Chapter 14
“NOBODY KNOWS EXACTLY WHEN, but something has been appearing in the sea around Cadiasmight Isle.” Cyril leaned in, lowered his voice, and added, “A ghost ship.”
“Oho… Ho ho ho! That’s good stuff!”
Cadiasmight Isle was an island between the Earth and Ark continents. It was well known as the home of the logically named Cadiasmight Alliance. The alliance was led by the port nation of Vali, which boasted the most powerful navy in the Schmegoffe Region—the “known world” of Ark Earth Online.
“This is a common rumor among sailors,” Cyril continued. “A captain I know told me about ten years ago, I think. Every single witness says the same thing: fog surrounds them out of nowhere at twilight, and a decrepit galley ship comes up alongside them. The derelict raises a Jolly Roger flag, and some say they see a captain wearing red on deck.”
Roping Mira in, Cyril went on, “There’s a lot of speculation. Some say if you follow the ghost ship, you’ll find a pirate hoard. Or that people who died at sea sail on that ship. Others say lost
legendary weapons are sealed inside it. One of the better bits of gossip is that it contains the Vali navy’s secret weapons. As a swordsman, I gotta cast my vote for the legendary-weapons theory.”
Cyril meant it as a joke, but Emella took him more seriously. “Throw my vote in for that too!” Her eyes sparkled, delighted by the thought of legendary swords.
“Remember, it is just a rumor,” Cyril reminded them. Flicker grinned in slight exasperation, while Zef looked at the ceiling.
“Still, it is an interesting rumor. In the past, I might’ve rejected it. But now…” Mira trailed off.
“Right? It’s exciting, isn’t it?”
Rumors of ghost ships amounted to nothing in real life—but now that fantasy was reality, even hearsay came with real credibility. Knowing that they were of like mind in that regard, Mira and Cyril laughed together, fantasizing about ghost ships.
After they ordered refills of honey au lait and herbal tea, Cyril moved on with the same tone as before. “Now for the next rumor. We had the sea, so let’s go to the sky. Airship pilots tend to believe this one—yes?”
Mira had raised her hand upon hearing a certain word. Cyril, immediately understanding the bit, pointed to her like a teacher.
“Uh, airships?”
“Yes, airships! Ships in the air—the result of cutting-edge technomancy. Their development was only just finished recently, say…three years ago? They’re expensive as heck to make, so only five large airships exist: one for each of the Three Great Kingdoms, one for Atlantis, and one for Nirvana.”
“Oho… Of course the Great Kingdoms have them first.”
The Three Great Kingdoms, which had once been the players’ starting point, boasted the greatest military might. The other two places Cyril named, Atlantis and Nirvana, were large player-made nations that constantly fought to be at the top.
“There are a few more small airships, but this rumor came from a large one,” Cyril continued. “It all started on a voyage carrying a VIP. It was a clear, lovely day, perfect for flying. About halfway into the trip, though, an enormous storm overtook the ship. It turned dark as night, with only the roaring lightning to illuminate their path. Exposed to harsh winds and rain, the crew tried their best to escape the storm. That was when they saw…it.”
Cyril paused for a moment. The proprietor took this opportunity to bring the refills they’d ordered. “Your friend sure knows a lot of tales. I love ’em too.” He smiled with deep interest as he put down their cups and glasses.
“It all comes with the job, but also, I just love collecting stories,” Cyril replied, sipping from his cup and smiling at the man. It seemed the two had found something in common.
Thanks to the innkeeper’s own job, he had heard plenty of yarns from other adventurers. After a quick bow of appreciation, he returned to his counter.
Cyril took another sip, and Mira followed suit. The other members of Écarlate Carillon were drawn into Cyril’s story despite themselves…barring Flicker. She was hard at work slowly sliding her seat closer to Mira with every chance she got.
“Now, where was I? Uh, I think I said everything right up until the incident,” Cyril resumed. “As the airship tried desperately to escape the storm, a great flash of lightning lit the whole thunderhead. Even while the raging winds and rain worsened their visibility, the flash illuminated the thick, dark cloud to reveal a castle. It wasn’t just one or two people aboard the ship; everyone saw it. High above them, an enormous castle floated in the middle of the storm. They didn’t only see it once, either—they witnessed it in other places too.”
When Cyril finished his story, Mira envisioned the cliché to end all fantasy clichés—the pinnacle of high fantasy, in her mind. “Is it what I think it is?!”
“Yes, Mira. A castle in the sky.” Cyril affirmed Mira’s hopes and dreams.
So, rumor number two was a castle in the sky. Mira jumped out of her seat at the introduction of the perfect fantasy trope and looked out the inn window at the heavens. Flicker wasted no time in dashing after her.
“I bet a castle floating in the sky would have tomes full of magic nobody’s ever seen before,” Flicker mused.
“Oho! Now you’re sounding like a mage!” Mira smirked mischievously at Flicker’s words. Finally, she cared about something other than Mira.
“If you can believe it, she’s legitimately serious about sorcery,” Emella said as she approached, grabbing and twisting Flicker’s wrist as the girl reached toward Mira.
There were a few big white clouds in the sky. Ignoring Flicker’s sudden yelp of pain, Mira felt her heart leap in joy as she imagined how a castle could hide behind any of them. She fantasized about the day when she might find it.
The three went back to their seats. Mira noticed that a chair had been scooted too close to hers, so she pushed it away. Flicker slumped over wordlessly. Emella simply sipped her drink as if nothing had happened.
“I’ve found myself looking at the sky more often since I heard that rumor too.” Cyril grinned, understanding Mira’s desire.
