21st Century Archmage

Chapter 146

I liked night flights. In particular, night flights with Aramis gave me such happy bliss that they gave me the chills.

‘I-Is she nuts?’

But this? This wasn’t it at all.

At around sundown, I met up with Crisia’s wyvern in the skies above the harbor. And then, we started flying into the sea without any notice.

‘It’s already been 3 hours, just where the hell is she taking me?’

The sun had set, and the moon was now shining brightly, indicating that it was early evening. We were flying heedlessly over the blue sea, a swimming pool of stars. A little bit further, and even Bebeto would be too tired to return. If we were to land on the sea and try to catch our breath, the sea monsters and demon beasts would drag us to the depths, forcing us to bid adieu to our lives for the rest of eternity.

‘She can’t be planning on flying the entire way there, can she?’

The distance from Nerman’s harbor to the Kesmire Archipelago was as far as the distance to the capital of the Bajran Empire. I began to have all sorts of ominous thoughts. It was just too unfair to all the sweat I’d lost to die as a frickin’ virgin.

‘Huh…? That’s—!’

Just then, Chrisia, who had been flying in front of me at an altitude of several hundred meters above the sea, suddenly began to plummet, and in that instant, I saw a certain something.

‘A ship!’

A single, large ship with three long sails lowered was coming towards us on the calm waves, lit by the moon’s glow.

‘Ohhh! That must be one of those legendary wyvern carriers!’

It was a large sailboat, the Kallian Continent’s equivalent of a modern aircraft carrier. It was actually enormous—the wyvern carrier looked bigger than any aircraft carrier I’d seen when I went to a Korean naval base to sightsee in middle school. I could clearly see the ship’s ridiculous size from the magic lamps hung up everywhere.

‘Hooh, so it has that kind of structure.’

The ship had a unique structure that set it miles apart from other ships. Three enormous sails dozens of meters long spanned from the middle to the stern, and in the fore was a landing and resting spot for wyverns.

‘Seeing as it can carry twelve wyverns, it’s a massive wyvern carrier.’

A fleet with a wyvern carrier and one without were heaven and earth apart. It was so true that there was a saying on the continent that a fleet unfortunate enough to meet a foe with a wyvern carrier on the seas should just sink to their knees and pray for a quick death. Any boat that took a few Blessed Spears thrown from the sky would surely become Swiss cheese and sink to the depths.

That was the reason why the Kesmire pirates were able to completely dominate the sea. Despite the attempts of every nation on the continent to reclaim their sea routes, they were no match for the naval power of the pirates. Even if wyvern carriers existed on both sides, to people who treated the ocean like their front yard, the fleets of every nation were like fumbling children.

‘They must have dozens of carriers, at the very least.’

Chrisia’s fleet alone had dozens of wyverns, and I’d heard from Chrisia that there were a total of 7 such fleets.

‘That must be a signal to land.’

While I was thinking, Chrisia’s wyvern was landing on one side of the carrier. On the opposite side, sailors holding red magic lamps were sending us a signal to land.

“Bebeto, do your best to make a cool landing.”

Guooooooooooooo!

He was landing on a ship for the first time ever, but Bebeto wasn’t at all daunted. After letting out an energetic bellow, he slowly flapped his wings and assumed a landing position.

Flap, flap, flap flap flap.

Strong headwinds were created from Bebeto’s powerful wingbeats as he slowly descended onto the sailing ship. Then, we landed with a small thud that I could feel with my entire body.

‘This is more fun than I thought it’d be.’

This ship landing method felt very different from landing on the ground. It was pretty thrilling, because if you messed up, you could land right in the sea.

“My my, Bebeto. Your landing was handsome indeed.”

Chrisia approached Bebeto with her airplate helmet off and was generous with her praise. Her blue hair, which reminded me of the sea, fluttered behind her naturally in the ocean wind.

‘Now that we’re on the sea, it’s like she’s shining.’

Chrisia had always possessed a unique, lively beauty no inferior to any woman out there. But her appearance on a ship had that certain special something. It was like how peanut butter and jelly, snowmen and mittens paired well together. Chrisia’s voice created a harmony with the sloshing waves and tickled my heart. Despite the urgency of the current situation, the foolish playboy in me was still refusing to give it a rest.

Guooo, guooo.

Delighted by the praise, Bebeto raised his horns to the sky and crooned happily. Chrisia stroked his wing. In any case, he was one enviable fellow.

“Salute! Greetings to the Commander.”

“Saluuute!”

