The Dive: Birth of a Wordsmith (44 page)

“
They probably
wouldn’t be so generous, but sure.”

“
Alright.
Disengaging the skeleton crew.” I exerted my control over the
ship, raising the sails and turning so that our broadside was facing
the pirates. “Loading first gundeck cannons with Lightning
Shots.” Sure, speaking wasn’t necessary, but verbally
stating your objective is a common method to focus your thoughts.

“
Finally, the
warning… Wings of light, signs of beginning, may my voice
reach the farthest corner. Announce!” I focused on both pirate
ships, and spoke. My voice carried unnaturally far, though I wouldn’t
be able to see any immediate reactions. “This is Captain Jin of
the Unity. If you break off now and alter course, you will be left
alone. If you fail to comply, this ship will open fire. We will not
be harassed by pirates or anyone else. You have one minute.”

With the message
delivered, I raised the ship’s barrier, feeding just a bit of
mana into it to start. It was just a precaution in case they
attacked, so that I could quickly increase the output. Sure enough,
they seemed to think they had the advantage in terms of numbers,
because a minute passed and they kept their course. As if to prove
themselves, they waited until the minute was over before starting to
turn to reveal their own broadsides.

“
Not likely. Scan!”
I focused my eyes as far as I could, using both my magic and my
discovery talent to spot their ships. “Ten cannons each? Okay.
First five cannons, fire!” Despite my shout, my voice was
drowned out by the roar of the cannons, five lightning bolts shooting
out at the first ship. They were well over a kilometer away still,
but the shots landed in an instant, shredding through their ship and
leaving massive holes.

“
Hmm… power
seems a bit much.” I chuckled as I studied the result. I then
felt a thwack on the back of my head, and turned to see that Denise
had smacked me.

“
A bit?!” She
glared, and then looked to the ship. “You call that a bit!?
Cheat!” She sighed, but ended up smiling to me. Given that I
had been looking away, the only warning I had that the second ship
had fired its cannons was a dull roar in the distance.

Immediately, I increased
the power in the barrier and turned around, focusing my mind on my
objective. “Sorry, sorry. I’ll only use one cannon this
time, okay?” I smiled again, and the cannonballs of the other
ship impacted the barrier, causing cracks to run along it. Of course,
I was able to fix those cracks by just putting a bit more mana into
it. Then, I shot a single Lightning Shot at the remaining ship.

As before, a bolt of
lightning sprang out from the Unity and tore into the distant ship,
shattering a large section at the bottom. “Now, let’s try
this again. Wings of light, signs of beginning, may my voice reach
the farthest corners. Announce.” Once more, I focused the spell
on the sinking ships, knowing that there would be those fortunate
enough to get off before it was too late.

“
I gave you a
chance. And now, for those of you that survived, remember this. I
will not always be so lenient.” I raised the sails again, and
resumed our course. Though, I made a detour to give the pirates a
wide berth, circling around them until I could put the auto-pilot
back on.

When I felt safe enough to
turn the barrier off, I sighed and took in the results. The Lightning
Shots far exceeded my predictions for their damage output.
Conversely, the barrier fell short of what I hoped it would be
capable of, since even attacks from that distance managed to crack it
after I put so much mana into it. Likewise, the detection crystal
would need to be improved with a larger radius. But with my current
ability, there wasn’t anything I could do about this.

“
Denise, I’ve
got some things to take care of. Mind keeping a watch again for a
bit? You can rest up in the crow’s nest.” I pointed up to
the small platform just above the sails.

“
For someone that
just won with overwhelming firepower… you sound pretty
depressed.” Denise walked up to me, her face showing concern.

“
Ah, sorry. There
are areas that are really lacking in this ship, and the sooner it’s
taken care of the safer we’ll be. We would have been in trouble
if we hadn’t spotted those guys by chance, since they never
came in range of the crystal.”

She nodded. “Alright,
but take it easy, okay? I know that this ship is a constant drain on
you, but you’re allowed to rest too.”

I smiled to her. “I
will. But first I’ve got to take care of this. I should also
see if there were any problems with the cannons..” I sighed,
shaking my head. “And this is why normally over a hundred
people pilot a ship this big.”

She smirked to me at that.
“You’re doing the work of a hundred. It won’t take
me any time to check the cannons. So I’ll do that, and you just
take care of what you need to do.”

I was going to tell her
what to look for, and then remembered that we essentially had the
same skills when it came to sailing. In the end I could only agree.
“Okay, but let me know if there were any problems with them.”

“
Aye aye, captain!”
She gave me a silly salute and ran off towards the gundeck. I smiled
while watching her go, and then went into the cabin.

“
First, I should see
if what I want to do is possible.. Message, Lilith.”

“
Hey Jin~.” I
heard her voice calling out immediately through the message, and
chuckled.

“
Sounds like I
didn’t surprise you this time.”

“
Nope, I was paying
attention so I caught you getting ready. What do you need?”

“
I’ve just got
a magic question for you. Would consult a library, but there’s
not exactly one available right now.”

“
Alright, well, if I
can answer you I will.”

“
Thanks. I just want
to know if it is possible to strengthen an existing enchantment on an
item?”

“
Usually, that
depends on the enchantment. Give me an example.”

“
Okay, well my ship
has a detection crystal with a range of one kilometer. But we were
just in a battle where the enemy never entered that range. If we
hadn’t spotted them with our eyes, it would have been bad.”

