Chapter Forty Seven: Listen to the Wind Blow
Fourth Tower Year 4776, 4.3.6
The Independent Kingdom of Praxim
Port of Ottraciel
The ocean voyage to Sett was one of the longest and most risky sea routes undertaken from this port town.
Only a few ferries could even make the three-week voyage over the open sea, and these only did so due to special funding made available by the Guild.
The short explanation for that was that it was simply not a profitable run, especially considering the risk of bad weather or beast attacks. There were few native inhabitants of the ruined continent, and there were no large communities that could support an import/export economy. Both the Guild and the Tower maintained outposts there, though they could hardly be considered self-sufficient. The ferries in fact mostly acted as resupply missions to keep those outposts fed.
Part of the problem was that despite of the size of the landmass, nothing could be done about the sand.
The sand of Sett had some unusual qualities, though most would agree, there was no practical value in it. Thus, it was known as the cursed sand.
In the thousands of years since the Cataclysm, the sand remained inert and unchanged. It did not break down, or decompose in any way. Therefore, it was never replaced with something more useful. When the great disaster that burned the continent transformed the ground, the life, and even the rocks and elements of Sett, into a desolate sea of this pure white sand, it permanently changed the state of everything on the continent.
Each grain of sand was the same shape, size, and weight. The sand could not be cut, burned, or modified by machine or magic. It was theorized, though never proven, that the number of grains of sand that existed at the time of the Cataclysm was exactly the same as what existed today. That the cursed sand could not be destroyed or returned to the world as a living part. Every grain would remain dead forever.
This made reclaiming that land impossible, even many generations later. There had been ideas, of course. Transporting topsoil from other continents, or dredging mud from the seafloor. There were a few small islands nearby that escaped the fate of the mainland, but they were far too small and isolated to support more than a few small outposts. In the end, there was not enough value to be gained by making such an effort to try to bring back the lost continent.
Sett remained a scar on the world and a lesson to those tempted by ambition, and for those who wish to follow leaders who spoke of grand futures: This too could happen to you and yours.
The Guild maintained outposts on several of those islands, keeping an eye out for pirates looking to build a base far from the governments of the world. They also provided support for the scholars and scientists who still studied the effects and phenomena of the destroyed continent. There were also those who made the pilgrimage to bear witness to the great tragedy, the curious, the skeptical, and the zealots.
The large ships required to make the long nautical journey would not exist without the support of the Guild. Developed using the designs of the great battleships of the Empire, They served the morbid duty of keeping watch over the largest graveyard in the history of this, or perhaps any world.
Booking passage on one of these ships was simple enough. The reasons that one might want to go to Sett were varied, and usually something best kept private. One needed only sign the contract of passage, and you can board the next available ship.
Space was also rarely an issue. The ships used could accommodate hundreds of passengers, originally built and planned for armies and equipment. The schedule, however, was a concern for the expedition.
During most of the year, there was only one departure every two weeks, and even that timing may vary based on weather and other complications. In the winter, there might only be one voyage a month. Despite the large size of the vessels, there had been several incidents where even one of these giant ships could be taken to the bottom of the sea, due to bad weather, or attack from the powerful beasts known to inhabit the sea around Sett.
Such problems were more common in the summer, So booking passage as quickly as possible was critical. Fortunately, they only needed to wait a couple of days in Ottraciel for the next departure, and gaining passage was not a problem. Their guild credentials gave them a certain status, and there were few people booking passage anyway. The ship was currently still over half empty, according to the passage agent Rynan had engaged.
The logistics of the passage would be more complicated than the journey across Praxim however.
A number of things caused Marc some concern. First, their group size. It was very unusual for small groups to make this dangerous voyage. Only one or two people booking a passage would almost certainly be noticed. Tower agents were known to pay particular attention to the people and groups visiting Sett, and staying off of their radar was something Marc went to great pains to maintain. Thus, it made sense that they booked travel for their full official party of four.
Another concern dealt with the bus, Marc’s pocket dimensional space that held the rest of their expedition, as well as stored their gear and supplies.
It had not occurred to Marc to test how it would work while on a moving form of transportation. He was able to keep the portal open with no issue in a stable location, but it was unclear if he could do the same if the space the portal occupied were, in fact, moving.
He had done some testing on the back of the Yakkul, but unfortunately, he had never been able to open the portal while riding. Kira explained that there could be a number of explanations for that, however, but for the time being, they had to assume that once the sea voyage began, they might be effectively cut off from the bus as long as they remained onboard the ship.
