After leaving Vamos Island, Skidbladnir sailed straight west, heading for the Dark Continent mainland.

“Are the Dark Continent’s Eastern Nations the name of a country?”

As usual, Ryo asked from the deck of Skidbladnir.

“Originally, no, but these days it has effectively become the name of a country in the sense of a confederated state. The Bardael Chiefdom is at its center.”

“And the west is the Western Nations?”

“That side has formally become a federal state called the Federation of Western Nations.”

“The Eastern Nations and the Federation of Western Nations? Complicated.”

Abel answered precisely as a king, and Ryo grimaced and shook his head.

“If you’re involved in a country’s diplomacy or foreign affairs, then you need to know the formal names, but otherwise, Eastern Nations and Western Nations should be enough, shouldn’t ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) they? Ever since they parted ways more than a century ago, I believe that is what people have generally called them.”

“I see. That makes it much easier to understand.”

Ryo accepted Abel’s suggestion.

Easy to understand was best.

To begin with, country names tended to change quite frequently anyway...

“The Knightley Kingdom has been the Knightley Kingdom for a very long time, right?”

“Yes. Ever since the founding king, Ashton, founded the country, that has never changed.”

“Founding King Ashton, King Richard the restorer of the nation... and now Abel.”

“What?”

“It must be hard, being compared to such great kings.”

“Comparing me to those two is insane.”

For some reason, Ryo crossed his arms and gave his lofty assessment, while Abel grimaced and voiced his dissatisfaction.

“Once you become king of a country with such history, you must become a king who surpasses all the kings before you! I thought perhaps you had that kind of spirit.”

“I don’t.”

“If that is what you desire, Abel, I would not be unwilling to cooperate by having my once-a-month cake privilege restored to once a week...”

“Right. I don’t need your cooperation, so I’m not restoring it.”

“Damn... Recovering a privilege once lost is difficult.”

Ryo’s expression was full of anguish.

Yes. The deck of Skidbladnir was as peaceful as ever.

As they were talking about such things, Captain Paulina approached.

“Your Majesty, the port town of Borne in the Bardael Chiefdom should come into view in less than an hour.”

“Borne? If I remember correctly, it’s one of the chiefdom’s largest port towns.”

“Yes. Not only within the chiefdom, but across the Eastern Nations as a whole, it is among the five largest. For that reason, any ship above a certain size is always subject to a boarding inspection.”

“With Skidbladnir’s size, that means without fail.”

“Yes. A patrol boat will come.”

“Understood. As I said at Vamos Island, if my identity needs to be verified, have them check my plate or do whatever else is necessary. I’ll leave everything to you, Captain.”

“Thank you.”

After Captain Paulina left, Ryo asked Abel a question.

“Abel, you actually know quite a lot about the Dark Continent, don’t you?”

“Do I?”

“To begin with, you even speak the Dark Continent language.”

“I learned that at the royal castle. It was a compulsory subject at the Royal Academy as well.”

An elite education.

“But the Central Countries and the Dark Continent don’t have any direct exchange, do they?”

“No.”

“Then why learn it?”

“I learned this in royal family history, but apparently, long ago... several hundred years ago, there was exchange.”

“What? No, that is ridiculously far away. How would they even...”

“I’m certain it wasn’t a sea route, so it must have been over land. They likely traveled by land as far as the Western Countries, then crossed to the Dark Continent by ship from there.”

A trade route that had fallen into decline with the passage of time.

What came to Ryo’s mind was Earth’s Silk Road.

Trade routes long enough to cross cultural spheres were difficult to maintain.

If political upheaval, war, or the destruction of a country or city occurred somewhere along the route, the route would be severed.

“And now we are trying to revive it.”

“Yes. By sea rather than land.”

Both Ryo and Abel looked toward the horizon with deeply moved expressions.

After some time, two ships approached from ahead, from the direction of land.

“Heave to. We are patrol boats of the Bardael Chiefdom. Submit to this vessel’s boarding inspection.”

The voice could be heard even on Skidbladnir’s deck.

“He’s shouting in an incredibly loud voice.”

“That must be his job.”

“They should make him an alchemy tool that amplifies his voice...”

At Abel’s rather harsh words, Ryo felt pity for what must surely be a painful working environment and shook his head slightly.

“If they made an alchemy tool like that, wouldn’t the man doing the shouting lose his job?”

“They could assign him to more humane work...”

“Well... it must be hard on the throat.”

There was no such thing as an easy job... perhaps that was what it meant.

Skidbladnir accepted the patrol boats’ order to stop.

One of the two patrol boats came alongside, and five officials boarded.

“I am Nau, captain of the Third Patrol Unit of the Bardael Chiefdom.”

“Thank you for your work conducting the inspection. I am Paulina, captain of Skidbladnir, belonging to the Knightley Kingdom.”

They introduced themselves to each other.

Because the person responsible for a ship was, first and foremost, its captain, Paulina introduced herself.

Then she handed Captain Nau the documents.

