Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 23 Inland Sea
After the Taniria was laden with sugar and tobacco, the Skuas was cutting through the waves toward Veneta. Her bow kicked up huge sprays of water, the waves parted to the sides, leaving a faint trail at the stern; it seemed as if only this lone ship remained in the world.
The entire hull of the Skua swayed from side to side in rhythm with the sea, the higher it went, the greater the sway. At the top of the mast, the sway even exceeded the width of the ship.

Winters looked up as the sailor who had asked him for wine a few days earlier climbed the mast by clinging to the rigging. The sailor had no protective gear, but he was as agile and free as an ape, and in a few moments he had climbed to the top of the barricade.

"It seems I don't have the talent for working on a ship; I can't do this job," Andrei said, his heart pounding as he looked at the sailors working high above the ground.

“I don’t have that ability either.” Winters watched the sailors climb so high that their limbs went numb. “What are they going to do up there?”

"Tie up all the square sails. For the rest of the voyage, we'll be sailing upwind, using only the triangular sail and the bow slalom." The first mate of the Skua enthusiastically gave Andrei and Winters a lesson in navigation.

Because it is surrounded by land to the west and sheltered by the Tani Islands to the east, the Gulf of Cenas is docile and usually has little wind or waves.

The terrain of the entire Union is high in the west and low in the east. Rivers flowing down from the western highlands enter the sea here, forming many flat and fertile river deltas along the coastline. Guitu City and Hailan City are both located on typical alluvial plains.

Therefore, ships sailing in this area generally do not have a deep draft in order to enter shallow waters and estuaries.

The Skua is neither an ocean-going vessel nor a coastal vessel; it is a "hybrid" product, adopting whatever designs are useful and making it a typical example of pragmatism.

Although the Skua had a shallow hull like other coastal vessels, it was equipped with a keel that could withstand wind and waves. In pursuit of speed, the Skua had three masts on its small ship and greedily equipped with both square sails and triangular fore and aft sails.

"Does 'going against the wind' mean we have to sail against the wind?" With a navigation expert nearby, Winters had a question he'd been wanting to ask.

"On the ship, we don't say 'headwind' or 'not with the wind.' We call this situation 'facing the wind,' and we have to sail facing the wind from here on out," the first mate reminded the ship of the linguistic taboos.

“Okay, upwind. But I don’t understand why the boat can sail upwind?” This question puzzled Winters.

“It’s actually very simple.” The first mate gestured to Winters: “Angle the ship at an angle to the wind, and angle the sails at an angle to the wind as well, and the ship will move forward at an angle.”

"So why does the boat move forward when the sails are angled against the wind?" That's the question Winters really wanted to know.

"Uh..." This question really stumped the first mate: "This... I don't know either. I only know that doing this allows you to walk diagonally against the wind, but I really don't know why, and I haven't thought about it."

“Then it seems you are a spellcaster as well,” Winters said with a smile. “You can also use a power that you can’t explain yourself.”

The other passengers who had traveled from Guitu City to Hailan City on this ship were also getting some fresh air on the deck, standing behind Winters. Hearing Winters' words, one of the men secretly sized him up.

What is a spellcaster?

"They are magicians."

"Haha, if I were a magician, I would conjure up more gold than I could ever spend in my lifetime."

"If gold could be produced so easily, it would be worthless."

A sudden, urgent chime interrupted their conversation, and the lookout at the top of the mast shouted, "Forty degrees to port! Sail! Forty degrees to port! Sail!"

Upon hearing that there was a ship on the port side, the first mate quickly ran to the forecastle, and Winters followed.

“I can’t see anything.” Winters squinted, seeing only the sea and sky. “When the lookout on the mast can see the other ship’s mast, we can’t see anything from our position. We can only see the other ship’s mast when the lookout can see the hull.” The first mate added, “It’s a good thing we can’t see anything; it means they’re going around us too.”

The captain of the Skua arrived at the bow at this time. The captain was a plump middle-aged man, and it was rare for a seaman to have such a round face.

"Forty degrees to port, the lookout has spotted the sails," the first mate briefly reported.

"The enemy has taken the windward position." Without the slightest hesitation, the portly captain immediately ordered the helmsman: "Turn downwind! Adjust the fore and aft sails!"

The helmsman immediately turned the rudder to starboard, and the Skua began to list to port, the hull creaking under pressure. An arc was left in the water as the Skua changed course to a downwind position.

“Let’s give way a little, then return to our original course and keep a distance from them.” The fat captain, who was quite respectful to these army officers, explained casually when he saw that Winters and Andrei didn’t understand: “If they don’t have malicious intentions, they will also be worried about our intentions and keep their distance from us.”

These words made Winters and Andre both look at them with surprise.

"Holding malicious intent? Could there be pirates in the Inner Sea?" Andrei found it hard to believe. The Gulf of Senas could be considered the Alliance's bathtub, fishpond, and backyard, commonly known as the "Inner Sea." Could there be pirates in such a place?

“It’s not necessarily pirates, after all, this is a very busy shipping route.” The fat captain sounded quite relaxed. “But there are always pirates, and because inland sea shipping is so prosperous, there are quite a few pirates.”

He chuckled and said, "Besides, wasn't the Alliance Navy originally a bunch of pirates? If you guys help me rob other people's ships, the Skua will be a pirate ship too."

"Are people even willing to fight over a small ship like the Skua?"

"The Skua is not small. Even smaller ships are targeted, but pirates mainly target light ships. Large ships have more sailors, making them less likely to be targeted by pirates and thus safer."

"But there must be naval warships patrolling the inland sea, right?"

"The navy doesn't have many pure warships; they're mostly merchant ships like the Skuas. Shipbuilding has to break even!" The fat captain began explaining business to Winters and Andrei: "A shipowner isn't losing money until the cost of building a ship is recouped, and that's after deducting wages and maintenance. The money after breaking even is the real profit for the shipowner. Building warships that don't carry cargo is pure investment, a guaranteed loss-making business."

"Doesn't the navy fight pirates?" Winters thought that if there were bandits, why not just wipe them out? The army's standing army wasn't large either, but that didn't stop the army from cracking down on organized robbery gangs.

“Merchant ships are all armed. Armed merchant ships with evil intentions are pirates, while honest ships are just merchants. They can’t be wiped out.” The fat captain liked these greenhorns very much and patiently explained, “To completely eliminate pirates, we have to start with the disposal of stolen goods. The Alliance can’t do anything about it.”

"The Alliance is allowing pirates to sell their stolen goods on their own soil?" The news is getting more and more explosive.

"Not in the Alliance, but in Taniria. Pirates steal and then sell the loot in Taniria; it's a well-established practice." The fat captain gave a meaningful smile. "Who knows, maybe some of the goods on my ship are stolen. Pirates are the source of cheap goods, aren't they?"
"Then... what if you get robbed?" The fat captain's idea of ​​a mutually beneficial relationship with pirates left Winters and Andre speechless.

The portly captain calmly replied, "As long as we don't get robbed, that's fine. Don't worry too much, it's not that easy to run into pirates."

"Dong! Dong! Dong!" The lookout rang the death knell again, his voice hoarse as he reported, "Stern! Hull!"

The people on deck hurried to the sterncastle, where they saw the sails.

(End of this chapter)