Mystery: I Married the Queen of Mystery.

Chapter 278 Handing over the spoils to Bernadette
Next, Odysseus took Rupert and Noy and used the "Flying Scroll" to take a look at the north of the island.

This place is not very flat, so it is not very developed and there are only two villages with small populations.

Moreover, there is a primitive jungle separating these villages from the port town.

Odysseus walked around and finally landed on a mountain peak, looking carefully at the surrounding terrain.

Finally they flew into the mountains again. The scenery in the valley was quite nice. The further west they went to the island, the more villages there were.

These villages have also developed a lot of farmland. Odysseus roughly estimated that the population in the mountains alone may be 30,000 to 40,000, and the population of the plain town and the port town may also be 30,000 to 40,000.

The total population is larger than previously estimated.

But now the people in these mountains are not under his control.

After looking around, Odysseus returned to the port town and had a drink in the only tavern in the town.

This tavern is a wooden structure. In fact, most of the structures in the town are wooden structures, and there are very few stone buildings.

Because on an island like this, wood is the most easily accessible resource. Cement, steel bars, and the like can only be purchased in Bayam, but not on a deserted island like this.

The cabin is quite spacious, with a bar and a few tables.

There were few customers at the moment. The tavern owner was still cleaning the bar. Seeing Odysseus come in, he quickly smiled and said, "Captain... no, Mr. Mayor, would you like a drink?"

Odysseus nodded: "Give me a special beer."

"There's only one kind of beer here," the chubby boss said with a smile, "it's a light beer I brewed myself. You can try it."

Odysseus said "hmm" and sat at the bar: "How much?"

"It's free." The boss said with a slightly flattering smile, "It's my honor to buy you a beer."

Odysseus didn't refuse: "Okay, this glass of wine is yours, but you don't have to buy the drinks for the people who come in later."

"Yes, yes, yes." The fat boss said this, not really understanding what the mayor meant, and went to fill a glass of beer.

Odysseus had just taken a sip when Sheriff Tom came in and said, "Thank God, I finally found you, Mayor Gar. Hunter, give me a glass of fruit wine."

Hunter is the fat boss's name.

Odysseus asked, "What's the matter?"

"I want to ask, what should we do with the two pirates we captured earlier and the dozen or so Egbert captives?" Tom sat next to Odysseus and drank a sip of fruit wine before speaking.

"Hang the two pirates right here on the dock to give everyone some peace." Odysseus said, "Keep the dozen or so captives for a while and observe them for a couple of days. If they don't have any illnesses, I'll still be able to use them."

Tom smiled and said, "But what about their food?"

He explained: "The residents of the town are unwilling to support these dozen idle people."

Odysseus thought for a moment and said, "Let the restaurant cook for them first, and I'll pay the bill for whatever it costs.

"Five more police officers will take turns guarding the area, and I will pay each of them one soli per day as overtime pay."

This little money means nothing to Odysseus now.

Tom immediately smiled happily: "Okay, okay!"

After chatting for a few words, when he stood up to leave, Odysseus reminded him, "Pay for the wine."

Tom was stunned for a moment. He usually didn't pay when he came here, but the new mayor asked him to pay, so he didn't dare to disobey and paid for the wine obediently.

Not long after the sheriff left, Virgil, the white-haired president of the autonomous association, came in again and said, "Finally, I found you, Mr. Mayor. There are many government affairs in the town that need your attention."

He smiled amiably, while most pirates would frown at the word "government affairs."

The "Mayor of Gar" smiled and said, "Oh, what government affairs do you have?"

Virgil said, "Let's...let's go to the conference room and talk."

"Let's talk about it right here." Odysseus said casually.

Virgil then sat down and said to Hunter, the tavern owner, "Give me a glass of rum."

He took a sip of wine before saying, "The first question is, if we split the town into two, where should we draw the dividing line?"

"The central axis of 'Beacon Hill'." Odysseus replied.

Virgil was stunned for two or three seconds. The answer from "Mayor Gar" was enough to show that the order to split the town into two was not given casually, but a decision he had made after careful consideration.

