I Became an Evolving Deep-Sea Creature-Chapter 42

Chapter 42.  Acquisition of Le Céleste
And so, about half a year passed. During that time, Yul repeated the cycle of scouting, trading, settling, and trading again.
Yul examined the goods piled up at the forward outpost within his Patroller zone.
‘Hm. Did I collect too much?’
There, stacks of gold he had accumulated glittered. The reason was simple: nowhere else could he find something with such excellent liquidity.
Magic stones dissolved like ice cream if dropped into the sea—unusable. Krelsite disrupted everything infused with mana—also unusable.
So he converted everything into gold. The piles of gold ingots stacked inside the giant clam shone brilliantly.
‘I can’t just leave all my money in the Royal Bank. And I still have quests to clear.’
Human banks in this world, which seemed to be at roughly a Renaissance-level of technological development, were not as reliable as one might hope.
He didn’t think the Sun King would ever extort his money, but the same could not necessarily be said of his descendants.
Thus, he converted about half of his assets into gold, stored them at the forward outpost, packed them into a giant clam, and transported them to a safe location: the Island of Boundaries.
‘I should bury them in the continental slope near the Island of Boundaries.’
The continental slope was a steep underwater cliff, and it was halfway down this section that the island’s soul had once been buried.
Since the place where the island’s soul had been was a hollowed-out depression, he only needed to place the giant clam inside and seal the entrance, and a perfect, undiscoverable undersea treasure vault would be complete.
‘Gold doesn’t rust or corrode, after all.’
Once he secured the gold safely, a quest completion message appeared.
-Gold is desire itself. Gather 1 ton of gold. (Completed)
‘Yes!’
With this, he had cleared all the quests required for Ascension.
Yul then headed once more to the Kingdom of Frangia. This time, to finally take ownership of his ship.
* * *
Once again, the Sun King was waiting for Yul on that small uninhabited island.
“Here, this is the new ship you wanted.”
-Hmm. Impressive.
The ship Yul would be taking over was a small 300-ton caravel.
It was a new model, launched a little over two years ago.
“It’s called Le Céleste.”
Finding a ship itself hadn’t been difficult, but secretly gathering a crew and a captain to accompany it had taken nearly half a year.
“And let me introduce you. This is Thibaut Marchand. You may call him Blue Shark Marchand. He is a very loyal captain.”
“Marchand, at your service.”
The 37-year-old captain with blue eyes stared at Yul, who had just surfaced, with a tense expression.
He had already been told by the Sun King that the owner of this ship would be an orca.
Even though he knew beforehand, the sheer size difference was intimidating, and the ‘voice’ that had just echoed in his mind proved to him that his counterpart possessed formidable intelligence.
“Marchand graduated from the Royal Naval Academy. He also served as a pioneering captain in the southern Castesté Archipelago, developing empty islands there. During that time, he defeated the pirates who were illegally occupying the region. Hence his nickname, the Blue Shark.”
-Oh. A fine talent.
Yul immediately understood the Sun King’s intention in assigning such a loyal captain.
He was meant to follow Yul’s routes, record everything, and when he retired, where would he go? Naturally, back to the Kingdom of Frangia.
Well, leaking information at that level wouldn’t cause any harm.
-I plan to use this ship personally, though.
“You may use it however you wish. Wherever you travel, Le Céleste will follow. However, the humans aboard the ship need many things.”
-Ah, maintenance, right?
A ship bound for the open ocean required many supplies: water, food, weapons, and ammunition. Crew stress and morale also needed to be managed.
-I know. That’s why I plan to secure a proper port of call.
“Port of call?”
-A friend in the south, in the Archipelago Ocean, gifted me an island. It’s called the Island of Boundaries. It’s my island.
“Ohh. In the south?”
The Sun King’s eyes glittered.
-I can bring in some supplies there and make it a temporary port of call, right?
“Of course. Please give me the opportunity to invest in your island as well.”
-I’ll think about it. I haven’t had a proper look at what’s there yet.
Yul had accumulated enough wealth to build a harbor on his island with his own funds, but additional support would certainly help.
“And this is just an old man’s worry, but…”
-What is it?
“You might be attacked if you encounter ships from the Kingdom of Aragon.”
-Ah, are they enemies?
“They’re villains trying to siphon off profits from the open sea we reached first.”
-Hmm. I see.
Not even the Sun King’s ships had discovered anything like a new continent yet.
Yul himself had never traveled to the far western edge of the Great Azure Ocean. He’d heard rumors of a continent somewhere out there, but had no idea how far it might be.
In this situation, was there really anything to be gained?
-What about the trade fleet?
“That isn’t ready yet. But it should be possible within a month or two.”
-Alright. Understood.
If trade with the Penguin Kingdom succeeded, Yul planned to meet the sea elf prince in the south again and negotiate further trade.
Since both sides produced different goods, the sea trade was guaranteed profit.
But it would be even better if there were a captain who could operate on Yul’s behalf.
-Marchand, from what I’ve heard, you don’t seem to have experience with commerce.
“I worked as a pioneering captain, but all seafolk are both merchants and warriors. I am confident in handling such a trade.”
-Alright. Then I will officially take ownership of Le Céleste. Payment will be made from my bank account, and Hugh Retel will handle the sailors’ wages.
“Yes.”
-And the crew?
“All fully prepared.”
-Good. Then let’s load some cargo to start. I already told Hugh Retel to prepare trade goods in advance. We can load them nearby.
* * *
Yul and the ship were now out on the open sea. A little farther past the edge of the Continental Ocean would lead directly into the Great Azure Ocean.
Yul’s relationship with Marchand was fine, but things were still awkward between him and the sailors.
