It has been about three days since I started working on the ship. I am confident that I have managed to fix all of the formations on it now. The truth is that I had already managed to do that after the ship had crashed. The problem is that all of my fixes were done in a hurry.

  The problem with working in a hurry is that you have to compromise on quality. No matter how much you try, there are flaws left behind. Now I had the time to study my handiwork. I have managed to find all of these flaws and fix them.

  If it were just the formations, I would have completed this work in a matter of a day. The thing that wasted my time was everything else. This is especially the case with actually fixing the ship physically.

  My skill with carpentry is passable at best. I have been working on it for two days. I can't say, but I have to think that I must have done a pretty good job of it. At the very least I can't find any faults in my fixes. They will hold, should we enter into a firefight today. Beyond that, I have no idea how they will perform. Will they give away after a hit or after ten hits? I don't know. I would prefer not to know as well.

  I will have to show it to somebody more skilled to see where I have made a mistake. Only then will I be able to tell where exactly I can improve this work.

  Well, today I can say that I have completed all of the work that I can do. It still is not enough. If possible, I want at least a couple of months to prepare this ship for a fight. I would finally be able to complete that coordination matrix. I would be able to optimise the cannons to waste less mana. I would be able to do so much if I just got the time to do it.

  The problem is that time is the one thing that I do not have. After all, if I were to spend any more time, the searchers are going to murder me. They are going to be a pain to deal with, I tell you. You see, I have been ignoring them for the last couple of days. (Only so that I can fix the ship.)

  They have been trying to meet up with me. I always managed to slip into the other parts of the ship before they could find me. That is one of the benefits of having memorised the ship's layout. At the same time, my mana sense is way more precise than theirs. By the time they come within my range, I have quite a bit of time to get away from them.

  The reason that I don't want to meet the searchers is because they expect too much of me. Their list of demands is a bit too unreasonable. It would take me a couple of months just to bring the prison up to their standards.

  They are expecting the kind of formations in the place that would be present in a well-built prison. Some of the things they want cannot even be implemented on ships. They want everything from a mana-neutralizing matrix to a noise-cancelling formation. Do you know how annoying it is to even work on something as basic as a noise-cancelling formation?

  I guess I could make something for them. The problem is that I am not comfortable with leaving the Searchers alone with the captive. Torture is a pretty sensitive topic for folks who have to live in an airship. The thing with torture is that dark acts like that tend to leave a taint on the ship. If it is not managed properly, then it is not the searchers who will suffer.

  If the captive were to die due to the searchers, we are the ones who will suffer. The searchers are not the ones who will have to live with the ghost of that man for months on end. The other side is a necromancer. He will certainly form a ghost.

  Right now, the only thing stopping the searchers from going all out is the fact that we can hear the screams. This all means that there is no way that I will be making a noise-cancelling formation.

  That only leaves me with the more complex formations. An example of this is the mana-neutralizing matrix. Right now, leave aside building it, how am I going to power it? Already, my mana reserves are so low that I can barely run the propulsion formation. With that formation, the ship will be drained within a few hours. That is how much mana it consumes. There is no way that I would be able to power something like that without its own mana battery. (Right now, from where will I be getting a mana battery?)

  The thing is that I have tried to explain all of this to the searchers. The problem is that they do not believe it. They think that I am doing this to stop them from their work. That is why I can't delay this meeting anymore. These three days might just cost me my friendship with the searchers.

  Right now, delaying any more will just result in a worse relationship with the Searchers. That is why I am going to the temporary prison right now.

  They have made this part of their ship their exclusive territory. They don't allow anybody to enter this place. That has made moving about the ship a bit annoying. The temporary prison is in the center of this ship, you see.

  One benefit of that has been that the sentinels and the Aegis have not been able to fight much on the ship itself. The sentinels are on one side of the ship. The Aegis are on the other. That means that they can't go to the other side without bringing the Searchers into the mix.

  Even as I get close to the prison, I see the two searchers standing outside the prison. They are just standing there as if they are guards standing at attention. (Only fools would consider them as guards, though.)

  Even as I study them, they turn in my direction and stare at me. They don't say anything to me, though. They just keep staring at me with irritation in their eyes. (These people have really mastered being passive-aggressive.)

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  "I have heard that you were looking for me." I say.

