novelraw Vol 4. Chapter 729: The Battle of Skidbladnir
Vol 4. Chapter 729: The Battle of Skidbladnir
Even as Ryo and Abel talked, preparations for battle advanced across the deck.
But wait a moment.
Skidbladnir was not a warship, but a merchant ship.
That was why Paulina was not a naval captain in the military sense, but a ship’s captain.
Yes. Skidbladnir was not a warship.
Its crew were ordinary crew members.
“But the captain said she wanted to intercept them.”
“Yes, she did.”
“And I have a major question about that too.”
Saying that, Abel looked at Skidbladnir’s enormous masts.
Because Skidbladnir was a clipper ship, it had three huge masts.
By spreading sails on those masts, it could travel at high speed.
Put another way, if those masts and sails took damage, its strength—its speed—would fall.
Perhaps because they were shifting into battle, all the sails had now been furled, and the ship was moving on inertia.
“You’re wondering how they’ll protect those masts and sails from, for example, fire arrows or thrown stones.”
Ryo inferred it from Abel’s gaze and nodded.
Yes. That was the most difficult point in battle between ships.
“Abel, you’re His Majesty the King, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am.”
“So I’m sure you know this, but on a battlefield, arrow attacks aren’t very effective, right?”
“True. Wind-attribute magicians use the
“Yes. It does exactly that.”
Ryo nodded.
Ryo knew because he had seen the blueprints.
During battle, the wind magic stone used for the sea-monster repellent could be diverted for defense.
“The sea-monster repellent... isn’t it a magic formula using a water magic stone and water-attribute magic?”
“Ah, as expected of Abel. You noticed the excellent point.”
Ryo praised him.
Yes. The sea-monster repellent of the Western Countries was a “magic formula.”
It was not a “magic circle.”
In other words, its attribute was fixed.
“The magic formula for sea-monster repellent has attribute-specific versions, like one for wind magic stones and one for earth magic stones.”
“Now that you mention it, I feel as though I heard that before in the Eastern Countries. You explained it to me with Ryo’s ice ship... Neil Andersen, was it?”
“You remembered that well!”
Ryo was surprised by Abel’s words.
At times like these, Ryo sincerely thought Abel was amazing.
He remembered things remarkably well.
“You said there were cases where it was drawn directly onto a magic stone...”
“Apparently that can be done, but Skidbladnir doesn’t have it drawn directly onto the magic stone. A separate magic formula has been prepared to draw mana from the wind magic stone.”
“So it is prepared as an alchemy tool.”
“Yes. By switching that over...”
“It creates a magical phenomenon like
“Exactly.”
“And during that time, the monster repellent...”
“Yes. That can no longer operate.”
Ryo nodded regarding the point of concern.
They were about to fight pirates or something similar.
A temporary halt to the monster repellent could not be helped.
“Deploy Wind Wall!”
Paulina’s voice rang out.
VWOM.
As if it had been waiting for Paulina’s command, a deep, low sound reverberated.
Even the two standing on the deck could tell that something had been deployed around the ship.
“This is the
“Yes. Apparently it’s called Wind Wall. Its main purpose is to block arrows, thrown stones, and other physical attacks.”
“It can’t block magic?”
“It doesn’t seem to be absolutely unable to block it... but the effect is weak.”
“Something like
“Ah, that. It came up when it was explained to me, but in the first place, I know nothing about such suspicious magic.”
“Apparently it’s the first spell magicians learn, but to you it’s suspicious.”
“It’s that thing called non-attribute magic, isn’t it? Water-attribute magic is superior!”
“I-is that so...”
Ryo puffed out his chest and promoted water-attribute magic, while Abel shook his head slightly.
“If they’re defending with wind-attribute magic, perhaps it’s closer to a wind defensive membrane.”
“Ah, that thing Wyverns supposedly deploy close to the surface of their bodies.”
“Witnash has an alchemy tool that imitates it.”
“What did you say!”
“And from what I’ve heard, the Federation alchemist Frank de Verde made a simplified version, and it was deployed in the war against the Principality of Inberi.”
“What did you say!!”
Ryo was astonished from the bottom of his heart at this astonishing information.
“When we return to the Kingdom, I’ll have to ask Kenneth about this.”
“Kenneth? Why?”
“Kenneth is an old acquaintance of Doctor Frank, apparently. Through Kenneth, I can arrange to have that alchemy tool shown to me...”
“It’s a Federation secret, so that won’t happen.”
“Gnh... Then it can’t be helped. I’ll bring Chancellor Heinlein a Café de Chocolat cake as a bribe again.”
“A cake? A bribe?”
Abel tilted his head.
“I’ll have the Marquisate of Heinlein’s intelligence network steal... no, procure that alchemy tool.”
“Rephrasing it doesn’t make it any better. If you did that and got caught, it would mean war with the Federation.”
