Singer Sailor Merchant Mage

Chapter 190: True Places

“It's not down on any map; true places never are.”

Herman Melville, Moby Dick.

Our spiral uncovered nothing new nearby Wester Levante, so we continued to work our way outwards, spiralling further and further out into the vast expanse of the Azimuth Ocean in search of treasure and sunken ships. I say spiral, but we were still relying on the wind over manpower, so it was hardly a perfect curve with a fair few zig-zags from tacking against the wind or following it. It was far easier to hold straight lines than an incrementally larger curve.

Yes, I was taking this trip to evade talking with the Western and Eastern envoys from the House of Lords, but after our success with Baron Corus, I felt I might have an advantage or two when I returned, so there was no need to be gone for months. A week or two would be more than enough. We headed south to Little Wester before repeating our search pattern.

Finally, as we ventured deeper into uncharted waters, my keen senses caught sight of something extraordinary beneath the waves off the southern coast of Little Wester. I had picked up something strange on the seabed floor.

“Hold,” I shouted. The crew was swift to jump to the repeated command of the captain. They loosened the lines causing the sails to flap loose in the wind, and as the helmsman followed orders and turned us into the wind, the boat slowed.

“You’ve found something?” questioned Namir.

“What is it?” asked Arawn, equally bored if not quite as annoyed by the open ocean as Namir.

“Something,” I answered vaguely, unsure what my skills were telling me. My treasure skill had pinged, implying there was something of worth down below. But from what I could tell from mana sense and sonar, it appeared to be more of a set of structures than a sunken wreck unless other races regularly sailed rectangular-shaped boxes. Besides, it was not alone; I had picked out more as we had slowed. As far as I could tell, several ‘house-like’ buildings were on the bottom of the ocean in a circle around a central spire —a mysterious underwater village.

“You could be a little more specific?” Captain Kashif.

“It appears to be,” I paused, “A village underwater,” I answered cautiously. Was this a good omen or a bad one? There was supposed to be a noble underwater race, the Neriad, which would sometimes trade with the surface in a civilised manner. But then again, there was also supposedly an underwater base race, the Sirens which would happily drag you to a watery grave. Which was this, and how could you tell?

"By the tides! An underwater town? There’s one below.” Captain Kashif exclaimed, surprised. “A Neriad outpost here?” He seemed excited.

“I think so. I've never seen anything like it before.” I continued to ‘look’ beneath the water, trying to take in what I could see. It looked like there was a hidden realm beneath the sea, even if this village was only a small part of it. “How do you know it’s not a Siren’s?”

“If it had been a Siren’s, they would probably have already tried to pull us under.” Captain Kashif snorted. “Far more likely to be a Neriad outpost seeing as we have not been bothered by them.”

As I continued to stare down into the depths, I focused harder, bringing what I had assumed to be sea creatures into greater focus, realising that they were humanoid.

"Hand out the diving apparatus! They won’t come up to us unless we have gone down to them." Captain Kashif called out. There were no tanks, no regulators, depth gauges or dive computers. No wetsuits, fins or snorkels either, although they did have masks. But that was the beauty of magic and stats. The huge increase in the sailor's stamina stat meant that most could hold their breaths for minutes, not seconds. Magic lanterns would provide light in the depths, and it was not rocket science to use rocks to weigh them down and pull them down into the depths.

“Why so excited?” I asked the Captain as, with excitement and curiosity guiding their actions, a few crew prepared themselves to explore the submerged village. They stripped down and equipped themselves with magical lanterns, ready to delve into the depths of this enigmatic realm.

“The potential profit, Kai,” Arawn answered for the captain, who was busy seeing to his own preparations. “The captain is, if anything, a little predictable regarding potential profit.”

“Aye, you sensed treasure below, right? That means they have something worth trading for below. Are you coming, Kai? If you can keep yourself from attracting any more sea monsters, that is.” The sailors around him suddenly looked less keen to brave the depths after remembering my ability to draw out the monsters in it.

“Yes, that won’t be a problem,” I answered confidently. Since I had formed my cores, magical control had become a lot easier for me, and I no longer leaked it to the world around me unless by design. “But will we be able to stay down long enough to do more than say hello?” I wondered how Captain Kashif hoped to achieve anything if we had to keep returning to the surface for each breath of air.

“Once introductions are made, and they know that we know they are here. I’m sure they will happily deal with us on the surface.” He explained.

“Will they be happy though if we say hello?” I asked. I was unaware that the Neriad had any contact with the people of Little Wester. If they had wanted to interact with humans it would not have been difficult for them to venture forth.

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” Captain Kashif, ever the optimist, dismissed my concerns.

“I’ll be with you,” Arawn reassured me as he stripped down to join us. I admitted to myself that it was exciting to see a new race just as it had been exciting to see my first elf and my first beastkin.

Namir, on the other hand, was not having it. “I’ll be watching from up here. Try not to cause any new problems. I don’t want to have to come in to get you.” He said, grumpily refusing to get his fur wet with salt water which he insisted was far worse at getting out of it than us hairless monkeys realised.

"Stay close, everyone. Let's move with caution and observe everything we can. If they aren’t welcoming, we will back off." Captain Kashif’s enthusiasm for profit outweighed his caution, and he pulled us all along. We all jumped into the water over the ship's side and descended into the dark depths.

As our eyes grew used to the underwater world, and I could see what I could only sense before with the naked eye, we were greeted by an astonishing sight. Elaborate structures made of coral and shells stood tall, with bioluminescent creatures swimming gracefully through the vibrant seaweed gardens.

As we dived ever deeper, the village seemed to be bustling with activity, despite its submerged existence.

Limited by the water, we could not communicate other than to point at the approaching village as if to say, "Look.” I was not limited by the water in the same manner; I could still sense what my compatriots were thinking about as we descended, even if they were not saying it out loud.

Captain Kashif was dreaming of riches.

Arawn was scanning for threats.

I was amazed at the intricate craftsmanship of these structures. It was a testament to the ingenuity and adaptability of these underwater inhabitants. They had to have developed unique ways of living in harmony with the sea. Like Captain Kashif, I wondered whether we would discover treasures and what tradeable goods they might have.

As we sank towards the village, a group of what appeared to be guards swam their way up to meet us. Our arrival was hardly stealthy, but the rest of the village's inhabitants hardly seemed bothered by the vessel floating way above their heads.

The guards were distinctly blue unless that was just the lighting under the water. Not a dark indigo but a light cerulean, they would blend in with the water if looking down from the surface or with the sky if looking up from the sea bed. They had gills on the sides of their necks, and even though the light was still enough to see by, they had bioluminescent spots that speckled their skins like the stars in the sky. They did not have flippers or tails, though their feet looked webbed, and in their hands, they held tridents.

We stopped where we were and waited for them to approach.

They soon floated in front of us, eight of them facing Captain Kashi, a few of his crew, Arawn father and I.

They spoke, and although it sounded garbled underwater, we could still hear them. “Follow. We have a room with air.” He gestured at the central spire of their village.

We continued our descent, surrounded by the guards who swam in circles around us as we slowly descended. I could have swam faster, but there was no reason to leave the perceived safety of the group.

Swimming into the base of the hollow structure, we rose into a pocket of air and took seats on the spiral shell-like shelf that wound its way upwards. I looked around to find where the air that filled the place came from or how it was kept so fresh.

The senior guard arrived with someone new in two. An older Neriad in comparison to the younger guards. He did not look especially pleased to see us.

“What do you want?” he asked.