WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 105: Where the Storm Calls (5)

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He sank deeper.

He sank beneath the sea. Beneath consciousness. To the very bottom.

Kyle drifted on the boundary between life and death. His body felt unbearably heavy, as though something was crushing it down. His hands and feet would not obey him, as if they had been tied tightly. He could feel death drawing closer with every passing moment.

Yet he felt at peace. At some point, the pain in his lungs, as though they were about to burst, had disappeared. The heavenly singing that had rung in his ears was gone too.

Everything felt empty. For that moment, no distracting thoughts or worries clouded his mind.

Paradoxically, that was how it was.

I'm tired.

In that world dyed completely black, Kyle thought.

His hazy thoughts came to a single conclusion.

If I close my eyes like this... I can rest forever.

As time passed, though, the stillness around him slowly began to shake. The weight pressing down on his limbs faded away. One by one, his five senses returned, and Kyle desperately tried to move his arms and legs.

He forced his left hand, the one wearing the ring, into a fist.

I can't die like this.

I still have things to do. I haven't achieved anything yet...

Just as Kyle muttered to himself, something suddenly wrapped around him with warmth. It was an unfamiliar sensation, yet strangely familiar at the same time.

Kyle did not reject it.

He accepted it as it was.

When he opened his eyes slightly, he saw something through his narrow field of vision.

A pure white dragon covered in snowy scales was wrapped around Kyle's body.

Kyle stared blankly at the sight.

It shall be granted.

A familiar woman's voice rang inside his mind.

As you wish.

Blue, sapphire-like eyes turned toward Kyle. Vertical pupils stared into him.

Kyle did not look away.

The instant he met those enormous blue eyes, his consciousness, which had only just awakened, fell beneath the surface once more.

* * *

“Cough! Cough, cough...”

Something tickling his throat made Kyle cough on reflex. After spitting out water for a while, he clutched his throbbing forehead and barely pushed himself upright.

“This is...”

Kyle looked around.

The first thing he saw was the horizon in the distance. When he looked up, the sun hung high in the sky, tilted slightly to the west. Lowering his gaze again, he saw calm waves rolling in at regular intervals and a white beach of fine sand.

The coast?

Once that thought crossed his mind, Kyle quickly checked his body. It was a purely instinctive action.

There were no visible wounds or internal injuries. His leather coat, black cloak, and sword at his waist were all still there. The Inventory Pouch he had kept inside his clothes was intact as well.

The only difference was that his whole body was soaked with seawater.

Kyle took out his pocket watch and checked the time. They had entered the strait in the late afternoon, but now it was early afternoon. At least a day had passed.

He had no idea how many days had gone by since the ship sank.

And the Dragon Heart.

The moment he saw the white gemstone pendant clenched in his right hand, Kyle's stagnant thoughts began racing again.

He had definitely been beneath the sea before he lost consciousness.

They had boarded a ship in Cadis headed for the Federation and entered the Pargon Strait. They had encountered pirates. Then they had faced waves they could not resist, and the ship had been split apart.

He and Elysia had sunk beneath the sea together. As though praying for a miracle, he had reached for the Dragon Heart as it floated up toward the surface.

The scene he had glimpsed for an instant when his consciousness resurfaced was still clear in his mind. Kyle tried to recall the dragon he had now seen for the second time.

Was it a dream? An illusion? Or a vision from the brink of death?

More importantly, where was Elysia?

Lost in thought, Kyle hurriedly looked around. Fortunately, someone in a white robe lay collapsed nearby.

Kyle quickly got to his feet. He took a few steps forward and stopped in front of Elysia.

Like Kyle had been a moment ago, she was unconscious with her eyes closed. Her bright platinum-blonde hair was soaked beneath the hood of her overturned robe.

There were no visible injuries.

Kneeling in front of her, Kyle placed his hand beneath her nose. He could faintly feel her shallow breaths against his fingers.

Only then did he let out a sigh of relief and carefully shook Elysia's shoulder.

“Elysia.”

“Ugh...”

“Elysia. Can you hear me?”

Elysia let out a low groan. Kyle waited quietly.

Before long, her eyelids trembled and slowly opened. Her golden eyes turned toward Kyle as he looked down at her.

“Kyle...?”

“Yeah. It's me.”

At first, Elysia only blinked blankly. Then awareness gradually returned to her eyes.

Kyle helped her as she tried to brace herself against the sand.

“Can you stand?”

“Mm...”

Elysia rose unsteadily. Kyle caught her as she swayed.

“This place...”

Elysia spoke under her breath.

Cool, damp sea wind blew against them. The long horizon stretched out before her eyes. Below it, the blue sea slapped gently against the white sand, sending wave after wave ashore.

