Chapter 33: The Island Lord’s Ocean Territory
Morning, a week later.
The sun was shining brightly, and the sky was clear.
On a vast expanse of azure waters, a giant sea turtle, over five meters in diameter, was swimming swiftly and steadily.
Strangely, two ordinary-looking young men were sitting cross-legged on its broad, flat back.
The two were Rosen and his No. 1 puppet, Sage Levin.
Of course, both had carefully disguised themselves using Transformation magic. They had encountered the sea turtle by chance while flying and decided to use it as a temporary mount.
This otherworldly giant turtle swam much faster than Earth turtles. Even with two people on its back, it maintained a cruising speed of 50 kilometers per hour.
Although the speed was only a quarter of what Rosen could achieve with Flight, it was both energy-efficient and safe, a natural-powered, biological ocean vessel.
Around 10 a.m., the giant turtle carried the two to a shallow sea area with numerous reefs and small islands, right in the middle of White Sturgeon, Saint Ann, and Hank Islands.
“Stop~~”
Rosen used Mind Suggestion on the giant turtle beneath him: “Forage freely around here, but don’t go too far.”
‘Hash~’
The sea turtle snorted and disappeared into the water.
Rosen and puppet Levin flew to a nearby black reef that was exposed above the water.
After finding a flat spot on the reef to sit down, Rosen extended his hand toward Levin in front of him, filling the Sage’s Stone in his body with mana, then silently chanted in his mind.
‘Laifu, connect to No. 1’s control core.’
‘Connected.’
Rosen felt a slight flicker in front of his eyes, and an additional window of vision appeared, showing the world through Sage Levin’s eyes.
With a slight thought, this additional vision became Rosen’s main view, while his own vision retreated to the background, displaying the words ‘On Alert’.
Rosen thought about standing up.
His own body didn’t move, but Sage Levin’s body stood up according to his will, completely becoming Rosen’s substitute.
This felt very similar to playing VR games on Earth, but the difference was that Levin’s perspective was 360 degrees without any blind spots.
This was because Rosen had installed a pair of Insight Eyes in the back of Levin’s head as well.
After taking control of the puppet, Rosen first used a 3rd-circle air magic spell 《Eagle’s Wings》.
In a faint cyan glow, a powerful air current pushed Sage Levin into the sky.
The so-called air magic referred to a series of spells that efficiently controlled air currents.
The disadvantage of these spells was that their use was accompanied by cyan light, making them quite noticeable.
The advantage was that they were easy to learn, simple to cast, highly mana-efficient during flight, and offered decent speed.
In short, this was far from the best Flight spell, but Rosen had no choice but to use it.
Because he only knew three Flight spells, and this one was the most suitable for the current situation.
Propelled by the air current, Sage Levin quickly soared to a high altitude, overlooking the sea below from a height of nearly a thousand meters.
The color of the seawater was blue-green, and in many places even yellowish-green, indicating that the water was shallow and teeming with phytoplankton and zooplankton. It was a natural fishing ground.
At high altitude, Rosen used an arcane spell 《Levitation》 to maintain his altitude and a light magic spell 《Eagle Eye》 to observe the details on the sea surface.
He could vaguely see many seaweed, cold-water corals, swimming schools of fish, and peculiar algae clusters floating on the surface.
These algae clusters were generally round, with an average size of 30 to 100 meters, and one could be seen every few kilometers.
On top of the algae clusters, he could see many strange creatures that resembled humanoid frogs.
The 《World Compendium of Natural History》 described them as: ‘Tough and slippery skin, white belly and black back, webbed hands and feet, breathing with lungs but with auxiliary gills on the ribs, capable of short periods of breath-holding underwater, shaped like giant frogs, known as Sea Fishmen.’
Rosen had previously only seen crude illustrations in books. This was the first time he had seen the real thing.
He felt both the wonder of someone from Earth seeing something new and the worry of a lord.
“This shallow sea area has a radius of over two hundred kilometers. It should be an extension of Virland Island’s continental shelf. Judging from the color, it is indeed quite rich, but it is already occupied.”
The 《World Compendium of Natural History》 also mentioned: ‘Sea Fishmen are of low intelligence, have a brutal nature, and possess a strong sense of territory. They particularly enjoy attacking passing ships, making them the greatest threat to seafaring.’
His father often wrote to him about the situation on White Sturgeon Island.
The letters also mentioned that fishing was basically impossible around White Sturgeon Island, and the coastal areas were frequently harassed by Sea Fishmen. So despite being an island, it was essentially cut off from seafood, with only freshwater fish caught from the island’s inland waters on the table.
“Judging from the state and distribution density of the algae nests, I estimate there are hundreds of thousands of Sea Fishmen living in this sea area.”
“Hmm~ I have my work cut out for me.”
After controlling Sage Levin to survey the surroundings, Rosen used Flight to check out the two uninhabited islands that were part of the Princess’s dowry.
Flight allowed him to fly very high, and Eagle Eye allowed him to see very far. The combination of the two could greatly reduce the flight distance, naturally saving mana.
