Richard

The former admiral of The Empire's navy, he left shortly after the passing of his wife. His crew, who were similarly growing old, retired alongside him and they spent most of their days fishing.

An acquaintance of Ferdinand from about a year before the start of the novel, he once took Ferdinand out to learn fishing on his ship, when they came across a ship full of demons and monsters. Spotting the doppelganger on the deck, who bore the visage of his son, Rodney, who had died among mysterious circumstances, Richard began his quest to find the truth of his son's death, which eventually ended in his own demise and similarly began Ferdinand's quest to find who killed him.

Personality
Although he was quite strict and severe in his younger years, Richard mellowed over time into a patient, affable old man. Still, while his body has declined over time, his skills had not, and anyone that would seek to take advantage of him would meet a swift demise.

He long harbored anger over the premature death of his son, so when he finally found a possible hint towards its cause, he put everything else aside to chase after it, even knowing the danger that accompanied it.

Powers
He was only able to maintain a proper fighting state over the ocean, otherwise being held back by his aging body.

Still, even in his weaker, aged state Richard was among the most powerful people in The Empire. He was capable of powerful mana and ki infused strikes and throws with his harpoon and encouraged allies and scaring enemies in the same fighting spirit fueled shout.

If he faced a single humanoid enemy, Richard would generally switch out his harpoons for a pair of scaled gloves with fishing hook-tipped mithril wires attached to them. He would control these with ki to surround, entrap and slice apart an enemy with deadly efficiency. However, this method of controlling the wires uses up his ki at a very fast rate and is thus extremely exhausting.