[“Who… what are you? What in the world… are you?”]

“Are you the captain?” Isaac asked.

[“Yes… my name is Naith Roanne. What is it you…”]

“No need. That’s all I need to know.”

With the captain’s skull still impaled on the Luadin Key, Isaac stepped back out onto the deck.

By then, Eidan’s ship had drawn close, pulling the ghost ship toward it with the harpoon chains. The sailors aboard Eidan’s ship stared in shock at Isaac.

Capturing a ghost ship single-handedly was unheard of.

“Is that the relic that calms the sea?”

Eidan asked, eyeing the flaming skull of the ghost captain hanging from the Luadin Key.

“No,” Isaac shook his head. “This is just the key to get to the key. There’s still one more step.”

***

“I never imagined you’d take over a ghost ship by yourself. You seem much stronger than when you faced the Drowned King.”

“Don’t compare an Archangel with the Drowned King or these skeletal pirates.”

The sailors, while initially afraid of the ghost ship, began cautiously boarding it, inspecting its condition. Though it had been submerged for ages, the ship showed signs of maintenance, with barnacles removed and the rigging replaced.

The ghost ship could sail underwater and weather storms, likely due to some miracle from the Immortal Order. Despite that, it seemed the undead sailors still maintained it.

Eidan offered an analysis.

“It’s probably because they were sailors from the Salt Council. Even though they knew it was pointless, they couldn’t bear to see their ship rot away.”

“So, it was like a hobby, tending to the ship?” Isaac joked.

“…You could say that. When you have an eternity of time as the undead, I suppose a hobby becomes necessary,” Eidan replied, inspecting the equipment and cargo aboard the ghost ship. Despite its age, many of the items were still functional thanks to the ongoing upkeep. The harpoon cannons and various supplies were still usable. Eidan seemed to feel a strange connection to this ship, which had belonged to an older generation of his fellow sailors.

“The storm seems to have quieted down a bit, doesn’t it? The waves are still rough, and the mist is thick, but… is it because of this ghost ship?”

“That’s right,” Isaac confirmed.

The ghost ship emitted a chilling cold that seemed to calm the abnormal weather conditions around it. This was likely how the undead pirates had been able to roam freely through the Nightmare Strait. Realizing that the ghost ship itself was the “relic” that could calm the sea, Eidan was at a loss for words.

“The Immortal Order doesn’t need to train an elite navy. The storm tears apart the fleets, and once the ships are exhausted, they ambush and take them. That’s why they let ghost ships like these roam the waters.”

“So, they were just waiting for our fleet to scatter… But now, we can use this ship to gather our ships and push forward, right?”

“No. One ghost ship isn’t enough for all our ships.”

“Then… what’s the plan?”

“We’re going to hunt a few more ghost ships. We’ll capture them as they appear and tie them up like dogs to lead us forward.”

Eidan couldn’t help but feel that Isaac’s tone sounded more like that of a pirate than a paladin.

Even if he tried to look at it optimistically, Isaac didn’t sound much like a Holy Grail Knight at the moment. Instead, he had quickly transformed into a pirate hunter, eagerly awaiting the arrival of more prey.

***

However, Isaac’s wishes didn’t come true easily.

Two days after capturing the first ghost ship.

The waters around the ghost ship had calmed down enough to be tolerable, but the ship’s chilling aura made life unbearable for the sailors.

They hadn’t prepared for the freezing conditions, and that only made it worse.

Isaac did his best to use the Luadin Key to provide some temporary relief, but it was a makeshift solution. To make matters worse, the thick fog surrounding them began to dampen the morale of the crew.

“The fog is thick,” Eidan muttered beside Isaac as they both stared into the same direction.

“With all this fog, it looks like a quiet sea, but it’s hard to believe that beyond this, there are massive waves and whirlpools.”

“This fog is part of the Nightmare Strait’s curse. It makes you crash into rocks or drags you into deeper waters.”

Isaac gazed warily into the dense mist.

‘…Have I been discovered?’

The absence of any ghost ships for so long made him wonder if his intentions had been found out. After all, without ghost ships, they couldn’t cross the Nightmare Strait. Perhaps the Immortal Order didn’t see a need to take the risk and attack him directly.

If that were the case, Isaac’s entire plan would fall apart. His options would be either to follow Yenkos’ original suggestion and join the main Dawn Army to the east or take a long detour west and face the Outer Realm head-on.

The former didn’t appeal to him, and the latter was a suicidal idea, even by Isaac’s standards.

He needed to head south, no matter what.

‘Worst case, I’ll break through the strait alone and figure things out once I reach Miarma. At least I could summon my subordinates once I’m there…’

At that moment, Eidan narrowed his eyes, peering into the fog.

“What’s wrong?”

“Isaac, you said the fog pulls ships toward rocks or other dangers. Couldn’t it also be drawing us toward ghost ships?”

“That’s possible, but we’ve been here two days without any sign of…”

Isaac’s voice trailed off as he spotted a faint silhouette in the direction Eidan was watching.

It wasn’t one of the Dawn Army of Issacrea’s ships. Its appearance was far grander and larger than any ship belonging to the Salt Council.

Both Isaac and Eidan were astonished by the size of the vessel. It was at least twice as large as their own ship.

Isaac was reminded of the warships of Duke Brant’s fleet back in Rougeberg. Eidan quickly scanned their surroundings and urgently called out to Isaac.

“Sir Isaac.”

Without needing to be told, Isaac already knew that new silhouettes were appearing all around them. Ships were rising from the sea as if materializing out of the mist. Their numbers were staggering, even from what they could see.

As some of the fog cleared, a massive emblem on one of the sails became visible.

Isaac instantly recognized the symbol.

“…The Dawn Army.”

It was the lost 7th Dawn Army, believed to have been wiped out in the Nightmare Strait’s storms.

Now, they emerged from the fog.