Hostis Humani Generis


VII: Know the Ropes

The guild Hostis Humani Generis had its base on a fleet of sailing ships. In YGGDRASIL, this would have presented unique problems, especially with trap setting and being minimally permeable enough to qualify under the Ariadne system. Instead of reinforcing its position, Hostis Humani Generis had to figure out how to allow people to reach them simply to avoid being penalised. Not to mention, wooden sailing ships presented very little defences against sea monsters and the like. The Bourreau des Cœurs sinking into the Five Flower Lake right after their triumph over the Five Rainbow Buddhas had been an empathic wake-up call.

Surprisingly – or not – it had been Rear Admiral, one of their major combatants, who had thought of pykrete as a solution. Although the ice-and-sawdust mix originally conceived for aircraft carriers in World War Two had proven unviable in the real world, it was harder than concrete, seaworthy, and easy to make. YGGDRASIL also had the virtue of not being the real world, and had the ice magic and freedom of customisation to make it not only viable, but cost-effective. Their Guild Item, One Piece, had therefore been made to be able to build seaworthy vessels of any design with any material handy, and been designed explicitly to consider the watery seas that Hostis Humani Generis sailed on, complete with the Divine Class Items to make it happen, by any means necessary.

It worked by changing the melting point and boiling point of the ice, allowing the ships to remain intact at any temperature. Some parts of the ships, though, remained permanently at their normal freezing points; the walk-in freezer, and the brig. The Seventh Division of the Fomori Fleet had shipwrights, Merry, and several other Elementalists on hand for fleet repairs. The lighting effects had been added later when Rear Admiral's research took him to read through all works by Kazuma Kamachi and recreate La Regina del Mare Adriatico. The awe factor which resulted had had the guild cheering, and all their prospective enemies struggling between awe, jealousy or trying to copy the execution of the idea.

Thus, the Fomori Fleet – the fleet of icy ships which had garnered the collective title of 'World Traveller', the home base of Hostis Humani Generis – had been born.

It was in the brig now, that Captain Femel arc Vers Envers was curled up, with weak sunlight as the backdrop of his state. The brine-stung scratches on his back proved the measure of his punishment by keelhauling, and those, along with the frigid brig that he had been tossed into, threatened his health with pneumonia and hypothermia. His brown hair hung unkempt in a short knot, and his tunic clung to his skin. His breath steamed in the air with every exhale as he shivered, ignored save for the meals that came in thrice a day. The bells that continued to ring about periodically interrupted his sleep, but he had realised their regular pacing and the timing of his meals, usually a while behind the ringing of eight bells.

The eight chimes of glass bells rang slightly after dawn now. And, at precisely the same time, the doors of the brig swung open, and between the icy bars slid a small round loaf of bread, the top cut off but replaced. Beside the roll lay a round piece of white bread, the top toasted with garlic and toasted cheese.

With shaking fingers, Femel lifted the makeshift lid and sniffed the spicy contents. Femel had been a commoner in the Baharuth Empire, a simple soldier from Venetus, working his way up by pure talent and lucky enough to grab a commission on the virtue of his sailing skills. Bread and water was more or less his everyday fare. If he was lucky, wine that tasted less like vinegar and more like the vine. It was his first time being this close to fine white bread.

"Breakfast 's bit late 'cause o' the mutton." the his red-headed visitor explained. Femel had long realised that, despite being abrasive, some of the people were certainly pleasant enough company by sailor standards. Ariel was certainly civil enough to get a salve from whatever medical officers they had onboard after the tortures of being dipped into a cauldron of boiling water, and to ignore any and all curses and invectives, and to keep Femel away from leering Fishmen with serrated teeth like those of sharks...

Alright, Femel decided, Ariel was more like his only ally despite being a monster.

"Mutton vindaloo, made less spicy for you, in a bread bowl, the extra bread to dip. Milk on hand. In case."

