Spare Your Lives

The Blue Marlin's voyage began with the ringing of a large bell attached beside the bow.

Following the captain's orders, they raised the anchor and unfurled the three massive sails, which caught the wind and pulled taut, dragging the ship forward.

While the sailors worked diligently, Turan leisurely lay on his cabin bed reading books.

The first was about shipboard regulations.

After explaining the various positions on the ship starting with the captain, it listed unwritten rules and superstitions, many of which were quite strange.

Not allowing women aboard, not looking down at the sea at night, not whistling...

There were so many prohibited things it was almost ridiculous.

Moreover, the punishments for breaking rules were all rather gruesome, with many involving being tied to the mast and whipped.

Next, he read the book about merfolk, and perhaps because it was written near where merfolk actually lived, it contained several more detailed and specific accounts than what was in the Orem City library.

From stories about the magic mirror connecting the North and South seas to tales of merfolk royalty who could transform into giant fish.

For something bought merely because it caught his eye, it contained quite many fascinating stories that helped pass the time well.

After enjoying reading for a couple of hours, Turan began feeling cramped in the narrow cabin, so he closed his book and went up to the deck.

The land had long since disappeared beyond the horizon, leaving everything surrounded by deep blue seawater.

Because of this, even though the ship was cutting through the wind and moving, it didn't feel like they were making any progress.

"Oh my, Sir Knight has come out!"

As he came up to the deck, First Mate Osban welcomed him.

Thanks to reading about crew ranks in the book earlier, he knew that this position was second only to the captain on this ship.

From being responsible for all cargo to managing the ship in the captain's absence, wasn't that what it said?

Though for such a position, his excessive bowing made him seem rather lightweight as a person.

"It was getting stuffy inside, so I came out for some fresh air."

"The cabin's a bit like that, isn't it? Haha... Actually, most merchant ships aren't quite that bad."

Osban explained that it was because the greedy shipowner had expanded the cargo hold excessively to stuff in more cargo.

He said that normally, even senior crew members could each use rooms slightly larger than Turan's cabin, but on this ship, they had to share one somewhat larger room.

Turan decided to be grateful for having a room to himself.

"I heard it takes twenty days to a month to reach the Enril Desert."

"Yes. Though that's assuming favorable winds and waves. The North Sea is quite a rough place."

Osban said he had sailed in the South Sea in his youth, where the waves were mild and the winds weak, so while ships couldn't move quickly, there were few variables in navigation.

In contrast, the North Sea was the complete opposite – when catching a favorable wind, they could literally fly like the wind, but one wrong move could greatly throw them off course or even cause them to sink.

Not to mention the pirates and merfolk that swarmed everywhere indiscriminately.

"But this time we feel secure with you here, Sir Knight!"

Despite having never seen his abilities, Osban loudly proclaimed that with Turan aboard, pirates and merfolk wouldn't dare touch this ship.

Though somewhat embarrassed by such blatant flattery, Turan smiled wryly but didn't tell him to stop.

It seemed it would only make the atmosphere awkward, and moreover, the junior sailors nearby showed relieved expressions while listening to Osban's words.

He seemed to be deliberately boasting like this to reassure his subordinates.

In fact, regardless of how poorly founded it was, his faith itself wasn't wrong.

There weren't many enemies who could challenge a merchant ship guarded by someone with power equivalent to a mid-to-upper ranking noble.

After listening to the continued praise for a while, Turan asked Osban something he'd been curious about.

"Actually, I don't quite understand why knights' wages are so high here. Wouldn't House Kamain benefit more from posting knights at reasonable prices to prevent merchant ships from being plundered? They collect taxes on every trade anyway."

Even House Arabion had knights performing ship duty in their vassal houses' territories.

Though he hadn't looked into it deeply, surely they weren't paying wages so high that even theater companies would find difficult to manage.

"Well, about that..."

Scratching his cheek at such questioning, Osban answered in a somewhat careful tone.

"Pardon my rudeness, but in this seafaring work, you never know when you might die. When we sailors lose contact with someone we knew for a few years, we don't think they've gone somewhere far away – we assume they're dead. So..."

"You mean even knights get scared because they'll die if the ship sinks?"

"Th-that's not quite what I meant!"

"No, now that I hear it, that makes sense. There really is a good reason for everything."

Thinking about it, even he wouldn't easily dare try to return to land if the ship suddenly sank in the middle of the sea.

While water was abundant in seawater and could be magically purified for drinking, and food could be caught and grilled fish, how much effort would it take to swim to land, and how would one sleep?

If even Turan felt this way, an ordinary knight would run out of magical power before long, becoming no different from a normal human before drowning.

Perhaps House Kamain had actively posted knights on merchant ships in the past but started demanding high wages because they couldn't bear the losses.

"Seems like you're having some interesting conversations."

At that moment, Captain Pires came up from below deck, adjusting his eye patch as he spoke.

He first bowed slightly to Turan.

"I've failed to properly greet our esteemed guest for several hours. I hope these idiots haven't caused you any discomfort?"

"Not at all. I've been learning many useful things."

"That's good. Osban? The wheat storage area looks like it might leak, go rearrange it."

"Yes sir!"

At Pires's order, Osban thumped his chest with his fist before heading below deck.

Watching Pires, Turan asked the question he'd been meaning to ask earlier.

"By the way, what do you mainly sell in the Enril Desert? I don't know anything about that region."

"Various things. Since it's truly just sand there, they can't grow cotton, so cotton and cotton cloth sell well, and since land trade with Arabion was cut off, grain sells well too. But the real profit comes on the return journey."

