Bird Sea Maru

Sunderland was a major port city in northeastern England, and the address written on the Bird Sea Maru ticket was somewhere in Sunderland, near Sea Tide Railway Station.

Since he had never been to Sunderland, Sherlock could not use Apparition to go there directly. Instead, he chose another more convenient method: Floo Powder.

During this time, Sherlock had also been studying spells and magic related to space. Things such as Apparition and Floo Powder were both connected to spatial magic.

Sherlock discovered that Apparition was nothing more than opening a spatial point at the caster's current location, while the place in one's memory became the other destination point. The process of crossing the spatial tunnel in between was the Apparition spell itself.

The so-called Apparition spell should have even greater uses, but it could only appear in places one had visited and remembered. That was probably because only then could the destination spatial point be accurately designated.

But if there were a better method capable of freely locking onto any spatial point on Earth, Apparition could send the caster to any corner of the world.

Naturally, places protected by magic were exceptions, such as Hogwarts, where Apparition could not be used.

After arriving in Sunderland, he quickly found the port cruise passenger entrance listed on the ticket. Yet the sign at the entrance clearly read, "Impretry International Cruise Company," while the huge erected billboard beside it said, "Allenbit—an upcoming three-week journey along the Arctic coast."

In other words, by purchasing a ticket for the Allenbit, one could depart from Sunderland's harbor, circle the northern Pacific, tour the Balkan Peninsula, take a look at the icebergs of the Arctic, and then return to Britain.

"Excuse me, ma'am, where can I find the Bird Sea Maru cruise ship bound for Japan?" Sherlock asked a woman checking tickets at the entrance.

"Sorry, child, but I've never heard of a ship called the Bird Sea Maru docking in Sunderland."

Sherlock froze. He had never expected that one day he would experience the same confusion Harry Potter had when he first arrived at King's Cross Station and asked for directions. After all, he was not some magic-ignorant novice like Harry Potter. If wizards in the magical world learned that Sherlock held a ticket for a magical ship but could not find its entrance, countless jaws would probably drop.

Fortunately, the woman was kind. More importantly, Sherlock's handsome appearance and elegant bearing made it impossible for anyone to dismiss him as just a child.

Had it been the fat attendant Harry Potter encountered at King's Cross Station, she would probably have shooed Sherlock aside long ago. Of course, if anyone truly dared to do that, Sherlock would not mind letting them experience the terror of the legendary Prince of Charms.

"Muggle Repelling!"

Sherlock cast a Muggle-Repelling Charm on himself. For simple spells like this, he was highly skilled at both wandless and nonverbal casting. Snapping his fingers was merely a way of looking cool.

But the next spell was one Sherlock had created himself. Many of his original spells were unknown to wizards outside his circle, though everyone believed Sherlock possessed many extraordinary abilities that ordinary wizards lacked.

That was also one of the main reasons the Prince of Charms had become so famous.

Most self-created spells were more convenient to cast with a wand. Sherlock took out his own golden wand. Its core was highly unusual, made from Sherlock's own hair—a particularly special lock of hair that had never been cut from the time he was five until he turned eleven, making that small tuft exceptionally long.

The main reason wand cores used string-like materials such as animal fur, nerves, or heartstrings was that such things possessed excellent magical conductivity.

For example, a wand core occupied much the same role as a filament inside a light bulb.

Sherlock had infused that lock of hair, intended for his future wand core, with magic, and under the prolonged influence of magical power, every strand had become hollow inside.

Sherlock had also infused it with his memories. Just as memories extracted with a wand would turn into liquid, Sherlock placed his most special memories within the hollow strands, making them the most unusual—and most suitable for himself—wand-core material.

Therefore, this wand could only display its greatest power in Sherlock's hands, and from beginning to end, it would acknowledge only Sherlock as its master.

"Magic Skill Manifestation!"

Sherlock used the spell. An invisible wave of magical power rapidly spread through the surrounding area, forming a massive circle that expanded at high speed across a range of at least dozens of miles.

After the wave spread out, everything hidden by magic would briefly break free from its magical protection and become visible for less than a second.

Yet within that second, Sherlock saw a magnificent ship flash into view not far off the opposite shore, along with several wizards riding brooms in the sky. They had been under spells that made them invisible to Muggles, similar to Muggle-Repelling Charms, but under the influence of that brief wave, they became visible before rapidly disappearing again.

The wizards were visibly alarmed as well. If so many Muggles had seen them, the Ministry of Magic would hold them accountable.

"So it's over there." Sherlock stared toward where the ship had appeared and murmured to himself.

At that moment, a tall Asian woman approached and kindly patted Sherlock on the shoulder. In a low voice, she said, "As expected of the famous Prince of Charms. With skills as superb as yours, it is no wonder the wizards of the magical world praise you so highly."

"You are...?"

Sherlock looked at her. She was a beautiful Asian woman with a sensual, slender figure. She appeared to be at least in her twenties, mature like an alluring rose.

"My name is Ino Yuriko. I am a shrine maiden of the North Sea Great Beauty Shrine, and I currently serve as secretary-general of the Dharma Clarity Institute Office under the Great Way Academy Shogunate."

Sherlock murmured, "Wild lily?"

"It's Yuriko. You may call me Yuriko. Japanese surnames differ from Western ones."

"I know... So you are the person who came to take me aboard?"

"Yes. I should have been waiting here much earlier, but I was delayed for certain reasons. I sincerely apologize. Still, it is fortunate that I arrived in time. What you just did was extremely impressive. Had I been one step later, I'm afraid it would have caused quite a major disturbance here."

Yuriko leaned close and whispered in Sherlock's ear. Yet Sherlock could smell the natural floral fragrance of her body, and see her fair neck and the expanse of creamy white revealed within the loose collar at her chest.

Sherlock felt a little lightheaded when he heard her say, "After all, we came here rather abruptly this time, without informing the British magical authorities."