A man appeared on the deck and saluted.

“If you hadn’t appeared right on time, Captain, we would have become fish food.”

“Nonsense, ma’am. The Commander knows the sea better than any sailor here, is that not so?”

“Hoho, it’s all thanks to your teachings.”

‘As the captain, he’s the person controlling this ship, right?’

The man illuminated by the magic lamps looked to be in his early 50s, and with his shaggy beard and sturdy body, he looked like a real man of the sea. He didn’t look like a regular Joe, but a pirate boss, no less.

“Commander, he must be that famous Lord of Nerman, Count Kyre,” remarked the pirate mister, taking stock of me.

“Yes, this person is indeed Count Kyre.”

‘Hm? He knows me?’

“Haha, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he greeted. 

“Count Captain Anatalyan, at your service.”

“Nice to meet you. I am the Lord of Nerman, Count Kyre.”

It wouldn’t be right to frown to a smiling, welcoming face, so I made a formal greeting with a smile.

“Instead of staying out here, we should go inside. An evening feast has been prepared.”

“Hoho, that’s music to my ears. I thought I was going to pass out from hunger on the way here.”

Chrisia’s debonair personality was shining through. She was a girl who grew up on the simple and honest sea, so she spoke in a forthright manner.

‘Come to think, I flew over here without even eating.’

Chrisia had dragged me to the carrier out of nowhere.

Squeaal, squeaaal.

I saw a few sailors dragging out a plump pig. As expected of a huge ship, it was loaded with animals for wyvern food.

* * *

“I raise a glass of gratitude to the one who allowed this precious meeting today, the Overseer of Fate, Romero. Cheers!”

Clink! Cli-clink!

I was enjoying my first ship banquet, something I’d only heard of and read about in novels. Chrisia was the highest ranking person here, but the owner of the ship, Count Anatalyan, took the lead in the meal, allowing me to confirm the veracity of the saying ‘On a ship, the captain is king.’

‘It’s a real feast.’

To be honest, because it was a meal on a boat, my expectations weren’t very high. But my eyes grew wide at the multi-course meal being laid out on the large table. It was a magnificent spread no inferior to ones offered by the houses of great nobles. There was some kind of poultry grilled in honey, various kinds of smoked meat, stew and fried fish made from fish fresh from the sea, as well as steaming hot bread and various fruits I didn’t know the name of. They all stimulated my appetite.

‘So you mean to say they’ve even got a magic warehouse on here?’

As far as creature comforts went, this ship didn’t fall behind 21st century aircraft carriers in the least. Thanks to magic, there were no hindrances to a long voyage.

Gulp.

‘Kyaa, tastes great.’

It wasn’t beer, but there was a wine so sweet it was nearly ice wine. It was the perfect thing for whetting the appetite.

I sliced into a piece of meat tender with juices with a mithril fork.

‘Ohhh!’

I couldn’t help but exclaim inwardly. It was true that I was hungry, but the unexpected spread doubled my pleasure.

‘Should I use this opportunity to get a transport carrier of my own?’

It seemed like a worthwhile investment. I also wanted to visit the eastern continent later, when the territory was stabilized, and travel around the Kallian Continent. A wyvern carrier was the perfect cruiseliner.

‘They’ve even got a fruit similar to mangoes.’

The Kesmire Kingdom was dominating the ocean and monopolizing trade between the continents. Tons of fruits I’d never seen or heard of were beautifully ornamenting the table.

“Has the next carrier been prepared?”

“It should be sailing towards the coordinates you instructed, Commander. If you depart at the planned time, you should be able to meet them at the planned destination.”

“Please fly a lumikar and confirm it one more time for me, Captain.”

Chrisia was a commander, a position of higher rank than a captain, but she spoke politely to Count Anatalyan. From what I could tell from their conversation, he seemed to be the person who had taught Chrisia the ways of the ocean.

“Haha, no worries. It might be the first emergency transit in a while, but they will never make a mistake.”

He was really casual about it. It was clear to me now that what they referred to as an ‘emergency transit’ was putting out carriers on the sea and flying wyverns from one ship to the next. Chrisia had used a magic compass and looked at the position of the stars to set her path on the way here. If her angle of flight had been off even by a little and a problem had occurred, we could have landed right in the sea and lost our lives, but Count Anatalyan nonchalantly told us to not worry.

“Has there… ever been an accident during an emergency transit?” I asked cautiously while cutting my meat.

