Chapter 84. John Hopkins Nix
The life story of John Hopkins Nix was truly tumultuous.
A legendary insurance investigator who, no matter how treacherous the location of the ship to be assessed, would reach it and conduct a thorough evaluation.
If a few of his episodes were to be listed, they would go like this.
-Amid colossal waves in the infamous Howling Sea, he located and salvaged a missing ship that was presud to have been destroyed.
-He boarded a ghost ship that had drifted for decades to uncover what had happened. He revealed how a captain and crew, driven mad after obtaining treasure, had killed one another.
-He exposed a notorious fraud ring that attempted proxy claims using ghost ships. They had used a special magic to sink their vessels safely beneath the sea and then raise them again, but he saw through it.
-He discovered two of the finest warships that had entered the Great Maelstrom Route. He recovered the heavily damaged Strelok of the “chanical Captain” and the Blind Nesis of the “Black Priest,” bringing them back.
Several episodes like these were described on the front pages of the book, followed by records regarding the damage assessnt of the ships.
Yul read through it carefully.
-----------------------
※ Strelok
Liability Assessnt:
-The insured, “chanical Captain” Lucian, was found to have engaged in direct military combat and to have carried undeclared hazardous cargo. However, ergency rescue operations, lifesaving efforts, and strategic defensive purposes were substantiated.
Hull Value: approximately 1,000,000 ducats.
Cargo Appraisal Value: approximately 200,000 ducats.
▸Insurance Payout Decision: Partial payout approved.
Hull: 50%
Cargo: 20%
▸High-Risk Assets: Non-recoverable and non-payable.
Total Payout:
-540,000 ducats
※ Blind Nesis
Liability Assessnt:
-Insured: “Black Priest” Zer Hyde.
-Destruction of navigational recorder and contract docunts.
-Self-destructive navigation practices.
-Use of forbidden magical techniques.
-Violation of mariti construction laws.
-Identity falsification at the ti of insurance registration.
▸Insurance Payout Decision: Full denial.
▸Recovered cargo confiscated as insurance company assets.
Total Payout:
-0 ducats.
-----------------------
Yul felt a certain sense of incongruity. And he felt the need for further investigation.
* * *
Back in the club room.
“Did you find him?”
“No. He’s not there. At least not among sailors who were active up to a century ago.”
“Brother! I brought the second batch of newspaper clippings!”
“Thanks, Frenda.”
Yul was sending clear signals of discomfort with his eyes, but Frenda pretended not to notice—and she definitely noticed.
And Lucian, being hopelessly bad at reading the room, failed to understand the signals bouncing between them.
‘I can tell you two are making progress, but haven’t you gotten a bit too close?’
‘But I want to be with brother though? Mister, why don’t you just go to the sea and pick up clams or sothing?’
The question marks scattered in between were Yul’s rough interpretation of the signals.
That quick-witted and impossible-to-reason-with girl!!
Shrrrk. Flip. Flip.
Tick-tick-tick-tick.
In the silent club room, only the sound of turning pages and the ticking second hand of the clock could be heard.
Lucian was completely focused, searching for that na—but it wasn’t there.
“Still nothing.”
“I couldn’t find him either.”
“By the way, brother, why are you and that Seaborn looking for that insurance investigator?”
“Just in case there’s sothing we’re missing.”
As Frenda was about to ask back at Yul's abrupt words, a commotion suddenly broke out outside. It was the voices of won.
“Frenda! Frenda!”
“We need help with the festival!”
“Frenda? Sounds like they’re looking for you.”
“…….”
Frenda glanced briefly at Yul, then looked at Lucian.
“Brother, tell later, okay?”
“Yeah, I will. Things are complicated right now.”
“I’ll go help with the festival!”
After Frenda left, Yul muttered,
“The nuisance is finally gone.”
“Well, calling her a nuisance might be a bit much…….”
Yul cleared his throat twice and spoke.
“Alright, then. Want to hear my theory?”
“Yes. I’m listening.”
“John Hopkins Nix does not exist at this point in ti.”
“…What?”
“He exists in the future. That’s my conclusion.”
“What are you talking about? How could we have a book written by soone from the future?”
Lucian shook his head, rejecting it outright. It was a massive logical leap.
But Yul continued stacking hypothesis upon hypothesis on a canvas of ignorance.
“What if he crossed ti?”
“Magic that crosses ti and space does not exist.”
“What if it was the first human mage, the one who created the Sanctuary?”
“…….”
Once magic exists at all, arguing common sense becos pointless.
Yul added another piece to his reasoning.
“The books in the Labellum Bookstore—do you rember their titles?”
“I only skimd them. None of them stuck with .”
“Sa for at first. But the second ti I went, I got curious and looked more carefully. And yet now, I don’t rember a single title. As if magic interfered.”
Yul’s mory was exceptional. He could still recall what he ate as an orca calf.
And yet, not a single book he saw in Labellum remained in his mory—Even now, when he possesses the divinity to see through a portion of the phenonon.
“So you rembered them back then, but now you don’t?”
“Exactly. The mory has been distorted. That bookstore itself contains a strange phenonon. You, did you even think about buying anything else besides the book you wanted there?”
“…Huh?”
Now that he thought about it, that was true.
