Published: January 17, 2026
A hastily constructed large ship and a large pier for docking it. Seeing these two, Tran’s eyes widened in surprise. At the same time, he seemed to hold a strong distrust toward the Kingdom of Scuderia and us, despite the rather favorable impression he had initially formed.
Well, if you underestimated us as a country far behind in shipbuilding technology, you’d be surprised how quickly such a large ship and pier could be completed. From the perspective of the Maritime Nation Fiesta Kingdom, a sudden and unexpected threat had emerged. Most likely, Marquis Rosso was suspected of lying.
With that in mind, we moved on to the phase planned from the start—to dispel Tran’s doubts.
“Mr. Tran, I imagine many of these things are hard to believe. So, would you be willing to board the ship with us?”
Upon hearing this, Tran looked at me with a complicated expression. Meanwhile, Panamera, Arte, and Til were eager to board the ship I had built. Kamushin, however, seemed to have gotten a bit seasick from the slight movement on the pier and was turning a little pale, becoming a bit of a Blue Kamushin.
Unusually, Espada was quietly watching the ship while listening to the conversation. He seemed extremely eager to ride it.
Tran didn’t answer immediately, so Rosso spoke up instead.
“...Hmm. Honestly, even though I’ve seen it with my own eyes, I’m amazed too. I plan to listen to the explanation together with Mr. Tran. What do you say? Of course, you may bring as many of your subordinates as you like.”
When Rosso said this to Tran, he finally lowered his chin and nodded.
“...Understood. Please allow me to bring five subordinates along.”
Having said that, Tran looked up seriously at the large ship I had built.
“Oh, will you be boarding? Then… Dee! Lower the gangplank!”
“Understood!”
Judging that the preparations were complete, I called out to Dee, who was waiting on the deck. There was an immediate response, and a ladder shaped like stairs was lowered from the deck. Seeing the stairs installed on the pier, Rosso nodded in satisfaction.
“This is easy to climb, excellent.”
Following Rosso, Panamera and Talga climbed up. We waited for Tran to board first, but he looked up at the stairs with his subordinates and said:
“...A suspended ladder propped up on the deck, lowered only when needed. Did Lord Van come up with this as well?”
“Yes! I worked hard on it! I also considered installing pulleys on the side of the ship, but I reluctantly gave up because attaching too many things on the ship’s side could risk them breaking if high waves hit…”
I said with a wry smile. Tran let out a deep breath with a subtle expression and then climbed onto the deck. Following him, his subordinates also went up. That left only five of us: myself, Arte, Til, Kamushin, and Espada.
Though not boarding the ship, Rosso and Panamera’s knight order members waited on the pier.
“Well then, shall we board as well?”
“Y-yes.”
When I announced that we would board, Kamushin responded with a pale face. It felt cruel to tell him he could stay on land; it might shake his resolve after all the effort he made. So, I nodded at Kamushin.
“I’m counting on you.”
“P-please leave it to me…”
His weak voice made me wonder if it was really okay to rely on him. Smiling at that, we all climbed onto the deck together.
Once on deck, Rosso and Panamera curiously touched the mast and looked around from the ship. Talga looked excited while gazing down at the sea.
“Lord Van, this is like a moving fortress. With high defensive power, it can attack enemy countries from anywhere. This is incredible.”
Talga said excitedly. Indeed, once on the deck, the height was about that of a two-story building’s rooftop. Being able to attack land forts with ballista or magic from there was terrifying.
“That’s the advantage of the ship. The next point is attack range. If the ship can attack from a longer distance, it can strike unilaterally. I think the Fiesta Kingdom, owning dozens of such ships, will become a major power that no country can ignore.”