Naturally so—they had no real point of contact with him, and the fact that Yul was an orca made most of them feel a sense of strangeness.
Still, the crew’s morale itself was high.
This happened one night, some time earlier.
Yul’s ears twitched. Among the humans on whom he had cast the Perception mantra, four of them had slipped out to the rear of the deck.
Everyone’s asleep. What are they doing out on deck in the middle of the night?
Glancing over, he saw the sailors secretly taking out bottles of alcohol from their coats and drinking.
“Damn, that hits the spot.”
“You really brought that booze in secret? You didn’t steal it from the captain’s cabin, right?”
“Are you insane? I’m not trying to die. The navigator gave it to me. I helped him with something a few days ago.”
“Yeah?”
“Hey, give me some too.”
“By the way, did you hear anything about where we’re headed?”
“I heard we’re going north? I saw them loading fur garments into the hold.”
“To that freezing place? Ugh, horrible.”
“Well, Hank will survive just fine. He’s fat as hell.”
“Pffft-hehehehe.”
“What? You little shit.”
The sailors whispered and drank from their bottles, and suddenly it turned into a fistfight.
“You’re dead, dead, dead!”
“Oh fuck off, I just told the truth!”
“H-hey, tone it down, he’s about to fall—”
“Huh? Huh? He’s actually falling! Somebody stop Hank, seriously!”
The commotion grew louder, and then a sailor’s punch, thrown in a burst of anger, landed wrong, and a thud echoed on the deck.
“Waaaaaah!”
Splash!
The instant the scream and the splash hit the water, the awakened crew and the boatswain—the ship’s disciplinarian—came rushing out.
“What’s going on? What happened!?”
“You idiots have the nerve to drink on duty?”
“S-sir, one man fell overboard.”
“Motherfu—”
As the boatswain shouted, the navigator and Captain Marchand arrived, freshly woken.
“Are you telling me one man went overboard because you got drunk and started fighting?”
Marchand pressed a hand to his forehead. Listening to the situation was maddening.
He should have instilled discipline before departure, but he had been too busy with various matters this time. And already the ship was turning into a circus. Firm discipline was needed.
“Boatswain, bind the man who threw him overboard and give him one hundred lashes. As for the man who fell… well, he’s dead, nothing to be done. The ones who drank will each receive ten lashes.”
Meaning: the sailor who shoved the man overboard was essentially to be killed.
-There’s no need for that.
“……!?”
“W-who was that?”
“Who said—”
Then a voice reached every ear onboard.
-Look down.
It was Yul. He had rescued the fallen sailor and now carried him on his back.
-Come take him.
“Lord Yul!”
Everyone was surprised by Marchand's words. Although they had heard the owner was an orca.
The boatswain lowered a rope, and the sailor was retrieved safely. As he was hauled aboard, Yul spoke.
-Don’t kill the ones who caused the commotion, Marchand.
“Understood. By the shipowner’s request, punishments will be reduced. Twelve lashes each. Including the one who fell and the one who pushed him.”
In fact, 12 lashes was also an insane number. Especially if it was the nine-tailed disciplinary whip used on ships, the entire back would be torn and covered in blood.
In any case, since Yul had ordered that they not be killed, both sailors were beaten into bloody messes and thrown into the punishment cell. The ones who drank were handled similarly.
The incident meant little to Yul, but afterward, an odd rumor spread among the crew.
A few days later.
Seeing how high the crew morale had become, Yul spoke to Marchand privately from afar.
-We’re getting close to the end of the Continental Ocean. Looks like that incident didn’t cause any issues?
“It was a simple matter of maintaining discipline. Rather, there were more people who cursed the sailor for getting drunk and pushing a man overboard.”
-Is that so.
Marchand spoke through a light message spell. He was a mage as well.
Ah, for reference, all captains in this world are said to be mages
Ships usually carried fresh water for drinking, but if that wasn’t enough, the captain used magic to create water.
And drinking water aboard a ship was absolute. It drastically reduced the likelihood of mutiny.
“When sailing the vast sea, there is nothing as reassuring as having someone who knows the way. And after seeing you rescue that sailor, the others now feel confident that if they fall overboard, they will be saved too.”
-Good.
“But there are a few whose behavior is… excessive.”
-How so?
“Well, you are an orca, a creature humans call the guardian deity of the sea. Some of them have started worshipping you a bit too fervently.”
Yul, not being on the ship, hadn't known, but there were rumors circulating inside the ship.
First off, all the sailors knew that Yul was the owner, and they also knew that Yul could use magic. And they knew that since he had lived in the sea for a long time, he knew the way.
“So, all we have to do is just follow Lord Yul, isn't that right?”
“I'm still scared, that orca....”
“Tsk. Call him 'Lord Yul', you b*stard.”
“That's right. He gives us fish sometimes, too.”
“That’s already amazing.”
Such rumors circulated on the ship.
Hearing that the crew viewed him so positively, Yul decided to accept it as a good thing.
-Anyway, we’ve left the Continental Ocean now. Bring out the towing rope.
It was the same rope normally used to tie ships together, but this time it was for tying Yul to Le Céleste. One sailor was assigned to do the job.
Splash.
-Oh. Aren’t you the one who fell into the sea a while back?
“Y-yes, Lord Yul. That’s right. I’m Hansen.”
-Be careful what you say around that fat guy.
“Ha-haha… y-yes, Lord.”
After Hansen tied the rope around Yul and climbed back aboard, Yul poured mana into the Horn of the Sea King at full power.
-Good. Let’s go.
Their destination was the Penguin Kingdom in the Arctic. It was time to sell the trade goods they had brought.