On the way back, Turan sat in the boat carefully observing his newly acquired mysterious treasure.
It was just big enough to fit in his palm.
With round edges and relatively flat front and back, its overall shape was similar to the compass he had brought.
One peculiarity was a small button on one side that made a clicking sound and opened a lid when pressed.
Though the inside was empty with no apparent purpose, it surely had so function as well.
Fortunately, he didn't need to hold this object in his hands to use it.
As long as he 'owned' it, such as by keeping it in his pocket, he could use its abilities at any ti.
Turan closed his eyes and felt countless presences passing beneath the sea.
Groups of hundreds of tiny flas, groups of about a dozen slightly larger lights, and even larger lights each separate...
This detection range extended about ten ters normally, and when concentrating, could stretch to several dozen to about a hundred and ten ters.
Only after practicing the detection ability several tis did Turan take out his compass again to check direction and move east.
After moving the boat for about an hour.
On the fifth use of detection magic targeting human scent, he finally sensed a faint trace from far away.
'Found it.'
After silently docking the small boat beside the Blue Marlin and jumping straight onto the deck, the sailor on watch scread upon seeing him.
"Ack! A m-monster- oh, it's Sir Knight? We thought you were staying on the island..."
"Had business."
The sailor, like Arma had been, had a very faint fla residing in his heart, and was all grey otherwise.
Whether it was a racial difference, or sothing different because that one was royalty.
Receiving a deep bow, Turan returned to his cramped cabin and lay down on the bed.
Perhaps because he had much to think about, his head felt unusually heavy.
==
The next day, Turan slept in until the sun was high, then woke up to a strange sll.
What woke him from deep sleep was a strong sll of blood.
'What's this?'
What could cause blood to flow suddenly on an island where trade ships dock, not in the middle of the sea?
Going up to the deck, he could see the reason.
"Ow..."
"It hurts like hell, put so dicine on it!"
Sailors groaning and bleeding from their backs.
Beside them, Deck Boss Lenak was chewing so unknown herbs while swinging a bloody whip in the air several tis to make noise.
"Now, everyone repeat! Tardiness!"
"We won't do it!"
"Insubordination!"
"Is death!"
The sailors shouted responses to Lenak's words like a chorus while wearing dead expressions.
"What's all this about?"
"Oh, you're awake? We're punishing those who ca back late after playing last night."
First Mate Osban, who was watching the whipping with a blank expression beside him, explained.
Co to think of it, the captain had said sothing like that when they left yesterday, but who would have thought they'd actually whip people just for coming back late.
Turan shook his head after watching the blood-covered deck for a while.
Though it seed soone might die if they weren't careful, it wasn't appropriate for him to intervene and break their discipline here.
They had their own rules, and moreover, he had seen the sailors agree to this yesterday.
Instead, Turan observed how other sailors appeared through the holy relic's vision.
Though there weren't many big differences, he could see so of the blue fla turning red and dispersing where those who were whipped were injured.
"Where's the captain?"
"He went down to the island. Said he was going to look for soone to buy the ship."
"I see."
As the ship's owner, and to check on the progress of things, Turan headed to the island, leaving behind the sailors being whipped.
"Hohoho, hahaha!"
"Bleeegh-"
"You bastard! Do you think this is a bathroom!"
Miguel Island lived off trade ships stopping for supplies during their voyages.
Naturally, many people visible on the streets were sailors from ships docked at that harbor.
From those shouting wildly with drunk, unfocused eyes even in broad daylight, to those vomiting, to those openly urinating in the street...
It even made him think these people had maintained at least minimal dignity on the continent.
Passing by such sailors and heading to the center, he ca upon a relatively clean, large building.
A high-class tavern that supposedly only allowed captains to enter.
As he approached, the large bouncer guarding the entrance extended his hand with an incredulous expression.
"Hey, this isn't a place for youngsters like you. If you miss your mother's milk, go find it from the whores over there."
