Alan's vision was a chaotic swirl. No, in fact, it was hard to even keep his eyes open. Whenever he managed to surface, his breaths came in short gasps.
“Huff. Huff. Huff.”
This was a treacherous stretch of sea, even for mermen, who were naturally suited to water. Alan, clumsy and uncoordinated as he was, was helpless against the strong currents, which tossed him about mercilessly. The water was capricious and violent.
Alan experienced firsthand why raging seas were classified as natural disasters in books. The pressure and currents squeezed his entire body. It was hard to so much as twitch his fingers or toes.
He stretched his arms out desperately, but his grasp met only shapeless seawater. Though there should have been debris from the ship wrecked on the reef, there wasn’t even a straw to cling to.
‘Am I going to die like this…?’
As if a weight were tied to his ankles, his body sank deeper and deeper, and his mind, influenced by his physical state, began to fade.
Time felt cruel. The more Alan suffered, the slower it dragged.
They said that at the moment of death, your life flashed before your eyes like a film reel, but that was a lie.
‘It hurts so much.’
In that moment, a spark of realization flickered in Alan’s mind.
The pain was proof of life. He was still breathing. Giving up now would be easier, but he couldn’t let himself become fish food. Floundering like laundry in a washing machine, Alan reached out.
He hoped that this trivial effort, like the faint beginning of a straight line that eventually diverged far apart, would lead to a lifeline.
Thankfully, his effort wasn’t in vain. Alan collided forcefully with something. Ignoring the pain, he hugged it with all his strength. The pain began to subside, strangely enough.
Alan clung to a reef and made his way to the surface. There, air awaited to fill his lungs.
“Pwah!”
Alan spat out the seawater in his mouth and inhaled the salty air. He couldn’t understand where this sudden burst of strength came from.
Alan didn’t let his usual curiosity distract him. There was something far more important at hand. Without hesitation, he plunged his head back into the water. He tried to open his eyes, but it was too difficult. Taking another breath, he submerged again and used one hand to pull his eyelids apart.
‘Ugh…’
It hurt terribly and stung like fire, but finding his parents came first. He had to find them, no matter what. Concerns about his vision or injuries were pushed to the back of his mind. But it wasn’t easy. The raging currents churned up mud and silt from the seafloor, spreading it everywhere and severely limiting visibility.
‘No. Please…’
Alan kept diving back into the water.
Once, twice, three times…
With each attempt, the weight in his heart grew heavier. Made of sorrow, frustration, and despair, this invisible burden was unbearably heavy. Hope was dragged to the ocean depths, while anxiety surfaced, rising like bubbles. These conflicting emotions clouded Alan’s mind.
As Alan tried once more, his body suddenly lifted into the air. This wasn’t some fantastical scenario where a crisis awakened latent potential. Alan’s body was being moved out of the whirlpool. Ahead, there was a pirate ship. As he drew closer, he could hear their voices.
“Haul at least one of them up properly!”
“Shut up! I’m concentrating!”
Among the pirates, a man wearing a helmet resembling a black headgear was gesturing toward Alan. When the man moved his arm to the right, Alan’s body followed. When he waved his arm quickly, Alan’s body moved with equal speed. A goblin pirate watching the scene snickered loudly.
“Do you see that guy? Flailing around in the air like an idiot.”
“Shut your trap already.”
“That’s why you should invest in high-quality Magictechwear, even if it’s expensive. When you’re using telekinesis, just a flick of your fingers looks cooler and intimidates your enemies. Look at you now. Even that kid being dragged in is probably laughing at you inside.”
“What do you want me to do? I don’t have the money. Unless you’re chipping in, just stand there and watch. Or do you want me to drop you into the sea?”
The threat worked, and the goblin fell silent.
Still, the magic-using pirate, seemingly annoyed, threw Alan roughly onto the deck.
“Gah!”
Not knowing how to break his fall, Alan landed on his back, gasping for air as the impact knocked the wind out of him.
“He’s just a log, isn’t he?”
“Looking at him, we probably don’t even need the net. Even the runt could beat him in a fight.”
“How many times do I have to drill it into your ears to stop calling me that? I am a proud member of the Goblin Kingdom—”
“Shut up and go get the boss. We came here hoping to at least cover the fuel costs, but this feels like a bust.”
