CH 7: Perspective
Ch 7
Ainz's mood had improved a lot after taking care of those pirates. Around half of those pirates had been smart enough to retreat to the other side of the deck, and they complied when he told them to enter the cage in which the prisoners had been.
He had freed the prisoners before that and was relieved to see that they had left their cage. They were currently stuffing themselves with food and quietly discussing something while sending wary glances in his direction.
"Well, I suppose a bit of wariness is warranted."
Ainz sighed. He was currently standing by the now extinguished fire. He had not been sure on how to address the prisoners when they were still in the cage and had opted to simply do something else. He had forced the rest of the pirates to surrender, not that it took much effort at this point, and had brought them to the cell. Not wanting to bother the freed prisoners while they were eating and reconnecting, he decided to give them a bit of time to do so.
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Only he did not know what to do while waiting. He decided to explore the ship, finding different cabins that the pirates had probably shared between each other. He found an empty kitchen and a half-full treasure room, which he obviously went through in the hopes of finding a magic item or something else worth taking, only to be disappointed. He consoled himself by taking some jewels and a bit of what he suspected to be money.
The small size of the ship led to him being done with it in the span of a few minutes, so he just went back outside and enjoyed the view of the sea while preparing the questions he wanted to ask.
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Emi was happily watching the villagers eating and talking, all the while munching on a loaf of bread. The villagers had been talking about what had happened and supporting those who had lost family members. The atmosphere was somber but hopeful, with most of the villagers simply trying to regain their bearings and reorganizing each other.
The son of the mayor of one of the other villages had taken on the responsibility to tally the numbers of the survivors, and he was currently discussing which marine base to head to and what to do afterwards. She didn't care, though. Her mom was still alive, and so were her friends.
Some of her friends had lost family members and were sad now. She did not want to cry anymore and wanted her friends to be happy as well so she was planning on going to cheer them up!
She was about to get up and skip over to them when her mom stopped her.
Emi noticed that everyone had fallen silent and was watching as the man who had saved them reappeared on the deck.
He had simply disappeared after saving them, not saying a word to anyone. She had thought a lot about what he was doing and come to the conclusion that he was probably looking to save other prisoners or catch other pirates!
His reappearance on the deck made most of the people who had noticed him rather nervous. They had not seen the battle between him and the pirates, but the outcome was enough to prove that he was strong. Emi did understand why everyone was so on edge. He was pretty scary after all. Still! She was going to talk to him later! And ask him his name!
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"Gerard, we won't be able to make it! The bow of the ship is in tatters; one slightly stronger wave will be enough to break it!"
"But we have to notify the Marines! We are safe now, but we have nowhere to go to. We need to bring the pirates to a marine base and ask them to help us with reconstruction."
"You think they will help us? The Marines exist to fight pirates, not to build a village."
"Whatever it is, we need all the help we can get. I already asked old John's son to take a few people and do what he can to stabilize the bow."
"And what do we do about the sail? It's burned to a crisp!"
To say there was a commotion around Gerard was an understatement. He had been the son of the mayor of his town and decided that someone had to organize the group. He already regretted his decision, with all the different voices telling him to do different things. His current priority was to find Land. Staying on the sea with an unmoving ship would undoubtedly attract more danger. But the bow and the sails had to be fixed if they wanted to get the ship to move.
"We can't take care of everything at once. We have only so many carpenters who can help out with fixing the ship, and that clearly takes precedence over anything else."
The people around him nodded but were obviously still nervous. He was about to continue on the next item on the list when the trapdoor opened, and that giant of a man stepped out. The man only took a glance at them before heading towards the railings and simply staring out at the sea.
"Who do you think he is? That's not a Marine uniform." Hushed whispers were appearing around Gerard.
"Maybe he is another pirate."
Someone said it...
The villagers started getting nervous again when he intervened, trying to sound confident about his guess.
"I wouldn't worry about that; he probably is some kind of bounty hunter."
"Should we approach him?"
"He doesn't seem very interested in talking to us..."
"We should wait for him to come to us so as not to bother him."
As the group seemingly came to a consensus, a loud voice could be heard coming from the young girl who had been sitting at their table moments ago, now standing behind their savior.
