Chapter 193 - Golden Lighthouse (1)

The sea was quiet and calm beneath a thick sea fog that swallowed even sound.

The only sound to be heard was that of ships cutting through the waves as they advanced.

But no matter how quietly they moved, there was no hiding all the noise made by forty-three ships.

"...!"

And Nidavellir, which had been holding its breath in silence until now, had been waiting for that very sound.

"It's a raid!"

With the watchman's pitiful cry, fire began to spread from within the fog.

The flashes that began from somewhere unseen were soon riding the wind and flying fiercely toward Barbosa's fleet.

"Cannonballs incoming!"

"It's the dwarves! Everyone up!"

KABOOM!

The beginning was quiet, but when it struck, it was like disaster itself.

Splinters of wood flew in every direction.

Along with them, the sailors' screams began to ring out through the thick fog.

"Enemy hit confirmed!"

"Most of the cannonballs we fired struck their targets!"

A surprise attack that had seized an opening, and a preemptive strike.

Nidavellir's attack, making use of the variable called fog, hammered Barbosa's ships without mercy.

Seeing enemies who could not even return fire properly, the sailors began to shout out the cheers they had held back for so long.

"... So there was a reason they were so slow."

But despite their current success, Olmukar's expression was only stiff.

Because no matter how loudly their cannonballs roared, not a single one of Barbosa's ships had actually stopped.

"H... huh?"

"What are those things?"

The sailors, who had been firing cannonballs in excitement along with their cheers, also sensed something strange and began to panic.

Because once the thick cannon smoke cleared, the sight that finally came into view was completely different from what they had expected.

"Those mad bastards..."

Barbosa's fleet was advancing as a single diamond-shaped formation of forty-three ships.

The ships on the outer edge of the formation had been reduced to rags by the bombardment just now, but even so, they did not stop advancing.

It meant that even though their outer surfaces had been struck miserably, their internal functions were still intact.

"Iron plating! It's iron plating!"

"Those mad bastards covered their ships in iron plating!"

The wind was favorable, yet the enemy's movements had been exceptionally slow.

The reason it had to be that way was because the weight of the armor they were wearing was that heavy.

"... What kind of damn money-burning madness is that?"

The dwarves of Nidavellir were left speechless as they looked at the iron plating meticulously wrapped around each and every ship.

As warriors and craftsmen, they knew very well just how many resources and how much gold would have to be spent to cover ships in iron plating to that extent.

"It is far too early for you to be surprised already."

At the center of the diamond-shaped formation, beneath a red sail that stood out brightly, there was a man smiling.

He was slowly gauging the direction of the wind as he looked up at the flag flapping above.

"Enemy fleet! They have opened their gun ports!"

"All ships, full speed ahead! We break out like this!"

In the South, it was only proper to repay what you received.

Realizing that the blowing wind was toward them, Olmukar quickly ordered them to leave the battlefield.

"Where do you think you're going, dwarf brothers!"

BOOM! BOOM BOOM! BOOM!

Brilliant flames began to surge up from the walls drifting upon the sea.

Following the blowing wind, toward the predetermined angle.

"You should take back as much as you gave!"

Barbosa's red beard was trembling.

Because his instinct, like that of a wild beast, was certain that this attack would succeed.

But though he knew the sea, he was a man who did not know what kind of beings dwarves were.

"... What the hell is this!"

Gauging the distance from one's opponent was one of the important virtues a captain had to possess.

But the Golden Duke Barbosa could only shout in disbelief when he saw the distance that had somehow been subtly thrown off.

BWOOOOO!

Unless they were rowing, no, even if they were, the maneuver just now made no sense.

And yet Nidavellir's ships had already turned their bows and were slipping just barely beyond the range of the bombardment.

"A waterwheel?"

The ships spewed mist as they vanished into the fog.

Watching Nidavellir's ships disappear before he knew it, the Golden Duke Barbosa could only let out a dumbfounded sound.

"... We will lure them to the reef zone like this. Send the signal to the submarines."

"Understood!"

A fleet that did not stop no matter how much it was fired upon, and a fleet that did not move according to the flowing wind.

As they faced an unfamiliar world for the first time in their lives, Barbosa and Olmukar both began to feel their minds grow complicated.

* * *

"What is that!"

"They're ships! That's Barbosa's flag!"

Inside the fog, the fierce sound of cannon fire was thunderous, but in the waters heading north, screams full of terror were ringing out.

They were the screams of the line of evacuees heading for Nassau.

"They got us. To think they moved this quickly."

"..."

Hearing Joseph's sigh, Vlad roughly lowered the telescope he was holding.

Because through the view he had seen far ahead, he had spotted the ships in the distance blocking the route to Nassau with precision.

From the five ships confirmed in total, splendid golden flags, the likes of which had never been seen in the North until now, were fluttering.

"They are much faster than our intelligence suggested. It seems the Golden Duke has likely already built the western waters into his own domain."

"Then what do we do now?"

Whether they were aiming for the refugees or not, the Golden Duke's ships had already advanced into the northern waters.

Those ships, accurately blocking the route, were probably ships Barbosa had sent to cut off any possible support from the North.

