12 Chapter 12

The next day, I woke up early in the morning and without even having breakfast, I immediately went to the port. I was tired of this constant tension and the expectation that some Spriggan would attack me, so I decided not to linger in the Empire any longer.

Having bought provisions for the journey along the way, I arrived at the port and began to look for a ship that could take me to Fiore. To sail on an ordinary ship from Vistarion to Hargeon, the largest port city of Fiore, exactly fifteen days. Quite a long time, I must say.

This is not surprising because even if the Empire has the best ships in the world, they are still sailing ships that can reach a maximum speed of 25 knots per hour (46 km/h).

Although it's still better than the sailing ships in my previous world. A whole 5 knots faster. I think it has to do with local materials. But this is the maximum. No ship can maintain such a speed all the time. The sea is too unpredictable, the weather is constantly changing, different wind speeds, storms, calm and so on. As a result, a sailing ship in this world, on average, develops a speed of 32 km/h.

And it turns out that an ordinary ship needs fifteen days to sail ten thousand kilometers from Vistarion to Hargeon. Well, of course, since this is the Magic World, various Magic Items are used here to increase the speed of the ship. There is even a magical analogue of motor boats.

But for large ships, they mostly use Wind Lacrims to create an artificial wind, thanks to which the ship can reach much higher speed. Although there are other methods that can be used to increase the speed of a ship, this is the most commonly used.

The trouble is that such Magical Tools and Lacrimas are not that cheap and not many people can afford them. Although many ships with more or less wealthy owners carry Wind Lacrims, they are usually used only as a last resort or in emergencies. For example, during a storm to quickly get out of a dangerous area, or during a calm, so as not to waste time and get out of a windless area. And the rest of the time, while there is a tolerable, fair wind, Lacrims and other similar Magic Items are not used, because it is too wasteful and literally money down the drain.

But none of this applies to the Imperial Army. As I said earlier, the Alvarez Empire is considered to have the best sailing ships, even better than those in my past world. Ships in the same Fiore are much worse. But the truth is that the Alvarez Navy has much better ships. And those that ordinary people use are just a weaker and cheaper version. Although basically the whole difference is in the magical filling of these ships.

Zeref does not spare money for his army and spends almost all taxes on strengthening his army, preparing for the future invasion of Ishgar in order to obtain Fairy Heart. As a result, all ships of the Imperial Navy are equipped with the best Magic Items and a huge amount of Lacrima, thanks to which any ship of the Navy can reach speeds 40% faster than ordinary ships of the Empire.

Not to mention all the weapons that are installed on all ships. It's still a military ship. In fact, these ships can even fly, not forever, but for quite a long time. Eventually, it takes only eight and a half days for a fleet sailing ship to get from Vistarion to Hargeon.

Although these are no longer quite sailing ships, but magical ones. This is really amazing, because such a ship overcomes a thousand kilometers in one day. For a non-technological world, this is an impressive result.

Oddly enough, all this information was in the magazines that I bought yesterday. I think it was some kind of propaganda to raise the morale of the population, after the news of the failed attempt at war. It would be nice to have such a ship, suddenly one day I will be brought into the One Piece World. With a ship like that, I would be the fastest sailor. But these are just dreams.

Unfortunately, it is impossible for a person who has nothing to do with the Imperial government to use a Navy ship. Especially for me, I'm kind of like an enemy of the Empire, so I was looking for an ordinary merchant ship that sailed at least to Ishgar so that I could get to another continent on it.

The reason why I wanted to sail a ship rather than fly is primarily because of the distance. Even at my best, I can't fly 10,000 kilometers without stopping. And even though I have already rested, my Container is still not in order and will definitely not withstand such a long use of several spells.

As a result, I would either have to create another route, through several islands that are scattered across the sea, between Alakitasia and Ishgar, which would increase the total distance by several thousand kilometers, since I would not be able to fly in a straight line, or, I had to to fly in a straight line, but having reached the limit, put a mark on his Magic, and teleport back to Vistarion. And so several times.

Both in the first and in the second option there are too many shortcomings. In the first case, I would have to fly longer, which I don't want, it's still tiring, and secondly, I would have to sink to the bottom of the sea to put a mark, since there is nowhere else. And to be honest, I don't want to go back to Vistarion again.

After weighing all the pros and cons, I decided to just sail on the ship. Yes, it's longer, but I don't have to overstrain the Source and I can rest normally. I will arrange such a cruise for 15 days. And why not, a boat trip and all that. And when it would become completely boring and I would finally recover, I would just fly on my own.

But unfortunately reality did not agree with my plans. Despite the fact that relations between the Empire and all of Ishgar have always been tense, especially after the recent short war, trade between them was carried out and it was not difficult to find a ship that would take me to Fiore.

But after his returns, Inver banned all transport agreements with Ishgar, especially with Fiore. Now, no Alvarez ship is allowed to sail to Ishgar unless it wants to incur the wrath of the Empire, which will ultimately result in the loss of the ability to deal with the Empire itself.

As the captain of a merchant ship I just spoke to about this said, there is no idiot in Vistarion who would prefer Ishgar to the Empire. Not only is it much more profitable to do business with Alvarez, but also the government of the Empire is known for its vindictiveness and can corny send soldiers who simply take away all the property or worse.

Realizing that I was literally a day late, I could only sigh in annoyance. One could certainly take a ship to Giltena, this is the third continent of this world. But the ship sails in the opposite direction and goes around the planet.

So it's easy to get to it faster and I won't have to go around the whole of Ishgar. Then I would have to cross the entire Giltena, then to cross the entire Ishgar, on my own. I would literally have to travel around the world. Maybe I wouldn't mind. If only the world could see. But I know that the Five Divine Dragons live on Gilten, and with my luck, I will definitely run into them. I definitely don't need this.

