Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 410

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 180.
In the Name of Loyalty and Vengeance (22)
2. The Letter Sent to Keltika
A person can pour themselves into anything. Into flowers or letters, into cooking or dance, into a home or a garden. You can wave a fan once to summon someone, or tap it sharply to drive them away. So do it with the care of an alchemist. Breathe your soul into it, write “100,000 Elso,” and later someone will discover your spirit contained within. Then you and they will have exchanged 100,000 Elso without ever possessing it.
The weather was magnificent. Gold dust scattered across the horizon swayed gently. The ship—one that deserved to be called “the pinnacle of beauty” on a day like this—had surrendered its masts to the morning sun, and the sea itself was warm as freshly toasted bread.
Joshua stood alone on the Deck, gazing upward. Sky, folded sails, fluttering flags, and ropes came into view. His gaze lingered on the ropes. He tilted his head back fully, carefully examining the twists and connection points of dozens of ropes crisscrossing the empty air.
He had come this far knowing nothing about ships or sailing, but there was no law saying he had to remain ignorant forever. Joshua thought lightly, “Why not learn now?” He intended to understand the ship simply by sitting on the Deck and observing. The thought that it was impossible never crossed his mind.
First, he tried to determine what those ropes connected and from which direction they received force. Starting that way, he believed he could discover the structure of a single ship—how countless materials pushed and pulled against each other in perfect balance. Once he understood the ship that way, he thought he would naturally come to understand the principle by which it moved. Because it was Joshua and not someone else, it was not an impossible plan.
Yet somehow, Joshua failed. He could easily remember hundreds of shapes that the ropes created in empty space, but grasping the structure of overlapping ropes in a vast expanse from a single point was not easy. Of course, given enough time, it would not be impossible. But more than anything else….
“It’s blinding me to death.”
The old tale that ancient ship captains had lost their eyes measuring the sun’s altitude with cross-staffs was not a lie. There were children at the Harbor who believed that the black eye patch was a proud wound that pirate captains earned in duels, but unless there was some maritime rule requiring one to stab the eye during a duel, there was no reason so many people would have injured the same eye.
As Joshua rubbed his eyes in dismay, Maximian and Riche climbed onto the Deck. Maximian, thinking Joshua had been dozing in the sunlight, chided him, “Are you a Cat?” Riche casually looked up at the ropes as Joshua had, but unable to imagine what Joshua might have been thinking, she simply stretched naturally.
“The ship’s all repaired, so we should set sail soon, right?”
It took exactly four days. During that time, an unexpected real voyage had damaged the ship’s hull, and they had prepared to take flight again. If bad luck struck and they had to voyage again, no one knew how many days it would take to reach Periwinkle Island, so they had to prepare thoroughly. Maximian decided to tell Juspian later about how the ship, despite being called a ship, had its hull damaged just from being soaked in seawater. Of course, only if they returned the ship.
“If we keep going like this, he might get angry even when we return it.”
The wave painting that had been drawn on the ship’s hull had long since faded. The sides were scratched and dented by steel ropes, with shells, snails, and starfish holding hands and weeping, and whatever dye had been applied below the waterline had turned a murky gray—there was no way it could meet Juspian’s mysterious aesthetic standards.
“Isn’t a ship supposed to not leak water before it looks good? We almost drowned at sea because we didn’t know and went out. So who exactly should be angry?”
“But Mister Juspian didn’t intend to put it on the sea from the beginning, did he? He must have thought it would keep flying.”
“But if that were the case, he should have prevented the plate from breaking. The fact that he made it in the shape of a ship suggests he anticipated an unavoidable situation, doesn’t it?”
“But the plate didn’t work properly because we didn’t refill the gold that was decreasing while we slept in time. As proof, once we refilled the gold and waited a few days, it worked perfectly again, didn’t it? He even told us beforehand that the ship’s mechanisms would gradually stop obeying if the gold decreased. He made it in the shape of a ship to follow Ganapoli’s tradition. It seems like it wasn’t Mister Juspian’s fault after all.”
“That’s….”
Joshua intervened in the rare moment when Maximian seemed about to lose the argument.
“But Max, you didn’t actually think the painting on this ship looked good, did you?”
Because Joshua’s face clearly read “I’m shocked my friend has such poor taste,” Maximian defended himself indignantly.
“What I meant was, before it looks good by the Mage Juspian’s standards, so that’s different from saying I thought it looked good….”
A savior appeared just in time, sparing Maximian from continuing his awkward explanation. Milestone poked his head up from the ship’s side.
“We can set sail soon, but before that, there’s something I need to tell you all. Come here, everyone.”
During the days spent on The Island, while strange events unfolded one after another, Milestone had always been the one asking questions, while explaining fell to the three of them regardless of what they knew or didn’t know. This was the first time Milestone had initiated a conversation, so the three tilted their heads in confusion, forgetting their previous discussion.
“…Therefore, the contract has ended.”
Joshua, Maximian, and Riche sat around a table, but all three had lost their ability to speak. It was not easy to silence three people with such different talents. Milestone, who had accomplished this remarkable feat, waited peacefully for their response.
In the end, only Maximian could step forward at a time like this.
“Wait, why are you suddenly saying the contract is over?”
“My contract condition was until you arrived at whichever Island you were aiming for. I wasn’t told which Island that was. Therefore, I decided to consider this Island as that Island. Since it wasn’t a contract based on dates, I had no choice but to think that way.”
