Water Magician-Chapter 642: Off Shunboul

Editor: Tseirp

It was the eighteenth morning since the tenth Darwei government ship departed the port town of Hoi An in the Atinjo Grand Duchy.

“Today we’re supposed to stop at a port right? A port called Shunboul.”

“Seems so.”

Ryo asked and Abel answered.

Both of them were the sort who were up and about early.

Abel woke at six.

Ever since becoming king of the Knightley Kingdom, he had gotten into the habit of rising at six every day, and even now that he was back to being an adventurer, that habit made him wake automatically at six.

Ryo also usually woke shortly after six.

If he was in the mood, though, he sometimes stayed up until the middle of the night… for example, reading books on alchemy or doing alchemical research…

On those nights, he did sleep in later the following morning, but even then, he would be up by six-thirty.

Currently.

On the main deck, Abel was swinging his sword while Ryo had set out an ice table and was fiddling with something.

They were checking today’s plan while doing their own things.

“Hey, Ryo.”

“Yes, Abel?”

“That thing you’ve been tinkering with—you’ve been at it a while, haven’t you?”

Abel glanced sideways at what Ryo was doing as he practiced his swings and pointed it out.

“You noticed quickly. Hmm… about ten days, I guess—I’ve been trying different things.”

Ryo smiled but kept writing something on the slab of ice in his hand.

In other words, it was some kind of alchemical research.

At the end of the ice slab sat an object about the size of a cup: a small desk fan… more like a handheld fan in appearance.

He’d been adjusting various magic formulas and testing how its behavior changed.

“I’ve been wondering for a while… could that be that 1024-character string thing?”

Abel said, and Ryo looked up.

Clearly surprised.

“You figured it out! Wait, did I mention it?”

“You didn’t say it… but watching you work made me think so.”

“Abel… actually, you might have the talent to be an amazing alchemist. When we go back to the kingdom, you should apprentice under Kenneth right away!”

“Why’s that…”

“They say strike while the iron is hot. Today’s the best day to decide. Do it while you can!”

For some reason, Ryo was encouraging Abel to pursue alchemy and to apprentice under Kenneth.

Abel shrugged.

“I can’t use magic, you know.”

“Oh…”

It’s true—a first-rate alchemist is also a first-rate magician in many cases; alchemy and magic are two sides of the same coin.

If you can’t use magic, you apparently can’t become an alchemist.

“It’s okay. They say where there’s a will, there’s a way. Let’s aim to be the world’s first alchemist who can’t use magic.”

“If I get absorbed in alchemy… who’ll sign off the paperwork? Will you do it for me, Ryo?”

“Th-that’s not possible.”

Ryo panicked at the prospect of suddenly getting overwhelmed with work.

But there was a good idea.

If Abel became an alchemist… then!

“Make a replacement-golem for King Abel!”

“…Huh?”

“Create a golem that signs paperwork in Abel’s stead, and let that golem handle the work!”

“That… will it actually judge the content of documents and approve properly? Won’t it just sign everything blindly?”

“That depends on Abel’s skill.”

Ryo answered Abel’s concern with an oddly confident expression.

“Whether you can make a proper golem depends on you, Abel.”

“Come on… can you make a golem after only a few weeks of alchemy?”

“That’s impossible. You’d have to reach the very brink of the abyss of alchemical mastery…”

“Then I won’t make it in time.”

“Y-yeah, maybe…”

Becoming top-class takes time for anything.

“The Abel-the-Alchemist plan is cancelled.”

Ryo said, shaking his head in disappointment.

“Anyway, putting my alchemy aside, about that 1024-character string…”

“Right.”

“If you use that, it amplifies magic, right?”

“Yes, there’s no doubt about that.”

“Is the plan to use it in your alchemy tools?”

“That’s the problem.”

Ryo tilted his head a little at Abel’s remark.

“You can argue to use whatever works… but somehow I feel uneasy inserting something I don’t really understand into my own magic formulas.”

“Ah…”

“I know it’s convenient. But honestly, I want to understand it before I use it.”

“So that’s why you’re experimenting.”

“Exactly.”

Ryo nodded.

Abel understood Ryo’s feelings.

It might indeed be better to use something convenient.

But even if you use it, you want to understand it and be convinced first.

Things that work but for reasons you don’t know—even if they’re good… give a subtle, uncomfortable feeling.

“Of course, we’ve discovered that this string’s effect disappears if you change the order of the characters…”

“Well, it’s a character ‘sequence’ after all.”

Abel stopped swinging his sword, came over to the table, and sat on the ice chair Ryo had summoned.

“Probably this is also a sequence of characters that works on the fabric of the world.”

“The fabric of the world?”

“Well, think about it… the Central Countries’ magic uses spoken incantations, right?”

“Yeah, they do.”