"... It is not as if I always have a solution."

Joseph, who opened his mouth carefully, turned his head and looked out over the sea.

Where Joseph's gaze reached, a shabby fishing boat was filled with dwarves trembling in anxiety.

"There is no particular solution, but that does not change the fact that we have to do it."

At those words, Joseph's and Vlad's gazes turned at the same time toward one person.

Toward Haven, the owner of this ship.

"... I told you before. The ship is only in good enough condition to barely make it to Nassau. No, and in the first place, there are five of them over there!"

"You did it once before."

"That was then! This time, we don't exactly have support either!"

Even as they spoke, Barbosa's ships were approaching.

But the only ship capable of standing against the enormous ships slowly drawing near was the Zemina.

Unable to find an answer no matter how he calculated it, Haven ended up tearing at his hair.

"There isn't any fog to hide in, and there aren't any iron chains hidden between reefs. If we charge in recklessly like last time, we'll be blown to powder by the cannonballs before we even get close."

"..."

While the Zemina stopped in hesitation, there was one strange antenna moving ahead alone.

It was the trace of Vulcanus's submarine beneath the sea advancing forward.

"Vulcanus will open the way. We just have to aim for that opening."

"Right. So in the end, we're doing this?"

It would be nice if one could avoid it for an entire lifetime, but someday, a time came when one had to face things head-on.

All the more so when there were people behind one's back who had to be protected, just like now.

"... Well. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have become a captain at all. I would've died being tormented in that cramped room."

Haven's expression as he faced Vlad still looked troubled, but the angle of the captain's hat he had straightened once more was sharp.

"Fine. We have to do it, so what can we do?"

From the owner of a shabby room to the captain of the wide sea.

Even if what surrounded him on all sides was a wall, Haven now knew well that in the end, he had no choice but to move forward.

"The knight says we're going one more time! Everyone, get ready!"

"I knew this would happen!"

"Damn it! So I really am going to die at sea!"

The sailors, noticing the captain's resolve, quickly began to move to their respective positions.

But the reason they showed not a single complaint even at an absurd order was probably because, to them, Vlad and Haven were people who were nothing less than pride itself.

People born from the same mud, yet who had become pride.

"Mage! Hurry up and get to your position!"

"Since when has my position been over there?"

Nibelun, treated like nothing more than a mere power source, grumbled in a way unlike his usual self, but aboard the ship, Haven's word was law.

Muttering that it was at least fortunate he had brought heat from the forge on Lemnos Island, Nibelun took a small bellows from his backpack with familiar motions and stood behind the mast.

"Vlad, wait."

As everyone was taking their positions the way they had last time, a voice stopped Vlad, who had been about to move toward the bow.

"What is it, Varadis?"

"I can feel them. This time, it is certain."

Vlad turned his head and looked at the elves gathered beside Varadis.

The elves of Aushrina were looking down at the sea, practically clinging to the railing, even in this urgent situation where the sailors were running about.

"There are spirits drifting nearby. More have gathered than last time."

Varadis's finger, which had been pointing toward the sea, now pointed at Vlad's sword.

"They are spirits that originated from the Mother World Tree. They have been apart for a long time, but perhaps they recognize it."

At Varadis's words, Vlad hurriedly closed his left eye.

Then, in the world he looked upon, he could indeed sense a blue light flowing out from the scabbard, just as Varadis had said.

"Loose the sail lines! Loose every last one of them!"

"Aaaah!"

The sea Vlad saw following Varadis's fingertip was already filled with surging clusters of light.

Seeing that light, Vlad realized that the place he needed to be was not the bow.

"Everyone say your goodbyes to the Zemina! Because from now on, we're going to hell!"

The wind breathed out by the mystery began to fill the sails humans had lowered.

Then the Zemina advanced as if gliding.

But realizing that the propulsion far exceeded the level he had expected, Haven looked at Nibelun with a startled expression.

"This is not me!"

"... Then what is it?"

Watching the Zemina advance without a single wave, the dwarves nearby ended up opening their eyes wide.

Its strange-looking movement was one thing, but the color of the sea, somehow different, looked brighter than usual.

["There is no time! Release your aura right now!"]

Quijano advised Vlad in an urgent voice as he climbed the mast.

Because the world seen from below was already filled with glowing squids.

"I know that too!"

'I know where I need to be.'

'The place I need to be right now is not the foremost point, but the highest one.'

'Because this is the only way to show the traces of the World Tree flowing through the sword far into the distance.'

"Good thing we didn't take on refugees from the start!"

He had failed to protect Justia, but this time, he wanted things to be different.

A revelation might be something one only understood once one faced it, but even so, he wanted to prepare at least a little.

Because he had that resolve, the current Zemina could advance forward without hesitation.

"Phew..."

Arriving at the dizzyingly high crow's nest, Vlad drew his sword with all his strength.

Then came a brightly shining golden world.

Following that world that shone like a lighthouse, bubbles beneath the sea began to boil.

A golden light shining alone above the sea as it grew rougher and rougher.

Seen from afar, that sight looked exactly like the drawing the Divine Maiden of the World Tree had given him.