"There! It's Howell Crave!"
Jerry did not miss the figure that had suddenly leaped out of the ghost ship. Leon, who had no telescope, could not see it, but he knew that snatching a watchman's telescope out of curiosity in a situation like this would be a foolish choice.
"He got off the ship?"
"Yes! He's being carried by a skeleton! They're insanely fast!"
"Where is he going?"
"He's climbing the cliff!"
Leon Dias furrowed his brow. To split off and climb the cliff while being pursued.
'Is he running away?'
The ghost ship clearly had gunports, but it had no cannons. It seemed to have spotted the Blue Lion from the way it had turned, so if Howell suddenly got off the ship, it could only mean he was fleeing.
'Is he using the ship as bait while he escapes?!'
Leon had originally thought Howell was not an especially wicked man. Though he had committed the crime of killing someone before the Maritime League, the investigation had shown that those who died by Howell's hand were vagrants who habitually committed robbery.
'I thought he might not be such a bad bastard.'
On the other hand, Howell's reputation was consistently good. Perhaps he was simply personable, but everyone from Semeln's ship brokers to innkeepers had praised him. Even the owner of the Trading Post in Lindana, whom Leon had only met briefly just now, had done so. It was as though the victim and perpetrator had been reversed. That was why Leon had pursued Howell, though he had not thought badly of him.
'So in the end, he's nothing more than a criminal—some bastard who knows nothing of honor!'
But this flight forced Leon to revise his assessment of Howell considerably. Fleeing was understandable. The difference in strength between the ghost ship and the Blue Lion was obvious. There was a stark difference in both their size and armaments.
'Running away is the right decision. But shouldn't he at least flee aboard the ship with his crew?!'
By Leon's standards, abandoning the ship and running away was an unforgivable act of cowardice. No irresponsible sailor or unworthy captain should act like that.
"What shall we do?"
According to Jerry's report, skeleton sailors were steering the ship. Howell was clearly trying to lure the Blue Lion in with the ship while preserving only himself. If that was the case, there was no need to capture the ghost ship first.
"Disembark and get that bastard first......"
"A child! There's a child aboard!"
"What?"
Leon, who had been about to give an order, frowned at Jerry's urgent report. A child? Why in the world was there a child aboard a ghost ship like that?
"The child is surrounded by skeletons! The skeletons are even holding swords they weren't carrying last time!"
"......Are the skeletons threatening the child?"
"Well, not exactly."
Leon did not jump to conclusions. Still, he had to consider the worst-case scenario.
'If he really has taken a child hostage.'
Leon ground his teeth. He took out something he had not intended to use in the blue sea, then stopped.
'No. If I attack the ship with this, the child will be caught up in it, too.'
It felt as though he were falling for Howell's scheme, but when the child was taken into account, he had no choice.
"Pursue the ship. Fire the cannons, but do not strike the deck! Make securing the child the highest priority."
"Then what about Howell Crave? Are we letting him go?"
"No."
Leon Dias touched his necklace as he spoke.
"I will capture that bastard myself."
***
[Captain, someone has disembarked from the ship with the lion figurehead.]
"What? He got off? How?"
[He jumped off.]
"Did he fall into the sea?"
[No. He leaped all the way to land.]
Hanging from Ines's neck, I looked back. The Maritime League's ship had moved quite far from the port in its pursuit of Salkenia. He had jumped that distance. Unless he possessed physical abilities like Ines's, it was impossible.
'A person jumped that far?'
The thought had barely crossed my mind when I saw someone rapidly drawing near. A long shadow cast by the sun, half-submerged beneath the horizon, approached at a terrifying speed.
'Who is that?'
He was a sharp-featured man who looked about my age.
"Howell Crave!"
He shouted my name as though calling out to his mortal enemy. His voice was so loud that the beach echoed with it. I took a deep breath, then shouted so he could hear me.
"Who are you?!"
"I am Leon Dias of the Maritime League!"
"I see! But why are you so angry?"
"Bastard! Are you asking because you do not know?!"
I honestly had no idea. The Maritime League probably regarded me as a criminal, but for some reason Leon was glaring fiercely as though he had a personal grudge against me. It did not seem as though I would be treated well if I were caught.
"Ines! Pick up the pace!"
"You bastard! Do not run!"
"How am I supposed not to run when you're chasing me?!"
Unfortunately, I had no intention of fighting Leon Dias. I might have been able to subdue him here, but if I wasted time, the Maritime League's ship would catch Salkenia. Above all, I had no intention of becoming enemies with the Maritime League.
CLATTER, CLATTER!
Ines was slightly slower than Leon. Since she was carrying me on her back, she could not make use of the advantage of being light. Leon had the physical abilities of some sea monster and pursued us at a terrifying speed. He was going to catch us.
"Ines! Hang in there!"
I considered getting down and running, but Ines was still faster than I was. The problem was that Ines's speed was constant. She was already running at full speed, so telling her to hang in there was useless. But then.
"Hoo!"
