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Translator: Kazumi
Editor: Kabur & Silavin
The Varling Sea lies between the Central and Western Continents.
Because it connected the Central Continent and the Western Continent, the Varling Sea had been a key intersection in maritime transportation for a long time and was visited by many ships.
It should be noted that there was no large island between the western city of the Central Continent and the city of the Kingdom of Column in the Western Continent, but small islands existed as stepping stones.
However, there were not enough of them to create a state, and the size of the islands was only about the size of an islet.
For this reason, no nation was ever built around the islets, and they existed only as relay points.
The distance between the western city and the Kingdom of Column could be navigated in about 20 days by the latest sailing vessels available.
Historically, they found the route from the Western Continent to the Central Continent, but originally, it took about three months to sail through it, so this was great progress.
Of course, this was due to a number of factors: the discovery of the shortest route, the advancement of ship technology, and the advancement of navigation magic.
This distance of about 20 days was not a major problem from a military point of view.
Nevertheless, the reason why the Kingdom of Column did not attempt to attack the Central Continent until now was because they were directing their forces toward the interior of the Continent.
Another reason was that there was no nation that could invade it with a large army.
It was left alone because there was enough profit to be gained without having to go to the trouble of a military invasion.
In addition, there was a possibility that if they tried to reach out to the Central Continent, they might encounter nations within the same Continent or from other Continents.
Furthermore, the Central Continent was a treasure trove of monsters.
Maintaining it as a nation would not bring sufficient returns.
For these reasons, they could profit by trading with the western region, where they existed as a single city.
The fleet was anchored near an island in the Varling Sea.
On the flagship of the fleet, Marco, the captain of the fleet, had his arms crossed with a difficult look on his face.
Marco was not only the fleet commander, but also an admiral in charge of one of the naval forces of the Kingdom of Column.
The fact that the Kingdom of Column was going out of its way to send one of its admirals on an expedition showed that it considered this matter to be of great importance.
Naturally, Marco was aware of this, but the current situation was not good.
This could be clearly seen from the similar expressions on the faces of the high-ranking officials in Marco’s vicinity.
Originally, they had not planned to anchor at such a place.
However, just the other day, when they tried to move on from there, they realized that they could not.
To be precise, it was possible to sail a day or so beyond this island, but there was no way to proceed beyond this point.
There wasn’t any kind of physical wall.
But after some progress, they were back in the same place.
It was like a lost forest on land.
The wizards on board told them that there was a magic similar to that of a lost forest.
They concluded that it would be impossible to break the spell.
“…Indeed. Indeed. The king had asked us to be cautious, but I never thought it would come to this.”
Marco said this with an unintentional sigh, and the surrounding others looked similar or the same.
Even Marco, who had spent many years on sea, was experiencing this for the first time.
The number of wizards he had brought with him was not large, so he had no way to deal with the situation.
But since it was certain that it would be impossible to breach even if they brought a large number of people, there was nothing he could do even if he went back.
There was no way they could just wander back, so they had to find a way to get further ahead, no matter what.
In this helpless situation, they couldn’t advance, and they can’t just return to the country empty-handed, so they were trying to find a way to cope with the situation.
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The situation changed the next day.
The next day, a lookout spotted a commercial vessel sailing from the Central continental side of the island.
Of course, Marco was informed of this.
When Marco heard about it, he immediately decided.
He knew that the commercial ship was headed for the island.
The island near where the fleet was currently anchored was an important base for reaching the Kingdom of Column from the western city on the Central Continent.
He decided to talk to the captain of the ship when he stopped by the island.
Because of the nature of the situation, he decided to get off the ship himself and head for the island.
Though, of course, he was accompanied by several escorts.
Since the island was small, there was a rule that when a new ship arrived at the island to resupply, the previous ship had to give up its place to the new ship.
Therefore, the merchant ships that arrived from the Central Continental side were to replace the ships that had been there before that were stuck because they couldn’t get to the Central’s side.
The only problem was that both captains were merchants.
Since both sides probably knew what was going on, they seemed to have made a deal to exchange cargo and return to each other’s original continent.
It was fortunate that both ships were of the same size.
The only way they could proceed was for the two sides to swap the goods they had originally carried, and complete the business negotiations, which was nothing short of brilliant.
The two captains’ faces broke into a smile, so it must have been a good deal for both of them.
Marco looked at the faces of the two captains and concluded that it was a good deal for both of them.
The two captains’ reactions to Marco’s face were strikingly different.
One had a twitch on his face, and one had a smile on his face.
He didn’t bother to check to see which was the merchant on whose side he was.
“I don’t mean to interfere with business between merchants. I just wanted to have a few words with your captain.”
“Yes, yes. Then the business meeting is over, and I will be leaving.”
The captain, his face scrunched up, said this and quickly walked away.
“You have a question for me about this, don’t you?”
Before Marco could ask, the captain produced a card.
“Thank you for being quick to the point. And what’s that?”
“It’s a Crown card.”
Marco frowned as the captain answered simply.
As a military man, Marco could naturally hide his expression.
He deliberately showed that expression.
“…Do you know what I mean?”
Nobody was unaware that Crown, which currently boasts of its power on the Central Continent, belongs to Amamiya Tower.
And rumors had already spread that the Kingdom of Column was not on good terms with Amamiya Tower.
“Of course. Or rather, I have been told by those involved to show it to you.”
“….What?”
“I heard that even if you took this away from me, it would be impossible to cross that barrier. I was also told that this could only be activated by my magic power.”
“Even if that’s the case, wouldn’t it be a good idea to take you with us?”
“That’s not allowed either. It can only be applied to that ship… It’s a mystery, even to me, how it works.”
Marco inwardly clicked his tongue.
At present, he could not discern whether the captain’s story in front of him was true or not.
However, emotionally, he believed that the captain’s story was true.
Otherwise, they would not have taken the trouble to send a merchant ship to the place where they appeared to be headed.
Marco knew that the Crown card responded only to the individual’s own magical power.
Naturally, the story had been passed down in the Kingdom of Column, and although it was being thoroughly researched, the principle was not understood at all.
As Marco was pondering what to do about the captain. Meanwhile the captain, whether he knew what he was doing or not, continued.
“And then, two days from today, during the day, they’re going to put on an interesting spectacle, right? He says it would be better not to decide what to do with me until then.”
He seemed to fully understand his own fate when he said this.
“…Why should I wait that long?”
“Can you take me back to the country just like this?”
“…Did Amamiya Tower put you up to this?
“Well, what do you think?”
Marco decided to accept the captain’s words for the time being, as the captain showed a deft imitation of shrugging his shoulders with a laugh.
Whether they go to the Central Continent or return to the Kingdom, there would still be plenty of time in the schedule.
He could wait a couple of days.
He thought it would be a good idea to check if the information brought by the messenger was correct.
However, even in the future, Marco would continue to worry about this decision even after he retired from the military.
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