"You're not supposed to fly through!"
Jin reactively shouted.
However, the ship already shot off into the sky and towards the barrier.
"Don't worry. This won't get caught by their little magic!"
The ship had no wings and was not an organism. The Seventh Order was not technically 'flying', and Cosmos apparently knew that the Crimson Chain Barrier wouldn't detect it.
Riding a flying boat was not an everyday sight. Even for Jin of the Runcandel Clan, Kashimir of the Vermont Imperial Family, Alisa of the Special Forces, Syris of the Hidden Palace, and the dragons who had lived thousands of years. Although it was in the air for only a short amount of time—from the water pressure tossing the ship into the sky—Jin and his crew were flabbergasted.
'A normal pirate did this?'
From underneath the entire island, Cosmos had prepared an escape route.
"Kuhaha! I made the Seventh Order for this!"
'Seventh'. Which probably meant that there was a First to Sixth. No one particularly heard Cosmos's laughter.
They felt like their soul was leaving their body, and the boat soon began its descent. On the other hand, the pirates looked like nothing happened; they just enjoyed the ride while screaming and flailing their arms like monkeys. The wind violently brushed their cheeks, their hair blew to a mess, and their eyelids were about to flip inside out.
Looking down, Jin saw the ships. All magicians aboard the Bellard fleet surrounding the island just looked up in astonishment.
The Seventh Order just flew by like a bird beyond the flurry of ships and further down the horizon.
A jaw-dropping sight for anyone on the planet.
"Heheheh! We're descending. Hold on!"
Before Cosmos even said that, Jin and his crew had been holding on for dear life. The boat just had to survive the impact of landing. If the water did not embrace the ship, the Seventh Order would explode.
However, it didn't seem like Cosmos was too worried.
Sploosh…! Crack!
A massive wave was sent in all directions, and simultaneously, a loud crash resounded.
Something definitely broke on the hull of the ship. Wooden debris flew everywhere; so much so that wooden planks surrounded the entire ship.
Despite this, the pirates were busy chatting. 'This is better than last time', 'Nice landing', and all kinds of compliments were exchanged.
As the water settled, the Seventh Order began to sail forward, as if nothing happened.
"Huh…"
Jin let out a sigh. The island behind him looked tiny.
"How do you think we pirates survived throughout the ages amongst you monsters? Because of these things, no empire can chase us at sea."
"The boat looked and sounded kinda beat. Didn't you hear anything from the hull? Most of the framing is broken as well. Can this boat really outsail them?"
Cosmos slapped Jin's shoulder and laughed.
"Oho! Of course. The ocean loves us. Do not fret. Once they make some minor repairs, those ships will look like beans. In an hour, you won't even see 'em! Sailors, get to position!"
On Cosmos's command, the giggling pirates frantically got to their stations. The ones with nothing to do were Cosmos and Jin's crew.
"I'm pretty impressed. How'd you do it?"
"Learning our secrets would be problematic."
"Well, whoever experiences this can't do anything else but ask."
"Kuhaha! It's something that the Runcandels can't replicate. I'm not the Pirate King for nothing."
Some of the crew still looked shocked.
'Why is he a pirate when he's able to do this kind of engineering?'
Although they wanted to ask, it seemed that Cosmos took a lot of pride in his occupation, so offers of gratitude would be more appropriate.
"Thanks, I guess. We got out of the island pretty comfortably."
"Hmph. Is this some auto-generated response? If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have escaped. Just keep your side of the promise. I know you swore to follow through, but I still have my doubts."
"As long as my friends and I make it to land. What's the route?"
"We will proceed to the Zhan Kingdom without following a particular route, and then we will resupply in an allied island. It'll take exactly two weeks. Once we get there, y'all can leave on your merry way. How much are you giving?"
"Beyond your comprehension. The arena money will look like spare change."
Giving much more wouldn't be wasteful at all. Escaping on Quikantel and Murakan was their worst option, and swimming out would have put everyone's life on the line. Faced by those adversities, they fortunately met Cosmos.
Not only that, Jin also met Beradin and Dante thanks to Cosmos's competition, and he obtained the map of the Kollon Ruins. Realistically, the pirate helped him greatly throughout his trials.
Cosmos smirked.