I had only one more option, besides the two main ones. Buy a ship. This would be a good option, as it turns out I'm great at navigation and seem to be able to navigate a ship (another unexpected hidden talent), but the sea is too complicated for a ship that can be controlled by a person. I would need a team, and this is too problematic an option. And it wouldn't feel like a cruise anymore. It would be real hard labor.

So, rejecting this option, I had only to fly myself. Having decided this, I was about to find a secluded place to fly out of the city, when I suddenly saw an advertisement for a resort.

It was an advertisement for a popular tourist resort on Caracole Island. If I'm not mistaken, this island even appeared in the main story.

The bottom line is that, judging by the map, this island is only three thousand kilometers from Vistarion. It's a bit off my route so I didn't initially consider it, but it's a good place to use as a teleport back.

I do not want to return to the capital all the time, because this is an extra risk. And since Caracole Island is a neutral territory and does not belong to either the Empire or the countries of Ishgar, I can feel freer there. Besides, it's still a resort.

I don't mind basking in the sun for a few days. It's a pity only for the next few days, not a single ship departs from the capital to Caracole Island, so you still have to fly yourself. Well, thanks to the acceleration spell, I can fly 3,000 kilometers in just over six hours.

Having finally decided where to go next, I went into the alley and using the usual combination of spells, took off into the air and flew to the resort island.

But the farther I flew away from Vistarion, the more I got a vile feeling. Like I'm a coward running from strong enemies. In a way it is, but I do it because I know my limits, plus I don't have a problem with the Spriggans, they have a problem with me. And there is no point in fighting for no reason, and I understand this, but thoughts of my cowardice constantly flashed. Fu**ing, unnecessary pride and arrogance.

After flying about 300 kilometers, I realized that if I didn't do anything in the end, this thought would bother me for a long time. Of course, I will not just arrange a fight, but I am obliged to do some kind of dirty trick. And I even have an idea.

Taking out an apple, I marked it with my magic, and then threw it into the sea. After casting all the necessary concealment spells on myself, I teleported into the sky above Vistarion.

Returning to the capital again, I used a search spell, after which I flew after the arrow, which indicated the location of the entire fleet of the Alvarez Empire. It didn't take long to fly, and soon I arrived at a huge, artificially created grotto, which, in fact, was located directly under Vistarion.

There were hundreds of Imperial ships here. To be precise, it was the imperial fleet. The best ships of the best. And they looked really great.

Security was present, of course, but even though they were Mages, they could not feel me. Looking around a little I found the largest and most majestic warship in this grotto. It is easy to guess who exactly it belonged to. Emperor Spriggan, if anyone hasn't guessed.

It was a black and red sailing ship of the line, almost eighty meters long, with four masts. The main sail bore the emblem of the Alvares Empire, and the figurehead of the ship was adorned with a certain sea nymph. The ship had a lot of weapons, in the form of Magic Cannons (about 80), and a huge number of Magic Items installed throughout the ship. In fact, it doesn't even need humans to operate this ship.

Normally, a large number of people were needed to control a strip ship, but thanks to the enchantments that Irene herself seemed to have made, the ship could be controlled with just verbal commands. All it takes is a command and the ship will do the rest. It was an incredibly beautiful and powerful ship called «the Vermillion», which I immediately fell in love with.

Having examined the ship, literally with eyes shining with delight, I decided to do what I came here for at all. As you might guess, I wanted to take Zeref's personal ship. And because it is so good and fits perfectly in my Space Ring, I stole it without delay.

Of course in the future it will be necessary to check the whole ship more carefully, as well as redesign it to my taste, but this is not such a problem anymore. It is a pity that now I will not be able to swim on it, as it will be wanted and it would be stupid to do this. But, I hope in the future I will have a chance to use the ship for its intended purpose.

I understand that for Zeref, the hijacking of his ship means practically nothing,b ut I'm glad to give him trouble. As they say, did something nasty, joy in heart.

After placing the Vermillion in the ring, thus alarming the guards, I immediately teleported back to the apple and flew to Caracole Island, laughing like a typical villain.

***

InveL Yura, also known as the Winter General, a member of the still 9 Spriggan, also an emissary and chief of staff of the Alvarez Empire, sat in the office and dealt with the documents that had accumulated while he was out of the country.

He was in a bad mood, as he was very angry with some of his colleagues for their recklessness, because of which he now has a lot of headaches and problems.

'This day can't get any worse.' - Invel thought as he signed another document.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door of his office, and without permission, a breathless soldier burst into the office, who immediately shouted out:

- Mr. Invel, we have a problem.

Invel was about to yell at the soldier for violating the rules, but when he heard the man's words, he stopped and calmly asked:

- Calm down. What happened?

- Sir, the ship is gone.

- What? What ship? - Invel asked in bewilderment.

- The Vermillion, His Majesty's beloved personal ship, has disappeared from the grotto. the soldier blurted out.

- WHAT? How did it happen? - Invel shouted.

It was known how much Zeref loved the Vermillion, as he literally built it himself in his worst days. Construction helped him distract from problems and therefore the Spriggan Emperor greatly appreciated and kept the Vermillion like the apple of his eye. Literally blew dust off of it.

- Unknown. The guards say that at one point the ship just disappeared. They saw no one and the signal spells were silent. - said the soldier quickly.

- Raise the alarm immediately. We must find the ship before His Majesty knows about it. Otherwise, we will all be unhappy. - Invel said quickly.

- There is. - said the soldier, saluting. Then he ran off to follow orders.

- Why do I need all this? - Invel muttered softly, sitting down on a chair and massaging his temples.