Imperial Crown.

Chapter 208 Empty Ship
The carriage arrived at the Chamber of Commerce, and Weston got off the carriage and entered the headquarters.

Both the guards and the merchants who came to do business saluted him respectfully.

There was no time to pay attention to them. Weston went upstairs and pushed the door open and walked into the study.

Denise was working on her work at her desk. Before Weston could speak, she said, "Sit down first. Wait until I'm done with my work."

Weisdon sat down obediently.

Time passed by minute by minute. Seeing that Denise had no intention of stopping, Weisdong finally couldn't bear it anymore: "Mother..."

"Mother!"

Denise stopped, put the pen aside, and said helplessly: "You kid, you have no patience at all."

"If you're any more patient, I'll become a laughing stock in the whole city!" Weston said dissatisfiedly, "My brother has appointed four knights in one go, including old Gordon, but not me!"

"But I'm his younger brother!"

Weisdon thought that Denise would be as surprised as he was to hear the news.

However, Denise acted very calmly: "Well, I heard about it."

Then he lowered his head and started writing.

"Mom!" Weisdong started to act like a spoiled child and rushed to Denise's table: "What is more important than my knighthood?"

"If you ask me, it must be because you have been away from Eagle Territory for too long, and my brother was so bewildered by Fiona that he forgot about you, and that's why he gave the title that should have been given to me to old Gordon!"

"You can find an excuse to go back and dress up nicely, that would be good..."

Snapped!
The quill was slammed heavily on the table, ink splashed, Denise's chest heaved, and she stared at Weston with anger in her eyes.

What does he take himself for!?
It was true that her relationship with Raven was complicated, but that didn't mean she had earned her current position by relying on her beauty.

The reason she was able to serve as the president of the Mon'en City Chamber of Commerce and hold on to this position was because she had the ability!

She unified the merchants in the lower city of Mon'en City, provided Eagle Territory with a large number of cost-effective raw materials, and opened up sales channels for the Angel series of products. Now she can bring at least 3000 gold coins to Raven every month.

In addition, many nobles also had more personal connections with the Griffith family because of her networking skills. Otherwise, Raven's business alliance would not have developed so smoothly.

As a single woman, Denise was very concerned about her reputation, but even so, there were still rumors that she had achieved success by relying on her beauty.

It would be fine if other people said it, but I didn’t expect that my own son would have the same idea!

Denise pressed her palms against the table, her knuckles turning white. "Wesdon, is this how you view your mother?"

Weisdong shuddered, knowing that he had said something wrong, and quickly admitted his mistake: "Mother, no, really not!"

"I just feel that since I fought on Bloody Highlands, I should be considered a knight!"

"You're quite ambitious." Denise glanced at him coldly and asked in a cold voice, "Then tell me, what's the point of you wanting a knighthood?"

"This, I..." Weisdong was speechless for a moment.

There was a hint of disappointment in Denise's eyes. She knew that apart from showing off in front of those businessmen's children, Weston could not find any excuses!
In fact, long before the official knighting, Raven had written to Denise about this issue. When mentioning the specific candidate, he also explained the reason for not canonizing Weston.

As a member of the Griffith family, Weston will definitely have a political marriage in the future.

He does not have the blood of the Griffith family, which is a big flaw. It is difficult for him to marry a noble lady of equal status.

A knight is like a little king within his own territory and can have whatever he wants.

But Visdon is a playboy, and he knows how to restrain himself when Denise is watching over him. But once he is knighted and returns to his fiefdom, God knows what he will do.

If you get someone pregnant and have an illegitimate child before getting married, then your chances of marriage will be completely cut off.

Denise also knew that Weston would not be able to inherit the baron title of the Griffith family, so marrying a powerful noble and becoming a link between the two families was his best way out.

Having a strong wife's family to support him is much more important to Visdon's future than a knight's title.

At this time, Weisdong finally found a suitable excuse: "I am already 16 years old! When other nobles were my age, they had already started to learn how to govern the territory and manage their subordinates. Do you want me to stay in school forever?"

"I'm not one of those commoners' children who needs to rely on knowledge to improve my status!"

Upon hearing this, Denise took out a document from the drawer and threw it in front of Weston.

Weisdong asked: "What is this...?"

