The Nebula’s Civilization

Sung-Woon immediately realized what Eldar meant by ‘that knowledge.’

“You’re talking about magic, right?”

“Yes.”

The knowledge alchemists held was known to outsiders as mysterious technology, namely the art of making elixir, also known as alchemy. The mysterious technology was science, and accordingly, alchemists were scientists, and alchemy experiments were scientific experiments. There was a flaw in the equation in that the alchemy experiments weren’t strictly consistent as science was, and there was some mysticism involved, but the alchemists’ willingness to embrace failure as development was similar to scientists. However, there were secrets that alchemists thoroughly hid.

‘Demonic Magic.’

On this land, cursed individuals continued to be born just like Hwee Ravina Muel, a Human with antlers on her head. According to the setting of The Lost World, the cursed ones were remnants of ancient evil power found in ancient ruins like Pzzt, or they came from lasting bloodlines like Hwee-Kyung and Ravina. Demonic Magic could manifest as different powers with different properties, including Electricity, Flame, and Gravity, and those who were empowered by spirits of Demonic Magic could use those kinds of abilities.

However, such forms of Demonic Magic were merely supernatural powers that were a facet of something greater. According to the knowledge discovered in places like ancient ruins, these superpowers stemmed from something at a higher level, and that was Magic.

“Magic itself can be used by only a few people. And it's separate from the changes in society driven by the development of technology like gunpowder. It made sense that Kyle believed bringing up magic would only make Hwee-Mun more puzzled.”

And there was another reason.

In order to become a wizard, at least half of the ancient ruins on the continent had to be explored, and the resulting knowledge had to be gathered. In The Lost World, the birth of a Wizard was equivalent to what the industrial revolution was to scientific technology, and it would define the start of a different era. But this time, the birth of a wizard was delayed.

‘Usually they would appear within the first hundred years since the game starts. But it’s probably because all the players value conservative tactics that they’re distancing themselves from Demonic magic and Magic… A Wizard might have appeared already in another continent.’

It could be said that Sung-Woon was in an advantageous position because he had incorporated one of the Demonic Magics into his religious system. And in order to learn Magic, a player needed at least one kind of Demonic Magic.

Then Eldar said, “Would Wisdom have an advantage?”

“Why?”

“Because Asbestos has the Alchemist Tower.”

“Hm, it is most likely for a wizard to appear there.”

“Isn’t that something to worry about?”

Sung-Woon played innocent.

“I don’t know. Wisdom is probably hoping that a wizard doesn't emerge from his land.”

***

The Humiliation of Pirates smoothly cruised and arrived at Bavrin. Onboard were the leader of the Eastern Mountain Expedition Team, Vasen Lak Orazen, and the ship captain in charge of transportation, Theone Itimo.

Although Satyrs were the main occupants of Danyum, the harbor city, Bavrin, saw various species coming and going. Sizewise, Bavrin was smaller than Orazen, but it was comparable to Orazen since it was a harbor with lots of merchant ships.

On the deck, Vasen said to Theone, “There are so many ships.”

“Because it’s the closest harbor to Orazen. Ships setting out from this harbor continue west to Stone Cave or Danly. And there are also ships that go beyond that.”

“Where to?”

Theone looked back at Vasen as if she didn’t understand why he would ask that.

“To the western continent. Where else would it be?”

Rumors had it that the legendary storyteller Owen had eventually gone to the western continent.

“Does it really exist?”

“There aren’t any waterways for ships to regularly travel along, and many ships did fail to return after setting out for the journey, but it definitely does exist.”

“No, what I mean is that it may just be a big island, right?”

Vasen’s question stemmed from the self-centered worldview of someone who could have become the supreme ruler of the country at one point.

And Theone believed the confidence wasn’t unfounded.

“Perhaps that might be true. But those in the western continent seemed to call us the eastern continent.”

“Then what do they call themselves?”

“The central continent.”

“Why?”

