"To get to Lindana, we need to head toward the distant reef rising over there."
Following Kalena's advice, I adjusted our course a little. I had been judging our direction roughly by the stars, so we had nearly ended up somewhere completely different.
‘I almost got lost. I need to buy a compass and, if possible, hire a navigator.’
The skeleton sailors did enough work as sailors, but because they had no sense of self, I needed someone who could handle specialized duties. I had wandered even in coastal waters like this; if I lost my direction on the open sea, it would become a truly unmanageable problem.
‘A navigator isn't the only thing I need, though.’
For now, Salkenia, Perero, and the skeleton sailors were somehow operating the ship on their own, but we would soon reach our limits. Just now, if Kalena had not been there, one or two sailors might have been dragged away by the Drowncatchers.
"Kalena, are you attached to a ship, by any chance?"
"I'm not, but I won't do it."
"Can you reject me without even hearing me out?"
"If I'm going to refuse, it is better to be clear than ambiguous."
"Come on. Meeting like this at sea is a connection."
"By that logic, you have a connection with Drowncatchers, too."
"Let's call that a bad connection. I will pay you well, too."
"Unfortunately, I have circumstances, so I am declining long-term employment."
Despite my invitation, Kalena was firm.
"Then it cannot be helped. I will look forward to another chance."
"Another chance?"
"I do not know what your circumstances are, but once you resolve them, you will accept long-term employment, will you not?"
"That's true, but…… This is a first."
"What is a first?"
"Usually, people either give up cleanly or try to bargain persistently. But you…… You are persistently matter-of-fact."
"The one who wants something is the one who waits. Keep waiting, and it will come."
Kalena shook her head from side to side.
"If you go to a guild, there will be many capable sea monster hunters besides me."
"It is all right. I do not think I will need one immediately."
"Then why were you trying to hire me?"
"Because it is romantic. Kalena, you are the first person I met at sea."
After thinking deeply about something, Kalena answered.
"I will consider it once my work is done."
"That is enough for me."
"You do not know when my work will end."
"I do not."
Still, a favorable answer was better than an outright refusal. As we talked about this and that, land began to come into view in the distance. We had reached Lindana before we knew it.
"I know Lindana is a village beside the sea. There is a harbor, right?"
"There is, but going to the harbor is not a very good idea."
"Ships go to harbors. Where else would we go?"
"If this ship tried to enter port, everyone in Lindana would probably come out with weapons."
Salkenia looked eerie at a glance. Anyone would take her for a derelict vessel or ghost ship on sight. She was gloomy even at midday, and skeleton sailors were walking around on her deck, so it was not an unreasonable thing to say.
"Is there somewhere we can hide the ship?"
"There is a place by the cliffs, but……."
Along one side of Lindana was a stretch of irregularly rising cliffs. Drawing near, I saw that, as Kalena had said, a space large enough to hide a ship lay between the cliffs.
"Oh. It is perfect."
"No. I was mistaken. Let us find somewhere else."
"Why?"
"I think we will have an accident while mooring."
It certainly was not a wide space. Reefs jutted up everywhere, and the cliffs shaded it, making it hard to see. But that was precisely why it was ideal for hiding a ship.
"We can dock there."
"Does your Relic say so?"
"No. I can do it."
I had escaped the ship graveyard; could I not bring a ship in there? When I took the ship's wheel, Kalena's eyes moved uneasily.
"Confidence is good, but you said you had only been a captain for three days."
"If we fear trying, there can be no progress."
I sent Perero onto the deck. The water was deep enough to dock.
"Haul in the sails! Keep close to the left!"
***
Kalena did not work on ships, but she had ridden on many vessels while hunting sea monsters. That was why she knew exactly how mad it was to try mooring inside this gap between cliffs.
‘One wrong turn of the ship's wheel could run us aground. Where did that confidence come from?’
Did he seem brave because he was ignorant? Or ignorant because he was brave? Howell turned the ship's wheel boldly and gave commands. Following them, the skeleton sailors moved so busily that they were practically working their bones off.
Creeeak.
The great cliffs stood like giants with their backs pressed together. With its stern leading, the ship quietly slipped into the gap. The sound of waves breaking against the cliffs echoed along the walls. Caught by the current, the ship was pushed to the left.
‘It is going to hit……!’
Kalena was not steering the ship, but somehow she felt herself tensing. She was ready to leap toward the cliff wall if necessary. Just before the ship collided with the wall, a compressed wind blew through the gap between the cliffs.
Whoosh! Grind!
Pushed by the wind, the ship was forced away from the wall. There was a sound as though the hull had scraped slightly, but judging by the movement of the deck, it seemed to have gone no farther than a graze.
‘Luck?’
It moved as though performing acrobatics between knife blades. Had it avoided the collision purely by luck? Kalena looked at Howell, who was gripping the ship's wheel.