Virgil swallowed his saliva and said, "It's best to discuss it with other members of the autonomous association..."

Odysseus glanced at the other party and said, "Do I need to discuss my orders with you?"

He paused and continued, "There's one thing you must understand. I give orders, and the autonomous association carries them out. I don't discuss with the autonomous association how to solve the problem."

"Yes, yes, yes." Virgil took a sip of wine and said, "The second question is, what should we do if those who fled this island before want to come back?"

"Accept them." Odysseus said, "But we don't know whether they have already joined the Deep Blue Pirates? Or are they spies of the Deep Blue Pirates?
"So each of them has to pay a 'self-certification fee' of 3 pounds before they can come back. Um... this money is collected by the autonomous association and used to cover the daily expenses of the town government."

The Deep Blue pirate group had been wiped out. Did he defect to them? Was he their spy? It didn't really matter.

This fee is clearly a punishment for them.

Virgil swallowed his saliva with a gulp. There were four or five hundred people who had escaped before. If all their fines were collected, it would be a huge sum of money in the small town, and there would be a lot of room for maneuver.

He then asked, "What if... I mean, what if they don't have that much money?"

This isn't Bayam. Many families can't even afford £3, let alone £3 per person.

"You can write an IOU." Odysseus said lightly.

Virgil was visibly stunned. This method was simple and practical. He didn't expect the mayor to solve his prepared question so quickly. So he asked, "The third question is, which town do the two villages in the north belong to?"

"It doesn't belong to any town." Odysseus said, "I'll send the village chief in a few days."

This was another order that puzzled Virgil. He then asked, "Are there any previous laws that need to be repealed? Do you have any new laws?"

Odysseus asked in return: "What laws were there in the past?"

Virgil took out a worn notebook, put on his reading glasses, and read from it: "The two previous mayors issued a total of 12 decrees, the first of which is that whoever kills must pay with his life.

"The second rule is that if a thief steals for the first time, his fingers will be cut off; for the second time, his palm will be cut off; and for the third time, he will be shot.

"The third rule is that streetwalkers must pay 40% of their income to the mayor.

"The fourth is that if a person from the Northern Continent kills a local, he will be fined 16 pounds.

"The fifth one is..."

Odysseus listened quietly. He began to find the third article increasingly strange, but it was not difficult to understand. They were all laws to protect the rights of the people of the Northern Continent and the authority of the mayor.

After listening to this, Odysseus said, "Only keep 1, 2, 7, and 9."

Article 7 is about the norms of equal transactions, and Article 9 is that the right to use the port belongs to the mayor.

Odysseus added, "Another rule: Each family cannot own more than five mu of land. Any land exceeding this limit will be confiscated. Families that leave their land idle and do not grow crops will be fined and flogged."

Virgil's hands trembled slightly as he wrote down the decree. "Mr. Mayor, why is there such a decree?"

"The locals are too lazy," Odysseus said. "These past two days, I've noticed that some land is unused. I'll need a lot of food in the future, and I can't allow the land to sit idle!"

Odysseus couldn't bear to see land lying idle. Every time he saw the land, he wanted to cultivate it himself.

Nature provides abundant food here, and the people of the northern continent occupy too much land, greatly compressing the living space of the locals, so the population on this small island has hardly grown.

Although the locals are poor, they rarely go hungry on the rough sea.

The inescapable poverty and the lack of pressure to survive have made many people choose to "lie down as a family."

The idle lands basically belong to the people of the northern continent. Because food prices have dropped in the past two years, a lot of land has become idle.

"I mean, why can't each family own more than five acres of land?" asked Virgil.

The land owned by the directors of the autonomous association far exceeds this amount.

Odysseus said slowly, "This is also to prevent the land from being idle. Such good land should be used to grow more crops. I will send people to the port to purchase it in the future."

"That's great." Virgil said, "Excuse me, how much food do you need?"

"We'll take as many as you can get," Odysseus said with a smile. "And you don't need to ship them to other islands to sell."

