Chapter 8: A New Age

Chapter Eight
A New Age

Whooo!

The gale screamed. Rain fell in sheets. The three-masted sailing ship rose and plunged between mountain after mountain of waves, like a toy tossed into the air by giants, caught, and tossed again.

The deep crimson faded from Alger Wilson’s eyes.

He found himself still standing on the deck, no different from before.

Immediately after, he saw the strangely shaped glass bottle in his hand crack and shatter. Frost and snow melted into water, blending with the rain.

In only two or three seconds, the ancient oddity had lost every trace of its former existence.

A crystalline six-pointed snowflake appeared in Alger’s palm. Then it quickly dimmed until it vanished, as if it had shrunk inward and hidden inside his flesh.

Alger gave an almost imperceptible nod, as though thinking something through, and remained silent for a full five minutes.

Then he turned and walked toward the cabin entrance. Just as he was about to go in, a man wearing the same lightning-embroidered robe came out.

The man had soft yellow hair. He halted, looked at Alger, extended his right hand, clenched it into a fist, and placed it over his chest.

“May the Storm be with you.”

“May the Storm be with you.” Alger’s rough, deeply cut face showed no unnecessary emotion. He likewise clenched his right fist and struck it against the left side of his chest.

After exchanging salutes, Alger entered the cabin and walked down the corridor toward the captain’s room.

Along the way, he encountered no sailor or crewman. The place was quiet as the inside of a tomb.

The door of the captain’s room stood open. A thick, soft, dark-brown carpet appeared before his eyes. On either side were bookshelves and a wine cabinet. Books with yellowed covers and bottles of dark-red wine gleamed strangely in the candlelight.

On the desk that held the candle stood a bottle of ink, a quill pen, a black metal telescope, and a brass sextant.

Behind the desk, a pale middle-aged man wearing a skull captain’s hat watched Alger approach step by step. Gritting his teeth in anger, he said, “I will not submit!”

“I believe you can do that,” Alger replied calmly, as though remarking that today’s weather was not especially good.

“You…”

The middle-aged man froze, apparently not having expected such an answer.

At that very moment, Alger bent slightly and surged forward. In an instant, he narrowed the distance between them until only the desk stood in the way.

Snap!

His shoulder tensed. His right hand shot out and seized the middle-aged man’s throat.

Giving the other no chance to react, Alger’s hand revealed illusory fish scales across its back. His five fingers tightened with savage force.

Crack!

In that crisp sound, the middle-aged man’s eyes widened in horror. His entire body was lifted from the ground.

His feet thrashed violently, but soon settled into stillness. Confusion entered his gaze, his pupils began to spread, and the front of his trousers slowly grew wet, releasing a foul stench.

Alger held the middle-aged man aloft, lowered his back, and strode toward the nearby wall.

Bang!

Using the man as a shield, he smashed him hard into the front wall. His arm was thick and brutal as a monster’s.

The wooden wall shattered at the impact. Violent wind and rain, heavy with the briny smell of seawater, swept into the room.

Alger twisted his waist and shoulders, hurling the middle-aged man out of the cabin and into the giant waves rising one after another like mountains.

The sky was dark. The wind and rain howled. The overwhelming power of nature buried everything.

Alger took out a white handkerchief and carefully wiped his right palm. Then he tossed the handkerchief into the sea as well.

After retreating a few steps, he waited patiently for his companion to enter.

“What happened?” Less than ten seconds later, the soft yellow-haired man rushed in.

“The ‘captain’ escaped.” Alger panted, answering with vexation. “He actually retained some extraordinary power!”

“Damn it!” the yellow-haired man cursed under his breath.

He hurried to the broken opening and stared into the distance, but all he could see was wind, rain, and waves.

“Forget it. He was only incidental.” The yellow-haired man waved an arm. “Finding this ghost ship from the Tudor era is already a merit for us.”

Even as a blessed one of the sea, he did not dare rashly dive into the water in weather like this.

“And if the storm continues, the ‘captain’ will not last long,” Alger said with a nod. He noticed that the broken wooden wall had begun writhing and restoring itself at a speed visible to the naked eye.

He looked deeply at it, then instinctively turned his head toward the positions of the helm and sails.

Even through layer after layer of wooden planks, he could clearly sense the situation there.

No first mate. No second mate. No crew. No sailors. Not even a living soul.

There was nothing there, and yet the helm and sails were eerily adjusting themselves.

The image of the Fool, shrouded from head to toe in gray-white fog, surfaced again in Alger’s mind. Suddenly, he sighed.

He turned to the violent winds and towering waves outside. In a tone that was both expectant and afraid, like the murmuring of a dream, he said, “A new age has begun…”

…

Backlund, capital of the Loen Kingdom. Queen’s Borough.

Audrey Hall pinched her own cheek, unable to believe what she had just experienced.