On the first night, Femel had completely refused the goulash and other dishes. It had taken breakfast and lunch before the warden had had the foresight to explain what each strange-looking dish contained, and even then it had taken their first extended conversation on food to work out. The spiciness could use some work, but he had eaten better these past days as a prisoner.

"Oi, you cryin'?" Ariel plopped down with another plate. The monster was technically on duty, but the Fleet's officers were apparently flexible enough about the rules compared to under Femel's command.

"It's the spices!" Femel sniffed. "I'm not!"

"Good. Yer gettin' out after."

Femel's appetite drained away. "Ah?"

"The Fleet Admiral ordered for you to be transported along the captain's gigs to pick up her stuffs." Ariel absently picked at his own bread bowl, dipping the crispy cover to chew through the sop with the crunch of a crust. "Think there was something 'bout a voyage and ransom."

"But there's nothing to ransom with..." Femel trailed off. "You mean... me?"

"Guess." A shrug of a slender shoulder. "Need someone who knows these waters. A good navigator's probably his weight in gold, ya know. Not like you coulda do anything on yer onesies."

Femel's skin crawled, both in fear at what he had done, and wondering what had driven him to try to attack the monster who had sunk his ship with one spell. "I... I will die, then. I will not give her any knowledge."

"Yer know, the Admiral's colours are way better." Ariel crunched through the bread bowl's rim, having already eaten the cover. "An' you'd live too. S'not like we can' get knowledge ourselves."

Since Femel had eaten parts of the Empire's Formaticum cheese onboard, he knew they were able to explore for themselves. "The Empire has given me a chance."

"Yer funeral." Part of the curry spilled slightly, causing Ariel to lick his hand where it had spilled. "The Admiral would make you talk anyway."

Femel looked back at him, no longer touching his food. "By then, it would be by magic, and not by choice." He looked back at the tray, and started eating.

"Spoken like a true sailor," was Ariel's derisive response. "The colours we fly under all look the same once in a while, yer know. What's the difference here?"

Femel glared at him, but it was without heat. "I hail from Venetus, at the arse of the Empire. It was a small town of tiny islands, linked by bridges, beset upon by sea and land alike. I grew up with one foot in a boat and the other in the sea. I got an education from an uncle, a bard. Our Emperor killed most of the nobles one day, and started to hire soldiers."

"Nice way to reform." Ariel nodded.

"Men like myself, otherwise resigned to tilling the land for coppers... we went to Arwintar to plead our fortune in his expansive new army, for a chance at knighthood." Femel continued. "His Majesty announced the formation of the Classis. The beginnings of the fleet. Money would flow to Venetus, for a new harbour, defences, food... ships larger than fishing boats. And we knew it. The Classis was made of the Venetians. All of us men of the coasts had a chance."

"And we ruined it." Ariel noted.

"They were my men, my ship." Femel swallowed. "I am not sorry for it."

"Neither should you be." Ariel stood up, his diction now perfect rather than casual. "I notice that you speak like nobility."

"Technically I am, but my mother married a commoner and her family was later struck down anyway." Femel shrugged. "No great loss. Nobility is worth shite around Venetus."

"More's the pity." Ariel commented neutrally. "You would have been a great pirate."

Femel's lips twitched. "I grew up with one foot in a boat and the other in the sea. Not all of it was just fishing."


The pigeon flew by homing instinct over the seas and skies, up a stream to a ford, where it cut through and headed south. Slightly off to the west of the Baharuth Empire, the pigeon's flight path was rapidly carrying it from coastal settlements, villages and grassy lands inter-spaced with rocky valleys, towards more urban settlements.

Buildings grew taller and more stylised, roads grew from muddy flats, and steadily became more paved and covered with brick and stone cemented with mortar concentrating on one point in the city. Our columbidian subject passed various offices, a wing of the Magic Academy centred around a quadrangle in which a group watched two people juggle fireballs, and several more wonders of the Baharuth Empire's capital, Arwintar.