"Yes, yes, this is indeed a good thing." Virgil was interrupted and didn't want to continue asking the previous question. He knew that this was a deal: Mayor Gar would purchase grain on the premise that his decrees were followed.

And Virgil had already thought of a countermeasure: since the mayor didn't know how much land anyone had, when the question came up, he would tell him that each family's land did not exceed 5 mu.

After chatting about two other minor issues, Virgil drank the glass of rum and was about to get up and leave when Odysseus said, "You haven't paid for the drink yet."

Virgil was stunned for a moment before he slapped his head and said, "I'm old and my memory is not good."

After paying for the wine, Odysseus said, "Call Donahue."

Ten minutes later, Donahue pushed the door open and came in: "Mr. Mayor, are you looking for me?"

Then he said to Hunter, "Have a beer."

Now the tavern owner Hunter understood what Mayor Gar meant just now. He was now the third person to come and ask for wine after the mayor.

These people usually come here to drink and basically don't pay.

Odysseus took a sip of wine and said to Donald, "I need you to organize a dozen young men who are willing to go to sea and drive that merchant ship to Zakal Island."

Chakel Island is a large island relatively close to here, so they had the opportunity to take a boat to Chakel Island for help.

After hearing this order, Donahue was stunned for a moment. He was happy for a while, then smiled bitterly and said, "We don't know how to sail such a big ship!"

"Those dozen captives can!" Odysseus said. "I'll let that first mate be the captain, and you be the first mate of that ship. The people you find must learn to sail this large ship as soon as possible. We will have more merchant ships like this in the future."

Donahue immediately said, "Yes, Mr. Mayor, we will learn as soon as possible."

He didn't expect that his father was obviously excluded by the new mayor and completely lost his former power. The new mayor was obviously preparing to put him in charge of the merchant ship and gave him a good job.

When Donahue was about to leave, Odysseus reminded him again: "Pay for the wine!

"Go tell everyone that in order to boost the town's economy, everyone must pay for their consumption. No one can be exempted!"

Donahue nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, I will tell everyone right away."

Odysseus hummed, drank the wine in the glass and said to Hunter: "Next time, I will pay too."

Hunter also realized that if he still said he didn't want money, it would be like he was going against the mayor, so he quickly said, "Yes."

Odysseus got up and left, first sending Bazel to Bayam and giving him 1000 pounds of funds.

Then he returned to the ship, performed the ceremony, completed the transaction with the "world", sacrificed the processed "Master of Secret Arts" characteristics, and received the "balance payment" of 2000 pounds.

Odysseus did not put the 2000 pounds in cash into the "Wilderness of Knowledge". He also selected a seal that matched the "Sheriff" and three extraordinary characteristics from the spoils of the Wilderness of Knowledge, and then took these things back to the Emerald Palace.

After asking the "Mysterious Queen" and finding out that she would not be back until noon, Odysseus returned to his own courtyard and sat in an easy chair to rest for a while.

I have been busy these two days. In the afternoon, there are still many things to do, so it is rare to have a break.

At lunch time, Odysseus came to the restaurant and saw Bernadette there as expected.

"Come and sit down." Bernadette said, "Today's lunch will be your favorite lamb chops."

Odysseus didn't sit down immediately. Instead, he handed the briefcase to Pasha, the "Mysterious Queen's" personal maid. "I'm here today to turn in my spoils and get a free meal."

He then sat down and drank a sip of aperitif.

And I sighed in my heart: Life here at Bernadette is really exquisite. Such a good aperitif is rarely available outside.

Meanwhile, Pasha opened her purse and turned to the "Mysterious Queen."

Bernadette sighed, "You've had a good harvest recently."

Odysseus had been at sea for less than two weeks, and he had already turned in this much loot, just one-tenth of it! "I've discovered that the Argo has given me the power of a 'Pirate General,'" Odysseus said with a smile. "I wiped out both pirate groups I encountered."