They ended up booking one cabin with four beds for the journey. Then the plan was that after boarding, Mumay could enter the portal before the vessel moved from its berth. She simply could not spend the entire trip separated from Beth.the other three would spend the rest of the voyage as normal passengers.
Rynan, who had traveled by similar vessels before, indicated that this should not present an issue. Accounting for passengers was typically only done at the beginning and end of the voyage, provided there were no major incidents en route.
With their travel to Sett confirmed, they spent their last few days in Praxim, exploring Ottraciel.
Kira pushed Marc to visit every library, school , and even a few temples in the port city in order to scan any books, maps, or records that might contain useful information. All he needed to do was get within a few dozen meters to be able to get a complete scan of any book or scroll, so most of the visits involved him moving around the city, and requesting permission to look around. This was easily accomplished simply by showing his Guild credentials.
On more than one occasion, Kira notified Marc that he had picked up a tail. This did not seem to be a serious attempt to surveil him, or the party. Rather, it was likely just some idle curiosity on the part of some local groups or individuals who had noticed his movements around the city. They were easy to lose, and did not seem to be persistent or sophisticated.
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Hee-ssu and Enpii took the lead in resupplying for the long voyage. Hee-ssu could use her own storage bag back to collect anything they would need; then, they could transfer it to Marc’s inventory, then Aloysius could give them access to everything any time they needed.
Enpii had eagerly taken to learning cooking from Aloysius and helping with meal preparation. He tried to keep himself as busy as possible, while also supporting Mumay in caring for Beth. Marc also knew that part of his friend lamented not being able to spend more time exploring during his first trip outside the wall since he was a child. He hoped his friend would get more chances like this in the future, but was glad to give him a little bit of time to experience the outside world.
Rynan, on the other hand, chose to spend her time on the bus, sometimes watching Mumay and Beth, or sitting by the pond in the clearing. She also spent a lot of time talking with Lehdze, who would always come out of his studies when invited by his old teacher.
Marc never inquired what they spoke about. Kira, of course, knew everything that took place on the bus, so there was nothing suspicious about their conversations. That said, he would have liked also to have more time to speak with Rynan. He knew there was a lot left that they would need to discuss someday. Before he lost her to time. He told himself he was not jealous, but he found the mantle of responsibility that he now carried as the leader of this important expedition to be a weight that he was not entirely comfortable with.
“Leadership is neither a blessing, nor a reward. It is a curse.”
Rynan once told him that, half joking. Now, he was starting to see the truth in those words.
Making decisions that could change the lives of the people he cared about was a heavy responsibility. He found that he worried, and second-guessed himself constantly.
Riding the desert routes had been what he would consider to be fun. The freedom and clarity of purpose. Marc wondered if that was who he truly was. A loner who just wanted to travel the world without any ties to bind him down.
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At last, the time of departure had come.
Marc, Rynan, Hee-ssu, and Mumay, checked in and entered the boarding arena. It was an enormous area used to sort and direct the cargo and livestock that was being sorted between the many ships currently in the dock.
Marc looked down the port area at the many varieties of seacraft. There were huge variations from ship to ship. He did see a few that resembled ships that he had seen in books and movies, but they were in the minority. He saw few sails and nothing that looked like an engine or a smokestack. Many were similar to the floating barges that he was used to seeing on the rivers inland. More floating platforms than anything else, the ones he had traveled on, were simply designed to keep the cargo afloat, while water mages controlled the speed and direction.
The ship they were traveling on was by far the largest one currently docked. It was enormous, and had an imposing design, dominating the smaller ships around it like a predator surrounded by a flock of sheep.
It was designed unlike anything Marc had ever seen before, not that he had a lot of experience with seafaring craft. Two giant hulls, each several times larger than the largest aircraft he had ever seen, floated in formation, supporting a giant platform. The platform was elevated more than twenty meters above the water level and, was covered with structures, and towers, and even appeared to have an open area for livestock as well as stables. A giant ramp was extended from a high floor of the cargo warehouse, and Marc could see magic-powered carts moving giant containers of cargo into the storage facilities on the platform.
On each of the corners of the rectangular platform was a tall observation tower, with an even taller tower was in the center.
The front of the platform held its most eye-catching feature. The entire front of the ship was dominated by a giant… mouth.
There really was no other way to describe it. It was a huge oval-shaped hole dozens of meters wide and well over ten meters high. Surrounded by metal “lips” that pulled back into snake-like conduits that surrounded the entire edge of the platform.
《Impressive, isn’t it?》
“What the heck is it? I can’t even begin to understand what I am looking at.”
