing, but go.”
“Then excuse me.”
Leon passed Kalena and headed back to the Blue Lion. Then he suddenly realized that Jerry was not behind him and turned around. Jerry was getting Kalena’s autograph.
“Jerry!”
“Ah! I’m coming! I’m coming!”
Kalena watched the two of them, then slung her harpoon over her shoulder.
Leon and Jerry boarded the Blue Lion again. The sailors who had been about to disembark and rest were recalled as well, looking as though they did not know what was happening.
Flap!
From beneath the shadow of the cliffs, a ship emerged. Standing with a hand on the rail of the deckhouse, Leon glared at it with eyes full of fighting spirit.
“I found you! Howell Crave!”
The ghost ship was emerging from the gap between the cliffs.
“Everyone! Prepare for battle!”
***
“Set sail!”
The cliffs concealed Salkenia, but they also blocked her in. If the Blue Lion blocked the entrance leading out between the cliffs, we would be trapped without any way to move. That was why I set Salkenia sailing.
[I will relay Perero’s words. He says the ship with the blue lion figurehead has begun to move.]
Following Perero’s words from high in the rigging, I checked and saw that the Blue Lion, which had just docked, was leaving the harbor again. My expectation that it would remain docked in Lindana for a while had been wrong.
“We have to run, right? It would be better to turn the bow in the opposite direction as soon as we get out.”
“West as soon as we’re out!”
After my shout, Perero clacked his teeth. I could not hear it, but according to Salkenia’s explanation, he was repeating my order. Lorenzo exclaimed.
“It’s fast!”
Could we shake them as we had before by using Hiding? It was only a hunch, but I did not think they would back down so easily this time. I could tell simply from seeing the ship that its captain was quite combative.
“Captain, considering their speed, they’ll catch us in a few minutes.”
The Maritime League ship had one more sail than Salkenia. Its speed was superior by that much, too.
‘Should I hide behind the cliffs and try to force a boarding battle? No. They’re the Maritime League. They must have more than fifty sailors armed with muskets or pistols. The skeleton sailors won’t die, but Lorenzo and I would be in danger.’
In truth, fighting a Maritime League ship was not a viable battle. It would be like charging at someone with a gun while armed only with fists.
‘Should I hide like before? They went back last time, but considering that they chased me all the way here, there’s a high chance they’ll keep pursuing us even if I hide. I can only hold my breath for two or three minutes. Even if I put some distance between us in that time, they’ll catch us again soon.’
I could not attack, defend, or evade. As I considered this, I looked at Perero climbing down from the mast. Suddenly, I saw the towering cliffs. Light fell between the two cliffs. If only I could escape into the sky.
‘Wait. The sky?’
After thinking for a moment, I turned toward Salkenia.
“Salkenia, let’s go.”
[Yes, Captain.]
Salkenia immediately wrapped an arm around my neck.
“Ines, help me. You’re the fastest.”
Though Ines tilted her skull, she readily accepted my request.
“Can you get over there within five minutes? Carrying me?”
I pointed toward the top of the cliff. Ines looked up at the towering cliff and shook her head.
[Captain, you must give Ines an order.]
“What?”
I could not understand what Salkenia meant. Whether I asked or ordered, was there any difference if Ines was willing to do it anyway? But Salkenia added an explanation to help me understand.
[Skeleton sailors will carry out the Captain’s orders without fail.]
I stared at Ines.
“Ines.”
Ines waved her hands as though to say that she could not do what was impossible. But she had to. Skeleton sailors carried out their captain’s orders.
“Do it.”
Having received my order, Ines nodded as though saying she would.
“Lorenzo! Perero! I’m leaving the ship to you! Escape slowly!”
I clung to Ines’s shoulders. Salkenia clung to my shoulders, so it looked as though Ines was carrying both of us. But Salkenia was visible only to me and had no weight, so it was no different from carrying one person.
“What?”
“The slowly part is important. Just don’t get caught.”
“Escape slowly without getting caught? What does that even mean?”
“There’s no time to explain. You can do it, right?”
Lorenzo frowned deeply before nodding.
“I’ll try.”
[Perero says that he will help, so do not worry.]
“I trust you. Let’s go!”
Ines began running across the deck. I had thought she was fast enough when we fought in the cavity, but now she moved several times faster than that. She was moving so fast that I might have been thrown off by the acceleration if I had let my guard down. My lower body lifted into the air.
Tap, tap, stomp!
Her strides grew wider and wider. At the end of the rail, Ines bent her knees to their limit and crouched down before kicking off the deck and leaping like a spring.
Whoosh!
For a moment, my body was clearly lifted into the sky. Then air swept through my hair and my body tipped skyward. I was falling.
“Haha!”
Ines straightened her body and landed on the shore. If she had not bent her body to absorb the impact the moment she landed, it would have hurt a great deal. When I looked back, the Maritime League ship was chasing Salkenia at a terrifying speed.
“Let’s get up there!”
With me on her back, Ines began running up the steep cliff.