“Doesn’t matter if you were mistaken, but could you tell me if you saw something? It’ll help if something’s happening over there.”
It was a perfect argument.
She peeked around from side to side. Everyone was listening in to Neia’s exchange with the paladin, and all eyes were on Neia. Things being what they were, she could not simply bluff her way through this by saying “Oh, I was just mistaken.”
“...Ah, I just felt that there was a big shadow out there.”
“Is that big shadow a monster?”
The person Neia least wanted to hear fired a question her way. Dammit, don’t ask me, she thought, but obviously she could not actually say that.
Neia sighed several dozen times in her heart before answering:
“No, it’s not like that. I had the feeling I saw a building or something similar.”
“...Did you really see it?”
“I’m not too sure. It just felt that way. It’s quite likely that I was mistaken.”
“A building? A fort of the Sorcerous Kingdom or something like that?”
“I don’t know. However, the fact is that we haven’t seen anything that looks like a fort of the Sorcerous Kingdom near the roads, or near the villages. Those wouldn’t be out of place on the borderlands.”
While she had felt that it was a ship, it would go across better if she said that she had seen a building which looked like a ship rather than a ship itself.
“I see… what do you think, Gustavo?”
“I believe her. Although — you didn’t verify that it was a building, did you?”
“Yes, it was just for a moment. It might have been something else entirely.”
“Captain Custodio, in any event, I think waiting in the fog is the best option. I don’t think the Sorcerous Kingdom’s forts will permit foreigners to enter.”
“Makes sense. Let’s do it, then. Everyone, stay alert.”
She was answered by a chorus of voices, as well as Neia.
While they were ostensibly keeping watch, everyone’s attention was focused on a single point. That was because everybody wanted to verify what Neia had seen.
The thick fog continued to obscure all vision, and just as everyone was starting to lose interest in the building, something happened.
“—What!?”
Neia and the knight to her right both gasped in surprise.
A shadow was moving in the thick fog.
“W-What? What was that?”
Neia could not answer the paladin’s question. Saying it was a ship was crazy talk.
“Is that shadow… moving? Isn’t that a building?”
The Captain’s question was very reasonable. However, since Neia had not told her what it actually was, all she could say until the end was that it looked like a building.
“When I saw it, it looked like one…”
“But it’s moving now, isn’t it? Also… the shadow looks like it’s getting darker; is it headed our way?”
Indeed, if that was really a ship, then it could move towards them. In other words — that ship was one which could sail on land.
How could that… it’s impossible...
In the end, the shadow approached close enough through the fog until even the people other than Neia could see what it really was.
It was indisputably a ship, and it was moving as though it were sailing upon the waves. Rows of long, thick oars protruded from its sides, rowing like they were actually pushing through the water.
“Are you kidding me?”
The shocked words which escaped Remedios’s mouth spoke for everyone in the group.
“Do the ships of the Sorcerous Kingdom travel on land? The inland countries have all sorts of surprising toys…”
No, no, not like this, Neia said in her heart. She was probably not the only one to think that way.
“A ship that travels through fog… I seem to recall hearing about something like that before…”
“I expected nothing less of you, Gustavo! Come, try and recall it, I’m sure you can do it. You taught me all kinds of things in the past, I’m sure you can do it. Right, want me to shake your head for you?”
“Please don’t do that. Besides, I’m not a sage or anything. It’s just because our Captain has no head for such facts which requires me to remember them on her behalf.”
“...That’s because all I needed to do was ask you or Queralt.”
“It seems we’ve been spoiling you too much. Once we send Jaldabaoth back to hell, I’m going to make sure you make up for all your years of lost learning. Ah, thanks to that, I remember now. It’s a Ghost Ship. I heard some sailors talk about it, a ship that appears out of the fog. It’s a ship that should have sunk, but which sails once more, and it is helmed by the undead.”
“Oh! Yes, I’ve heard that Ghost Ships are preceded by thick fog. ...Everyone, form up! If it’s a Ghost Ship, then we’ll be facing the undead! It’s the enemy!”
Even the paladins could not help but be shaken by their Captain’s order.
“Wait! Please wait, Captain Custodio! The Sorcerous Kingdom which is our destination is ruled by an undead king, so what if this is one of the Sorcerous Kingdom’s ships?”
“What!? He brought a Ghost Ship onto dry land and then used it? ...What the hell is this?”
It was only natural that Remedios would be dumbfounded.
The undead could control other undead. However, what kind of undead being could put a Ghost Ship, that would originally have sailed the seas, under their command?
Soon, the ship revealed itself in its entirety.
Indeed, it was truly a Ghost Ship.
It was broken down all over. There was a huge hole in the side of the hull, and the deck planks were curled upwards in many places.
It was gigantic, even bigger than the Holy Kingdom Navy’s flagship “Iron Hammer of the Holy King.” If it were not so dilapidated, it would give off an impression of tremendous power.
The last of its three masts flew aft sails, while the others had regular square sails. However, they were all torn and tattered, and they did not look like they could accomplish their mission of propelling a vessel.
There was an abnormal sharpness to the way its prow protruded forth. It looked very impressive, like it had been polished. In addition, it glowed with a dim, mystical light, and it gave the feeling that the ship was proud of itself.
After that, the most eye-catching feature was the ensign it flew on top of the main mast. It bore the symbol of the Sorcerous Kingdom.
The ship floated a meter off the ground as it moved forward.
Soon, the ship passed by the group — who were frozen in place by the bizarre sight — from the side.
Nobody was able to move, and then the fog began to thin. Did that ship spew fog as it sailed? No, if that were the case, then the fog would have been thickest when one was near the ship, so they should not have been able to even see the hull itself. It was probably like some sort of concealing layer that shrouded the area around the ship with fog.
Or perhaps it was a cage to keep its prey from escaping. Neia was scared stiff by that thought of hers.
The Sorcerer King… an undead king. He might turn out to be a very scary person.
When she heard he had summoned gigantic goats of uncertain origin, she had imagined them as adorable sheep, so perhaps Neia might have underestimated the Sorcerer King in some small way.
It made her uneasy.
Just like how paladins viewed the undead as enemies, the undead might consider paladins to be their enemies too. If that were the case, the fate of their group would be—
Even so, they had no choice but to beg him for aid, in order to meet Momon, the man who had once fought on par with Jaldabaoth. Neia wiped her sweat away with her palm.