"Hello, I'm Emi. Who are you?"
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"Hello, I'm Emi. Who are you?"
Ainz heard the voice of one of the ex-prisoners behind. He slowly turned around to see a girl who he judged to be around 10 years old, seemingly waiting for his answer. Behind her sat the other ex-prisoners, all of them pale-faced and watching the interaction between him and the girl like hawks. The worry on their faces was more than obvious, so he opted to play this as nicely as he could.
"Well, it is nice to meet you, young Emi. I am Ainz Ooal Gown. Feel free to call me Ainz."
He had taken on a professional smile while talking, only to remember the fact that he was now incapable of doing so, not that it mattered while he wore the mask.
His tone seemed to have worked because the girl's eyes were sparkling.
"Okay, Ainz! Are you a Marine hero?"
'A marine? Is she asking whether I serve in the Marine forces'?
Ainz was confused. The meaning of Marine was obviously not lost on him. What confused him was the fact that the girl spoke about them like they were some grand heroes. He remembered the Marine as a simple military department for sea warfare. Given the sheer size of the sea, the Marine must have a lot of influence.
"Hmm, no. I am... a merchant. Yes. I sell my services for whoever may need them. Although I usually don't charge for saving people. Helping someone in need is common sense, after all."
He cringed internally at his statement. Calling himself a merchant in such a situation was just weird. Not to mention that the second part makes him Sound like a sellsword or a bounty hunter, while he had simply stolen his last line from Touch Me, their guild's former silver paladin and world champion, in order to reassure her she wouldn't have to pay him back for his help.
'Well, let's just hope she doesn't question me too much...'
He waited for her to continue talking, but she stayed silent. As he turned his head to see why she wasn't answering, he noticed her staring at him, with her mouth wide agape.
"That... THAT'S SO COOL!"
Her statement was loud enough for him to consider the possibility of sonic damage, and he just knew he had gathered the attention of every person on the ship.
He wasn't sure how to answer her but was saved from his predicament by the group of ex-prisoners who were approaching him.
"H-hello. Nice to meet you. I am Gerard. Thank you for saving us... Sir?"
"Oh, the pleasure is all mine. My name is Ainz Ooal Gown. I was simply passing by when I noticed your dilemma and decided to intervene.
The man seemed to relax a little bit, although he still remained notably tense.
"We are truly grateful to you, Sir Gown. Without you, I have no doubt we'd end up in slavery or just dead."
The atmosphere grew somber.
"Slavery or death... Well, I suppose I see why you are grateful then. I am not going to ask you for compensation. It would be unbecoming of me. I would instead like a bit of information. I have been lost at sea, and I would truly appreciate a map. Perhaps you could point me to Land?"
Gerard was confused. What did he mean by Land? Did he mean Island? Regardless, he was glad that he would be able to help this Ainz Ooal Gown. A few villagers had ransacked the captain's cabin when Sir Gown had disappeared inside of the ship, and they had found a map.
"We found a map in the cabin. We would gladly show it to you."
"I'd appreciate that."
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To say that Ainz was surprised was an understatement. It seemed like the entirety of the world was submerged by the sea. There was no big continental landmass. There were only islands and mountain ranges that split the sea. The map he was seeing was clearly incomplete.
It only showed a domain known as West Blue. A few islands and cities were marked, and on both sides, a gigantic mountain range was fully isolating the sea. The mountain range on the right side and the left side were both called Red Line. Did that mean that it spanned the entire world?
Ainz was more than skeptical. Maybe the people here considered it the end of the world? The map did not show territory past the mountain range, and the lack of technology he had noticed could be a show of ignorance similar to the Middle Ages.
On the other hand, if it were true, a mountain doing a full circle around the world would be very impressive. He would be sure to see it one day.
The mountain on the left side did not show any sort of rivers or means of travel. It seemed impossible to cross by boat, but that was not a problem for Ainz.
But the one on the right side was more interesting. It showed a river, seemingly traveling through the mountain. The mountain was called "Reverse Mountain."
The Destination of the river could not be seen on the map.
