The mechanical dragon, with me and Iris on board, is lowering its altitude and approaching the passenger ship.

　The deck of the cruise ship is quite cramped, so it looks like it will be difficult for the mechanical dragon to get off.
　It can't be helped, let's jump off.

'I'll go first and make sure it's safe. Iris can come later.
All right. Have a good day, Ko.
Of course.

　I nod and jump down from the mechanical dragon.
　The distance of the fall is about 10 meters, and at the moment of landing, I dare to make a loud noise.

　But there were no enemies appearing from inside the ship, and all I could hear was the sound of the waves.

'...... Looks like it's going to be okay,'

　I waved my hand at the mechanical dragon, and Iris, who was on its back, nodded and jumped down to the deck.
　As soon as we landed, a light sound of thumping echoed around us.

　But still the ship remained silent.

'I wonder if there's anyone on board ......?'
Maybe so.

　I nod and look around the deck.
　The floorboards are painted in red paint with a design that resembles the letter '8'.

"Ko, this is the emblem of the 'hourglass apostle', right?

　I nodded at Iris's words.

'Yeah. Maybe this cruise ship is owned by the 'Apostle'.
'So you're saying there's a believer on board somewhere?　I don't see any sign of people at all. ......
The believers are probably at the bottom of the ocean.
What do you mean?
''It was sacrificed to revive the 'White Dragon of the Exquisite Realm'. That's how I see it.

　However, this story is just my imagination based on circumstantial evidence.
　I hope there's some kind of clue left on the ship.

　By the way, I reached level 108 when I defeated the white dragon, and I had acquired a new skill.
【Search Marker】.
　The use of this skill is a bit special, you set up to 3 search conditions before activating it.
　If an object that matches the criteria exists within a certain distance, its location will be displayed on the [Auto Mapping] map.
　In short, it's just like the quest markers in open-world games.

　I'm sure it's hard to understand just from the description, so let's actually use it.
　I set my search criteria as follows.

　Search condition 1: Information about the disaster.
　Search Criteria 2 Information about "The Hourglass Apostle
　Search criteria 3 Information about what was going on on this ship

　This time, I'll assume it's OK if it falls into one of the three categories.
　By the way, the radius of the skill is 27m.
　The formula is probably "Level ÷ 4".

　This cruise ship is small and about 30m long.
It's exactly within the area of effect of the 【Search Marker】.

　Now, let's start the search.
　After a few seconds of activating the skill, an inorganic voice echoed in my head.

'The search has been completed. There is one match, all search criteria 1, 2, and 3 have been met. ...... results have been reflected in [Auto Mapping].''

　When I checked the map in my brain, I saw a blue spot of light shining at the ship's mess hall.
　I see.
　I should go here, right?

　While I was nodding to myself, Iris called out to me from the side.

Ko, what happened to you that you suddenly fell silent?
'I've been using my skills for a bit. For that matter, let's go to the ship's mess. There should be some clues there.


　* *


　The interior of the ship was so dark that it was difficult to see even one step ahead.
　I need some light.
　When I was thinking this, Iris spoke to me from behind.

Ko, do you have a torch?
No. ...... Yeah, no, there's an alternative.

　I take out the Great Sword Artemis of Moonlight from the item box.
When I activated the 《Moon Blessing EX》, the blade emitted a dazzling light.

''Now you can see.''
...... hey ko, that sword is probably some kind of mythical, legendary object.
Well, yeah.
Isn't it a great luxury to use it as a torch?　...... What a big deal you are.
I'm just making the most of what's available.

　I reply and head straight to the ship's dining room.
　I walked down the narrow corridor and went up the stairs at the back and opened the door on the left.

　The ship's mess hall is about the size of a schoolroom, with three rows of long desks arranged at regular intervals.
　On the long desk in the center was a booklet bound with a string.
　Could this be the clue I was looking for?

　I walked into the dining room with Iris.
　I set the large sword on the long table and picked up a booklet.
　I flipped through the pages and found a razzle-dazzle of words I had never seen before.
　Iris peered at the booklet from the right side, but eventually she raised her eyebrows in annoyance and muttered, "I can't read at all.

'I can't read ...... at all. I wonder what language it is in.'
It could be a code.

　This might take some work to decipher.
　I was thinking of ...... when I heard a voice in my brain.

''The analysis of the cipher has been completed due to [language acquisition]. From now on, you will be able to read and write in this cryptographic format.''

　What?
　In the split second I was confused, a surprising change had occurred.

　A string of letters that I didn't understand could be read smoothly.
　It's a strange sensation.
　For now, I read out the sentence that I saw.

''Ten sacrifices of ten men and ten women each are needed to make the White Dragon of the Extinction World descend. This is a noble mission to return the world to what it should be. Each of you must not dull your resolve and throw yourselves into the sea.'' ......?
What?

　Iris exclaimed in surprise.

'Could you possibly have cracked the code?'
Well, sort of.
Isn't it too soon?　It's amazing, or maybe it's just that Ko really can do everything: ......
That's too much of a compliment. There are things I can't do either.

　Even the fight against the white dragon was easily won because of Iris' stalling.
　Aside from that, I'm going to take a quick look through the booklet.

　I see.
　I understand the contents of the booklet.

　The booklet should be called the "Apostle's" plan, and after all, it seems that a ritual was held on this ship to summon the white dragon.

　Not only that, but many other important things were found out as well.

　There were many incidents in a row today.
　The Adventurer's Guild's system down, the appearance of the Devil Pass, and the resurrection of the White Dragon.
　These three were all apparently connected behind the scenes.

　So it was just as I had predicted.