"The property contract of the car rental company." Denise said calmly, "This car rental company has 168 carriages, 5 grooms, and 67 drivers. The boss mortgaged it to the Chamber of Commerce and was unable to redeem it. Now it is managed by the Chamber of Commerce and has been in a loss-making state."

Visdon just wanted the title of knight, not a job for himself, so he immediately hesitated when he heard this.

Denise wanted to put more pressure on him: "The number of people and property managed by this rental company is no less than that of a knight."

"If you can turn it around within a year, I will help you ask Raven for a knighthood!"

Upon hearing this, Weisdong's eyes suddenly lit up: "Okay, mother, please don't break your promise!"

After saying that, Weisdon picked up the documents and turned away.

Seeing him like this, Denise sighed in disappointment.

If Weston had asked her who was the current manager of the car dealership, where it was located, what its strengths and weaknesses were, and why it was losing money, Denise would have had some confidence in him. But now...

He lowered his head and continued to handle official business. At noon, he had a quick lunch and took a short rest.

Just after three o'clock in the afternoon, Denise simply washed up and was about to continue to deal with her affairs when she saw her personal maid Anqi walking over in a panic. She couldn't help but ask, "What happened?"

"Ma'am," Angie whispered, "the ship that came from Slaver's Bay is empty."

When Denise arrived at the dock, the large three-masted ship had already docked at the shore. The security forces had formed a human wall, but they still couldn't resist the enthusiasm of the local residents to watch the fun.

Pushing through the crowd and walking into the inner circle, Weber, the former boss of the Bloody Harpoon, was talking to a priest. When they saw Denise coming, they all turned around and saluted.

After returning the gift, Denise got straight to the point: "How's the situation?"

"This ship has been cursed by the devil!" The priest's face was very ugly, and he drew the holy emblem of the Lord of Light on his chest: "Too terrible...too terrible!"

Denise turned to Weber: "Is there really no one alive?"

"...To be exact, we haven't found it yet." Weber's face was not looking good. "The ship was found by my soldiers while they were patrolling the river. It was floating on the river at the time, and it didn't respond to calls or flag signals."

"After the soldiers boarded the ship, they found no one on the deck and no one responded when they shouted. They did not dare to investigate further and towed the ship back to the dock."

"Bishop Byron and I just went down to take a look, but we didn't find any trace of living people."

Denise nodded silently after hearing this, and after a little thought, she said, "Then I'd like to trouble you two to come with me and take a look."

Weber was fine, but the bishop named Byron's face suddenly changed: "Madam Denise, you have such a precious identity, it is better not to take risks easily." Denise said quietly: "If you don't want to go down, just pray for me here."

There are 47 crew members and 600 slaves. These are all the property of the Chamber of Commerce. Denise can't let them disappear without a clear reason.

As they were talking, Angel had already lit the torch. Denise took it, opened the hatch on the deck and walked into the cabin.

Weber also lit a torch and turned to look at Byron: "My Lord Bishop, do you want to continue standing here?"

Weber's soldiers were all around him, and there were also many civilians watching. If Byron left like this, he would definitely be known as a coward, which would be a huge blow to Byron who still wanted to make progress.

Therefore, even though he was reluctant, he could only mutter a few words and follow.

In the dim cabin, Denise covered her nose lightly, walked slowly, the torch sweeping high and low.

Under the light of the torches, the dark cabin was illuminated little by little.

The wooden barrels used as tables and chairs were arranged in an orderly manner. There were traces of being smoked by torches on the pillars. The ropes that had been soaked and turned black by sweat were piled in the corner, waiting for someone to hang them on the mast.

The water in the buckets was still clear, and the sacks were filled with large pieces of bread, potatoes, and turnips, as well as plenty of bacon. There was plenty of food and water, so there was no need to abandon ship.

Continuing inside, the sailors' cabin is also full of the breath of life. Some beds have bedding neatly stacked, and some quilts are dented into human shapes, as if they had just woken up.

In the restaurant, wooden cutlery was placed on the table, with some rotten food residues still on it; the kitchen knife was hung on the bulkhead, and on the chopping board there was a half-cut potato that had turned black due to oxidation.

There was no sign of a fight.

Everything was normal, except for the people missing.