"The return?"

"Yes. While everything needed in the Enril Desert is heavy and bulky compared to its price, the goods coming from there to Abacha are expensive and easy to store. Since it's mostly spices and gems, we can even sleep more comfortably on the way back."

"Too bad I can't join you for the return journey."

At Turan's jest, Pires giggled before asking.

"Will you be staying long in the Enril Desert?"

"Yes, probably."

In truth, Turan hadn't yet clearly thought of how to find his roots in the land of Zahar.

Without even knowing his father's status, barging into the main house would be like reaching into a box not knowing whether it contained treasure or a sword.

But if he excluded that method, his only clues were at best a portrait depicting his mother's face and a few personal effects.

With just those, he might need to stay in the desert for several years, or even longer.

==

Most fortunately, Turan's first voyage proceeded smoothly for a week.

Without storms, tidal waves, or attacks from pirates and merfolk.

Which meant, in other words, that boring days continued with nothing to do.

"This is the number 5 rope?"

"Yes. When strong headwinds blow from the front, we need to release this and those two middle ropes over there to quickly gather the sails. Otherwise, the ship will just spin in place."

"Oho."

Having finished his books, Turan satisfied his thirst for knowledge by catching available sailors one by one and learning various skills, from how to sail the ship to other techniques.

The sailors were initially flustered that a knight, who was like heaven to them, would learn skills practiced by lowly sailors, but seeing how he listened attentively to their words and rarely forgot what he learned, they generously passed on various tips and tricks.

In fact, judging by appearance alone, Turan was close to being the youngest among the sailors here, so there wasn't much awkwardness in teaching him.

"Meal time!"

"Alright, let's eat! Everyone to the dining room!"

Meals were served three times a day, and as expected, both quantity and quality were incomparably crude compared to meals on land.

This was because they hadn't allocated much space for food storage to begin with, and most of the preserved food was of poor quality.

Since even the captain's cabin wasn't very spacious, Captain Pires and Turan also ate with the sailors in the ship's largest dining room.

"Still, fortunately they didn't leave out this pickled cabbage! Without it, we'd all have died of gum disease long ago!"

"Gum disease?"

"Yes. It's a disease where your gums bleed and you die, but eating sour foods cures it. Fruit spoils quickly, so pickled cabbage is the best. Though it tastes like death. Kehe."

Deck Boss Lenak laughed as if trying to scare him while eating hardtack with salted meat and pickled cabbage.

Perhaps because Turan had asked many questions while learning ship handling skills over the past few days, though Lenak's speech remained formal, he now treated Turan almost like one of his young sailors.

"That's interesting. How did people find that out?"

"Well, I suppose someone discovered it sometime and it spread. Before that was known, they even used to eat merfolk raw."

"Oh."

Suddenly reminded of the dark elf necromancers crunching and eating people, Turan's appetite diminished and he put down what he was eating.

At that moment, a shout came from the sailor observing the surroundings from the top of the mast.

"Ship! Two o'clock direction ahead! Medium-sized vessel!"

"What?"

"Pirates?!"

When one of the dining sailors shouted, an answer came moments later.

"Can't tell! No house flag flying above!"

"Feels like pirates. I thought the weather was too good with no rain. Battle stations for now!"

At the deck boss's order, the dining sailors rushed to the deck or distributed weapons without needing to be told who should go first.

First Mate Osban turned the Blue Marlin left to try to avoid the approaching ship, while Captain Pires, though somewhat tense, remained quite composed as he sat at the table watching his subordinates handle the situation.

Turan slipped past the busily moving sailors onto the deck and used detection magic to check the approaching ship.

At a glance, it appeared slightly smaller than their Blue Marlin and had four masts, but estimating its speed, it seemed slightly faster than them.

Moments later, the unidentified ship turned right as if pursuing the Blue Marlin.

"Damn, they were pirates after all!"

"What should we do, Captain? Should we try to shake them? They're a bit faster, so we might get caught if they chase us long. With favorable winds, we might make it to a nearby island before they catch us."

Turan felt Pires's gaze briefly scanning him.

Though they had tested his abilities once, they hadn't seen his actual combat capability, so he seemed somewhat uneasy.

"Will you be alright?"

"As long as there's no knight or noble aboard, it won't be a problem."

"...Very well. Turn the ship! We'll engage!"

"Long live Sir Knight!"

"Kill them all!"

Hearing Turan's confident response, the Blue Marlin's sailors showed slightly anxious but trusting attitudes.

Shortly after, the Blue Marlin turned again and rapidly closed distance with the enemy ship.

The likely pirates on the other side seemed perplexed by the Blue Marlin's sudden turn, but they didn't withdraw their aggressive stance.

"Hey-! Stop your ship-! Then we'll spare your lives-!"

When they were a few hundred meters apart, a man standing at the bow shouted in a booming voice.

Hearing this, Turan became curious and asked the deck boss beside him.

"Do they really spare lives if you surrender?"

"I've heard they do whatever they want."

"I thought as much."

Well, it would be strange for pirates who don't follow the law to keep promises.

Thanks to this, Turan could also act freely without any guilt.

After all, humans who kill other humans for their own desires are just wolves that need to be hunted.

The two sailing ships drew closer and closer.

When they were about thirty to forty meters apart, Turan leaped with transcendent leg strength and landed on the pirate ship's deck.

Seeing the deck crack with a thunderous sound, the pirates wore dumbfounded expressions.