The floating passenger ship "Forward" was manufactured in the Ottoman Suro shipyard. It was a 107-meter-long luxury passenger ship named "Fortune".
The ship had two third-class cabins (large public cabins), ninety second-class cabins (three-person rooms), fifty first-class cabins (two-person rooms/three-person rooms), and twenty VIP rooms (ten two-person rooms and ten single-person rooms). The ship had a theoretical capacity of 500 passengers, with an average capacity of 340 passengers.
Unlike future large-scale passenger ships that had their own game rooms, dance halls, and swimming pools, the first generation of floating airships didn't have mature passenger technology. Most of the ship's cabins were just engine rooms and energy pools that were constantly operating. Even if there was extra space, considering the current harsh environment, some magic crystal cannons and Aerial Knight would be installed.
Although it had been three and a half years since the airship was first constructed, and it had already made nearly a hundred round-trip flights, the crew's attentive maintenance and powerful financial support made it look just like a new airship.
Captain Nott had always been proud of being the pilot of this airship. He even privately referred to this airship as his "most beloved daughter".
But now, perhaps even his daughter's father wouldn't recognize this airship.
The smooth, dark-yellow deck was now covered in cracks. One of the airship's four engines had completely stopped working while emitting black smoke, while the other engine would stop and turn. The result was that the airship would frequently tilt, scaring the pilot to the point where he didn't dare to relax.
After half of the airship's sails were burned away, they were directly abandoned. However, the empty flagpole wasn't alone, because it had already been broken. Even the uppermost VIP cabins had been completely destroyed.
Fortunately, when the shockwaves arrived, everyone had taken refuge in the large cabins, which was why no accidents had happened to the important guests. Right now, only the royalty, major nobles, and major merchants of the various countries could afford the "suckers" VIP airship tickets. If several dozen of them died at once, perhaps even the ship's owner wouldn't be able to bear the consequences.
The VIPs were quite reasonable. It was just that the vice-captain, crew head, chief officer, and other high-ranking crew members' cabins had all been given up to the VIPs who were still in shock.
The captain's cabin, which had the most luxurious decorations and the most complete facilities? It had already been taken up by the "guest" who had hidden his identity and boarded the airship.
Captain Nott had twenty years of experience as a smuggler. However, during the war against the Sea Tribe, he voluntarily joined the Ottoman Navy and piloted an armed cargo ship to attack the Sea Tribe's supply lines. He fought here and there for three and a half years. Although his combat results weren't astonishing, he was still a qualified soldier.
After Lady Storm died, the entire Ottoman Empire's Ottoman capital became clear. Nott also chose to retire. Later, the Ottoman government considered his past and recommended him to be the pilot airship 'airship's captain. At the very least, he had done quite well in the past few years.
As a former Ottoman soldier, how could he not know about Roland?
Without reinforcements from the Mist Alliance, the Ottoman capital would likely still be in a state of chaos. Roland's name was directly connected to Lady Storm's death. His disciples and subordinates had also participated in the battle to reclaim the entire capital. During that difficult battle, the Gray Elf Anti- Knight Squadron was a powerful combat unit that rivaled an airship squadron. The addition of all sorts of new combat equipment solidified the Ottoman Empire's desire to ally with the Mist Alliance.
Not only was the Ottoman Empire realistic, it was also how countries interacted with each other. Weak countries wouldn't have diplomatic relations, while strong countries wouldn't do anything and would have people follow them. This was nothing new at all.
That was why the captain unhesitatingly protected Roland the moment he recognized him.
That's right, he protected Roland. Roland's entire body had been burned to such an extent. Logically speaking, it seemed that Roland could die at any moment. It would be strange if anyone with ulterior motives didn't want to take action against such a good opportunity.
This wasn't an unfounded worry. This airship had sailed from San Antonio's territory, and in San Antonio, Roland was the most wanted criminal for murdering Empress Maria.
If there really was a San Antonio patriot on this airship who was willing to pay any price to take revenge for Empress Maria, then this would be the best opportunity.
Unfortunately, the passengers witnessed Roland falling onto the deck. Naturally, the news of him being heavily injured was leaked, and it was too late for Nott to block this information even if he wanted to.
In the end, Nott could only make some preparations in case of a rainy day.
Nott's guess was correct. Raikage, who had been requested to guard the airship, managed to capture two hot-blooded youths with poisoned daggers that very night …
But soon, Nott discovered that he had been overthinking things. In just a few hours, Prince Roland regained consciousness at a speed visible to the naked eye. He then complained about how he was bored with recuperating and wanted to have some fun to pass the time.
Nott could only helplessly send out his first mate and several powerful guards to play cards with Roland to pass the time.
In less than two hours, all of them were released.
The reason? This injured Roland, the strongest Holy Knight, had actually won everyone's money in just half an hour. His miraculous gambling skills … and his cheating skills made people wonder if he really was a Holy Knight who believed in abstinence and strict self-discipline.
In the end, Roland said something, and Captain Nott no longer acted as a protector.
"There's no need to protect me. Even if I'm injured, anyone that can threaten me can ignore you all."