“B-but it’s for the development of the Kingdom’s alchemy...”
“We have already asked the Royal Alchemy Workshop to develop one.”
“What!”
Ryo was once again astonished from the bottom of his heart at Abel’s words.
“As expected of Abel... your moves are fast.”
“But apparently it is not easy even for the Royal Alchemy Workshop. As expected of an imitation of the wind defensive membrane, which no one could make until Frank de Verde created one.”
“An imitation that still can’t be made...”
“It must be that difficult in all sorts of ways.”
Abel shrugged.
As far as Abel was concerned, all he could do was wait for it to be completed.
Whether that took five years or ten.
“Still, you knew quite a lot about this Wind Wall thing. Did you say someone taught you?”
“During my first visit to the Republic, I learned about it at the Franzoni Shipping Company. That is the family home of the director of the Intelligence Special Service Agency, and after various efforts, I was taught several things about the maritime technology of the Republic, a maritime nation.”
“It sounds like it could be put to use in developing the Kingdom’s maritime technology.”
“Doesn’t it? Once we return to the Kingdom, perhaps I should visit the Ministry of Oceans. I don’t think Goro would treat me coldly.”
“So the Lord of Oceans has a high evaluation in your eyes.”
“Of course. His competence was evident in the coffee beans he sent me.”
Ryo praised the Kona coffee that had been sent to him when Goro was magistrate of Kona Village.
“If everyone were as capable as Goro, the nation would be secure.”
Ryo folded his arms grandly and shook his head.
Yes, even in Abel’s eyes, he looked very grand indeed.
Just as Abel was about to say something, Ryo’s involuntary voice reached his ears.
“Don’t tell me... catapults...”
“Catapults?”
It was a word Abel did not know.
However, he soon understood what Ryo had muttered about.
“Launcher Number One, installation complete!”
“Launcher Number Two, installation complete!”
“Launcher Number Three, installation complete!”
Wooden devices that seemed to require two people each to operate were set up on the deck.
“They look like the throwing machines used in siege warfare.”
Abel stated his impression based on his own knowledge.
But he had a question.
“What are they throwing?”
“Those... barrel-like things are going to be launched... fired, it seems.”
Ryo pointed to barrels about sixty centimeters tall. Apparently, those were to be launched.
Moreover, those “barrels” had something like a fuse on top...
At that point, he looked at the five approaching ships.
“Ah... the people on the decks of those ships are holding weapons.”
“They are undoubtedly pirate ships or something of the sort.”
Ryo and Abel shared the same opinion.
From the five pirate-like vessels, shouted voices reached Skidbladnir, where the two stood.
“Stop the ship! Leave your cargo, and we’ll spare your lives!”
“That settles it. Pirate ships.”
“Skidbladnir is definitely included among the cargo they want us to leave. Even if our lives were spared, I’m sure we’d just be abandoned in the middle of the sea.”
Abel shrugged, and Ryo grimaced as he stated the likely future.
Even after hearing the pirates’ voices, Skidbladnir’s crew did not flinch in the slightest.
As before, the preparations continued in orderly silence.
“Barrels” were set into the three launchers.
Crew members holding torches stood beside the launchers.
“Number One, ignite!”
At Captain Paulina’s command, the top of the “barrel” placed in Number One was lit with a torch.
“Number One, fire!”
The next instant, the burning “barrel” was launched.
It drew a clean arc toward the deck of the lead pirate ship.
When it struck the deck, the “barrel” shattered, and the liquid inside spread out.
It spread the fire attached to the “barrel” as well.
The part of the deck where the barrel had landed erupted into a great blaze.
“Oil?”
“Yes, it looks like the ‘barrel’ was filled with oil.”
“It’s a giant version of a Molotov cocktail...”
Abel and Ryo were both astonished.
And this was only the beginning.
“Wind speed is no problem! No correction needed!”
“Good. Number Two, Number Three, ignite!”
Apparently, only Number One had been fired first to check whether the barrel would be carried off by the wind.
“Number Two, Number Three, fire!”
With the command, “barrels” were launched toward other pirate ships.
They again drew beautiful arcs... and the decks of two pirate ships became seas of flame.
“They’re good...”
Abel murmured without thinking.
“The fact that they can drop them in such perfect locations means they have calculus.”
“Calculus?”
“Ah... um... a method for calculating trajectories?”
At Abel’s question, Ryo gave a somewhat uncertain answer.
Originally, the calculus taught in high school mathematics on Earth had, in one respect, developed to derive the trajectories and points of impact of shells fired from cannons.
The story that Napoleon, who achieved military glory as an excellent artillery officer and ultimately became Emperor of France, loved mathematics was famous.
The launchers installed on Skidbladnir worked on the same principle as cannons.