The Imperial Palace, home to the reigning monarch, stood in the heart of the city. Though it had been built slightly off to the west, it still was centred at the nexus of the Empire's major roads and highways, and all roads truly led to the temporal centre of power.

Trained, the pigeon headed to the highest point, where a messenger stationed there accepted it and extracted the message. The pigeon was duly stationed into a bird-box to roost, as the messenger gave the parchment to a runner. The runner ran up stairs of marble and past imperial gardens, and announcing his presence and intent, he walked into a wide space filled with a desk and shelves. With a genuflect presented the message silently towards the room's owner.

A slender hand, fingers covered in rings, lifted the message and read through it. "Ah. You may go."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

His Imperial Majesty Jircniv Rune Farlord el Nix, Emperor of the Baharuth Empire, the Blood Emperor, considered the note once he was left in his personal study with the room's other occupant. "The Nazami Enec being sunk is an unfortunate occurrence. The incompetence of our spies in that section of Re-Estize might be even more so."

"Oh?" the old man hummed into his teacup, which was handle-less, being held with its lid and a saucer underneath instead.

"Jiji, our attempts at extending our reach into the North Sea is gone, and they're still going on about the sea wool." Jircniv exclaimed. "Those priorities are skewed if that wool is worth a ship."

"Trade is hard enough without the Merman Navy holding down the North Sea's deep waters," the old man shrugged. As the Empire's strongest Magic Caster, Fluder Paradyne had taught successive generations of the Empire's royalty and had been accorded special privilege. "I believe our focus was on the surrounding lands, and not the seas?"

"To have the option is better than nothing." Jircniv resolved. "I have created a Knight Order for this, and to lose them all is not promising."

"It is promising, I submit." Fluder nodded. "To invade by sea would be an excellent move, in the event that the Kingdom's power was sapped that much. However, it appears that humans cannot quite stand up to Fishmen just yet. It would take a scourge far more than what the Empire can muster on the seas."

"Like pirates?"

Fluder Paradyne shook his head. "Nothing like that, Your Majesty. No ordinary pirate would brave untold dangers for the smallest of profits."

Jircniv hissed in consideration. "Well, obviously from our vantage point... there is nothing more to be done. Now, if only we had word about what happened..."


Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!

Sycorax blinked. She was in the great cabin of the Queen of the Night. Lanterns of paper floated along the deck railings, maintained with 「Continuous Light」. Music drifted in the starlit night, and chatter and laughter ruled the deck.

We pillage, we plunder, we rifle, and loot,
Drink up me hearties, yo ho!
We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot,
Drink up me hearties, yo ho!

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!

Wait... she narrowed her eyes. The lanterns contained 「Shiranui」, a spell close to 「Drifting Master Mine」but capable of hiding in plain sight. And those lanterns were far too tattered-

"What are you thinking, oh great pirate Sycorax?" A giant sakazuki cup, more like a concave plate, thudded onto the table. "Are you asleep? Tokkuri, Masu! Bring the sake here!"

"Sake? How much more are you going to drink, Nurarihyon?" Sycorax winced as the sound of cracking clay echoed. "Are you sure you should use your summons for such ridiculous things?"

"It's our last day in this world, we should celebrate!" Her fellow player and Admiral, Nurarihyon, grinned back at her as he raised a smaller sakazuki cup to her. "It's not like you to hold back, Ms. Heartbreaker."

"If the ship melts I'll get Checky on your case."

Nurarihyon giggled, as a「Spirit Arrow」 flew past one cheek to thud into the wall on Sycorax's left side. This happened at the same time a gun report resounded. "Checky-san is too busy keeping Librobum Prohibitorum and Icarus apart. Those two have an interesting relationship."

Sycorax turned slightly to watch the direction it came from; a human-sized Fairy was brandishing her bow drunkenly towards what looked like a silhouette of a naval captain in full dress uniform, with a giant teddy bear separating them. "No, Checky is separating Read Admiral and Titania, so those two guys should be together in the hold. I'm so jealous of them."

"For making out in the hold?"