"Haha!"
Howell was laughing. Brightly, like a child, as though he could not bear how much fun he was having. A sudden gust should have made the ship's wheel difficult to control, but it seemed to have stirred his desire for a challenge instead.
Rumble…….
The farther the ship went in, the narrower the cliffs became. That required even more precise control, but what was more astonishing was that Howell was steering the ship backward.
"Do we have to go in this way?"
"It will be faster and easier when we set sail!"
Bringing the rear of a ship—that is, the stern—alongside a beach or pier was an ordinary and stable way to moor. But that was only true of a harbor or an open beach. Trying to moor like this in a gap between cliffs was no different from walking backward between knife blades.
‘He really has gone mad.’
Howell was trying to moor this way so he could set sail quickly if the skeleton sailors were discovered or the Maritime League pursued him, but he had not explained his intent. There was no reason Kalena could know it. Carried by wind blowing in the opposite direction and waves running toward land, the ship entered deep inside the cliffs.
"Drop the anchor!"
"Wait. What if it catches on a reef?"
"There are none below us."
"You have not checked."
"I have a feeling. Raise all the sails!"
Regardless of Kalena's opinion, the skeleton sailors were already carrying out the orders Howell had given. The capstan spun rapidly, and the anchor line was drawn into the sea.
Boom!
With the heavy reverberation of the anchor striking the bottom, the ship slowed. Kalena tensed. If the anchor caught on a reef now, the anchor line might snap and the ship could crash straight into the cliff.
Grrr……!
Just before the stern struck the cliff, the ship finally came to a complete stop. If they had dropped the anchor even a few seconds later, it would have collided. Relaxing at last, Kalena let out a sigh of relief.
"Whew! What do you think? About being hired by a ship with a captain like this?"
Howell spoke triumphantly, but he was sweating coldly, as though he had been tense himself.
‘He was lucky. But still.’
Even if it had been luck, he had attempted and succeeded at a mooring that bordered on artistry. It was an astonishing talent.
‘I do not think someone who had spent a lifetime aboard ships could do that.’
Mooring was more dangerous than setting sail. Trying to moor in such a way, in a place like this, was an act of excessive recklessness.
‘Is he really someone who only just went to sea?’
Kalena studied Howell with a dubious look, but his face was full of nothing but pride. Kalena sighed and answered.
"I will never ride this ship."
***
"I will be back. Is there anything you need?"
[I request new cleaning tools. The slime has dried and is unpleasant.]
"All right. I was already thinking of buying new ones because we lost some. What about you?"
Perero, rubbing his jawbone with a finger bone as he thought, clicked his teeth together.
[Perero reminds you of the need for simple armament.]
"All right."
Kalena had said that Drowncatchers were among the weaker sea monsters that inhabited the blue sea. I felt the need to strengthen our forces keenly, so even if firearms were beyond us, I planned to buy at least conventional weapons such as swords.
"Then I will be back."
Taking skeleton sailors with me would surely cause a disturbance in the village, so I decided to head to Lindana alone.
"It will be troublesome, but it is better to go around and approach by land. If you emerge from the coast, people might suspect you entered illegally."
"Thank you for telling me so many things."
"I have received blood from you, so it is nothing. I should be going now."
"Are you not going to Lindana?"
"No. I found somewhere deeper in that I want to explore."
"I see. If our paths cross again, let us meet."
I offered Kalena a handshake. After considering it for a moment, Kalena briefly clasped my hand.
"All right. If our paths cross."
After parting ways with Kalena, I immediately set off for Lindana. I had sailed for only three days, but it felt strange that the ground was not swaying.
‘I'm hungry.’
Resupplying, checking the point marked on the nautical chart, hiring sailors. I had a mountain of things to do, but more than anything, I wanted a proper meal. Perhaps because my thirst had been eased at least a little, hunger hit me belatedly.
"Oh."
After going around the steep cliffs, I found a small path that cut through the forest. As I followed it, a small village came into view.
‘It feels familiar somehow.’
It was the opposite of Semeln, which was crowded with people and had buildings packed tightly together. The terrain sloped gently from the forest down to the beach. Modest, quiet homes gathered along winding roads.
‘First, I will go farther in.’
Passing through the cultivated fields, I entered deeper into the village. It was not a village too small to have a restaurant, but all the buildings looked so similar that it was hard to distinguish them. I headed toward the harbor to ask for directions as well.
‘Hmm.’
A beggar was sitting with both hands held out. I could not help thinking of the beggar in Semeln who had received my kindness. The beggar who had killed me, and whom I had killed.
‘Well. Not everyone without money is like that.’
I had no intention of hating poor people just because I had been robbed and killed by a poor person. Besides, the beggar before me was a boy of no more than fifteen. What fault could a child have? I placed a coin on his small palm, then headed toward the trading post.