To think they would end up going on a subjugation together after such a confession. Moreover, because he had opposed it to the end, a sulking Bellota wouldn’t even meet his eyes. It was fortunate that Seiden at least had a map marking where the ‘real’ demonic energy source was. Otherwise, they would have had to wander these vast mountains for months with Bellota aboard.

While Seiden was staring intently at Bellota while recalling the map that had been delivered to him, Felton suddenly appeared beside him.

“By the way, who’s steering this ship?”

At the puzzled question, Seiden’s gaze left Bellota. He turned to Felton.

“A specially recruited pilot.”

A specially recruited pilot? Felton’s face grew anxious at this strange yet nonchalant answer. It was strange enough that they had found a pilot capable of steering such a large ship in less than two days since the mountain reconnaissance was decided.

“Isn’t the speed too fast? And this direction……”

Felton trailed off, unable to complete his sentence.

The direction the ship was heading wasn’t toward Serita Gorge. According to the map, they should have turned left at the fork they had just passed to reach Serita Gorge. However, this ship had proceeded right without a moment’s hesitation. But to point this out, he would have to admit that he had eavesdropped on Seiden and Kabillon’s conversation last night.

“Do we have a destination?”

When Felton finally asked indirectly, Seiden answered indifferently.

“Of course.”

This answer that left no room for further questions made Felton’s face grow even more troubled. Felton, who had neither volunteered nor been adequately prepared for this reconnaissance, found himself filled with questions.

He questioned whether the destination they anonymously obtained could truly be trusted and how anyone could confidently claim they’d return in two weeks when it would take an entire month just to reach Serita Gorge from their current location. They had already used up two days just getting here. At least now that Bellota had joined them, the worst situation wouldn’t occur even if they encountered the full moon here.

But that too was a problem. Though it was a large ship, having to face the full moon in such a confined space—wasn’t it too dangerous? The current situation was different from Selento.

It was while Felton was contemplating how to ask all these questions that the rapidly moving ship suddenly came to a complete stop. Surprised, Felton turned around to hear everyone murmuring as they felt it too.

“The ship has stopped.”

Recognizing the emergency situation, Felton muttered gravely and turned back to Seiden, only to furrow his brows involuntarily.

It was because Seiden’s expression remained relaxed.

“Commander? The ship has stopped.”

“I know.”

Seiden replied simply and called out to those anxiously murmuring on the deck.

“Everyone be careful not to fall. The ship will shake violently soon.”

Be careful not to fall? And the ship will shake violently? At these increasingly incomprehensible orders, what little color remained drained from Felton’s face, already pale from the cold.

Seiden turned to Felton and said,

“We will complete this reconnaissance within two days.”

What? Two days? Felton’s mouth gaped open, rendered speechless by this impossible schedule.

Seiden, no longer paying attention to Felton, strode away and hopped onto the deck. He approached Bellota, who was standing by a large pillar, anxiously looking around at the mountains. 

When Bellota’s gaze turned to Seiden, he held out a small vial to her.

“You’ll get seasick.”

At Seiden’s explanation, Bellota looked at the vial with a troubled face. It was the first time she had ever been on such a large ship or traveled at such a high speed, so she was already feeling nauseous. However, she couldn’t just accept Seiden’s kindness without any thought, as she still hadn’t forgotten the confession she had received from him before.

The reason Bellota wasn’t making eye contact with him was actually different from what he was expecting. The confession from that day kept coming back to her mind, and Bellota couldn’t bring herself to meet Seiden’s eyes.

She hesitated for a moment but was just about to accept the vial. At that moment, the ship, which had been stopped in the middle of the river, suddenly vibrated violently. As Bellota lost her balance and stumbled, Seiden, as if he had anticipated it, skillfully grabbed her arm and waist to support her. 

“Si……Sir, the ship……!”

Startled, Bellota clung to Seiden’s arm, and he, as if to reassure her not to worry, held her tightly and pulled her closer to the pillar. 

“Don’t worry. It’ll be over soon.”

