Chapter 175 – God Has Spoken (3)

The journey to the island was difficult from the very start of securing a ship.

There wasn’t a single ship owner or crew member willing to take them to the island.

It was an island that had been off-limits for a long time.

The sailors here, who had seen and heard of countless incidents, had no desire to go to the island.

The group wandered around the harbor all day, but by the time they gathered at the inn in the evening, they hadn’t even heard anyone say they’d consider it.

The atmosphere where the group gathered was filled with gloom.

Although the dinner was quite delicious and the sweet tea served as dessert had a nice aroma, it couldn’t reverse the group’s mood.

“It seems difficult, doesn’t it? At this point, I think it’ll be hard no matter who we ask.”

Everyone in the group seemed to agree with Michael’s words after a long silence.

“How about we buy a small boat and sail it ourselves?”

“If it were the island where I lived, we could go with the help of spirits, but that island is in an extremely distant sea. The sea route itself to get there is quite treacherous.”

Van Shingwan tried to suggest an idea, but immediately ran into Alda’s opposition.

“It’s difficult to get help from the Holy Kingdom, and it’s not easy to exert influence from our country either.”

As the prince said, Natalie, a port city and free city, wasn’t under the control of any nation.

Due to the sea devastated by the Isle of Destruction, the only sea route remaining in this area was the one passing through Natalie.

Thanks to that, Natalie had been guaranteed a monopolistic position since the fall of the ancient empire.

To reach the Isle of Destruction, there was no other way than departing from the port of Natalie.

Sun-woo was equally at a loss for solutions. If it were on land, he’d somehow manage, but the sea was an unknown world even for Sun-woo.

It was while they were struggling with this dilemma for quite some time.

At the entrance of the inn that doubled as a restaurant and bar, rough-looking men burst through the door and entered.

Half-exposed shirts, bodies covered in scars, and gleaming eyes.

No matter how you looked at them, they weren’t ordinary sailors.

“Where are the bastards who want to go to that cursed place?”

Sun-woo’s group had confused expressions about what he meant, but the others all seemed to understand what he was talking about.

Several people pointed at the group with their fingers, and the men strode toward them.

“Are you the bastards? The ones who want to go to that cursed place?”

Apparently, “that cursed place” referred to the Isle of Destruction.

“Tell me again! If there’s a possibility, this explorer, Lord Full Pocket the Great White Shark, can take you there.”

A man much larger than the others pulled over a chair from the side and plopped down next to the group.

At his words, Van Shingwan brightened and began talking, but the prince and Daniel seemed displeased, shaking their heads.

“Ho, so the goddess has promised passage? If a priest says so, it’s quite a doable thing?”

Interested in Van Shingwan’s words, the man began drumming his fingers on the table.

“But it’s still definitely a crazy thing to do. So how much compensation can you offer?”

At his question, Daniel reluctantly mentioned an amount.

500 gold coins—a large sum that could buy a mansion in the city center. It was money from the prince’s personal pocket.

The prince’s sense of money was certainly different from commoners like Sun-woo.

When he said it was a bargain compared to this once-in-a-lifetime adventure and the points and items they’d receive as rewards later, the group could only remain silent.

“Oh! You really have that much money? Hmm, then it’s an adventure worth trying…”

The man seemed quite positive, but rather the prince, Daniel, and even Alda seemed to view him negatively.

Come to think of it, when they entered, the previously noisy restaurant had immediately quieted down, and people were frowning from where they couldn’t be seen.

And now people were looking at Sun-woo’s group with pitying expressions.

“Wait a moment. First, let us…”

Unable to watch any longer, Daniel stepped forward to stop the conversation. But he couldn’t finish his sentence.

Sun-woo had stopped him with telepathy.

‘Let’s proceed for now. If these people leave too, we’ll have no options.’

Daniel and the prince couldn’t agree with Sun-woo’s telepathy, but they decided to follow his lead for now.

The other members were bewildered by the atmosphere, but ultimately the group decided to go with Full Pocket.

“Mmhahaha… Then come to the dock at noon tomorrow. The ship happens to be ready, so we can depart right away.”

The man laughed roughly and left the building, and the other members followed behind him.

It felt like a typhoon had swept through. The group looked at each other, and finally Daniel spoke up.

“Why did you stop me? Ah, is it inappropriate to talk here?”

“I’ve made it so sound won’t leak out. It’s fine to speak.”

At Sun-woo’s words, the group looked around with curious expressions, and Daniel continued speaking.

“Sun-woo, you might not know, but those types of people aren’t proper sailors or adventurers.”

“Nine out of ten, they’re pirates.”

“As the prince says, there’s a high probability they’re pirates. There’s no way they’ll properly take us to the island.”

“What? Pirates? Well, they did have a very rough atmosphere.”

Van Shingwan looked at the door they left through with a surprised expression, but Alda had an ‘I expected that’ look.

Sun-woo’s expression didn’t change either.

“I didn’t know they were pirates, but I knew they were people who wouldn’t do the job properly.”

Sun-woo’s detection ability was at a level where he could confirm ordinary people’s heartbeats, blood flow movements, and even the reactions of those around them.

There was no way he couldn’t tell that the people in front of him had other thoughts.

“Then why?”

At the prince’s question, Sun-woo grinned.

“They just need to take us near the area. It’s good if they keep their promise properly, and if they don’t, we’ll just force them to keep it.”