“I think we're on an island,” Kyle said beside her after staring at the sea for a while.

“An island? Don't tell me...”

“If my guess is right, we're in the Corsa Archipelago. It's the only land the storm could have swept us toward from the strait.”

Kyle turned around. Elysia followed his lead.

On the opposite side of the sea stood a dense stretch of tall trees. There was no sign that human hands had ever touched the land.

The shoreline stretched so far to either side that they could not see its end. Still, it was not a continent.

Kyle swept the area with the mana from his ring, then clicked his tongue inwardly. The island was much larger than he had expected.

There was only one landmass in the Pargon Strait that was not part of the continent yet could be this large. The Corsa Archipelago.

“So we really were shipwrecked. I never imagined this would happen...”

Elysia turned back toward the sea and muttered in a troubled voice. She recalled her last memory.

The trade ship had been swallowed by the waves. After sinking into the sea with Kyle, she remembered nothing.

“Kyle.”

Elysia moved her lips.

“Go ahead.”

“What time is it?”

“Around two.”

“Has a day passed?”

“Probably.”

“Did you bring me all the way here? To be honest, when I fell into the sea, I thought I was certainly going to die. We were in the middle of the strait.”

Kyle, who had been about to answer, fell silent.

Even Kyle did not know how he was alive. He could not even be certain whether the dragon he had seen for the second time was real, false, or simply a hallucination.

“We just... got lucky.”

He looked down at the Dragon Heart in his right hand. The pendant set with a white jewel still shone with a pure white light.

Kyle could feel Frisia's mana raging within it.

“...I see.”

Kyle used the mana from his ring to draw out all the seawater that had soaked into his cloak and clothes. Watching him, Elysia squeezed the water from her robe and hair as well.

No other islands were visible from the beach in front of them.

Kyle held out the Dragon Heart to Elysia, but she did not take it. Instead, she refused.

“No, it's fine.”

“Fine?”

“I think it would be better for you to keep it, Kyle. I just have that feeling.”

Kyle readily nodded.

Before, he would have handed it over without much thought. Now, though, he felt that Elysia was right.

“More importantly, do you know what happened to the other sailors and pirates?”

Elysia asked after checking that the Inventory Pouch inside her clothes was safe.

“I don't know. I didn't have the chance to look.”

“Then...”

“We'll have to move and find out ourselves. We can't learn anything by staying here.”

Their gazes turned toward the forested land.

Unlike the sea, which was filled with blue as far as the eye could see, the path through the forest had no visible end. They did not know what lay beyond it either.

That left them with only one choice.

They had to go farther into the island.

Kyle stared between the trees for a moment, then glanced at Elysia one last time.

“Let's go.”

* * *

On the forest path of the island, where grass grew in scattered patches, Kyle walked forward while judging the sun's position and the direction from which they had left the shore.

Elysia kept pace beside him.

“It's huge. It feels like we've already been walking for hours...”

At first, Elysia had walked in silence. As the same scenery continued without end, she muttered with half disbelief and half exhaustion.

If not for the humid air brushing against her skin, she would have believed they were inland.

“The islands in the archipelago are large, so it can't be helped. Some of them even have major cities that rival the capitals of small countries. Their populations are large too.”

“But there was no dock where we washed ashore.”

“Not every stretch of coast has a pier. We probably landed far from the harbor. I don't know which island in the archipelago this is, though.”

There were many islands in the archipelago. The largest was the one where the Skaldir Family had its base.

It was not for nothing that they had escaped the influence of the southern kingdoms and the Federation, then taken control of the Pargon Strait.

There was a reason others willingly accepted the losses and paid the toll each time. The pirates of the Corsa Archipelago were that powerful.

At sea, at least, they had no equal.

But we're on land now.

Kyle considered the possibility that the island they had washed up on was the one where the Skaldir Family had its base.

Would that be better instead?

“We should camp soon.”

As the afternoon gradually turned to evening, Kyle stopped walking, found a suitable campsite, and built a fire.

They had stocked up before leaving Cadis, so food and drinking water would not be a problem for a while.

“It's fortunate the Inventory Pouch is intact.”

Elysia blew on the stew Kyle handed her before taking a spoonful.

After using magic to remove all the water from their clothes and eating warm food, the tension left her body all at once. It felt as though all the fatigue that had built up was rushing in.

Kyle soaked hard rye bread in the stew and chewed it slowly. The sight of the flickering orange flames calmed his mind.

“What will we do now?”

They continued eating for a while before Elysia looked directly at Kyle and asked. He was tossing branches he had gathered earlier into the fire.

“We need to head to a city first.”

“For information?”

Elysia asked again. Kyle nodded.

“Finding a ship is the top priority. An island this large will definitely have a big city, and there should be a harbor with merchant ships docked there. There should be at least one ship headed for the Kingdom of Rustin.”

