Watching the final damaged soul wink out of existence, Ferrudion considered the mortal he had tried to communicate his greatness to when he boarded the ship.

‘His soul imploded, but it was a minor implosion. It should have healed itself, right?’

While using a part of his attention to carefully observing the surviving pahipiti's soul, Ferrudion asked Kalou Saha,

“When I came to your ship, I saw a man. I injured his soul unintentionally. Does he live?”

Kalou Saha needed a dozen of breaths to pry his eyes away from the male Pahipiti's now soulless body.

“You killed him.”

Ferrudion shook his hand.

“Him and the others. Only she lives.”

Ferrudion pointed at the curled up woman.

“The others?” Kalou Dan asked.

“The twelve in the boat and the eighty-nine on the ship.”

Both the man and the teen stared at him mouths agape.

‘Did I do something wrong?’ Ferrudion had barely considered it before remembering his mother's words: might makes right.

‘Since I am probably the only greater god in this lowly mortal world, I can only be right. Right?’

Noticing that he had subconsciously lowered his gaze, Ferrudion straightened.

“About that man?” he repeated his earlier question.

“Yes, yes… He lives,” Kalou Saha mumbled absentmindedly.

Ferrudion frowned.

‘Why are they so scared? The thieves are dead. I protected them!’

As if sensing the god's displeasure, Kalou Dan smiled at him and bowed.

“Thank you for protecting us, Pelou Dean-agam!”

The words freed Kalou Saha from his stupor and the man repeated them, likewise bowing.

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“Yes. I am 『powerful』 and 『respectable』,” Ferrudion said out loud while emphasizing the meaning with soul speech.

“What do you intend for her?” Kalou Dan straightened and asked while pointing at the last pahipiti.

“If she lives, she lives.”

‘I want to see if she can survive more soul speech. The water does not speak any tongue, so it cannot teach me. But since her soul withstood my complete idea of the strength of a greater god, a mundane sentence or two should work as well.’

“Can we leave her there?”

“I intend to watch her.”

Kalou Saha shook his fist twice, bowed one more time, and then left to speak to his crew.

“The man you asked about, you can see him,” Kalou Dan said.

‘I am a little interested how well his soul recovered.’

“Okay. Lead.”

Following Kalou Dan, Ferrudion walked inside the cabin, down two sets of stairs, and then through a corridor and into a room.

Ferrudion had been slightly stooping the entire time as this floor was barely 5ft (150cm) high.

In the small room, the air was poor and even though there hung but a single hammock, it looked cramped.

Inside the hammock lay the man he had encountered after coming to the ship, a vacant look in his eyes as he stared straight up.

Focusing on the spiritual dimension, Ferrudion inspected the man's soul.

‘Its density has decreased by at least a fourth. The energy must have dissipated after the implosion. Otherwise, it looks fine…’

The nascent greater god was not an expert in souls, but it had been a part of his lessons.

“Can you help him?” Kalou Dan asked.

‘If I knew what was wrong with him, duh.’

“Wait.”

Ferrudion used his limited vocabulary to ask for more time and extended a tendril of his soul to the man's.

『“You.”』 A vision of the man's body.

『“Talk.”』 A vision of the man moving his mouth.

A wave of hopelessness washed over Ferrudion through the soul link. He recoiled at the unfamiliar emotion and severed their connection.

“I don't know,” he told Kalou Dan before turning around and briskly walking out of there.

Although it had been but an echo of the man's feelings, the secondhand emotion had disturbed Ferrudion. He did not want to feel it ever again.

Thus, Ferrudion briskly marched back up to the deck with Kalou Dan hurrying after him.

On deck, they were met with a curious scene:

The frantic pahipiti woman who had been curled up on the floor was now standing, her back pressed against the ship's mast.

Ferrudion could sense the managy in the air around her. The construct was rendering it immobile through freezing, preventing all matter from passing through.

Evaluating the magic, he found it wanting.

‘She is wasting managy by using freezing. She should simply will it to repell. That way, it would only activate when necessary.’

Aside from making an air wall, she also used magic to keep her body from freezing.

Outside the air wall stood three other mortals with their weapons drawn.

‘Swords.’

Ferrudion remembered the word.

He drew closer, and when the pahipiti caught sight of him, she shuddered.

Dispensing both her magics, she fell down on the floor.

Everyone looked at her curiously, Ferrudion included.

‘Time to give it a try.’

『“Why are you on the floor?”』 Ferrudion conveyed a questioning intent aimed toward the idea of the woman being on the floor.

“Shtompe lamma denne xa…”

Ferrudion was glad that not just he but everyone looked at the woman with incomprehension.

“What are her words?” he asked Kalou Dan.

“I do not know.”

To the woman, he conveyed the intent of an order and his idea of the mortal language spoken by Kalou Dan.

『“Speak their language.”』