Everyone’s eyes widened, and Yeonhwa spoke to Sun-woo on behalf of the group.

“Villain.”

***

The next day, the group hurriedly went around buying travel supplies during the morning.

Unlike other missions, this was a proper journey, so with the help of Daniel and the prince, who had adventurer backgrounds, they busily went around the city’s market.

The group arrived at the harbor around lunchtime. And they saw a ship that carried abundant traces of time.

“This won’t sink right away, will it?”

It was an extremely old ship.

It was a sleek-shaped sailing ship that must have been very impressive in its heyday, but now only traces of those days remained.

“It may look old on the outside, but it’s a ship that can still be used for decades. It’s not something ignorant people can speak about carelessly!”

At Van Shingwan’s words, an old sailor passing by got angry.

He was a sailor who looked as old as the ship. The countless years spent at sea had melted into his wrinkles.

“Are you the bastards? The ones who want to go to that Isle of Destruction?”

At the sailor’s words, the group nodded. The group had met the first person in this city who properly said the island’s name.

“Take my advice and just go back. I’m only with these bastards because I have no other way to make a living, but these aren’t decent people.”

It was an old man whispering to the group in a lowered voice. The group looked at the sailor with curious expressions.

“Hey! Navigator! Stop saying nonsense to the customers and prepare for departure!”

The old sailor frowned at the voice coming from the ship.

“I’m going! Don’t rush me so much.”

He left the group with one last word and headed to the ship.

“Turn around now. Otherwise, you’ll regret it greatly.”

When the old sailor boarded the ship, the big guy from yesterday, Full Pocket, called the group from above.

“Everyone come aboard! We’re almost ready. We’ll depart soon!”

The group looked at each other and then walked toward the ship.

“There was at least one good person.”

At Van Shingwan’s words, the prince shook his head.

“If he were a good person, he shouldn’t be acting with them. He just threw us a word in passing anyway. His conscience must have bothered him.”

“It wasn’t in passing. He’d been waiting here for us from quite a while ago.”

Sun-woo had checked in advance.

At Sun-woo’s words, the group looked for the sailor after boarding the ship.

The old sailor was holding the ship’s wheel and sighing while watching the group board.

“Well, now that the passengers are aboard, let’s depart.”

“Hooray!”

At Full Pocket’s command, the sailors shouted, and shortly after, the sailing ship, which according to the old sailor was still usable, began moving toward the sea.

***

Whether it was the navigator’s skill or the ship still being usable, the sailing ship cut through the sea at a fairly fast speed.

The harbor quickly became invisible, and the seagulls gradually moved away.

As the harbor grew distant, the crew’s schemes gradually began.

They’d push rum at them saying let’s have a drink, or try to push them into the cabin saying they should take a nap since it’ll take a long time.

At the obvious schemes, the group could only laugh awkwardly.

“Is the direction correct?”

“Yes, they don’t seem to be going a different way?”

Fortunately, thanks to Alda who knew the sea route, there was no worry about being deceived on the route.

Sun-woo’s group looking leisurely with arms on the railing watching the sea, the crew glancing at each other and whispering, and the old sailor sighing while steering the ship.

As time passed, the atmosphere on the ship’s deck changed strangely.

A few hours later, the captain’s patience finally reached its limit.

Against the backdrop of the sunset sea, Captain Full Pocket drew his sword.

“Ah, annoying! Whether we attack at night or now, what’s the difference? It’s already hard to escape, so let’s deal with it now. You’ve seen enough of the sea, so you got your money’s worth.”

At the captain’s words, the crew reluctantly drew their swords with ‘it can’t be helped’ expressions.

“From what you’re carrying, you seem to be adventurers from wealthy noble backgrounds, but that doesn’t work here at sea. Hand over everything you have. If you hand it over nicely, we might spare your lives.”

Some of the swords and weapons they pulled out were faintly glowing. They were magic weapons.

If they were ordinary sailors, they would have been hard to obtain, but they seemed to have acquired them by robbing adventurers like this.

“Wasn’t the prince famous?”

Sun-woo tilted his head. He thought he’d be famous as a hero, but no one recognized him.

“I’ve never been to this place. It’s not our kingdom and not where I was active, so how would they know? Well, unless they’re mercenaries, even in our country everyone wouldn’t recognize me.”

“Ah, rumors can’t spread quickly here.”

This world wasn’t a place with internet, broadcasting, or newspapers like Sun-woo’s world.

Magic could play a similar role, but magic was something only the privileged class used.

For ordinary people, it was about as convenient as a slightly better medieval period.

“Then shall we loosen up a bit?”

With the prince’s words, the prince’s sword and Daniel’s sword were drawn. And fireballs began forming behind the group. They were fire spirits.

A radiance different from the pirates’ swords began emanating from the prince’s and Daniel’s swords.

“Ugh! What is this!”

“A spirit master! It’s the island’s spirit master!”

The display of proper magic swords and the appearance of spirits before their eyes seemed to greatly surprise the pirates.

“You bastards! Even so, you’re no different from the previous ones! We’re the best at sea!”

The captain tried to rally those around him while surprised, but the crew only hesitated and backed away.

Instead, the prince, Daniel, and Alda’s spirits shot forward.

The group who had looked at Sun-woo like a villain yesterday now didn’t even give Sun-woo time to step in and ran wild among the pirates.

And Sun-woo, who had his chance stolen, leaned against the railing and began pondering how to make everyone agree to go to the island.