Otherwise, with the vastness of this sea area, Rosen would run out of mana and fall before reaching his destination.
Soon, Rosen had a general understanding of the two uninhabited islands, Saint Ann and Hank.
Saint Ann Island was located at the northernmost point of the triangular sea area. It was irregularly round, with a radius of about 10 kilometers, making it the third largest island in this area.
It was a volcanic island, black and barren, with several places emitting billowing black smoke.
‘I should explore for minerals here when I have time. There might be something valuable.’
Hank Island was located on the southeastern side of the triangular sea area. It looked like a caterpillar curled up in a circle.
It had a diameter of over 20 kilometers, with flat terrain consisting entirely of plains and a fairly deep, sheltered bay.
The good news was that Hank Island was full of life, covered by a dense forest.
Heading southeast from Hank Island for about a thousand kilometers should lead to the Kingdom of Levend on the Witte Continent.
If developed, it could serve as a midway supply island for the trade route between White Sturgeon Island and the Kingdom of Levend.
The bad news was that the sheltered bay, which clearly looked like an excellent harbor, was the main lair of the Sea Fishmen. The Fishmen inside were as densely packed as sardines.
“It seems I’m destined to clash with the Sea Fishmen.”
Filled with emotion, he once again mounted the turtle’s back, letting Laifu meditate to recover his depleted mana while heading towards White Sturgeon Island, the largest of the three islands in his territory and the closest to Virland Island.
Upon reaching the vicinity of White Sturgeon Island, Rosen repeated his previous strategy, finding a safe place to hide himself while controlling Sage Levin to fly high into the sky to survey the situation on the island.
White Sturgeon Island was large, and there might be unknown powerful individuals lurking on it.
To avoid any accidents, Rosen had Levin fly to an altitude of five thousand meters, maintaining a slow speed to minimize the noise of his flight.
His father had given him a map of White Sturgeon Island, which was stored in Laifu’s database.
So, as Rosen flew in the sky, he compared what he saw with the map in his mind.
First of all, White Sturgeon Island was indeed quite large.
It was generally an oval shape, oriented north-south, over 80 kilometers long from north to south and over 50 kilometers wide from east to west. It was a continental island formed by mountains rising from the continental shelf and breaking through the sea surface.
Because of this, the main body of White Sturgeon Island was a north-south mountain range called the Crescent Mountains.
The highest peak in the mountain range was called Dragon Sleep Snow Peak, and its summit was covered with a streak of white snow.
Rosen estimated that the mountain was over three thousand meters high. Apart from snow and rocks, there was no sign of life on its summit.
After some thought, he decided to land on a spot with a wide view at the summit, both to save mana and to overlook the entire island.
Everything was normal at first, but the moment Sage Levin’s body touched the ground, Rosen felt something strange under his feet.
“Eh~ There’s something odd about this stone!”
At first glance, it was just ordinary weathered sandstone, but it felt unusually hard to the touch, with a faint metallic feel.
Rosen was immediately intrigued. He pressed both hands on the ground and used Transformation Alchemy to analyze it carefully.
◈◈◈
“Stone… No, it should be this entire landmass. It contains a strange kind of magical energy.”
“The effect of this magical energy is quite peculiar. It can metallize objects. It might be emitted by some kind of metal-based magical artifact… But where is this artifact hidden?”
The energy was too thin, and the mountain was too vast. It was impossible to figure it out in a short amount of time.
The only thing he could be sure of was that there was some kind of secret hidden within the Crescent Mountains, especially this Dragon Sleep Snow Peak.
“Hmm~ I’ll search thoroughly once I’ve taken control of White Sturgeon Island.”
“No, wait, since there’s an unknown secret hidden here, I need to be more cautious.”
As for now, he naturally needed to continue investigating the situation on White Sturgeon Island.
Standing on the highest peak of the island, he looked down with Eagle Eye and saw that the entire mountain range was like a curved saber, dividing the island into two parts, east and west.
The good news was that the arc of the Crescent Mountains curved eastward, so the east was mountainous, while the west was significantly flatter and more spacious.
The bad news was that the island was still dominated by mountains, which accounted for two-thirds of its total area.
Although there were plains, they were fragmented by the mountains, making communication and travel between them very difficult.
There were six plains, the largest of which was called Crescent River Valley, which was the main part of Baron Saxon’s territory.
After surveying the area, Rosen sighed softly.
“No wonder my father had to enfeoff five knights in this tiny place. It seems it was unavoidable.”
The mountainous areas between one plain and another were very difficult to traverse, forming natural fortresses and strategic passes.
With the added threat of Forest Sprites in the mountains and forests, using traditional methods of rule, each plain could only be enfeoffed and governed autonomously.
In other words, although the entire White Sturgeon Island nominally belonged to the Saxon family, the Saxon family’s actual control only extended to Crescent River Valley, less than one-tenth of the island’s total area.
After overlooking the entire island and getting a general understanding of its terrain, Rosen took flight again, heading straight towards Crescent River Valley.
As the largest plain area on the island, it had the highest population density, with farmland and houses visible everywhere on the ground.
