North x Northwest
Chapter 145

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“…Admiral, allow me…”

The officer who was serving them tried to intervene, but Ed suddenly snatched the roasted bird placed before him. As he grabbed its wings and pulled them apart with force, the flesh tore with the sound of breaking cartilage. Everyone’s eyes widened when they watched Ed, whose eating habits had always been nothing less than refined. In the midst of their surprise Ed calmly raised his knife and cut off the rest of the wing. When he pushed the silverware into the roasted meat, greasy juice poured out. After opening it up, he began to eat the exposed reddish meat. Innocently, Ed muttered something and looked appreciatively at the rest of the roast that the officer started to dismantle.

When all the meat was removed from the carcass and placed on a plate, Ed devoured it whole. His tongue tingled at the savoury flavour as the pulp slid down his throat without pause. His teeth first ground the tough meat, which he then chewed and swallowed. Nobody dared to interrupt Ed’s strange predation. It wasn’t until the last piece of flesh had been thawed that the sound of metal scraping on bone stopped.

Ed then asked, wiping his lips with a napkin.

“Where is the Visha?”

“…”

***

The only sound that could be heard in the tent that was illuminated by hanging balsams, was that of rustling papers. Ed, leaning against the wooden pole in the centre, watched Captain Long and Sagastar spread out different charts and journals.

‘I don’t know how they managed to get this one in here either, but this appears to be Long’s conference table. Due to the limited space they probably couldn’t fit the conference table from the Admiral’s office in here…’

The space surrounded by tents gradually took on the form of a headquarters. Contrary to the two men appropriately dressed for their meeting, Ed wore only a gown and was still holding on to his glass of wine. Despite their leader being in such an unkempt state, Sagastar kept quiet and held back the criticisms that he would have uttered under normal circumstances. No matter how much it irritated him, he couldn’t possibly tell Ed to wear a tight uniform when he was injured all over his body.

With his arms crossed, Ed occasionally took a sip. As he slowly emptied his glass, the two officers, who had finished preparing, looked at him. Ed quickly scanned the pictures and writings that were neatly spread out. Sagastar then cleared his throat and drew his baton.

“The Visha is here.”

“…”

Sagastar’s baton pointed to a loopy coastal spot. He explained it was anchored there after it was used to look around the sand island for two days when Ed was still unconscious. Sagastar was visibly conscious of his words, but Ed had no intention of blaming Sagastar for leaving the Visha in such a crude area during that time. However, he also didn’t say anything to reassure his Commodore.

“We anchored it on a nearby island in case you awoke.”

“Status?”

“It’s the best condition; I didn’t want the Visha to get engaged in anything.”

Ed responded while holding out his wine glass to the cadet who was waiting with the bottle.

“Engage?”

“Yes. There were several engagements while we searched for ships that left Marchand. The dates and locations are…”

“…”

As Sagastar’s gaze shifted to Captain Long, the latter then hurriedly ushered the Hangyang Islands. The map, which was placed after being flipped over several times, had clear marks as if it had been torn in the middle. So, when the captain met Ed’s puzzled look, he quickly lowered his eyes. Ed remembered that Captain Long was often a bit sloppy, but he wasn’t in the mood to appease him with some kindness.

“…First of all, among the ships that left Marchand, the ships we encountered were…”

“…”

While the captain moved the records, Sagastar gave a brief explanation. His baton frequently travelled to and from the Hangyang Islands. Ed listened to reports while scratching his bandages and tilting his glass.

“…And, in the last two days, the 3rd provisional squadron safely arrived, all the squadrons are currently anchored and standing by.”

“Are those the Majel Islands?”

Ed’s index finger pointed somewhere near the Hangyang Islands. Sagastar and Captain Long both looked at the finger at the same time. It was the captain who first realised something was wrong.

“Oh, oh! The b, b… baton!”

Astonished, Sagastar cast his gaze to the back of the captain’s head. The captain quickly crossed the tent and came up from the corner while carrying a long decorated box. As he bent down deeply and opened the lid, Ed pulled out a baton that was placed on a red satin cushion. The baton was as thick as the hilt of a sword and was as long as his forearm. Both ends were adorned with the same gold ornaments and with a short but strong swing, a thin rod protruded from between those decorations. With his now longer baton Ed then pointed out the Hangyang Island with ease.

