Volume 20 Chapter 4, Explosion

While waiting for two days after the captain’s request, even Marco didn’t stop to think about what he could do.

He tried to get a single ship to go with him, but the results were disastrous.

No matter what he did, he could not cross the Barrier.

The situation was reported to their home country by a wizard who could communicate over long distances.

There were not many wizards who could communicate over long distances, but that did not mean that there were none.

The larger the country, the more wizards it employed.

The fact that they had dispatched their wizards showed the importance they had attached to this matter.

The instructions from their home country that came through the wizard were to continue as before.

In the end, the decision was the same as Marco’s, and Marco was relieved about that.

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Two days after the message was given.

Two more merchant ships arrived from the Central Continent’s side.

One of them was an old ship that was about to be scrapped.

The two ships remained at anchor for a while, barely visible, but soon the other ship approached Marco’s fleet, leaving the one that was about to be scrapped behind.

Unlike the previous merchant ship, this time it was clear that they were coming for Marco’s fleet.

Since the other ship was not armed and there was only one ship, it was unlikely that it would do anything on its own, but it was still natural to be wary.

Above all, the other ship that they left behind also made no sense to him.

Meanwhile, they came close to a certain distance, but they communicated with each other from that position.

The other ship must have known that it would be dangerous if they approached carelessly.

There was a universal method of communication between ships to prevent accidents from occurring.

They used this method to communicate with each other.

The message said that they would send the captain and a few others to meet with him.

Marco immediately made up his mind and sent his approval.

The other merchant ship sent out a small boat and approached Marco’s flagship.

Whether this was to alert the other side and prevent them from knowing their strength, or whether they dared to keep their numbers small so as not to alert the other side, could not be determined.

Regardless, the crew on the approaching small boat was immediately accommodated on the flagship.

There were five people on that small boat.

One of them was clearly more of a civilian officer for this negotiation than a sailor.

Sure enough, that civilian officer came to Marco’s side.

“Nice to meet you, I am from the administrative office of Amamiya Tower, and my name is Colorado.”

“I am Admiral Marco of the Third Fleet of the Kingdom of Column.”

They greeted each other and quickly decided to ask each other about the request this time.

“So, what are your requests?”

Marco accepted Colorado easily because he did not believe that the Central Continent’s side wanted to initiate a war.

To begin with, there may be merchant ships on the Central Continent, but there were no armed vessels.

In the Central Continent, where there existed no such thing as a nation, there was almost no point in possessing such a thing.

Marco believed that if something like a battle were to take place, it would only happen once they were on land.

Of course, Marco was not alone in this thinking, as the Kingdom of Column analyzed.

“I have three requests. One is that you allow me to contact you from this point on. The second is that you will not move this fleet for some time after contacting me. The third is that you keep an eye on that abandoned ship.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes. That’s all.”

“And what would be the benefit to us in doing so?”

He said with some intimidation, meaning that he was not going to bother to meet the demands of the enemy side.

Under this intimidation, Colorado simply said, without changing his expression.

“This proud fleet of yours will not sink, I hope.”

His words caused the surrounding men to rustle.

“You think we can be sunk by just two merchant ships?”

“Hahaha. No way. That abandoned ship is really just a scrapped ship. There is no one on board now. The other ship is just a merchant ship, and the only fighters on it are anti-monster adventurers.”

Of course, monsters also appeared in the sea.

Having such anti-monster personnel on board was the same as hiring an escort for the merchant fleet.

To Marco, it did not seem as if Colorado was lying.

He could tell that the ship Colorado was on was just another merchant ship.

It did not appear to have any combatants on board.

Of course, they could have hidden things in the ship’s cargo hold, so they wouldn’t be caught off guard.

“…Who are you going to contact?”

“Amamiya Tower, of course.”

Colorado asked in a bored tone, asking who else it could be.

“What’s this about?”

“To let you know that we are ready.”

“Ready?”

“That abandoned ship. We’re supposed to drop people off when we get to the desired location.”

That didn’t make any sense.

What was the purpose of bringing that ship here?

They brought it all the way here when they were there, so it must have a meaning.

“What are you going to do with that abandoned ship?”

“Well. I haven’t heard too many details either. But they are going to use the Tower’s power to show us how to sink it in one shot. After seeing that, if you still try to mess with us, I hope you’ll be prepared for that.”

“…The Tower’s power?”

“It seems so. Like I said, I don’t know the details.”

Colorado was talking nonchalantly, as if they knew what they were getting themselves into, whether they knew they were surrounded or not.

For now, it was completely at Colorado’s pace.

“Oh, by the way, there is no point in doing anything to me here and now, okay? After a certain amount of time, they will decide that something has happened to me, and they will do it with or without me.”

Marco inwardly clicked his tongue.

He had heard that the measures taken by the people behind this were very thorough.

He thought he was a civilian officer who was an amateur in combat, but he wasn’t so naive as to think that he was a mastermind either.

“…Very well. You should try that contact you mentioned earlier.”

Upon hearing Marco’s reply, Colorado immediately began making contact on the spot.

Of course, Marco could hear the conversation, but there was nothing unnatural about it.

He simply informed the other party that he was ready and that they could initiate the plan whenever they wanted.

The other party agreed, and the communication was immediately terminated.

Watching the exchange, Marco became curious as to how they were communicating.

With existing magical tools, they were disposable, and in a location like a ship that was moving, those were the only ones he knew to be commonly used.

Or a magician who could only communicate directly with another.

But it did not appear to Marco that he was using magic, and his tools did not appear to be disposable.

Marco was about to ask about the tools, but before he could, Colorado pointed towards the abandoned ship.

“It’s about time, so please keep an eye on it. If your men’s lives are important.”

As soon as Colorado said that, it happened.

The first to notice were the wizards in the combat crew.

They felt a power stronger, one than they had never ever felt before, coming from the abandoned ship.

Before they could tell, a huge explosion occurred on the abandoned ship.

Although the ship was located at a considerable distance from the fleet, the effect of the explosion reached the fleet.

The hot air from the explosion reached the fleet, albeit slightly.

The crew of the fleet, who saw the explosion, were unable to speak for a while.

Marco, who was also watching the explosion, felt the same way, but as the leader of the fleet, he tried hard not to show his astonishment.