“That chant works on the world’s laws to activate magic.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. The True Ancestor of the Twilight Land said so. The True Ancestor discovered a series of sounds that act upon the world’s laws. That’s the incantation.”

“Impressive.”

Abel, sincere, praised the True Ancestor at Ryo’s explanation.

It’s not that any sequence of sounds will do.

Out of countless combinations of sound, the True Ancestor found the series that affects the world’s laws to generate magic…

That’s the incantation.

Truly awesome.

The magic formulas used in alchemy are the character-sequence version of that.

Sequences of characters that act on the world’s laws.

That, too, isn’t simple.

Ryo, who was born in Japan, had long pictured sound sequences as something like ‘shinto prayers’ and character sequences as like ‘talismans’.

Lately, he was convinced that this impression wasn’t far off.

“Well, I’m trying many different character orders, too.”

“Must be tough to test all that.”

“Of course it’s tough. But that’s what experiments and research are.”

Ryo nodded gravely.

But Abel noticed. The twitch in Ryo’s cheek.

“Tough, but you’re happy about it, huh?”

“I-I am happy, but it’s still hard, you know? So Abel, I want you to take care of me.”

“Take care of you? How exactly?”

“Giving me your portion of meat, desserts, and things like that would be best.”

“Nope, I refuse.”

“You’re so blunt…”

It’s not easy to take someone else’s food.

As the ship steamed closer to the port town of Shunboul, the number of islands increased considerably.

“There are a lot of islands.”

“With this many islands, a pirate ship could appear out of nowhere!”

Abel warned, and Ryo reacted.

Even Ryo… who, to be fair, had a little curiosity about experiencing a pirate attack—didn’t want to be attacked here.

He frowned.

As they talked at the bow, Captain La Wu approached.

“You’re right—this area is one where so-called pirate gangs hold sway.”

He said with a laugh.

It seemed he had heard their conversation.

“ ‘So-called pirates’?”

Ryo tilted his head.

“They surround a target ship… they rarely actually board it, but they threaten it. They demand a toll. It’s illegal under Darwei law, so we call them ‘so-called pirates’.”

Captain La Wu explained.

His tone suggested he knew the area well.

Ryo realized something.

“Could it be that the food resupply for this tenth ship came from those people?”

“Yes. If you pay, they’ll sell to anyone. Even though they’re called so-called pirates, they’re people of the sea and won’t break their word. They’re actually fishermen living in Shunboul.”

Outlaw types who live outside the law can look frightening at first.

Those unfamiliar with their customs can be treated harshly.

But among those bound by the ties of living on the sea, there’s a certain trust…

Captain La Wu kept looking through his spyglass beside Ryo and Abel at the bow.

Compared with earlier, as they approached the archipelago, he was tilting his head more and more in puzzlement.

Then he finally shouted toward the mast.

“Sentry! Do you see any fishing boats?”

Halfway up the mast was a crow’s nest where a lookout could scan the surroundings.

A platform that could rotate 360 degrees around the mast…

After a moment the lookout called back.

“Captain—there isn’t a single fishing boat!”

Hearing that answer, Captain La Wu barked orders.

“Helmsman! Hard aport!”

“Aye sir! Haaard aport! ”

The helmsman answered and the rudder was turned to the right.

La Wu then shouted into a speaking tube.

“Engine—full power! Get us out of this area at top speed!”

“Engine room, roger!”

The engine room answered La Wu’s command.

They probably had alchemical navigation devices installed— something like the ‘wind generator’ on the Lone Dark of the Suje Kingdom navy.

The ship’s speed clearly increased.

The two watched these orders with astonished faces.

Captain La Wu, usually calm or nonchalant, now displayed the roughness of a seafarer as he barked command after command.

But in truth, that was normal.

They were on a ship.

A captain’s single mistake could put every crew member’s life at risk.

“Ah, sorry to startle you.”

Captain La Wu said with a wry smile as he finally noticed their surprise.

“You’re going to withdraw?”

“Yes. This situation isn’t normal.”

After Abel checked, La Wu nodded and explained further.

“In these waters off Shunboul, there are usually dozens of fishing boats floating about unless there’s a storm. They fish, but they also act as lookouts.”

“You mean those so-called pirates you mentioned?”

“Exactly. On such a clear day, having not a single fishing boat is unusual.”

Indeed, the sky was clear and cloudless.

“Maybe they’ve taken the initiative?”

Abel murmured, and the mast lookout shouted.

“Ship silhouette behind the island at the front!”

Another lookout called out.

“Ships are coming out of Shunboul’s harbor, too!”

La Wu glanced through his spyglass and shouted.

“What kind of ships?”

“Not sure yet, but they’re pretty large!”

“Unknown, but they look like warships!”

La Wu shouted down the speaking tube.

“Deploy the ‘Public Ship magic barrier’! Open the port-side gunports! Prepare for artillery!”