“They said there is another continent to their west. But I can’t be certain about that part.”

Vasen stroked his chin and said, “Why don’t merchants travel to other continents and trade? Even if it’s dangerous, merchants would go if they can expect to profit from the trip.”

“We only do that when the risk is somewhat acceptable.”

“Is it that dangerous?”

“You wouldn’t know because you haven’t been on ships a lot. There are pirates, reefs, areas where the wind doesn’t blow, high waves, sea monsters, storms…”

“Alright. I get the idea.”

Theone smiled and said, “I need to go make the trade. I’ll be back. You can relax on the ship, or go have some fun at the harbor as long as you come back by the time we agreed on.”

“I feel under the weather because the ship is small. I’ll go on a walk.”

Vasen took a tour around the harbor with his entourage and browsed the unique wares. Half of them were interesting, but the other half were from Black Scale, which he found no amusement out of. When Vasen thought about it, he realized that it was only natural since the really interesting objects would be transported across the sea to Orazen rather than being kept in Bavrin.

‘Anyways, I haven’t noticed any sign.’

There were other people who assisted the expedition team on The Humiliation of Pirates. Vasen thought there was the possibility that his supervisor could be among them, but no one was shadowing him during this little impromptu tour.

‘I guess they wouldn’t make it so obvious. Or maybe they simply took orders from their superior and don’t care as much.’

When Vasen was about to return to the ship, he found a fruit store and stopped there. There were fruits that didn’t grow in Black Scale, so he struck up a conversation with the fruit vendor.

“Are you going back to Black Scale?” the fruit vendor asked.

“Yes?”

“Then you should pray to God that you won’t run into pirates.”

“Pirates?”

The Gnome fruit vendor looked around as if it would be troublesome if anyone else overheard before whispering into Vasen’s ear, “You don’t know about Yaboon’s Pirates?”

“...No, I don’t.”

“Right, you said you were from Orazen. There’s a group of pirates who dominate the whole area around Bavrin. And they mostly target ships setting out from Bavrin.”

“Danyum just lets them be?”

“Of course not. However, the problem is that they are a large group of pirates from the south with more than one or two ships. It’s said that they are continuing north from Bavrin, so wouldn’t it soon become dangerous for the sea near Black Scale as well?”

Vasen thought that this would be a serious problem if true.

‘The soldiers of Danyum aren’t that weak, so there must be a problem preventing them from stopping the pirates from approaching the city. And this is a large port rather than a small, nameless village.’

Vasen was considering sending a letter to Kyle when Theone returned with the niter she had bought to later resell at Sashian. Kyle was likely to be aware of the matter already, but even Vasen knew that something was worth noting when it happened repeatedly. He made sure to inform Theone, the captain of the ship he was riding.

“Yaboon’s Pirates?”

“Have you heard of them?”

“Not at all.” Theone laughed. “All the harbor merchants do that. They make up stories or exaggerate them. That keeps up the appearance of some customers staying at their shop for a long time. It’s a business strategy.”

“I know that since Orazen, where I grew up, was also a harbor city.”

“But you never left the palace, did you?”

Vasen contemplated whether he should tell her that he spent more time hanging out with hooligans outside the palace, or if he should just stay quiet to protect his reputation. And it seemed that Theone took Vasen’s silence as admission.

“Oh, now that I think of it, the palace asked us to bring as great a load as possible, but apparently the goods I wanted won’t arrive until tomorrow.”

“So are you going to wait until then?”

“No. We’ll leave first and have the military ship carry the rest of the goods.”

“But then we won’t be escorted by the military ship.”

“We have more goods to unload, and we’ll buy food at Sashian. If we leave one day earlier, we’ll save time.”

“However…”

“Any time spent on the ship costs money, which includes drinking water, food, and the crew’s wages.”

Vasen couldn’t say anything to that since Theone Itimo was the one in charge of all matters related to the ship.

“Then we must pray that we don’t run into any pirates.”