“About southeast of the Majel Islands, and from an unknown island* to here. Now that I see it, it sailed northeast. But it’s too rough an estimation… Are there any overlapping routes in our records? It sailed in great haste and had about fifteen days’ worth of supplies.”

The captain hurriedly flipped through his thick booklet.

“We followed the route to Serlio ourselves for a while, but let’s see. Yes, there’s only the island of Serlio. Serlio is even on the tight side if it’s only 15 days, however, I don’t think it’s possible that that ship is heading anywhere else. The wind around here often dies down… Unless they planned to stop at an intermediate base to replenish supplies.”

“No. It was intentionally loaded that way.”

“Sounds credible, complementing supplies from a base is expensive, so most ships want to avoid that. In that case, there’s really only Serlio, however, Serlio is imperial land…”

Although Ed didn’t explicitly state it, the captain assumed that the ship Ed had in mind was a pirate ship. Long’s and Sagastar’s speculation became more valid when Ed didn’t say anything to correct them.

“What’s there?”

“It’s similar to Marchand, but because Serlio is closer to the mainland than it is to the South, therefore it’s considerably better in terms of security than Marchand. Since it’s still under Legardon’s jurisdiction, shall I call for a Legardon officer? …But why on earth would they want to go to such a place? What’s their business?”

The captain, who was pouring out questions, quickly dropped the subject when Sagastar scolded him and said he only had to relay information about the Island and nothing more.

Ed looked back on his memories. He remembered when he inquired Alain as to why they were in such a rush to leave Panichi.

‘We were stranded in Panichi due to a lack of sailors, but after meeting Anunchio, they could suddenly complete the preparations for departure overnight. Alain then told me that the Bell Rock had similar experiences before. For a while, I wondered what he meant with ‘the Bell Rock’ had ‘times like this’… What distinguished the Bell Rock from the other ships in the League was, above all, its captain’s similar appearance to imperial citizens. It’s a distinguishing feature that even caused a stir on board… If other captains were so willing to give up their crew to help, is the Bell Rock carrying out a mission that takes advantage of that trait?

The report I saw at the Count of Amiaeng only stated that Lil Schweiz was of mixed blood. The islands in the Ingres sea have quite a few inhabitants of mixed blood due to the merciless assault of the pioneering squadrons. But on top of that, the Bell Rock, disguised as a merchant ship in Marchand, has a fictitious character with an accurate Sesbron accent as its captain. That identity could have come in handy for the League. An accent isn’t something that could be faked by merely learning and imitating a few sentences… Then, the places that need such a clear identity are government offices, libraries, naval attachés, banks… Banks… Isn’t ‘gold’ a helpful incentive in any situation?’

“Is there a bank in Serlio?”

“Yes, there is.”

‘Although other islands can still be their destination, for now, all clues are gradually pointing towards Serlio. And if the former is the answer, I can’t help it as there is no way to know for sure anywhere. The League is more complex and well-organised than I initially thought. After all, the ordinary sailors like myself were unaware of the details. Only the Captains Association and senior officers like Alain know about the League’s state of affairs. The majority of them did have a strong sense of purpose… Well, it doesn’t really matter anyway… I don’t care what kind of secret they’re trying to hide so badly. I’ll burn the whole Ingres sea to make them crawl out if I have to. And even if my guess is wrong, it’s the least I can do to make up for what they did to me…’

“Only the 1st Provisional Squadron will remain, and the rest will be sent back. The Return Squadron, which combines the 2nd and 3rd Provisional Squadrons, will be commanded by Vice Admiral Sagastar…”

“I’m not going anywhere. Don’t even think about sending me away.”

“Under the command of Vice Admiral Sagastar, the requisition of the Legardon from Marchand will be lifted and put on standby.”

“I don’t like it.”

Ed’s brow twitched. Sagastar’s face hardened when he met Ed’s glare, however, he didn’t back down.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to go back to your original intention of serving me, but now you’re protesting already?”

“I’ll protect you as best as I can. Your condition is still critical, so I can’t return. I’d rather bite my tongue…”

Footnote:

The unknown Island is Panichi.