If Lucian had gone to a bookstore, he could easily have bought multiple books.
For soone like him, who loved exploring ancient knowledge, that place should have felt like a treasure vault.
And yet, he simply bought the book the employee recomnded and walked out.
“I didn’t even realize how natural it felt at the ti.”
Thinking it over more carefully, Lucian realized it really was strange.
“If it were the current , I might have wanted to get as many books in there as I could.”
“Right? With your personality, it’s weird that you just left. So you understand now that Labellum isn’t just a bookstore with an angel employee, right?”
“Yes. It feels like it’s protected by so kind of magic.”
“Because of that, I think every book we obtained there contains sothing abnormal. The first one already did—the card.”
“That’s true. The Black Card had sothing hidden as well. Co to think of it, we still need to analyze that.”
“We’ll do that later. Back to the point.”
Yul explained the basis of his theory.
“This—do you rember the ‘chanical Captain’ episode?”
“Yes. There was such an exciting story in the book, wasn't there?”
“That might actually be you. I had a feeling the mont I read it.”
“What? No, I an, even if the na is the sa… a chanical Captain? Besides, a captain with a ship worth 1 million Ducats? ?”
When they first read the episode, both Yul and Lucian had simply found it entertaining.
But once they assud the book ca from the future, it beca unsettling.
“It may be too much of a stretch.”
“There’s sothing else that’s odd. You asked how to get to the Sanctuary, right? And the bookstore employee recomnded this book.”
“…Huh? You’re right. But this book doesn’t explain how to reach a Sanctuary.”
“No. This might be the way to the Sanctuary. The employee once said sothing like this.”
That to enter a certain Sanctuary, you had to stop by specific points, sothing like A, D, C, E, B.
“What if each episode in the book corresponds to a specific location, and you have to visit them in order, then finally go to the place called the Great Maelstrom Route?”
“That’s possible, but……”
Lucian questioned the book’s credibility.
“Is what that angel-like employee said really true? What if this book is fake, and our interpretation is fake too?”
“I think it’s real.”
He didn’t know why, but he hadn’t sensed any deception.
“If it turns out to be a lie, we’ll just go back and give him a piece of our mind.”
“What if the door doesn’t open?”
“Then we wait until it does.”
It was an insane thing to say, but for so reason, Lucian found Yul’s words convincing.
“Then, assuming it’s not a lie, we can consider this book a ‘sea chart’ leading to the Humanity Disc.”
“Maybe the condition is to sail in the order the episodes describe.”
Just then, soone entered the club room. Thinking it was the squirrel girl, Yul snapped his head around—but it was a different human.
“Oh—uh, hi.”
“Welco, Brodin.”
He greeted Lucian properly, but when he saw Yul, he smiled awkwardly. He still seed to feel sothing like awe toward Yul.
“I didn’t have anything to do for the festival, so I ca by.”
“Ah, it’s pretty hectic outside with preparations right now.”
“What were you doing, Lucian? And what’s with all these newspapers?”
“We were looking for soone ntioned in the papers. John Hopkins Nix.”
“John Hopkins Nix? Is he really famous enough to show up in the papers?”
“…What?”
Lucian sensed sothing strange in that remark.
“You know John Hopkins Nix?”
“He’s a first-year in the Departnt of Navigation. Oh, right, you’re double-majoring, so you probably haven’t run into first-years.”
“Whaaaaaat!?”
Lucian stared at Yul in shock. Yul nodded.
It felt like suspicion turning into certainty.
“Right under our noses.”
“This won’t do! Brodin, do you happen to know him personally?”
“Uh, yeah. I do.”
“Can you introduce us? Please.”
“…Okay, just—step back a little.”
Under the relentless assault of Lucian’s trademark sparkling eyes, Brodin couldn’t hold out and surrendered.
‘Just like Ian… Lucian does the exact sa thing.’
Thinking that, Yul followed them.
A short while later, at the Departnt of Navigation building, Brodin called out John Hopkins Nix.
A man appeared. Curly hair and black stubble swere cattered like dots across his face.
John Hopkins Nix appeared holding a pistol in his right hand and a cutlass in the other.
“Prince Brodin! Did you summon for a duel? I won’t go down easily!”
“…What?”
“A duel?”
“N-no, that’s not it!”
“I have no Seaborn, so we shall duel directly instead! I swear upon this pistol and blade to defend my family’s honor!”
He seed to have completely misunderstood.
“I-it’s not a duel! These people are looking for you!”
“…Hmm. Is that true? You’re not planning to attack three-on-one?”
The man glanced at them warily, gun and sword still raised. It seed Brodin’s reputation in the Departnt of Navigation had truly hit rock bottom.
At tis like this, you deploy Lucian—the ultimate affinity monster.
“Please don’t worry. We didn’t co to duel. We simply wish to know your career path.”
“…My career path?”
From Nix’s perspective, a senior with a fearso reputation had singled him out, so he had ard himself and co prepared—only to be asked about his future plans. No wonder he was baffled.
“That’s… that’s all you want to know?”
“Yes. Sorry for calling you over for sothing so trivial.”
“I-I plan to beco a ship insurance investigator. I’m going to work at my father’s company.”
Lucian looked at Yul as if he couldn’t believe it.
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