The next instant, a

unfolded around the tenth ship.

From the port side, a clattering sound could be heard.

Curious, Ryo and Abel leaned over from the main deck and looked at the ship’s port.

Small hatches were opening.

A dozen or so lids popped up.

Something wooden protruded.

At first, it looked like ‘something’, but on closer inspection, it was familiar.

“Aren’t those the things Captain Lu Yao and the others used at first…?”

“Yeah—the magic artillery devices they assembled and used on Midorisou Plain.”

It made sense that they remembered seeing them.

“Abel… our Knightley Kingdom ships rely on boarding tactics, right?”

“That’s how it is, Ryo… wasn’t it the same for Sujie Kingdom and other archipelago states?”

“Well, the Go-wo ships of the southern continent Atinjo Grand Duchy had magic bombardment…”

“They were fired by magicians. Compared to that…”

“Darwei really seems like it’ll be an artillery battle.”

Both Abel and Ryo understood the meaning of the alchemy devices protruding from the hull.

They had a decent idea of what was about to happen.

“The ones Lu Yao’s team called ‘magic artillery corps’… seems they’ve adapted that to fleet warfare.”

“As expected of a superpower. Their alchemical progress is ahead of neighboring countries.”

Technological development tends to show most prominently in the military first… that’s true in many eras and places.

It seemed to be the case in this ‘Phi’ as well.

“Ship type identified! Six Bei Fan Hei-class high-speed bombardment ships! ”

“From the harbor, the same Bei Fan Hei-class—sixteen of them!”

The lookout called from the mast.

“They’ve taken the initiative.”

Captain La Wu muttered with a grimace.

“Captain?”

Abel called.

“Yes—if we intended to resupply, only Shunboul’s port made sense. They must have suspected that. The town is probably occupied by someone in Prince Kouri’s faction.”

“The ships that came out are the Darwei fleet?”

“Yes. They’re fast ships that are usually assigned only to Hanlin’s regular forces. Their magic bombardment is powerful. They must’ve been forwarded from Hanlin in advance. It’s unavoidable, but it seems that the fact that the tenth ship and you two are heading north may have been detected by the Imperial Palace.”

“Typical of Prince Kouri.”

As Abel confirmed and La Wu detailed the trouble they were in, Ryo again recognized that Prince Kouri was not someone to be taken lightly.

While they spoke, people on the main deck were also getting into position.

Tripod-like alchemy devices were being set up to launch things into the air from the deck.

They didn’t look like magic artillery.

They could have been machine guns… but their firing angles—the elevation—were set upward…

“The enemy has twenty-two ships. Is that okay?”

“Yes, that’s fine.”

La Wu answered Abel’s worried question with a grin.

“This is, after all, an official government ship. It sometimes transports foreign royalty or Darwei royals. That means it’s one of the most unsinkable ships Darwei has, so worry not.”

When he finished, a report came in.

“Port-side battery, deck interception ready.”

The report came from the ship’s combat commander, Lin Shin.

Short-haired and black, usually she gave a gentle impression, but now she was different.

There was a core of steel in her; you felt you could trust her completely.

“Understood. Lin Shin—don’t fire yet. Do not engage unless I say so.”

“Aye sir!”

A little while before, it had been chaotic as they prepared interception devices on deck, but now there was a calm about the place.

“They look calm even though it’s right before battle.”

“Yeah, I get that feeling too.”

Ryo whispered to Abel, and Abel answered in a similarly low voice, nodding.

“That must mean everything’s ready.”

“I see.”

There’s always bustle while preparing—that’s natural.

Within a minute or two of the order, everyone moves to their stations.

And puts on whatever necessary gear.

That’s hectic.

But once they’re ready, they appear composed like this.

Even if a battle might soon follow.

That composure is proof of training upon training.

“This time we’ll probably just watch.”

“Not like the Rain Shooter incident.”

They both remembered when the Rain Shooter had been attacked while escaping from Komakyuta Domain to return to the Suje Kingdom.

Back then, Ryo had erected an ice wall around the Rain Shooter and counterattacked with the , sinking five Go-wo ships of the Atinjo Grand Duchy.

At that time, the Rain Shooter had been essentially unarmed, having been sent into enemy territory to slip into Komakyuta.

The Lord Protector Kabui Somal had likely planned to rendezvous with the Suje navy at the border.

The Atinjo Grand Duchy tried to stop them regardless.

Even without Ryo’s help, the Rain Shooter might have broken through, albeit damaged… but Ryo intervened because he didn’t want the ship harmed.

This time was different.

They couldn’t yet say exactly how it differed, and the enemy had over twenty warships… but still, they had a confidence they could handle it.

And then the bombardment began.

TLN: Please read my translations at tseirptranslations.com, I did not give permission to any site to host my translations.

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