The pirates, expecting some resistance from Alan, lost interest and started talking among themselves. Taking advantage of their distraction, Alan grabbed the railing and stood up. It was a precarious motion, like a baby taking its first steps.
“Ah…”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
A sigh escaped his lips. All he could see was the whirlpool. The voracious monster had swallowed up every piece of the fishing boat’s wreckage—and his parents, too. His chest felt like it was being torn apart.
Alan’s face was filled with an aching expression that could tug at anyone’s heartstrings. Of course, the pirates couldn’t care less. One of the larger pirates kicked Alan behind his knees. Before Alan could even groan, a fishman with a spiky sculpin-like head jabbed a sharp needle into his shoulder.
“Move, and you die.”
The voice was commanding. When the fishman appeared, a strange tension spread among the pirates. It was the same tension workers might feel when a factory manager appeared on the floor. A moment later, a loud noise erupted from the rectangular device the fishman was holding.
“If he turned out useless, I was going to use him as shark bait…”
“What do you think?”
“He doesn’t even have a Mana Heart, so why is his internal mana concentration this high? Is this real?”
“Could the machine be broken? Or maybe he’s tricking us somehow.”
“No. If he could trick this machine, we’d all be dead already. We’ll definitely make more than just fuel money from him.”
As the fishman’s mood improved, the tension among the pirates slightly eased. The previously silent pirates began murmuring.
“Strange. That much mana without a Mana Heart?”
“Why’re you looking at me? I *have* a Mana Heart.”
“Yes, yes. So you can use magic with your Artificial Brain, right? Hey, grab that kid!”
Alan, still staggering as he clung to the railing, tumbled backward. Telekinesis seized him by the scruff of his neck, dragging him across the deck in a series of rolls. By the time Alan lost consciousness, he didn’t even have the strength to groan. The fishman hurried over and checked his pulse.
“Be gentle, you idiot! What if you hurt him and lower his value? Fine. Since we’re on the topic, you’re responsible for watching him now.”
“Captain, with the new recruits here, do I really have to—”
“I’ll give you a bonus.”
At the fishman’s words, the pirate gleefully carried Alan with newfound care. He descended below deck and placed the “catch” in the cleanest cage available. The foul stench of filth woke Alan from his stupor. Though he was somewhat used to such smells from Lanka, for some reason, this time, it felt unbearable.
Instead of steeling him, memories of home came rushing back, bringing only pain. The scrapyard where odd trinkets sometimes appeared. The trains that whistled even at dawn. The ramshackle huts swaying in the wind. And the warm shadows of two people.
“Ugh…”
Alan covered his mouth with his hand. He couldn’t make a sound, as the magic-wielding pirate was asleep in a hammock hanging from the ceiling. A deep emptiness gnawed at him. Despair, filling the void left by hope, felt especially heavy.
Alan cried silently for a long time, his vision eventually darkening.
When Alan awoke, he struggled to recall his dream.
Memories of the moments before the shipwreck resurfaced, particularly the last, vivid shapes of Robinson and Mary’s lips.
—Don’t give up.
—I love you.
Alan didn’t cry anymore.
Instead, he redirected his energy elsewhere.
First, he focused on the sounds of the ship.
‘It’s quiet.’
Compared to the fishing boat’s engine noise during his escape, it was a world of difference.
‘A pure mana engine, I guess. Since there was no need to ignite fuel like in an internal combustion engine, the drive motor itself was astonishingly quiet.’
Moreover, the energy conversion efficiency of mana far outclassed that of fossil fuels.
Alan switched from listening to observing. This place was a damp and filthy hold. The floor of the cage was covered in brown stains. Alan’s gaze shifted to the bars of the cage. Even a light pull revealed their weight and sturdiness. Unless you were a troll, no ordinary human could bend these. Finally, his eyes fell on the pirate. Alan called out to the dazed pirate.
“Excuse me, Mage?”
Of course, the pirate didn’t notice right away. There were several cages below deck, and they were filled with captives like Alan. The language they spoke had a strong accent from Lanka, much like his family’s.
‘Like my family… Family…’
Alan froze for a moment. He sat there blankly before shaking his head firmly. He also pressed his fingers hard against the corners of his eyes.
