North x Northwest - Chapter 131

Chapter 131

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A small figure jumped into the room. It was Courant, holding a gun in one of his hands. Lil bit her lip in her dismay. Realising belatedly that she had unlocked the latch after laying Ed down and right before she tried to leave the bedroom.

Startled by the shout of the uninvited guest, the pigeon rushed toward Courant.

“What the…?!”

The pigeon struck Courant’s small head with its beak and the sound of its loud flapping wings filled the room. While Courant frantically covered his head, struggling to shove the bird away, a hand rose from above him. Lil couldn’t see who reached out because their body and face were hidden behind the half-open door. But the rampaging pigeon that had been pecking on Courant’s head, was grabbed by its body in an instant. The grip was strong enough to hold the bird firmly despite its violent flapping. Surprised, Courant looked back at his saviour and greeted them. The boy then pointed at Ed and raised his eyes towards him as a gesture of accusation. The hand’s owner seemed to have said something because Courant eagerly nodded his head in response. The obedient boy then grabbed the wooden door and held it open for him.

Lil hoped the person about to enter wasn’t a member from Valtano’s or Jarles’ crew as it was unimaginable how much more threatening the atmosphere would become if word got out that this ship had a navy onboard that could communicate with his fleet. But only a second later, she wished it was one of them as she could only think of one other person who should’ve never seen this scene.

Lil knew before the door even fully opened. She knew it the moment she saw the arm. The way it wore its sleeve and the appearance of the familiar wrist. She couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking about the hours she’s spent with Ed. It wasn’t long before the identity of the man, who stepped straight into the cabin, was revealed.

Cold sweat poured down her back like a river, her brow became damp and her legs trembled. She felt as if she’d been caught in bed with a stranger. The fact that Lil was still pointing her gun at Ed wasn’t helping the situation either.

“What is going on?”

Cesar looked at Lil as he retrieved the message from the pigeon’s ankle…

***

“Oh… I’m dying…”

Captain Long struggled to open his eyes as he lay face down on the conference table in the admiral’s office. He couldn’t recall the last time he had a good night’s sleep.

‘The rest of the fleet probably feels the same way. Of course, if the Vice-Admiral refuses to lie down for even a moment, who has the right to do so? Fortunately, I can slack off a bit like this if Sir Sagastar is out of sight, but if I’m caught the situation will turn disastrous…’

Captain Long sighed deeply, drooping his forehead on the hard table.

All battleships were currently on a tight schedule, but the Visha, where Sagastar was stationed, has accelerated its pace immensely. Due to the urgency of the situation, the Visha raised from the middle to the front lines, but then it even set off alone and never drifted off its route. Of course, the Visha was accompanied by a Legardon sloop on all sides.

The captain smiled with relief, thankful that Legardon had joined them.

Legardon, which has enemies in the shallow waters of the Ingres Sea, has a large number of shallow draft ships. These smaller ships were ideal for exploring coastlines. Such a setup would allow them to travel along the coast while leaving a larger ship like the Visha in the middle of the sea.

‘However, that’s the only thing that can be considered fortunate…’

The captain’s smile quickly turned into a sad one when he realised everything else was in disarray. He only wanted to sleep. It felt as if he was going insane from sleep deprivation.

‘I might die if I stay awake like this… At this point, I’m willing to sell my soul to the God of death in exchange for some shuteye…’

“What are you doing, Captain?”

“Aaaagh!”

Captain Long rose from his seat. Until now, he hadn’t realised Sagastar was standing right next to him.

‘Maybe I really dozed off…’

That thought terrified him so much that it was writing all over his face.

“When did you arrive, Commodore?”

“I’ve been here since you were soundly asleep alone while everyone else worked hard.”

“No… No, I just happened to observe the Hangyang Islands from a lower vantage point…”

“Cut to the chase.”

“Yes!”

Sagastar walked past the table and sat down on the admiral’s seat. The captain, who was still standing, finally sat down in response to the given gesture. Out of exhaustion, Sagastar leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. Captain Long used this moment to scan the table in front of them, searching for anything worth reporting, before casting a sidelong glance at his commodore. Somewhere along the line, Sagastar had removed his jacket and was now dressed in an for him unusual manner, with a loose scarf hanging from his shoulders. He even rolled his sleeves all the way up to his elbows and his exposed forearms were smeared with ink.