This is mainly because the weapons of the "Argo" are powerful, and Odysseus's strategy is appropriate, which can basically bring out the power of those weapons.

He then briefly recounted his experiences over the past week. When the appetizers arrived, Bernadette took a sip of her wine and said, "I kind of regret only accepting 10% of your spoils."

The two pirate groups destroyed by Odysseus both had some background and needed the protection of "Dawn of the Elements".

Odysseus simply smiled and started a different topic: "I just confirmed yesterday that the information about the island of 'Deceptive Pegasus' came from 'Admiral of the Stars' Cattleya."

"It's her." Bernadette put down her wine glass and said with a hint of melancholy, "In the blink of an eye, she's about to be promoted to demigod."

Then she looked at Odysseus: "You suddenly come to talk to me about this matter. Have you heard something?"

"Yes," Odysseus said frankly, "I heard that she once followed you, but later you broke up."

"It's not a breakup," Bernadette said. "If she stays with me all the time, it'll be hard for her to get any training, so I let her go out and explore on her own."

Odysseus took a bite of the tomato from the appetizer. He noticed that the "Mysterious Queen" didn't show any kind expression when she talked about Cattleya, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

He asked, "So, should I continue with my deal with her?"

"Go on." Bernadette said.

"Okay." Odysseus nodded. "How about we complete the exploration this Friday or Saturday?"

Bernadette said "hmm".

"Cattleya doesn't know I'm the captain of the Argo." Odysseus said with a wicked smile, "How about I not bring this up next time?
"Scare her then."

Bernadette smiled and said, "That's your business. Why are you telling me?"

"Okay, I understand." said Odysseus.

Bernadette asked, "The island is now under your rule. What are your plans?"

"I plan to build a base there and develop it seriously." Odysseus smiled and said, "The process of building up such a poor little island is quite impressive."

"Your idea is rather peculiar," Bernadette said. "Few people would build an island like this. Even if there were iron ore there, it wouldn't be worth much investment."

But she paused and said, "After a while, I will go to that island to take a look."

"A warm welcome."

The two chatted while they had lunch and drank tea and chatted for a while. Odysseus went to the "craftsman" Dave to customize a batch of extraordinary parts before returning to the small courtyard left for him and taking a short nap.

With the help of the "Craftsman's Pocket Watch", Odysseus can also complete those extraordinary parts, but he really doesn't have that much time now.

In this regard, he actually hopes that Beavis can be promoted quickly so that he can have an extra helper.

The parts ordered this time include a "Spirit Wave Cannon", key parts of three "Extraordinary Machine Cannons", and "Smart Cubes" and "Signal Processing Crystals" used in 50 sets of "Extraordinary Puppets".

He went to the factory and ordered 60 sets of parts for the "Extraordinary Puppets".

The total cost of these things is about six thousand pounds.

This made Odysseus sigh: I am quite good at spending money.

Nearly 7000 pounds was spent in one day.

In the afternoon, after a good rest, Odysseus returned to the "Argo" and cruised the boat repeatedly in the northern part of "Moon Bay".

At night, a moderate rain fell in the surrounding sea. As the lights in the port town gradually went out, the entire island seemed to have fallen asleep on the rainy night.

Odysseus flew into the air in the rain using the "Flying Scroll", stopped at a good location in the afternoon, then used a "Diving Scroll" and dived into the water.

Soon, they arrived at the bottom of the sea. Odysseus took out the "bubble scroll" he had prepared long ago and immediately created an airtight space on the bottom of the sea.

Odysseus threw in another "water-absorbing scroll". After the scroll exploded, a sponge-like object suddenly appeared.

Except for the flying scroll, all other scrolls were invented by Odysseus to deal with tonight's actions.

However, these were new scrolls written with the "Gal Runes" he had previously mastered, not new knowledge, so they only invigorated his spirituality, but there were no obvious signs of digestion.

When the object that appeared with the "Water-Absorbing Scroll" disappeared, Odysseus entered the bubble. The sea surface inside was already relatively dry. Odysseus took out spiritual materials and began to draw some temporary magic circles on the ground.