It was as if everyone on the ship disappeared at some point!
Walking to the innermost room and pushing open the door of the captain's room, a stench of corpse hit him in the face. Weber immediately drew his sword and protected Denise behind him.

The torch shone forward, and a corpse appeared in front of everyone. Angel, who was following at the end, screamed suddenly, and the torch in her hand rolled to the ground.

Denise didn't blame him because her face was also pale.

The body was sitting back in a chair, wearing a classic tweed captain's suit.

It was not rotten, or perhaps rotten was not enough to describe the current state of the corpse.

His neck was tilted, and the flesh on his cheeks was torn into strips. His gray beard and hair, along with the shriveled flesh, flowed down from his bones and stuck to his clothes, just like a melted wax figure!

The grim scene symbolized good news—at least, they saw a dead body, and dead bodies always brought clues.

Priest Byron was chanting the Lord of Light's prayer in a low voice. Weber stepped forward cautiously. However, perhaps it was the sound of his footsteps that caused a vibration. With a thud, the corpse's already unstable head fell to the ground and rolled to the feet of Priest Byron.

He quickly jumped up and jumped to the side, shouting: "...Mr. Weber, please hurry up, the evil here is almost swallowing me up!"

Byron was a third-level, four-star divine magician, and his strength was not weak, but the problem was that, like most priests, he had almost no experience in fighting or competing with others, and he was extremely timid.

Weber ignored him and pried a notebook from the corpse's hand and handed it to Denise.

The thick cowhide cover, which had been nitrated and originally had the salty smell of the sea, was now full of stench and covered with disgusting rotten skin.

This is a ship's log. Many parts of the front part have been soaked by corpse fluid and stuck together. The words have also become blurred and completely illegible. Only the last few pages can be barely read.

"X month, X day, the 9th day of return.

Damn it, someone's missing again! They must have been blown out to sea. I told them to patrol the deck in pairs at night. Was Storm Sound named for nothing?
Someone said they saw a strange figure - ha, what a good excuse, I'll fire all these idiot sailors when I get back!"

"X month, X day, the 13th day of return.

Something is not right. Two more men went missing last night, and I have only 37 sailors left.

Moreover, when they took inventory, they found six dead prisoners, and their bodies smelled bad. This was not a good sign. Was there a plague?

I ordered the bodies to be thrown into the sea, and I hope there will be no more deaths, for these were bought with gold coins."

"X month, X day, the 16th day of return.

All the rats on this ship are gone, not even one left! This is totally abnormal!

Five more crew members are missing... Well, I also vaguely saw the ghost they talked about, and damn, if there are no rats, what's the noise I hear every night!?
I have decided that all the sailors will spend the night on the deck in the next few days - if there are fewer people, the ship will not be able to sail. "

"X month, X day, the 20th day of return.

Slaves died tragically every day, looking like mummies.

They shouted "curse" and "devil", started a riot, killed the sailors who were delivering food, and tried to rush out, but were blocked by us.

The boatswain was killed in action.

I had to give the order to lock the door of the bottom cabin - after all, it would only take seven or eight days at most to reach the shore, and with water, few people would starve to death.

Losing a few gold coins is better than dying."

"X month, X day, the 22th day of return.

…We all slept on deck, but six more people disappeared last night, including the navigator.”

"X month, X day, the 24th day of return.

Nabal confessed and admitted that he pushed the pilot into the sea. He said that the pilot deliberately brought us into the curse, and he killed first in order to protect himself.

He is really crazy!
Although he was pushed into the sea by me, that sentence planted the seeds of uneasiness in everyone's heart, and everyone was afraid of becoming someone else's prey.

I had no choice but to order everyone to return to their cabins.

I hope I can make it to the shore.

The cries and curses of those slaves are really disgusting!
If I could step on land again, I swear I would never board a ship again!
There are noises on the deck again, and the sound of grinding teeth, I'm going to see what it is."

The content of the log ends here.

It is easy to imagine what happened next. The captain found the culprit and died himself.

But why did he become the only body left on the ship?
The torches made everyone's faces flicker.

Just then, a rustling sound was heard, as if a mouse was moving between the floors.

There were no rats on the ship anymore.

A shadow quietly emerged behind Byron.

……

(End of this chapter)