The villagers around him noticed him freezing up while staring at the map. They did not know exactly why he froze, so they simply waited.
"Reverse Mountain, huh... That will be a future destination..."
He then turned towards Gerard.
"Do you know where this leads to?"
He asked while pointing at the Reverse Mountain. The villagers looked at each other. It was common knowledge, after all. Perhaps a rhetorical question?
Someone answered
"The Grand Line."
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'So they do know what lies beyond the mountains.'
The discussion had ended, and Ainz had learned a lot. It seemed like the Red Line really did go full circle, basically splitting the world in two. There was more to that, however. At the upper end of the map, Ainz had noticed Calm Belt. The calm belt was apparently a part of the sea that flanked the so-called Grand Line. Ainz had not pushed his luck to ask about the Calm Belt, but the fact that Reverse Mountain was considered an entrance to the Grand Line meant that traveling through the Calm Belt simply wasn't possible.
He was, however, very curious about the reason for that. But he did not wish to expose himself as a stranger, which is why he had tried to probe carefully. He was pretty sure he had failed at that when he had asked about where Reversemountain led to.
"Well, there is no point dwelling on that."
In short, the world was vertically split by the Red Line and horizontally split by the Grand Line, which was in turn flanked by the Calm Belt. Accessing the Grand Line was only possible by entering a specific point in the Reverse Mountain, which would actually have a river going upwards, before dropping back down into the Grand Line.
He had also learned that the West Blue was not the only sea. The sea, which was on the opposite side of the calm Belt intersection, was known as North Blue, while the sea on the other side of the Red Line was the South Blue, and above it was the East Blue.
"For the world to be conveniently split like that... "
He had his doubts. Suzuki Satoru had never believed in the supernatural, but Ainz Ooal Gown certainly did. He was sure there was... something. Perhaps not God, but a geography like that had to be made by something intelligent. He did not believe for a second that nature alone did this.
"Probably some overambitious king who wanted access to all the seas. Maybe he ordered his slaves to dig through the mountain. Maybe those rivers are actually just flowing backwards due to some technology..."
It sounded hollow to him. If he was capable of magic, then there could be someone else who did the same. Ainz did not doubt he could achieve similar feats with his magic items working in conjunction with his spells.
He shook his head and kept walking towards the very back of the ship. He was overthinking this. The whole situation gnawed at him, and what he had learned about what could have happened to the villagers did not alleviate his worries. He needed some time to reorganize his thoughts by himself.
Celestial Dragons. Whether they truly were dragons, he did not know, but one of the villagers had mentioned slaves tended to end up in their hands.
The government. It had been mentioned as a singularity. Meaning that there were no other governments. That meant that a single government was ruling over the entirety of the world. It meant world peace. It also meant that all the other problems would stem from criminality and corruption. He had not heard about any other problems besides piracy.
The Marine. Apparently responsible for the safety of the entire maritime world, which was basically 90% of the surface. The villagers had good things to say about them. They simultaneously acted as police and military.
Frankly, the world being united like that was unimaginable for Suzuki Satoru. For him, it was a good thing. A country would not wage war against itself, after all. It meant that most people could live without fearing for their lives. The only exception to that rule seemed to be piracy...
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Piracy...
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It angered him. For someone like him, who had grown up in the perfect model of a dystopian world, people sullying what seemed "wonderful" to him was the height of selfishness. The people here were able to breathe and eat. They could simply let themselves be cared for by the government, yet instead opted to go around raiding villages and harming others with the only goal of indulging themselves.
He was shaking just thinking about it. A dark aura left his body, and his shadow seemed to stretch. His hand, covered by his gauntlet, crushed the railing into splinters.
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Anger
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All those senseless actions, born out of senseless sin.
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Expectation
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All those ugly things in such a beautiful, peaceful world.
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Prevarication
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If he had been born here, he would never have turned out like them...
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Anger, born not out of compassion, but out of jealousy
Expectation, born not out of observation but out of delusion
Prevarication, born not out of denial but out of cowardice
Life is shaped by what surrounds it.
You are what surrounds life.
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*Gasp "so deep."
I learned cool words today