Although this was rather discouraging, Nott actually heaved a sigh of relief. After all, if Roland died on the airship due to his own responsibility, nobody would be able to take responsibility for that.
Fortunately, the second half of that night was rather peaceful. As dawn arrived on the second day, Holy Knight Roland's external injuries had all disappeared without a trace. In fact, he even started gambling with ordinary customers in the restaurant …
Nott had heard that powerful individuals all had many strange fetishes. For example, a certain powerful individual from the Mist Alliance married multiple princesses and started a harem even though she was a female. A certain emperor from another country would talk to a stone statue whenever he felt too stressed. It was even said that Nott's own empress was tired of dressing up as a man, while the emperor had a fetish for dressing up as a woman …
Of course, these were all rumors that had no truth to them. Nott would usually just laugh at such rumors and not take them seriously.
Sometimes, during long journeys, male sailors would be just as gossipy as the sailors. They loved to gossip about the powerful individuals. After all, the best way to improve the friendship of colleagues was probably to badmouth their superiors together.
But now, it would seem that such ridiculous rumors weren't completely baseless. At the very least, this prince from the Northlands was just as the rumors said. He definitely wasn't a proper, orthodox Holy Knight.
Rumors said that he was extremely knowledgeable, but he never used his knowledge on the proper path. More than 30% of the gambling industry and pornographic magazines in the Northlands were under his control. His legendary super mercenary group, the Absolute Gentlemen Alliance, was his tool for controlling the entire Northlands.
Arms trading, mercenary trading, elven and beastman human trafficking. These were all things that ordinary people wouldn't even dare to imagine, yet he controlled them all.
He was the Throne in the Shadows, the uncrowned king, the man who couldn't be offended in the Northlands, the last Mist Knight of the Northlands, and the ruler of the Underground. He had a series of unofficial legendary titles.
There was a saying that in the Northlands, you could offend any ruler of the Mist Alliance, but you definitely couldn't say a single bad word about Roland. Otherwise, no matter where you came from, you wouldn't be able to return alive.
"I really couldn't tell that he was such an amazing person. He's a Holy Knight who knows how to gamble in the underworld, and he's obviously cheating. It's unimaginable … and yet, nobody has ever questioned his character."
However, compared to the legendary titles of the Holy Knight and the strongest villain, His Highness Roland seemed to be much easier to deal with.
No matter if it was the former captain of an Ottoman warship or a smuggler who traveled all over the world, Nott could be said to have seen many things.
In his line of work, the most important thing was to be able to recognize people. Nott had met countless people, but he had never met someone like Roland before.
It wasn't that he hadn't met SemiGod or Myth-ranked individuals before. In his eyes, no matter which faction, all undying individuals had the same characteristic: they didn't treat ordinary people as humans. He would occasionally meet some undying individuals who cared about their reputation and would say nice things, but would always maintain a certain distance from ordinary people.
It would be quite simple. When eating, food would be delivered to Roland's room. When bathing, he would want to have his own time and space. He would casually make a request, or even something as simple as adding spices to his food, which would cause his subordinates to run errands for him, and he would even think that it was only natural.
It would be even worse if he had a noble status or an outstanding bloodline. He would be giving you face just by glancing at you. No matter how nice he said things, if you gave him coarse black bread for lunch, he would instantly turn hostile.
Someone like Roland, who was clearly a top-level Beyonder, was actually fighting with ordinary people … no, he truly viewed himself as an ordinary person. He ate black bread, drank sour ale, gambled with drunkards, and even reneged on his debt if he lost. He was enjoying such a life, and he even pretended to be drunk to scam drunkards out of their money. Nott had never seen a Level 4 individual like Roland before.
"Ha, at the very least, he seems much more comfortable than those Beyonders."
A cold wind blew past. A new dawn was slowly rising from the east. The night wind was the most hurtful in the period before the sun rose. Nott carefully pulled up the collar of his coat to make himself more comfortable.
Nott relaxed a lot of his worries. All of this was just hearsay, and it didn't have much to do with him. No matter how he felt about Roland, it wouldn't affect his mission. All he needed to do was carry out his duty as a former soldier and escort his most important guest to his destination.
After passing through this snowy mountain range, he would be able to see the outskirts of the Bardi Empire. With Bardi's Dragon Knight squadron patrolling the area, he wouldn't have to worry about his safety.
Suddenly, Nott noticed that a familiar figure had appeared on the deck of his ship.
"Your Highness Roland? Why are you up so early? Your injuries haven't healed yet, and you need to rest more. Don't tell me that you're staying in the cabin … "
This person only glanced at Nott, causing him to be unable to finish the rest of his sentence. This person had a similar appearance and was also smiling. However, the emotions contained within were completely different.
Roland's smile was to express his kindness and happiness. He was communicating his emotions to others. Although this person was also smiling, he was enjoying his own happiness from the bottom of his heart. There was no one else in his eyes at all. Everything he said was an order that would definitely be carried out.
"Oh, I heard that my older brother was here, so I came to greet him. Lead the way."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