"Things that merit an 18+ rating is forbidden in YGGDRASIL. As for them... more like for having such a close relationship," Sycorax reflected. "I... I was supposed to go to an akachōchin for a group date. Probably... was it today?"

A hand absently patted on top of her hat. "Don't worry about it. You'll cook your head with all that thinking if it was an all-you-can-eat or an all-you-can-drink establishment."

"I can think, Nurarihyon! It was just the one time!"

"Yeah, the one time your empty head nearly cost us the Skidbaldnir. That's a World-class Item, you know. Your priority sense is amazing."

"What are you doing to my Sycorax, you pervert onmyoji?!" A wooden hammer sent Nurarihyon away from Sycorax, before deceptively strong yet slender arms smashed Sycorax against a plump chest. "Ah, my dear!"

"A- Akemi-san, I can't... breathe... help...! Ahh...!"

"Admiral?! Admiral!"

One green eye blinked. Sycorax struggled, finding herself asleep in a foldable chair on the deck of a captain's gig, also made of the enchanted ice that the fleet was composed of. Somehow, she was half-hanging off of it, because Nereus had her in a half-carry, trying to check her forehead and her mouth. Around them was a breeze, carrying the briny smell of the sea so different from the flat cold of the breeze that rippled across Mimisbrunnr, back in the virtual world of YGGDRASIL.

"N- Nereus?!"

"You said you couldn't breathe," Nereus clarified.

"Ah... I talk in my sleep..." Sycorax nervously motioned to Nereus, causing him to put her back down. "It's nothing. I just had a dream... about Nurarihyon and the rest."

"Ah, the Admiral, Nurarihyon-sama?" Nereus glanced to the side. "That weapon... is it to do with that weapon? Or the letters you got with Caliban..."

"I got it from our new Fishmen statuary." Sycorax yawned slightly. "As for the letter... right, I got it from Lovely-san's messenger at the Sia Heka Inn, from the Guildmaster of Ainz Ooal Gown, across the Kingdom. As for the sword, it's our creation."

"Our goods..." Nereus started. "You mean... the Admiralty made this?"

"We were starting out." Sycorax sighed. "Somehow, we had to raise funds to attend the official martial tournament. Checky and I collaborated on the Kiribachi; he made the weapon, and I enchanted it. Runes for reinforcement, special effects via data crystals, even sourcing the Hammerhead monsters for the skin used to wrap the guard as parchment... it was our first masterpiece together, this Kiribachi. We sold it to Nurarihyon, who hadn't joined us then. It was a Relic-class artefact, so I thought he might have sold it away already."

Then who knew that he would join us into the martial tournament... she thought. We had a lot of strange people join us after he did that to LuciFer...

"Do you think... that... Nurarihyon-sama might be in this world?" Nereus asked.

"All thirty-seven members, active and otherwise, in Hostis Humani Generis was present for our send-off." Sycorax sighed. "And, that Fishman called it a 'legendary weapon'. Even if Nurarihyon didn't sell it off, this still means that there are people other than us and Ainz Ooal Gown from YGGDRASIL here. And... and... and the rest of it is a pain to think about. But..."

"But?" Nereus asked.

"We sold to Nurarihyon two swords." Sycorax frowned to herself. "Kiribachi and Kirisame."

Nereus made a noise suspiciously close to a neigh. "Admiral, I think we have other concerns than that."

"Perhaps I mis-phrased that." Sycorax paused, thinking. Behind her, the yardarm of the Habu shifted position, and before them the silhouette of a giant barque was becoming more apparent. "The two swords were crafted at the same time, from the same ore, and made as complements of each other. Where one goes, the other would be present. So, those who hold one can find the other."

"I see!" Nereus nodded. "So we can find the other sword, and possibly someone with it!"

Sycorax nodded, looking as the barque made itself clearer, shimmering against a backdrop of the permanent fog their tiny island had acquired during their stay, courtesy of Ariel and his Division. That light that shone, the enchanted illumination, made the figurehead even brighter. Sycorax had not paid much attention to the ship's figurehead until she did a comparison and asked Checky why was there a holy virgin on her ship as compared to the rest.