Mira smiled as she daydreamed about her future. When she rode Pegasus, no doubt she would watch the sky above instead of the ground below.
“Now,” Cyril continued, “everyone’s eyewitness testimonies mention the sudden storm. All of them were caught up in a storm and saw the castle in the midst of it. I’d bet that foul weather is protecting the castle in the sky.”
“Hrmm, right. That must be it,” Mira agreed.
The two fantasized about the grand castle in the storm and shared their thoughts on what it must be like.
The other guild members had been ambivalent to the conversation at first, but it gradually sucked them in. Soon, the whole gang of five was talking about their ideals for the castle in the sky.
Sealed inside was a holy beast. In the floor below lay a sword a hero had once wielded. The library shelves were full of ancient magical tomes, the treasure vault had mountains of gold and silver, and the courtyard fountain spewed the dew of life…
The possibilities were endless.
“Anyway, this next rumor is the last,” Cyril said bashfully. “I heard this one from a fellow adventurer, and it’s less gossip and more his own experience. He usually works in the northern part of the Ark continent. One day, he lucked into buying a waystone attuned to the Mirage Temple from a wandering archeologist. He charged straight into the Oriat Desert toward the temple, but the waystone turned out to be a dud! Along the way, it suddenly stopped reacting.”
“I hate it when that happens!” Mira sympathized; she had been through something similar herself.
The Oriat Desert was in the southern portion of the Ark continent. Deep in the dunes lay the Mirage Temple, which could not be found on any map. Only a properly attuned waystone would reveal its location, but duds weren’t uncommon.
Despite its rarity, all the best players had known that quirk in the system.
“Right,” Cyril said. “He cursed his luck, but since he had come so far, he assumed he might be close. So, he decided to look around before going home. When he did, he stepped into quicksand and sank down into the depths of the earth.”
“Seems about right.”
The quicksand pits that dotted the Oriat Desert forced their victims into underground dungeons modeled after ruins. What an unlucky customer. Mira chuckled to herself as she drank her honey au lait.
“I tried to make him feel better about his luck, but he smirked and showed me a chunk of gold. I asked what it was, and he said he found it in the place he landed. As it turns out, he didn’t fall into ruins; he fell into a huge underground city where everything glittered.
“At first,” Cyril continued, “he said he just stared at the sight in total shock. But he saw a black figure in the distance heading his way. An awful chill went through him, and he ran like hell until he surfaced in an oasis. In the end, he only brought back the chunk of gold. When he had it examined, it was pure. He called the city ‘El Dorado,’ and he’s been trying to go back ever since. He still hasn’t figure out how.”
“A city of gold, hrmm?” Mira mused. “But what was the black figure?”
One could assume it had been there to eliminate Cyril’s acquaintance, perhaps as a guardian of El Dorado. And that would be the perfect time for a summoner to shine.
“Oh? That’s the part that grabs you?” Cyril asked.
“I wonder if I could form a contract with it?”
“Aha. That’s what you’re after, eh?”
Guardians were often spirits who resided in and protected certain places. In those cases, they could be contracted. Mira’s eyes burned with desire, and Cyril wondered if avarice for summons instead of gold was the key to her strength.
The others piped up about what they’d want to find, just as they had with the castle in the sky. Soon they listed every single whim imaginable, and nobody dared stop them.
“A city of gold! If I could find that, I’d never need to worry about money again.”
“Does it have golden weapon shops?!”
“A golden library of books!”
Once their fantasizing ended, Cyril cut in, “By the way, this isn’t quite a rumor, but…”
He brought up a place in the northwest of the Earth continent called the City of the Shrouded Hero. It had once been an average city of no particular note.
Demons had assaulted it during the Defense of the Three Great Kingdoms. The city lacked the ability to defend itself, and citizens worried the demons would slaughter them wholesale. Then a mysterious hero clad entirely in black arrived, making liberal use of exorcism spells to overwhelm and obliterate the incoming demons. When he was done, he left without ever introducing himself. Citizens simply called him the Shrouded Hero and marked the spot where he’d turned a noble demon into ash as a historical landmark.
Though that had happened ten years ago, not on any of the dates Mira had given Cyril, he thought it might bear some relevance to her mission.
“The Shrouded Hero, hrmm?” A name floated to Mira’s mind: Wise Man Wallenstein the Shadow. She stared out the window at the clouds and mulled it over.
Clad in all black. Used exorcism magic with the power to overwhelm demons. Left without introducing himself. One person fits all three of those descriptions. He was always rather shy around strangers, too…
Wallenstein had worn black clothes to obscure his features, but that only made him stand out even more. He could hardly talk to others, but he enjoyed it when people appreciated him…although he couldn’t take a thank-you. He was poor at PvP combat, but overwhelming when it came to defeating monsters and demons. The Black Hero sure sounded like Wallenstein.
Where were her friends now? What were they doing? Slightly annoyed, Mira decided to circle back to the City of the Black Hero at some point in the future.
Once the meal was over and the group was simply chatting, an agitated woman—presumably a caravan guard, judging by her uniform—rushed over. “Oh! There you are, Cyril!”
“What’s the matter?” Cyril turned around and urged her to calm down. Emella and the others tensed.
The woman took a deep breath. “Please, we need to hurry to the caravan leader. There’s a problem.”
“Let’s go.” Cyril immediately stood, paid the bill, and thanked the proprietor for the meal. He then dashed out with the woman. Emella and the gang followed right after him.
“Hrmm. Could I bother you to watch my little rabbit friend again?” Mira asked the proprietor.
“Sure. Not a problem.”
Entrusting him with the comfortably sleeping furball in her arms, Mira followed the party with a mix of worry and interest.
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