"I let you on because I had no other choice… but you're pretty soft for a Runcandel. Isn't the Runcandel way to wipe out people all the time? I'm not a businessman, just a day pirate."
"You want me to?"
"I'm just saying. Since you take your solemn swears more seriously than we take ours, let's not do any take-backs. I'm looking forward to the money that's about to flow in."
"Don't worry. You'll earn as much as you contributed."
* * *
Cosmos didn't flinch.
Even when Jin told him about the pursuers that would come for him.
"They were going to chase us anyway, and they'll lose us this time too."
"They'll send dragons this time. No matter how fast the Seventh Order is, it can't outsail dragons in air."
"You think we're stupid? We're going into hiding with your money first. Do you even know how many islands there are on this planet? How're they gonna search through every single one of them? Don't worry, and just send the damn money."
June 18th, 1797.
The moment everyone reassembled at Tikan, the first thing that Jin did was send Cosmos the gold bars he had. He even sent a handwritten letter, stating a small offer of a residence in the Huphester Alliance if he avoided any illicit actions.
"Young Master."
Gilly looked as if she were about to cry. For her, it was a long and painful wait since he embarked for the Great Mythra Desert. She didn't complain too much, though. As Jin's nanny and former knight, she knew that Jin had gotten much stronger.
"You've grown and obtained what you wanted."
Gilly lent the golden compass to Jin and smiled.
"We almost kissed our lives goodbye for this damned thing."
"While you were gone, we already found out how to use it. It's very similar to any other artifact. Just exert some mana, and it should work. I have some other news to tell, but would you like to take a look at this first?"
"Sure. I'll take a quick glance, and I want to have you cook something for me again."
"I'll prepare it on your call."
Jin steadily exerted mana into the glass of the compass.
Cling! Chching! Klick!
The gears inside the compass spun, and the mana reflected off the glass face, forming a holographic image of a map in the air.
'This is… the continent?'
At first glance, it looked like a normal travel map artifact, excluding the strong colors and finer contrast. It had red dots throughout the landmass, which astonished the crew. The dots were gathered around the land ruled by the Vermont Empire, Zipfel Clan, and the Lutero Magic Federation. A few were located in the Huphester Alliance, and the rest were scattered.
"So these are all the Contractors…!"
"It seems so, Sir Kashimir, and most of them are bunched up at the Zipfel Clan and Vermont Empire."
However, it didn't track the Contractors with dead accuracy. The red dots only signified how many there were in the area, occupying the center of each defined sovereign nation. It didn't even show the Contractors' appearance or status. Nevertheless, just the knowledge of their existence was enough for the Zipfels.
With their insane manpower and warpower, they could narrow down and search for a Contractor very easily. It was especially easy when one dot landed on the Mamit Lawless Zone, a particularly smaller area.
Still, for larger nations with several dots, it would be more challenging.
"I've been observing it before you arrived, and it seems that the location of the dots constantly changes. It's probably because the Contractors move often."
A chill ran down Jin's spine.
"Thank god Enya and Euria left Tikan. Had they stayed, who knows what would've happened here."
The Zipfel Clan probably would have known that three Contractors gathered in Tikan.
Tikan was a Free City upon an island. Unlike most nations, if it had many red dots, narrowing down the search would be beyond easy regardless if there were only one or many.
"If we stayed, then there'd be three shining on Tikan. Just like now… Hm?"
Jin's eyes flicked back and forth on the map. Then, he stopped mid-sentence when he found Tikan.
"Wait… Is this fake? Why's there no dot in Tikan?"
Everyone in the room stared at the map.
"Strange. It looked like it had the ability to search for Contractors. Four days ago, a red dot appeared in the Schucheron Kingdom, and then the press reported a Contractor who contracted with the God of Shells…"
"God of Shells? Was the name Olmango or Olongo? Well, it marks up on those as well? That fella is too useless to even be considered a god."
Murakan snorted, but everyone else looked dead serious.
"…Something's off. If Gilly's right, then this thing is the real deal. But why aren't there any markings on Tikan?"
After a brief silence, a thought occurred to Quikantel, then she looked at Jin and Murakan.
"Can you two leave for a while?"
"Why?"
"Just do it."
"Where to?"
"Out of Tikan."