The first step was to make the bubbles bigger and more stable. When there were more dry places, Odysseus began to draw the core magic circle of the "underwater city".

He plans to build his own secret base underwater here.

This base does not need to be the size of an underwater city. It only needs a place to place core things such as the "Extraordinary Drug Production Line".

Moreover, this magic circle is a "unitized" magic circle and can be expanded at any time.

The specific location is in the north of "Moon Bay". Oss plans to set up a "teleportation array" here that he developed by himself and only needs "Ahona Crystal" to operate.

Although this teleportation array can only "teleport" a few dozen kilometers, it is sufficient for use here.

By then, the core production of things like "Extraordinary Potion" will be completed in the secret base, and the medicines taken out from there will all be "enchanted" medicines.

Then people are hired to cook and bottle the medicine, and bottles of special medicine are ready.

When the last character was drawn, the bubbles supporting it suddenly became illusory, and it seemed as if they were completely separated from the sea water outside.

Odysseus smiled slightly. After a period of research, he successfully copied the magic circle of the "underwater city", giving him about a thousand square meters of usable space on the seabed.

Moreover, this space is located between the spiritual world and the real world, and cannot be seen by the naked eye, "spiritual vision", or even the "eye of peeping into secrets".

Moreover, the spirits cannot detect this place, so it is very safe.

Odysseus dragged out five more "extraordinary puppets" from the "Wilderness of Knowledge". All the subsequent construction work here would be undertaken by the "extraordinary puppets". Odysseus did not intend to let anyone discover this place for the time being.

The first job was to level the area, deal with the corals, catch marine life such as crabs hiding in the sand, and hammer some sand with simple tools, etc.

After simple treatment, this place can be used temporarily. When the construction materials arrive, it will be hardened and several workshops will be built.

However, the ground with the magic circle drawn on it cannot be moved. Odysseus plans to use metal plates to engrave the corresponding magic circle after the ground hardens in the future, and then upgrade the magic circle to a "permanent magic circle".

More "Extraordinary Puppets" will be needed here later, so Odysseus ordered another 50 sets of parts in one go today, and also ordered 10 more sets of metal parts for assembling "Extraordinary Puppets" as backup.

After drawing out the range of activity for the "Extraordinary Puppet" and the range that needed to be dealt with, Odysseus used the power of the "Travel Ring" to return to the "Argo".

It turned out that the captain's cabin was nowhere to be found.

The captain's room was just inside the studio, and there was only one door on that wall, but I couldn't find my room.

Odysseus sat in the studio and sighed. The negative effect of the "Travel Ring" appeared again.

So Odysseus simply did not take a rest, but took out the scales he had collected from the "former sea god" Kalvetua from the "Wilderness of Knowledge" and began to study them in the studio.

By studying the characteristics of the "Dust of the Wrathful Spirit", we can create several scrolls with new abilities. In theory, studying the characteristics of these scales should also give us good ideas for creating several new scrolls.

Previously, "ghost dust" could only be considered a "mid-series" spiritual material, but these scales are at the demigod level! They should be able to be researched into some more advanced scrolls.

After continuous experiments, Odysseus had enough understanding of the extraordinary characteristics of these scales, but unfortunately, he found that his level was not enough and he could not make a scroll that could unleash all the power of these scales.

Odysseus was not discouraged. Even at his current level, he could make two new scrolls with good effects.

Then he used crushed materials and mixed them with corresponding spiritual materials to write two types of six scrolls.

One scroll has the ability of "Scale Armor". After using the scroll, you can gain a layer of "Scale Armor" within 3 minutes, which can block all physical attacks and most extraordinary attacks below demigods.

However, if faced with a demigod-level attack, the scroll's power cannot sustain for 3 minutes, nor can it completely block the opponent's attack.

Of course, this may be purely an unnecessary worry, because at Odysseus's current level, if he encounters a demigod-level enemy, he will most likely not be able to use the scroll.

The second scroll is "Sea Serpent Attack". As long as there is water around, you can shape the water into a large sea snake to fight for you for 30 seconds.