“That’s… it happened for the first time decades ago, so…”

Despite his words to not worry, the Count was unable to give me a clear answer. My body stiffened mid-slice.

“Haha, even so, you don’t need to worry. The God of Wind and Freedom, Bormio, has granted the Commander a bountiful blessing. In our kingdom, Princess Chrisia, I mean, the Commander, goes by the name ‘Mascot of Fortune’.”

“……”

The reason why the Captain was telling me ‘no worries’ wasn’t because the transit was unfolding in a safe manner from some scientific or confirmed way, but simply because Chrisia was lucky?

‘Fuck.’

My expression froze as I inwardly cursed. To think that my one and only life would be treated so lightly… If I had known earlier, I wouldn’t have attempted such a reckless thing.

“Kyre-nim, don’t you trust me?” Chrisia hit the bullseye with a sly smile.

“Nonsense, even if things go wrong, I would die together with the lovely Chrisia-nim, so what is there to fear? Hahaha…”

“Really? Hoho, Kyre-nim, you sure are a romantic…”

Chrisia’s eyes sparkled with mirth.

‘A romantic, my ass!’

My life was in her hands, so I had no choice but to say something with a hint of warning in it, but here she was, calling me a fuckin’ romantic. However, contrary to my feelings, a gentle smile hung on my lips like the spring breeze.

“Count Kyre,” called Count Anatalyan.

“Yes, Captain Anatalyan?”

The other party was being respectful, so I offered the Count the same courtesy.

“I’m curious as to how you can be so courageous. In my eyes, you hardly look strong enough to catch a demon beast, but I heard that you have taken the continent by storm. If you have some special method, please teach me,” Anatalyan asked. He was wearing a vague expression that made it hard for me to tell whether he was joking or being serious.

“I’m not sure… It simply turned out like that. A big tree might be quiet, but when the wind blows and shakes the tree, the tree cannot help but be shaken, no?”

I was being completely honest. I tried to live a quiet life, but the pre-existing powers on the continent were itching to rip Nerman and I apart. There was no choice but for us to fight until one of us croaked.

‘The ship is big enough that it doesn’t even sway.’

The sea was fairly calm, but that being said, this was the deep ocean. The waves were around 2 meters high, but the ship was absorbing the kinetic energy of the waves with its enormous size.

“Haha! Your words are truly a breath of fresh air. Count Kyre is not only a capable lord, but also a talented wordsmith.”

In front of Count Anatalyan, who recognized my talent, I let a big grin represent my feelings.

* * *

Swoooooooosh. Splash, splash.

The ship had a really unique structure. Thick ropes that had to be made of the sinews of a pavence, the sea monster Chrisia had told me about that one time, were keeping the sails strung from the middle of the ship to the stern nice and taut. Even though I didn’t know much about ships, I knew that theoretically, a structure like this would have the ship turning in circles. However, it wasn’t like that at all.

‘They’re using a magic array.’

I could feel a powerful mana energy under my feet. It seemed the ship was relying on a magic array to maintain balance and sail straight ahead.

Guoooo.

We were cutting through the waves, but the deck was so high up that no water splashed onboard. Bebeto, who was lying in his designated spot, raised his head and let out a soft cry, having caught my scent.

‘It’s like a scene out of a fantasy.’

Above the dark blue waves shone a glittering wash of silver stars, stretching from the end of the horizon to as far as I could see. The starscape from the ship gave me an impression of infinity no less than what I saw when flying.

Guoguo.

I was looking up, captivated by the stars, when I heard Bebeto—apparently as sleepless as I was—calling me.

‘Huhu, serves you right.’

I couldn’t really say why I felt so cross whenever I saw Bebeto these days. All I could say was that my petty mind was galled by the constant cries of happiness I heard every single fucking night. I felt refreshed as hell to see Bebeto stuck in solitude for the time being.

‘You brat, at least you’ve still got some conscience.’

Bebeto wasn’t completely alone—Chrisia’s spotted female wyvern was in the spot next to Bebeto. But maybe there were too many people around, because Bebeto only looked on with longing. When he saw my look of gratification, he buried his head under his wing.

‘If you put the safety ring on like that, there should be no concern of falling.’

Even though the waves were high, a special contrapment made of leather was wrapped around the wyverns so that they could resist the pull and sway. The device was connected to the wyvern armor and had safety rings all over it, and those rings were locked onto sturdy steel fixtures on the ground.

‘I suppose the prisoner exchange must be completed by now…’

Originally, I was supposed to go there and oversee the process, but the unavoidable situation forced me to send Ryker. I trusted that with his usual snark, he would be able to handle the imperial nobles with ease.