Leon's speed gradually began to slow. He must have expended tremendous stamina merely by running from that beach and catching up to us, and running uphill would inevitably tire him out.
CLACK!
Ines, a skeleton, did not tire and maintained a steady speed. If he could unleash explosive speed, we would not tire.
"We're leaving you behind!"
The distance between us gradually began to widen. Leon threw off his coat as though it were in his way. Then, perhaps in anger, he tore the necklace from around his neck. At that moment, his body began to swell.
CRACK! CRACK!
His forehead pressed downward, while his jawbone dropped. The bridge of his nose sank as though collapsing, and sharp fangs protruded from his mouth. He hunched his fur-covered upper body and set his blunt, swollen hands on the ground.
Grrrrrr......!
Harsh breaths escaped with hot steam. They were not the breaths of a human. They were the breath of a beast. Then blue fire began to burn, enveloping his face. What appeared was a lion with a blazing mane. Its amber, animal eyes stared at me.
"That name certainly suits you."
[It is a Relic.]
"Yeah. It looks like it."
I realized it before Salkenia told me. If there was one difference between magic and Relics, it was that Relics generally took unsettling forms. Leon, who had been staring at me as though he were going to devour me, roared.
ROOOOOAR—!
It was a thunderous roar that could not have come from a narrow human throat. The tips of my feet, suspended in the air, tingled. My instincts as an animal bristled. Then Leon came charging at me, his flaming mane streaming behind him.
WHOOSH!
Leon charged on all fours, then leaped. The enormous distance between us closed in a single jump. Earlier, I thought I would get hit a few times if he caught me, but now it felt as though he would eat me.
CLICK, BANG!
I drew my pistol and fired at Leon. The bullet struck him between the eyes, but.
GRRR!
It bounced straight off. Just how tough was his hide? Leon shook his head as though to brush away an annoyance, then glared at me as if enraged.
"Tch!"
The hunt began. Ines's speed was steady, but Leon's became frighteningly fast. At some point, Leon caught up to Ines's heels and opened his jaws.
CRUNCH!
Ines's shinbone shattered. His bite force was tremendous. Ines spun around and supported my foot with the bones of her hand.
[Ines says you should jump.]
I stepped on Ines's hand and jumped. At the same time as Ines pushed me upward, I used the force to launch myself. I soared up and barely managed to climb onto the cliff.
"Ines!"
Having lost one leg, Ines lost her balance and slid down beneath the cliff. Leon spat out the bone, so she would regenerate it, but it would take time.
[She will be all right. More importantly, right now.]
Leon, who had been looking up at me, lightly leaped up.
THUD.
Leon stood before me. Calling him Leon was one thing, but I was really standing before an enormous lion with a blazing mane. Looking down at me as I backed away, he muttered in a voice like the growl of some beast.
"Give up, Howell Crave. If you do not surrender, I will kill you."
"Cool voice. What's the name of your Relic?"
Leon had a tooth-shaped necklace around one forepaw. Since it was burning, I immediately realized it was the Relic.
"......It is called Roaring Fire."
"That's a cool name, too. I want it."
"If you have received the curse, you should know. Relics consume their owners. Your ship is a Relic as well, is it not?"
"That's right. Her name's Salkenia."
Leon strode toward me. I backed away, but at the end was a cliff. Pebbles pushed by my shoes fell into the air.
"Give up. There is nowhere left to run."
"No. We're almost there."
"What?"
I looked down at my feet. It was a dizzying height.
"Hide, Salkenia."
As I drew in a deep breath, Salkenia reached a hand toward the sky. The faint sunlight suffocated at Salkenia's touch, and darkness fell.
"A flicker!"
Before all the light went out, I looked at Leon Dias. A flicker? Could that be what she called Hiding? She extinguished the light for an instant, then restored it.
'A flicker. I suppose it could feel that way.'
The lion's mane was still burning, but Salkenia even stole that light. Leon blocked the cliff with his large body.
"Even so, you have no route of escape!"
Smiling, I jumped off the cliff. It was only a shame I could not see Leon's startled expression.
CLANK! SCRRRRAPE!
I took out the Key That Opens the Night and drove it into the cliff. Gravity pulled my body downward, and the key embedded in the cliff slid straight down. The vibrations nearly forced a breath from me, but I held it in.
'This is harder than I thought!'
When there is light, the Key That Opens the Night cannot open anything, but when darkness has settled in, it can open anything. And this darkness remains only while I hold my breath. Inevitably, I had to hold my breath while using the Key That Opens the Night.
RUMBLE—!
My speed did not slow much. The Key That Opens the Night scored the cliff, its path trailing down after me. When I finally fell as far as the face of the cliff, I pushed the key sideways as though carving away the cliff.
WHOOSH!
The resistance against the key vanished. I was now falling completely through empty air. The Key That Opens the Night had drawn a long crack in the cliff, but it had not cut it off. I twisted my wrist and turned the key.
CLICK.
The cliff opened.