‘Sir Sagastar used to nag Sir Edgar whenever he wandered around the Visha in similar attire… Now he’s the one who casually discarded his coat and vest. This practically confirms he isn’t paying attention to anything but the search.’

The captain snapped out of his thoughts and forcefully opened his eyes to read the report. He could only open his eyes fully by forcefully raising his brows. The captain looked at the black letters with smarting eyes… he then felt them close slowly.

“Captain.”

“Yes, Commodore…”

“…”

When he realised that his answer came out unconsciously, captain Long immediately opened his eyes wide.

“Yes! What’s the matter?”

“Bring them.”

“Oh, yes.”

“…”

The captain took the documents gathered in front of him and walked up to Sagastar. He scoured for the right page and placed the papers down in front of the commodore.

“Uh, well… here it is.”

“Is this really the ship?”

“Yes. Whether these waters are uncharted or not… This must be it. A few days ago, another ship encountered it, but we lost its trail… Who would even want to go this way? It’s famous for being a windless zone, most ships avoid it, afraid to die of starvation.”

“However, it overlaps with the route to Serlio.”

“Ah, according to the officers of Legardon, Serlio primarily trades with the mainland and the islands along the way. Because the main island of the southern archipelago is Marchand, I heard that not many ships from the South find it profitable to go to Serlio.”

“Right.”

Sagastar sank into silence. Trying to predict various scenarios and possibilities, he busily flipped through the papers. For a moment, the captain quietly observed him.

“By the way, Commodore…”

“What?”

“Why do we keep searching the islands?”

Sagastar’s hand came to a halt. The captain winced, wondering if he’d made a mistake. Fortunately for him, Sagastar turned the page before responding to him.

“Do you recall the most recent correspondence we received?”

“Yes.”

“It had the title of the book written on it.”

“Yes.”

“Under what conditions do you believe such a change in procedure could occur?”

The captain shook his head.

“…Didn’t you interpret it as a distress signal by the Admiral?”

“Formally, yes.”

“Is there an informal way to look at it?”

“That’s correct.”

“How?”

“Someone coerced Sir Edgar into writing a code.”

“What?!”

Sagastar gave him an irritated look, so the captain shrank his shoulders and shut his mouth again.

“For now, I can only assume something must have happened. Sir Edgar must have informed the perpetrator that their life was also on the line, so they had no choice but to help Sir Edgar. In this case, they must have had some scuffle over the code. If it’s written down without any chance to check, the perpetrator will never believe the content, and that will mean trouble for Sir Edgar too. And because Sir Edgar couldn’t use the official code, this must be a product of the compromise between them.”

“You came up with all this just because he wrote down the title?”

“Yes. Think about it, Captain Long. Think. What’s the foundation of the code?”

The captain took a quick look around. Like a real library, the walls on both sides of the admiral’s room were lined with books. Bookshelves whose arrangement and contents haven’t changed in years. No matter how high the waves the Visha sailed were, the shelves remained intact. Even if a bookshelf was tipped over and all the books were spilt, the owner would return them to their original place.

‘Is that even human?’

The captain shook his head when he even imagined Edgar’s ghost hovering in front of the bookshelf. He rubbed his arms incessantly and gazed at Sagastar.

“The title coordinates?”

“That’s right, Captain. One can’t decipher the code unless he knows what kind of book he needs. The coordinates of the title, the first three numbers, are the key to the code.”

“If Sir Edgar only wrote down the title with numbers, the perpetrator won’t be able to trust the message, in addition, there’s the risk that Sir Edgar’s library would be found out, so they compromised by just writing the title down?”

“Exactly.”

“Uh… then… I understand why it’s alarming that the Admiral only used half of the coding system, but what does that have to do with searching the islands?”

The tired Sagastar rested his hand on his forehead.

“It wouldn’t have been a peaceful situation if you had to write a letter under duress, Captain… Think, you’re now aboard a hostile ship with no allies. Threats are lurking all the time. How are you going to escape?”

“Of course, I’ll wait for a nearby island and flee at night…”

“That’s all there is to it.”

“Well…then… the Admiral could have drifted to one of the many islands in this vast ocean…”

Finding that the conversation took another annoying turn, Sagastar waved his hand. The captain immediately bit his tongue and picked up the scattered reports. Meanwhile, the commodore closed his eyes. Captain Long gathered the last report and packed all of them to his chest before quietly leaving the admiral’s room…

***

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