At the moment of launch, the projectile was given kinetic energy, then flew by inertia, decelerated due to gravity and air resistance, and eventually fell.
As with cannons, the launch force was constant, so the point of impact had to be controlled solely by adjusting the launch angle.
Calculus was necessary there.
Cannons used on Earth had not seen major development in either the Central Countries or the Eastern Countries.
They had not developed in the Western Countries either...
“Catapults certainly do have a long history.”
“Catapults?”
“Mathematics is fascinating.”
“Mathematics?”
“Abel has been playing the fool for a while now...”
“Sorry, but I do not understand what you mean.”
“My role as the fool has been stolen.”
Ryo lamented alone.
“In both the Central Countries and the Eastern Countries, the basis of fleet battles was close combat... boarding the enemy ship, wasn’t it?”
“That’s called boarding action. But Skidbladnir is...”
“Unexpectedly fighting at long range. And not with magic either.”
“I’m sure that was oil meant for cooking.”
“If this battle had not happened, it would have been used for cooking... which is the more useful use for it.”
“This is all the pirates’ fault.”
Abel and Ryo shook their heads slightly at the same time.
The fourth “barrel” was launched, and without missing its mark, it swallowed the fourth pirate ship in a sea of flame.
Those ships stopped, and the pirates either tried to extinguish the fires or gave up and jumped into the sea...
They were in chaos.
One ship remained.
That one was still approaching.
“Prepare for close combat!”
At Captain Paulina’s command, the crew members took up bows.
Apparently, the launchers would not be used anymore.
“It looks like they’ll use close combat against the last ship.”
“Perhaps they are trying to reassure us.”
“Reassure us?”
“They may want to show that Skidbladnir has no problem even if the fight becomes close combat.”
“B-but... surely it won’t be as one-sided as before, will it? It would be better to burn them all with those launchers and ‘barrels.’”
Ryo said the obvious.
Abel understood what Ryo meant.
That way, they could keep casualties completely at zero.
No matter how confident they were in close combat, and even if no one died, it would not end completely unscathed.
Some might be injured... though if they could be healed with
“Still, judging from how skillful their long-range combat has been, they must be very well trained.”
“That’s true.”
“A crew trained that well... I am a little interested in what their close combat looks like.”
“I see. Now that you mention it...”
Abel was saying not as an individual, but as a king, that he wanted to see the strength of the captain and crew to whom he would entrust Skidbladnir, one of the Kingdom’s assets.
Once it was put that way, Ryo understood the feeling as well.
And so...
“Magical bombardment, volley!”
At Paulina’s command, five fire-attribute spells were released.
Before they struck the pirate ship, they split apart.
“Area suppression!”
“
“One of them is... the head chef.”
“Seriously...?”
Ryo found Head Chef Kovac among those who had cast the magic, and Abel was surprised.
The
They pressed further.
“Archers, loose!”
Twenty arrows were released at once.
In the first place, Skidbladnir’s deck was higher than the pirate ship’s deck.
Skidbladnir was already a large clipper ship.
Its deck height differed from that of a pirate ship that looked like a modified fishing boat.
And there was one great principle common to every battle.
An attack from higher ground was more advantageous.
That was because it was easier to grasp the enemy’s situation, and one could also make gravity an ally.
“Archers, second volley, loose!”
Once more, twenty arrows were released.
How many people on the pirate ship remained unharmed?
“We are transitioning to boarding action! Do not annihilate them! We will extract information. Take about five prisoners!”
Paulina’s orders flew.
At the same time, ropes were thrown from Skidbladnir’s deck onto the pirate ship’s deck.
When the hooks on the ends of the ropes caught on the pirate ship...
“Charge!”
Giving the order herself, Paulina was the first to cross the rope and board the pirate ship.
“I had a feeling she would do that.”
“Well, she doesn’t seem like the type to hide behind her crew.”
Ryo nodded, and Abel agreed.
Yes. Paulina was suited to leading the charge.
Of course, that did not mean she looked rough by appearance.
Rather, in normal times, she spoke calmly and composedly, and her actions were not hurried.
But if her ship or her crew fell into danger, she would be the first to leap into that danger and rescue them... both of them had held that impression of her.
And now, the scene before them was exactly as imagined.
Of course, she was far more trustworthy than a captain who ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) hid in safety while sending subordinates into danger.
“The fact that she thoroughly crushed the enemy’s fighting strength before boarding may be just like her usual calmness.”
“That’s true. She likely wants to avoid not only crew deaths, but even serious injuries.”
“And the reason she chose close combat was not to reassure us, but to draw out information.”
“Her judgment is wonderfully calm.”
Both Abel and Ryo praised Paulina’s judgment.
The conclusion derived from that was clear.
This captain and crew could be trusted with the ship.
Before long, Skidbladnir subdued the five pirate ships without suffering any major damage.