“A crew certificate, then. I’ll verify it.”

Nau said this and began checking it with practiced hands. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

While he did, the four men who had boarded with him glanced around the deck.

They did not move about.

They still did not know what kind of ship this was or who was aboard it.

Even if they were conducting a boarding inspection, they could not simply ignore procedure and walk around a ship they already knew belonged to another country.

“According to the crew certificate, the fifty crew members are citizens of the Principality of Gosron, while the eighty passengers are citizens of the Knightley Kingdom... But the Knightley Kingdom is not one of the Western Countries, is it?”

“No. It is one of the Central Countries.”

“The Central Countries? The Central Countries are... the group of nations far to the east of the Western Countries, are they not? Why is a ship belonging to such a country off the coast of our continent?”

“The Knightley Kingdom is currently cooperating with the Fandeby Holy State to open a sea route between the Western Countries and the Central Countries. This ship is one of the survey vessels for that purpose. This time, we were supposed to sail from the Central Countries to the Western Countries, but we encountered a storm along the way and were blown to these waters. Therefore, at the discretion of the person responsible, we decided to visit the coastal states of the Dark Continent before proceeding to the Western Countries.”

“After circling the Dark Continent? For what purpose?”

“To lay the groundwork for future trade negotiations.”

“Hmm.”

Paulina had answered perfectly, but Captain Nau tilted his head.

To be frank, he did not seem to understand.

Nau looked around the ship from the deck.

“I occasionally see ships from the Principality of Gosron, but this is the first time I’ve seen one this large. They possess the shipbuilding technology to build something of this scale?”

“No. This ship was built by the Republic of Mafalda.”

“A republic? No, ships built in the Republic are only operated by republican trading companies or the republican government, aren’t they? I remember hearing there was a law like that.”

“That is correct. This ship... became a ship of the Knightley Kingdom of the Central Countries through a number of exceptional procedures.”

Paulina answered.

Hearing that, the patrol captain tilted his head again.

“A ship built in the Republic of Mafalda, operated by sailors from the Principality of Gosron, with a registry in the Central Countries? What in the world is that?”

“That should let you imagine it, shouldn’t it? This ship is an important vessel involving the intentions and interests of multiple countries. And the one aboard it is His Majesty King Abel the First of the Knightley Kingdom, a great power among the Central Countries.”

“That makes even less sense.”

The patrol captain grimaced.

Then someone called out to him from behind.

It seemed to be one of the patrol captain’s subordinates.

“Captain, King Abel of the Knightley Kingdom—isn’t he the one from that song? You know, the famous one...”

“That song?”

“‘The royal capital has fallen. It has fallen to the king’s brother and the Empire. The people’s lament covers the Kingdom’s skies’... that one.”

“Oh, that. The one the minstrels have been singing lately...”

“He’s in it. ‘A new king is born in the Kingdom. His name is King Abel. He shall rise in the frontier city.’”

Paulina must have heard the conversation between the two men, because she cut in.

“Yes, that is the man.”

“Hey, hey, hey...”

The instant Captain Nau said that... in his field of vision, he saw a man walking over from farther within the ship, accompanied by a man in a robe.

He was certainly not dressed in gaudy clothing.

However, unlike the ship’s crew or the knights, one could tell at a glance that his clothes were well-tailored and of high quality... yet easy to move in.

Yes, he was a man dressed in the sort of clothing the lord of this region might wear in daily life.

When Nau lifted his gaze from those clothes and saw the man’s face, he almost knelt on reflex.

But he somehow stopped himself through sheer force of will.

He needed no explanation from anyone.

He could tell that this person was an extraordinary man.

If he had to put the impression into words, it would be dignity.

The man was not giving off a hostile air by any means.

But he was not someone with whom one could become familiar either.

He approached one step at a time.

And with each step, Nau wanted to retreat.

The man was not hostile, but the closer he came, the more Nau felt as though he were being crushed.

And then...

“Thank you for carrying out your duty, Captain Nau.”

“Yes, sir.”

At the words spoken by the man, Nau bowed his head.

Nau was not the only one who lowered his head.

The four subordinates behind him did as well.

One of them nearly dropped to one knee by reflex and then hurriedly straightened himself.

“As Captain Paulina has explained, I am Abel, king of the Knightley Kingdom. I have come to lay the groundwork for future trade treaties with the Dark Continent. Will you permit us to land in your country?”

“Y-yes... ah, yes, Your Majesty... I-I do not have the authority to make that decision...”

“Who does?”

“Th-the lord of Borne, I believe...”

“Hmm. I have heard that the town of Borne is one of the Eastern Nations’ leading port towns.”

“Yes... It is a port town second only to our chiefdom’s capital...”

“I see. Then would you guide us there?”

“...Understood.”

In the span of barely ten or so seconds of conversation, Captain Nau’s upper body was drenched in sweat.

And so Skidbladnir put into port at Borne, a port town of the Bardael Chiefdom.