He had more than enough money.

No matter how much extra he had to pay, he would find a ship. Kyle's goal had not changed once since he met Elysia at Ligrid Gate.

Protect her.

And take her to the Federation.

Once they reached Renavik, the capital of the Kalov Kingdom and the seat of the Federal Assembly, they could meet Elysia's uncle, Grand Duke Rivelius, and secure the Federation's cooperation.

That was why they needed to reach Belmar, the southernmost port city of the Kingdom of Rustin, as soon as possible.

They did not know the Empire's movements in detail, which made it even more urgent.

“Those people... they're all dead, aren't they?”

Elysia had quietly resumed eating, but she suddenly stopped moving her spoon and asked.

It was obvious who she meant.

“I don't know.”

“...”

“If they're lucky, they might have been washed ashore and survived like us. Or they might have drowned in the sea. We can't know either way right now. The Black Crow Merchant Company's trade ship was completely destroyed, after all.”

“What about the pirates' fast ships?”

Elysia asked.

The three fast ships used by the pirates directly under the Skaldir Family were special enough to pierce the Black Crow Merchant Company's trade ship, which was said to be sturdier than other merchant vessels.

If they were exceptionally lucky, perhaps one of the three ships had survived and made it through the storm.

“It doesn't change the fact that it would be difficult.”

Kyle shook his head.

No matter how sturdily a ship was built, there was nothing to be done once it overturned in the waves. If it capsized in the open sea, there was only one possible outcome.

“Are you worried about them?”

Kyle asked after putting the last piece of bread into his mouth.

“It's not that... If they survived, couldn't we leave together? If we find a ship, they are veteran sailors, so they could help with the voyage too.”

“So you are worried.”

“I'm sorry. Just yesterday, they were people who worried about me. Thinking that they may have fallen into the sea and died overnight makes me feel strange...”

Elysia lowered her head.

Kyle let out a small sigh.

“Don't apologize. It isn't your fault.”

He could kill people who were hostile toward them. Still, he could not help feeling bothered when people who had treated them kindly disappeared.

Kyle did not think that side of Elysia was a bad thing. It was proof that she had not yet lost her innocence.

“Those waves were an accident. A natural disaster. At the very least, you don't need to feel guilty about it, Elysia.”

She was still young.

By the standards of this world, she was old enough to be married and have children already. By Kyle's standards from living in Korea, though, she was young.

Until recently, she had also been a princess living in Archandia, the Imperial capital. Kyle knew that although Elysia appeared strong on the outside, she was in a state where she could break at any time.

“...I see.”

“Do you know anything about the Corsa Archipelago?”

“What I know?”

Elysia fell silent.

After some time passed, she frowned faintly and shook her head.

“I'm ashamed to say it, but unlike other countries, I only learned the most basic things about the Corsa Archipelago. I don't know any of the details.”

“I see.”

“What about you, Kyle?”

“Same here. The archipelago is incredibly far from the north. If this was going to happen, I should have asked more questions instead of only trusting what they said about paying a toll.”

All Kyle knew was that the Skaldir Family of the Corsa Archipelago was practically a royal family that had controlled the strait for hundreds of years, and that the archipelago consisted of countless islands.

He knew nothing about which island was which, where they were located, or what their culture was like.

“Still, don't worry. No matter what happens, I'll take you to the Federation. Once we reach the city, we'll learn enough information. We may even find out what happened to the sailors from the Black Crow Merchant Company.”

Kyle looked down at the sword lying beside him.

The beloved sword that had been with him since shortly after his knighthood still shone without a single break, even though it had been soaked in seawater.

“Okay.”

“...”

“You're right. I trust you. Like I always have.”

Elysia smiled softly.

Not long after finishing their meal, the two took turns sleeping with the campfire between them.

They woke early the next morning and crossed the island again. Other than stopping for lunch, they did not rest.

Perhaps because they walked so diligently, the trees gradually began to thin out. Before long, a broad plain stretching toward the sea appeared before them.

Twelve hours had passed since they left the shore.

“Kyle, over there...”

“Yeah. We found it.”

Kyle and Elysia stopped walking and looked at the sight before them.

In the distance stood a magnificent castle, with a flag fluttering from the top of its spire.

“It's the Skaldir Family's main castle. The island's size was unusual enough, but I didn't think the pirates' base would really be here.”

The flag whipping in the sea wind bore the image of two cutlasses, the same symbol they had seen on the pirates' ship sails.

It was the crest of the Skaldir Family.

Below the castle built on the hill to their left, countless buildings gathered together to form a vast city. Ships at the harbor were dyed red beneath the orange glow of the late afternoon.

Footnotes:

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