This sea serpent's main abilities are biting, devouring, and lashing, and its strength is enough to hold back a Sequence 5 target.

After the scroll was completed, Odysseus leaned back in his chair contentedly and admired his work.

They looked thicker than ordinary scrolls and emitted a faint turquoise glow, giving people a completely different feeling.

The scroll made from demigod-level materials is truly extraordinary.

At the same time, Odysseus felt the signs of the potion being digested again, and this time it was digested more than last time.

He felt it and thought that if he did this two more times, his potion would be completely digested.

Odysseus thought about the high-level extraordinary materials he had obtained, and immediately recalled the "Stone of Iron Law" he had obtained in the last expedition, as well as the mumbling of the "True Creator" he had just obtained.

If these two things were made into a scroll, there was a high probability that the potion could be completely digested.

Then Odysseus quickly wrote down his insights in the draft of "Scroll: From Beginner to Mastery", which is the core part of the book.

I have been a bit busy recently. The potion is almost digested, and I have not written less than one-tenth of this book. This makes Odysseus plan to take some time to go to the "Wilderness of Knowledge" to organize the "model text" of the scroll he invented and speed up the writing of this book.

Taking a deep breath, Odysseus put away his newly created scroll and glanced out the window.

It's broad daylight.

Odysseus smiled helplessly and glanced in the direction of the captain's room. The door leading there had already appeared.

That morning, the "Argo" and "Ghost" formed a fleet and sailed out of "Moon Bay".

Many people in the town watched the two ships leave, including Odysseus. He said to the people who came to see them off, "I will stay on Cruz Island for the time being and oversee the construction of the base.

"But I'll be hanging out on Cruz Island most of the time. If you have any questions, please talk to my second mate Rupert."

It can be seen that this decision surprised the president of the autonomous association, Virgil, and others.

Odysseus did not give them a chance to ask further questions and flew directly to "Lighthouse Mountain", apparently to continue surveying the terrain.

In fact, Odysseus' plan was to leave with the fleet, but he would definitely come back from time to time. If he didn't tell everyone that he stayed on Cruz Island, he would have to hide from the residents of the island when he came back.

After flying to "Lighthouse Hill", Odysseus used the "Travel Ring" to enter the cockpit of the "Argo": "Forward three, target Zakal Island!"

A smile played on his lips. "Let's do some pirate stuff."

He had previously asked the spirit of the "Ghost," and learned that the maximum speed of this ghost ship was about the same as the "Forward Three" of the "Algor."

It can go faster, but it can't be maintained for too long.

The boatswain, Salina, scratched her head and asked, "What's a pirate to do?"

"Robbery!" Odysseus smiled. "Let the people of Zakal Island know that they have a new neighbor."

After saying that, Odysseus left the cab.

Salina finally realized it and said, "Yes, Captain, I had forgotten that fighting pirates is not our job."

Since she boarded the ship, she heard from Second Mate Rupert that the "Sword of Dawn" had just wiped out the "Red Lion" pirate group not long ago.

He just helped the residents of Cruz Island and eliminated the "Deep Blue" pirate group.

This honest girl even had the illusion that she was joining the navy, not a pirate group.

Odysseus returned to his studio and was about to enter the "Wilderness of Knowledge" to organize documents when he suddenly found that the pocket watch he was wearing lit up.

The light was red, and it was Basel who wanted to see him for something.

Odysseus checked his scroll, said something to the boatswain and the battle captain, and used his ability to travel to Bayam.

Following spiritual guidance, Odysseus met Bazel in the "Wizard's Office", and Bishop Dean was also there.

"Captain," Bazel said after seeing Odysseus, "Bishop Dean wants to see you, so I called you here."

Odysseus looked at Bishop Dean, who was wearing a soft hat and bishop's robes. "Please sit down. What can I do for you?"

After the three of them sat down on both sides of the sofa again, Dean said, "'Red Glove' hopes you can provide some assistance."

(End of this chapter)