Instead of answering with words, he lightly flicked his finger to create a fla, causing the bouncer's face to turn white.
Turan passed by him as he bent deeply at the waist and entered the tavern.
"Is that true?"
"I'm telling you! The number of people who fled from there must be at least tens of thousands. It will probably remain a land of death for a while."
Captain Pires was deep in conversation with another captain who appeared about his age in one corner of the tavern.
When Turan approached, Pires noticed his presence and bowed his head in surprise.
"Lord Turan."
"Good morning."
"Yes. Though it's a bit late to call it morning... Ah, this is Captain Samudel of the Winter Crow. Unlike , he's both captain and shipowner, and the person who agreed to buy your ship."
"Pleased to et you, Lord Turan."
Captain Samudel was a middle-aged man wearing a pointed triangular hat who, unlike Pires, had both eyes intact but wore a hook on one hand.
Perhaps having bodily impairnt was a qualification for becoming a captain.
If not that, maybe working as a sailor long enough to beco captain inevitably led to injury sowhere.
"Pleased to et you. How did the price work out?"
"We agreed on one thousand Zahar gold coins for the ship and all miscellaneous items inside."
Having never seen Zahar gold coins, he couldn't know if this was a proper price or not, but since he had promised Pires two-tenths of the profit, he wouldn't have sold it for an absurdly low price.
Turan nodded and naturally took a seat.
"Where are you from, Mr. Samudel?"
"I'm on my way from the Enril Desert. Since my destination is Abacha, you could say I'm taking exactly the opposite route as this friend. I was thinking of buying another ship in Abacha this ti, so I'm glad I could get one cheaply."
"Oh."
Samudel must have heard roughly what kind of person he was from Pires, as he answered earnestly without looking down on him for being young.
After chatting for a few minutes while cleansing his palate with salty ham and dates on the table, Turan brought up his main business.
"Would it be possible to buy sothing like a magical device? Or even a small item of equivalent value would be fine."
He explained his situation to the puzzled Samudel.
That he was traveling alone and it wasn't convenient to carry around such a large sum.
After hearing the detailed circumstances, Samudel imdiately provided an answer.
"Since this is just a transit area, no one here will have such things, you'll probably need to go to Komad."
Though Miguel Island was a strategic point for North Sea trade, it was just a place to stop for food and drink, and the island itself was too small for its economy to be active enough to have such items.
In fact, the island's natives weren't very wealthy, living only by selling alcohol and their bodies to sailors.
In contrast, Komad, the port city north of the Enril Desert and the Blue Marlin's destination, was the second largest city in Zahar's territory, so there was a high possibility of finding what Turan wanted.
"If you'd like, I could write you a letter of recomndation? I have so connection with House Dirmin who rule Komad. They have the Artificer bloodline, so you could buy trained beasts."
Hearing those words, Turan recalled Asiz's horse, Tilly.
That horse too had been purchased from nobles with the Artificer bloodline by House Berk as a gift for Asiz.
It might be nice to raise one like that powerful and intelligent red horse.
"I'm grateful, but..."
Understanding the question of why he would write such a thing, Samudel smiled.
"Since I'm giving you money, I know you have the ans to buy trained beasts. Don't worry, I'm just diating between seller and buyer."
==
Two days later, the Blue Marlin resud its voyage after completely recovering its food, water, and physical and ntal health – except for those who had been whipped.
As about 2/3 of the voyage had passed, the sailors' morale wasn't bad.
"This voyage has been really good, hasn't it? Pirates beca our money bag, and the weather's been perfect..."
"Must be because we're serving a descendant of the gods."
As if annoyed by the sailors giggling while saying such things, on the third day of sailing, dark clouds thickly covered the sky ahead.
The second mate on duty imdiately spotted this and spread word to those nearby.
"Dark clouds ahead! Everyone prepare!"
As sailors hardened by the North Sea's fickle weather, their preparation for storms was quick.
Deck Boss Lenak had sailors release ropes to lower the sails, and the helmsman gripped the wheel while swallowing hard.