Over soon? Before Bellota could frown, not understanding Seiden’s words, a dazzling light surrounded the shaking ship, and she felt the huge vessel rise into the air.

“Gasp!”

While everyone was surprised and grabbed onto the railings, unable to withstand the unimaginable event, Seiden’s face remained calm, his grip on Bellota firm even as they were thrown to the floor.

Soon, a blinding flash of light erupted from the center of the ship. Everyone squeezed their eyes shut, unable to bear the dazzling light. And as a few seconds passed, they felt the floating ship gently descend back onto the smooth surface of the water.

Bellota, who had been holding her eyes shut while being held tightly in Seiden’s arms, also sensed the sensation and opened her eyes wide, looking around.

“Si……Sir……”

Bellota called Seiden in a bewildered voice. It was because the surrounding scenery had changed. They were still on the river that never froze, and even the snow-capped mountains surrounding the ship remained the same. Nevertheless, the surrounding scenery had definitely changed.

“Ha.”

As the ship began to sail again at high speed, Felton realized that this was the Serita Gorge. Large ice pillars protruded from the snow-capped mountains, which should have been covered in pure white snow. The pointed, awl-like ice pillars were the most stRicking feature of the Serita Gorge.

“It’s the Serita Gorge!”

Someone shouted, having recognized it, and everyone looked around in surprise. Felton, staring blankly at the ice pillars, soon realized something and turned to look at Seiden. As expected, he was silently staring somewhere in the mountains, his face showing no surprise.

Felton ran up to him.

“Commander, what on earth is going on? I demand an explanation!”

As Felton questioned him in frustration, Bellota, who had been in Seiden’s arms, was also surprised and looked at him. However, Seiden’s expression was indifferent, as if nothing had happened.

“What are you talking about?”

“We just teleported! Is there a mage on board?”

As Felton sighed in disbelief, something suddenly crossed Bellota’s mind.

“Where on earth did you bring a mage capable of teleporting a ship this size? There was no report to the temple! There’s no way the Magic Tower would have provided a mage without any reason. How did you do this? How could you do this on your own……!”

“Sir, could it be……”

When Bellota, realizing something, looked at Seiden with astonished eyes, Felton’s words were cut short.His cCalm red eyes stared at her startled blue ones, and Bellota knew her guess was right. On this ship, there was a mage from Hellers. As she had suspected, Yevar was in the ship’s control room.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it.”

Yevar, who had arrived in the North before the reconnaissance team and had the ship on standby as per Seiden’s ‘order,’ was not only maneuvering this huge ship solely with magic but also secretly shaking off the Imperial Knights who were following them, exhausting himself to the core.

This was absolutely absurd tyranny. Even for Yevar, he needed tremendously expensive supplements to use this level of magic. That’s why he was about to flatly refuse the offer of half of the monsters caught in the North, but unfortunately, Yevar couldn’t.

“Then it can’t be helped. I’ll help you find the Demon God Book with all my might, without any reward.”

Seiden, who had barged in during the night and listed his absurd demands, summed it all up with that neat sentence and turned away leisurely.

Yevar didn’t understand what he meant at that moment, but regardless of his understanding, the magical contract he had made with Seiden was activated. As a result, Yevar was dragged here and was going through this ordeal. The contract between the two of them was no different from a terrible slave contract, and although Yevar regretted making that contract that day, it was already too late.

“Damn it, what does this have to do with finding the Demon God Book! You scoundrel!”

Gripping the helm with all his might, which was difficult to control due to the acceleration, Yevar raised his voice, letting out a strained groan.

“Seeeeeiiidddeeennnn Blllllaaaackkwoooooooddd!”

As a result, the vigorously moving ship came to a sudden halt near the gorge, and those who had been in chaos until then caught their breath and looked around.

To the left of the ship, the mana-filled river flowed fiercely. To the right stood a steep cliff full of sharp ice pillars. It was not an ideal place to make a sudden stop, as they would be vulnerable to attack if someone was ambushing them from above.