"Hail, Queen of Heaven, the Ocean Star," she hummed. "Guide of the wanderer here below..." She paused, frowning. "The song... Mary, the virgin mother... ah, right, stella maris."

"Admiral?"

"Ah, Checky said that he designed all of the ships that One Piece produced with a song as an inspiration." Sycorax clarified. "For example, the Queen of the Night uses the song 'Hail Queen of Heaven, the Ocean Star' as its base. And the Cedar uses 'Hoist the Colours' as its ship's song."

"I see, Vice-Admiral Checky said so..." Nereus pondered. "What about the Heart of Oak?"

"Ah, that was Rear Admiral's suggestion." Sycorax's lips twitched. "There was a song called 'Heart of Oak' in naval tradition, you know? We didn't know that. Come, cheer up, my lads, 'tis to glory we steer, With heads carried high, we will banish all fear... and the rest of the song I forgot, oh dear. Merry knows it, though."

"About Merry..." Nereus beckoned. "He never mentioned it."

"When a Klabautermann sings its ship's song, things get hairy." Sycorax hummed. "Ashita kaze ga toorinuketa toki ni, pazuru ga kaketeita toshitemo, dare mo sore wo semetari shinai yo... say, let's see the other ships. There's no problem, right?"

"Half the staff are on shore leave, but yes, we should have enough men to occupy my absence. If that is your wish, Sycorax-sama."

"What's with the -sama...?" Sycorax rolled her eyes, picking up the Kiribachi to store away into her pocket dimension as Nereus crouched by the deck and whistled. Soon, an air sprite floated down from the higher decks of the Fleet flagship.

"Admiral's inspection." Nereus relayed. "We're going to be a bit late. Get the Mamushi and the Copperhead settled, along with our guest in the brig."

"Wait," interrupted Sycorax. "Let's bring the captain along. We need to talk anyway. And, Nereus, you come with me."

"Aye." Nereus relayed the changed instructions, which caused the sprite to fly back up as Sycorax removed her ring and transformed back into a Nagī.

Soon, a mass of a restrained captain landed next to Sycorax on the deck, causing the Habu to bob up and down. Behind the Habu, the other two boats floated next to the Queen of the Night, from which a pair of ropes per boat were being tossed down.

"Captain Envers, am I correct?" Sycorax tilted her head to examine the legionnaire, who looked curiously vulnerable having been stripped of all his armour and was currently in a woollen tunic. "Can you speak?"

The man cringed away from her hand.

"Ah, Sakuya..." Sycorax groaned. "If I'm right... most of the Intelligence Division is composed of myself, Nurarihyon, Kladenets... Nagato and the other NPCs... what happened?"

"Ah, the whole room attacked him." Nereus clarified. "Baba Sakuya was the Demon Hag you assigned, but she was distracted by Baba Yaga, and in the end their subordinates took over."

"Baba Yaga- oh, the NPC created by Kladenets." Sycorax tapped the prow of the boat in consideration. "Oi, are you alright? I'm going to throw you into the sea if you don't respond."

"YES!"

"What that so hard?" Sycorax shrugged as the captain struggled to his feet, wavering unsteadily as the Habu floated along the length of the Queen of the Night.

Femel blinked, his head craning up to judge the gun decks and the decks and the castles on the fore and aft of the ship. He had been stunned into silence, even as Sycorax waved her hand before his face. Then she drew back and socked him in the face.

"Pervert." Sycorax rolled her eyes as the Knight of the Classis of the Baharuth Empire fell down. "The Queen of the Night is a beautiful lady, but you can't use those eyes to look at a lady like that!"

"It hurt..." Femel struggled back to his feet. "I- I'm sorry, but... I was impressed. This ship is much bigger than the Nazami Enec."

"And it's just one ship," Sycorax smirked as they rounded the stern and transom of the Queen.