  "We were looking for you, young master, because we had feared your formation had failed. We don't have any need for you now, though. We have already confirmed that your formation is completely safe. You are just interfering in our work by coming now." searcher Arnold speaks.

  The man has a completely blank expression. His tone is completely neutral. I literally can't figure out the man's emotion at all. Is he angry, annoyed, or is it something else entirely? I just know that if I screw this up today, then the searchers are going to be a pain to deal with.

  "Well, which formation is facing a problem. You might have studied my formations, but I will still check the formation. It is, after all, my responsibility." I ask. "If you don't speak, I am just going to keep standing here, you know."

  "Well, there was a burst of death mana from the room about a couple of days ago.", searcher Patrick speaks. The flash of irritation in Arnold's face is enough to tell that he didn't want me to know that. He quickly masters his face as Patrick continues. "We were worried that the preservation formation of yours was damaged in some way. We have sorted that problem now."

  Well, no wonder they were so worried. It did feel like they were particularly insistent in looking for me in these three days. Well, if this happened only once, then I am not worried. Still, I had just not expected it to happen this quickly, or I would have explained it to them. The necromancer must be trying to run away quite desperately.

  "You don't need to worry about that. It is most likely a routine expulsion. Preservation formations tend to do that when they accumulate a single type of mana." I say. "If too much mana were to gather inside the place, it could damage the formation. That is why they tend to expel their mana once it reaches a certain concentration. I will still check up on it to make sure that there is no damage to the formations."

  Even as I say this, I see that the two men don't move at all. They are presently in my way as they prevent me from doing my work.

  "Why are you stopping me right now?" I ask the men, as they both just look at me. Right now, the two men have gotten in my way as they prevent me from doing my job.

  "Well, we have confirmed the safety of the formation, there is no need for you to interfere in our work anymore." Arnold replies. "You have already made it clear that you don't want us to do our jobs."

  "Well, tell me how I have interfered in your job," I reply. Why do I have to deal with these people? They are a pain in the ass. "If anything, I have given you complete freedom."

  "Well, you have not provided us with any of the tools that we have requested of you." Arnold replies. "You have also been avoiding us for the last three days. Do you think that we wouldn't notice that."

  "Well, at the moment you are not letting me do my job, then." I reply, as I stop myself from uttering quite a few curses. "I don't allow just anybody to torture on my ship. The reason that you can even do this is that I trust the Searchers and their skills. That doesn't mean that I can give you free rein to do anything."

  I agree that this came out a bit more impassioned than expected. I can already see the calm way in which Arnold has begun to note this information down. This man is going to be annoying to deal with.

  "Well, what do you require of us then?" Arnold replies. "Granted, we won't be able to show you any of the magics that we are using right now."

  "Fine, I just want to ensure that the victim is not hurt too badly. Allow me into the prison and let me make sure that he is not about to die." I reply. "Then we can discuss what I can do for you."

  "We can't do that. Right now, we are isolating the man in his prison. Nobody can enter or leave the place for a month," Patrick replies. "We have already explained that to you a few times."

  Even as they give this explanation, the two men look like they want to strangle me.

  "Then you will have to wait for a month." is my only reply.

  "We are about to acquire very important information from the captive. You are just not letting us do our work." Arnold replies. Finally, a bit of annoyance creeps into his voice.

  "That might be the case, but I have certain duties as the captain of this ship." I reply. "I also have certain rights. The only reason that I have not forced you to open that door is out of respect for you."

  Well, things are not going as I had hoped they would go. The two men begin to whisper among themselves. After a couple of minutes.

  "We shall open the door now, then." Patrick says. I am left shocked for a couple of minutes. I have been fighting with them on this matter for the last couple of weeks.

  The entrance to this place has been reinforced by their magic. At the moment, only they will be able to open and close this prison. The magic on the door is unfamiliar to me. I might be able to break it, but it will take me a lot of time. Time that they won't be willing to give me.

  Even as they weave their magic, I am careful not to look too much at it. The Searchers do not like to be studied one bit.

  It takes a couple of minutes, but they finally get the door open. As I enter the place, I have to force myself from vomiting my guts out. The stink in the room is overpowering.

  I am not able to think straight as I look at the captive. Well, I guess I have to say, look at his corpse now.