On the dressing table before her, the ancient bronze mirror had shattered into pieces.

Lowering her gaze, Audrey saw “crimson” flowing over the back of her hand, like a star-shaped tattoo.

The crimson gradually dimmed and at last sank beneath her skin, vanishing completely.

Only then did Audrey confirm that she had not been dreaming.

Ripples moved through her eyes, and the corners of her mouth slowly lifted. Unable to restrain herself, she stood, bent to lift the hem of her skirt, and curtseyed to the empty air.

Then, light-footed, she spun and began dancing the Ancient Elf Dance, currently the most fashionable court dance.

Her figure moved with graceful ease, and a brilliant smile shone across her face.

Knock, knock, knock!

Someone suddenly knocked on the bedroom door.

“Who is it?” Audrey stopped at once and arranged herself into an elegant posture.

“Miss, may I come in? You should begin preparing,” her personal maid asked from outside.

Audrey turned to look at the dressing table mirror and swiftly gathered away her smile, leaving only a shallow trace.

She looked left and right. Only after confirming that there was nothing wrong with her appearance did she speak gently.

“Come in.”

The handle turned, and her personal maid, Annie, pushed open the door.

“Oh, it’s broken…” Annie saw the ancient bronze mirror’s fate at a glance.

Audrey blinked. Speaking slowly, she said, “Ah, yes. Mm. Susie came in earlier. You know how she always likes to cause damage.”

Susie was a golden retriever of rather impure bloodline, a free addition her father, Earl Hall, had received when purchasing foxhounds. Audrey, however, adored her.

“You must discipline her properly.” Annie skillfully gathered up the fragments of the bronze mirror, afraid that her young mistress might be injured.

Once she finished, she looked toward Audrey and asked with a smile, “Which dress would you like to wear?”

Audrey thought briefly.

“I like the one Madame Genia designed for my seventeenth birthday.”

“No. People will say the Hall family must have suffered a financial crisis if a dress is worn a second time on a formal occasion.” Annie shook her head in denial.

“But I truly like it,” Audrey emphasized in a gentle tone.

“You may wear it at home, or on less formal occasions.” Annie’s attitude made it clear that there was no room for negotiation.

“Then the one Mr. Sedes sent over the day before yesterday. The one with ruffled cuffs.”

Audrey secretly inhaled and maintained her elegant, sweet smile.

“Your taste is always excellent.” Annie stepped back with a smile and called toward the door, “Dressing room number six. No, I will fetch it myself.”

The maids began to bustle. One handled the dress, one the jewelry, one the shoes, one the gauze hat, one applied Miss Audrey’s makeup, and another considered her hairstyle.

When the preparations were nearly complete, Earl Hall appeared at the door wearing a dark-brown waistcoat.

He wore a hat of the same color as his clothes and had two fine little mustaches. His blue eyes were full of laughter, though the loosened muscles of his face, the swell of his belly, and the increasingly visible nasolabial folds all mercilessly damaged the handsomeness of his youth.

“The most dazzling jewel of Backlund, it is time for us to depart.” Earl Hall stood at the entrance and lightly knocked twice on the open door.

“Father, please do not call me that.” With the help of her maids, Audrey rose, deliberately showing a few hints of distress.

“Then, my beautiful little princess, it is time to go.” Earl Hall bent his left arm, signaling for Audrey to take it.

Audrey shook her head with a faint smile.

“That is the place of Mrs. Hall, the countess, my dear mother.”

“Then this side.” Earl Hall bent his right arm with a smile. “This is the pride of a father.”

…

Pritz Harbor. Oak Island. Royal Naval Base.

When Audrey descended from the carriage on her father’s arm, she was suddenly stunned by the enormous thing before her.

In the military harbor not far away lay a towering warship that gleamed all over with metallic light. It had no sails, only an observation platform, along with two lofty smokestacks and two exposed gun turrets arranged at the front and rear.

It was so imposing, so immense, that the sailing ships of the line moored nearby seemed like newborn dwarves gathered around a giant spirit.

“Storm above…”

“Oh, my Lord.”

“An ironclad!”

…

Low cries of astonishment interwove. Audrey felt the same shock as everyone else. This was a miracle created by human hands, an unprecedented miracle upon the sea.

Only after an unknown stretch of time did the nobles, ministers, and members of the House of Commons recover. At that moment, a black dot in the sky grew from small to large, gradually occupying a third of the heavens and all of their attention. The atmosphere suddenly became solemn.

It was a vast thing floating through the air. Its lines were exceptionally smooth and beautiful. The entire body was painted deep blue, and a sturdy yet lightweight alloy frame supported cotton cloth filled with gasbags. Beneath it hung a compartment fitted with machine-gun ports, bomb bays, and flat-fire cannon openings. The exaggerated hum of the high-phlogiston steam engine and the frantic rotation of the tail propellers formed a stirring, thunderous movement.