‘…These are people who fled the civil war.’
The pirate yelled at the captives to shut up. If their cries grew louder, he would slap them with telekinetic magic.
“Excuse me, Mage?”
“Huh?”
Alan’s second attempt drew a response. The pirate shook his head before fixing his gaze on the source of the voice.
“Are you talking to me?”
“Yes. You’re a mage, aren’t you?”
“Ha! You’ve got a good eye.”
A smile spread across the pirate’s grime-streaked face. Alan’s choice of words and respectful tone had clearly stroked his ego.
“If I hear crying again, I’ll carve up a thigh and shove it in someone’s mouth. I’m not joking, so keep quiet.”
After threatening the others, the pirate crouched in front of Alan’s cage, still grinning.
“So, why did you call a busy mage like me?”
“I didn’t think I’d see a mage in a place like this. You’re like a pearl in the mud.”
The pirate fell silent for a moment. Alan worried that he might have said the wrong thing and watched carefully.
“A pearl, huh…”
Thankfully, his fears were unfounded. The pirate seemed to like the term, repeating it a few times to himself.
“I like you. I’d take you in as a recruit, but unfortunately, you’re a commodity, so I can’t.”
“A commodity…”
“Don’t worry too much. If you find a good owner, you’ll live well. You’ll fetch a high price, so you’ll likely end up with a rich buyer.”
It wasn’t something a captor should say, but Alan listened quietly. Every word the pirate uttered was valuable information. From this, Alan learned about the purpose of the headgear the pirate wore.
Magictechwear included equipment and implants, and the headgear was one of them. Its official name was the
Alan became obsessed with asking questions like a madman, until the pirate grew tired of him, plugged his ears, and ignored him. Alan spent what felt like an eternity in this place where day and night were indistinguishable. Eventually, he realized the ship had docked.
The pirates tied the captives together like a string of sausages and herded them outside. Familiar with the scene, the dockworkers didn’t spare a glance.
It was quite a large port. To the right were clusters of warehouses, and to the left, stacks of towering containers. The pirates led the kidnapped people deeper into the area.
Wherever there were suppliers, there were bound to be buyers. This time, the buyer was a slaver. Alan watched the departing pirates intently, committing their faces to memory. No matter how much time passed, he would never forget them.
“Planning revenge?”
A pot-bellied elf, puffing on a cigarette, flicked the butt to the ground.
“Dream on.”
“···.”
“Silent treatment, huh? Everyone who gets dragged here thinks the same thing. But as time passes, those feelings fade. Like it or not, they have to. If they don’t want to die.”
The elf deliberately placed his hand on a drainpipe attached to the building’s outer wall. With just a brief touch, the pipe bore the imprint of his fingers.
“If you still don’t get it after this, I can’t help you.”
Grinning slyly, the elf twirled his fingers, signaling his subordinates to drag the captives underground. Alan was treated as a commodity. Labeled as having a rare constitution, he was given slightly better treatment than the other slaves.
The word ‘rare’ implied difficulty in procurement, and because of that, a buyer appeared much sooner than expected—less than 24 hours later.
The buyer was an elderly man with gray hair wearing a suit. Despite his wrinkled face, his back was straight, and he had an imposing physique. He examined Alan thoroughly, touching his body, before handing a heavy pouch to the elf. Alan followed his new owner down a narrow alleyway.
“You’re lucky.”
Suddenly, the old man turned around, his lips curling slightly upward.
“Those fools lacked the insight to price you correctly. Thanks to them, I got a good deal on something valuable. From now on, call me ‘Boss.’”
“Yes, Boss.”
Alan’s prompt response made the boss’s thin mustache twitch upward slightly.
“People with Mana Overabundance Syndrome often suffer brain damage, but you don’t seem to be one of them.”
“Mana Overabundance Syndrome?”
“Don’t know what it is? Across the sea, they call it
The boss didn’t seem interested in satisfying Alan’s curiosity.
Instead, he grabbed Alan’s shoulder with his coarse hand and fastened a thick, pitch-black collar around his neck.
“Do you like it? Doesn’t matter if you don’t. If you try anything funny to remove it, it’ll explode. So, be careful.”