An Envoy Mission to the Land of Wind
September arrived in the blink of an eye. The sea breeze blew in from the north, carrying the crisp dryness and faint chill peculiar to early autumn.
The morning mist over Hidden Mist Port was much thinner than in midsummer. Beneath the pale golden sunlight, the shadows of masts stretched long and straight, swaying gently with the waves on the shimmering water.
Beyond the harbor's breakwater, an enormous silver-white ship lay quietly at the deepwater anchorage. Its silhouette was utterly unlike that of any merchant vessel or warship in the port.
It was made neither of wood nor steel, but of some silver-white alloy that seemed to fall somewhere between metal and ceramic, gleaming with a soft pearly luster in the sunlight. Its long, slender hull resembled an unsheathed sword, its bow tapering into a sharp curve while its stern spread to either side like wings.
The entire vessel's lines were so smooth that it hardly looked as though it had been built with hammers and rivets. It seemed more like something carved directly from a single enormous stone.
"So this is the Alien Battleship passed down by the ancestors of the Land of Crafts."
Ao stood on the dock, the Byakugan beneath his right eyepatch trembling slightly as he scanned the hull's material structure inch by inch.
He was clearly fascinated by its construction, and his voice carried a rare note of barely suppressed wonder.
"There are no joints in this ship's keel. The whole thing was formed in one piece. With the Five Great Nations' current level of metallurgy, that would be absolutely impossible."
"Legend has it that it wasn't meant to sail the seas in the first place..."
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At that, Sōji, who stood beside him, turned his head.