[Fourth update. Vote for Badge. March, keep fighting. Old D has persisted for more than a hundred days. He never found an excuse to miss or stop updating. Everyone must believe in Old D's character.]
There weren't many cabins on the Dragonskeleton Warship, but there was a special cabin for soldiers. In times of need, the warship could transport more than six hundred soldiers.
This cabin was currently unused. A portion of the building materials were piled up inside. They were all high-quality wood from Metatlin. Since Salin planned to go to Tilan City, he had to at least build a temporary residence. There was no need for wood to take up space in spatial equipment.
Two hundred and eighty-nine people were placed in this cabin. The captain of the merchant ship was brought to the upper cabin. Truman came to question him.
In Metatlin City, Truman wasn't an outstanding figure. This was because there were too many strong people there. A level-five Great Magician was ordinary.
Under Salin's influence, Truman acted very cautiously. He came to visit the captain. He brought twelve Desolate Warriors with him, in addition to the twenty soldiers that originally belonged to Salin. These soldiers were holding elven alchemy crossbows hidden in the walls of the cabin.
If anything was wrong, these twenty crossbow bolts were enough to kill a level-seven Magic Shooter.
The captain had already changed into clean clothes. He sat opposite Truman across the table, feeling a little uneasy. Truman was wearing a gray magic robe. Even if he didn't know much about Magicians, he knew that this was someone he couldn't afford to offend. No matter how many Magic Shooters there were in this world, a Great Magician was a god-like existence to ordinary people.
"Sir Magician." The captain spoke respectfully. His common language was very standard. Every word was clear. "I'm Bellain from the Union of Trade of Iron Wall City. Thank you for your help, Sir."
It was the first time Bellain saw a ship that could only survive in a storm. He knew very well that the other party was definitely not from Scotia. They probably came from Cloud Flow.
But how did Cloud Flow get here? Even Cloud Flow Warships couldn't pass through Black Prison Island. To go west, they had to come from the deep sea and cross the Silent Sea. The danger there was enough to make any fleet despair.
Bellain obviously didn't expect that someone would cross the North Sea filled with floating icebergs to come here. Moreover, the person in front of him had already destroyed his hometown, Iron Wall City.
But even if he knew that Iron Wall City was finished, he wouldn't do anything. As a merchant, he only treated that place as a stronghold, not his hometown.
"Iron Wall City's Allied Chamber of Commerce?" Truman frowned. If he had known it was someone from Iron Wall City, Salin might not have saved him.
"Yes, sir, do you know that place as well?"
"Of course, Iron Wall City … no longer exists." Truman was too lazy to fool the merchant in front of him, so he told him the truth.
Belin was stunned. He didn't understand Truman's words. Truman asked, "Why is your ship here? This is the deep sea. "
Belin smiled bitterly. "Sir Mage, you're not from Scottinya, are you?"
"No."
"It's no wonder you don't understand. Most of the merchants in Scotia travel by land. It's convenient for goods to travel, and we can be seen everywhere on the continent. But at sea … If the merchants at sea wanted to survive, they could only rely on smuggling. Ninety percent of the smuggled merchant ships in Scotia were royal warships. Small merchants like us have to bypass the safe coastal areas and take the deep sea route. "
"Isn't that too dangerous?"
"There's no other way. The coastal areas are filled with the Royal Navy's anti-smuggling ships. If we load them, the goods will be confiscated, and the captain will be executed. " Seeing that Truman's expression didn't change, Belin continued, "If this anti-smuggling ship is alone, our armed merchant ships might even sink it. So, smuggling at sea is basically done with your life on the line."
"The profits must be very high, right?"
"Sir Mage, as you can see, once my ship sinks, I've worked for almost half a year for nothing. This ship has shares of more than ten people, and even if we split it evenly, we won't make ten thousand gold coins. "
Truman nodded. He was born on Seriger Island, so he didn't know the value of gold coins. After coming to Metatlin City, Salin paid for all his expenses, so he didn't have to work. What did ten thousand gold coins mean? He didn't know.
Seeing Truman's cold expression, Belin felt more at ease. He still had some personal goods on him. Although normal people couldn't use spatial equipment, it didn't mean he couldn't. His spatial equipment hung around his neck, and once he returned to Iron Wall City, he would find a mage to retrieve the goods.
If it really was that ship's goods, then the profits were indeed a little low.
"Where does this route of yours depart from, and where is it going?" Truman didn't have much desire to meet this captain. These were the questions Salin wanted him to ask.
"We depart from an island east of Port Royal, and our destination is the Tanggulas Empire. The Tanggulas Empire suppresses commerce, but smuggling is still prevalent. My cargo …. "
"Shipping them to the Tanggulas Empire and selling them, then buying the specialties of the Tanggulas Empire. The profits are several times more than on land, right?" Although Truman didn't know much about commerce, his calculation ability far surpassed that of a normal person.