* * *

“H-How come the mages are nowhere to be seen?”

“The mages? Ah! You mean those criminals who tried to escape.”

A temporary negotiation site had been set up on the border between Nerman and the Havis Kingdom. It was late into the night, but the light remained on in the cloth tent. 

“Please call the Lord of Nerman here! This is different from what was promised!”

Marquis Treviltar had been dispatched by the Imperial Family to receive the Laviter Empire’s men and dispense the payment. His mood had soured the moment a mere Skyknight without a peerage came forward as Nerman’s representative instead of the Lord of Nerman himself. He was someone who only had a few people to fear in the Laviter Empire, but the mannerless curly-haired knight in front of him dared to be sassy with him. For a regular knight, it was noble decorum to be respectful to a noble, even if they were from an enemy nation, but this Skyknight called ‘Ryker’ treated him as if he wasn’t even a marquis. Even now, the distasteful brat was plucking his nose hairs while apathetically answering Treviltar’s questions. If not for the powerful mana the Marquis could clearly feel from the man, he would have pulled out his sword long ago.

“He’s busy. Our liege isn’t an idle person.”

“Y-Youuu!!!”

Marquis Treviltar had offered the highest courtesy he could manage, but this Ryker continued to speak with indolent casualness. If Treviltar’s knights had been in the meeting tent, they would have likely caused an uproar, asking the rogue for a duel. However, only two people were in the tent, and because the fabric had been treated with magic, no sound leaked to the outside.

“I got it, I got it already. For now, sit down. Here’s a solution, subtract the mages from the payment and cough up the rest.”

Marquis Treviltar had grown red with rage, but the rude Skyknight was completely indifferent to it and lazily waved a hand at him, telling him to sit.

“Also, 10,000 of the prisoners voluntarily defected. So subtract the money for them too.”

Ryker’s words were like rubbing salt in the wound, or pouring ice cold water on someone who tripped and fell on their nose. Marquis Treviltar went from enraged to dejected. It was utterly impossible to communicate with this one-track-minded Skyknight. He began directing his rage to the so-called Lord of Nerman who made a person like this the negotiation representative.

“So yeah, I ran the calculations, and… Excluding the 1 million Gold we got as an advance, we just need another 9.95 million Gold in total.”

The man kept it casual to the very end.

“Wait, 8 million should be sufficient if we exclude the mages and 10,000 soldiers, so how did another 2 million get there?!”

Marquis Treviltar was angry, but he had received an imperial mandate to safely bring home the prisoners. Even in this dumbfounding situation, he was able to spot the inaccuracy of the calculation.

“Tsk tsk, are you a newbie at this? The negotiations were definitely done a month ago. Am I wrong?”

“N-No.”

“Then tell me, who’s supposed to pay for the money it took to feed the prisoners, heal them, and the other miscellaneous costs we incurred? Should our kind-hearted but penniless liege be fronting the bill, or should we be getting the money from the Laviter Empire, who barged in on our territory without any manners? Any human with a head on his shoulders should be able to figure out that much.”

“…..”

Marquis Treviltar was speechless at Ryker’s unreasonableness.

“Also, do you think I’m running a charity here? Who’s gonna pay my labor cost? I worked my ass off without being able to catch a wink of sleep because I was so busy. Of course the people who committed the original crime should pay it.” Now, this devil was even blathering about his labor cost. “Now, now, hurry up and sign this already, c’mon. The longer this takes, the higher my labor cost and wyvern lodging fees become.”

Ryker, clearly not giving a single fuck for the feelings of the people in the hot seat, passed over a piece of paper and asked Treviltar to sign.

“Why, dun wanna? Then don’t, I’m sure that viper-tempered emperor of yours would be happy that the prisoner negotiations broke down because of a little wittle chump change. Seriously, for a marquis, you sure are one inflexible codger.”

The moment Ryker yammered about the viper-tempered emperor, Treviltar’s entire body trembled. As much as he hated to admit it, Ryker was right. If he was not able to complete the Emperor’s command because of a few pennies, the responsibility would fall solely on him. 

‘Arghhh! I’ll have my vengeance for the indignity I suffered today!’

The Marquis ground his teeth, feeling a mixture of despondency and rage. He glared at Ryker, whose eyes were as blue as his hair.

The moment Laviter attacked Nerman again, he would definitely catch this bastard and rip him to pieces with his own hands… 

* * *

‘Eurgh! This is so boriiing!’