“Who do you think you are, deciding that on your own!”
Milestone smiled broadly.
“When contract terms aren’t clear, anyone interprets them however is convenient, right? So, who’s the captain among the three of you?”
Come to think of it, he had received a similar question before. Of course, there had been no correct answer then either, but because of that memory, Maximian and Joshua unconsciously looked at Riche.
Riche was flustered.
“Why are you looking at me?”
Joshua smiled broadly.
“Weren’t you the one in charge?”
“Well, that was only temporary back in Kalayso.”
Maximian continued with an indifferent tone.
“Then take it on properly this time. So, Captain Riche, what’s your opinion on the navigator’s proposal?”
“Are you two mocking me right now?”
“If we’re being technical about it, the ship’s owner—that is, the shipowner Juspian—is friends with Caesar, and his daughter is you, Riche…”
The argument could have dragged on much longer, but it ended immediately when Milestone spoke.
“Fine. The lady is the captain. So, Captain, what are your terms for renegotiation?”
“Ah… renegotiation?”
Only then did the three young people’s minds finally settle. The fear that had gripped them when they thought they’d have to venture out to sea without Milestone—they who knew less about the sea and sailing than mice living in the ship’s corners—was not insignificant. Riche exhaled a sigh of relief and spoke.
“If it’s renegotiation, then the same terms as before…”
“Oh no, that won’t do.”
Milestone looked around at the three of them with a kind smile.
“You see, all three of you are thinking right now that you can’t venture out to sea without me, aren’t you? But there’s no other navigator on this island. So you absolutely must contract with me, right? What a favorable position this is! In a situation like this, for me to accept the same salary as before would be absurd, wouldn’t it?”
“Wait, wait, hold on—are you saying you’re raising your price?”
All three of them widened their eyes identically. They had never imagined such a situation. Yet Milestone nodded seriously.
“Of course. I’m a conscientious member of the Shipping Industry.”
Maximian spat out a curse.
“Damn it, again? We should call our journey ‘The Debtor’s Adventure.'”
Joshua hesitated before opening his mouth.
“Well, raising your pay isn’t difficult for us… but this kind of talk feels unfamiliar. Until now, I’ve been thinking of you more as a colleague than as an employee. Though I could be mistaken…”
Then Maximian spoke.
“Raising your pay is absolutely difficult, you fool.”
“But money…”
Maximian glanced at Joshua once more.
“We don’t even have any.”
“…”
Ever since running away from the villa, I had always been without money, but I had lived for so long without caring about such trivial matters that I couldn’t even fully grasp my own poverty. Maximian let Joshua remain silent and turned to look at Milestone.
“I understand what you’re saying. I’m not going to talk about colleagues or anything like that. We’ve only been together for a few days, and unlike Riche, we haven’t ruined your life, and above all, we haven’t shown ourselves to be the kind of people you’d want to be colleagues with. If someone asked me to become colleagues with such wretches from now on, I’d decline too. So I understand, but…”
Milestone spoke.
“Most of all, I’d appreciate it if you could do something about that fellow’s spirits. Because of them, I need hazard pay for the mental burden. I’m grateful you’re fixing the ship, but it would be better if you did it when I’m not watching. I won’t accept things flying around freely in thin air, even if they were gold coins.”
Captain Riche was also nodding in agreement from the corner. After all, both the hull and the hold needed repairs, and the People of Promise—who were sailors, or rather pirates—were extremely useful labor for that purpose.
Joshua spoke.
“I’m sorry about that. If you’d mentioned it earlier, I would have told you to do it at night. But let me ask you one thing. If you don’t contract with us, what will you do here? There are no people, and there are no other ships. Surely you’re not planning to wait indefinitely for another ship to arrive someday? Isn’t that being stranded?”
Joshua was saying something actually useful for once; Maximian sent him a very approving look. Milestone raised his eyebrows.
“Wait, if I don’t contract with you, are you planning to leave me here and go?”
“What?”
Joshua was at a loss for words and looked at Maximian. Maximian spoke.
“That means if the contract fails, you’d become a passenger, right? Something like that?”
“We can’t just leave you stranded.”
Maximian’s mind raced at lightning speed. Even as a passenger, if a storm struck, surely he wouldn’t want to sit idle and perish while the ship sank?
“Right, agreed then. Let me propose this: if we add a bonus to the navigator’s salary and deduct the passenger fare, wouldn’t the accounts roughly balance out? What do you think?”
“So my role would be half navigator and half passenger. If I’m only working half the time, the voyage would need to be remarkably uneventful.”
“Oh, this ship has precisely that capability. Let me explain it to you now.”
Maximian pointed confidently beneath the deck with his finger.
“There’s one thing I haven’t explained until now—this ship provides a very special convenience. As long as nothing goes wrong, you won’t need to adjust the sails or take the helm at all. You can simply sit and relax like the rest of us.”
“Does the ship fly, then?”
Milestone had clearly just thrown out the remark casually. Yet three of them, including Maximian, clapped their hands simultaneously and exclaimed.
“Exactly!”
Children of Rune – Winterer
Author: Jeon Min-hee
Publisher: 14 Months Publishing
The copyright to this book belongs to the author and 14 Months Publishing.
To reuse all or part of this book’s content, written consent from both parties is required.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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