“
I see, so you want
to increase the range of the crystal?”

“
Exactly. Can it be
done?”

“
By normal people,
it’d be easier just to buy a better crystal. But, given your
stubbornness, yes it’s possible. But it’s a skill that
only advanced enchanters use.”

“
Thanks. I’ll
work more on my enchanting then until I can do that. Mind bringing me
some items to practice on when you come to visit?”

“
Well, I suppose~.
It would be a good ship-warming present after all.” She laughed
at that, and I joined her.

“
Thanks. Also, if
you have any more advanced books on enchanting that would help. I’ve
only been able to read the basics.”

“
Hmm… about
that, I’ll make you a deal.”

“
Oh? Well, this is
new.” I grinned a bit, and she giggled.

“
New? Honey, I
invented
deals.”
I had a feeling she meant that literally. “After I visit when
you drop your friend off, I’ll come again in a week. Until
then, I want you to try to work out the enchanting techniques on your
own and show me what you came up with.”

“
Uh.. okay…
mind if I ask why?”
So basically, you’ll
give me the book, but only after you have me try to figure it out on
my own.

“
I’m
interested in seeing how you will grow using your own knowledge. I
know you want to hide your infernal powers for now. Don’t
worry, I’m not upset. Okay, maybe a little bit of a pout. But I
understand. The point is that you won’t be able to get my help
like this when you are around other people without being discovered.”

“
I get it. And
thanks, for understanding and helping me get this done on my own.
Once things change on this end, I won’t need to hide it
anymore.”

“
What kind of change
are you looking for, really?”

“
Same thing as you,
I guess. I want to wait until the other foreigners settle down so
that I’ll be accepted as a full mage without them coming after
me.”

“
Okay, I’ll
hold you to it. I’ll also have my people check how things are
coming with that now and then. But the demons already know of your
involvement and abilities. I’ve instructed them to keep the
secret, but if there are any issues they will probably ask for your
help.”

“
That’s fine.
I’m happy to help whoever I can. Besides, most of your demons
on the surface are in disguise, so there won’t be any problems
if they ask for my help.”

“
True. Is there a
way that we can make sure you know when I’m sending you
someone, without it being too obvious?”

“
Hmm…
something unique to the demons, but unknown to everyone else? What if
you gave them a brooch with one of the runes I gave you? Aside from
the demons, nobody but I will know what it means. And as long as the
fact that it is a rune is kept secret, nobody will learn the
associated magic.”

“
Good idea. You
could have just asked that I avoid letting them contact you for a
while. But you still want to help us, even when keeping your secret.
Really, thank you.”

“
You don’t
have to thank me. Something like this is already natural, right?”
I smiled a bit, sitting down in a chair.

“
Maybe, but I don’t
want to feel like I am taking advantage of you.”

“
Really, now? A
succubus, not wanting to take advantage of someone?”

I heard her laughing
through the call. “
Sexy
demons, not
sex
demons! I swear I’ll never live that down.”

“
Not at all.”

Once her laugh settled
down, she sounded much happier. “I needed that. See you in a
couple days?”

“
You bet.”

“
Fair winds and
following seas.”

“
Totally not fair, I
don’t have a retort for that for Hell. So, good luck.” I
could hear Lilith laughing again as I ended the call. “Okay,
now to get to work.”

I pulled out my coinpurse,
emptying a large supply of copper coins onto the table. “Hello,
my precious.” Glancing over to a stack of papers, I used my
Customize spell to increase the number of papers I had available.
“She wants me to learn this through trial and error? By god, I
will learn this through trial and error!”

Part of me was just a bit
too happy to feel like I was back in class, stumbling blindly through
magical lessons. I sent a quick message to Denise that I’d be
busy for a while, and she seemed alright with it. She simply reminded
me to get some rest myself when I could.
Rest
is for those with nothing better to do!

First, I pulled out the
paper with the diagram I had been using until now. Thanks to
memorizing the pattern I was able to recreate it on any of the other
papers with my magic, but this time I was looking at it from a
different aspect. “I name thee homework.” I set the sheet
down and looked at it, taking in every rune, shape, and pattern
present.

For what I wanted to do,
it wasn’t enough to just know this diagram. I had to know what
each individual component did, and more importantly why it did it.
Did the circle act as a barrier to contain magical energies and
prevent them from leaking out during the enchanting? Did the shapes
in the center funnel the energy into the item? Even the runes all had
a deeper meaning, though at least they were written in a language I
could understand.

And even if I could fully
understand this one diagram, I will then have to figure out what
methods will achieve better results for an advanced one. To put it
simply, I was studying addition to learn calculus. Not only that, but
I was consulting my skills as little as possible, trying to earnestly
solve this puzzle by my own effort.

Just then, I heard the
familiar tone of someone contacting me with a Message spell.
What…
who could..
I paused in my work, trying to
figure out who could possibly be calling me. But nonetheless I
answered. “Hello..?”

“
Holy shit it
worked.” An all-too familiar voice came in from the other side,
slightly muffled.

“
Wait… Kev?
But… when did you log back in?” Well, that explained it
if he was using one of my coins to call me. A bit of a waste though
since he’s on the ship.

“
I didn’t…”

“
Come again?”
I misheard that, right?

“
I said, I didn’t
log back in. I’m in my kitchen right now, man. I was getting
ready to call someone, and saw that a new contact named
The
Dive
had been added into my phone. When I
called it, a voice asked me who I was calling for..”