Mists swirled along the surface on the ocean, and the grinning skulls of Skeletons slaving away at cleaning the other ships seemed to float in the indistinct shadows. Midday seemed a world away under this dark weather, illuminated by the other enchanted ships of the Fomori fleet. The makes and model of every sail might have been represented in living, seaworthy ice along the coast of their makeshift harbour. Barque, long-ship, caravel, Chinese junk...

Femel tentatively reached out, amazed as his hand stuck to the transom until he tore it back with some effort. "It's... made of ice?"

"Ice and wood pulp," Sycorax corrected. "The Nazami Enec was made purely of wood, am I correct?"

Femel quickly nodded. "The finest pines on the Azerlisia Mountains were used to make it, my lady. We floated them down the Lisia River to Venetus."

"The resin would make it waterproof, but it's a soft wood that won't stand up to deep waters." Sycorax noted. "Venetus, was it?"

"Yes. The City of Canals is truly amazing-"

"It's built on canals?" Sycorax started.

"Yes..." Femel nodded. "It's stuck in a swamp between the Azer and Lisia rivers, so nobody thought it would work out, not even the dukes that ruled it. The naval expansion gave us hope, that we would not need to abandon the seas."

"The sea is a cruel mistress, Captain." Sycorax commented.

"No, the sea is its own person." Femel sighed. "It is the thought of what lies behind the horizon that tortures men. Just like what lies beyond the minds of men in your mind."

Sycorax was silent.

"I will not reveal any more of the Empire, or of Venetus, for I will not betray it to monsters." Femel swallowed. "Do what you must."

Sycorax studied him. "My dear boy, why did you expect me to kill you?"

"I am nothing to the Emperor, and after this I will have no career, or I will turn to piracy." Femel evenly stared back at her. Sycorax was struck by how young he was, right down to his knees shaking openly on the deck. "I am an officer of the Empire."

"I do not think it means what you think it means, Captain." Sycorax nodded as the rest of the Fleet's ships, save for the Sequoia, loomed in view. "You could get a boat, do some private running all on your onesies as a privateer, get a commission from the Empire too. There's no difference between a pirate and a privateer. A letter of marque and reprisal is about the same as a navy commission. The food tends to be better, too."

Femel's face twisted, though his eyes remained fixated on the ships and their eerie silhouettes, especially the comparatively flat and wide deck of the Spruce. "I must agree with that assessment. A lot of our provisions were meant for long storage rather than palatability, with a prospective long voyage."

"Hmm. You're not going to get very far without navigation."

"Ah, we were going to stay within sight of land, but I guess it's impossible," agreed Femel.

"You... don't have any navigation tools?" Sycorax found herself asking, with a sinking feeling.

Femel scratched at his temple. "What are those?"

"So... how do you determine the directions?"

"Ah! We have a compass that a few explorers retrieved from the floating castle in Eryuentiu. It will always point north."

"But that only tells you which direction is north, you know..." Sycorax blinked. "So... was the plan, by any chance, to simply follow the currents along the coast and cover the continent?"

"Yes..."

Sycorax recalled her own screw-ups, right until she had picked up the 「Navigation」skill module along with 「Cartography」in becoming a Scribe. "And your maps are, like, super basic too..."

"Our cartographers did the best they could with sun-stones and polesuses!" Femel defended weakly as they sailed past the ships. "The sun-stone let us locate the Sun to navigate!"

Sycorax could sympathise. Navigating the nine worlds of YGGDRASIL had been slightly less awesome when the first ship of Hostis Humani Generis had been lost around Midgard, unable to figure out the night skies half the time, and being lost under the sun the rest of the time. The 「Navigation」skill had saved them literally and allowed the guild to make some headway in exploring the Nine Worlds. As one of the few Scribes who had levelled up all the way – and the only one to specialise in geography – Sycorax had the ability to create the most reliable navigational maps of the Nine Worlds, dungeon maps with threats listed, and even chart the paths between worlds using the twisted astronomy of YGGDRASIL.