Others like the cook hurriedly moved items that had been placed on deck due to the full hold back inside.
But weather always strikes more capriciously than expected, and before preparations could finish, lightning, rain, and wind began pouring down.
The wind and rain of a season where snow wouldn't be strange instantly stole body heat.
The sailors tried their best to complete their assigned tasks while shivering all over with blue-tinged lips.
Just then, a huge wave struck the ship's side hard.
"Aaaagh!"
A sailor who had climbed the largest mast to release ropes scread as he was thrown off by the rebound.
Whether falling onto the deck or into the sea from tens of ters high, death was certain.
As everyone's faces froze, the falling sailor's body suddenly stopped mid-air.
"...Huh?"
"This way."
Following Turan's order and gesture, the sailor's body slowly descended back onto the deck.
From a wizard's perspective, ordinary people without innate magical power were like animals or inanimate natural objects.
In other words, using the sa force needed to move a person-sized rock, one could move ordinary people as well.
"Get below!"
"Yes!"
After rescuing one person, Turan's activities continued.
He folded the sail that couldn't be properly furled due to the earlier fall by controlling ropes and cloth, and pushed back cargo rolling on deck.
As a bonus, he saved two more sailors who had slipped and were about to be thrown overboard.
After confirming all sailors except the helmsman had gone below deck, Turan went down last and closed the door.
Though it was a short ti, perhaps because his nerves had been extrely tense, a sigh escaped naturally.
"Whew..."
"Th-thank you, oh god! Thank you so much!"
The one kneeling and crying floods of tears as if in worship was the sailor who had been thrown earlier.
"You're not hurt?"
"No!"
"Good. That's what matters."
After appropriately comforting the sailor who kept expressing thanks by patting his shoulder, Turan looked for Captain Pires.
He was in the middle of discussing sothing with other senior sailors with a serious face, but when Turan approached, he stopped the conversation and bowed his head politely in thanks.
"Thank you, Lord Turan. Thanks to you, not just the crew but all of us saved our lives. If we hadn't lowered the sails, we would have sunk by now."
"I'm also one of the ship's crew now, so it's only natural. How is it, can we endure the storm?"
"We can only trust in the ship and helmsman's skill. The other mates and I will need to keep going out to take turns. More worrying is how soaked everyone is..."
Because they had brought down all the cargo that had been placed on deck, the cabin was so packed there wasn't even room to step.
The sailors, who had lost body heat to their wet clothes, were shivering all over and trying to warm themselves with each other's body heat.
Turan watched this quietly before shouting loudly.
["Everyone in a circle!"]
Though thunder was still rumbling in the sky, his voice carried clearly to everyone in the cabin.
This was a crude imitation of the sound amplification magic used during House Arabion's head's procession in the past.
Though it was much cruder compared to theirs, it was enough to reach several dozen people in a cabin of this size.
["I'm going to light a fire now! Gather in a circle around !"]
"Lord Turan, lighting a fire now could be very dangerous."
Captain Pires tried to stop Turan with a troubled expression.
If the ship rocked and the fire accidentally spread to the walls, there would be no greater disaster.
"It's alright, I have a way to light fire without it spreading."
"Is that possi..."
Pires stopped himself from asking if that was possible.
He at least knew that the wizard before him was actually a noble-level power.
Shortly after, Turan confird all sailors had gathered in a circle before lighting a fla above his hand.
Because he had firmly fixed his body, the fla's position didn't change even when the ship rocked.
Simultaneously manipulating air flow to spread the heat in all directions, warming warmth perated throughout the cabin.
"Oh god..."
The sailors watched Turan, who held fire and shared warmth, with entranced expressions.
This was an entirely different kind of emotion from their satisfaction at seeing pirates slaughtered with overwhelming power days ago.
'Humans serve wizards, and wizards rule over and care for humans.'
For the first ti in their lives, they felt they were being cared for by a wizard.
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