The airship carrying the royal family had arrived, bearing the dignity of one who looked down from above upon all things.

On both sides of the compartment, sunlight reflected from the emblem of a “Sword of Judgment” pointed straight downward, its hilt a ruby crown. It was the ancient symbol of the Augustus family, whose inheritance could be traced back to the previous epoch.

Audrey was not yet eighteen and had not gone through the “presentation ceremony,” in which she would be formally led by the queen into Backlund’s social sphere and declared an adult. Thus, she could only watch quietly from where she stood and could not approach.

She did not mind very much. In fact, she felt relieved that she did not have to face the princes.

The “miracle” by which humanity had conquered the sky landed steadily. The first to descend the ladder were vigorous young guards. They wore red military dress uniforms and white trousers, with sashes across their bodies and rifles in their hands. Dividing into two lines, they stood waiting for King George III, the queen, the princes, and the princesses to appear.

Audrey had seen important people before and had no interest in this. Instead, her gaze wandered toward the two black-armored knights standing beside the king like statues.

In this age of steel, steam, and firearms, there were still people who insisted on wearing full-body armor!

The cold metallic luster and the deep black helmets gave off a sense of weight, majesty, and compulsory obedience.

“Could they be higher-sequence Punishment Knights…”

Fragments of idle conversations once held by the elders of her family flashed through Audrey’s mind. She wished to see more, but dared not go nearer.

With the arrival of the royal family, the ceremony finally began. The current prime minister, Lord Aguesid Negan, stepped before the crowd.

He was a member of the Conservative Party, and one of only two great figures so far to have become prime minister despite not being born a noble. For his outstanding contributions, he had been granted the title of lord.

Of course, Audrey knew more than that. Aguesid’s elder brother, the chief supporter of the Conservative Party, was Pallas Negan—the Duke Negan of this generation.

Aguesid was in his fifties, tall and thin, with sparse hair and sharp eyes. After sweeping his gaze around the crowd, he spoke.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I believe you have already seen it. This is an ironclad, an ironclad capable of overturning an age. It is 101 meters long, 21 meters wide, built with a high freeboard. Its main armor belt is 457 millimeters thick. Its displacement is 10,060 tons. It carries four 305-millimeter main guns, two forward and two aft, as well as six rapid-fire guns, twelve six-pounder guns, eighteen six-barreled machine guns, and four torpedo tubes. Its speed can reach sixteen knots!

“It will be the true overlord. It will conquer the sea!”

A stir passed through the nobles, ministers, and members of Parliament. The prime minister’s description alone was enough for them to imagine the terror of this ironclad, and the real thing stood before their eyes.

Aguesid revealed a faint smile and continued for a few more sentences. Then he bowed to King George III.

“Your Majesty, please name it.”

“Since it begins at Pritz Harbor, let it be called the Pritz,” George III said, his expression quite pleased.

“The Pritz!”

“The Pritz!”

…

Beginning with the naval minister and the commander-in-chief of the Royal Navy, the name spread one person after another, until it reached the ironclad itself. There, officers and soldiers shouted in unison:

“The Pritz!”

Amid the atmosphere of celebration, ceremonial cannons thundered one after another. George III gave the order for the ship to set sail and conduct a trial firing.

Whooo!

The whistle sounded. Thick smoke poured from the smokestacks, and the motions of machinery could be faintly heard.

The leviathan moved.

When it sailed out of the harbor and used the two main guns at its bow to bombard an uninhabited island ahead, everyone was shaken.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The earth seemed to tremble. Dust rushed into the sky. A hurricane of force swept outward, lifting the waves.

Prime Minister Aguesid turned with satisfaction toward the nobles, ministers, and members of Parliament.

“From this moment forward, those seven pirates who style themselves admirals, those four pirates who presume to call themselves kings, can only tremble and wait for the end.

“Their age is over. Even if they possess some measure of extraordinary power, even if they have ghost ships or cursed ships, what will rule the seas can only be ironclads!”

At this point, Aguesid’s chief secretary deliberately asked, “Then can they not build ironclads of their own?”

Some nobles and members of Parliament nodded inwardly, thinking the possibility could not be excluded.

Aguesid immediately smiled and slowly shook his head.

“Impossible. Forever impossible. To build an ironclad such as this requires three large coal-and-steel conglomerates; more than twenty steelworks of sufficient scale; sixty scientists and even more senior engineers from the Backlund Artillery Research Institute and the Pritz Shipbuilding Institute; two royal shipyards and nearly a hundred affiliated parts factories; a navy department; a shipbuilding committee; a cabinet; a firm king of exceptional vision; and a great nation that produces twelve million tons of steel each year!

“The pirates will never accomplish it.”

Here, he paused. Then he raised both arms and cried out with fervor:

“Ladies and gentlemen, the age of giant ships and great guns has arrived!”