Up until we departed in the morning, everything had been fine and dandy. I enjoyed warm bread and soup early at dawn and then left the transport carrier with Chrisia. And then, we flew out while looking at the glorious sunrise while harboring manly ambitions.

But it all went downhill from there.

We’d been flying for several hours over the sea with no end in sight and no place to rest. There wasn’t even a single island to be seen in this huge, boring ocean. Unlike the land, the sea looked exactly the same from beginning to end. I just had to keep looking at Chrisia flying in front of us while suppressing my urge to throw up.

‘Just how far have we flown? Are we even going the right direction?’

Chrisia was undertaking this path of hardship for my sake, so I felt disgusted that I couldn’t trust her, but I didn’t want to do a nosedive into the ocean and meet my end.

‘Bebeto’s getting a little tired, too…’

If I made an approximate calculation, it felt like we had flown for about six hours nonstop, and assuming a low-balling 40 km per hour, we had covered a distance of over 240 km. Combined with the distance we covered on yesterday’s flight and the carrier ship’s sailing distance, we had moved over 400 km or so. That was nothing for a modern car or airplane, but here, that was a huge amount of ground to cover, and it was entirely over the ocean, to boot.

Swoooooooosh.

Just then, Chrisia’s wyvern began to point downwards into a descent.

‘Ohhhh! T-That’s—!’

At that moment, my eyes were greeted with a very welcome sight.

‘It’s an island! An island!’

I felt like I could understand why people cheered in elation when they spotted land in movies or comics. This small island, protruding high over the ocean, was enough to give me an intense sense of relief from escaping the scary and terrifying sea’s embrace. The choked-up frustration in my chest dissipated with a bam.

Swooooooooosh. Guoooooooooooooo~!

Bebeto also began to descend, uttering a happy bellow. My experience aside, this was also Bebeto’s first ocean crossing. He landed in moments on the beach of this blessed island.

“Haah!”

As soon as we landed, I unclasped my safety ring and jumped onto the sandy beach.

‘I feel alive again.’

It wasn’t a very large island, but it was densely wooded. The sight of the forest brought the spark of vitality back to my eyes.

“It was hard, right?” asked Chrisia with a crisp smile. 

‘Oh man, I feel really strange.’

Chrisia had the same refreshing(?) aura around her as a mermaid in the ocean. Being on an uninhabited island with no sign of other humans with this charming woman felt strange. Moreover, Chrisia wasn’t reserved in showing her interest in me. Every time I met eyes with her, she smiled like a spring flower in full bloom.

“This is an island located at the middle point between the continent and Kesmire. Us sea people call it the Bugle of Repose.”

‘Bugle of Repose?’

The island had a pretty unique name.

“There’s a bugle sound when the boulder over there fills with water. That sound can be heard from dozens of kilometers away.”

“Ah!”

Hearing that, I remembered the faint bugle sound I’d heard before reaching this island. At first, I thought my helmet was malfunctioning.

“Anyone who hears this island’s bugle during a voyage will be granted repose and peace. You’ve experienced it for yourself, but when the sea people encounter an island like this during a long voyage, we are touched to the point of tears. Islands… are no different from mothers to us.”

I nodded in understanding at Chrisia’s islandphilia.

“We’ll have lunch here and then depart.”

‘L-Lunch!’

Come to think of it, I was hungry.

“I brought bread and water, so wait one moment, please,” Chrisia said, going to her wyvern.

“There aren’t pigs or similar food animals on the island, right?”

“Huh? No… Unfortunately, the island is small, so…”

I did see a few birds, but they were way too small to eat, and I had zero desire to fill my belly with a few pieces of bread in a place like this.

“Bebeto!”

Guoooooo!

Bebeto, who had been playing on the beach, digging into the sand like a dog burying a bone, lifted his head at my call.

“Let’s go fishing!”

Guo, guooo!

“Fly!”

There was no need to wait for Bebeto. I cast Fly and kicked off the beach.

Chrisia, alarmed by the sight of me suddenly flying into the sky, called out, “K-Kyre-nim!”

“Haha, please gather a few branches for me.”

I made a request to Chrisia while flying into the sea. The water was clean and clear, so I could see deep into the depths. I activated my mana while thinking of the fishing method available only to mages. 

In any situation, eating comes first!

No matter how busy I was, I had to eat proper meals—that was my philosophy in life. Every pizza you didn’t seize was a pizza missed, and a missed meal was something you’d never get back in your life.