Since not everyone could have the World Class Item 「Atlas」that could map the universe – and since said Item that had been lost from the treasury of Ainz Ooal Gown had fallen into her hands by complete accident – Hostis Humani Generis had more or less cornered the cartography market in the later years of YGGDRASIL, netting millions of gold in quests and sales. Sycorax's most powerful information-gathering Item had also managed to augment the already phenomenal navigation prowess of the guild, leapfrogging them towards infamy. Knowledge is power, after all.

"And your navigators went down..."

"Along with the bulk of the Empire's navigational knowledge," Femel admitted reluctantly. "Whatever astronomy charts we have left is in the Magic Academy's library in Arwintar."

Sycorax tilted her head in consideration. "The mountains are a better place to view the skies, since it's closer."

"No, the Imperial Observatory is in Arwintar." Femel replied. "The Dwarves Kingdom is up there, and we have a treaty with them, so an observatory up there would be really useful. Ah..." Femel mulled over the thought. "Why are you telling me that? I tried to kill you, and we're totally different... and you run a fleet of monsters..."

"I told you, Captain Envers." Sycorax cast an eye at him, her face backlit with the light of the Fleet flagship. "There's no difference between a pirate and a privateer. Both attack the opponents' ships, both wrestle for the power of the seas, sailing for beyond the horizon. Monster or human makes for little distinction when it's the devil or the deep blue sea."

The inspection was completed in minimal silence, and then Captain Envers was escorted back into the brig by a troop of the Fleet's Fishmen ratings. As she stepped onto the deck, Sycorax turned back to Nereus.

"Tomorrow we're salvaging the warship. Get your Division ready."

Nereus saluted. "Yes, Admiral."


The Naga Lights that Sycorax had summoned hung around the chandelier of the great cabin. On either arm of the throne, a raven perched, their glossy black plumage belying their sleekness and size. The throne itself, an icy copy of the most powerful information-gathering Item, stood Sycorax at the head of a circular table. The centre of the table bore a glowing crystal hemisphere covered in blue grid lines. As Sycorax sat herself at the throne, the other commanders and a few more officers trailed in to sit as well.

"Everyone," began Sycorax. "All of you here collectively represent the Fomori Fleet's seven Divisions, and the responsibilities held towards the crew. As the creations of your predecessors, I trust in your capabilities to at least table the problems to our great enterprise."

"Aye-aye, Admiral!"

"As Fleet Admiral, I now call this meeting to order. First on the agenda; the prize. From the sale of Merry's salt, and other businesses, we have amassed a thousand golds exact within three days." Sycorax dropped the bag onto the table. "Everyone should know the conversion; seventeen silver to a gold, and twenty-nine coppers to a silver. Nagato?"

Nagato consulted a notebook. "Two hundred gold coins for a month of regular food supplies from the town, listed as Corne's Village. Deducting that and a further three hundred gold coins for future needs. There is a surplus of five hundred gold, working out to two hundred forty-six thousand, five hundred coppers in total. Assuming the usual divisions, then eight hundred and eighty coppers will be entered into the Fleet common fund, and each ship will receive twenty-seven thousand, three hundred coppers. With further subdivisions, on average each crewman gets thirty coppers at minimum, after factoring in the extra shares for the other officers and the navigation officers."

Nereus raised a hand. "Even including my expenses?"

"Yes, Nereus." Nagato considered the papyrus she held. "All of your work expenses have been accounted for by the Admiral's pay scheme."

"Alright!" Nereus put his hand down.

"Next item, the maps. Nereus?"

"Ah, the First Division worked with the navigators to map it out." Nereus pushed a stack of ruled parchments onto the table. "Because we bought so cattle raw, we made our own parchment for these maps. They're just rough sketches, though."

"Good work." Sycorax examined the maps of the coast, setting them under the hemisphere. It glowed, before projecting the drawn image as part of a globe.