As he observed, Rosen noticed something amiss: “Eh~ Why are they fighting?”
He saw two groups of raggedly dressed people fighting in the fields. Most of the participants were farmers, with a few being warriors wearing leather armor and riding thin horses.
The fighting was quite intense, and the winter wheat planted in the fields was trampled beyond recognition.
Rosen immediately cast an Invisibility spell and went down to observe.
About half an hour later, he figured out the general situation and couldn’t help but sigh again.
“Heh~~ These knights are actually fighting amongst themselves.”
Why were they fighting?
The five knights on the island had split into two factions, vying for the position of supreme lord of White Sturgeon Island.
Rosen felt like two skinny wild dogs were fighting over a b*ne with no meat.
As soon as this analogy came to mind, he felt something was wrong and quickly slapped his own mouth.
“Slap, slap! How could I call myself a wild dog?”
Since there was unrest on the island, Rosen became even more cautious.
He abandoned flight and switched to the ground-based acceleration spell 《Wolf’s Rush》 from the force magic school. This ensured both speed and stealth, but the drawback was its high energy consumption.
He headed straight for the only city on White Sturgeon Island, Crescent City.
Although it was called a city, its scale was smaller than a town in Dawn Territory. From afar, it looked like a slum.
In his letters, the Baron had mentioned that there were no formal mages on White Sturgeon Island, only some disreputable wandering witches, whose mana levels were at most mid-level, and their spells were a complete mess.
Therefore, after casting an Invisibility spell, Rosen swaggered into the city.
He first inquired about the latest situation on the island from the locals, getting a general idea. Then he stealthily infiltrated the Baron’s Crescent Castle to check on the relatives of this body.
This body had two remaining relatives, his mother and his 12-year-old sister.
Rosen had no personal feelings for these two, but since he occupied their son’s body, he naturally had a responsibility to care for them.
He observed discreetly and discovered that the castle had been occupied by a group of rebels, led by Rosen’s own uncle.
The two women had been driven to the prayer house in the backyard.
‘Hmm, my mother didn’t mention this in her letters. This must have happened after she wrote them.’
After further observation, he found that they had food and shelter, and the old butler and a few servants were taking care of their daily needs. They weren’t in any immediate danger.
It made sense. After all, no one would care about two defenseless women, especially when they had a son studying magic in Dawn City.
It wasn’t convenient for him to take the two women away now. To prevent any accidents, he used Levin as a magical relay and personally cast a super high-circle Blessing of Fortune on them.
This was a wondrous and highly concealed, yet extremely powerful, mysterious fate magic spell.
The effect of the blessing was similar to ‘reversing cause and effect’ or ‘speaking words into reality’.
The incantation was ‘My mother （ My sister ）, I wish for you to avoid all misfortune and wait for my return safe and sound.’
It seemed like an ordinary sentence, but each word consumed a full 20% of Rosen’s mana.
But even this wasn’t completely foolproof because the essence of all magic was power. Magical techniques could amplify power, but this amplification wasn’t unlimited.
This blessing could only interfere with events in the present world 30 times. After that, it would be useless.
The leader of the rebels was his body’s uncle. As long as he could instill fear in him, it would greatly reduce the consumption of the blessing’s power.
So he had Levin leave the castle and go to Crescent City to secretly spread the news of the Baron’s eldest son’s imminent and powerful return.
Considering that he could only stay outside for a maximum of two weeks, this powerful blessing combined with the deterrent effect of the news should be absolutely safe.
After doing all this, the investigation of his territory was almost complete.
Rosen didn’t leave immediately because his mana was depleted.
He first found a safe place to meditate for over two hours, recovering about 60% of his mana, and then set off again, flying back to Shire County across the sea.
Around 3 p.m., he returned to the southern fields of Shire County. After all this, he still had about 50% of his mana left, but Levin was completely drained.
Rosen sighed inwardly: “Flight magic is really energy-intensive.”
Also, the 40-kilometer remote control range of Sage Levin was barely enough in Dawn City, but it was too short in his new territory. He needed to find a way to improve it.
He found a secluded spot in the woods by the roadside and sat down, letting Laifu cultivate and recover his mana in the background while he waited.
About an hour later, he transferred all his recovered mana to Levin, leaving only 10% for himself in case of emergency.
At this time, a luxurious travel carriage approached from afar.
A rider followed the carriage, the mercenary Klub.
Alia and Stonard, his two trusted attendants, were sitting at the front, also responsible for driving the carriage.
Alonso and Vigo, the two mages, were sitting on the outside seats at the back of the carriage.
Inside the carriage, Rosen’s No. 2 puppet double was curled up in a corner, pretending to sleep, while Serena was intently reading a magic book.
Rosen quietly followed, waiting for an opportunity when the carriage stopped to rest. He then switched places with his No. 2 puppet double, pretended to sleep for a while, and then ‘woke up’.
“Stone, are we close to Shalin?”
Shalin was the capital of Shire County.
“Master, I heard from the farmers by the road that we’ll arrive in an hour at most.”
“Oh~~ That’s good. Let’s rest in Shalin City tonight.”