《Ancient high technology. From the days of the Empire. It’s amazing to see it in action. This ship has been rebuilt dozens of times, but the core engine is over six thousand years old.》
“Six thousand? And it still works?”
《Sure, the design is not so complex that it can’t be rebuilt. It’s just that the components are so valuable that no nation could conceive to build a new one now. Well, perhaps Ranobe.》
“What makes it so valuable?”
《Aside from the construction materials, which are considerable, the engine and propulsion systems are, to put it bluntly, world-breaking.》
“What kind of propulsion do they use?”
《Magic, of course. Compared to even the highest technology on your planet, nothing comes even close. Its power, efficiency, and reliability are the result of millennia of research and development.》
“Just for a cargo ship?”
《I see you are still missing the details. Yes, this is a cargo ship, but it is built on the bones of the greatest warships this world has ever seen. The peak of the Empire’s ambition.》
Looking again at the giant gaping maw on the front of the ship, Marc had to agree that it looked very aggressive.
“How does it work?”
《As I said, it’s incredibly simple and elegant. It’s that efficiency that has allowed so much of the fleet to survive to this day, although in a modified capacity. You see the giant scoop in the front. It’s not a ‘mouth,’ as you surmised. It gathers air and collects and filters the Mana from the atmosphere. Then, it uses runic thrusters to power blowers along those conduits to push the platform in any direction.》
That was impressive, Marc admitted. He still had no idea how that would even work, but if the propulsion was basically wind spells, then certainly, it could be both effective and easy to control. Still, the sheer scope of it boggled his mind.
《The secret to the success of the design is the efficiency. Most of the control systems simply redirect air. You can do this with any crew member, and doesn’t even require Mana. As long as the main propulsion works, the ship will still be able to navigate even when heavily damaged.》
“How does it manage that much power?”
《That is the true miracle. Enormous Mana batteries. Arrays of hundreds of thousands of Mana crystals that store and directs the Mana collected by that giant intake scoop. Then, highly efficient tools convert the energy to wind and water Magic.》
“Water magic, too?”
《Yes, I said it was efficient. Those hulls also collect, store, and repurpose Mana from the seawater. Then, using water magic, it controls the drag of the water resistance, allowing the blowers above to freely control the position, speed, and direction of this ship. The whole thing works entirely off of the Mana it can collect while at sea.》
“That’s amazing! What’s one of these things cost? I want one!”
《Well, that’s the thing, isn’t it? The design is no longer a secret, of course. These ships have been reused and repurposed hundreds of times since the days of the Empire. But they are prohibitively expensive to build from scratch, particularly the Mana crystals for the engine.》
He knew it was going to be some huge number, but in spite of himself, Marc couldn’t resist the impulse to ask. Even just to sate his curiosity.
“So, how many crystals do you need for a ship like this?”
《For a vessel this size? Between 500,000 and a million crystals were needed to complete the engine arrays. That’s more than the combined output of Clearwater for at least ten years.》
“Damn.”
《Yup.》
“And the Empire built a fleet of them?”
《Yup.》
He was starting to get a grasp of the scale of the fairy tale he was stepping into. The power to render an entire continent, the size of South America, to sterile dust. The technology and wealth to build a fleet of warships that could cross the world without a single barrel of oil. This power ruled the world for thousands of years, but was wiped from the face of the planet in a single moment.
“Kira?”
《Yes.》
“How much of this tech still exists? In this world now, how much of the Empire’s technology, knowledge, and artifacts are left?”
《No one knows, but…》
“But?”
《It’s likely a lot, at least according to what Lehdze had been scribbling in his study. But that’s not the troubling part.》
“Kira, you are just full of sunshine and rainbows today, aren’t you?”
Indeed, Marc had started to notice a change in Kira’s behavior. She was far more helpful, and less sarcastic than usual. Marc felt that her multiple incarnations brought out different aspects of her personality.
Kira, the interface was sassy and critical, Her kobold golem was more playful, and impulsive, often acting without even informing him of what she was up to. Aloysius was almost motherly. Usually offering helpful advice without even being asked, and restraining criticism to facial expressions and loud sighs.
He was starting to notice the various personas beginning to blend together more and more. He wondered if this was a form of evolution that she was going through as she spent more time interacting with the world beyond their relationship.
《Or it could just be that my contracted user is getting more mature.》
“Really?”
《No. There is no evidence of that. I am getting better. You are still a child that would be dead in minutes without my guidance.》
That was more like it.
“So what is the bad part?”
《Of the remnants of Empire technology, what does exist, nearly all of it is under the control of one group.》
“The Tower.”
《Yes.》
“Yup, Nothing but roses and rainbows.”