"The Fifth Division has yet to determine the position of this world to YGGDRASIL." Phaeton relayed. "The possibility remains that this world follows a different construction."

In YGGDRASIL, there was still a limit to how high the sky could be computed. Despite running off the advanced version of the Half-Earth function, YGGDRASIL's worlds had been composed of nine great circle discs, with the World Tree's trunk at its centre. People had lauded it as a world of discs, and it had been possible to sail right off the edge of one world and fall, with Niflheim being the absolute limit of the Nine Worlds servers. The official martial tournament took place in Asgard, the topmost world; by not paying for the fee in a Fairy Ring, Sycorax had consigned the whole guild, ships included, to a gruelling climb via the Knock Up Streams from Mimisbrunnr up to Urdarbrunnr.

"If we have stars... perhaps it is a globe?" Sycorax pondered. "Merry, how goes the longitude problem?"

"Ah, I worked out that there was basically no change in time from our transition from YGGDRASIL." The childish Klabautermann volunteered. "Our chronometers work as normal, and so does the cannonade. I created a Foucault's pendulum and worked out that the world is rotating under our feet."

"I see." Sycorax leant to the hemisphere and tapped its surface, causing the projected image to move from a flat area on a circle, a square, and then to be superimposed on a blue globe. "So, the world should look like this. Phaeton, your Division should be able to see a curve from a higher vantage point, but try not to push it."

"Yes."

"The navigators have also earmarked Corne's Village as the origin point, Sycorax-sama." Nagato stated, pulling out more charts from a shelf. "We have mapped out certain stars that are used for celestial navigation, according to the books that you have retrieved from the villages and in Re-Ulovale. The moment a new expedition begins, we will be ready to calculate longitude and latitude, but..."

Sycorax looked at her. "But what?"

"We currently do not have a weather glass." Nagato regretfully imparted.

"Ah, about that... that leads us to item three," Sycorax shrugged. "The Nazami Enec contains the Baharuth Empire's navigation tools, including a sun-stone. If we acquire it, we should be able to locate the Sun's azimuth. It's a fact that we need knowledge of the waters too. So, tomorrow morning, the First Division will come with me to raise the ship."

"Aye." Nagato nodded.

"Uhm..." Bonny hummed. "Why is the human still in the brig? He tried to kill Sycorax-sama..."

Sycorax pondered it. "We killed his crew. It's expected. We still need him. And, tomorrow... we are going to take apart his ship. So, it is inevitable. This world must have wonderful things, and I want to see them with everyone. Even Momonga-san too... ah, right. Last item."

Sycorax's hands set down onto the table. "We are to open a meeting with the guild Ainz Ooal Gown, inland. I need one of you to go."


Once upon a time, there had been a guild, Le Monde. Its members were Tarot-based, and they were working to role-play world conquest. They had been rather good at it, too, taking large swathes of Jotunheimr. Until one of them had crossed a member of Hostis Humani Generis.

The site of the resulting guild battle had been called Gear Breaker. It showed the first large-scale conflict of World Class Items. It had started the search for, and jealous guarding, of World Class Items by guilds. It had also showed that the Balance Breakers had high costs for stupid usages; Le Monde had fielded the 「Lance of Longinus」, and lost its guild leader in the process of accidentally erasing an NPC member. Hostis Humani Generis had simply picked up their fallen guild weapon, winning without even a single World Class Item on their side.

Some guilds, like Ainz Ooal Gown, managed to publicly garner World Class Items in the double digits, even if only eleven of them were retained in Momonga's care. Momonga had no idea how many World Class Items, if any, that Hostis Humani Generis had, but it was by sheer coincidence that Sycorax had not heard the resulting conversation of Demiurge asking his master.

"Momonga-sama, my apologies for questioning your decision, but why did you not inform this Sycorax about your ambition to take this world?"

"... Excuse me?"

She would have punched Momonga, ignoring all his defences to hit right at the soul, and it would possibly have killed him. It was for the best, really.


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