“Don’t worry. I did talk about pirates too, but I’ve never run into them in my entire career.”

***

The next day, while looking at the horizon off the coast of Bavrin, Theone screamed, “P…pirates!”

Standing by her side, Vasen crossed his arms and sighed.

It was clear that Theone was bewildered, but she quickly gave orders to throw offboard the sandbags as well as drinking water and food supplies that weren’t immediately needed to lighten the ship. And her last order was for the crew members to arm themselves with the shabby armory that each sailor had prepared on their own.

There were three ships that appeared to be pirate ships. Vasen couldn’t be certain if they were pirates or not, but Theone came to the conclusion based on the ships’ size and shape and the fact that they were obviously chasing the Humiliation of Pirates. And it seemed that the other sailors agreed too.

“Can we run away?”

“The Humiliation of Pirates used to be a pirate ship. It is made of relatively light wood and comes with a large sail. It rides the wind well…but that isn’t enough.”

All other conditions being equal, what would make the difference was the fact that the pirate ships would be loaded with only the necessary food supplies.

“What about the niter?”

“The purpose of this journey is to transport niter, isn’t it? It would be better to jump off the ship than casting it away.”

“Still…”

Theone said with a straight face, “Pirate ships undergo modifications to remove all unnecessary structures as long as they can float in the water. They’ll catch up to us anyway. We’re throwing things away to buy us some time until the military ships arrive. They said they would load the wares once morning comes, so we should be only half a day apart if we’re lucky. If only the wind would blow a little stronger…”

Theone put her hands together and prayed with her eyes closed while Vasen stared at her. Then she cracked open an eye to glare at him.

“What are you doing? Hurry up and pray.”

Vasen sighed and sloppily copied Theone’s posture.

Unfortunately, Night Sky wasn’t able to fulfill their prayers because Sung-Woon didn’t have Small Area: Sea Breeze. And soon enough, the smallest and quickest pirate ship came up to The Humiliation of Pirates. Vasen could hear the pirates shouting.

“Brother! Look at that. The ship can’t go forward because it’s loaded!”

“Hahaha! You guys! It seems we’ll be drinking until we’re tipsy tonight! It was worth praying to the White Spider God.”

“Why don’t we jump onto it before the others come?”

“Hm, wait. Not yet…”

Once the pirates got close enough for Vasen and the others to hear them talk, arrows flew from both ships. However, the deck of The Humiliation of Pirates was too high for the pirates, so they weren’t able to shoot properly. On the other hand, the archers onboard The Humiliation of Pirates were terrible at their jobs despite having the advantage of higher ground.

‘White Spider God? I’ve heard a name like that somewhere before.”

Vasen didn’t dwell on it. While he was quite an embarrassment in studying with books, he was confident in studying with his body. He picked up the horn bow that was the pride of Black Scale and leaned over the deck.

Swoosh!

The arrow pierced through the wind and hit a pirate in the middle of their forehead. The noisy chatters from the pirates soon died down. However, Vasen was never one to consider other peoples’ circumstances. The next arrow he shot buried into the temple of another pirate when they were still reeling from the shock. Only then did the pirates start to shout in anger. Those with bows fired arrows at Vasen, but Vasen had already taken cover behind the mast.

Then an Astacidea, who seemed to be the head of those pirates, shouted, “Put the ship right next to theirs! We’re going on board now!”

Ropes were thrown and fastened around the railings of The Humiliation of Pirates. Then the other ends were tied. The ship tilted as the pirates began to climb. However, the sailors on The Humiliation of Pirates remained still. Not because they were afraid. Vasen, who was about to take action, also stopped to watch everything unfold.

“Who shot brother!”

The pirates quickly climbed the ropes and came onto the deck.

However, a large black shadow stood in front of them. It wasn’t Vasen.

“First officer, don’t like pirates.”

“...Kugh.”

“Pirate, throw off ship.”

The Ogre kick threw three pirates into the sea.