"Get to the point. Is the route you control safe?"
"Of course not. Although the navy of the Tanggulas Empire isn't as strong as the people of Cloud Flow, it's not something we merchants can fight against. So, we have to go deep into the sea, and bribe some nobles and soldiers to reach the shore. If we encounter a storm, we'll lose everything. "
"You have a sea map?" Truman wasn't interested in Belin's words. This was similar to what Salin had said, and Salin even said some things that Truman couldn't understand.
"Yes."
"Give it to me. Treat it as a reward for saving you."
"Ah?" Belin didn't understand. He thought he had heard wrongly.
"If it wasn't for saving you, I wouldn't have taken the risk to enter the storm zone. Do you know that docking here for an hour is equivalent to spending six hours on the outside?" Truman said impatiently. He wasn't a bandit, or else he would've robbed them long ago.
"Alright." Belin scowled. This sea map was the secret of their Allied Trade Association. Without it, the Allied Trade Association wouldn't have been able to develop and become the largest commercial organization in Iron Wall City. This time, he had personally gone to the Tanggulas Empire for an important cargo, but he didn't expect to encounter this strange storm. Logically speaking, the weather within a few thousand kilometers should be fine, and there definitely wouldn't be a storm.
He himself was an important shareholder of the Allied Trade Association of Iron Wall City. One of the three sea maps was in his hands.
Truman was obsessed with magic and wasn't good at socializing. He just waited coldly for Belin to take out the sea map. Bellain couldn't bear the gaze of a fifth-tier great mage, so he obediently took off a bracelet from his hand and carefully took out a crystal. He said, "Sir Mage, there's a sea map stored in this. Can you …"
"I'll make a copy and give this back to you," Truman said. He took the crystal and turned to leave the cabin.
Truman had completed his mission and was about to see Salin. As soon as he walked out of the cabin, he stumbled. Two Desolate Ancient Warriors behind him quickly caught him. The entire battleship was shaking violently. The chains that were tied to the metal sealed box made a cracking sound. The dragon skeleton battleship was thrown into the air by the waves and fell heavily.
Salin wasn't spared in the cabin either. However, he was a level-9 Magic Shooter, so he immediately fixed himself on the ground and opened the magic array. In the magic image, Salin saw the huge eye approaching the dragon skeleton battleship.
Damn it!
Salin was extremely depressed when he saw this huge thing. What kind of monster was this? He had never heard of it before! At the same time, he saw a sailboat breaking through the waves below the huge eye. Salin recognized it — Specter Ship.
When low-level specters possessed other creatures, they wouldn't be able to maintain the body's organs. They would slowly die. Back when humans used specters, they created many specter armies to fight against the celestial race. This was one of the few pieces of equipment that had been passed down. Modern Magicians had tried to make them, but they couldn't capture specters. Everything was in vain.
The core of this storm was a gust of wind that covered an area of several dozen miles. Without the metal sealed box, the dragon skeleton battleship could only rely on the magic array to maintain its balance. This instantly increased the consumption by dozens of times.
"Northeast, full speed ahead!" Salin ordered through the magic array. His voice echoed throughout the entire battleship. There were no mediocre people on the dragon skeleton battleship. Even the soldiers were elites of the Metatlin Kingdom. The sailors were brought over from Serg Island. If he wasn't a trusted aide, he wouldn't have been allowed to control this battleship.
The dragon skeleton battleship was only five miles away from the Specter Ship. Because the metal chains below were broken, it saved them the trouble of weighing the anchor. The magic furnace was fully activated. The dragon skeleton battleship's bone wings spread open. It quickly turned around and fled with all its might.
Salin wasn't worried that he couldn't beat this strange eye. With his family badge, he didn't even need to lock on to such a huge target. However, this storm clearly hadn't reached its peak yet. The storm within a thousand miles was probably related to this huge eye.
If the storm grew stronger, the dragon skeleton battleship might sink. There was no need to bear such a loss. Salin prepared to escape the danger zone and deal with this huge eye later.
"Save me! Save me … "
In the distant sky, at the core of the hurricane, the huge eye suddenly let out a strange voice and directly teleported to Salin's dragon skeleton battleship. This voice sounded like it was made by thousands of people at the same time. However, it didn't feel messy at all.
Salin became even more anxious after hearing this. He asked Nelis to take the level-12 magic cores and distribute them to the Great Magicians in charge of the magic furnace.
"Don't go! Save me … "
The huge eye kept calling. Salin used an even louder voice to urge the Magicians to control the battleship and fly. He now regretted not bringing the Winged Skeleton along. If it was here, it could control the battleship much faster than these Great Magicians.
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